The Insurrection of 10 August 1792 was one of the most pivotal moments of the French Revolution. Irate and antimonarchial Frenchmen, including members of the National Guard of the Paris Commune and the fédérés from Marseille and Brittany, attacked Tuileries Palace and arrested King Louis XVI of France. This scared the bejeezus out of the… Read more The French Revolution and English Culture
One of the many irrational beheadings Henry VIII ordered as an older king was the execution of his loyal and indispensably helpful minister Thomas Cromwell. King Henry’s deteriorating brain function might have been the result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a condition only recently diagnosed by medical science, but it may have also been due to… Read more The Untimely Death of Thomas Cromwell
Lady Jane Grey, the chosen and legal heir of King Edward VI, officially became queen on 10 July 1553. She was a very Tudor monarch, having a marked resemblance to her grand-uncle Henry VIII’s daughters. One eye-witnesses described her as, “very short and thin, but prettily shaped and graceful. She has small features and a well-made nose,… Read more Jane Grey, Rightful Queen
Has anyone else read Robert Harris’s trilogy about the fall of the Roman Republic? It’s a chronicle — told in the point of view of Cicero’s slave Tiro — of how Rome went from a very flawed (but at least trying) representational republic to a dictatorship in just a handful of years. It is excellent,… Read more The Fall of the Republic
Henry VIII was born 28 June 1491 at the Palace of Placentia the third child of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. As hard as is it to believe, considering the stir he would make in the historical record, the little prince was an extremely second fiddle to his elder brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales.… Read more The Incredible Life of Henry VIII
On 23 June 1794 Empress Catherine II of Russia, known historically as Catherine the Great, formally granted permission for Jews to move into Kyiv, which is now the Ukrainian city of Kiev. This was an unpopular move on Catherine’s part, since the Orthodox Christians of Kiev insisted that their community was “profaned” by Jewish residency.… Read more Catherine the Great Allows Jewish Settlement in Kyiv
Tudor medicine, although based on the false assumption of ‘humours’ and with no understanding of germ theory, could nevertheless be surprisingly effective. A lot of modern medications are based on the chemical compounds of natural remedies available to the Tudors — such as clove oil. I got to learn about the efficacy of clove oil… Read more Oil of Cloves for Toothache
Henry VIII married his brother’s widow, Katherina of Aragon, at a small ceremony in Greenwich on 11 June 1509. They were a handsome couple, and initially very much in love. Henry probably lied when he claimed his father had told him to marry her while Henry VII was on his death bed, but the… Read more Henry VIII’s First Wedding
This weekend my husband and I took our three daughters to the lovely county of Cornwall, one of the seven (or six; it’s under dispute) Celtic nations, to visit the Cornish Seal Sanctuary. Although all the girls love seals, our middle child, Buttercup, wants to be a marine biologist specializing in studying pinnipeds when she… Read more The Cornish Seal Sanctuary
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