God and Greater Britain

Presbyterianism, unionism, and the Second World War in Northern Ireland: the career of James Little, 1939–46

“…46 Some scholars, however, argue that this interpretation was not commonly held and those clerics who adhered to it seldom voiced their opinion. 47 The attitude of the other clergymen who served as Westminster M.P.s substantiates that argument. In October 1939, Revd James Barr urged the government to consider all opportunities for a quick peace, thereby avoiding 'the slaughter of millions and millions'.…”

A queenly affinity? Catherine of Aragon's estates and Henry VIII's Great Matter

“…Instead of dispersing the queen's lands into grants and farms, Henry VII had allowed the estates to be accounted for separately by Elizabeth's old receivergeneral, Robert Decons. 19 Thus, Henry VIII could quickly issue letters patent for Catherine in 1509 because the estates of Elizabeth of York had never been dispersed to other landowners. 20 This was an unusual situation, as Catherine's fifteenth-century predecessors had received their estates in a piecemeal fashion, and they frequently had to be granted cash when traditional queen's lands were unavailable or held by dowager queens.…”

Lionel Curtis, Imperial Citizenship, and the Quest for Unity

“…The "new evangelicalism" of the 1860s and 1870s had stressed an engagement with worldly affairs over personal salvation, with the empire in particular increasingly seen as a providential field for reformism. 19 In holding such beliefs, Curtis showed a greater affinity for Gladstonian moral politics than the realpolitik outlook currently in ascendance amongst British politicians such as Lord Salisbury and A. J. Balfour. But Curtis should not be mistaken for a religious imperial crusader in the vein of David Livingstone.…”