History in the Making: How Early Modern England Imagined Its Past

Early modern Britain sought in numerous ways to reconcile its present with a past visibly at odds with it. Facing the dynastic and religious upheavals caused by the Wars of the Roses and the Protestant Reformation, the British tried to account for their present by rewriting the past. This exhibit considers the ways in which the early modern British made, and remade, their own history. "Making History" focuses on how key events, such as the controversial execution of Mary Queen of Scots or the murderous Gunpowder Plot, were interpreted in the period, as well as on crucial ideas that helped shaped those interpretations. It also examines some of the period's most important figures, both real (Charles I) and imaginary (Shakespeare's Falstaff), and the roles they played in the making of British Renaissance history.

LEARN MORE through Saturday, May 17 10:00 a.m.  –  5:00 p.m. (420 minutes of caring)

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