Most popular magazines of the Regency period accepted submissions from readers. In fact, many magazines found a significant percentage of their content from reader contributions, including fiction, essays, and poetry. Some magazines also devoted a great deal of space to lengthy letters from readers. Most fiction, especially in ladies’ magazines, and all poetry in just…
Author: HistoricalHoney
Crowning A Queen
There had never been a regnant queen in England before 1553, when Mary I ascended to the throne following the death of her younger brother Edward VI. After the death of our flame-haired monarch, Elizabeth I, a female ruler would not succeed to the throne until 1688 when Mary II was crowned alongside her husband…
The short life of Charles II’s sister, Minette
Much has been written over the years about King Charles the 1st who lost his head and his son Charlie the 2nd aka ‘The Party King,’ what is not so widely known however, is that the Merry Monarch had a sister who he lovingly referred to as ‘Minette’ and her story is, (in my humble…
Destination…Warrington?
Yes, I am writing a destination review for Warrington. Seriously. More specifically one very special part of Warrington…our museum. I intend to convince to you by the end of this article that the next destination for your weekend away should be here. Whether you are from the North and are nearby, from the South and…
The Bloody Elizabeth Báthory
Forget Twilight. Forget True Blood and the Vampire Diaries. You can even disregard Nosferatu and the Hammer classics. Hungarian noblewoman, Elizabeth Báthory was one crazy, blood-loving gal. Allow me to set the scene…As with many a zany character in history, Lizzie was royal; her Uncle Stephen was the King of Hungary, and she herself a Countess married…
Io Saturnalia! Recreating a Roman Festival!
My novel “Aqueduct to Nowhere” takes place in ancient Tarraco (modern day Tarragona) during the wild 7-day Roman festival of Saturnalia. Research told me the basics of the festival. Saturnalia began on 17-Dec and ran until 25-Dec. The festival paid tribute to Saturn, the agricultural God of Sowing and Husbandry. Saturn. Source: talesofcuriosity.com The final…
Situating Local History Scholarship
I have realized that local history scholarship is often met with a dismissive sort of condescension by some historians. If you are self-identified as a scholar of local history you are often received within the academy as professionally akin to a ‘backyard archaeologist” i.e. someone who digs in his own garden in search of relics…
Longbourn by Jo Baker
As Darcy and Elizabeth’s #2 fan (after my friend Naomi) I was always going to be biased reading and reviewing this book. When I finished Longbourn I tried to imagine if I would’ve read it differently if I knew nothing of Pride and Prejudice? The beauty and attraction of Austen’s novel is with the ‘upstairs’ family,…
Where does our food come from? And what does it mean?
How did unrelated places such as Portugal and the Caribbean islands end up with hundreds of recipes for salted cod sourced from Newfoundland and Norway? What does the availability of nutmeg during the middle ages in the UK say about Southeast Asian and European relations? Why do some food words simply transliterate into English? The Nahuatl…
Historic Hanutings
Everyone loves a good ghost story, this much is true. They chill you to your core and more often than not, make your hairs stand on end. But what do we love more than a mere ghost story? Well, a historical one of course! Turn of the lights, get in bed. Pull the covers over…