France
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Théroigne de Méricourt
Born Anne-Josèphe Terwagne in Marcourt, Rendeux in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium, Théroigne de Méricourt was far from royalty. She was born in 1767 to peasant parents, the middle child of three. Her mother died when she was five years old and Anne-Josèphe was passed back and forth between a couple of aunts and her father and his new wife. None of these homes were particularly kind to her, through a series of misadventures including being hired as a governess and then ditched at a tavern, young Anne-Josèphe found herself in the employ of a woman named Madame Colbert. Madame Colbert hired Anne-Josèphe to be the governess of her children,…
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Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte- From Pauper to King
This is a story of rags to riches and of an unlikely king. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was born in France to a lawyer, but through an extraordinary turn of events became king of a country far from his own. Born in Pau, France on February 5, 1818, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was the son of a prosecutor and his wife. His family wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a lawyer as well, but Jean-Baptiste enlisted in the French Marines in 1780 instead. When the French Revolution and its aftermath of the Terror happened (for more on the Terror, please see this post http://www.historynaked.com/the-terror/ ), he rose rapidly through the ranks.…
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Prester John
In the time of the crusades, Europeans were looking for any allies in their battles against the Muslims for the Holy Land. Medieval writings often feature a fabulously wealthy Christian king in the East. This was Prester John. He was believed to be a member of the Nestorian Church, which was an independent Eastern Christian church that did not fall under the purview of the patriarch in Constantinople. He was supposed to be an ally against the Muslims for the crusaders to take advantage of. The story of Prester John was first recorded by Bishop Otto of Freisling Germany in his Chronicon published in 1145. It was based on…
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Dorothy Lawrence- The Woman in the Trenches
History is full of women who disguised themselves and fought along their menfolk for causes they believed in. A prime example are the women who inspired the legend of Molly Pitcher during the American Revolution. (For more on this, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/searching-molly-pitcher/ ) According to historian, Elizabeth Shipton, many women made it to the front line as nurses in the trenches or helping those wounded in No Man’s Land. Some women took up arms and called “she soldiers”, but they had to operate in secret. Dorothy Lawrence was one of these. She disguised herself as a man and fought in the trenches along with the men. Dorothy…
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The Affair of the Poisons
Court is treacherous place full of back biting nobles who would sell their own mothers to get ahead. The Affair of the Poisons was an episode in the court of Louis XIV that exemplified exactly how far one would go to get where they needed to be in court. It all started with the arrest of the wife of a minor noble, the Marquise de Brinvilliers. As with most noble marriages, the Marquise did not marry for love. In fact, she disliked her husband the Marquis enough to attempt to murder him. She apparently didn’t do a very good job because she didn’t succeed and got caught. However, this was…
