Queen Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherina of Aragon, came to the end of her uncharmed life on 17 November 1558. The abdominal pain that had plagued her since menarche had revealed itself to be not the stirring of new life, but the growth of a deadly cancer.… Read more The Sad Reign of Mary I Comes to an End
Beyond doubt, Jane Austen enjoyed reading Gothic novels. She must have read several books in this genre, particularly the ‘female Gothic’ tales of Ann Radcliffe, to parody them so knowledgeably Northanger Abbey, and multiple readings strongly indicates she read them because she liked them. Yes, she mocked the hell out of Gothic conventions, but she… Read more Schauerroman v/s Gothik
The woman history records as Queen Matilda of Scotland, wife of King Henry I, was born Edith of Scotland in 1080 (or thereabouts), the eldest daughter of Malcolm III and his English bride Saint Margaret. Edith’s mother was an Wessex princess, sister of Edgar Ætheling, grandniece of King Edward the Confessor, whose family was displaced… Read more Matilda of Scotland
Late in the evening of 9 November 1518, Katherina of Aragon delivered her last child, an unnamed daughter that was either stillborn or did not survive very long past her birth. The ambassador from Venice, Sebastian Giustinian, wrote a letter the next day, reporting that, “In the past night the Queen had been delivered of… Read more Katherina of Aragon’s Last Childbirth
Katheryn Howard, the very young fifth wife of King Henry VIII, spent the second week of November 1541 being interrogated by special investigators – led by no less a personage than Archbishop Thomas Cranmer – to determine the extent of her tawdry sinfulness and lewd shenanigans. Katheryn, though barely in her twenties at the time… Read more Wondrous Naughty?
Mary Tudor, who was most likely born sometime in March of 1496, was approximately 18 years old when she married the 52-year-old King Louis XII of France on 9 October 1514. She was not only young enough to be the groom’s granddaughter, she was acclaimed as one of the most beautiful women in Europe. King… Read more The Autonomy of Mary Tudor, Queen of France
I’ve been reading Sharon Bennett Connolly’s blog, History … the Interesting Bits!, for a while now and always enjoyed her posts. Thus, when she published her debut history book, Heroines of the Medieval World, I bought it, and boy howdy am I glad I did. These are the stories of women, famous, infamous and unknown,… Read more Heroines of the Medieval World by Sharon Bennett Connolly
Alys of France was born on 4 October 1160 and her life is an object lesson on how being a princess cannot save you from predation. Alys was only eight years old when her father, King Louis VII of France, sent her to England as the betrothed of King Henry II’s son Richard, who was… Read more No Wonderland for Alys
Queen Elizabeth I was born on 7 September 1533 in Greenwich Palace, the first and only living child of Henry VIII of England and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Her mother would be murdered and Elizabeth herself declared illegitimate just 2.5 years later, in May 1536, but she would survive the reigns of her father,… Read more The Birth of Gloriana
The word chuffed is, in my opinion, one of the most British verbs in existence. It comes from a Tudor term meaning “swollen with fat”, but in today’s parlance it means absolutely swollen with delight. Filled with squee. Full of happiness that something really pleasing happened, often in a very flattering context. Frequently one is… Read more Well, I’m Chuffed