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The Dreadful Commodus

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Commodus Commodus was the only surviving son of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. As emperor, he proved to be everything his father was not, maiking many enemies amongst the people and especially the senate. He was born in Lanuvium in A.D. 161 and there were rumours going around at the time, that he was in fact the product of his mother's passionate affair with a gladiator. As a child Commodus was fairly good natured, but as an adult he was anything but, which was good enough reason for many to suspect that Marcus Aurelius was not his real father. Despite all that, Marcus Aurelius raised Commodus as a future emperor, and in A.D.177, when the boy was only 16, he made him joint ruler, which shows he had lots of faith in him. When his father died in A.D. 180, near the Danube, Commodus became emperor. He was not interested in pursuing his father's plans of expansionism and not being particularly inclined towards the military lifestyel, he returned to Rome swiftly, leaving the campaign a

The Knights Templar

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Templar knights In the early 12th century, nine French knights got together and dedicated themselves to protecting pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Because their weapons were stored in a building that was given to them by the monastery which stood on the site of the Temple of Solomon, they were called Templars. Within two-hundred years, the Templars had amassed enormous wealth via their activities and had made enemies in the Church. They styled themselves as the protectors of Christianity, but many accused them of being a law unto themselves. In 1208 Pope Innocent criticised them heavily. He was later followed by Henry III of England, who even went as far as to threaten them. In the meantime, the French King Phillip, spread rumours that the Templars were plotting to overthrow the Pope. Worse still, a Templar by the name of Squin de Flexian, after being expelled by the Order, accused them of being heretics and put together a long list of charges against them. Trouble was now looming

18th Century Grave Robbers

You wouldn't think there would have been much grave robbing going on in London during the 1700s but there was. Corpses were frequently 'stolen' from graves for educational purposes, for the would-be surgeons' anatomy lessons. There is a gruesome story of the body of a lady's husband having been found in the surgeon's house, soon after it was burried. Apparently, after having obtained a search warrant, she found worse than what she expected. She looked inside a big pot "which was almost full of boiling water...she took a stick and stirred it when to her great surprise she saw the head and part of the body of her husband" . I really don't know what was going on there but it does not sound like anatomy... Two men who stole a baby's body from a cemetary were sentenced to a public whipping and a year in prison. There is also a story of a gang of three who stole lead coffins to melt the lead and sell it.

An Ancient Roman Recipe

I am not sure if I should be telling you all not to try this at home. Our detailed accounts of what ancient Romans ate and how they ate it come from a man called Apicius, who wrote a famous cookbook. Here is one of his recipies: Put in a mortar pepper, lovage and origan; pound, moisten with sauce, add cooked brains, pound thoroughly to dissolve lumps. Add five eggs and beat well to work all into a smooth paste. Blend with sauce, place in a metal pan and cook. When it is cooked turn out on a clean board and dice. Put in the mortar pepper, lovage and origan; pound, mix together; pour in sauce and wine, put in saucepan and bring to boil. When boiling crumble in pastry to thicken, stir vigorously and pour in the serving dish over the diced rissoles; sprinkle with pepper and serve." Would anyone eat this today?

Slaves in Rome

As would be expected, slaves have been abused and mistreated all throughout history. In Ancient Rome, they were even given demeaning names, such as Laughter, Silly, Sexy, Pleasure and Desire. As is apparent from these names, slaves of both sexes, were more often than not, abused sexually. It is worth mentioning that in Roman society a man only committed adultery if he had sexual relations with another Roman citizen’s wife – sex with a slave did not count. Of course, not all such relationships were abusive – think of the Emperor Vespasian’s long-standing affair with Antonia-Caenis, who became a freedwoman. As a rule though, slaves were seen as property and therefore their owner had no second thoughts with regards to his ill treatment of them. Slavery in Rome

Tudor Lifestyle Facts

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Haunted Tudor House Everyday people of the Tudor age were not typicaly dressed in lavish embroidered brocade and ruffs, as we see in famous portrtaits and paintings of the time. Indeed, very few but the super-rich could afford to dress like that. A dress of that style could cost anything from £35 onwards, which was very expensive, considering that a gentleman's income was £50 per annum. The rich tudors were very extravagant with their spending and an ideal example of this is when Henry VIII spent over £1,000 on a set of tapestries for his walls. This amount of money in those days was outlandishly enormous and more than most people would earn in an entire lifetime (the average labourer's annual wage amounting to around just £2). In much the same way, Tudor homes were not what their counterparts are today. Tudor-styled housing today is filled with varnished wooden panelling and of course all mod cons including more than one lavatory many times. The original Tudor homes had rough,

Medieval Businesswomen

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Margery Kempe (top) and Christine de Pisan (below) After the Black Death for obvious reasons, there was a noticeable shortage of people. This meant that women got the opportunity to get involved in tasks and areas which up til then were solely male territory. By 1363 a statute got rid of the law which limited women to only one trade or craft, so women were able to become traders and therefore support themselves. This newly found independence also meant that they now had more control over who they married too. One of the better known businesswomen of the time was a certain Margey Kempe, from Lynn in Norfolk. She also wrote The Book of Margery Kempe which is often seen as the first English autobiography. Margery had a taste for very expensive clothes (the modern equivalent would be designer-wear) and would spend large amounts of money to this purpose. her husband eventually got tired of this and decided he would not give her any more money for expensive clothes. At this point Margery t

Window Tax and Other Weird London Laws

In 1766 The House and Window Duties Act was passed by Parliament. This meant that every house in England and Scotland had to pay a certain amount of tax per window. (In Scotland though, houses with less than five windows weren't taxed). The more windows you had, the higher the tax, so many people decided to have many of them bricked up. This can still be seen on the walls of old town-houses in Central London. If you struck someone in 1543 and their blood was shed your hand had to be chopped off. Charles II decreed that six ravens ought to be kept in the Tower of London at all times. Legend has it that if the ravens leave the Tower the Kingdom will fall. To this day there is such a person as the Raven Master, and his chief responsibility is to clip the wings of the ravens so tehy can't fly away. Every October, the solicitor to the City of London pays rent for land that the Corporation of London rented in Shropshire. The problem is, this was about 700 years ago and this land i

Marie Antoinette and The Diamond Necklace Affair

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The notorious necklace Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna in Vienna, Austria, on November 2nd 1755. Daughter of the austere empress Maria Theresa, she was married off to the young Dauphin, the future king Louis XVI of France, at the age of 14. She was thrown into the lavish lifestyle, where the pursuit of pleasure was dominant. She was unhappy in her marriage and sought refuge in an extravagant lifestyle, spending enormous sums of money when she was Queen, thus making herself extremely unpopular with the French people. One incident, which damaged her reputation to the highest degree, was the so called Diamond Necklace Affair. Chief player in this story was a woman called Jeanne de Saint-Remy de Valois, comtesse de la Motte, who was a notorious con-woman, sleeping her way to the top while simultaneously claiming to be an aristocrat. At the time Jeanne was having an affir with the Cardinal de Rohan, a gullible man off whom she borrowed large amounts of money and

In an Anglo-Saxon Church Eleven Hundred Years Ago

Anglo-Saxon church-goers had little in common with contemporary worshippers. A crowd of them would regularly assemble in the nave in order to witness God's 'judgement' of someone accused of evil. How did they do that you may ask. Well, they would bring the unfortunate person to the church while an iron rod was placed in the fire until red hot. When the priest decided the iron rod was ready, the accused man would have to pick it up and hold it in his hand. As if this was not bad enough he was required to carry the rod over a prescribed distance, usually nine paces. In the meantime his hand was being literally roasted, while the faithful observed in utter fascination. The screams and groans of this man contrasting strongly with the pious mutterings of the priest in the background. As soon as he had walked the nine paces, the man would drop the rod and his blistered, burnt hand would be immediately bandaged. Three days after his ordeal, the accused would be taken back