NB! · Monarchies · Mores · Paris
Section
· 1493 stories
Monarchies
NB! · Faith · Art · Monarchies · Museums
A unique fifteenth-century lamp with an amber sculpture of the Virgin Mary on a walrus-tusk pedestal belonged to Sophia, Queen of Bohemia, of the German house of Wittelsbach, who was known for her Hussite sympathies
NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room
There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room. The Bourbon, naturally
NB! · Archive · Faith · Books · Monarchies · Humour
Personal Book of Hours of Richard III, 15th Century, with His Own Notes
The personal Book of Hours of Richard III, with annotations and entries made in his own hand. Fifteenth century: no gentleman of breeding can imagine himself without a book, even if it be a devotional one. Well, this attachment is no worse than an iPhone
NB! · Monarchies · Observations
At This Table Dined Louis XV, Whom I Rather Dislike
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · People
The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests
The table is laid for ten: George Sand receives her guests. In this photograph you can make out that the head of the table is reserved for a certain Prince. Know, then, that the place card reads 'Le Prince Jérôme Napoléon'
NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
No sooner had I got rid of my collection of porcelain with monarchical symbols than I began eyeing plates with Masonic ones
No sooner had I got rid of my collection of porcelain with monarchical symbols than I began eyeing plates with Masonic ones. Somebody hold me back
Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Mores · Humour
Everyone loves to recall the story of Peter I scooping up the seven-year-old Louis XV in his arms; the event even has a monument at Peterhof, the original of which was stolen during the war and may well now stand in some private park…
Speaking of parks, when I think of Louis XV, what comes to my mind is his boarding house of harlots, which was called the Parc-aux-Cerfs (the Deer Park), after its location, not far from Versailles. Louis was altogether a dreadful whoremonger and was constantly unfaithful to his wife,
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Heritage
A twelfth-century genealogical chart traces the Anglo-Saxon kings of Mercia, one of the seven kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, which fell under the sway of Wessex at the close of the first millennium, back to the god Odin (Woden)
Aristocracy · Faith · Geography · Monarchies
Princes Edward and Edwin in Ladoga and Kyiv, and a theory of British monks on Valaam
In the late tenth century England found itself in a very precarious position, aggravated by the unceasing raids of the Vikings. By 1016, fifty years before the Norman Conquest, it had been wholly conquered by the Vikings. After the Danish conquest, Cnut of the House of Knýtlinga, son of the
Monarchies · Mores · People
Death of Agnès Sorel in 1450 and the Arrest of Jacques Cœur, Accused of Poisoning Her
On 9 February 1450 Agnès Sorel died of puerperal infection. But a rumour was put about at once that she had been poisoned, and the poisoner was named as Jacques Cœur. Which is odd, since Agnès was the patroness of the royal financier: she secured him good commissions and shielded
NB! · Monarchies · Mores · People
Agnes Sorel, her influence over Charles VII and a beauty noted by Pope Callixtus III
The low-born courtesan Agnès Sorel was called a common whore, yet even Pope Callixtus III remarked on her extraordinary beauty. She went about in frank attire, bared one breast and twisted Charles VII round her little finger