February 2018

Saint Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day has been celebrated a lot longer than many people realize, but it wasn’t until the ideas of courtly love started to spread in the Middle Ages that the holiday become more about flirtations than fertility. Part of the romance of Valentine’s Day was the belief that the 14th of February was day when… Read more Saint Valentine’s Day

John Llewellyn Lewis, a Welsh-American Hero

John Llewellyn Lewis was born in a coal mining company town just east of Lucas, Iowa on 12 February 1880. His parents, Thomas H. Lewis and Ann Watkins Lewis, had both immigrated to the USA from Llangurig, Wales and his father was a respected coal miner in the community. Lewis would follow in the family… Read more John Llewellyn Lewis, a Welsh-American Hero

Tudors and the Death of Their Rival Cousins

The medieval and premodern monarchs who held onto their thrones were the ones who were appallingly ruthless. Kindness was not rewarded, and the nice guys almost always lost their crown. Even when their reigns were otherwise good for the country, or renown contextually for tolerance and progressive thinking, dark deeds still needed doing and there… Read more Tudors and the Death of Their Rival Cousins

Joan of Valois: Princess, Queen, Duchess, and Saint

Joan of Valois, Duchess of Berry, formerly a princess and a queen of France and now a founding member of the Order of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, passed away at the Annonciades of Bourges on 4 February 1505. Although she died a nun, she had not been born to wear the veil.… Read more Joan of Valois: Princess, Queen, Duchess, and Saint