​Terry Case will be returning with Armchair History in Semester II, 2018.

Other history related courses being offered in Semester I may be of interest to Armchair History regulars.  Meg Dillon is offering 'Some Moments in Australian History' on the 2nd and 4th Fridays between 1.30 and 3.30 during Semester I.  John Barry will continue to track the history and anniversary events of the Great War in 'Over There' on the third Friday afternoon between 1.30 and 3.30 pm.

The course was judged a success by the class and we will continue in Semester 2 next year looking at the intriguing reign of Queen Victoria and why people in Britain and its Empire proudly called themselves “Victorians”.
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Once again I have a large collection of DVDs to illustrate the era and you can sit back and enjoy your history:

• Photography became very popular during Victoria’s reign and people who thronged to the Great Exhibition were entranced by this new development. I will draw on some collections of photographs from the period.
• The great writer associated with the period was Dickens who held society accountable for the miseries inflicted on the poor.
• City and home life gradually improved and the new Middle Class reaped the benefits.
• This was the Age of Steam as trains and steam ships cut travel time and carried people cheaply and (eventually) safely to distant destinations.
• It was also a period when the British Empire was at its peak and we will look at colonies such as Australia, after all what could be more Victorian than a colony named for the Queen and a State capital named for her favourite Prime Minister?

Terry Case

​We continue to look at the 14th Century and the brutal reigns of the Plantagenet monarchs. I am going to extend the class with a session in the 2nd week of December. Next year Meg’s Australian History class will operate in Semester 1 and Armchair History will resume probably in August. Details will be in the Newsletter.  You will be able to enrol in January or can contact me next year.
 
Terry Case

I promised my group I would provide details from the two books that have provided much of my background reading for the period of the 12th & 13th Centuries which we are now studying. Alison’s biography of Eleanor of Aquitaine at times reads like a mediaeval romance, but a glance to the footnotes ensures we are reading a well-researched account.

Eleanor was first married to the King of France and after that marriage was annulled she quickly married Henry II of England and provided him with the immense lands she had inherited in Aquitaine. For women of this period marriage meant surrendering all possessions to your husband and having no say in decision making. Eleanor was an exception and became a powerful Queen, acting as Regent for her son Richard the Lionheart as both he and John became Kings of England.

The book cover shows a window in Poitiers Cathedral donated by Henry & Eleanor to celebrate their marriage.

We have reviewed the importance of crusades, saints, martyrs and pilgrimages in the lives of Europeans in the period 1066-1300, next we look at Church attitudes to sex. We will also examine the reign of King John’s son Henry III, who plunged England into civil war.

​Please note that Semester 2 Armchair History will now start at 1.30pm 

Terry Case ​

July will see us commence our final Semester for this class as I will take a break for a while, an Australian History class will run in this time spot commencing next year.

Can I also remind you John Barry will be commencing a history class about the Great War called ‘Over there’ starting this semester on the third Friday 1.30-3.30pm? If you wish to join John’s class you can email me case.terence@gmail.com

Please note that Semester 2 Armchair History will now start at 1.30pm
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Terry Case

Henry II first of the Plantagenet Kings with his wife Eleanor made a formidable combination. After subduing the English barons, he imposed a uniform law code throughout Britain known as the Common Law. It was to bring him into dispute with the Church as he sought to limit the powers of church courts.  Good King Henry or Bad King Henry? It seems all he is remembered for is the assassination of Archbishop Thomas a Beckett.

We are beginning to read a more contemporary account as Chaucer’s pilgrims set out in his Canterbury Tales. I am about to introduce a new element showing history as comedy.

​Terry

We are coming to the end of the Norman period and last week learnt how Henry I (The youngest son of William the Conqueror) left his throne to his daughter Matilda. The barons had pledged to support her but reneged in favor of Stephen (William the Conqueror’s grandson).

Henry had married a Scottish princess, called Matilda, that’s right mother and daughter are both called Matilda. One of the reasons that the barons did not want Matilda on the throne was her husband was Count of Anjou which was a large French province.  Matilda’s children were not going to be Normans.
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All the ingredients were now in place for a Civil War and continual wars with France for the next hundred years.

​On a scorching February afternoon we commenced our new season viewing dvds about the Norman invasion in 1066 and the First Crusade called by Pope Urban in 1095. Religion will again play a prominent part in this history.   In a period when the populace was terrified by visions of hell we will investigate how the Church tried to create a new role for the warrior class, as soldiers of God.
 
Our second February session looks at the impact of the Norman invasion in Wales and Ireland.
 
Reminder: the Friday afternoon times are 1.15 start, 3.15 finish (to suit our landlord).