Category: Royal People
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Empress Hermine: A Quotation Mark Empress

Today we are excited to be hosting Moniek Bloks as part of her book tour for her latest book, Hermine: An Empress in Exile, which is out today in the UK and 1 January 2021 in the US! Moniek Bloks is the editor of the successful blog History of Royal Women. She lives in the…
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Royal People: The Princes in the Tower

One of the most tragic stories of the English monarchy – and one that has captivated people for centuries – is that of the two Princes in the Tower. The two Princes in question were Edward V of England and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. When they were 12 and 9 years old,…
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Royal People: Anna Komnene – Historian, Physician, Byzantine Princess

When people think of medieval princesses, they often think of an almost fairy-tale like person. A beautiful young woman who was married off at a young age to a foreign prince, traded as a political pawn, with little agency of her own. Of course, this was often far from the truth, and one such example…
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Royal People: Jadwiga of Poland

Jadwiga of Poland was a very remarkable woman, and one who is sadly neglected by those in Western Europe. Living in the fourteenth century, she was the first female monarch of Poland – beating England by nearly 200 years – and despite leading a short life, she left a legacy that continues to today. Jadwiga…
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Royal People: Joanna of Castile, Mad or Maligned?

At the time of Joanna of Castile’s death in 1555 she was 75 years old and had been Queen of Castile for over 50 years. However, for over 45 years she had been effectively imprisoned for her alleged insanity. So who was Joanna, and what led to her fate? Joanna with her parents, Isabella and…
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Royal People: Jacqueline of Hainault, pawn or political player?

I recently received a request for some Dutch history, and I am always happy to oblige. In all honesty, I know fairly little about Dutch history on its own, with most of what I do know being how the country was used by the French, English, and Spanish for their own gains. One person who…
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Royal People: Queen Joan of Navarre’s Confinement as a Witch

As my blog has been up and running for just over 6 months now, I thought I would return to the topic of my Masters dissertation: fifteenth-century English royal witches. My first post here was about Eleanor Cobham, the aunt-by-marriage of Henry VI who in 1441 was scandalously tried for using witchcraft, with her accomplices…
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Royal People: Boudica, Queen of the Iceni

For this latest post in my Royal People series I go back a lot further than most of my posts have focused on so far, to Roman Britain. Boudica is one of the most famous women in English history, and as I grew up in one of the towns she burnt to the ground, I…
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Royal People: Emperor Charlemagne, King of the Franks

It has been said that if you are of vaguely European descent, you are almost certainly related to Charlemagne. In fact, due to maths calculations, you are probably related to pretty much anyone alive in ninth century Europe who left descendants. As this week’s blog post was delayed because I took a trip to Germany,…
