3 MIN READ ·
Katharina Henot: Cologne's Postmaster, Burned in 1627
She was the most powerful woman in Cologne. So they killed her.
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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331 articles
8 MIN READ ·
Elizabeth Woodville: From Queen of England to Bermondsey Abbey
She had been Queen of England. She died in a convent with nothing, having asked for a quiet funeral with no expense. No explanation was ever recorded. Henry VII never gave one.
7 MIN READ ·
Anne Neville: The Kingmaker's Daughter, Married Twice to the House at War
Her father sold her to the enemy to settle a political debt. The enemy's son was dead within a year. The man she married next may have been in the room when it happened.
4 MIN READ ·
Veronica Franco: The Venetian Poet Tried by the Inquisition
She was acquitted. It did not matter.
7 MIN READ ·
Eleanor Talbot: The Secret That Unmade Edward IV's Sons
She kept a secret her whole life. She died with it. Fifteen years later, two boys were taken into the Tower on the strength of it, and they were never seen again.
5 MIN READ ·
Margaret of Anjou: She Fought for His Crown Harder Than He Did
She fought for his crown harder than he ever did. He was buried in an unmarked grave. She was ransomed like cargo and sent back to France to die in poverty.
6 MIN READ ·
The Field of the Cloth of Gold, June 1520: Catherine of Aragon and Claude of France
In June 1520 Henry VIII built a palace out of wood and canvas, filled a fountain with wine, and invited the King of France to watch him joust. It cost England nearly half the crown's annual revenue. The fountain ran dry. The cloth of gold was packed away and sold.
6 MIN READ ·
George Boleyn: Poet, Diplomat, and the Sentence He Read Aloud
He was a poet, a diplomat, and the most trusted male voice in his sister's court. Henry VIII sent him to France to negotiate with kings.
7 MIN READ ·
Bess of Hardwick: Four Husbands, Four Great Houses, and Arbella
She was born with nothing. She buried four husbands, built four great houses, and died the second wealthiest person in England after the queen herself.
5 MIN READ ·
Anne Askew: The Preacher Who Walked Out of Her Marriage, 1545–1546
She walked out of her marriage in 1545 and went to London to preach on street corners. Women were not permitted to speak in church. She did not find this a compelling reason to stay quiet.
7 MIN READ ·
Catherine Parr, Thomas Seymour and the Young Elizabeth
History remembers her as the sensible one. The survivor. The wife who outlived Henry VIII and had the good sense to stay out of trouble.
4 MIN READ ·
Juliane de Fontevrault: The Daughter Who Aimed a Crossbow at Henry I, 1119
She raised a crossbow and aimed it at the King of England.