What about history fascinates me? Good question. I'm not entirely sure myself. It all started as a young girl, discovering the Royal Diaries series. To this day I still love them, and I've read many of them over ten times each. I guess you could say I just like people. Their stories, and the mysteries the past can hold. After all, the Romanov tragedy was one of my first historical obsessions, beaten only by Elizabeth Tudor's struggle for the throne against her sister.
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| Nicholas II and Alexandra |
The Romanov's. It all started when I learned of young Anastasia, rumored to have escaped the brutal murders that claimed the rest of her family's life. Being that I grew up with a passion for mysteries, it was no surprise for me to be sucked in completely to her story. I have since then learned the truth, that she died with the rest of her family. But their lives, and even the absolutely strange and unexplained attitude of Anna Anderson, has captivated me. My interest has gone as far as purchasing much of the family's published diaries, and biographies of close friends of the royal family.
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| Catherine the Great |
Catherine the Great. On the outside she's a strong woman, being the longest ruling female in Russian history. But the part of her story that intrigues me most, is her younger years. She and her mother left their family in Prussia because Empress Elizabeth had chosen her to be Peter III's bride. In order for her to become such a powerful Empress, she had to change her name, religion, language, and face terrifying odds. Empress Elizabeth had a curious temperament, and Catherine's mother did nothing to help her daughter, what with spying for King Frederick of Prussia.
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| Mary Stuart |
Mary Stuart. Queen of Scotland only six days after being born, through her official coronation wasn't until almost a month later. She was betrothed to Prince Edward of England some six months later, but it fell through. A French Marriage Treaty was signed when she was five, and she left to live in France. James Hamilton served as her Regent until he passed, and the role was taken up by Mary's mother, Mary of Guise. She was married twice, and her claim for the English throne was ultimately her undoing. She was raised in a chaotic way, and lived a somewhat chaotic life because of it.
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| Eleanor of Aquitaine |
Eleanor is possible the most frustrating and fascinating people to research. Her specific date of birth is unknown, only that she was probably born in 1122. She was a most powerful woman in her time, and in that time women were though very little of. She was well educated in arithmetic, history, playing the harp, singing, various games, and could even speak and read Latin.
Between two husbands she had a total of ten children, outliving all but two. She was Duchess of Aquitaine, Countess of Poitou, Queen of France from 1137-52, Duchess of Normandy, Countess of Anjou, and finally Queen of England before her death. A fun fact I find most fascinating, is that she lived through the Second and Third Crusades; a topic I've found intriguing, but have yet to look into.
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| Elizabeth Tudor |
Elizabeth is the person who captured me first. The one who started me on this path of being in love with history. Her diligence to learning is inspiring; she could speak French, Flemish, Italian, Spanish, and by the end of her life, it's believed she could speak Welsh, Cornish, Scottish, and Irish, as well as English. Of course she went through much turmoil. Her mother was beheaded when she was a baby, and her claim to the throne wavered through the years, none more so than when her sister Mary I sat in the throne.
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| RMS Titanic |
The Titanic only recently came to my attention. A friend recommended a charming little fiction book about the Titanic, and another friend had mentioned interest in the disastrous voyage. Quite frankly I couldn't keep away. History and tragedy come hand and hand in many of the stories I seem to love.
The crashing of the Titanic is famous; possibly even more so beacuse the ship was thought to be unsinkable. It's like the iceberg was thinking, "yup, imma sink her on her maiden voyage to prove that anything can sink." It's so hard to narrow down one topic to talk about, because people of all walks of life were on that boat when she sank.
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| Marie Antoinette |
Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna, France's most tragic queen. She was sister to fifteen other siblings, many of whom were already married when she was born. Antonia was fifteen years old when Louis XV asked for her hand in marriage to his eldest grandson, Louis-Auguste, Dauphin of France. With that proposal, the hostilities between Dowager Empress Maria Theresa and Louis XV ended. This, of course, was not abnormal, as all Maria Theresa's children's marriages secured treaties. But in Antonia's case, this was to end in tragedy.
For those interested, I find this particularly awe inspiring and even slightly amusing. Below is Marie Antoinette's mother's full title. Not an easy thing to live up to.
Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Dowager Empress of the Romans, Queen of Hungary, of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, etc.; Archduchess of Austria; Duchess of Burgundy, of Styria, of Carinthia and of Carniola; Grand Princess of Transylvania; Margravine of Moravia; Duchess of Brabant, of Limburg, of Luxemburg, of Guelders, of Württemberg, of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Milan, of Mantua, of Parma, of Piacenza, of Guastalla, of Auschwitz and of Zator; Princess of Swabia; Princely Countess of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Hainault, of Kyburg, of Gorizia and of Gradisca; Margravine of Burgau, of Upper and Lower Lusatia; Countess of Namur; Lady of the Wendish Mark and of Mechlin; Dowager Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany
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