And Now For Something Completely Different...

It's taken me a while to get to this, due to various bits and pieces going on. I woke up this morning and found a comment from the lovely Anna Belfrage nominating me for a blogger award. This has put a massive smile on my face after a particularly difficult few weeks. The premise of the whole thing is to nominate inspiring blogs for the award, and answer a few questions about yourself in the process. Thank you for nominating me, Anna - here we go!

1. Display the logo on your blog. 

2. Link back to the person who nominated you. 

3. State 7 things about yourself. 

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. 

5. Notify your nominees.

I've done the first two, so on with the seven random facts.

1. I have type 1 diabetes, and we're coming up to the 18th anniversary of my diagnoses.
2. I really regret my decision to not carry on with history while I was doing my degree. In my first year I did a joint honours with archaeology but alas when it came to the second year, I decided to go for single honours archaeology.
3. I am thus, a trained archaeologist. I've done loads of awesome digs both for research and commercial contract purposes - two Roman villas, a leper hospital, Tudor House in Southampton and a random building site - my commercial contracts were the best jobs I've ever had.
4. I used to be in a rock band. We were truly awful, but playing in front of two packed auditoriums and a pub packed to the rafters was absolutely amazing!
5. As well as the diabetes, I also have coeliac disease and diabetic nueropathy. Because of all this, I take enough tablets to make my stomach rattle!
6. I adore wine and consider myself something of a connoisseur of the stuff. I completely blame my parents for this as they're wine nuts themselves (and that I blame on their impending move to Portugal where the wine is amazing, and super cheap!).
7. I'm a tad obsessed with Monty Python, and can quote both Life of Brian and The Holy Grail almost word for word.

I'm now supposed to nominate 15 blogs who deserve this award. But if I'm honest every blog I read deserves it, as they're all inspirational in their own right. I would like to mention a few blogs that are my particular inspirations:

• Three Pipe Problem - This blog is absolutely amazing, and all about the Renaissance and art history. Please do check it out as it's one of my favourite blogs out there!
• Madame Guillotine - Does Melanie need any other introduction? She's just brilliant!
• The frenetic fox - I consider Claire one of my best friends, and her blog is brilliant! Although not history related, it's certainly worth a read!

The Story Of The Travelling Red Dress

Today's post is somewhat unusual. But I'm not going to apologise in the slightest. Not so long back, I came across something online called The Travelling Red Dress, an idea set up by the fantastic Jenny Lawson:

"I want, just once, to wear a bright red, strapless ball gown with no apologies. I want to be shocking, and vivid and wear a dress as intensely amazing as the person I so want to be. And the more I thought about it the more I realised how often we deny ourselves that red dress and all the other capricious, ridiculous, overindulgent and silly things that we desperately want but never let ourselves have because they are simply “not sensible”. Things like flying lessons, and ballet shoes, and breaking into spontaneous song, and building a train set, and crawling onto the roof just to see the stars better. Things like cartwheels and learning how to box and painting encouraging words on your body to remind yourself that you’re worth it."

The idea is to wear a vivid red dress just for the hell of it, to wear something that reminds us that we are special, that we are worth it and that we shouldn't be embarrassed to wear something that will make us feel as amazing as we really are. And do you know what? As I stood in that photography studio, I did feel amazing. The whole experience was just completely mind blowing, the photographer really put me at ease and made it so much fun. It was so nice just to let loose and really be myself for a bit; I'm not going to lie, the past few months have been rather difficult for me health wise so it was nice to just let my hair down and have some fun while wearing this absolutely spectacular red dress.

Not only that, the whole experience has made me feel better about myself. I wore the hell out of that dress and it has made me realise I can do anything. It made me realise that I can get the book written that has been in my head for the longest time, it made me realise that I shouldn't let the stress get to me so much. It made me realise that I should just do those things that I never thought I could do before, that I should just have fun, that there is no harm in me letting my hair down. And now I can send the dress on to another fabulous lady and make her feel as special as she really is!

I just wanted to say a massive thank you to Claire for sending me this spectacular gown, and really making my day; and to Jenny "The Bloggess" for coming up with this fabulous idea. I couldn't have done this without either of you.

Now, the travelling red dress is up for grabs. Please do contact me via email if interested. The dress is a UK size 12!

And now back to your regularly scheduled history blog posts......

1 Year On...Happy Birthday Loyalty Binds Me

One year ago today, I sat down and wrote the very first post on this blog. Now, exactly 12 months later the blog has had over 34000 pageviews and seems to be becoming more and more read worldwide. This is amazing, and I thought in celebration of Loyalty Binds Me's first birthday I would do a little vlog for you guys.

I'll reiterate: I couldn't have done this without each and every one of you. You lot, my readers, are amazing. When I started this blog, 12 months ago to the day, I didn't think anyone would read it. After all, who would want to read my massive flaily posts about Charles II and the Borgia family? Yet it seems that many of you share my crazy interest in Charles II and anything to do with the seventeenth century. It also seems as if many of my readers found me through my post on Lucrezia Borgia. And you have no idea how much that makes me smile. I mean, my aim when I started writing about the Borgia family was to try and dispel the myths surrounding them and when I get search terms along the lines of "borgia family incest" that link to my posts on Lucrezia, or my posts on incest in the Borgia family, I can't help but smile. Because these searches are leading readers to my posts which try their damnedest to dispel these myths...I really hope that they get the answers they seek.

I am honestly humbled by you guys. Seriously. I was loathe to even start a history blog after seeing the excellent blogs that are out there. But I am so glad I did. I have made so many good friends after starting this blog, many of you are readers who have become close friends. And you have all convinced me to push and make myself better. I couldn't have done any of this without any of you.

Here's to many more years of history blogging! And once again, thank you all for joining me on this incredible journey. As I mention in the video, in the next 12 months I am hoping that this blog climbs higher and higher, and there should also be some news on my forthcoming book. So please do watch this space. What I didn't mention was that I have started a new blog...now I will warn you before you click on the link that this blog isn't about history. It's more a place where I can freely drop the f-bomb and talk about rabid chinchillas. But hey, a girl needs to let loose somewhere right? Please do swing by and check it out.

And now, back to your regular historical flaily posts...

Happy Birthday George IV

George IV is my latest historical love. I blame Horrible Histories - yes, I am 24 years old and watch kids shows about history. I am totally not sorry. ANYWAY, George IV was awesome, even though people kind of hated him. And today is his birthday!

Born on 12th August 1762, George IV would end up being regent for his father for many years. Why? Because George III was a little bit loopy. Anyway, when his father died in 1820, the Prince Regent finally ascended to the throne. He was 57 years old!

As of yet, I don't know a huge amount about George IV. Opinion seems divided on him, but after the small amount of reading I've done on the guy I kind of like him. He seems to be ostentatious, loved his food and a guy who liked to party. And after listening to rexfactorpod's fabulous podcast on him I have to say, he would get along fabulously with Charles II!

I have a few books on their way about George IV, and I have to say I am super excited to start learning more about him. So expect a lot more about him, which by the way will probably end up with me flailing about how much I love him. Kind of like how I already do with Charles II...

Oh, and have a video of George IV singing about his reign. It's all kinds of awesome.

A Quick Catch Up - Various Historical Ramblings

It's been a while since I've sat down and written a proper blog about anything. I blame work. No really I do. Also I blame the fact that I've been busy working away at editing my book, which I am slightly behind on because of said work. But never mind. I shall pick the manuscript back up tomorrow evening and try not to drown it in my English Civil War/Stuart family tears.

If I'm perfectly honest I don't even know why I'm sitting here typing this because it will most likely have nothing to do with anything remotely historical whatsoever. I suppose I just felt like checking in with you all and saying hello. Oh, and telling you what historical shenanigans I've been up to this past week - wait, didn't I just say this would have nothing historical? Oh well.

So, on Thursday 14th I wrote that whole post on the death of Juan Borgia, and after I saw the lovely David Oakes tweet about it being the 515th Anniversary of Juan's death I may have, sort of, tweeted him about the piece I wrote. And a couple of days later, as I switched on tweetdeck a little thing popped up in my mentions list. I may have sat there in shock for a good few minutes before squealing at my partner: OH MY GOD DAVID OAKES RETWEETED MY JUAN POST. HE MUST HAVE READ IT AND LIKED IT!!!! Yeah, I may have gotten a little bit overexcited, I'm not sorry one bit.

It's probably not very clear in the screen shot but it says "retweeted by David_Oakes". Now for those of you who don't know, or who haven't seen Showtime's "The Borgia's", David Oakes plays Juan Borgia, second son of Rodrigo Borgia - or as he is more often known "Alexander VI". Now then I won't spoil season 2 for those who haven't seen it, but let's just say that David did an utterly astounding job portraying the history of Juan, despite the inaccuracies of the time lines etc. I found myself in floods of tears seeing Juan's downward spiral, yet at the same time I loved his sass. Honestly, if you haven't seen The Borgias, please do check it out because it is fantastic, albeit not hugely accurate. But hey, it is entertainment after all, and very well done entertainment!!

I may have gone a little bit mad on books this past week. A few weeks ago I went on a bit of a spree buying a ton of books on Minette Stuart, just because I love her and all, and I may have ended up buying a few more than I should have...

The two lying cover up are two that I brought myself on Tuesday from a bookshop when I was on the way back from the hospital. I felt like cheering myself up after a diagnosis of Coeliac disease (I'm not going to go into it too it here as y'know this is a history blog and all but let's just say that things weren't entirely clear from the doctor and they said it was "mild" and I had to cut down on my gluten intake and it runs hand in hand with my type 1 diabetes. Excellent. They didn't tell me that changing my diet to mainly gluten free would really play around with my blood sugars, but still, different story for a different day) and I ended up spending £35 on two books. BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! The books spine up are mainly all on Minette, except the two on the left which are dedicated to my favourite couple in history; Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and the biggest bad ass woman on the planet Caterina Sforza!

And then yesterday, this little beauty arrived! I'm not going to lie, but I have a bit of a thing for the Earl of Rochester aka John Wilmot aka the man who wrote the most obscene play of the Seventeenth Century. Have any of you seen The Libertine with Johnny Depp? If not, why not? I ADORE IT SO MUCH! I also adore Rochester. The other day I sat down and read his entire obscene play in a matter of hours, and I loved every minute of it. And no, not because if was Seventeenth Century pornography...but because I thought it was freaking hilarious and also provided an excellent commentary to Rochester's feelings on the court of Charles II. Does that sound a bit presumptuous? Maybe. I'm not sorry.

Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting Winchester when I finish work. I went to University in that gorgeous city and haven't been since my graduation. It's going to be amazing to get back there. The town has such a magical quality for me, mainly for its history. The city has been there for centuries, and even has an Iron Age hill fort on its outskirts. I have many fond memories of St Catherine's Hill, particularly sitting up there one very cold November evening watching various firework displays. My main interest in the city lies in its ties to the English Civil War - the city itself changed hands many sides during the War (which is worth a blog post on its own), and the Cathedral shows a lot of English Civil War damage in the interior, caused by Parliamentarian Soldiers. Not only that but the famous Round Table, hung in the Great Hall of Winchester Cathedral, also suffered Parliamentarian vandalism after they burst into the Hall and shot at the table with their muskets! My main plan tomorrow is to have a slow wander around the Cathedral and soak in its atmosphere - I adore the place and find it very peaceful, plus the history held in the building helps. I also have a plan to light a candle for a close friend of mine who recently passed away. There are two statues by the entrance of James I and Charles I both of which have musket damage which I am particularly interested in revisiting. And for those Tudor fans, Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester is also buried within the walls. I will return with lots of pictures. I should also hopefully be meeting up with an old friend from Uni for pints which is always fun!

And if I'm honest there hasn't been much historical fun going on for this past week. I still blame work. I've mainly been reading a book that is so far from history based you wouldn't even believe it. For anyone who cares, I've been reading "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess and it has to be one of the best non history books I've ever read. It's not often an autobiography has me laughing so hard that tears run down my face, but this book was fantastic. Not only that but between the hilarity there were also some very serious moments that provided a very stark insight into mental illness. It is a fantastic book, very funny and very very frank. I would recommend it to anyone, whether they are into this type of book or not. I've also been working my way through "Restoration London" by Liza Picard which reads like a more serious version of Ian Mortimer's "A Visitor's Guide to Medieval England" and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am learning so much more about what the normal citizens of London in the 1660's would have lived like and it is rather nice coming at the era from the "bottom up" as it were...

And my old A-Level teacher would be so proud of me for using the term "bottom up" in a sentence about history.

Kindley Sort of Feelings

I can't believe I've done this...

Last night I brought myself a kindle...

For the longest time I was so against the Kindle it was unreal. Both my mum and my sister got one a couple of Christmases ago and were raving about how awesome they were, and how I should get one because of all the free book goodness and it holds huge amount of books and is lighter than lugging a library around with you. But I was quite happy with my paper books, thank you very much. Instead I scoured charity shops for used books and raided Amazon marketplace of their cheap books.

But then I got some news. News that I will have to keep very hush hush until I'm allowed to say something but it is exciting. VERY EXCITING. That and I realised that my bookcases (yes, plural) were fit to burst and I just didn't have any more room for normal books. Oh, and I found Samuel Pepys' diary as a free Kindle e-book as well as a plethora of historic non fiction goodness, all for free or if not free then relatively cheap.

So last night, I sat there and went against everything I had ever believed in and brought myself a kindle. I didn't go for the super duper all singing, all dancing 3g touch screen one because I don't need it. And I don't need a keyboard either, so I just got the bog standard kindle that can fit 1.500 books on it. And it was relatively cheap too, considering as how many books you can fit on it. And the best thing is I don't have to worry about breaking the bank on books because looking through the amazon site, they are so cheap. I have spent an absolute fortune on books in the past year, so this will be a great opportunity for me to save some much needed mulah and keep my library growing. Oh don't get me wrong, I will ALWAYS prefer paper books and keep on growing the library that I will eventually have on display in my very own office when I'm lecturing in some university but for now, this will do nicely.

And I won't have to lug a billion heavy books with me when I go to Rome.

Which has to be a good thing.

I do however have to apologise to my future Kindle for all the history feels it will have sobbed all over it, particularly when it comes to my wonderful English Civil War and Restoration. Oh, and when I download Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which will be one of the first things I buy for it. And novels. I don't read enough novels.

I'm a little nervous about how I'll feel about it when it arrives. Right now I kind of hate the fact that I've gone against myself and got myself one when I was so vehement about them before. Who knows, maybe I'll fall head over heels in love with it in time.