English History – Page 17 – General History

How much truth is there in fiction?

The shortest, and probably the most effective piece of drama Shakespeare wrote was Macbeth. Even the least educated among us will quote from this play, perhaps without knowing we are doing so. ‘Is this a dagger I see before me?’ ‘And good men’s lives expire before the feathers in their cap,’ ‘Double, double, toil and trouble . . .’ ‘Ring the alarum bell! – Blow wind, come wrack/ At least we’ll die with harness on our back.’ ‘I bear a charméd life, which must not yield/ to one of woman born.’ ‘Despair thy charm/and let the angel whom thou still hast served/tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb/untimely ripped.’ Etcetera. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-19T17:33:14+00:00 June 19th, 2012|English History, English Language, History of the Cinema, Scottish history|0 Comments

Charles ‘the Bold’, Philip ‘the Good’ & Philip ‘the Bold’ (of Burgundy)

Burgundy was an important former duchy in south-central France, originally settled by a German tribe called the Burgundii, there in the 5^th century. It was first under Merovingian control, and later was absorbed into the Carolingian Empire (q.v.). While powerful Holy Roman Emperors exercised imperial control it was ruled by a series of impressive dukes.

Oddly enough, the Court of Burgundy was by far the most splendid in Europe, but few people have heard of it, France having easily and erroneously assumed that mantle. Dukes of Burgundy were more powerful than kings of France, especially when they were astute enough to form partnerships with England (as they did during the Hundred Years War). It was then that these dukes presented a real threat to the kings of France. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-18T17:45:01+00:00 June 18th, 2012|Dutch History, English History, French History, World History|0 Comments

A Brief History of the Tudor Dynasty

Henry the usurping Seventh, founded of The Tudors / historylearningsite.co.uk

Henry the usurping Seventh, founder of The Tudors / historylearningsite.co.uk

The royal line of the Tudors lasted from 1485 to 1603. one hundred and eighteen eventful years. They will be remembered for ‘the Tudor Rose’, ‘The six wives’, ‘St. Thomas More’, ‘the Queen’s pirates’, ‘the Invincible Armada’ and ‘Mock-Tudor houses’.

The great adventure started with an obscure family of Welsh gentry. Henry V, having won the Battle of Agincourt (1415 q.v.) and the heart of a French princess called Katherine of Valois, married her and had a weakly son, later to become, albeit briefly, Henry VI. The Wars of the Roses, chiefly fought between the great landowning barons to see who could drive the youngster off the throne and replace him with one of their own, were calamitous and noisy enough to conceal a vary dubious marriage connection between Owen Tudor and the widow of Henry V, who died no more than fifteen months after marrying his French princess. Perhaps no one noticed that a royal princess, Henry V’s queen, had as a widow formed an attachment with her wardrobe master. Nor did people notice that Owen Tudor was illegitimate. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-14T09:54:26+00:00 June 14th, 2012|English History, World History|0 Comments

The Thirteen Colonies (or should it be fourteen?)

If you are a crow, living in the United States of America, and on a whim you decided to fly directly north to the northernmost part, from the southernmost part of the most southerly of the original Thirteen Colonies on the eastern seaboard, you would cover 750 kilometres or 500 miles. Though I am not a crow, I have done the journey in a Chevolet Impala (not mine) at a time when the President of the USA found it convenient, safer and cheaper for Americans to drive no faster than 55 m.p.h., even on the finest roads in the world. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-13T10:45:14+00:00 June 13th, 2012|English History, English Language, Today, US History, World History|2 Comments

The English Monarchs

Modern historians do not ascribe as much importance to the kings and queens of Britain as they used, say in the time of G.M. Trevelyan. Nevertheless, these tiresome but oil-annointed ladies and gentlemen (some were neither) do pop up frequently in examinations. Thus it is is better to know at least when they reigned. Their nicknames or achievements, failures etc. are noted.

Thanks to Mr Ben Schott, a scholar, I can confirm that in the Danish Line there were six kings, all men; in the Norman Line twelve, all men; in the Lancastrian Plantagenet line there were three, while in the Yorkist Lancastrian Line there were three too. The House of Tudor (Oooer!) there were six, but the last three were women. The first Queen of England, though only for 9 days, was poor little Jane Grey. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-11T11:24:20+00:00 June 11th, 2012|English History, Today, World History|0 Comments

History of the Commonwealth of Nations

Mistakes made by leaders of powerful countries have been legion throughout history. Enormous losses in the human and animal races have been the result. It is arguable that had George V of England and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany not disliked each other, and had had more control over the ambitions of their respective political leaders, there would not have been a First World War. Again, if Blair, Aznar and Barroso had exhibited more guts on that island in the Azores, they might have persuaded George Bush Jun. to stop telling himself and them what he (and they) knew to be a lie – that Saddam was storing massively dangerous secret weapons in Iraq – and better methods than medieval ones could have been used to depose a dictator. And 100,000 Iraquies would not have died, nor nearly 4000 young servicemen and women from the USA. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-09T10:31:18+00:00 June 9th, 2012|African History, Asian History, English History, German History, History of New Zealand, History of the Low Countries, Russian history, Today, US History, World History|0 Comments

The origin of legends

‘Legend has it . . .’ and most of Man’s legends are thousands of years old. The Dragon, for instance, has been around for centuries, in art and tales told by men. Dragons do not exist, that we know for certain, and yet the fable of St. George and his Dragon gave us a patron saint of England who was not actually English, and the dragons appearing in heraldry for more than a thousand years. Did the idea of dragons, as huge lizards with wings and breathing fire come from Neanderthal (and imaginative) man finding fossils of the pterodactyl – which certainly existed – but hundred of millions of years ago. Perhaps the legendary Monster of Loch Ness is a subaqueous dragon. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-06-03T16:47:15+00:00 June 3rd, 2012|English History, English Language, History of the Cinema, Humour, Philosophy, Today, World History|0 Comments

Romanticism

From the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century there was an almost radical revolt against simple reasoning, the sciences, all authority and most traditions, against order and discipline, which overcame (and to a certain extent subdued) Western civilisation. This was the sweeping movement of Romanticism.

It meant social, political and moral reform, yes, but manifested itself above all in the arts; one could claim that the two major extremes of art are Classicism and Romanticism. Subsequent movements are generally regarded as being associated with one or the other. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-20T16:05:07+00:00 May 20th, 2012|Czech History, English History, English Language, French History, German History, Philosophy, Russian history, Spanish History, Today, World History|1 Comment

The Queen of Spain, and Gibraltar

Word has it that Sophia, Queen of Spain and sister to the exiled King of Greece, has been advised not to go to London to join the British royal family in celebrating Elizabeth II’s sixty years on the throne of Great Britain. The reasons given are political. The essential word has nine letters – Gibraltar.

Here we see a badly mixed cocktail; three parts of royal connection (and very old friendship), plus one part of squabble do not gel into an acceptable and creamy mix. Queen Sophia is Greek, descended from the Danish royal family as well as Queen Victoria. The King of Spain’s grandmother was English. When a group of radically-inclined colonels threw their crowned King Constantine out of his own palace and confiscated his possessions (not very many, but Mother Frederika had left something) the young man and his family went immediately to London, where they have been domiciled to all intents and purposes every since. Doña Sophia is and always has been very close to her exiled brother. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-17T08:11:24+00:00 May 17th, 2012|English History, Spanish History, Today, World History|2 Comments

The Luck of the Byngs, father and son

This sketch of the Admiral’s execution appeared in The London Magazine /

George Byng, Viscount Torrington was born in 1663. After school education he headed straight for the Royal Navy to make his name as a sailor. Having a nose for politics, he made himself agreeable to William of Orange (q.v.) and quickly became an Admiral.

George Byng’s most prominent successes as a sailor took place during the Wars of the Spanish Succession (q.v.), especially in 1718 at Cape Passaro, where the fleet he commanded managed the extraordinary feat of sinking an entire enemy squadron which had had the intention of making a landfall in Sicily prior to an invasion. (more…)

By Dean Swift| 2012-05-15T11:05:04+00:00 May 15th, 2012|English History, French History, Philosophy, Spanish History, World History|0 Comments