The thing about history

We've both recently finished writing an essay about Oliver Cromwell and his impact on the religious and political life of 17th century England. Did you know that England had no monarchy for a decade? That during this time the Baptist Church came about because of Cromwell's tolerance for religious splinter groups? That ever since then England has had a constitutional monarchy instead of a monarch with absolute power?

Anyway, although church history is a really fun subject, I've noticed that it's really difficult to write history essays. The reason is because you generally have to decipher the causes and motives behind the actions of individuals and groups who are no longer alive. Generally causes and motives are a blend of an unbounded number of variables and all you've got to go on are descriptions of the events by people who weren't there and possibly a few things the people involved said or wrote that are distantly related to the topic and very specific to some particular context.

Even so, church history is still a very interesting subject, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.