GJ
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THE FIRST USE OF BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AND THE SIEGE OF KAFFA
It is recorded that by 1331 The Black Death was ravaging its way through central Asia. It was for a long time a mystery as to how exactly this plague managed to make its way to the shores of Europe but by reading ancient texts historians and biologists think they have traced its advancement to the city of Kaffa in Crimea and the first ever recorded use of biological warfare. As the plague killed half the population of China and made its way through India and Persia somehow trade managed to continue. It’s of no surprise then that plague infested rats climbed aboard trading vessels and found their way into…
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Baynard’s Castle
Many years ago on the North Bank of the Thames opposite the place that is now occupied by Tate Modern there once stood a Norman structure named Baynard’s Castle. It was named after Ralph Baynard who came to England in the company of William the Conqueror. In 1213 the castle was demolished by King John, it was rebuilt but around about 1276 was demolished again in order to make room for the extension of The Blackfriars Monastery. A fortified mansion was built on reclaimed land so [...]
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THE ASSASSINATION OF JULIUS CAESAR
It is the 15th March 44 BCE and Julius Caesar has declared himself dictator for life. There are many who are unhappy with this move and are seeking to end his leadership and his life. Caesar had led his army across the Rubicon River into northern Italy plunging the Roman Republic into a civil war. Caesars army defeated the army of his rival but not before Pompey managed to escape to Greece. Caesar chased his man down defeating his armies as he went before finally catching up with him in Egypt, well, not the man himself but his severed head, which was delivered to Caesar, instead of an extended hand…
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OEDIPUS
We have all heard of Oedipus, either as the ‘tragedy’ or the ‘complex’. Oedipus has been around in some form or another for well over 1000 years now. His beginnings are with ancient Greek poet Homer in fragments, then with Hesiod, Pindar, Aeschylus and Euripides. It is, however, with Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) that the name became legendary. The play begins in the court of Laius and Jocasta, the King and queen of Thebes, who are having trouble conceiving. Troubled by this Laius goes to see the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. The oracle prophesises that any son born to the couple would kill his father and…
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THE PENDLE WITCH TRIALS
James I believed in witches and the dark arts. In 1603 he wrote a book ‘Daemononlogie’ in it he instructs the reader to condemn, inform on and prosecute all supporters and practitioners of witchcraft. When James came to the throne, this fear became personified in the common people and a law was passed in 1612 that each Justice of the Peace in Lancashire should write up a list of all those who refused to attend church or take Holy Communion. That was a criminal offense. So when we look at the Pendle ‘witches’ we have to look at them at the point in time in which they were accused. Firstly…
