Edward Seymour, a man born to a mere country “sir”, became the Duke of Somerset on 17 February 1547 by a combination of ruthlessness, mendacity, ambition, and the good luck to have a sister whom King Henry VIII had wanted to boink. Jane Seymour died less than two weeks after the birth of the king’s… Read more The New Duke of Somerset
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 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
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
He was the best of men, he was the worst of men … Charles Dickens, who was born on 7 February 1812 in Portsmouth, was undeniably a genius. He remains one of the best know, and justifiably most lauded, writers in the English language. One of his greatest gifts was that of characterization. He not… Read more Happy Birthday to Charles Dickens
Thomas More was born on 7 February 1478. He was one of the great European scholars of his age, and he served Henry VIII both loyally and well. More was also the reluctant Chancellor of England until being relieved of the office on March 16, 1532 due to the fact that he could not swear… Read more Saint Thomas More Was Only Human
I’m currently reading a fascinating book, written by Matthew Champion, about church graffiti of the medieval period. It is all kinds of interesting, not only for the information about witch marks and symbology, but also for the various cultural/historical asides it contains. For example, he explained the medieval – nay, pre-Christian – roots behind the shape of… Read more From Little Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow
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
On 30 January 1607 the Bristol Channel experienced a sudden influx of flood water, which scientists and historians believe was either a severe storm surge or may even have been the result of a tsunami. The flooding effected several hundred miles of coast along both the Welsh and English sides of the channel, inflicting severe… Read more A British Tsunami? The Great Flood of 1607
On 29 January 1801 a baby girl was born, ostensibly the posthumous and orphaned offspring of a seaman by the surname of Thompson, in reality she was the daughter of Lady Hamilton and her lover, war hero Admiral Horatio Nelson. Admiral Nelson and Lady Hamilton were, in public, the babies Godparents who adopted her after… Read more Horatia Nelson