The bastardized daughter of King Henry VIII and one of the wives he murdered, Anne Boleyn, was crowned Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland on 15 January 1559. The crowning of the queen was merely one part of the grand pageant of putting her on the throne. The occasion took several weeks of elaborate… Read more The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
Renate Schroeder (now Renate Dolphin) clearly considered SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh a friend. She knew him when he was in high school, and she signed a letter vouching for his moral turpitude in an attempt to counteract the accusations that Kavanaugh attempted to rape Dr Christine Blasey Ford (now a professor at Palo Alto University)… Read more Slut Shaming and Gaslighting
For millennia, Western medicine was in thrall to the humoral theory of ancient Greece. It wasn’t until the scientific revolution of the Victorian era that germs were understood to cause illness, but even then medical ideas about a woman’s body had more in common with those espoused by Helenic doctors than modern ones. Germs there… Read more Green Sickness and the Cultural Construction of Women’s Health
James Barry, famous for being the first doctor in British history to keep both mother and baby alive after a cesarean-section, was actually a woman disguising herself as a man in order to practice medicine. Barry was born Margaret Ann Bulkley in late 18th century Ireland, and with the help of some progressive friends —… Read more James Barry, Nee Margaret Ann Bulkley
Joan of the Tower, the youngest daughter of Edward II of England and the wife of King David II of Scotland, is a sterling example of what history does with royal women who are never mothers and never scandalous. Joan was born in the Tower of London on 5 July 1321 and she had one… Read more Happy Birthday Queen Joan of Scotland
I love Scotland, from the streets of Edinburgh to it’s Highland Coos. Seriously, it is an awesome place filled to the brim with awesome people. And one of the most awesome people to have ever trodden upon Scotland’s soil is Agnes Randolph, the wife of Patrick, 9th Earl of Dunbar and March, known historically as… Read more Black Agnes and Psychological Warfare For the Win
Happy Birthday to Georgiana Spencer Cavendish, the 5th Duchess of Devonshire! She was born on 7 June 1757, the eldest child of John Spencer (who would later become 1st Earl Spencer) and Georgiana Poyntz. As a girl she was affectionately called “Little Gee” by her family, and she was an indirect ancestress of Lady Diana Spencer’s. During their… Read more Georgiana Cavendish, an Amazing Woman
Anne Boleyn was crowned queen on 1 June 1533. It was a day of many mixed blessings for the new queen. She was publically acknowledged as Henry VIII’s wife, adored by her husband, and she was heavily pregnant with the baby she felt sure would be a boy. On the other hand, supporters of the Henry’s… Read more Anne Boleyn Crowned Queen of England
It’s May 19th, the anniversary of Anne Boleyn’s execution, so let’s talk about Anne’s enduring and unjustified reputation as a home-wrecking whore. Bearing the historical facts in mind, what exactly did Anne do to be slut shamed for more than five centuries? She refused to date a married man until she knew he was getting… Read more For Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn spent 18 May 1536 preparing for death. Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys, a man who hated her and refered to her as ‘the concubine’ and worse, reported one of the ladies who attended Anne in the Tower had sent him, “word, in great secrecy, that before and after [Anne] receiving the Holy Sacrament, she… Read more Anne Boleyn’s Final Sacrament