Pope Pius IX
On 8th December 1854 Pope Pius IX formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, stating that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. Pope Pius IX (1792–1878) was the longest-serving pope in history, reigning from 1846 to 1878. His papacy is one...
Cicero
The assassination of Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of Rome’s greatest orators, statesmen, and philosophers, occurred on 7th December 43 BCE, during the turbulent period of the Roman Republic’s fall. I mentioned Cicero in my post about Petrarch whose study of Cicero’s...
Philosophy – A Journey
Thomas Aquinas’s divine vision refers to a mystical experience he reportedly had near the end of his life, which profoundly influenced his perspective on his theological work. This event occurred on 6th December 1273, while he was celebrating Mass in a chapel. During...
Petrarch, Father of the Renaissance
I have written about Renaissance writers, artists, musicians, and scientists. But how did the Renaissance come about? Francis Petrarch, often called the “Father of Humanism,” played a pivotal role in laying the intellectual and cultural groundwork for the...
Breakspear
At time of writing there have been seven popes during my lifetime. The only other pope that I know much about was Pope Paul V, because he features in Fire and Earth, the second book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. But there was an English Pope and his relatives...
Austerlitz
Having served as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, when it comes to battles of 1805, I think of Trafalgar. Yet ashore the battle of the year was Austerlitz. The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was fought on the second of...
Expulsion of Jews from Russia
My post for 25th November concerned Elizabeth of Russia. She sounded quite good back then. But by 1st December 1742 she’d ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Russia. I sought in Called to Account, the fourth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, to explore...
Venice
By the 30th November 1630, 16,000 inhabitants of Venice had died that month from the plague. This outbreak, part of the Second Pandemic of bubonic plague, devastated northern and central Italy, including Venice, leaving a lasting impact on the city’s population,...
Bonnie Prince Charlie
On 29th November 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army moved into Manchester and occupied Carlisle. Bonnie Prince Charlie, born Charles Edward Stuart on December 31, 1720, was a charismatic figure who became the symbol of the Jacobite cause to restore the Stuart...
Pope Pius IX
On 8th December 1854 Pope Pius IX formally defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, stating that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin. Pope Pius IX (1792–1878) was the longest-serving pope in history, reigning from 1846 to 1878. His papacy is one...
Cicero
The assassination of Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of Rome’s greatest orators, statesmen, and philosophers, occurred on 7th December 43 BCE, during the turbulent period of the Roman Republic’s fall. I mentioned Cicero in my post about Petrarch whose study of Cicero’s...
Philosophy – A Journey
Thomas Aquinas’s divine vision refers to a mystical experience he reportedly had near the end of his life, which profoundly influenced his perspective on his theological work. This event occurred on 6th December 1273, while he was celebrating Mass in a chapel. During...
Petrarch, Father of the Renaissance
I have written about Renaissance writers, artists, musicians, and scientists. But how did the Renaissance come about? Francis Petrarch, often called the “Father of Humanism,” played a pivotal role in laying the intellectual and cultural groundwork for the...
Breakspear
At time of writing there have been seven popes during my lifetime. The only other pope that I know much about was Pope Paul V, because he features in Fire and Earth, the second book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. But there was an English Pope and his relatives...
Austerlitz
Having served as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve, when it comes to battles of 1805, I think of Trafalgar. Yet ashore the battle of the year was Austerlitz. The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was fought on the second of...
Expulsion of Jews from Russia
My post for 25th November concerned Elizabeth of Russia. She sounded quite good back then. But by 1st December 1742 she’d ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Russia. I sought in Called to Account, the fourth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, to explore...
Venice
By the 30th November 1630, 16,000 inhabitants of Venice had died that month from the plague. This outbreak, part of the Second Pandemic of bubonic plague, devastated northern and central Italy, including Venice, leaving a lasting impact on the city’s population,...
Bonnie Prince Charlie
On 29th November 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Jacobite army moved into Manchester and occupied Carlisle. Bonnie Prince Charlie, born Charles Edward Stuart on December 31, 1720, was a charismatic figure who became the symbol of the Jacobite cause to restore the Stuart...