Inspiring Excitement and Passion about History and the Humanities
Here’s a roundup of the history stories that I’ve been reading this week! Stash of Medieval Knickers Discovered From BBC History Magazine’s HistoryExtra blog: http://www.historyextra.com/lingerie Have you ever wondered what kinds of underwear people wore before there was comfy Fruit of the Loom’s made with nice soft cotton? I have. Obviously, being a woman, I’m…
It’s not every day that you get to push your babygirl in a stroller around a 9th century Arab complex on a hill in Granada. La Alhambra, which was a massive fortified city with splendid palaces and gardens from the 13th century, and the last fortress to fall to the Christians in 1492, is…
It’s October, which means that I’m in my head planning for another year spending November in a NaNoWriMo haze in addition to the tryptophan-induced sleep coma of Thanksgiving. In case you don’t know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, wherein participants pledge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. What you do with that…
I’ve been communing with a crazed murderer lately, and it’s actually been an uplifting experience. It’s not often I write something like that. We often put composers and artistic performers up on pedestals. They are somehow closer to the angels. More in touch with Source. A channel for divinity. And this closeness with the Divine must…
I’ve just recently uploaded a new episode of my Renaissance English History Podcast, which focused on trade and exploration in Elizabethan England. While researching it, I came upon several interesting men who had major roles in the creation of the Age of Discovery. One was Sebastian Cabot, the son of John Cabot who was possibly…
It’s not much of a secret that Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley had a Sort Of Thing going on in her court. The famously-Virgin Queen had one possible True Love – Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester. In 1575 Elizabeth was on one of her summer progresses through the midlands, and she visited Dudley…
History can often seem intimidating because it seems like only the stories of dead white men. And there’s a reason for that. The white men were the ones who kept most of the records, being the ones who were educated and literate, and so they are the ones about whom we know. I am…
There are a handful of cities in Europe that were once major epicenters of the universe, but are now snoozy little hamlets who betray nothing of their illustrious pasts. Cordoba comes to mind. The place was once pretty much the center of the universe, and the most populous city in Europe. Now it’s a quiet…
Lasting art is startling in its provocativeness and sensuality, whether it’s just been released, or if it’s 500 years old. Music is especially striking because it is living – each time it is performed it is renewed, recreated, regenerated. No two performances are exactly the same, and it’s that living, breathing aspect of it that I…
Three of the best history-themed articles I’ve read this week. Scandal, drama, buddhism in 18th century Europe, and boring vanilla queens. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. From historytoday.com: http://www.historytoday.com/js-hamilton/menage-roi-edward-ii-and-piers-gaveston For nearly 700 years people have been debating whether a) Edward II was gay, and b) if he was in a romantic relationship with…