Historical Fun

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - MARCH 6th On This Day in History on the 6th of March, 1052, Emma of Normandy died.   Emma of Normandy was the Queen Consort of England, Denmark and Norway. Yep, she got around. Well, at least twice.   She was married to Ethelred the Unready, the ten-year-old boy king who wasn't as Unready as people think. He "allegedly" arranged the murder of The-Other-Brother-Is-Always-More-Loved, Edward-Even-Became-A-Saint.   Emma of Normandy, not content with being married to one King, hitched up with another after her husband, Ethelred-Why-Didn't-My-Parents-Love-Me died in 1016. Yep, to maintain control, and her lavish lifestyle, and probably to protect the lives of her sons, she married the funnily named, Cnut the Great.   In total, as well as being married to two Kings of England, Emma of Normandy was the mother of two other Kings of England: Edward the Confessor, and Harthacnut, the one who was onl...

The Long and Winding Journey of How Edward The Confessor became King Of England     It wasn't an easy journey and took a lot of effort.   Edward's father, Ethelred-I-Need-To-Prepare-Some-More, was king. But he abdicated in favour of an invading Cnut.   Not a misspelling. I'm pretty sure he was called worse back in the day.   It was actually Sweyn Forkbeard, the Cnut the Great's father, who seized the throne from Ethelred The Unready, Edward The Confessor's father .   Have you noticed how difficult it is to make jokes out of the names of Kings back in the day?   As a result of the new change in leadership in England , Ex-King Ethelred-The-Unready, Edward-Not-Yet-A-Confessor, Alfred-Brother-Of-Edward (keep an eye on him), and the sister with the weird name, fled into exile to Normandy.   There went a bit of back and forth for the next few years.   Sweyn...

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY - 6th of January On This Day, the 6th of January, 1066, Edward the Confessor became the first King of England to be buried at Westminster Abbey. That probably had nothing to do with him commissioning the building of the Abbey. Just a coincidence. Harold-Soon-To-Lose-An-Eye-To-William-The-Conker-Player was proclaimed king and crowned king on the same day, using Edward's dead body as a throne. About 100 years after Edward died, he was canonised by Pope Alexander III in an ancient ceremony of digging up his rotting corpse and shooting him out of a cannon. Yep, pretty sure that's how they made someone a saint back then. He was soon adopted as the Patron Saint of England, until a total git came along and killed a dragon. Sheesh, I hate that George bloke. Killing dragons should never be rewarded. Also in the news: On This Day, the 6th of January, 1066, Harold-Soon-To-Lose-An-Eye-To-William-The-Conker-Pla...

Fun Facts About Edward the Confessor   1. Edward the Confessor was born as a baby.   Yes, that's generally how it happens. It's not certain of the exact date, as they weren't good at keeping accurate records back in the day, but he was definitely a baby when he was born.   Most historians believe Edward the Confessor was born in 1003ish in Oxfordshire, England.   2. Edward's father was Ethelred the Unready , which was his excuse to his wife on their wedding night.   "I wasn't ready. Can we try again in ten minutes?"   3. Edward had two brothers, Alfred, and Godgifu.   Oops, Godgifu was his sister. Wonder why that name didn't catch on? He also had a myriad of older half-siblings. His father and mother were a little promiscuous to say the least.   4. Edward the Confessor was called The Confessor because he ran a series of experiments on hedgehogs trying to extract c...