Italy
-
This was shown on BBC2 over three consecutive Mondays, featuring an all-Italian excavation of the abandoned city and the British volcanologist Dr. Chris Jackson. It featured the familiar story of the two-day eruption and pyrochastic flow killing thousands, including Pliny the Elder, before they could escape as many ran from the lava towards the sea…
-
This interesting article by Deanna Rodriguez gives details of many of Christine’s works, some of which are readily available to the modern reader in translated form. Christine de Pizan (or Pisan) was born in Venice but moved to France at an early age and spent the rest of her life there. After her husband’s death,…
-
While I am no Marilyn Monroe, nor ever have been, in one respect I am just like her….beneath my (faux!) fur coat, I am likely to only be wearing one perfume. In her case Chanel Number Five; in mine Diorissimo. I have worn it since I was sixteen and still love it. It’s been…
-
So now, having analysed Henry VIII’s will, the Jacobites, the Roman Empire, France, Russia, Germany and Portugal, we move on to a monarchy that was still extant eighty years ago: that of Italy, which was ended by referendum in 1946. Umberto II (pictured), who reigned for the (1861) House of Savoy’s last five weeks after…
-
We’ve all seen illustrations of harrowing deathbed scenes, and in the medieval period such occasions were only too familiar and frequent. If you go here you’ll find an extremely interesting article about the whys and wherefors of confession in those final moments. But of course, confession was used in many other situations too, and the…
-
Well, one lives and learns. I quote from this article : “….the first written mention of ravioli was in a 14th-century Tuscan merchant’s recipe and, surprisingly, around the same time in a cookbook written by one of King Richard II’s chefs….” That one book has been enormously influential concerning our knowledge of medieval…
-
“….a spectacular rescue operation. They sent a fleet from the islands of Leros and Kalimnos to transport doctors and surgeons from the order to the island along with a significant provision of medicine and timber for temporary shelters. They also delivered tools to grind flour to counteract the lack of essential foodstuffs during the…
-
Edward II‘s “tomb” is, as is well-known, to be found in Gloucester Cathedral. What is less well-known is that Richard II wanted it become a shrine, and for his great-grandfather to become St. Edward of Caernarfon. Interestingly, we cannot even be entirely sure that Edward II’s remains lie in the tomb. Kathryn Warner has produced…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 