Episode 4: History repeating tself - state intolerance, the English protestant Reformation and the COVID-19 response Artwork

History: darkness and light

This podcast investigates episodes in history that highlight the worst and best of the human condition. History can tell us about past ideas and events, and in doing so it tells us something about the universal. When we hear voices from the past, that say what they experienced and how they understood what was happening, we also often get a sense of their character and personality. In the last three thousand years or so human beings haven’t evolved one bit. This means that as true as the old refrain of Leslie Hartley, that ‘the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’ may be, the people you meet there usually have the same recognizable personalities and foibles we see in our friends, family, neighbours and acquaintances. Listen, learn and enjoy telling episodes, both evil and good, drawn from the richness of human history. (This podcast's artwork is based on a photo by Syed Hasan Mehdi from Pexels.com)

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History: darkness and light

Episode 4: History repeating tself - state intolerance, the English protestant Reformation and the COVID-19 response

May 29, 2022 • Matthew Frank Stevens • Season 1 • Episode 4

This episode compares past and present, exploring state sponsored intolerance and persecution from English protestant Reformation of the 1530s to The Toleration Act of 1688–89, and from the start of the the global COVID-19 pandemic to May 2022.

It explores parallels between intolerance towards non-Anglicans in Early Modern England and intolerance towards ‘the unvaccinated’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Music, in order of first play, is as follows:

Katy Kirby, All of Everything
Kai Engle, Somnolence
Lex Villena, Dissonance
Clot II, Rozkol
Axletree, The silent Grove
Serat, Dark Decision
Howie Mitchell, Old Molly Hare
PC-One, A Dark Blue Arc
Schemawound, Sleep is the oldest form of Time-travel
Monplaisir, Waves
(All music is available from Freemusicarchive.org and copyright CC BY 4.0)

A key source used in preparing this podcast has been John Coffey, Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England, 1558–1689 (Longman, 2000).

This podcast is written, produced and copyright of Matthew Frank Stevens.