It is a well-rehearsed fact that in the medieval period princesses were political currency, pawns who were married off to foreign strangers as small children and were expected to fulfil their duty with grace and without complaint. But one woman who defied these expectations that we hold of medieval royalty was Isabella of Woodstock, the […]
Being a year into the Coronavirus pandemic, I started thinking about how for many of us who have spent most of the time in a form of lockdown, different Netflix series have categorised different parts of lockdown. First Tiger King was all the rage, then we had various crime documentaries, Bridgerton, and The Queen’s Gambit. […]
Werewolves are perhaps one of the most popular modern-day mythical creatures, alongside vampires, and many teen films and television shows now feature both creatures. I have already written a post about the historical origins of vampires, and what medieval people believed to be true about these monsters, so I thought it was time to look […]
One of the most famous writers from the medieval period is Geoffrey Chaucer. He lived between the 1340s and 1400 and most famously wrote The Canterbury Tales. He was also the first writer to be buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. However, he had a granddaughter named Alice who was born a few years […]
So far in the Ancient Wonders series we have looked at The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, The Colosseum, Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China. We now return to the original list of the Seven Wonders of the World, compiled in the 2nd century BC, by investigating the Colossus of Rhodes. The Colossus has captured […]
Our interview series returns today as we speak to the wonderful historical author, Sharon Bennett Connolly. Sharon has been fascinated by history her whole life. She has studied history academically and just for fun – and even worked as a tour guide at historical sites. For Christmas 2014, her husband gave her a blog as […]
Although people living in medieval Europe knew a lot more of the wider world than many initially think, with strong trade links in Asia and northern Africa, they were still intrigued about what lay beyond the land known to man, and stories of mythical creatures abounded. One such creature which fascinated for centuries was the […]
Today is the day before Easter and around the world people – Christians and non-believers alike – are preparing to celebrate tomorrow. Whether it’s by eating a pile of chocolate Easter Eggs or having a big meal with family, everyone will have their own traditions. But as Easter has been celebrated for just shy of […]
After a break in blog posts so that I could focus on finishing up my first book, Royal Witches: From Joan of Navarre to Elizabeth Woodville, I thought it was finally time to get writing something else once again! And I thought the best way to do this would be to catch up on all […]
As today is Halloween, I thought it only fitting to write about the woman who is in the Guinness World Records as the most prolific female murderer. She comes under the category of legendary people, not only because her alleged deeds are certainly legendary, and have inspired other stories (including possibly Dracula), but because it […]
