NB! · Aristocracy · Madrid · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
The Duke of Alba's dinner in honour of the birth of the Prince of Asturias, 1707. I noticed an amusing detail: there is not a single glass on the table. Why? If any of the guests should deign to drink, the servants will bring him one at once
NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Science · Paris
The first public clock of Paris was installed at the will of Charles V in 1370. The clock tower was not merely a palace fortification: the clock the king set up showed that the control of time lay in his hands.
Archaeology · The East · Monarchies · Museums · Science · Paris · Humour
In September 1976 Egypt issued a passport for the Pharaoh Ramesses II. The document certified that Ramesses II was indeed the Pharaoh of Egypt and had been born in 1303 BC. Egyptian scientists had noticed that the pharaoh's body had begun to decay rapidly, possibly owing to the
Architecture · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
I know that among my readers there are corrupt officials of poor imagination who cannot think where to spend their pilfered money. I advise them to consider the following lot. In England, Osborne Cottage is up for sale, part of the estate built as a place of seclusion for Queen
NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Humour
NB! · Monarchies · Science · People
Vlad Dracula may have suffered from porphyria, a condition marked by both mental disorders and the appearance of blisters and sores on the skin after exposure to sunlight. Porphyria also afflicted George III and Mary Stuart
Monarchies · Mores · People
Alice Perrers was 36 years younger than her lover, Edward III. She twisted the king around her finger, sowed discord at court and, after the queen's death, in effect took her place; this troubled society and Parliament so greatly that it was resolved to remove Alice from court.
Books · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage · Paris
In one of the tales in Alexandre Dumas's "A Thousand and One Ghosts" we meet a certain Monsieur Ledru, keeper of an entire collection of royal relics, which he acquired by attending the despoiling of the burial vaults in the Basilica of Saint-Denis and taking
Monarchies · Observations · Society · Saint Petersburg
In June 1831, popular riots broke out in Saint Petersburg. Terrified by the cholera epidemic, people supposed that the physicians were sprinkling some poison into the water and the wells, and that this was what made the disease spread. Nicholas I himself undertook to quell the riot, addressing the crowd
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Moscow · Mores
Emperor Alexander Pavlovich, having accepted the hospitality of P.A. and P.Yu. Kologrivov, deigned in their house to take tea from this cup, on the 21st day of January 1818, in Moscow
Books · Monarchies · Mores · Humour
Alexei Tolstoy has lines about the pretender (False Dmitry) climbing onto the throne with his bride (Marina Mniszech) and dangling his legs beside her. The first crowned Russian tsarina, Marina Mniszech, and her husband were indeed of very slight stature. And while of Tsar Dmitry it was merely said "
Books · Monarchies · Observations · Science · Humour
Walter Scott, in his "History of Scotland", describes an experiment of James IV, who sent two infants to an uninhabited island with a deaf-mute nurse, to find out which language is innate to man, and whether there is one at all. Besides the settlers, the island was