A lot of History
Here you will find quite a few of my reflections on various topics related to medieval history, with a particular focus on the Wars of the Roses and other similar disputes, in any time, in any place, and in any universe.
You can also find the same articles in Italian under the category “Articoli in Italiano”
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There is something extraordinarily symbolic in the story of Elizabeth of York and her niece, Elizabeth I. Two women, same name, same blood. One at the dawn, the other at the dusk of the Tudor dynasty. And exactly one hundred years lie between them. Elizabeth of York died in 1503. Elizabeth I in 1603. A…
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So… sit back and get comfortable, because we all know Henry VIII, right? A big, burly man… red hair… six wives, a split-in-two England, and an appetite for power (and food) that would make any living—or dead—human pale in comparison…? Got the image? Good! But perhaps few remember that before him, there was his grandfather……
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“Eroticism is the approval of life all the way into death.” Georges Bataille At the heart of every authentic erotic experience lies a desire that goes far beyond physical pleasure: an ancient, almost religious need for total union, for the dissolution of boundaries between self and other, between flesh and the invisible. Georges Bataille described…
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“History is written by the victors.” And never has this phrase been truer especially when it comes to Richard III. For centuries, Richard’s name has been synonymous with tyranny, treachery, and cruelty. A deformed king, power-hungry, even capable of murdering his own nephews just to cling to the throne. This is the image etched in…
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If I were to mention these two names: Richard III and Harald Sigurdsson, you might not immediately see why I have chosen to place them together in the same sentence. And yet, these two kings have far more in common than one might imagine. History is filled with rulers whose greatness was overshadowed by the…
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When we think of the Middle Ages, we often picture dirty, sickly people, foul-smelling streets, and a complete lack of hygiene. But was it really like that? Let’s debunk a myth… In reality, personal hygiene was more common than we might think, though the practices were quite different from ours (which makes some of them…
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How many times have we felt like we knew a place we had never visited or had a special connection with someone we just met? Or perhaps we’ve noticed striking resemblances to a historical figure or felt an inexplicable urge to act in ways that seem to belong to another era. Of course, we’d all…
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WARNING: LONG POST – Reading time: 5 minutes if you read fast 😀 I often hear people say that the marriage between Elizabeth of York and Henry VII was, despite being political, also a love match. Apparently, he was deeply attached to his wife, respected her, and when she died, he spent a fortune on…
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The landscape of love stories that have shaped history is vast, immense even, but few are as poignant and intense as that of Abelard and Héloïse. Theirs was a forbidden, painful, and contested love, yet one that left an indelible mark on literature and Western thought. But who were Abelard and Héloïse?Peter Abelard was one…
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It was around 9 p.m. when Elizabeth died. After giving birth to her daughter Katherine, she endured almost two weeks of agony, excruciating pain, fever, and relentless hemorrhages led her to her death on February 11, 1503. February 11 was also her birthday. She had just turned 37. Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of King…
Beyond Death 