Coronation

William the Conqueror’s Feudalistic Effects: British Literature Being a bastard son of a ruler normally meant one would never amount to much of anything, though, William the Conqueror broke this societal view. William the Conqueror achieved high prestige through the Norman Invasion: implementation of new rules, social class structure, and language; through the large influence of feudalism, William the Conqueror brought new ideas, muses, and inspirations to literature by authors such as Geoffrey…

Edward VI and Mary I’s brief reigns combined with their lack of understanding on the impact of powerful visual imagery created a void in distinctive royal portraiture beginning from the time of their father’s passing. Henry VIII was portrayed as a fearless Warrior King and to much of the public was seen as such. This level of engrained iconography would not be present again until the reign of Henry VIII’s second wife’s daughter, Elizabeth I. When Queen Elizabeth I ascended the throne, she was…

Maffeo Barberini was born on April 5, in Florence. His father, Antonio Barberini, was a famous and very rich nobleman in Florence, but he died when Maffeo was only three years old. He moved to Rome with his mother, Camilla Barbadoro, when he was six years old. While he was a young, he lived with his uncle, Francesco Barberini, who was prothonotary Apostolic at that time, and he had a very great influence to the young Maffeo. Maffeo Barberini was educated at the “Collegio Romano” under the…

The helicopter flew into our forests two days ago, chopping the air like a large dragonfly with gauze wings splayed, plastered in metal and broken. We heard it in the dawn and I wiped the dew wet inside my ears so that I could hear it again, chopping the air through our trees. The men jumped up, and so did he, hush-hushing the fear and surprise. I forgot to breathe. We found it today, sunning itself, its shadow short in the high hours of noon, waiting. By the time I got to it, running, yelling,…

Introduction Classical music was the foundation of all the songs we listen to today. These pieces from hundreds of years ago contained strategies and patterns we use today in our music, such as introducing the chorus: a repeated melody in a song that is easy to remember. The Classic period of music also contained many of the most recognized composers, such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was born on January 27th, 1756, and died on December…

It doesn’t help to be oversensitive, but sometimes it’s hard to avoid it. “Literary intellectuals love to sneer at polls and surveys,” writes Dominic Sandbrook in his determinedly informative and frequently entertaining attempt to analyse what makes British culture tick, “but historians cannot afford to do so.” The survey being putatively sneered at reveals the immense popularity of The Lord of the Rings; presumably the implications of that popularity, rather than the fact of it, which must…

Powerful women don’t fare well in histories when looked at through the lens of a patriarchal society. It speaks volumes that Visenya Targaryen is still respected by the Maesters as both a Warrior and a Queen and not dismissed because she’s “on her moonblood.” The Conquest was not a solo project, yet her brother got the credit in the stories while his sisters got hills in Kings Landing named after them. She was a founding mother that helped set the stage for everyone that followed her. She is…

Queen Elizabeth I may have professed to have had “the heart and stomach of a king,” but her true greatness lay in her mind. Elizabeth’s character was a true symbolic amalgamation of male and female: the earth mother of her people, the true daughter of Henry VIII. Elizabeth’s brilliant leadership and iconoclastic stature secured her place as one of the most legendary rulers in history. In a few short decades, Elizabeth was able to unite her country, move it out of economic downturn, and secure…

Queen Elizabeth II was born on April 21, 1926 in London, United Kingdom. She was born to George VI, which later died in 1952. Elizabeth then immediately ascended the throne in 1952, which starts her reign of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. She married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, and had Prince Charles, heir to the throne, in 1948. She is known for her longest serving monarchy in the history of Great Britain and for her service in World War II. Elizabeth has been the…

Some people’s names today are, frankly, astounding. For starters, men’s and women’s names are losing their masculinity and femininity. “Hi. My name’s John. How’ ya doin’?” “Oh, Hello. My name’s Jozzme.” “I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that.” “Jozzme.” “That’s what I thought you said.” Names increasingly sound like people named their kids from the ingredients on the side of a cereal box. “Heyyyy. This is my friend, Reyzin.” “Umm, nice to eat y__ ...I mean, meet you.” Excuse the levity (figured this…