We all have our particular favourites among historical people. Quite often, the people we idolise will be vilified by others – history, just like pretty much everything in life, is a matter of perception and opinion. After all, none of us knew the people who took central stage during the preceding centuries. (Well; I would …
When we came up to our country house this weekend, the apples were gone. Puts väck, as one says in Swedish. Where only last week our two apple trees had bowed under the weight of the as yet unripe but beautiful winter apples, now they stood denuded, not as much as a single apple on …
Today, I thought I’d write something about the fishier aspects of Dutch history. I like the Dutch, I suspect I may be genetically predisposed to do so, seeing as my mother had a most romantic fling with a tall (they’re always so tall, these modern Dutchmen) Dutchman called Hank. And then, of course, there’s the …
… I write. What I mean is that when it no longer suffices to sit and dream about travelling to other times, other places, I write about them instead. A most economical and safe form of time travel. When I was a child, I ran around with a wooden shield and sword, pretending to be …
This post is my contribution to the Nautical Blog Hop, organised by Helen Hollick. Please do not miss out on all the other posts on this blog hop – right at the bottom of this post you will find a list of all participants. Further to this, why not participate in my little give-away – …
I love them fried, I love them boiled, I love them very much when they are mashed. I like them new when they’re the size of quail eggs, I love them just as much when they’re covered with thick peel and are the size of a large fist. I like them red and yellow, blue …
“If I had two heads, I would gladly give him one,” Christina of Denmark is supposed to have quipped, when Henry VIII was proposed as a future bridegroom. This particular young woman had no desire to end up as one of the English king’s discarded wives – especially not as so many of them ended …
Christina of Denmark – an exiled princess who never came home Read More »
When Francisco Pizarro set foot in Perú for the first time in 1527, he’d already heard of the gold, as had his companions. “Biru”, people called this faraway kingdom where gold was as common as the cork oaks in Pizarro’s native Extremadura, and over time “Biru” became “Perú”. That first visit was more of a …
When greed meets gold – of Pizarro and Atahualpa Read More »
Vanity is not one of the seven deadly sins. Fortunately, one might add, as this is a sin most of us are guilty of – on a rather regular basis. No? This doesn’t apply to you? Ha! Double ha! As to vanity not being a deadly sin, it does at times hover uncomfortably close to …
In 1496, Princess Juana of Castilla, daughter of their most Catholic majesties Fernando and Isabel, married Philip the Beautiful, son of Maximilan I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, scion of the Hapsburg dynasty. At the time of her marriage, Juana was not expected to inherit the combined kingdoms of Aragón and Castilla. She had …
Of inbreeding, royal marriages and their ultimate consequence Read More »
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