Catholicism in England was heavily repressed under Queen Elizabeth I, particularly after the pope excommunicated her in 1570. During her reign, dozens of priests were put to death, and Catholics could not even legally celebrate Mass or be married according to their own rites. When James I took the throne upon Elizabeth’s death in 1603, …
Continue reading “Remember, Remember the 5th of November, Gunpowder, Treason and Plot…”
Coffee was most certainly a popular drink in the Americas in the 17th and 18th Centuries. There are records of John Smith bringing coffee to the Jamestown Colony and even trading it with the Indians, but remember, the British were not the only colonial powers. Coffee would not take on importance in the British Empire …
Duels have a deep history in American History. Alexander Hamilton was the most celebrated casualty of the dueling ethic, having lost his life in an 1804 feud with Aaron Burr on the fields of Weehawken, New Jersey, but there were many more who paid the ultimate price— congressmen, newspaper editors, a signer of the Declaration …
Wall Street was not always just the New York Stock Exchange, in the 1600’s, it got its name because it WAS THE CITY WALL protecting the Dutch West India Company’s colony of New Amsterdam. In the 1600s, the English and the Dutch were major commercial rivals (Dutch West India Company vs English East India Company). …
Continue reading “That Insignificant Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam becomes New York City”
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases; the …
Following defeats in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the American army was forced to flee into Westchester County, New York (AKA Sleepy Hollow) after having been routed by William Howe’s combined British and Hessian forces in New York City. General Howe has sailed a formidable force up the Hudson River and landed several thousand troops behind Washington’s …
As science shifted from the “exact sciences” pushed forward by the church and based not on observation but on theological premise toward “empirical sciences” focused on observation, experimentation, and challenge, new problems arose. Throughout antiquity, doctors need not sully themselves with knowing the form and structure of the body, they delt in elegant theories like …
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. October 28, 1751 Liberty Bell Commissioned The Liberty Bell started out simply as the bell commissioned by the colonial legislature of Pennsylvania to hang in the steeple of the …
Gulliver’s Travels, or Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships is Jonathan Swift’s best known work, and a classic of English literature but the Irish writer and clergyman didn’t write his “traveler’s tale” as a children’s book. Swift …
Continue reading ““Gulliver’s Travels” is first published on October 28th, 1726″
When reenacting or acting as a historical interpreter, its good to have a few historical dates and stories to share. This series will publish a few. October 28, 1776 Battle of White Plains. Pursued by General Howe and his Hessian allies, George Washington retreated from New York following his defeats in Brooklyn and Manhattan. When …
Michael Carver -- Historical Interpreter/Reenactor 