Mary and George—a dramatization of the stratospheric rise of the Villiers family to power and influence during the reign of Elizabeth I’s successor James I—is one of the new breed of period dramas like The Great or The Favourite, where, apparently unconstrained by the rigid social mores, constricting formality of dress, or religious edicts of their time, characters behave like …
When summer’s done, I always get restless. I came across the Feste del Rei en Jaume at Santa Ponsa. It was called the Battle of Portopi and, unlike today’s battles, this was a conflict in an open field between the Almohad troops that were occupying Mallorca and the army of King James I, the King of Aragon, also known as …
The fourth Mughal, Jahangir, is often overshadowed by the tremendous achievements of his father, the monuments of his son, the charisma of his wife. He is “forever watching from the margins”, as Nandini Das puts it in Courting India, a witty and thought-provoking account of Roe’s embassy that puts the ambassador and the world he comes from centre-stage. But it …
In conversation with the author on her latest book, Courting India. When the English East India Company convinced James I to send an official ambassador to the Mughal court to negotiate a “firman” to trade, Roe’s England was beset by inner strife, financial woes, and anxiety about corruption. Roe’s account is particularly important both because of his position as the …
