Society & Economy

Could The King’s Touch Really Heal Scrofula?

From the 12th to the 19th centuries, the people of France and England really believed their king’s touch could heal them of scrofula. Why did they believe it? Were they ignorant superstitious simpletons who knew no better? I do not think so. Before you toss up your hands and write me off as a crank, …

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Darcy's Education of Miss Elizabeth Benett by AJ Bishop

Darcy’s Education of Miss Elizabeth Bennet— A Review

A Sequel with a Difference A. J. Bishop’s Darcy’s Education of Miss Elizabeth Bennet is a tour de force in its genre. The author gives us an entertaining, thought-provoking, and beautifully written novel in this popular Regency with-a-twist genre. Her ability to capture the characters we love and develop them in unforeseen, yet believable, directions …

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Renaissance Fiction: Roberta Rich’s Midwife’s Trilogy

Roberta Rich’s Midwife’s Trilogy proves that powerful Renaissance women don’t have to be real; they can also be fictional. Hannah Levi, the heroine of Roberta Rich’s exciting Midwife’s trilogy is an example.  The three historical novels are fast-paced, the characters believable and sympathetic, the plots well structured, and the settings brilliantly portrayed. Rich is a …

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Clothing French Renaissance Noblewomen

What clothing did French Renaissance Noblewomen wear? As a writer, I ask myself this question each time I need to describe a woman. I focus on noblewomen because courts set the fashion. People of every class copied the one above it as closely as their finances allowed. Styles varied from one country to another and from …

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Importance of Male Heirs for Brittany

As I was researching my new novel I reflected on the importance of male heirs for Brittany and France. I had been reading an article that electrified me in the book Noblesse de Bretagne du Moyen Age à Nos Jours. Failures in the male line One article in particular challenges several standard interpretations of Breton …

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Dukes & Duchesses of Brittany (1485 – 1559)

The Dukes and Duchesses of Brittany between 1485 to 1559 were also kings and queens of France from the time France conquered Brittany to the death of King François II of France. Anne of Brittany, the last truly independent Duchess of Brittany, fought her whole life to keep her duchy separate from France. She had …

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