History@Portsmouth

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Gunpowder, treason and plot: Difficult pasts and how we remember them

The BBC series Gunpowder, screened at this time last year, sparked some lively debate. In this blog post, our Dr Katy Gibbons reflects on some of the responses to that series, particularly the graphic depictions of violence enacted by the state. Katy’s research looks at religious exile in Early Modern Europe, its impact on the home and host societies, and what it reveals about the complex interactions between groups of coreligionists in different parts of Europe. The end of October often brings a focus on Halloween. The celebrations including pumpkins, trick or treat and fancy dress have tended to shift the focus away from a specifically British celebration of Guy […]

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The execution of the eight surviving conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot. Wellcome Images via Wikimedia , CC BY-SA

Forget gory Gunpowder – Jacobean England had a bloodcurdling appetite for violence

Dr Katy Gibbons, Senior Lecturer in History, has published an article in The Conversation. Here she reflects on responses to the violent scenes in the recent BBC 1 series Gunpowder, in particular the depictions of executions of Catholics by the Protestant authorities. This discussion reflects her research interests in early modern Catholicism in England and Europe, which is one theme in her final year special subject unit, ‘Conflict, Conspiracy, Consensus: Religious Identities in Elizabethan England’. To read the article, click here

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