1495
St Adamnán worked tirelessly to secure protection, rights and dignity for the women of Ireland.
St Adamnán was Abbot of Iona, an island on the west coast of Scotland, in the 7th century. The traditional culture of what was still in many places a pagan land had treated women as disposable property.
Picture: © John Reavy, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 5 2015
1496
Cromwell’s killjoys almost silenced the English Christmas, but thanks to a royal family tradition the message is still being proclaimed.
England lost many long-standing folk-traditions during the republican Commonwealth (1649-1660), which banned Christmas celebrations along with music, plays and dancing. Some were reinstated after the Restoration in 1660, but there was plenty of room for fresh ideas.
Picture: © milo bostock, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 5 2015
1497
King James II was forced off the throne in favour of his daughter Mary, and a new English constitution was born.
James II was England’s first Roman Catholic monarch for a hundred and fifty years (if you don’t count his brother Charles II’s deathbed conversion). At any rate, Parliament was determined that he would be the last, and in 1688 they took drastic action to make sure that England did not become a vassal of the powerful and ambitious French King, Louis XIV.
Picture: By Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723), via the Scottish National Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted December 5 2015
1498
After surviving a terrible storm, a crew-member on St Nicholas’s ship met with a tragic accident.
St Nicholas (d. 343), who became Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, is known as the patron of seamen, and it is a pity that a sea-faring nation such as Britain should have largely forgotten about him. Here is one of many miracles attributed to him.
Picture: © Norbert Nagel, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted December 5 2015
1499
The Puritans said it was unfit for God-fearing men, but George I thought it fit for a King.
The Sunday before Advent is known as ‘Stir Up Sunday’, after the opening words of a Church prayer on that day. Appropriately, it is also the day for stirring up your Christmas plum pudding.
Picture: © Matt Riggott, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted December 1 2015
1500
In England’s brief but dismal experiment as a Republic, Playford saved traditional English dance music from destruction.
For eleven years, 17th century England experimented with being a republic. Unsurprisingly, elected politicians turned out to be just as corrupt and oppressive as unelected ones, and but for John Playford, they would have robbed us of the country’s musical heritage.
Picture: © Sara Guasteví, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted November 28 2015