Historical Women
You've heard about famous historical dudes - here's the story from a female perspective.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
The Role of Women During the English Civil War
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Oddest History Video Ever
I'm desperately hoping this is an elaborate practical joke. If so it's hilarious; if not, it's scary.
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Historical tv for the weekend
Just spotted the Devil's Whore on YouTube. If you haven't seen it it's well worth a look! There are a number of historical inaccuracies in the series, but it does give a good overview of the lives of women during the Civil War.
ps: I wrote a short review of the series which you can find here.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
What was on the menu in January 1861?
Despite, or perhaps because of, this, it does give an interesting insight into social history, and with that in mind, my first post highlights the way our diets and purchasing options have changed. We now take it for granted that we can, for example, buy fresh strawberries at Christmas, but that wasn't always the case.
This extract from The Book of Household Management lists what would have been available in January ... assuming you were wealthy enough to afford them.
JANUARY.
FISH.—Barbel, brill, carp, cod, crabs, crayfish, dace, eels, flounders, haddocks, herrings, lampreys, lobsters, mussels, oysters, perch, pike, plaice, prawns, shrimps, skate, smelts, soles, sprats, sturgeon, tench, thornback, turbot, whitings.
MEAT.—Beef, house lamb, mutton, pork, veal, venison.
POULTRY.—Capons, fowls, tame pigeons, pullets, rabbits, turkeys.
GAME.—Grouse, hares, partridges, pheasants, snipe, wild-fowl, woodcock.
VEGETABLES.—Beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, celery, chervil, cresses, cucumbers (forced), endive, lettuces, parsnips, potatoes, savoys, spinach, turnips,—various herbs.
FRUIT.—Apples, grapes, medlars, nuts, oranges, pears, walnuts, crystallized preserves (foreign), dried fruits, such as almonds and raisins; French and Spanish plums; prunes, figs, dates.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
The Suffragettes
Updated to add: I can't get the video to appear here, so if you aren't seeing it, here is the link.
I found this video highlighting the work of the suffragette movement over on YouTube. I know their efforts are often dismissed nowadays, and it is true that the combined effort of women in World War 1 probably did play a bigger part in them winning the right to vote, but I still think the suffragettes were admirable and they certainly focused national attention on to the issue of womens' suffrage. We owe them a lot!
This video sadly isn't embeddable, but it gives a more detailed look at the suffragette movement, and the music (Aretha Franklyn) is pretty funky.