889
In 1822, a rich and beautiful young woman took the cause of Greek independence into her capable hands.
The Greek war of independence lasted from 1821 to 1827, and resulted in a partial liberation from the oppressive rule of the Ottoman Turks which had begun with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Manto Mavrogenous (1796-1848) was one of the struggle’s most romantic and most tragic figures.
Posted April 23 2018
890
A traveller went into a Shropshire pub looking for information about a patch of grass with peculiar properties.
Oswald was King of Northumbria from 634 to 642, when he was defeated, aged 38, in battle by the pagan King Penda at Maserfield near modern-day Oswestry in Shropshire. He was soon venerated as a saint, for his own piety, and for bringing St Aidan over from Iona to preach Christianity with a simple kindness others had not shown.
Posted April 22 2018
891
An Arthurian knight commits a dreadful crime against a woman, and is sent by Queen Guinevere on a fitting errand.
Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’ include a story told by a much-married lady from Bath named Alison. She prefaces it by complaining at great length that she has been made to feel guilty for marrying five times, and still more so for demanding some equality in the home. Yet, she says, sometimes that works out rather well.
Posted April 17 2018
892
Young Theseus sets out for Athens on foot to claim his kingdom, but the road is infested with giants, bandits and a savage sow.
According to Castor of Rhodes (first century BC), Theseus inherited the crown of Athens in 1234 BC – just about the time of the Exodus and shortly before the Siege of Troy. As his name implies, during his reign he ‘gathered’ all Attica under Athens, and the overwhelming challenge posed by that task is symbolised by the mythical labours attributed to him.
Posted April 16 2018
893
The Report of the Newcastle Commission confirmed that there were no Dotheboys Halls among Yorkshire’s private schools.
The Newcastle Commission of 1859 was in large measure a response to allegations of educational malpractice in Charles Dickens’s novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ (1838). The Assistant Commissioner for Yorkshire, Mr J. G. Fitch, submitted a wide-ranging and often critical report, but he could not let Dickens’s allegations pass without comment.
Posted April 14 2018
894
Sir Joshua Fitch urges Victorian society to let women make their own career choices – whatever they may be.
Sir Joshua Fitch (1824-1903) was a leading Victorian educator who played a decisive role in promoting the education of girls on equal terms to boys. He did not believe, however, in making girls do as boys do. He believed that if boys can do as they please, so can girls, and that no one should dictate what that should be.
Posted April 14 2018