The history of wrestling stretches into ancient times. It was first described in the Greek literature, including in Homer’s legendary literary works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Greek wrestling was a popular form of martial art, and it was featured as a sport since the eighteenth Olympiad in...
A royal speech pulling at your heartstrings
On the 21st of June 1529, Catherine of Aragon spoke her famous speech at the Legatine Court at Blackfriars. After years of Henry VIII’s unsuccessful attempts to annul his union with Catherine, Cardinal Wolsey convened an ecclesiastical court in England with a representative of the Pope presiding – Cardinal Campeggio. ...
A Fabulous, yet Sad, Life: Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio! He is inextricably connected with the Renaissance, just as Petrarch is. Boccaccio was a man of the Renaissance in almost every sense. Born to a Tuscan merchant Boccaccio di Chellino, Giovanni came into the world in the summer of 1313. The exact date and place of Giovanni’s birth...
The Italian Wars: the Truce of Nice of 1538
On this day in history, the 18th of June 1538, the Truce of Nice was signed, ending the Italian War of 1536–38 between King François I of France and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Italian Wars, which are often referred to as the Habsburg-Valois Wars, were a series of...
Henry FitzRoy: a product of Henry VIII’s lust for Bessie Blount
Henry FitzRoy, the only acknowledged illegitimate son of Henry VIII, was born on the 15th of June 1519. As Cardinal Wolsey sent the boy’s mother, Lady Elizabeth Blount, to live in the prior’s house of the Priory of St Lawrence in Blackmore, Essex, before her pregnancy became visible to court,...
Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon
Today is another anniversary of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry married his brother’s widow nearly six years after they had originally been betrothed, and almost 7 years after Prince Arthur’s death. The wedding took place in a private ceremony in the queen’s closet at Greenwich Palace, and...
“The Field of the Cloth of Gold”
On the 7th of June 1520, the sensational meeting of Kings of England and France occurred near Calais that was to become known to history as “The Field of the Cloth of Gold”. This luxurious meeting became the standards to which international peace treaties were measured in many years to...
Poems of Anne Boleyn’s feelings before and after her coronation
During the coronation procession as Anne sees the people’s gloomy faces What shall this day bring to me, June? A brilliance with every summer hue: The cloud-white dream of happiness, Shot with the primrose sunshine through… Or shall my coronation bring me pain, People do not want me, their stillness...
Coronation of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn emerged from the Tower of London at 5pm on Saturday the 31st of May 1533. She had spent the previous several days in the queen’s chambers in the Tower. According to contemporary sources, the last day of spring was sunny, bright, and warm, and the sky was an unbroken...