Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan
1 week ago
History Today rightly points to the most important event in modern history that happened on this day in 1956: Khrushchev's so-called secret speech (it was, actually, secret in most of the Soviet Union and, theoretically, other Communist countries though the text had reached the West), which, once and for all, undermined the legitimacy of the Communist system even with people who believed in it.
It was an extraordinarily dangerous...
As is well known the first woman MP actually to take her seat in the Commons was a Conservative, to wit, Nancy Astor. This blog has mentioned her a few times before, naturally enough, here, here, here and here. It is, however, worth recalling her career yet again, as today is the anniversary of her Maiden Speech. Thus, on February 24, 1920 was the first time a woman spoke in the House of Commo...
No historian can ignore the astonishing announcement by Pope Benedict XVI that he intends to retire from the Chair of St Peter, announcement that has now been confirmed by the Vatican. The Reuters article is a strange mixture of items and events.
The immediate reason given by the Pope was that he felt that his health, physical and mental, was failing and he did not think he could do the work he was assigned by God, well enough. Given...
Yesterday we remembered the last Plantagenet King; today we celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Accession to the Throne. It came about considerably more peacefully than that of Richard III or Henry VII but much of the language of the Proclamations dates back to those historic days with some allowance being made for the Commonwealth whose Queen she is, too.
Meanwhile, here are two videos to watch and enjoy. The first is of the Queen arriving in London and the Proclamations being ..... proclaimed:
The second is of more...
Undoubtedly, the most important piece of news for anyone interested in history in the last couple of days was that the skeleton found under a car park in Leicester has been identified as being that of Richard III's. (Previous postings on the subject here and here.)
There can be little more said on the subject until we hear definitely on whether Leicester Cathedral will reinter the bones and what kind of ceremony will be put together....
