history

Napoleon Sold the Louisiana Territory because Haitians Kicked His Butt

December 20, 2017kyra 1 Comment

The Louisiana Purchase was officially completed on 20 December 1803, when Napoleon Bonaparte handed over New Orleans and 828,000 square miles of French territory (never mind the pesky natives who had been on it for thousands of years) to the USA. The Americans had paid only sixty-eight million francs (about $250 million) to double their country. Why did Napoleon Bonaparte give… Read more Napoleon Sold the Louisiana Territory because Haitians Kicked His Butt

Henry II Takes His Crown

December 19, 2017kyra

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

Katherina of Aragon

December 17, 2017kyra 2 Comments

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

Why Study History?

December 15, 2017kyra 3 Comments

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?

Indian Food in Regency London

December 15, 2017kyra

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 Denmark

December 12, 2017kyra 1 Comment

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

The New Principality of Wales

December 11, 2017kyra 1 Comment

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

Ada Lovelace

December 10, 2017kyra

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

The deaths of Dereham and Culpepper

December 10, 2017kyra

Francis Dereham and Thomas Culpeper were executed on 10 December 1541 for treason; one for the treason of sleeping with with King Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Katheryn Howard, before she was married and the other for flirting with her with the intent to canoodle. I am always bothered when I think of the death of Dereham. He was… Read more The deaths of Dereham and Culpepper

The Exeter Conspiracy?

December 9, 2017kyra 2 Comments

Many historians have condemned King Henry VIII for beheading his Plantagenet first cousin, Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter, on 9 December 1538. On the surface the odious act looks to be the result of paranoia and cruelty and heartlessness . But was it? And was Henry the prime motivator of Courtenay’s death? God knows the king was by… Read more The Exeter Conspiracy?