Was it arrogance? He was known for it. Was he bitter? Yes. John of Gaunt spent his life merely third in line for the throne when he clearly thought he was most qualified to be king of England. Did he see this as a way to prove to England that he was a better military…
Category: France
The year was 1356
In a stunning, shocking defeat, the French king, John II, was captured on September 19th during the Battle of Poitiers, fought southwest of Paris. He was taken to London, a prisoner – except that King John’s jailor, the king of England, was John’s very own uncle. And the knight who had beaten him in the…
The Year was 1415
Roman Emperor Claudius the Cruel needed Roman soldiers, but they were not volunteering. Why not? Claudius thought the reason was that they wanted to stay home with their wives. His solution? Ban marriage. A Catholic priest, Valentine, disobeyed him, marrying young lovers in secret. Off with his head! The priest was beaten and beheaded in…
The year was 1818
Tonight was Christmas Eve. The organ at St. Nicholas church in Oberndorff was broken. In the afternoon, Father Josef Mohr, 26, walked a couple of miles from St. Nicholas to his friend Franz Gruber’s home in the nearby town of Arnsdorf, to give him a six-stanza poem he had written two years earlier. Franz, a…
The year was 1863
It was a June wedding in Paris. Multi-millionaire Isaac Merritt Singer, 52, was marrying the very young, the very pregnant French model, Isabelle Eugenie Boyer, 22. The baby, born the next month, would be Isaac’s 19th child – or maybe the 21st – or…? But who’s counting? Isaac was the Singer of Singer sewing machines….
The year was 1343
The shocking breach of chivalry was blamed on Queen Joan. It was the summer of 1343, and 16 of the finest knights in Brittany had come to Paris to take part in a royal joust. They had been invited by none other than the king of France himself, Philip VI, to celebrate a truce with…
The Year was 1193
Philip’s new bride, 18-year-old Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, was described as having a good heart. That might have been a clue to what happened next. The 15th of August was the royal wedding day. The widowed Phillip II of France, 28, was marrying for the second time. His first wife, the tall (5’9”), lovely Princess…
The Year was 1794
Each day, the victims to be guillotined were given numbers. In that order, they would be killed. Beautiful young mother of three, Marie Thérèse Françoise de Choiseul, princess of Monaco, was given #28. As Marie Thérèse awaited her gruesome turn, she felt ill and was told to go into an adjoining room and lie down….
The year was 1048 [or so]
Young Matilda of Flanders was royalty. And a spoiled brat. Plus she was descended from Charlemagne. Her grandfather had been king of France and now, her uncle was. With thick blond hair braided down her back and blue eyes, she was a beauty. There was no question, Matilda would make a good marriage…if she would…
The year was 1495
On the Italian peninsula, the French armies were marching steadily south on their way to seize Naples and claim it for the French crown. They thought it was rightfully theirs. With them was the French king, 24-year-old Charles VIII. Although he had been king since he was 13, Charles was uneducated and barely able to…