Historians and history-buffs alike have strong opinions about facts and persons and those opinions aren’t universal. Nevertheless, there tends to be enough commonality that two “camps” will spring up regarding an event. For those interested in the Tudor era, there is often a spilt into (let’s overly-simplify it for the sake of argument) people who… Read more What Anne Boleyn Did That Jane Seymour Didn’t
On 9 May 1726, five men were hanged at Tyburn for the crime of having committed homosexual sex acts, which became punishable by death in Henry VIII’s reign (under the Buggery Act 1533) and would remain a capital offence until 1828. The men had been some of the 40 individuals arrested during a raid on Mother… Read more Murdering Mollies
On 6 May 1527 the military forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V sacked the city of Rome, kidnapping and looting and burning and murdering and raping as they went. An army of 24,000 soldiers, half of whom were in the Imperial forces and half of whom were mercenaries under the command of Georg von Frundsberg, were… Read more The Sack of Rome; Why Henry VIII Didn’t Get His Divorce
King Henry VIII’s widow, Kateryn Parr, married the king’s third wife’s brother Thomas Seymour on 4 May 1547, just a few months after her royal husband had bitten the dust. The former queen had loved Seymour even before she had been coerced into marrying Henry, and thus she must have been very happy, but frankly she… Read more Unlucky in Love
Arthur Wellesley, future 1st Duke of Wellington, was born on 1 May 1769 in Dublin, Ireland, the fourth son of Anglo-Irish Protestant aristocrat Garret Wesley, 1st Earl of Mornington, and the Hon. Anne Hill-Trevor, eldest daughter the 1st Viscount Dungannon. Until he became a military man, Wellington was bone idle. His mother despaired when he… Read more The Duke of Wellington
Fourteen year old Austrian Archduchess Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna married the future King Louis XVI of France by proxy on 19 April 1770, and the bride’s name was officially changed to the Francophone pronunciation of Marie Antoinette … a name still associated with extravagance, foolishness, and tragedy. Marie Antoinette became the Queen of France and of Navarre… Read more Marie Antoinette’s Wedding Day
St Illtud was one of the most famous scholar-saints in pre-Norman Wales and throughout Medieval Britain, having founded a renowned monastery and school of divinity in Wales during the 6th century. St Illtud was devoted to spreading the teachings of Christianity, and for centuries his monastery was the epicenter of Celtic Christianity in Sub-Roman Britain.… Read more St Illtud, Welsh Saint and Scholar
Queen Elizabeth I was a charismatic leader who inspired a cult around her unmarried status and continues to fascinate historians and history buffs to the the present day. She was often associated with the virginal Roman goddess of the moon and hunting, Diana, and was often called by one of Diana’s more celestial alternate titles, Cynthia,… Read more Moonset: The Death of Cynthia
Alexander III became King of Scotland at the tender age of 7 following the death of his father, Alexander II, on 8 July 1249. The king showed himself to be strong willed even as a child, when power in the realm was being fought for by two rival guardians, Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith, and… Read more The Strange Death of Alexander III, King of Scots
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was born on 15 March 1933 and has been kicking ass ever since. After she was demoted at her day job for daring to be married and pregnant in 1955, the tiny yet stalwart Bader Ginsburg enrolled in Harvard law school in 1956, one of nine women out of a class of… Read more Happy Birthday to the Notorious RBG