alt.hn

3/21/2026 at 10:12:47 PM

The Last Testaments of Richard II and Henry IV

 https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/last-testaments-richard-ii-and-henry-iv

by Petiver

3/25/2026 at 12:59:52 PM

Love this, nestled in among the posts about forking httpx and similarity search in DuckDB. It makes me want to watch the BBC adaptation of Richard II again, and listen to The Rest Is History's episodes on the same period.

by s1mn

3/25/2026 at 3:26:49 PM

Do you mean the Hollow Crown series? It's very very good stuff, prestige production of the Henriad. Some excellent performances by a fine cast. Opening of course with Richard II, Ben Whishaw playing the king.

by scrumper

3/25/2026 at 12:30:24 PM

Fascinating article, and I never realized until now that I drive past the location of Richard II's original burial site every few days. (Apparently he was reburied at Westminster Abbey.)

by rwmj

3/25/2026 at 12:09:01 PM

If I'm in the position in future I'd love to do a history degree. I wasn't very interested in anything except computers when I was young.

by Neil44

3/26/2026 at 4:31:15 AM

I was obsessed with both history and computers when I was young. I've stayed a little close to history by building my career around problems domains in which C is the language of choice.

It's not quite Software Archaeology, but I've run across enough "old code" [1] in my career to keep me happy.

[1] One example is: In 2008 I had to modify code written in 1991 for a long-term Psychology study on rats. It had executed hundreds of times per day for ~17 years at that point. Fun times.

by acuozzo

3/25/2026 at 2:07:59 PM

I’m reading Wolf Hall. It’s amazing how much more history is ‘sinking in’ when told as historical fiction.

Recommended, as is The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, for the same reason. Also that’s just beautifully written.

by jen729w

3/25/2026 at 5:23:17 PM

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet is lovely and the contrast between the Dutch and the Japanese cultures in the 18th century is quite striking.

by sorokod

3/25/2026 at 12:33:07 PM

Same. I read history now for fun. It’s stranger than fiction in many cases.

by brightball

3/25/2026 at 1:12:20 PM

A close family member did just that. They absolutely love history and are super well informed about lots of interesting subjects. The downside is it basically sets you up for becoming a history teacher and that's not the most rewarding career there is.

by jacquesm

3/25/2026 at 10:54:04 AM

I don't know why this is on Hacker News but that was a great read.

by the_real_cher

3/25/2026 at 11:02:30 AM

I love that HN contributions include articles like this, and those about pure science & nature too. They're such a breath of fresh air among the endless AI discussions. People sometimes say they shouldn't be on here. I say they contribute to overall human understanding and are therefore just as relevant as the tech news.

by kitd

3/25/2026 at 11:48:18 AM

Definitely, >50% reason why I come here, pretty tired from ie endless tirades how recent build of llm is next fire or wheel invention. Also, comments section (sans typical comments why its here which usually get downvoted fast) is often source of new interesting knowledge to me.

by kakacik

3/25/2026 at 12:57:18 PM

This is why I love HN.

by ghc