I am very proud to be hosting Judith Arnopp on my blog today. A prolific writer, Judith has a fondness for depicting strong women throughout the ages. For more information about Judith and her books, please visit her website. Anyway, today’s post is about that most fascinating of English kings, Henry VIII. Somehow, after reading
Recently, I have come to suspect that many people up here in the cold grey north are overdosing on “Vikings”. For those of you that don’t know, this is a TV series (deliciously full of historical errors) starring Travis Fimmel as Ragnar Lodbroke (Ragnar Hairy-Breeches – wonderful name). Now, it is as obvious as the
I am very proud to be hosting Lori Crane on my blog today. For those of you who have as yet not made acquaintance with Lori’s books, I must say you are in for a major treat. This lady knows how to write – and even more, she writes about her own ancestors in various
Welcoming Elly Hays – five generations down the line Read More »
My husband’s family has a coat of arms. His family goes back for yonks, and he can count both the Stuarts of Scotland and the Vasas of Sweden among his ancestors. Not sure the Vasa strain is all that much to brag about, given that his family is related to Erik XIV of Sweden, a
“On argent background, a lion – nope, a beaver – rampant” Read More »
A pivotal role in my third book, The Prodigal Son, is played by Sandy Peden, the charismatic minister that has Matthew Graham risking life and limbs by his steadfast support of the Covenanter cause. While Matthew is a purely fictional character, Sandy Peden is not – and anyone familiar with the history of the Covenanters and
With the vocation of being a burr up the English backside Read More »
One of my favourite historical persons is St Teresa de Jesus (or St Teresa de Avila as she is also known). I would actually go as far as to say this lady is my favourite saint – but that may of course be because she is one of the few saints I have found interesting
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