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 […]
Category: Scandinavia
Eva Ekeblad
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I could use a nice cold drink. We’ve talked about the origins of beer (Please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/nin-kasi-lady-fills-mouth-beer/), but sometimes something a bit stronger is necessary. So we move on to vodka. In fairness, the lady who is the subject of this post did not only pave […]
Edgar the Ætheling- The Boy Who Wasn’t King
England, ER, France, Germany, Northern Europe, Scandinavia
England in the 11th century was not always a great place to be if you were royalty. Young Edgar was the grandson of Edmund Ironside, king of England, and great grandson of the infamous Æthelred the Unready, also king of England. So you would think Edgar would be next in line? Well, not exactly. There […]
Forseti, Norse God of Truth and Justice
Not much is known about Forseti as he is only mentioned twice in Old Norse literature. Our main source is from the Poetic Edda. The first mention of him is in the 15th stanza of the Grímnismál or “The Song of the Hooded One”, part of the aforementioned Poetic Edda. The Poetic Edda is a […]
La Petite Struensee
In an earlier post, we told the story of the tragic Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. She had an affair with her deranged husband’s doctor and had a child by him. (For more on that story, please see this post: http://www.historynaked.com/princess-caroline-matilda-unhappily-ever/ ) She was sent in to exile and never saw her children again. What […]