Taegan

  • Medieval Beauty

    As a re-enactor portraying a wealthy medieval lady, one of the most common questions that you can be asked is “did they wear make-up?” Well, the simple answer is yes, but not in the way that we are familiar with today. It’s well known that the ancient Egyptians, both men and women, wore make up: we are all familiar with the images of them with heavily made up eyes, so why should your fashion conscious well to do lady in the Middle Ages be any different? We have an abundance of sources available to us today in the form of documents, effigies, illustrations in manuscripts, portraits etc. to help us…

  • Margery Jourdemayne

    We would probably never have heard the name of Margery Jourdemayne if she had not been associated with members of the Royal Court – namely Humphrey Duke of Gloucester and his Duchess Eleanor Cobham, Roger Bolingbroke, Thomas Southwell and John Home (Hum or Hume). Margery, dubbed ‘the Witch of the Eye next Westminster’, was the wife of a Yeoman, born before 1415. Her maiden name is unknown. She had developed a reputation as a local ‘wise woman’ and purveyor of magical ‘lotions and potions’. It was this reputation that led to her services being sought by people of all social standings. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was the youngest son of…

  • The Marriage of John of Gaunt & Blanche of Lancaster

    Until the devastation imposed on it by Henry VIII at the dissolution of the monasteries, Reading Abbey in Berkshire witnessed a good many historical events as diverse as being the place where the earliest recorded musical manuscript of the 13th Century musical ‘round’ – Sumer Is Icumen In – was found, to the place Edward IV chose to make public his clandestine marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. One of the most significant events however took place on the 19th May 1359. John of Gaunt married his third cousin Blanche of Lancaster, both being Great great grandchildren of Henry III. John was the fourth son of Edward the III, and Blanche was…

  • Francis Bacon

    Born in January 1561, Bacon was the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and his second wife Anne. During his time at Cambridge, Bacon began to question the accepted methods of scientific research, believing them to be flawed. His ideas led to the modern approach to scientific research. It is suggested that it was his experimentation of the effects of freezing on decomposition and preservation that led to him catching a chill and developing pneumonia, leading to his death. Bacon embarked on a career in Law and Politics, following his father’s sudden death which left him in financial difficulties. Despite the difficulties Bacon was served as a Member of Parliament from…

  • Defying Death

    “And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: / And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.” Methuselah was reputedly the oldest named person recorded in the bible. He was the grandfather of Noah, and supposedly died at the age of 969 years of age. His death occurred in the same year as the Flood. Throughout history there has always been a fascination with the idea of immortality and of defying the aging process. Today there are an abundance of products available aimed at both men and women that try and stem…