Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey, was the wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey and the mother of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. She was also grandmother of two of King Henry VIII’s queens, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and two of his known mistresses, Elizabeth Carew and Mary Boleyn Carey. Moreover, through her… Read more Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey, Grandmother of Queens
The theory that Henry VIII had McLeod’s syndrome rests largely on the king’s drastic change in personality after his 40th birthday. Henry was not the same man in 1530 that he was in 1535, and it was such a drastic change it almost requires a medical reason to explain it. Prior to the 1530s, the… Read more Why Didn’t the King Kill William Peto?
The future King Louis VXII was born on 27 March 1785, the second son of King Louis XVI of France and Queen Marie Antoinette, and named Louis-Charles. When his older brother, Louis Joseph, died of tuberculosis on 4 June 1789 when he was only seven years old, the four year old Louis Charles became the… Read more The Tragic Death of King Louis XVII and the Effect on Jane Austen’s Work
St Catherine of Siena was born on 25 March 1347, along with a twin sister named Giovanna, and was the 23rd or 24th of her 40 year old mother’s 25 offspring. With all due respect to Saint Catherine of Siena, the super-fertility of her mother, Lapa Piagenti, is as amazing to me as any of… Read more Medieval Fertility Rates
Margaret of Anjou was born on 23 March 1430, the second legitimate daughter of René, King of Naples and his wife, Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. The 15 year old Margaret was married to King Henry VI 23 April 1445, and was crowned Queen Consort a few weeks later. She did her best to be a good wife and queen. She… Read more In Defense of Margaret of Anjou
First, it should be noted that the title to this blog post should be sung like the chorus of the Pet Shop Boy’s 1984 song “West End Girls” because I am old and my mental playlist is mostly 80s hits. If you are older than 40, you too now have “West End Girls” playing in… Read more Cymru Stones and Wessex Girls
On 16 March 1190 the Jewish community of York committed mass suicide to escape being tortured to death by a mob whipped into anti-Semitic frenzy by pro-Crusade propaganda. The Norman invaders had brought the first Jewish communities into England to fulfill a special economic role as moneylenders. The Jews were even given a special status… Read more An Atrocity at York in 1190
King Edward I and his first wife, Queen Eleanor of Castile, had their 13th child – a little girl, whom they named Mary – on 11 March 1279 at Woodstock Palace in Oxfordshire. Due to rampant child mortality, the tiny princess was one of only six royal children to live to adulthood out of a… Read more Mary of Woodstock: Life as a Nun Could be Fun
Today is St. David’s Day (Dydd Gŵyl Dewi in Welsh) and it is a hella big deal here in Wales. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi is quintessentially Welsh. The saint’s mother is purported to have been St. Non (or Nonita), a mystic Christian who is still associated with holy wells in Wales and Cornwall. The holy lady conceived… Read more St. David’s Day
Henry, Count of Anjou and Maine, the second born son of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, came into the world on 28 February 1155. He was the much welcome ‘spare’ son to follow his elder brother, William, who was still a toddler. Alas, little William died a few months after Henry’s first birthday,… Read more Henry the Young King