by David West | Jan 27, 2026 | News
On the 27th of January, 1302, Dante Alighieri was condemned in absentia and exiled from Florence. Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–1321) is one of the towering figures of Western literature, a poet whose life of political turmoil, exile, and intellectual ambition gave rise to...
by David West | Jan 26, 2026 | News
The Battle of Ula was fought on the 26th of January, 1564, between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and (guess who) Russia. Guess who won, (spoiler alert) Lithuania. It was one of the most important Lithuanian victories over Tsardom of Muscovy in the sixteenth century....
by David West | Jan 25, 2026 | News
On the 25th of January, 1890, Nellie Bly completed her round-the-world journey in 72 days. Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne was published in 1872, and Nellie was trying to emulate the hero, Phileas Fogg. I have posted about Sir Francis Drake’s...
by David West | Jan 24, 2026 | News
It can’t have escaped the attention of visitors to my website that I write historical fiction. Since discovering my ancestor, the Elizabethan spy, Sir Anthony Standen, I have become a bit of an amateur historian. My formal education in history ended after the third...
by David West | Jan 24, 2026 | News
I have posted about the Tudor period many times, not least anything concerning my ancestor, the Elizabethan spy Sir Anthony Standen. I have written about a few of his wives: Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine of Aragon, and Catherine Parr, but I have not, until now,...
