There have naturally been many great moments and experiences at the University of Helsinki. Learning experiences as a student and researcher, completing degrees and research, successes as a teacher and supervisor and numerous friendships with scholars and researchers have all been important. Nevertheless, one memory stands out above all the…

As the result of a lucky coincidence I was offered the opportunity to travel to the University of Cambridge as a visiting student even before I had completed my master’s degree. Cambridge taught me a lot, particularly during my time there as PhD student. My entire life literally revolved around research and the university. In practice, all of my friends were post-graduate students or researchers, and we worked from morning to night at least six days a week.

Classical republicanism or just plain republicanism refers to political ideals in early-modern Europe inspired by the Classical Greek or Roman republican models. The centres of republican thought in early-modern Europe were the city states of Renaissance Italy, Holland and England.

In September 1995, My family and I found ourselves in the university town of Princeton. The previous year we had once again lived in Cambridge, where the thought of expanding my horizons beyond Helsinki and Cambridge had occurred to me. I decided to apply to the presigious Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. To my great surprise, my application was successful.

My master’s and licentiate theses dealt with the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (1561–1626). I chose the topic largely because the collected works of Francis Bacon were available in both the Helsinki University Library and the library of the Parliament of Finland. In the 1980s, you couldn’t even dream of the kind of data bases we have today, which enable the reading of primary sources in your own home.

We all have some sort of idealised picture of a duel, but what kind of cultural codes can be found behind the duels themselves? I attempt to answer that question, among others, in my book The duel in early modern England: civility, politeness and honour (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

Huntington Library in the small town of San Marino in the metropolitan area of Los Angeles is for many historians of early-modern England a veritable paradise on earth.

The library is situated in the middle of a vast botanical garden, and it also plays host to large collections of art…

One of the aims of Finnish comprehensive school education, as emphasised in the 2004 National Core Curriculum for Basic Education, is to produce a person who “as a participatory citizen promotes a democratic society.” I don’t know whether Finnish schools have succeeded in this task. Nevertheless, it is clear that…

In my Academy Professor research project, I am studying 17th century notions of democracy. Most political thought from that period naturally saw democracy solely in negative terms. Historians who have earlier researched democracy in the 17th century have primarily focused on the Levellers political movement, which arose at the time of the English Civil War. Some of its supporters pressed for almost universal suffrage for men. Of course, this seems to anticipate the democratic notions of our own time, although no leveller actually used the word democracy.

The University of Cambridge consists of over 30 colleges. The oldest of these were established in the 13th century. The most renowned is undoubtedly Trinity College, which Henry VIII founded in 1546. Its students have included Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton. Trinity has won a total of 32 Nobel prizes…