Long before Bernie Sanders shook the foundations of the Left-wing American party, Georgian Britain had to contend with Charles James Fox and the Foxite Whigs. Charles Fox was born in London on 24 January 1749, the second surviving son of Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland and Lady Caroline Lennox. The new newborn Fox was of royal blood, since his… Read more The Foxiest of the Foxite Whigs
King Ferdinand II of Aragon, one of the worst royal father’s in history, passed away on 23 January 1516 and was (oddly enough) lamented by his surviving children. His son-in-law, Henry VIII, whom he had betrayed more often than once, was so worried about distressing the heavily pregnant Katherina of Aragon that he waited until… Read more The Death of King Ferdinand II of Aragon
On 22 January 1552, Edward Seymour, the eldest brother of Henry VIII’s third queen Jane Seymour and uncle of King Edward VI, was beheaded on Tower Hill. I’m not particularly sorry for him. I’m schooled in postmodernism enough to assume everyone studying history develops partialities whether they admit it or not. One of the people… Read more Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset and Fratricidal Monster
The newly ascendant King Henry VII of England, having won the crown by ‘right of conquest’ wed Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of King Edward IV and his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, on 18 January 1486 in Westminster Abbey. He had pledged to marry Elizabeth of York the Christmas before his invasion of England, a union… Read more A Loving Couple, A Genetic Curse
Edmund Crouchback, the future King of Sicily and Earl of Lancaster, one of the most stalwart and respected historical figures of Medieval England, was born in London on 16 January 1245, the youngest surviving son of King Henry III of England and Queen Eleanor of Provence. Before I had done much research on Prince Edmund,… Read more Edmund Crouchback
There was a fascinating study about Bombus terrestris — European buff-tailed bumblebees — that was recently published in Royal Society Open Science: Social insects are well known for their high level of cooperation. Workers of the primitively eusocial bumblebee Bombus terrestris are able to produce male offspring in the presence of a queen. Nonetheless, they… Read more Circumstances of Usurpation
One of the earliest examples of a Northern European chess set is the 12th century Lewis Chessmen, gaming pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides of Scotland. Several pieces are on display at the British Museum in London. They are amazing. Carved sometime between 1150-1200 AD of walrus ivory, they were probably… Read more The Lewis Chessmen
The only legitimate child of George, Prince of Wales, and his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick, was born on 7 January 1796 – almost nine months exactly after her parent’s wedding night. It was fortunate the royal newlyweds conceived then, because they loathed each other so instantly and profoundly they would never have sex with… Read more Princess Charlotte of Wales
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