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Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Feudalism, Magna Carta and King John – Pic of the Week

Posted by: Margaret Wood

On Wednesday, I gave a gallery talk for the Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor Exhibition.  I focused the talk around King John and his rapacious habits as a ruler: demanding extraordinary fees from his feudal vassals, seizing hostages, and losing battles.  I also included some information on the Constitutions of Clarendon (more on that in …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month

Posted by: Margaret Wood

Throughout the year, the Library of Congress provides information about a number of commemorative observances.  May is always a busy month with the Asian/Pacific American Heritage and Jewish American Heritage observances while in the Law Library we also observe Law Day.  In June we observe a more recently added commemorative observance for Lesbian Bisexual Gay …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Shakespeare and King John

Posted by: Margaret Wood

April 2014 marks the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth.  As a way of combining a salute to Shakespeare and continuing our fascination with all things Magna Carta, I thought I would take a look at Shakespeare’s play, “King John.”  The play is believed to have been written in the 1590s, but it was not …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

National Poetry Month and Bad King John

Posted by: Margaret Wood

The following post is cross posted on the From the Catbird Seat: Poetry & Literature blog. Magna Carta is coming to the Library of Congress in November 2014!  This document is regarded as being one of the foundations of representative government and at the same time marked a defeat of the king by his barons.  But long before 1215, …