Valentine’s Day has been celebrated a lot longer than many people realize, but it wasn’t until the ideas of courtly love started to spread in the Middle Ages that the holiday become more about flirtations than fertility. Part of the romance of Valentine’s Day was the belief that the 14th of February was day when… Read more Saint Valentine’s Day
I’m currently reading a fascinating book, written by Matthew Champion, about church graffiti of the medieval period. It is all kinds of interesting, not only for the information about witch marks and symbology, but also for the various cultural/historical asides it contains. For example, he explained the medieval – nay, pre-Christian – roots behind the shape of… Read more From Little Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow
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
Sebastian of Portugal was born on 20 January 1554, the feast of Saint Sebastian, the only child and heir of John Manuel, Prince of Portugal, and his wife, Joanna of Austria. He grew up and became a half-way decent king. He was great if you were Catholic, and awful if you were anything else, but… Read more King Sebastian of Portugal
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
On 14 January 1507 Queen Joanna of Castile gave birth to her final child, a daughter whom she named Catarina after the baby’s aunt, Catherine of Aragon, who was languishing as an unmarried widow in England at the time. Queen Joanna would soon know something of captivity and hopelessness as well. Her husband, of King… Read more Catarina of Austria, Queen of Portugal
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
Ernest Renan, an incredibly important French historian, pointed out in his famous 1882 speech “Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?” (“What is a Nation?”) that “Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation.” If you want to build a ideal of a nation, the concept of a nation that can… Read more Why Study History?
Ada Lovelace was born Augusta Byron, the only legitimate child of celebrated poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron and his wife, intellectual prodigy and heiress Anne Isabella Milbanke, on 10 December 1815. Lord Byron christened his daughter after his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and nicknamed her Ada. Lord Byron would only see his daughter… Read more Ada Lovelace
Dear Bloggess, First, it feels a little weird to address you as The Bloggess when your name is really Jenny Lawson, but I cannot call you Jenny because that is too familiar for a gal from Kentucky and I cannot call you Ms. Lawson because that is too formal a way to talk to someone… Read more An Open Letter to The Bloggess About Mental illness