-
On This Day in History, September 9th AD 9 | Teutoburg Forest
You’ve heard of the “Teutoburg disaster”, right? It’s kinda infamous if you like brushing up on your history stuff, particularly so if you are pro- or anti- Roman. It’s so touted as an example of anti-Roman rule, that it can be somewhat overdone. Or, to quote one Roman-o-phile I know; “I’m sick of hearing about bloody Teutoburg.” And I kind of understand that, particularly the tendency to then fall into college schoolboy speak: “yeah, boyeee, we kicked yo asses right outta Germany, bitch! YEAH!” *chestbump* But let’s tell the true story here, let’s take ourselves back to Ancient Rome and the newly acquired province of Germania. Yes, “Germania.” This was…
-
Some insight into The Black Death in Europe
Free from demographic disasters since the middle of the eighth century, Europe was ravaged from one end to the other by bubonic and related forms of plague, primarily from the years 1347-50. The plague subsequently settled in Europe (among the fleas of its rats, to be exact), recurring sporadically and locally in epidemic form until 1720. In the middle of the fourteenth century natural forces dealt the social order of medieval Latin Christendom a blow from which it never recovered. A period of climatic irregularity seems to have occurred simultaneously, bringing with it agricultural disaster and resultant widespread and recurrent famine. The combination was too much for a civilisation whose…
-
BLIND TO HIS FATE – THE HEROIC LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN OF BOHEMIA
Today the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is best known as a financial, judicial and administrative centre of the European Union but during the Middle Ages the Counts of Luxembourg competed with the German Wittlesbachs and the Austrian Hapsburgs for control of the vast Holy Roman Empire. In 1312 Henry VII became the first Count of Luxembourg to wear the imperial crown and the marriage of his young son played an important part in Henry’s election. In 1310, the 14 year old John of Luxembourg wed the 18 year old Elizabeth of Bohemia and by these diplomatic nuptials, Henry succeeded in depriving his rivals of vital territory at the heart of…
-
FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO BARBADOS (VIA CORNWALL) -The strange fate of the last Byzantines
On the 29th of May 1453 Constantine XI Palaeologus, last Emperor of the Byzantines, died fighting the Ottoman Turks besieging his capital. With his death, the 1,000 year history of the Eastern Roman Empire came to an end but not all the imperial family perished in the Fall of Constantinople. Some of the surviving Palaeologus clan ended up in Italy and in the late 1570s, a young man calling himself Theodore Palaeologus was banished from the Adriatic city of Pesaro after becoming mixed up in a murderous vendetta. Theodore, who claimed descent from the last Byzantine emperor’s brother, then vanishes from sight for several years but he reappears on the…
-
Infanticide in England
The rise of infanticide in early modern England was a result of limited options and lack of support for unmarried mothers. With the rise of foundling hospitals and a support system for unmarried mothers, the fall of infanticide cases was inevitable. Women not under control of a male householder were considered potential leaches on society; neighbors were often encouraged to police the single woman around them, not only to watch their activities but also to watch the curve of their bellies. Women that found themselves in the care of midwives that often denied help during labor until they named the father of their child, the man that is to be…
