Queens and Kings

Reading Women, and Reading Women

by tracybarrett May 20, 2013

by Tracy Barrett (W&M contributor) That is, reading women (the act of reading works written by women) and reading women (women who read). When I received a grant from the NEH to study texts about women written by women in the Middle Ages, many of my friends were puzzled that this was possible. “Medieval women [...]

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The Baburnama : An Emperor Tells His Own Story

by PamelaToler January 18, 2013

By Pamela Toler (Wonders and Marvels Contributor) Zahir-u-din Muhammad Babur was the first Mughal ruler of India–one of history’s great empire builders by any standard. Born in 1483 in the Central Asian kingdom of Ferghana (part of modern Uzbekistan), Babur was descended from two great conquerors: Genghis Khan and Timur (known in the west as [...]

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Tipu’s Tiger

by PamelaToler December 18, 2012

By Pamela Toler (Wonders and Marvels Contributor) “Tipu’s Tiger” is one of the most popular exhibits at the Victoria and Albert Museum. For generations, British school children and American tourists have lined up to watch the large mechanical tiger maul a fallen British gentleman. Today the toy is too fragile to operate, but once upon [...]

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Women and humour in history

by Helen King November 10, 2012

By Helen King Do men always get the best punch-lines? I was recently at a conference where one of the speakers illustrated his points about gender in ancient Rome by referring to a story about Winston Churchill and Nancy Astor. Quick-witted, the first woman Member of Parliament, Nancy Astor’s reputation has been tarnished by her [...]

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The Strange Journey of Napoleon’s Penis

by KarenAbbott September 23, 2012

By Karen Abbott (W&M Contributor) In 1821, the year of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death from stomach cancer, his penis embarked on a journey that rivaled its owner’s bloodthirsty trek across Europe. It began on an autopsy table on the British island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, which had been the emperor’s home since the [...]

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Diana, Callisto and Philip II

by Helen King August 10, 2012

By Helen King Between 1553 and 1562, Titian painted a number of mythological scenes for Philip II. Among these was a painting of Diana and Callisto. In the story, told most famously by the Roman poet Ovid, Callisto is one of the unmarried girls forming the virgin goddess’s entourage. Jupiter catches sight of her, and [...]

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From Here to Timbuktu

by PamelaToler July 18, 2012

By Pamela Toler Timbuktu has been in the news lately as a result of growing control by Islamic extremists, whose narrow interpretation of sharia law has led to the destruction of Muslim tombs, innocent people lashed in the streets, and thousands of refugees fleeing their homes. It’s a good time to remind people of a [...]

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Why we love to read (and write!) novels about queens: Part II

by stephaniecowell June 30, 2012

by Stephanie Cowell There are powerful queens (Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Catherine de Medici, Isabelle of Castile, Eleanor of Aquitaine) or queen victims of kings and ministers (Mad Joana, Caroline, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard). They often have a great deal of money, fantastic dresses and jewels, and the adoration of the multitudes. Imagine never having to [...]

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Ruff-ing It and the Politics of Fashion

by lizlehfeldt April 14, 2012

By Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt (W&M Regular Contributor) Writing in 1637, the Marquis of Careaga deplored the “delicate and womanly” fashions that enraptured Spanish men. He warned that these indulgences “overthrew their spirits, unnerved their determination, weakened their energy, and diminished their manly vigor.” We might wonder what sort of fashions could inspire such vitriol. A [...]

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Juana of Castile’s Baggage

by lizlehfeldt March 14, 2012

By Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt (W&M Regular Contributor) Imagine being known to history as Juana “la Loca” or Juana “the crazy one.” That is heavy baggage to carry forward from the sixteenth century into the postmodern era. Before she was Juana la Loca, she was Juana of Castile (1479-1555), the eldest surviving heir of the famous [...]

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A Versailles Christmas

by cjones December 23, 2011

A few years ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Bibliotheca Bodmeriana in Geneva (a must-do for historical bibliophiles), where the eyes feast on marvels such as a full codex of the gospel of John and a Gutenberg Bible. Among the rare court documents that Martin Bodmer collected over his lifetime sits Elizabeth I’s Christmas [...]

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Even Royal Molars Decay

by Holly Tucker December 15, 2011

By Lauren Renaud (Vanderbilt University) A gleaming white smile represents youth and beauty. Today, pearly whites are achievable for many through regular visits to the dentist. However, in eighteenth century France, the dental field was just seceding from quackery. A new professional, the dentiste, was replacing local blacksmiths who remedied toothaches through extraction with bulky [...]

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A Marvelous Dinner Party

by cjones November 18, 2011

Madame de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, had a serious passion for porcelain. She took a leading role in patronage and artistic influence at the French manufactory at Vincennes, which produced the finest objects in the realm in the 1750s. The king provided the economic support to ensure that Pompadour and his court could [...]

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The Royal Miracle

by Holly Tucker November 6, 2011

By Gillian Bagwell The defeat of Charles II by Cromwell’s forces at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651 set off one of the most astonishing episodes in British history – Charles’s desperate six-week odyssey to reach safety in France, which came to be known as the Royal Miracle because he narrowly escaped discovery [...]

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A Queen’s Anger

by lizlehfeldt October 27, 2011

By Elizabeth A. Lehfeldt In the summer of 1474 (only a few months after the acclamation ceremony I described in my earlier post), King Fernando met with miserable failure on the battlefield. Upon returning to the court, according to the chronicler Juan de Flores, his wife, Queen Isabel, delivered a scathing harangue: “Using the courageous [...]

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