Alexander the Great was one of the greatest leaders and conquerors that the world has ever seen. However, Alexander would have never gone on to create one of the largest empires in the ancient world without his mother, Olympias. Olympias, originally named Myrtle, was the daughter of King Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the King of [read more]
Marina Mniszech was born around 1588 as the daughter of Jadwiga Tarło and Jerzy Mniszech. All we know from her early youth is that she was taught to read and write, as well as singing, dance and embroidery. Around 1604 she met False Dmitriy I, a man who pretended to be the son of Ivan [read more]
It is estimated that Agnès was born in 1422 in Touraine, France. Her family was part of the provincial nobility. From a young age, Agnès worked in the service of Isabelle of Lorraine and her husband René of Anjou, who was the brother-in- law of King Charles VII of France. From 1444, Agnès became Lady [read more]
The future Empress Catherine II of Russia was born as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg as the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp on 2 May 1729. She arrived in Russia in 1744 as the prospective bride of the future Peter III of Russia. At the time Russia [read more]
The question of Mary’s marriage arose before she was even in London. Mary would have been happy to remain single, and a virgin, but she wished to secure the succession with a Catholic heir. She did consider several English contenders, but in the end, she could not marry a subject. She would marry Philip of [read more]
With my copy of “In the Footsteps of the Six Wives of Henry VIII” in hand I visited Castle Burg (an der Wupper) in Solingen, Germany, where Anne of Cleves spent much of her childhood. The Castle suffered much over the years of war and is largely a reconstruction of what Anne would have known. [read more]
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