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
There are some historical figures that the more one reads about them, the more one loathes them. For me, one of those figures is Thomas Wriothesley, who was born on 21 December 1505 to upper-middle-class family in London but would claw his way up to becoming Lord Chancellor for King Henry VIII by having the morals and… Read more Thomas Wriothesley Becomes Chancellor
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
Catalina de Aragón, who signed her name Katherina in England but is usually called Catherine of Aragon in English histories, was born on 16 December 1485, the youngest child of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. There is a persistent myth that Katherina was born in the midst of a combat zone,… Read more Katherina of Aragon
Jane Austen came into the world, considerably past her due date, on 16 December 1775 at Steventon Rectory. Her parents had been expecting her arrival for more than three weeks, and since she was the seventh child the stork had bequeathed to the Austen’s, they had been sanguine about their estimation of her appearance and… Read more Happy Birthday Jane Austen!
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
Llywelyn ap Grufudd, called Llywelyn Ein Llyw Olaf (“Llywelyn, Our Last Leader”) in Welsh, died on 11 December 1282 during the Battle of Orewin Bridge at Builth Wells. Llywelyn, the son of Gruffudd ap Llywelyn Fawr and the grandson of Llywelyn the Great, had been doing all he could to unit Wales and keep it independent. He was not only fighting King Edward Longshanks,… Read more The New Principality of Wales