The future King Richard II of England was born on 6 January 1367, the second son of Edward, the Black Prince and Joan, The Fair Maid of Kent. The Black Prince had been made Prince of Aquitaine (the dower lands of Eleanor of Aquitaine when she wed King Henry II) by his proud father, King… Read more King Richard II
In the Tudor era the New Year began at sunset on December 31, and it was customary to give a gift then, rather on Christmas Day as many do in modern times. Happily for the historical record, in the early 1540s John Leland gave King Henry VIII a present that has been a cause for… Read more John Leland’s New Year’s Gift to the King
The 28th of December is the 4th Day of Christmas, and the Feast of the Holy Innocents, or Childermas. It is the commemoration of a terribly sad event. According to an account in the Gospel of Matthew, the Roman puppet-king of Judea, Herod the Great, “ordered the execution of all young male children in the… Read more The Boy Bishop on Childermas
Jane Austen’s novel Emma was first published on 23 December 1815, just in time for Yuletide gift-giving. Emma sold well, and was giving good reviews, including one by Sir Walter Scott. Although Austen famously claimed that the title character, Emma Woodhouse, “handsome, clever, and rich,” was a protagonist that no one but the author “will… Read more Happy Birthday to Emma
Stephen of Blois usurped the throne from his cousin, Empress Matilda, and was crowned King Stephen of England on 22 December 1135. After the White Ship disaster in 1120, the only legitimate child of King Henry I of England was his daughter, Empress Matilda. The English Barons did not want to accept a mere woman… Read more The Usurpation of Matilda’s Throne
The Louisiana Purchase was officially completed on 20 December 1803, when Napoleon Bonaparte handed over New Orleans and 828,000 square miles of French territory (never mind the pesky natives who had been on it for thousands of years) to the USA. The Americans had paid only sixty-eight million francs (about $250 million) to double their country. Why did Napoleon Bonaparte give… Read more Napoleon Sold the Louisiana Territory because Haitians Kicked His Butt
After years of the brutal civil war known as The Anarchy, the usurper Stephen of Blois died and Empress Matilda’s son was crowned King Henry II on 19 December 1154. The new monarch was the grandson of King Henry I of England, but he was not the only great-grandson of William the Conqueror in England. King… Read more Henry II Takes His Crown
Ernest Renan, an incredibly important French historian, pointed out in his famous 1882 speech “Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?” (“What is a Nation?”) that “Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.” If you want to build a ideal of a nation, the concept of a nation that can… Read more Why Study History?
In my novel, Mansfield Parsonage, my heroine, Mary Crawford, loves Indian food. How, you may ask, is this possible in 1812? Its not like there were Indian restaurants in London that early in the 19th century! Well, there’s were you are going to be surprised. The first Indian restaurant in London was the Hindoostane Coffee House,… Read more Indian Food in Regency London
Anne of Demark was born the second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and his wife, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, on 12 December 1574. In the 1580s, King James VI of Scotland sought the hand of a Danish prince in marriage. Demark was a stable and economically strong country, and Scotland would greatly benefit from… Read more Anne of Denmark