The Past brought to Life
The anniversary was celebrated in London with bonfires and bell-ringing. Lighted fire-barrels were rolled along Cheapside. It was, in a way, the precursor to Guy Fawkes Day (1605 onwards). Protestants celebrated it with such joy as it was the end of the reign of Elizabeth’s sister, Queen Mary I. ‘Bloody’ Mary, as she was named …
Today is the day after the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth 1’s coronation, 1559. She soon developed enduring relationships with the senior members of her Government. For example, William Cecil, Lord Burghley served the Queen for the rest of his life – from 1558 to 1598 when he died. Queen Elizabeth I gave leading members of …
Continue reading “Queen Elizabeth I’s Nicknames January 16th”
Queen Elizabeth 1 Accession Queen Elizabeth 1 ascended the throne on 17 Nov 1558. Her accession was greeted with an outbreak of joy by the Protestant population. But the supporters of her dead sister Mary 1 did not want a Protestant monarch. On hearing the news of the death, Elizabeth rushed to occupy the Tower …
Continue reading “Queen Elizabeth 1 Coronation January 15th”
I have revised and updated three fascinating posts! The first on the legacy of the Anglo-Saxon princess who changed Scotland when she became Queen. The second is on the joy the Accession of Queen Elizabeth 1 gave to Protestants, with a description of the martyrdom of Thomas Tomkins of Shoreditch, London. And perhaps, less earth …
Santa Klaus was, originally a 4th Century Bishop from Asia Minor who saved three girls from prostitution. He throw golden balls through their window enabling the girls to marry with a good dowry and live a moral life. Saint Nicholas, also, saved three boys from beheading. So he became the patron saint of children. He …
He was killed with an arrow by Vikings from the Great Heathen Army in 869. He was trying to convert them to Christianity, and they were trying to do the opposite. So, fed up, they tied him to a tree, shot him full of arrows and then beheaded him. Afterwards, the English set up a …
Continue reading “Feast of St Edmund of East Anglia November 20th”
I first came across the story of Old Parr, when I lived in Camden Town. It was the name of a local pub, in Plender Street, near to my flat. I found out it was named after a very long-lived man called Thomas Parr. He was said to be 152 years old when he died …
Continue reading “Death of Old Parr (and Yarrow) November 13th 1635”
Soon, after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, Parliament legislated for an annual commemoration of the Catholic Plot. The date they chose was the anniversary of finding Guy Fawkes with a lantern next to piles of barrels of Gunpowder underneath Parliament. This was the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament, 5th November 1605. The …
Today, is the feast day of 158 English Martyrs from the English School at Douai. They were killed by the English state between 1577 and 1680. On the accession of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth, Catholics who preferred exile gathered in Douai (125 Kilometres South of Calais). An English School was set up, which was in …
A strange and unwonted exhibition took place in Walsall market on Tuesday last,” the Wolverhampton Chronicle said about a case of wife-selling. “A man named George Hitchinson brought his wife, Elizabeth Hitchinson, from Burntwood, for sale, a distance of eight or nine miles. They came into the market between ten and eleven o’clock in the …
Continue reading “Wife-Selling & the bonds of Marriage October 1837”