Tag: European History
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What happened after 1066? The Harrying of the North
I can almost guarantee that if you asked any English person who can only remember one thing from history at school, it is the date 1066. It is drilled into us: 1066, the turning point in English history, when William the Conqueror came over from Normandy, beat others to the throne of England, and ended…
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Royal People: Jacqueline of Hainault, pawn or political player?
I recently received a request for some Dutch history, and I am always happy to oblige. In all honesty, I know fairly little about Dutch history on its own, with most of what I do know being how the country was used by the French, English, and Spanish for their own gains. One person who…
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Ancient Wonders: The Colosseum
As this blog post has been delayed because I took a trip to Rome, I thought it only fair I return to writing with a Rome-themed post, and as the Colosseum is so emblematic of Rome and the Roman Empire, I thought it fitting. The Colosseum fits my theme of “Ancient Wonders” as although it…
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Vikings and America: The People who beat Columbus
If you asked the average person on the street who “discovered” America (we’ll put aside the racist and Eurocentric issues this raises for another time) most people would probably tell you it was Christopher Columbus. In 1492, Columbus undertook his first voyage Westwards, under the theory that he would reach Asia – contrary to popular…
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Mythical Creatures: Medieval Elves
It is a fairly common belief that the legend of elves was created by JRR Tolkien amongst other now popular mythical creatures that he created. However, Tolkien simply popularised the creatures, and legends of elves have existed for centuries as a distinct legend from fairies (although the two legends often get conflated). The English word…
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Royal People: Queen Joan of Navarre’s Confinement as a Witch
As my blog has been up and running for just over 6 months now, I thought I would return to the topic of my Masters dissertation: fifteenth-century English royal witches. My first post here was about Eleanor Cobham, the aunt-by-marriage of Henry VI who in 1441 was scandalously tried for using witchcraft, with her accomplices…
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Honour Amongst Thieves? Early Modern Pirate Honour Code
“There is no honour amongst thieves” is one of those English sayings that no one really knows where it comes from, but that everybody can rehearse. The concept is that thieves (and “baddies” in general) are awful human beings, and if they can steal from/murder/cheat you, then there is nothing stopping them from doing it…
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Magic and Robots: Medieval Automatons
When people think of the medieval or early modern period, often it conjures images of the witch trials across the western world. These people are considered a superstitious bunch, deeply religious, and very suspicious of magic. Whilst there is of course substance to some of these ideas (and I have already discussed one case of…
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The Biggest Party Ever? The Field of the Cloth of Gold
In 1509, Henry VIII – one of England’s most famous monarchs – ascended the throne, ensuring the Tudor succession after his father, Henry VII, won the throne from Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. After almost a decade of rule, the young King agreed to follow the advice of his close advisor, Cardinal Wolsey,…
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Mythical Creatures: Medieval Mermaids
Mermaids are creatures that appear time and again throughout history and across cultures. Typically a mermaid is portrayed as having the top half of a woman, and the bottom half of a fish, though this sometimes varies slightly. The first known stories of mermaids come from Assyria around 1000BC; the goddess Atargatis, who was the…
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