The spark that would become the Rebellion of the Alpujarras hit the powder keg of the Kingdom of Granada, Crown of Castile on 18 December 1499. The Muslims of the Kingdom of Granada, which had been the Emirate of Granada until it was ‘reconquered’ by the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I… Read more The Alpujarras Rebellion Begins
Okay, can I just say that I adore the nicknames the French people gave their kings? For example, the monikers of the sons of Philip IV the Fair (as in handsome), such as Louis X the Quarreler, Philip V the Tall, and Charles IV the Bald were all spot on and awesome. However, the royal nicknames sometimes told a sad tale.… Read more John the Posthumous and the Curse on Philip the Fair
Romans did not like doing the hands-on work of assigning human remains to a final resting place any more than the modern Americans or Europeans do. It was either too heart-breaking, if it was the body of a loved one, or considered too creepy for most people. Thus, Romans had an entire class of funeral… Read more The Libitinarii of Rome
Today would be my friend Bethany’s 34th day, but she didn’t get to celebrate it. She died yesterday of cancer. God-forsaken, motherfucking cancer. Bethany – kind, generous, funny, loving, Bethany – is gone. As with Juliet, “death lies on her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field.” It is so… Read more Bethany, May Light Perpetual Shine Upon Her
On 19 August 1953 the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, who was a modernizing and secular leader committed to Iranian nationalism and preventing Iran from become a theocracy, was overthrown by a British and CIA backed military coup that replaced him with the Shah Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, a totalitarian king. The pertinent… Read more The Iranian Coup of 1953
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
By June of 1553 King Edward VI knew he was dying. The young monarch was in constant pain, but had been using the last few weeks remaining to him to actively try to ensure a Protestant Britain after his death. Although John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, is often – even usually – accused of being King… Read more Why Didn’t Cranmer See Edward VI Alone Before the King’s Death?
Anne Boleyn was crowned queen on 1 June 1533. It was a day of many mixed blessings for the new queen. She was publically acknowledged as Henry VIII’s wife, adored by her husband, and she was heavily pregnant with the baby she felt sure would be a boy. On the other hand, supporters of the Henry’s… Read more Anne Boleyn Crowned Queen of England
Georg Ludwig, future King George I of England, came into the world on 28 May 1660 in Hanover, the eldest son of Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Sophia of the Palatinate, who was the Protestant the granddaughter of King James I of England through her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia. No one thought of baby George as a possible… Read more King George I
Lady Jane Grey, who was briefly Queen of England before being deposed by her cousin, Mary I, married Guildford Dudley, the youngest surviving son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, on 25 May 1553. Why did Jane, great-granddaughter of King Henry VII, marry a relative nobody like a recently made duke’s youngest boy? Because… Read more Jane Grey Weds Guilford Dudley