/u/Obversa's posts
King Charles II of England and Scotland had 14 illegitimate children, including seven sons who he made Dukes and Earls. However, Charles was unable to have legitimate children with his wife, Catherine of Braganza; she had three miscarriages. Why didn't Charles II legitimize his illegitimate sons?
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In both 1621 and 1625, two ships sent by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony back to England were captured and plundered by French privateers and Barbary pirates, respectively. How much did the Pilgrims have to worry about dealing with pirates, especially considering the 1625 corsair raids in England?
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King Charles II of England (1630 – 1685) was well-known for his love of women; he had countless affairs, flings, and one-off trysts with both aristocrats and commoners alike. He fathered children with seven of them. Aside from being royalty, what caused so many women to have affairs with Charles?
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In French and European folklore, the fairy Mélusine was so revered in the Middle Ages that the Houses of Anjou, Plantagenet, Lusignan, and Limburg-Luxemburg all claimed to be descended from her. Why was claiming descent from Mélusine so popular, and why was she so important?
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Let's say I'm a Scottish noble during the reign of Robert II, who became the new King of Scotland in 1371, beginning the Stewart royal dynasty. What was life like at the medieval Scottish court, and how did much Scotland's Auld Alliance with France play into the court and politics of Robert II?
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In Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" (1847), Edward Rochester describes "a string" connecting him to Jane Eyre. Was Brontë inspired by the Red Thread of Fate legend from Chinese mythology, in which two people connected by the red thread are destined lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances?
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In February 1563, Christina of Denmark (also known as "Christina of Milan") claimed the titles of "Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden" after the death of her father, King Christian II. However, Christian II was forced to give up his throne(s) in 1523. Did she have any legal right to her title(s)?
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In the Netflix TV show "Midnight at the Pera Palace" (2022), there is a plot by a British general in a post-WWI, Allied-occupied Ottoman Empire (1918-1919) to incorporate its lands as a new territory of the British Empire, as well as to kill Atatürk. Is there any historical basis or truth to this?
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One of my German great-grandmothers, Sophia Genz (b. 1831, adopted 1833), claimed to be the illegitimate daughter of "a noble or royal of Mecklenburg-Schwerin" who was adopted out of a convent in Malchow, Germany. Under what circumstances would an illegitimate child be placed under nuns' care?
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Monks in the many monasteries in Friesland before the Reformation did a lot of horse breeding, and Carthusian monks in Spain created the Andalusian horse breed. What happened to the horses owned and bred by monks during the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-1540) by King Henry VIII of England?
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