Who is Christopher Marlowe? Christopher Marlowe, also referred to as “Kit” Marlowe, led a short but impactful life. Born in 1564, the young Marlowe studied at The King’s School in Canterbury on a scholarship before earning another scholarship to study at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge. Marlowe earned a bachelor’s degree in the arts in […]
Gaius Julius Caesar was a conqueror, dictator, reformist, and divisive politician whose name remains synonymous with empire and dominance. He was assassinated by a group of sixty conspirators including several men whom he considered to be steadfast allies. His death on the “Ides of March” in 44 BC has endured as one of history’s greatest […]
There’s something about the seafaring life of the pirate which elevates them from simple criminal to roguish antihero in our collective memories. While real pirate’s could be anything from petty thieves with outsized criminal ambitions to former royal navy men with a chip on their shoulder, the common thread between them is a life of […]
Elmer McCurdy was born in 1880 to an unwed teenaged mother. To spare her the scandal of the circumstances of her son’s birth, Elmer was raised for much of his childhood by his aunt and uncle whom he believed to be his parents. When his adoptive father, George, died in 1890, the truth was revealed […]
Rachel Schmidt was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in around 1760. Very little is known about her upbringing except that her family was Presbyterian and that she seems to have been largely unsatisfied with the life that she grew up into. At the age of about sixteen, Rachel began sneaking away to the sea. She felt […]
The year was 1848. It was nighttime in Hydesville, New York when a flustered Margaret Fox dragged a neighbor from their home to witness the frightening phenomenon that had scared her so badly. Upon entering the farmhouse, Margaret led the neighbor to the bedroom of her two young daughters, fifteen-year-old Margaretta “Maggie” Fox and eleven-year-old […]
Pier Gerlofs Donia, often referred to as “Big Pier,” “Grutte Pier,” or “Greate Pier,” is an oft-forgotten pirate as well as a beloved folk hero of Frisian legend. Perhaps one of the strongest pirates in history, Grutte Pier is said to have been capable of lifting a horse on his shoulders and decapitating several opponents […]
I previously wrote about Saint Guinefort, a dog who became an unofficial local saint after a folk tale emerged surrounding his heroic deeds. While studying Saint Guinefort, I stumbled upon a little-known saint by the name of Saint Expeditus. There is little information available regarding this character, but what I could find is quite amusing. […]
“Joanna the Mad” is a name that is positioned at a focal branch of both the Habsburg family tree and that of the Spanish monarchy. Joanna, also known as “Juana La Loca” actually reigned as queen of Castile, and later of Aragon, for several decades. Despite this, her name is often overshadowed by the larger […]
