Intriguing Families
Eleanor of Aquitaine Mother of English Kings
Wealthy educated and powerful and that was just at 15, married to the Kings of France and England, forging the most powerful alliance in Northern Europe with the Angevin Empire created with the marriage to Henry II, through their complex family relationships, two sons would be King of England and many of her grandchildren would form the basis of the bloodlines of the important European Kingdoms for centuries to come, this was a woman on which history pivots…
Read MoreHenry II Plantagenet King of England
Henry II creates the Anjevin Empire but by failing to unite his sons and wife in the line of succession causes more trouble than he resolves, what would happen during his reign kicks-off the English Plantagenet dynasty but also sows the seeds of it’s demise…
Read MoreWinston Churchill Doctor’s letter requiring alcohol for recovery
Ephemera from Winston and Queen Elizabeth’s lives as glimpses and objects for musing made us think about our own artefacts archives and objects…
Read MoreHarold I Harefoot King of England
Harold Harefoot I was the son of Cnut, his mother was Elgifu and again the succession of a strong King is poorly organised after his death…
Read MoreKing Cnut Canute 995-1035
Cnut was a strong and brutal ruler who managed to control England , Denmark and Norway having demolished the inheritance of Alfred the Great by removing Ethelred and Edmund but would he fair any better in ensuring a smooth succession down his family lines, another intriguing family?
Read MoreKing Stephen I of England 1135-1154
Stephen seized the Crown of England, but was always looking over his shoulder and battling with Empress Matilda dn Geoffrey of Anjou, only finally reaching a compromise that was to cost his son dealry just before his death…Henry de Blois is Kingmaker and swings between the parties as brother of Stephen did the family links count for so little, what an intriguing family…
Read MoreSir Robert Walpole Born 1676 Houghton Norfolk
Robert Walpole 2nd son abandoned career in clergya s result of elder brother’s death and inherited father’s estate…
Read MoreSir Robert Peel 1st Baronet a Prime Minister’s Father
What makes a Prime Minister? Why does the wealth health and education not ensure the success and happiness of future generations? Famous families as a reflection of our own and national history. Sir Robert Peel the first baronet certainly leads us into some intriguing connections…
Read MoreQuakers in Great Britain
Find Quaker ancestors in your family tree with the help of these useful sites
Read MoreAda Lovelace 1815 – 1852 and the first computer programme
Aususta Ada Lovelace was a brilliant mathematician who took Charles Babbage’s analytical machine a step further, so why don’t we know more about her?
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