Dean Swift

Elisabeth Báthory, ‘The Blood Countess’

The Countess, innocence personified / maraswic.blogs.uv.es

In a recent post on this blog, Gilles de Retz or Rais was discussed. France has its Gilles de Retz, and Hungary has its Elisabeth Báthory. The connection is that both were wealthy aristocrats, and both were found guilty of murdering children, very much in the plural sense. De Retz had a proper trial, but Elisabeth did not, though sentence of death was passed on both.

Britain has had its Moors Murderers of course, and Imperial Rome had captured foreign ladies stripped in public and later raped and eaten by savage animals as part of the day’s entertainment. The Japanese soldiery, during the Second World War, would use live prisoners for bayonet practice for conscripts. The list is endless. Man’s inhumanity to man is insatiable. Do you remember a picture on the front page of Time Magazine showing a Serbian civilian, smoking a cigarette while shooting a young Bosnian to death on the pavement? (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-18T13:24:00+00:00 February 18th, 2012|French History, World History|0 Comments

A message from Dean Swift

I apologise to this website’s watchers for the fact that I have not posted anything for a couple of days. I and my family have been struck down by Madame Grippe, a tenacious and painful lady whom nobody wants to sleep with, though anyone struck by her – must. Today I hope to write about a lady who must be a relative of La Grippe, in that both females are extremely disagreeable, though myths about both have been around for centuries. Today or tomorrow I write about Elizabeth Báthory, Countess (or ‘Blood Countess’) of Nádasdy. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-18T12:03:55+00:00 February 18th, 2012|English Language, Humour, Today|0 Comments

The US Senate & the House of Lords

The Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress. The first, or lower is called the House of Representatives; both represent all States of the Union. Senators first met officially in 1789, by coincidence at the beginning of the French Revolution. The powers and composition of the Senate are to be found in Article I of the US Constitution. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-16T09:58:42+00:00 February 16th, 2012|English History, US History, World History|0 Comments

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 – 1618): a life of frustration

Sir Walter, not a lucky man / biography.com

He was an explorer, courtier, navigator, cartographer and part-time corsair. Young Walter took part in privateering expeditions to the West Indies, an increasingly important staging post between the newly opened-up North America and Britain, hub of the fledgling empire.

He was sent by Queen Elizabeth I to suppress rebellion in Ireland. On his return from this mostly unsuccessful sortie he became a favourite with the Queen, though he had failed in Ireland. The Queen knew her history; all English attempts to sort out the Irish Question had failed, sometimes spectacularly. Always had, always have and always will. So Elizabeth, never lacking in a sense of humour, rewarded Raleigh for what he had done in Ireland with a gift of land – in Ireland. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-14T09:27:46+00:00 February 14th, 2012|English History, English Language, US History|0 Comments

James I and VI, a survivor 1567 – 1625 (updated)

This King of England was also King of Scotland. He had a French wife, seven children, a mother who was beheaded, a father murdered, a son executed and several favourites, all male and famous for one reason or other.

James’s mother was Mary, Queen of Scots, who came from France to Scotland, then famously escaped from Scotland to England seeking protection and friendship with Queen Elizabeth I. Sadly, she was a natural plotter, and much used by other plotters of lesser rank. One of the things no Tudor could allow was plotting. James was young when they cut off his mother’s head. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-13T09:12:13+00:00 February 13th, 2012|English History, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments

British barons & the Barons’ Wars

A ‘Baron’ indicates the lowest rank in the British peerage*, though the title itself is one of the oldest. A Barony meant land that went with the title. Barons were originally the military tenants-in-chief of the Crown. The name is French, and came with the Norman Conquest that began (and triumphed under William, Duke of Normandy) in 1066.

The word means ‘vassal of the Lord’. If it had any limitation – that limitation was confined to those who held (or were awarded) land directly from the King in return for military allegiance and service. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-12T16:09:05+00:00 February 12th, 2012|English History, World History|0 Comments

The English Civil War 1642 – 1649 (updated)

Cavalier (left) and roundhead / talonsanthony.edublogs.org

The history of Britain includes only one genuine civil war. The Wars of the Roses (q.v.) do not come into this category because they were a private struggle between families, including dethroning of kings, usurpation of the throne, terrible violence, vengeance, and settling of accounts. Warlords sought to put their favourite in the Number One Spot, and thousands died as a result, but they were not necessarily civilians. In fact usually they were foreign mercenaries hired by the barons. The people of Britain watched with horror as the flower of the aristocracy tore into each other like wolves. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-12T11:53:23+00:00 February 12th, 2012|English History, Philosophy, World History|1 Comment

Figures in a Revolution: Two French revolutionary leaders

The former government in Spain, evicted by a powerful majority of votes last November 20, had two Robespierres and one Fouquier-Tinville. I refer to leaders of the French Revolution (q.v.). Now their Spanish clones have almost gone. They must wait in parliamentary solitude for the Spanish people to vote socialist again in 1014. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-11T08:10:55+00:00 February 11th, 2012|French History|0 Comments

Merry King Charles II and his Ladies

Charles II – VERY popular with the ladies / historical-nonfiction.com

At the same time as Felipe IV reigned in very grand Spain, and Louis XIV in very rich France, the ‘Sun King’s’ cousin Charles II was living a double life in England. He had regained the throne in The Restoration, had punished a few of those who had signed the death warrant for his father’s execution in 1649, and was now suffering a certain amount of stick from his wretched parliament. More intelligent, tactful and resourceful than Charles I had ever been, merry Charles II knew how to deal with irritating Members of Parliament. When they became irksome, he simply closed Parliament and ruled with a cabal of his chosen ministers instead. And the MPs let him. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-10T11:11:34+00:00 February 10th, 2012|English History, French History, Humour|0 Comments

Nazis invade the Soviet Union: ‘Barbarossa’

Joaquim von Ribbentrop, architect of the Nazi/Soviet Pact / guardian.co.uk

Contrary to all expectations, and especially remembering the previously signed Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939 achieved by von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s armies invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, using the codename ‘Barbarossa’. Hitler had hinted in 1940 that his future plans would include such an invasion, in a top secret directive issued to the High Command in December of that year. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-02-09T09:33:57+00:00 February 9th, 2012|German History, Jewish History, Romanian History, Russian history, World History|0 Comments

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