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Eustace the Monk- Sorcerer, Monk, Pirate, Admiral and Legend
Born in 1170 near Boulogne, France, Eustace was the younger son of Baudoin Busket, a lord of the county of Boulogne. His upbringing was typical until he traveled to Toledo, Spain as a youth where he is rumored to have studied black magic. According to the contemporary work, Histoire des Ducs de Normandie, “No one would believe the marvels he accomplished, nor those which happened to him many times.” Returning home to France, Eustace gave up his magic and joined a Benedictine monastery at St. Samer Abbey near Calais. However, history was not done with this young man yet. According to a romance biography written about Eustace in 1225 by…
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Henry Moseley – Periodic Table
Henry Gwyn Jeffries Moseley was born in Dorset in November 1887. His parents were Anabel Gwyn Jeffreys, daughter of biologist John Gwyn Jeffreys, and Henry Nottidge Moseley, biologist, anatomist and physiologist who was part of the Challenger expedition of the 1870s, which circumnavigated the world and discovered thousands of previously unknown marine species. After spending his early years at Summer Field School, Henry (known as Harry to his friends) was offered a scholarship to Eton, where he went on to win Chemistry and Physics prizes in 1906 before successfully gaining entry to Oxford later that year. Sadly, as a result of a severe bout of hayfever, he did not perform…
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La Malinche- Scarlet Woman or Maligned Heroine
Malinalli, Malintzin, Dona Marina or La Malinche. These are all names for a woman born into the heart of turbulent times. She was born sometime between 1496 and 1501 in an area between the Aztec ruled Valley of Mexico and the Mayan states of the Yucatan Peninsula. She was a member of a noble family as her father was a chief. Unfortunately, he died when Malintzin was very young and at the urging of her new husband, Malintzin’s mother sold her into slavery. Bernal Diaz del Castillo in his book The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico reports the family faked the young girl’s death upon the birth of her half…
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Pete Fountain
Pierre Dewey LaFontaine Jr., was born July 3, 1930, in New Orleans, the great grandson of a French immigrant who came to the U.S. in the early 19th century. His father would later change his last name to Fountain and Pete followed suit. As a child, he was very sickly, frequently battling respiratory infections due to weakened lungs. He was given expensive medication but it proved to be not very effective. During a pharmacy visit, Pete’s father began a discussion with a neighborhood doctor who was also there shopping and talked with him about his son’s condition. The doctor agreed to see the boy the following day. After a short…
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Victoria Woodhull
There has been a lot of talk about how Hillary Clinton was not the first woman to run for president. Technically, this is correct, however, the main historic thing about the 2016 election is that Clinton is the first woman to be nominated by a major political party. Alas, we still are primarily a two party system for good or for ill. We will get into the Bull Moose party at another time… Anyway, back to women running for president. The first in American history was Victoria Woodhull, and she was running at a time when she could not even vote for herself. Victoria Woodhull was born September 23, 1838…
