Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, was born on 3 February 1393 to Henry “Hotspur” Percy and Elizabeth Mortimer. He was just a 10 year old boy when his father died at the Battle of Shrewsbury on 21 July 1403, but if Hotspur had not been killed by a rogue arrow to the face during… Read more The Percys — Aphids on the Yorkist Rose
On the morning of 2 February 1461, as two armies prepared to fight the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in the Wars of the Roses, three “suns” appeared in the sky. The extra suns were obviously the astronomical phenomena known as a sun dogs, caused by light refraction off particulate ice crystals in the air. However,… Read more When Sun Dogs Changed England
Until a language is written down, and the population that speaks it becomes mostly literate, the way words are used and pronounced experience relatively frequent change. Once a language hits print, it still changes – but more slowly and less drastically. Because Iceland became literate a thousand years before most of Northern Europe, people who… Read more Stobbing Cows and the Great Vowel Shift
Harri Tudur, heir to the (7th) Earldom of Richmond, was born to the frighteningly young Margaret Beaufort on 28 January 1457. Through his paternal grandfather, Owain Tudur, the baby was a descendant of of Llywelyn the Great, and through his paternal grandmother, Catherine of Valois, a great-grandson of King Charles VI of France. Those lineages,… Read more Henry VII: Better King Than Kingly
My darling youngest child is 9 years old today. She wanted a dragon themed birthday, and since I cannot decorate cakes for shit, I got a bunch of edible dragon stickers and made her cake ‘dragon-y’. She is such a easy-going little girls that she acted like this was some kind of new, hella-great cake… Read more Happy 9th Birthday, Bubbles
Robert (Rabbie) Burns was born on 25 January 1759 in the village of in Alloway, near Ayr, not far from the River Doon (Brig o’ Doon), which would later feature in his epic poem “Tam O’Shanter“. The poets birthplace is now commemorated as Burns Cottage Museum, but no one had any inkling that the newborn Rabbie would grow up to… Read more Scotia’s Bard
On 24 January 1536 Henry VIII had a jousting accident. Not only was he hit hard, his horse, wearing hundreds of pounds of armor, fell on top of him. The king was unconscious for more than two hours, and it was feared he wouldn’t live. Was this severe concussion the reason Henry began his reign… Read more Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall
On January 21, 1542 a Bill of Attainder was introduced in English Parliament against Katheryn Howard. Henry VIII’s fifth queen had already been stripped of her title by the king’s Privy Council on November 22, 1441 because she had led “an abominable, base, carnal, voluptuous, and vicious life” before marriage and acting “like a common… Read more The Bill of Attainder of Katheryn Howard
The least known, but arguably the best writer among the justly lauded Bronte siblings, was the youngest, Anne, who was born on 17 January 1820. Just as Jane Austen was a seminal writer in the Regency era, Anne Bronte – writing under the male pseudonym, Acton Bell – help shaped Victorian literature. More significantly, Anne… Read more Anne Bronte, Feminist and Favorite
The marriage treaty between Queen Mary I and King Phillip of Spain was ratified on 15 January 1554. Mary was thrilled, Philip was resigned, and half the population of England was livid. In fairness, public reaction to Mary’s betrothal on the part of the Protestant English was unjustified by anything Mary had done. She had… Read more Mazeltov to Phillip and Mary