Table of contents for No. 71 in All About History

The Royal Art of Poison: Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicines and Murder Most Foulis out now from Duckworth Eleanor Herman is a NY Times bestselling author of both YA fiction and historical non-fiction, and has hosted shows for History and National Geographic. She’s an expert on the torrid private lives of monarchs and her books include Sex With Kings: 500 Years Of Adultery, Power, Rivalry And Revenge and Sex With The Queen: 900 Years Of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers And Passionate Politics. Q. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE ROYAL ART OF POISON AND WHAT INSPIRED IT? A. In writing Sex With Kings and Sex With the Queen, books that examined the love lives of European royalty, I was surprised that whenever someone at court died – even a slow…

What exactly did King George III suffer from? This is a question that has debated ever since his lifetime, with the most commonly cited reason being porphyria, a blood disorder. Known for causing aches and pains in the inflicted, as well as psychiatric problems, it often believed that the king suffered from the disorder on account of his blue urine, a symptom of porphyria. However, in recent years, other suggestions have been put forward for the king’s illness. Analysis of George’s letters indicates that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder because when he was ill, his language would become more colourful and his sentences would be long and repetitive, containing up to 400 words. It is even possible that some of the treatments used on George actually made his…

Two manuscripts survive of the saga of Ragnar Loðbrók (Ragnars saga loðbrókar). They were written at the start of the 15th century but are thought to be retellings of a lost original written around 1230. The manuscript presents Ragnar’s saga as the direct continuation of Völsunga saga. This is the main source of the story of Ragnar, beginning with the story of how Aslaug is raised by Grima and Áke and concluding with the adventures of the sons of Loðbrók. The saga includes material telling of Ragnar’s death and the revenge of his sons, which is recounted in the next chapter of this book, together with further material from the Tale of Ragnar’s Sons (Þáttr af Ragnars sonum). Further tales of Ragnar were included in the lost Skjöldunga saga but,…

DEHYDRATION Dehydration caused by being too weak to drink or have the ability to feel thirst causes dry flaky raw cracked skin and lips PSYCHOSIS The brain starts to deteriorate, causing a decline in comprehension and judgment, followed by social withdrawal, and eventually hysteria, confusion, and hallucinations VITAMIN DEFICIENCY The lack of vitamins causes the skin to become bruised and gums to bleed HEART FAILURE The heart becomes unable to effectively to pump blood around the body due to the lack of potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium minerals IMMUNE SYSTEM IMPAIRMENT White blood cells start to struggle to defend against invasive pathogens causing slow wound healing and susceptibility to infection INTERNAL ORGAN SHRINKAGE The gut shrinks from oesophagus to rectum causing the body to becomes less able to extract nutrients…

NUMBER OF SHIPS 160 NUMBER OF SAILORS 32,400 APPROX NUMBER OF CANNON 2,400 ALONSO PÉREZ DE GUZMÁN Appointed by King Philip II despite his protestations, de Guzmán did his best, but his lack of military experience ultimately proved telling + Reorganised fleet and bolstered its numbers - Reluctantly took control after stressing his lack of experience SAN MARTIN The flagship of the Spanish Armada saved a fellow galleon by fighting off 15 English ships alone for an hour + A beast of the seas armed with 48 guns - Compact interior made reloading cannons incredibly difficult SWORD The Spanish favoured boarding weapons such as the sword as they were trained to fire their cannons once then prepare to leap onto the enemy’s vessel + Ideal for close-quarters fighting on a…

What was the background to the Battle of Hastings in 1066? Who was vying for the throne? Jump back to 1016, and there was a conquest of England by Danish kings, ending up with King Cnut being on the throne from 1016, an external power conquering and ruling England. Cnut’s reign lasted until 1035, before Edward the Confessor became king in 1042. If we jump forward to 1065, Edward is childless, his wife Edith is the daughter of a Godwin, and it’s coming to the point where Edward’s going to die without leaving an heir, and someone has to be king. There are various accounts of Edward promising the throne to different people. Supposedly he promised it to William the Conqueror [of Normandy], and that seems plausible that it did…

From the never-ending nuptials of groom-zilla Henry VIII to the fairy tale romances of modern monarchs, All About History’s new book, Royal Weddings Through History explores nearly six centuries of royal romances… and heartbreak. Discover: •Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen and the Wars of the Roses •Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, the union that birthed modern Spain •Decadence of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France •Lord Louis Mountbatten and the scandalous Edwina Ashley Buy it now from myfavouritemagazines.co.uk  Price: £12.99…

EDUCATED MEN High-end physicians in the Middle Ages were university educated and their medicine was rooted in the writings of ancient Greeks such as Hippocrates and early medieval Arab physicians. They treated aristocrats and royalty, explaining illness as an imbalance of the four humours (or distinct bodily fluids): black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood. A BUNCH OF POSIES It was widely thought that diseases were carried by smell so physicians would seek to protect themselves by masking any stench. Posies were a popular choice but oranges were also used. Flowers also came in handy for treating smallpox – as well as giving patients red food and drinks and wrapping them in red cloths, physicians would ground red roses with bamboo juice. CUTTING TREATMENTS There were some extreme cures for…

1 LAZZARETTO VECCHIO VENICE The oldest purpose-built quarantine station, the eerie Lazzaretto Vecchio was established in 1423 on one of the smaller islands of the Venetian lagoon to protect the great mercantile city from the ravages of the plague. With ships arriving from Asia and Africa, Venice was especially vulnerable to the spread of disease and all those infected regardless of social status or wealth were condemned to crowded bunkhouses on the reclaimed mudflats of Lazzaretto Vecchio. Though much of the earlier structure was pulled down in the 19th century to build a barracks, archaeological work continues to uncover much of its gruesome early history. Graffiti can be seen from the 16th century when bubonic plague ravaged the city and as recently as 2006 a mass grave of 1,500 neatly…

THE INTOLERABLE ACTS Hoping to curb colonial resistance to parliamentary authority and punish Bostonians for the Tea Party, the Intolerable Acts are introduced, which removed Massachusetts’s right to self-governance and closed the Boston Harbour. The acts provoked anger amongst the other colonies, who vowed to support Massachusetts. BOSTON MASSACRE A mob began harassing British soldiers in Boston, Massachusetts, following rising anger at the presence of British troops to enforce parliamentary legislation. Five colonists were killed in the ensuing conflict, and the the incident was used to encourage rebellion against the British. THE STAMP ACT In another attempt to raise revenue, British Parliament imposed direct taxes on the colonists for the first time, requiring all legal documents, newspapers and pamphlets to have stamps. The act caused widespread anger and protests in…

01 REGIO V The current excavations are taking place here, uncovering a part of the city that hasn’t seen the light of day since the eruption in 79 CE. New technologies like lasers and drones are being used to uncover the half-hectare area in what’s been called one of the biggest postwar digs in the world. 02 VILLA OF THE MYSTERIES From 1924 to 1961, a considerable amount of excavating took place. One of the buildings to be uncovered in this period was the Villa of the Mysteries, a well-preserved villa on the outskirts of Pompeii. Archaeologists also dug up most of Regio I and II. 03 VIA DELL’ABBONDANZA While today this street makes up the majority of the ‘Pompeii for all’ walking route, it was heavily bombed during World…

Listen. Do you hear? That sound. That is the sound of lamentation. Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Brynhild the Fair are dead. The trees whisper it, the rivers carry tidings to the heaving, restless sea; the rain and the wind, the sun and the stars tell the news: Sigurd is dead. Brynhild has departed. There was a man who heard the whisper of rain and wind, who saw the tears of the sun and the grief of the stars. That man was Heimir, foster-father to Brynhild, and his grief for the fair Brynhild was as great as if she had been the daughter of his loins. Then Heimir laid down his plough and put aside his crown and forsook his kingdom. For Brynhild and Sigurd had had a daughter, Aslaug,…

BEAUTY PRODUCTS Lipstick, fried toothpaste and face-powder pancakes are all items listed in diaries as sources of food for the Leningraders SOIL The heavy bombing of food reserves included the destruction of sugar storages. The soil could be dug up and either mixed with flour or sucked upon for sweetness WATER Water eased the hunger pains and Leningraders would search for water under the icy blanket that covered Russia in the winter or would dig holes into the ice of lakes LEATHER Anything made from leather could be turned into a grimy jelly or a pate, including belts, briefcases and jackets. WALLPAPER PASTE People stripped the walls of wallpaper, scraping the paste from the inside to make into a soup, and then eating the paper. Other people ate the paste…

APPROX NUMBER OF SHIPS 200 NUMBER OF SAILORS 18,000 NUMBER OF CANNON 3,000 FRANCIS DRAKE Heralded as a daring national treasure, Sir Francis Drake had 25 years of sailing and battling on the high seas behind him before the Armada set sail on orders from King Philip + Vast experience in waging war at sea - The promise of fame and fortune could cloud his judgement THE REVENGE Led by none other than Sir Francis Drake, this pioneering race-built galleon led the English fleet to victory at Gravelines + Fast, well-armed thanks to 46 guns, and captained by Drake - Despite being small at 400 tons it cost CULVERIN CANNON Deriving its name from the Latin for ‘of the nature of a snake’, this versatile gun became an English favourite…

In Burma After leaving Eton, the young Orwell joined the Indian Imperial Police, and worked in the largest province of the British Raj, Burma (now Myanmar), for five years. Here he experienced the oppression of Britain’s Imperial rule firsthand, and this would shape his political and social standpoints for the rest of his life. While on leave in England he decided not to return to Burma and resigned from the Indian Imperial Police. 1922-1927 The Spanish Civil War In December 1936, Orwell travelled to fight in the Spanish Civil War, joining a republican militia, the POUM, affiliated with the Independent Labour Party. His wife Eileen, who found work in Barcelona, later joined him. He received a near-fatal bullet wound in May 1937. The couple was forced to flee the country…

Book Film TV Games Podcast Other Author Nicholas J Higham Publisher Yale University Press Price £25 Released Out now For centuries, stories of King Arthur have fascinated those who have heard them. It seems that there are endless theories on exactly where his court of Camelot might be located, in which lake the Excalibur-wielding lady of the legends could be found and on just how grand his fabled round table was. Yet as the stories have been told and retold and the magical and romantic elements teased to the fore, the possibility of a “real” King Arthur reigning in England has been forgotten. “It seems as though Nicholas Higham has left no stone unturned in his search for the truth behind the legend” In his new book, King Arthur: The…

Author Peter Jones Publisher Atlantic Books Released Out now Price £12.99 The Romans loom large in popular imagination in the form of battling gladiators, emperors good, bad and worse, and armies of legionaries waging war across seas and continents. But when it comes to knowing the everyday details of life for the men, women and children of the empire, it’s likely the reader would be stumped. Happily for those curious about the Romans’ thoughts and practices around old age and mortality, Peter Jones’s Memento Mori (‘Remember You Die’) serves as a succinct yet nugget-filled guide. Jones sets the scene with an examination of mortality then and now. We learn that half of all Roman children were dead by the age of five and eight per cent of the population reached…

THE PHONEY VICTORY Author Peter Hitchens Price £17.99 Publisher IB Taurus Peter Hitchens is no stranger to controversy, insisting that Hitler and the Nazi regime had to be crushed, but Britain should have followed the example of the US and waited to enter the war from a position of military and diplomatic strength. Yet a war, begun in uncertainty and confusion, became in popular imagination the war that restored goodness to the world. Hitchens criticises this as a simplistic interpretation of reality. He brings to light some of the uncomfortable aftermath – the Stalinist purges and the “atrocious butcher’s bill from Indian Partition.”…

Certificate: 15 Creator: Peter Morgan Distributor: Netflix Cast: Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby Released: Out now When a marriage seems as though it’s falling apart around you, it’s something that you try to keep private – it’s painful enough without the world trying to get involved. But when you’re a queen, you don’t have that option. It’s that kind of rawness that really comes across in the second season of Netflix’s hit drama The Crown. A turbulent, emotional instalment of the critically acclaimed series, it addresses the reign of Elizabeth II fromthe Suez Crisis in 1956 to the birth of the monarch’s fourth and final child, Prince Edward, in 1964. The House of Windsor has been no stranger to scandal and in this series we get right up close…

EPIC TUDOR CHRISTMAS SPECIAL Alison Weir and Siobhan Clarke on the early modern Xmas season ANCIENT ROME FOR BEGINNERS What you should know about the Mediterranean’s mightiest empire WHAT HAPPENED TO AGATHA CHRISTIE? Discover how the novelist became the mystery when she vanished SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE turn to page 70 to find out how you can get All About History delivered to your door…

541-542 THE JUSTINIAN PLAGUE  25-50 MILLION Number of estimated deaths across the empire Approximate number of deaths each day in Constantinople during the plague 10,000 This was the FIRST major outbreak of bubonic plague in the world 7TH CENTURY WRITING IT DOWN Greek physician Paul of Aegina creates his seven-volume medical encyclopaedia, incorporating his own knowledge with that of the ancient Greeks and Romans – it would remain popular for the next 800 years. 610 CHINESE MEDICINE Chao Yuanfang, an imperial court physician during the Sui Dynasty, compiles his Treatise On The Many Illnesses. He discusses more than 1,700 diseases, such as smallpox, which greatly influences medicine in China. 754 ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE The first pharmacies are opened in Baghdad and they prove to be very popular, with many more…

PAUL OF AEGINA BYZANTINE C.625-690 Paul was one of the most prominent physicians of the Byzantine period. He studied medicine in Alexandria, Egypt and was also exposed to Arabic medicine through his travels to the Middle East. He wrote The Epitome of Medicine, comprising of seven books on various subjects including hygiene and toxicology, combining the work of Hippocrates and Galen with new medical procedures, such as cauterisation. It was highly influential and remained as the standard guide for medicine and surgery for 800 years. AL-ZAHRAWI SPANISH 936-1013 Widely hailed as ‘the father of modern surgery’, Al-Zahrawi was the greatest surgeon of the Islamic Golden Age. In roughly the year 1000, he completed his 30-volume illustrated medical encyclopaedia Al-Tasrif, which was intended for medical students. Documenting Al-Zahrawi’s almost 50 years…

The act of self-mortification, or flagellation, had been common practice for holy men since the earliest decades of Christianity. As the Black Death ravaged Europe across the mid-14th century it erupted into a mass movement, powered by hysteria and the belief that this vile epidemic was a divine punishment. The first outbreaks of public flagellation occurred in Northern Italy in 1260 and the practice was soon carried to the rest of Europe, particularly Central Europe and the Low Countries, where communities cowering under the shadow of pestilence adopted it as a desperate act of public contrition. The most common tool of cleansing was the scourge, a whip with three tails that was often knotted or barbed with iron to inflict maximum pain, and worn on the waist. The flagellants or…

Before he became one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was an agent in London, on behalf of Massachusetts. For some time he had watched as the relationship between Britain and the colonies deteriorated as tensions increased, something which concerned him greatly. Therefore, it is unsurprising that when Franklin saw an opportunity that he thought would improve the situation, he took it. In 1772 he obtained letters that had been addressed to the late Thomas Whately, an assistant to British Prime Minister George Grenville, from the Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, and his secretary and brother-in-law Andrew Oliver. Hutchinson, a staunch loyalist to the crown, and Oliver had encouraged both the king and Parliament to act against the colonists for their protests. Believing that the men…

“At eleven o’clock this morning came to an end the cruellest and most terrible war that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.” British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, speech in the House of Commons, (11 November 1918) “This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.” Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French General, said after the Treaty of Versailles (1919) “The war has ended – quite differently, indeed, from how we expected. Our politicians have failed us miserably.” Wilhelm II, Emperor of Germany. Reaction to Hindenburg and Ludendorff’s advice that an armistice must be requested (29 September 1918) “After expending the greatest effort, and suffering the greatest sacrifices in blood in all history, we must…

The sagas start in legend and end in history with diversions into tales of adventure and chivalry throughout. But the saga of Ragnar Loðbrók neatly straddles the transition from legend to history: it begins by anchoring the future wife of Ragnar in the greatest of Norse legend, the story of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer and Brynhild (ignoring the difficulty of Sigurd and Brynhild belonging to a time four centuries earlier), and ends with the sons of Ragnar, men such as Ivar the Boneless and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, who are undoubtedly historical figures. Whether Ragnar himself was a historical character remains unknown. While a group of Viking war chiefs were known as sons of Loðbrók, this could refer to a tribal founder as their actual paternal father. But if Ragnar was real,…

HEROISM Practising what he preached, he took a bullet for his beliefs and directed consistent ire against both his opponents and his own shortcomings. VILLAINY Flawed by prejudice, as well as self-contradiction on important subjects, critics past and present have had plentiful ammunition to fire at his divisive stances. LEGACY ‘Big Brother’, ‘Room 101’, ‘Thought Police’, ‘Orwellian’ – few writers have achieved such a lasting impression on literature, language and culture. Was George Orwell a hero or a villain? Get in touch and let us know what you think Facebook /AllAboutHistory Twitter @AboutHistoryMag…

The British Museum’s new exhibition, I Object: Ian Hislop’s Search for Dissent, supported by Citi, features over 100 objects that challenge the status quo in societies and defy established narratives. Guest-curated by journalist, historian and broadcaster Ian Hislop and assisted by British Museum curator Tom Hockenhull, the items featured range from ancient Mesopotamia to the 2016 presidential election. Many of these objects, from badges and prints to fine works of art, have been collected from all over the world and are on display for the very first time. The exhibition serves to highlight the power of objects and their potential to carry messages of dissent, subversion and satire that go against the mainstream of society. While these messages are obvious for some objects, such as James Gillray’s satire of the…

Author Willow Winsham Publisher Pen & Sword Price £12.99 Released Out now To confront the obvious: Willow Winsham is one of our own writers and we’re very much in love with her work. As co-founder of #FolkloreThursday, and author of Accused: British Witches Throughout History and our recent cover story on Matthew Hopkins, the notorious Witchfinder General, England’s Witchcraft Trials comes with undeniable chops. With no interest in reinforcing the robust mythology of ducking stools and witch burnings, Winsham subverts those expectations case-by-case, to expose the subtle differences between those rare English outbreaks of witch panic. “Winsham subverts those expectations case-by-case” A fantastic example is the Witches of Warboys which has the familiar escalating mania of Salem and the hormonally-powered fantasy of many modern hauntings or possessions, but then the…

Certificate: 15 Director: David Blair Cast: Iwan Rheon, Milo Gibson, Stefanie Martini Released: Out now The British infatuation with World War II may be faintly risible, but familiarity with its tropes and concepts has opened up space for films that focus on the smaller, more neglected stories. With Brexit-baiting topicality, Hurricane tells the story of the predominantly Polish pilots of the RAF’s 303 Squadron, the highest scoring fighter squadron of the Battle of Britain. The casting of Welsh actor Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, Misfits) in a role that requires him to flit between Polish and English seems faintly odd, but he does so with admirable conviction. Ultimately that’s the least of Hurricane’s problems with authenticity, and the film clings far too close to war movie cliche –chipper, weak-chinned English…

Author Michael Palin Publisher Random House Books Price £20 Released Out now In 2014, marine archeologists discovered the wreck of HMS Erebus languishing far beneath the waters of the Arctic. From this discovery, Michael Palin uncovers the story of this remarkable ship from her days as a military vessel to her exploration of the Antarctic and beyond. This is the biography of the ship and the men who sailed on her. Palin’s exhaustive research has taken him around the globe and as ever, he is a masterful storyteller with an innate ability to bring the world of the past to life. Within these pages the crew and commanders of Erebus come vividly to life and we travel with them from triumph into disaster. This is not a happy story and…

THE CROWN: THE OFFICIAL COMPANION Author: Robert Lacey Publisher: Blink Publishing The official tie-in book for the first season of the show, Robert Lacey – who worked as the historical consultant on the show as well as Peter Morgan’s film The Queen – offers context for the events that underpinned that breathtaking first run. A captivating introduction that elevates the medium, Lacey adds depth to the drama we feel we already know without sacrificing any of his engaging authorial style. GEORGE VI: THE DUTIFUL KING Author: Sarah Bradford Publisher: Penguin A revealing portrait of a king whose inner life has only really emerged from The Crown and The King’s Speech, Sarah Bradford explores a humble, hardworking man who found greatness thrust upon him and rose to the challenge as best…