Fascinating History

Boudicca on her chariot Thirteen feet under the City of London lies a red layer of oxidized iron, mixed with ash and the charred remains of Roman Londinium. This is evidence of Boudicca's revenge on Rome. Boudicca was the wife of King Prasutagus of the Celtic tribe known as the Iceni. Prasutagus, was on good terms with the Roman conquerors but despite that he was worried. He had two daughters and no male heir and felt that he must do his best to ensure the future was good for them. He thought he was being clever when he left half of his kingdom to his daughters and the other half to the Roman Emperor. This, he thought, would appease Rome and ensure his family was left in peace. He was so wrong. In A.D. 60, King Prasutagus died and the Romans confiscated his land and the land of his tribesmen. Suddenly the Iceni were slaves. The Roman procurator Decianus Catus, (the province's CFO in today's terms) was overzealous in his efforts to ingratiate himself with the emperor. He ord

Bronze bust of Caligula (with a particularly menacing look) Caligula, born in 12 A.D. and Roman emperor from 37 to 41 A.D., being one of the most twisted, weird and utterly psychotic figures in history, was not really known for his sense of humour, even though he might have thought he was the most humorous guy on earth. Suetonius gives as an example of this 'sense of humour': "As an example of his sense of humour, he played a prank on Apelles, the tragic actor, by standing beside a staue of Jupiter and asking: 'Which of us two is greater?' When Apelles hesitated momentarily, [Caligula] had him flogged, commenting on the musical quality of his groans for mercy. He never kissed the neck of his wife or mistress without saying: 'And this beautiful throat will be cut whenever I please'." Such was Caligula's humour. Watching others suffering was fun for him to such an extent that he would order that men were executed in front of him and very close to him

Seneca was a Roman stoic philosopher and dramatist. He was unfortunate enough to be Nero's tutor and in 65 A.D. Nero forced him to commit suicide, after accusing him of taking part in a conspiracy to assasinate him. Seneca wrote several plays and philosophical essays and was also a prolific letter-writer. One of his most famous essays tackles the shortness of life and argues that "life is long if you know how to use it". This particular essay has been very influential over the centuries, as many consider it to be a source of timeless wisdom. Some interesting excerpts are: "Why do we complain about nature? She has acted kindly: life is long if you know how to use it. But one man is gripped by insatiable greed, another by a laborious dedication to useless tasks...Many are occupied by either pursuing other people's money or complaining about their own...Some have no aims at all for their life's course, but death takes them unawares as tehy yawn languidly - so mu

Commodus in 'Gladiator' (played by Joaquin Phoenix) Commodus was one of the most sadistic, cruel and self-indulgent Roman emperors. To add to all this, he was also extremely bad at governance, like Caligula and Nero before him. He was widely hated and was strangled by his bath attendant in A.D. 192, contrary to the popular film 'Gladiator' , which shows him dying in the arena (in which he did however fight very often). The story of his conception is perhaps equally as loathsome as his personality and traits. He was the son of the emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina. Apparently, one day Faustina saw a gladiator in the arena, who aroused an immense passion in her. She became obsessed. Juvenal tells us: "Faustina, daughter of Antoninus Pius and wife of Marcus Aurelius, having seen the gladiators pass one day, conceived the most violent love for one of them; and this passion having made her ill for a long time, she confessed it to her husband. Chaldeans whom

The founder of the Tudor line of British kings was a servant. Yes, this is true. He was Welsh and his name was Owain ap Maredudd ap Tydwr. 'Ap' in Welsh means 'son of', so in English his name translated as Owen, son of Meredith, son of Theodore. Apparently Owen worked as a seravnt in Catherine of France's household, wife to the late Henry V. He used to enjoy bathing skinny-dipping in the Thames and Catherine used to spy on him through the reeds. She was so impressed that she wanted to marry him. Of course all hell broke loose when she made this intention public. An official inquiry was held. However, Catherine stood by Owen through it all and finally in 1432 their marriage was official. His surname Theodore was changed to Tudor and history was made.

We can't tell for certain if Robin Hood, the famous outlaw, really existed or not as all references to him are found in poetry and folk tales. His life, if indeed he lived at all, is shrouded in mystery. we are not sure if he lived in Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire either. The fact is that in Medieval times pretty much everyone was an outlaw at some point in their lives. Contrary to popular belief, forests were not the havens of rebels and free-spirited people. The word 'forest' is a norman word which originaly meant a place which was designated to be the hunting ground for the king. People would have dreaded living near forests, let alone inside one, as there were terrible taxes levied on villages that were close to them. In fact, there is a true story of a village which was near a proposed new forest for the king. The villagers, having found out about this came up with a great plan to discourage the king from wanting to have his forest there. In those days, madness was thou

Images of Agrippina the Younger In 54 A.D. Nero became emperor of Rome after the death of Claudius, who was thought to have been poisoned by his wife Agrippina, who also happened to be Nero's mother. Nero's real name was Lucius, but his mother decided that Nero Claudius Caesar was more suitable so she got him to change it. Agrippina was always plotting in the background. As a wife of a former emperor and mother to the current one, she saw herself as a new version of Livia. Nero was only a teenager when he came to power, just seventeen years old. Having been under the influence of his mother all his life, he now saw an opportunity to do what he wanted instead. Within the first year of his reign he had made it obvious to her that she was not going to be sharing his power. When an Armenian ambassador visited Rome, Nero did not let Agrippina sit next to him to receive the guest. During the following months, mother and son quarelled openly about his affair with an ex-slave-girl call

If you sat at a dinner or banquet in Tudor times you would not find a familiar setting. For one thing, you had to bring your own cutlery as this was never provided, even in the richest of households or at Court. Spoons in particular were highly prized items, often silver or gold and considered essential. They were a popular christening gifts, thus we now have the expression "born with a silver spooon in his mouth" . The more expensive the spoon the higher up in society you were, therefore it became a status symbol as well. At the dinner table you would not have had a plate for youself but you would be sharing with up to 4 people from a large dinner plate. The head of the table of course, would only share with one other as he or she (in the case of Queen Elizabeth) were the privilidged ones. As you were sharing with others you were expected to maintain a certain standard of behaviour. For example, you were not allowed to put your bones or discarded food back in the dinn

Apparently when Henry VIII was young he was a great athlete. He was involved in various sports, amongst which were football. This contrasts markedly with the image we have of him as a fat bloke riddled with gout, which of course describes his later years. When he became king he was only 18 years old. His brother Arthur, who had been the heir to the throne had died several years earlier. He was thus made Prince of Wales and future king and also had to marry his brother's wife, Katharine of Aragon. Henry's marriage to Katharine did not make him very happy as the desired male heir was not forthcoming. Over 10 years she suffered many miscarriages and when a boy was born he only died a few months later. This made Henry extremely depressed. He could not understand why Katharine could not come up with a male child and came to the conclusion that God must be angry with him. He could not think why though until he came across a passage in the Levitikon book of the Bible, which gave him a

If your idea of a medieval woman was that of a damsel in distress, passively waiting for her brave knight to save her then you are seriously mistaken. The passivity of Medieval women was a Victorian invention. On the contrary, sources of the time tell us of women who are expected to be sexually active and are. Damsels were married women in the service of noblewomen and it was common for them to take lovers. If their husbands expressed any complaints about this they could easily be silenced when the damsel in question would explain to her husband what a brave and famous knight she was bedding. Presumably, even if that did shut him up, it didn't eradicate his resentment. Indeed, being a prude was not valued in the Middle Ages. In one of her letters to Abelard, Heloise declares: "The name of wife may seem more sacred or more worthy, but sweeter to me will always be the word lover or, if you permit me, that of concubine or whore." Another suprising fact of the time was th