When studying the English court over any period of time, certain family names become familiar and are inevitably repeated. Prominent families rise and fall throughout the ages; the Percy Family from the North of England have been at court since that of William the Conqueror and have held the Earldom of Northumberland longer than any… Read More The Boleyn Blip: The Rise and Fall of a Family
Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason, Why gunpowder treason, Should ever be forgot. English Folk Rhyme Tweet The greatest of British holidays is upon us (more or less); the 5th of November, otherwise known as Bonfire night or Guy Fawkes night. A night where the British… Read More Remember, Remember: A Brief History of Bonfire Night
Was King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor, a Nazi? The question is still being asked of the one time King of England; Edward Windsor, almost a century after the fact. Despite numerous biographies and books on the subject, a definitive answer still eludes us. On one hand, as King, Edward was extremely close… Read More Vergangenheit: The Duke of Windsor and the Nazi Party
We continue our exploration of the historical events that inspired HBO’s series House of the Dragon with a brief account of the Civil War between Stephen and Matilda. Because we are considering it in as much as it inspired a television show, this is hardly a detailed and academic account of the historical equivalent of… Read More The History Behind: The House of the Dragon Pt II – The Anarchy
The history that inspired HBO’s House of the Dragon albeit with less incest and fewer dragons.… Read More The History Behind: The House of the Dragon Pt I – A Prelude to Anarchy
Reign season three continues to give us a wildly entertaining and dramatic life of Mary, Queen of Scots. This time we have a new antagonist; Queen Elizabeth I of England. Historically, Elizabeth was Mary’s natural rival. They both had a claim to the English throne and being of opposing religions gave the people an obvious… Read More Everything Wrong with Reign (Season 3)
Babe wake up, new Starz drama just dropped. That’s right today (at time of writing) the much anticipated Mary and George is appearing on screens. Last time out I provided some background on the titular characters and the king they schemed to get close to. This time we’re continuing with the story of King James’… Read More The History Behind: Mary and George Part II
New historical drama alert! Early March will see the mini-series Mary and George find our screens and it looks like it’s going to be dramatic. For a start, it’s produced by Starz so we can expect a liberal disregard for history in favour of ridiculous and way over the top drama. The story follows George… Read More The History Behind: Mary and George Part I
Anyone who spends more than five minutes on this blog will see that I’m really interested in ghosts. Not so much the proving of them or anything like that; I’m not interested in trying to persuade anyone of their existence or otherwise. But ghost stories are one of the constants of humanity. When we think… Read More Creepy History: Ghosts in History
Season 4 of the notoriously innacurate but eminently watchable The Tudors ends with the breakdown of Henry VIII’s marriage to his German bride, Anne of Cleves. We see the marriage dissolve, it’s chief engineer Thomas Cromwell go to the block for his role in it, and Henry marry his fifth wife; Catherine Howard. But in… Read More Mary I and her First Philip
