Fascinating History

Apparently when Henry VIII was young he was a great athlete. He was involved in various sports, amongst which were football. This contrasts markedly with the image we have of him as a fat bloke riddled with gout, which of course describes his later years. When he became king he was only 18 years old. His brother Arthur, who had been the heir to the throne had died several years earlier. He was thus made Prince of Wales and future king and also had to marry his brother's wife, Katharine of Aragon. Henry's marriage to Katharine did not make him very happy as the desired male heir was not forthcoming. Over 10 years she suffered many miscarriages and when a boy was born he only died a few months later. This made Henry extremely depressed. He could not understand why Katharine could not come up with a male child and came to the conclusion that God must be angry with him. He could not think why though until he came across a passage in the Levitikon book of the Bible, which gave him a

If your idea of a medieval woman was that of a damsel in distress, passively waiting for her brave knight to save her then you are seriously mistaken. The passivity of Medieval women was a Victorian invention. On the contrary, sources of the time tell us of women who are expected to be sexually active and are. Damsels were married women in the service of noblewomen and it was common for them to take lovers. If their husbands expressed any complaints about this they could easily be silenced when the damsel in question would explain to her husband what a brave and famous knight she was bedding. Presumably, even if that did shut him up, it didn't eradicate his resentment. Indeed, being a prude was not valued in the Middle Ages. In one of her letters to Abelard, Heloise declares: "The name of wife may seem more sacred or more worthy, but sweeter to me will always be the word lover or, if you permit me, that of concubine or whore." Another suprising fact of the time was th

The first bar of chocolate was produced in 1847, even though cocoa had been known to the Europeans since 1502. The first chocolate bars were of dark chocolate and consisted mainly of cocoa solids, which made them rather dry and not very pleasant to eat. All throughout the 1870s, European sales of chocolate were very high. In 1876, a Daniel Peter of Switzerland, invented milk chocolate. He had discovered that adding powdered milk to the chocolate mix made for a wonderfully tasting bar. Until then efforts to add milk in it's liquid form to chocolate, had resulted in the milk going rancid and the consistency of the chocolate not being solid enough. An Englishman called George Page, developed Daniel Peter's work on chocolate even more. However, milk chocolate didn't really become popular until the early 20th century, as people were used to the bitter, intense taste of dark chocolate. By the 1890s chocolate had become a common purchase and the German, British and American soldie

The laws of England, Scotland and Wales can sometimes be very peculiar, as there are plenty of outdated ones which have not been written off and are technically still applicable. For example, did you know that it is illegal in London to check in to a hotel with a false name specificaly for the purpoose of having sex? Apparently if you get caught you are faced with the once hefty fine of £20! I am sure it is not the fine which would worry most who might get caught nowadays though... ;-) It seems that this is a law which was made with adulterers in mind; after all, why would people use assumed names if thy were not hiding something. Laws targeting adulterers have been many and some are funny,like the above, but others are very unpleasant indeed. In Nottingham, if a married woman seduces the husband of another man and gets found out by the seduced's wife, that lady has the right to monetary compensation from the seducer's husband. This sounds to me to be really unfair, espec

Ancient bust of Nefertiti and Computer reconstruction of Nefertiti's face from skull Queen Nefertiti of Ancient Egypt, was said to be one of the most beautiful women of her time. Much of the details of her life are shrouded in mystery as are the circumstances of her death and where indeed her mummy was burried. She was the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who later on called himself Akhenaten. Her name means "the beautiful one has come", which makes archaeologists wonder whether she had actually come to Egypt from elsewhere and was not Egytian at all. Others say she was the daughter of the nobleman Ay, who later became Pharaoh himself. No matter what her genealogy was, Nefertiti became a legend. When her husband, after 4 years on the throne, decided to start worhiping the Aten a new god whose sympbol was the sun-disk, dismiss all other gods and moved the capital to the middle of the desert, building there a new city called Amarna, that really rubbed the priests of Amon up

When we use the term gentleman nowadays what do we really mean? Well, most people using the word are probably thinking of the 19th century concept of the Victorian gentleman. Seeing as not even the Victorians were really sure what constituted a gentleman and what didn't, we cannot really be blamed for not being certain ourselves. There are various views on the definition of the gentleman. Below are the relevant links: The Victorian Gentleman http://www.victorianweb.org/history/Gentleman.html Newman's Gentleman http://www.his.com/~z/gentleman.html Uses of the word and etymology http://www.searchword.org/ge/gentleman.html I leave you to decide...

Valeria Messalina Valeria Messalina was the third wife of the emperor Claudius. She was notorious for being an absolute nymphomaniac. She married Claudius in A.D. 38 and bore him two children; Britannicus and Octavia, who were rumoured to have actually been fathered by Caligula as she was a frequent attendee to his many banquets and orgies... Claudius became emperor in A.D. 41, after Caligula was finally murdered and Messalina, although now empress, did not supress her urges. In fact she became all the more adventurous and behind Claudius's back she had many affairs, many of them at the same time and in the same room. At night she would even dress up as a prostitute and incognito she would trade as a prostitute - such was her insatiable appetite for men. She once challenged the famous Roman prostitute, Scylla, to an all-night sex-athon, whereby the winner was the one who copulated with the most men. Messalina won. She copulated all night and although Scylla gave up at dawn, exhaust

Why they called it French is because of a notorious outbreak of it in the French army, but you may know that this phrase referes to the dreaded Syphilis. The disease is thought to have reached Europe from America, via Columbus's ships and the first known epidemic struck Italy in the late 1400s. Interestingly enough it has been called the English disesase by the French, Polish by the Russians, and the Christian disease by the tribes of the Arabian lands. Many well known figures in history are said to have suffered from suphilis, most notably Guy de Maupassant, Charles VIII of France, Friedrich Nietzsche, Al Capone, Paul Gaugin and even Adolf Hitler. In its late stages the disease causes dementia, whereby the suffered became insane. Nowadays syphilis is treated with antibiotics but before the Second World War people were very unfortunate indeed if they happened to contract it. It is very much a sexually transmitted disease and therefore when you got it you were instantly stigmat

Did you know that up until recently mail travelled in tunnels underneath London? Well, I didn't know. Apparently, in 1913 digging started for an underground railway, specifically for the Post Office. The work finished in 1927 and in December of that year the first mail-ridden trains started to run underground. The whole purpose of this sustem was to reduce the number of mail vans in London streets and in that respect it did not fail. The journey started at Paddington, then stopped under a street near Selfridges, then further down Ofxord street, past High Holborn, Bloomsbury, stopping at the biggest Post Office depot in London, Mount Pleasant, under the remains of the Roman wall, past St. Pauls' Cathedral, Liverpool Street station, finally arriving at a post office in Whitechapel Road.. The underground mail tunnel was tiny, only 9 feet in diameter. Bagfuls of mail would be sent down shafts from sorting offices, leading to the Mail Rail platforms. Then the bags were loaded

In 18th century London you could order your false teeth via post. All you had to do was get a pice of soft wood, bite into it (thus leaving your teeth marks on it) and send this, together with a ribbon which measured your gums, to the person who made the teeth. After a short wait you would receive your new teeth, which cost around £3 and 4 shillings. False teeth in those days were not as reliable as the ones you can get nowadays. The dentures were made of wood. If you were lucky enough to only need the bottom set of teeth then you could look forward to a firly firm set of teeth, with which you could eat with as well. On the other hand, if you required the top part, you could look forward to your teeth sliding out at the most inconvenient and embarassing moments. If you needed the whole lot, both top and bottom, there was a solution to this problem by way of a spring attached to the back, holding top and bottom set together and allowing you to open your mouth. However, once you did

"Every woman's husband and every man's wife". Thus is Julius Caesar characterized by Curio, according to Suetonius. Julius Caesar was a man of great intensity. He openly enjoyed the "company" of both men and women and there were many scandals to go with this. He never hesitated to "borrow" other noblemen's wives and also "lend" his own wife Pompeia. He was notorious for this and a typical ditty of the time, after his triumph in Gaul, says: "Look to your wives, ye citizens, a lecher bald we bring, In Gaul adultery cost thee gold, here 'tis but borrowing." Yes, he was bald and although this did not deter him from his conquests, it was a source of constant bother to him as he was often ridiculed for his baldness, by his enemies. Actually, with all the "borrowing" he got up to no-wonder he made so many enemies. Amongst the ladies he "borrowed" were Postumia, the wife of Servius Sulipcius, Lollia, the wife

Necrosis of finger tips caused by septicemic plague When people get to 40 or 50 year old nowadays, we consider them middle-aged. In Elizabethan times you were lucky if you got past the age of 30. The poor however, were not expected to live longer than 20, at the most 25. Thomas Paynel wrote in 1541: "nowadays, alas, if a man may approach to forty of sixty years men repute him happy and fortunate" . Indeed, if you got to live past the age of 40, you were thought to be extremely old, as old as people over 100 seem to us today. Life was short and riddled with suffering. Diseases ran wild and the plague was as much a part of everyday life as having a cold is today. In Elizabethan times a plague epidemic occured roughly every four years. It was something you knew would come but you didn't know exactly when and where it would strike. Laws in 1568 decreed that an affected person's house had to be shut up for a minimum of twenty days, all windows and doors boarded up and nobo

AMANUENSIS, or AD MANUM SERVUS, a slave, or freedman, whose office it was to write letters and other things under his master's direction. The amanuensis must not be confounded with another sort of slaves, also called ad manum servi, who were always kept ready to be employed in any business. Not much seems to have changed since then for secretaries. They are expected to work long hours, do work which is outside of theri job description, write letters for the boss and generally do any kind of shitty work without complaining. For if you complain you are not 'flexible' or you do not have the 'team spirit' and are therefore not fit to be employed. It seems that a secretary, especially in an investment bank, is viewed as a brainless, inannimate object, someone to do all the donkey-work while at the same time maintaining a smile on her face (I say 'her' because unfortunately secretaries are always female, which also points to teh fact that we still live in a pa

Seneca Seneca did not choose wisely when he decided to live above the public baths. By the time he had realised how annoying this could be it was too late, because he had moved in, and the best he could do to vent his frustations was to write about them. I find the following passage very amusing... "I live over a bathing establishment. Picture to yourself now the assortment of voices, the sound of which is enough to sicken one... When the stronger fellows are exercising and swinging heave leaden weights in their hands, when they are working hard or pretending to be working hard, I hear their hissing and jarring breathing. When I have to do with a lazy fellow who is content with a cheap rubdown, I hear the slap of the hand pummelling his shoulders, changing its sound according as teh hand is laid flat or curved. If now a professional ball player comes along and begins to keep score, I am done for. Add to this the arrest of a brawler or a thief, and the fellow who always likes to he

Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (b. A.D. 12, d. A.D. 41) became emperor in A.D 37. His was one of the most notorius and yet poorly documented reigns. As a boy he was nicknamed Caligula, which means 'Little Boots', by the men in the army, as he went about dressed in a soldier's uniform with matching miniature boots. He was said to be extremely cruel and his characyer appears to be that of a true psychopath. He had people executed for practicaly next to nothing, confiscated people's wealth for himself, imposed outrageously silly laws, had incestuous relations with his sisters, etc. Whatever nasty thing you can imagine, Caligula probably did it. Suetonius provides us with plenty of gossip about Caligula, and a very intriguing paragraph on his sex life: "He had not the slightest regard for chastity, either his own or others', and was accused of homosexual relations, both active and passive, with Marcus Lepidus, also Mnester the comedian, and various foreign hosta

Dover Castle, Kent, constructed in the 1180s The lords and ladies living in the stone castles of the 13th century were a lot cleaner than their Elizabethan counterparts. For one thing, they washed themselves, all over. In fact they used soap, which was then made by boiling mutton fat with ash and caustic soda. They used a special twig to brush their teeth with. As soon as they had attended to their cleanliness (well, they actually had servants to do the attending part for them), they would go about getting dressed. Men and women wore similar clothes; there were stockings of wool or silk to put on, a shirt with long detachable sleeves, which incidentally had to be stitched on every time the shirt was worn. Once this tedious task had finished, a gown had to be worn over all this and secured with a brooch. Unlike the men, the ladies wore a tight bodice over their gowns. If they were going out and it was cold they would wear a coat, which was very roomy and if the weather was really threat

Woad leaves Before Indigo was imported from the East in the 16th Century, the only source of rich blue dye was Woad, Isatis Tinctoria, a plant which is a member of the cabbage family and which was brought to Britain by the Celts. They called it Glasto, hence Glastonbury, which means ‘a place where woad grows’. The process by which the dye was extracted was lengthy and very smelly indeed, (think combination of raw sewage and rotten cabbage) and the people who did this work, woad dyers, were outcasts of society, since they smelt so much. As a result they were isolated and inbred. There was no way of hiding if you were a woad dyer as even if you washed yourself really well to remove the stench, the blue dye could be seen on your fingers and under your fingernails. Queen Elizabeth I, not being able to stand the stench from their workshops, decreed that woad dyers should be at least 5 miles away from wherever she was staying. As it took 50 kilos of woad in order to produce 5 kilos of pigme

Everyone knows how extravagant and decadent Roman banquets could be. There were multiple courses and loads of wine to be consumed and the feasting lasted all night. But how did these people manage to eat non-stop for so long? Well, according to Seneca, the Romans vomited so they could eat and they ate so they could vomit. Apparently, according to Cicero, Julius Caesar escaped an assassination attempt because he felt like vomiting after dinner. Instead of going to the latrine to do the deed, where his assassins were waiting in anticipation of this, he decided to vomit in his bedroom (yuk!) and so missed getting bumped off on that occasion... However, most Romans didn't feel it was necessary to leave the dining room in order to vomit. For this reason, they usually had bowls lying around, especially for this purpose, but other times they would just bend over and puke all over the floor. Who would think that there was a slave whose 'job description' was to crawl around

Have you ever wondered why some churches have such lovely porches? It's almost as if they were made for people to stand under. Well, you wouldn't be far from the truth on that assumption. In the 1200s weddings did not take place inside the church but at the church door, hence the lovely porches so the people attending the wedding could shelter if it rained. So, at the door of the churh, the happy groom would give his wife to be something symbolic, such as a knife. At the end of this doorstep ceremony, the couple were pronounced man and wife and were free to proceed into the church, prostrate themselves at the altar, followed by the wedding party, and hear mass. While prostrated, the altar cloth would be held over the newlyweds. At the point when they received communion, the husband would give the priest a kiss, the kiss of peace , and only after that would he give his glowing bride a kiss. (Note the bride did not have to kiss the priest). According to the Church in those

Maybe people who saw the film "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" will know the story of Eloise and Abelard, whose love affair in the late middle ages was as tragic as it was passionate. The title of the film comes from a poem by Alexander Pope, entitled "Eloise to Abelard" . Eloise was an extremely clever young woman of 18 when she met Peter Abelard, who was 51. Abelard was a philosopher and priest and Eloise's uncle had arranged for him to be her tutor. From the moment the two met they fell madly in love. They secretly got married and managed to keep their secret very well until Eloise got pregnant and her uncle found out. Furious at this, Eloise's uncle had Abelard hunted down and castrated. After this the two lovers were not allowed to meet again. Eloise was sent off to be a nun and Abelard, who had now lost his official position in the church, was forced to retire in a monastery. They exchanged letters for the rest of their lives, but never met aga

Vespasian was born Titus Flavius Vespasianus on 17th November of A.D. 9. He was a practical leader who gave Rome some much needed stability. His father was a banker and was often away froim home on business, taking Vespasian's mother with him as well. As a result of this he was pretty much brought up by his grandmother, Tertulla. As soon as he was legally of age and had received the toga virilis Vespasian embarked on his career, occupying various positions in public office. Around this time he married Flavia Domitilla, an ex mistress of an African knight. The marriage went well and they had three children together, out of which two, Titus and Domitian were to be future Emperors. However, before he had got married, Vespasian had started a passionate affair with a young freedwoman (ex-slave) by the name of Antonia Caenis. She had been secretary to Antonia, the mother of the Emperor Claudius and that must have been how they met. Now, there is no evidence that he and Caenis carried on

In Anglo-Saxon England, around the year 1000 A.D., fleas were as much a problem as they had ever been. There were various suggestions on how to get rid of them, of which some of the most amusing were to lock the flea-ridden clothes of the person inside a chest or to put sheepskins around the infested bed. The fleas would hopefully jump onto the whitish sheepskin and thus allow the tormented person to squish them to death. As with the Elizabethans, the anglo-Saxons didn't really believe in washing their bodies much. In fact, monks were said to have a maximum of five baths a year, and that was considered to be overdoing it. It appears that at least one commentator of the time may have cottoned on to something when he observed that the Danish habit of bathing and combing the hair every Saturday seemed to score the Danish men points with the women. Of course, there was no concept of hygiene as we know it. A document of the time advises that if some food fell off your plate by accident,

People in the past didn't wash very much. In fact, they hardly washed at all. A book from 1547 tells us all about the process of getting up in the morning : "When you be out of your bed stretch forth your legs and arms and your body, cough and spit, and then go to your stool...after you have evacuated your body and trussed your points combe your head...and wash your hands and wrists, your face and eyes and your teeth with cold water". Note that there is no mention of washing the body, even the point of evacuation. Deodorants seem to have been used though, as if that would solve the problem of a smelling body! The roote of fleur de lys, "taketh away the strong savour coming from the armholes". Queen Elizabeth took around portable lavatories with her, called 'close stools', when she went for visits to the countryside. These would be conveniently placed in a carriage specially provided for her. In 1565 she ordered "four close stools covered w

The Roman Emperor Vitellius (69 A.D.) was best known for his gluttony. His reign was incredibly short-lived as it lasted for little over a year. He was born Aulus Vitellius, in 15 A.D, to Lucius Vitellius, one of the most succesful public figures of the time, and Sestilia. According to Suetonius, his horoscope was omminus and this terrified his parents, who said they would do their best to keep their son away from public office. However, they did not succeed in their intent. Young Vitellius spent his early youth in Capri, in the company of Tiberius's homosexual prostitutes and it is said that he got his father a big promotion by being very "nice" to the Emperor. Through flattery, cunning and manipulation, Vitellius managed to work his way up the Imperial ladder and held a variety of positions in public office. His first wife was a woman called Petroniana, and he had a son with her, who was allegedly born blind in one eye. It is said that Vitellius killed the boy shortly a

Cess-pits existed in London for many centuries, from medieval times onwards. Thankfuly they do not exist now. A cess-pit was a chamber in which sewage from each individual house was 'stored' until it was emptied. This task was for the so called 'night-soil men' to do. As disgusting as this job was, it could also be dangerous, as when in 1326 a certain Richard the Raker fell into his cess-pit and drowned "monstrously in his own excrement" while he was attempting to empty it. By the 16th century a new cess-pit related job was invented, that of the 'saltpetre man'. These men extracted nitrates from excrement, so it could be used to make gunpowder. Saltpetre men had a licence from the king to enter into anyone's house at any time and remove the sewage-ridden earth of the cess-pit. In October 1660, Samuel Pepys records in his diary: "Going down to my cellar...I put my feet into a great heap of turds, by which I find that Mr. Turner's house of

Julius Caesar In 54 B.C Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a second time. He had invaded the year before but had been forced to withdraw. Problems in Gaul however forced him to retreat again. Britain was finally colonized by the Romans in A.D 43 under the reign of Claudius. Despite all these ups and downs though, Julius Caesar managed to make some interesting observations on how the locals lived. Here is what he had to say about their appearance, clothing and familly bliss: "Most of the tribes in the interior do not grow corn but live on milk and meat and wear skins. All the Britons dye their bodies with woad, which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle. They wear their hair long and shave the whole of their bodies, except the head and the upper lip. Wives are shared between groups of ten or twelve men, especially between brothers and between fathers and sons, but the offspring of these unions are counted as the children of the man with

Theodora (mosaic from Ravenna, Italy) Theodora was the daughter of a Byzantine bear-tamer at the Hippodrome (the Byzantine version of the Roman arena). Her father died when she was little, leaving behind a wife, Theodora and her two sisters Comito and Anastasia. The widow re-married but things did not improve for them financialy. As soon as the girls were old enough she put her daughters on the stage, which in those days was a profession which inevitably led to prostitution. The eldest, Comito was already an accomplished courtesan by the time Theodora started to assist her. It was not too long until she too became a prostitute. She was infimous. As she could not play any musical instruments or dance, according to Procopius, she "merely sold her attractions to anyone who came along, putting her whole body at his disposal" . She would also perform outrageous acts on stage, which only added to her notoriety. She was said to be given to "unlimited self-indulgence. Often she

Shortly after tobacco was first introduced in Europe, it was thought to be beneficial to your health. It was thought to cure a number of ailments and even take away bad breath, although a smoker's wife at the time told her husband: "It makes your breath stink like the piss of a fox!" In England, smoking tobacco really cought on and by 1577 it was even being grown here. Tobacco leaves were smoked in clay pipes and by the late 1590s one could purchase pre-filled disposable ones suitable for one use only, much like we would get a disposable camera today. The used pipes were then habitually thrown away, many into the Thames river, where nowadays, enthusiasts of uncovering items from the past find them in abundance, immersed in the thick mud left behind by the tide. A rather disgusting description of the smoking habits of the time gives us the picture: "...they draw the smoke into their mouths which they puff out again through their nostrils like smoke, along with it plen

Athenais de Montespan was the mistress of Louis XIV. She was extremely clever, beautiful and well educated (which was something of a rarety in her time). Through her role as mistress, she managed to acquire more power than the Queen, therefore being refered to sometimes by historians as the true Queen of France. Athenais came from an aristocratic family. At a young age she was engaged to a young man whom she was very fond of, an unusual circumstance for those times when arranged marriages were the norm. Unfortunately this man died just before they were to be married. Athenais then had the misfortune of being married off to the Marquis de Montespan, who was always having affairs and managed to get himself into enormous debt. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, but with a focused, ambitious mind and very good looks, she maintained an air of modesty and virtuousness beyond reproach, while she set out to be the King's mistress. Luckily she was already lady in waiting to the King's curr

Nowadays it is fashionable and desirable to have a tan and people go to extreme lengths to acquire one, baking for hours under the sun or even paying interesting sums of money to be "microwaved" in a tanning pod. However, this passion for tanning was not always so. Indeed, up to the first quarter of the 20th century, tanned skin for a woman, was a considered ugly and not "the done thing". The ideal was to have a white complexion and women went to great extremes in order to achieve this look. From Medieval times until the middle of the 19th century, white lead called ceruse , was used. The best ceruse was imported from Venice (considered best because it produced the whitest effect). It came in paste form and in order to be applied on the face women would mix it with water or egg-white. They would then apply it with the aid of a damp cloth. Of course, mixing it with egg-white produced the very unfortunate effect of the cracking of the makeup when a woman smiled, so we

Public lavatories did exist in ancient Rome, but they were nothing like what we have today. For one thing, I am using the term 'public' in its most literal sense because there was no such thing as privacy. There were no cubicles to separate those making use of the facilities. The procedure was conducted in full public view. Moreover, it was considered perfectly normal for people to meet there, defecate and discuss the news and gossip of the day - discoursing from both orifices. Despite this openness the surroundings were extremely well decorated - who knows, perhaps in order to inspire the users. The lavatory seats were made of marble, around them there was a continuous flow of water, while above them one could often see niches with little statues of gods, heroes, etc. Sometimes there was even a fountain in the room. However, even at the imperial palace, where one would expect to find privacy in these situations, the lavatories had three seats, side by side.

Women in the Restoration period did not have an enviable legal status. At the age of seven a girl was considered old-enough to be betrothed, while at twelve it was legal for her to be married. Until the "happy" day of her marriage, a girl was almost quite literally owned by her father. If he should have happened to die at some point while she was unmarried, the next head of the family would take her on, (typically the oldest son or the uncle). Of course, marriage did not give her any more independence as she was then the "property" of her husband and legally her status had changed from feme sole to feme covert , while he was called her "baron" . A feme covert was thus not allowed to enter into any contracts or even make a will, without the permission of her husband. The law of the time specified: "That which the husband has is his own" and "that which the wife has is the husband's" . (How convenient all this was for the hus

"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down..." Have you ever wondered what the story is behind this well known nursery rhyme? Well, it may not be what you think. Thoughts of London Bridge usually bring to mind Rennie's bridge, the London Bridge of the mid 1800s, which was sold to an American, dismantled and sent overseas bit by bit and put back together again. You would be justified for bringing to mind this bridge, with it's unusual history, but the one I am talking about has a much grander history. The construction of Old London Bridge started in the year 1176. It took 33 years to build and was operational from 1209. It consisted of twenty arches and had on it buildings of 3 to 6 floors high, at various times. Yes, people actually lived on this bridge. There were houses, shops and stalls of all kinds - at one time 138 shops were counted on it. On the Southwalk-end side of the bridge the heads and quarters of traitors were prominently displayed on top

In 16th century London sex outside marriage was widespread. Young men of well to do families were sent off to Italy to receive their "education" and bring back a variety of pornographic books. One of the most famous ones is one by the poet Aretino, who wrote a series of pornographic sonnets. To stimulate further the reader's imagination, the book was illustrated showing various sexual positions. There were plenty of English books with advice on the subject, such as Turner's Herbal , which contained many tips on the use of certain herbs for the purposes of evoking the lustful urges of man and woman. Talking of artichokes he says, "...this herb provoketh lust in women so it abateththe same in men" , while saffron boiled in wine , except for repelling moths "keeps a man from drunkenness, but also encourageth into procreation of life" and leeks and onions were also said to stimulate the sexual appetite. Shakespeare's plays are filled with cryptic

It is incorrectly assumed that the ancient Greeks and Romans did not know of the existence of sugar. The first reference to sugar is made by the Greek general Nearchus of Crete. He commmanded Alexander the Great's army in 327 B.C. and while he was in what is now known as the Punjab area, he came across sugar. Additionaly, Strabo, the Roman geographer describes "a reed in India [that] brings forth honey without the help of bees..." . He also mentions sugar in solid form, describing it as "stones the colour of frankinsense, sweeter than figs or honey" . The Greek naturalist and physician Dioscorides spoke of it as "...a kind of solidified honey, called saccharon [Greeks still call sugar sakharo or zahari] found in reeds in India and Arabia Felix, of a similar consistency to salt..." . Indeed, it was thought that sugar was a type of salt and we see that even in Medieval times when it was sometimes referred to as "Indian Salt" . Despite th

One of my readers has kindly sent me his thoughts on the Roman Emperor Tiberius. I have to say that my personal view of Tiberius does not coincide with this one, but I nevertheless felt that the writer has researched his subject well and his enthusiasm is almost contagious. For this reason I am publishing the essay below . The writer wishes to be identified by the pseudonym "Light". Once more, I find myself reasonably bored. So, in the interests of keeping me sane, I'm going to tell you a story... This is the story of the Poor Oppressed Victim and the Big Bad Roman Emperor. Just to somewhat confuse matters, they're both the same person. Tiberius (or to give him his full name, Tiberius Claudius Nero; bit of a mouthful...) gets something of a shitty deal in the history books. He's now known (when remembered at all) as an Olympic standard sexual pervert and sadist. And I suppose there's a grain of truth in that, but in the interest of striking a blow (or taki

Stays were the corsets worn by women in the 18th century. They were worn from infancy and were made of thick linnen onto which long, thin pieces of cane or whalebone were sewn vertically. This made the garment very rigid. The stays would end in a point, just above the abdomen and would be laced up at the back as tightly as possible. The garment was so tight around the waist and rib-cage, that movement and breathing was made difficult. (This explains why women fainted so easily..) Stays would be worn over a white shirt-like garment, which was usually almost knee-length, (knickers had not been invented yet) and the skirt would be fitten under the bottom part of the stays, with the pointed part on the outside. The front panel was meant to be seen and so was often beautifully embroidered and colourfull. Over the skirt, another shirt-like garment would be worn, which would be open in front so you could see the panel and it would be tied to the stays with silk ribbons or just pinned on. Thi

If you are dreading a trip to the dentist think again. In 17th century London you had very good reason to. In those days you would be seen to by a man called the "Teeth Inspector", who could be found in fairs and market-places. He had absolutely no academic qualifications and firmly believed that cavities were caused by a worm that made it's lodging in your teeth. If you had a very bad toothache he would usually suggest cauterising the offending nerve with acid, which would also kill both birds with one stone by destroying the tooth as well. If your toothache was so bad that you were howling with pain he might consider extracting the tooth via the use of several grotesque-looking instruments. All this "treatment" was administered in public view and one can say it was seen as a kind of spectacle for curious passers-by. If you complained that too many teeth had been extracted over the years and you wished you could replace them, the Teeth Inspector had a solution

Restoration London is the period between 1660 and 1670. This period of history witnessed among other things, the Restoration of the monarchy with Charles II, the Great Fire of London and the building of St. Paul's Cathedral by the great architect Christopher Wren. Perhaps the most well-known document of the time is the diary of Samuel Pepys, which provides us with a wealth of information on the everyday life in London of that time. His diary spans almost a decade, from 1660 to 1669, when he had to stop writing because he was losing his eyesight. Probably one of the most unpleasant times in a person's life in those days, was when they got ill and had to be treated by a surgeon. These were not to be confused with the doctors of the time who were called physicians . Chirurgeons (pronounced 'surgeons') were not especially learned and not regarded as gentlemen, unlike physicians. Their training consisted of a seven-year apprenticeship. They did not attend a university

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was born in A.D. 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. His parents died young and he was subsequently adopted by his grandfather and at the age of 17 by the emperor Aurelius Antoninus, who was also his uncle and had no sons of his own. Marcus married the emperor's daughter, Faustina, who bore him five children out of which only one survived, the future emperor Commodus (the tyrannical, sadistic, cruel one we see in the film 'Gladiator'). When Aurelius Antoninus died, Marcus succeeded him and made Lucius Verus (another adopted son of the deceased emperor) his co-ruler. It was thus that for the first time ever there were two emperors ruling Rome. Their rule was marked by various natural disasters and also the invasions of Germanic tribes from the north. In A.D. 167 Marcus joined his legions who were fighting these tribes, in the Danube area. He was not happy there and to console himself wrote his thoughts down, which we now know as Meditations

Women in ancient Rome, were allot fussier about their morning "toilette" than the men. (This would apply particularly to the rich ladies.) They would awake of course at the same time (sunrise or before). Like the men they would go to bed at night almost fully dressed. However, in the morning unlike the men who were practically ready to step out of the house like that, they would make several additions to their attire, which usually involved a colourful tunic, an elaborate fabric belt around the waist, jewellery (including bracelets, anklets, necklaces and earings). Before the Roman matron was ready to do this though she would have to "put her face on". This consisted of applying what we would call make-up, only unlike modern make-up this was made of chalk, lead and other such unpleasant and unhealthy ingredients. The chalk and lead were used to whiten the skin, herbal dyes would colour the lips red and ashes mixed with charcoal were used to intensify the eyebr

A Roman's relationship with his barber was crucial; the trimming of the beard was almost of religious significance and the utensils the barber used could be deadly with one accidental slip of the hand! Indeed, many were those who had their face sliced off due to the carelessness of their barbers! There was no use of softening lotion or soap; only water was used to soften the bristles. As a result the experience would often be painful. The poorer folk were known to spit on their shaving blade in order to "lubricate" it. As soon as a young man had grown enough beard to have it shaven off he would be sent to the barber for an almost ritualistic acting out of this deed. The Emperor Augustus had his taken off whe he was 23 whereas both Caligula and Nero did it when they took the Toga Virillis. Nero had his shaved-off bits sealed in a gold box even! Of course all young men in Rome would then follow the same example (much the same as young people of today who immitate habit

Ancient Romans did not like to stay in bed in the morning. In fact, anyone who did opt f0r a lie-in was treated with contempt and probably suspected of being a drunken lout! Romans typically woke up every day at sunrise. The Emperor Vespasian in fact preferred to rise before sunrise and plan who and what he was going to deal with and see to any paperwork. The Roman bedroom was a simple, small room, not made to encourage anyone to want to stay in it for longer than was thought necessary. It was very much a functional room in the sense that it was just a place for the Roman to sleep at night. The shutters were thick and dark and when shut left the room in absolute darkness, so as to encourage sleep. And if you thought that was rather Spartan and strict, the Roman bed was no cause for celebration either. It was usually a simple wooden affair, more like a sofa. The rich may have had a mattress consisting of swan's down, whereas the poor would have to make do with a hay-filled mattress.

Welcome to my Blog! Posts on this blog will be dedicated to the strange, intriguing, interesting and sometimes fascinating aspects of how people lived their lives in past times. A particular focus will be Ancient Rome but other times and places will be explored too. I hope you find these bits of information as interesting as I do! Stay tuned for my first post! :-)))