Today, dear peeps, we’re going to be spending time in medieval England, more specifically in the reign of King John. This time and place was a man’s world where women rarely got more than a passing mantion by the (male) chroniclers. There were exceptions of course, and one such exception was Nicholaa de la Haye, …
During the past summer, I did something I’ve been planning to do for years: I visited Kalmar Castle, which is one of the older castles in Sweden. Initially built in the 13th century, it reached its full glory as a Renaissance Palace in the 16th century, but nothing really lasts for ever does it? The …
Evil deeds and their grisly consequences – of crime and punishment Read More »
Today, dear peeps, we’ll be lingering in 13th century Sweden. (Blame it on a recent road trip, which had me passing places that were once seats of power in the nascent kingdom of Sweden, now mostly are backwaters . . .) Now, the reason why this story caught my eye was because of a name: …
The abducted bride – the story of Ingrid Svantepolksdotter Read More »
Once upon a time there was a king named Valdemar. Okay, we might need to slow down as there have been quite a few kings named Valdemar, especially in Denmark. Not so much in Sweden, though, and this particular king was Swedish. Sweden in the 13th century was not Sweden as it is today. Huge …
The consequences of not keeping it in your pants – a medieval morality Read More »
In Sweden, Kristian II of Denmark has the not-so-flattering epithet ”the tyrant”. After all, it was because of his duplicity that the streets of Stockholm ran red with blood one cold November night in 1520 as one after another of the Swedish nobles who’d fought against Danish dominion were summarily executed. In Denmark, obviously, he …
When Isabella of Austria became Elisabeth of Denmark – the story of a young queen Read More »
In one of my recent posts, I wrote about Hans II of Denmark and his wife, Kristina. Not a marital union that ended all that happily—not after Hans became so infatuated with the fair Edle he forgot that key word discretion, thereby humiliating his loyal wife before the entire court. Well, so thought the queen …
From royal prince to mendicant friar – the story of Jakob of Dacia Read More »
The other day, I went to see an Exhibition at Fotografiska Museet in Stockholm. In a burst of patriotism, may I recommend that should you ever visit our fair capital you make this museum a stop on your tour – if nothing else for the spectacular views from the café/restaurant. This museum offers a varied …
Sometimes, I start out by researching one person and end up fascinated by another. In this particular case, I wanted to know more about Hans II, King of Denmark and Norway (“And Sweden!” he adds, but as he was only king here for like three years, I see that as more of a parenthesis) This …
Ms Ironbeard, King Hans and the failure of a royal marriage Read More »
Sometimes, hubby and I spend several hours over the weekend solving crosswords. He is much better at it than I am, mainly because there are so many words/clues that only exist in the rarefied world of crossworders (is that even a word?) and he has been solving crosswords for yonks. Today, one of the clues …
I have previously written about Eleanor of Castile, but in that post I focussed on the children she birthed. And lost. She lost most of them, unfortunate woman that she was. This post is about her last few years—mainly because that’s where I’ve been spending time with her, as my latest novel is set 1287-1290, …
A slow march into permanent night – of a queen’s death Read More »
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