Skip to main content
Read page text
page 4
OCTOBER 2014 CONTENTS Features Every month Lucy Worsley explores the world of historical dances, on page 45 22 The rise of the human Yuval Harari describes how Homo sapiens came to dominate the planet and questions whether this has brought us happiness 26 Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses? Dan Jones argues that we’ve misunderstood these 15th-century civil wars for centuries – and that we have the Tudors to blame for that 36 Scotland on the brink Karin Bowie describes the state of the country in 1707, just before union with England 6 ANNIVERSARIES 11 HISTORY NOW 1 1 The latest history news 14 Backgrounder: Housing 17 Past notes 18 LETTERS 21 MICHAEL WOOD’S VIEW 34 OUR FIRST WORLD WAR 65 BOOKS Experts review new releases, plus Charles Spencer discusses the killers of Charles I 77 TV & RADIO The pick of this month’s history programmes 80 OUT & ABOUT 80 History explorer: The Chartists 84 Ten things to do in October 86 My favourite place: Germany’s Black Forest 89 MISCELLANY 89 Q&A and quiz 91 Sam’s recipe corner 92 Prize crossword 40 When Poland was torn to pieces Roger Moorhouse reveals the shocking brutality in icted on Poles by both the Nazi and Soviet invaders of 1939 45 Steps in time Lucy Worsley matches popular dances to the social mores of their age 50 The real Joan of Arc Helen Castor peels back the myths to uncover the true story of the teenage heroine’s rise and fall 98 MY HISTORY HERO TonyParsonsonBobbyMoore 32 SUBSCRIBE Save 27% when you subscribe* to the digital edition Joan of Arc 50 50 The statue of Joan of Arc at Meridian Hill Park in Washington DC depicts the French heroine leading troops into battle. She is “an icon who, in the modern world, has developed the protean capacity to be all things to all people,” says Helen Castor “The real Joan of Arc is every bit as extraordinary as the myth” BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine Helen Castor endeavours to isolate the fact from the ction in the tumultuous, tragic story of a French national icon I E F LY FA R E J U L Joan of Arc is a historical name to conjure with, her image instantly, vividly recognisable across a distance of half a millennium. Her tale is both profoundly familiar and endlessly startling: the peasant girl sent by God to save France, dressed in armour as though she were a man; the maid who rescued Orléans and led her king to be crowned at Reims; the martyr who became a legend – and later a saint – when she was burned at the stake by the English enemy. We know her story so well because of the survival of two remarkable caches of documents. Her case was heard in court twice over: one trial, in 1431, condemned her to death as a heretic, and the other, completed 25 years later, cleared her name. In the transcripts we hear first-hand testimony from Joan, her family and her friends. What could be more revealing? But all is not as simple as it seems. The memories recounted by Joan and those who knew her were deeply infused with the awareness of who she had become and what she had achieved. In many ways, then, her story is a life told backwards. Not only that, but at almost every point there are discrepancies between the accounts of different witnesses, and sometimes within the testimony of a single witness, including that of Joan herself. Glossing over these contradictions has helped to create the legend of Joan of Arc, an icon who, in the modern world, has developed the protean capacity to be all things to all people. But if, instead, we trace the evolution of key elements in her story through the evidence of the two trials we get closer to the real Joan. And she, a roaring girl who – in fighting the English, took sides in a brutal civil war – is every bit as extraordinary as the myth, as the five examples that follow prove… 51 51 *All offers, prices and discounts are correct at the time of being published and may be subject to change 56 A smile revolution Colin Jones explains why some victims of the French Terror chose to smile at their persecutors USPS Identification Statement BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552) (USPS 024-177) October 2014 is published 13 times a year under license from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company Bristol Ltd, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. Distributed in the US by Circulation Specialists, Inc., 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton CT 06484-6238. Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, CT and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC HISTORY, PO Box 37495, Boone, IA 50037-0495. /A L A M Y I M A G E S I B R A R Y/A K G I D G E M A N A R T L B R 56 Smiling on the guillotine in 18th-century France 22 “A er Homo sapiens arrived in Australia, 95 per cent of the large animals became extinct” 4 BBC History Magazine
page 5
26 “A POWERFUL AND EASILY GRASPED STORY THATWAS IN PARTS DELIBERATELY FALSE” 40 How Poland was crushed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 36 The royal dilemmas facing Scotland in its last years of independence 50 What really happened in Joan of Arc’s nal weeks? BBC History Magazine 5

OCTOBER 2014

CONTENTS

Features

Every month

Lucy Worsley explores the world of historical dances, on page 45

22 The rise of the human Yuval Harari describes how Homo sapiens came to dominate the planet and questions whether this has brought us happiness

26 Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses? Dan Jones argues that we’ve misunderstood these 15th-century civil wars for centuries – and that we have the Tudors to blame for that

36 Scotland on the brink Karin Bowie describes the state of the country in 1707, just before union with England

6 ANNIVERSARIES 11 HISTORY NOW 1 1 The latest history news

14 Backgrounder: Housing 17 Past notes

18 LETTERS 21 MICHAEL WOOD’S VIEW 34 OUR FIRST WORLD WAR 65 BOOKS Experts review new releases, plus

Charles Spencer discusses the killers of Charles I

77 TV & RADIO The pick of this month’s history programmes

80 OUT & ABOUT 80 History explorer: The Chartists

84 Ten things to do in October 86 My favourite place: Germany’s Black Forest

89 MISCELLANY 89 Q&A and quiz 91 Sam’s recipe corner 92 Prize crossword

40 When Poland was torn to pieces Roger Moorhouse reveals the shocking brutality in icted on Poles by both the Nazi and Soviet invaders of 1939

45 Steps in time Lucy Worsley matches popular dances to the social mores of their age

50 The real Joan of Arc Helen Castor peels back the myths to uncover the true story of the teenage heroine’s rise and fall

98 MY HISTORY HERO TonyParsonsonBobbyMoore

32 SUBSCRIBE Save 27% when you subscribe* to the digital edition

Joan of Arc

50

50

The statue of Joan of Arc at Meridian Hill Park in Washington DC depicts the French heroine leading troops into battle. She is “an icon who, in the modern world, has developed the protean capacity to be all things to all people,” says Helen Castor

“The real Joan of Arc is every bit as extraordinary as the myth”

BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine

BBC History Magazine BBC History Magazine

Helen Castor endeavours to isolate the fact from the ction in the tumultuous, tragic story of a French national icon

I E F LY FA R E

J U L

Joan of Arc is a historical name to conjure with, her image instantly, vividly recognisable across a distance of half a millennium. Her tale is both profoundly familiar and endlessly startling: the peasant girl sent by God to save France, dressed in armour as though she were a man; the maid who rescued Orléans and led her king to be crowned at Reims; the martyr who became a legend – and later a saint – when she was burned at the stake by the English enemy. We know her story so well because of the survival of two remarkable caches of documents. Her case was heard in court twice over: one trial, in 1431, condemned her to death as a heretic, and the other, completed 25 years later, cleared her name. In the transcripts we hear first-hand testimony from Joan, her family and her friends. What could be more revealing?

But all is not as simple as it seems. The memories recounted by Joan and those who knew her were deeply infused with the awareness of who she had become and what she had achieved. In many ways, then, her story is a life told backwards. Not only that, but at almost every point there are discrepancies between the accounts of different witnesses, and sometimes within the testimony of a single witness, including that of Joan herself.

Glossing over these contradictions has helped to create the legend of Joan of Arc, an icon who, in the modern world, has developed the protean capacity to be all things to all people. But if, instead, we trace the evolution of key elements in her story through the evidence of the two trials we get closer to the real Joan. And she, a roaring girl who – in fighting the English, took sides in a brutal civil war – is every bit as extraordinary as the myth, as the five examples that follow prove…

51

51

*All offers, prices and discounts are correct at the time of being published and may be subject to change

56 A smile revolution Colin Jones explains why some victims of the French Terror chose to smile at their persecutors

USPS Identification Statement BBC HISTORY (ISSN 1469-8552) (USPS 024-177) October 2014 is published 13 times a year under license from BBC Worldwide by Immediate Media Company Bristol Ltd, 9th Floor, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN, UK. Distributed in the US by Circulation Specialists, Inc., 2 Corporate Drive, Suite 945, Shelton CT 06484-6238. Periodicals postage paid at Shelton, CT and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BBC HISTORY, PO Box 37495, Boone, IA 50037-0495.

/A L A M Y

I M A G E S

I B R A R Y/A K G

I D G E M A N A R T L

B R

56 Smiling on the guillotine in 18th-century France

22

“A er Homo sapiens arrived in Australia, 95 per cent of the large animals became extinct”

4

BBC History Magazine

My Bookmarks


Skip to main content