1291
An apparent miracle is revealed as sleight-of-hand.
In 587 BC, the Babylonians (from modern Iraq) conquered Judah, and brought many of the nobility of Jerusalem to their own capital. Then in 539 Babylon fell to the Persians, and Daniel found himself serving the Persian King, Cyrus the Great.
Picture: © Renata Edge, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted September 4 2016
1292
The magnificent cathedral at Durham owes its existence to a missing cow.
Durham Cathedral is founded on the shrine of St Cuthbert, an Anglo-Saxon saint who was Bishop of Lindisfarne in the 7th century. How he came to his last resting place in Durham at the turn of the 11th century, after over a century of wandering, is told in the story of the Dun Cow.
Picture: © Mick Garratt, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted September 4 2016
1293
Henry VIII’s experts declared that saints were nothing special, but St Cuthbert had a surprise for them.
In the Reformation, King Henry VIII’s University men told him research had shown that praying for miracles at the shrine of a saint was superstitious nonsense. So he let them smash the shrines, break open the coffins with a sledgehammer, and recover any nice jewellery before the human remains were incinerated.
Picture: Photo by John Hamilton, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: public domain.. Source.
Posted September 4 2016
1294
Was it an over-excited imagination, or an answer to prayer?
Jane Eyre has fled Edward Rochester’s house and arms in shame, after discovering he was hiding his insane wife in an attic. So when the Revd St John Rivers proposes a marriage of convenience followed by a life of self-sacrifice as missionaries in India, the heartbroken Jane gives the idea serious thought.
Picture: © Peter Barr, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted September 3 2016
1295
A quick overview of the Kings of England from Henry VI in 1422 to Henry VII in 1485.
Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from Henry VI, Duke of Lancaster, who lost out to Edward IV, Duke of York, in 1471, to Henry VII, who became the last King of England to win his crown on the battlefield.
Picture: © Georgios Pazios, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Attribution only.. Source.
Posted August 31 2016
1296
A quick overview of the Kings and Queens of England from Henry VII in 1485 to Mary I in 1553.
Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from Henry VII, the last English monarch to win the crown by right of battle, to his grand-daughter Mary I, the country’s first undisputed Queen regnant.
Picture: © David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted August 31 2016