I recently read The Devil’s Historians and I cannot praise this book highly enough. The only reason I give it two thumbs up is because I lack more thumbs. This book is a brilliant analysis of how people use history to craft extremist narratives, and it uses plain language, rather than academic jargon, to explain… Read more Review of The Devil’s Historians: How Modern Extremists Abuse the Medieval Past
Edward of Westminster (or Lancaster), the only child of king Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, was born on 13 October 1453 and was the rightful Prince of Wales. He was the touchstone for the War of the Roses and the only heir apparent to the English throne to ever be killed in battle. Edward of… Read more Edward of Westminster, the Lost Lancastrian Prince of Wales
Howard Phillips Lovecraft, more widely known as author H. P. Lovecraft, was born on 20 August 1890 in Providence, Rhode Island. Like Edgar Allan Poe, Lovecraft was a master of horror who would die in poverty, obscure and unloved except by a few die-hard fans, but after his death his works became famous. Now, like… Read more Cthulhu Called
Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, Viscount Lisle and future Duke of Suffolk, wed for a third and final time on 13 May 1515. The Tudor princess seems to have loved Brandon since she was a girl, and she was as determined as the rest of her siblings to marry for love. Since she was as headstrong and brave… Read more Happy Anniversary to Mary and Charles
Deposed queen, Jane Grey Dudley, and her husband Guilford Dudley were executed on 11 February 1554. As I have mentioned before, Eric Ives wrote an excellent book, Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery, which provides ample evidence of Mary’s perfidy and Jane’s lawfulness, which I recommend that you read if you want all the gritty… Read more The Murder of Queen Jane I and Her Consort Guilford Dudley
President Richard Nixon was born on January 9, 1913. He was president when I was born. His death in 1994 was the first post-presidential death I really remember and one of the few I actually had an opinion on. I remember being irked that people commented on the Watergate thing. It was rude to speak… Read more Remembering Richard M. Nixon
Lady Jane Grey, the chosen and legal heir of King Edward VI, officially became queen on 10 July 1553. She was a very Tudor monarch, having a marked resemblance to her grand-uncle Henry VIII’s daughters. One eye-witnesses described her as, “very short and thin, but prettily shaped and graceful. She has small features and a well-made nose,… Read more Jane Grey, Rightful Queen
King Edward II of England was born on 25 April 1284, the fourth son of King Edward I and his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, but the eldest son to survive to adulthood. Most people know more historical myths about Edward II – that he was the embodiment of the limp-wristed pouf negative stereotype like… Read more Happy Birthday Edward of Caernarfon!
Although I think Katherina of Aragon was daffy to risk so much just to fight her divorce from Henry VIII so long, I have all kinds of respect and admiration for the strength and smarts it took to do so. Occasionally I stumble onto things that remind me of how effect her tactics were –… Read more Weak as Steel
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