3 MIN READ ·
The Flight to Varennes, June 1791
His face was on every coin in France. Their plan relied on nobody knowing what they looked like.
ON THIS DAY THIS HAPPENED · THE ARTICLE COLLECTION
History worth reading.
Royal scandals, forgotten lives and moments that changed everything. Take a little longer with the stories behind them.
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167 articles
3 MIN READ ·
Khutulun: The Undefeated Wrestler Princess of the Mongols
Somewhere in 13th century Mongolia, a young man was having a very bad day. He had arrived confident, probably flexing a little, absolutely certain that this would be the day someone finally beat Khutulun. He was wrong. He was, in fact, so wrong that he was now lying flat on his back in the dirt, staring up at the felt ceiling of a Mongolian tent, mentally calculating how many horses he had left and whether his dignity was recoverable.
3 MIN READ ·
Sebastian Newdigate: Henry VIII's Former Companion, Executed at Tyburn, 19 June 1535
He had been one of Henry's closest companions. Henry had him chained to a pillar with iron rings at his neck, his hands, and his feet. Then he came to visit.
4 MIN READ ·
Elizabeth Tailboys: The Daughter Bessie Blount May Have Given Henry VIII
Bessie Blount gave Henry VIII a son. He gave the boy a dukedom and a name that meant son of the king. A year later she may have given him a daughter. He gave her nothing.
4 MIN READ ·
Anastasia: The Fourth Daughter, Born 18 June 1901
Outside, the cannons were still firing. One hundred and one rounds for a daughter. Three hundred for a son. Nicholas counted. Then he went for a walk and left his newborn daughter in a room he was not ready to enter.
3 MIN READ ·
Marie Antoinette's Entry into Paris, 8 June 1773
She was seventeen years old when Paris gave itself over to loving her. Twenty years later the same city sent her to the guillotine. On the eighth of June 1773 she stood on the balcony of the Tuileries and wept, and she had no reason yet to know the difference between the two things.
3 MIN READ ·
Mary Jones: Hanged at Tyburn for a Length of Linen, 1771
A press gang took her husband to fight in a war that never happened. Two years later she was hanged at Tyburn for picking up a length of linen and putting it back down.
8 MIN READ ·
Mary, Queen of Scots: From Carberry Hill to Lochleven, June 1567
They promised her honour, then locked the Queen of Scotland on an island. She had not abdicated. The boat returned to the mainland without her.
7 MIN READ ·
Henry FitzRoy: The King's Son Who Was Never Made His Heir
On 15 June 1519, Henry VIII finally got the son his marriage had not produced. The boy was healthy. The mother was not his queen.
6 MIN READ ·
Thomas Cromwell's Letters from the Tower, June–July 1540
He had spent ten years deciding who went to the Tower. On the tenth of June 1540 he found out what it felt like from the other side. He already knew exactly what it meant.
4 MIN READ ·
The Guernsey Martyrs: Katherine Cawches and Her Daughters, 1556
The charge was receiving a stolen goblet. They were acquitted. The court did not release them. It had noticed their religion.
5 MIN READ ·
Catherine of Aragon Confronts Henry VIII, 12 June 1530
Six months earlier she had been seven miles away while another woman sat in her chair. On the twelfth of June 1530 she said so to Henry's face. He left the room without a word. There were six more years of it still to come.