Dropping In Briefly To Say "Happy New Year"

So. It's the end of the year and I thought I'd drop in and leave you all a little something.

It's been a tremendous year for Loyalty Binds Me, with lots of Renaissance ramblings, an interview from the lovely Isolda Dychauk and we even hit the quarter of a million page views mark! I know that I have been rather lax in posting things of late and it is one of my New Year's Resolutions to post more for you all!

I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for supporting LBM throughout 2013. Here's to an even better 2014.

Happy New Year, guys!

Quarter Of A Million!

We've only gone and bloody done it!

A quarter of a million hapless souls have stumbled across this blog since I first started it back in August 2011. Honestly, I never ever thought I would get to such a massive milestone and without all of you? I wouldn't have made it this far.

A huge thank you to each and every one of my readers. You're all brilliant!

Here's to the next quarter of a million!

FYI

Just a quick FYI. As has always been the policy here on LBM - any hateful comments will be removed without warning. I have better things to do with my time than deal with hate, so please if you have nothing better to say than something constructive then don't say a thing.

It Seems I Took An Impromtu Hiatus

As it's been well over a month since I last updated here, I thought I should swing in and give you all a massive apology for my impromptu hiatus. There are many reasons why I haven't updated here and all of them relate to my personal life unfortunately.

At the end of the day a mix of writers block as well as recurring illness has kept me away from updating here, which is a massive pain. Due to being on new medication I've found myself sleeping more than being awake and in truth my concentration is often shot to pieces. As such, I haven't picked up a history book in well over a month, and have been spending my days reading poorly written fiction (and not historical either! Shock horror).

Whilst I am starting to feel a little more like myself, I'm not sure how much longer I will be "away" from here. I am planning on reviewing Season 2 of Borgia at some point, and that post is being worked on at a snails pace. Until then, please do find me over on the facebook page and on twitter.

Once again, my apologies and I'm hoping to be back here properly soon. In the meantime, have a pretty picture of Mark Ryder as Cesare Borgia...

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!

Giveaway winner!

So last night, as many of you will have seen on facebook and twitter, we surpassed the 100,000 page view mark!

As promised, now we've reached that mark, I shall announce the winner of the giveaway!

*drumroll*

Aimee C. Mack

Congratulations Aimee. Please can you email me with your mailing address and I'll organise the book to come out to you (probably on payday now, sorry), and as soon as the pendant arrives I'll get that in the post for you too!

100,000 page views giveaway extravaganza!

I'm getting rather excited by the fact that we're inching ever closer to hitting 100,000 page views. And so, I thought I would announce a bit of a giveaway! I'm not only giving away one thing, oh no. Not one thing, but two! You lucky lot!

First of all, I shall be giving away a copy of "The Deadly Sisterhood" by Leonie Frieda - I've recently started reading this brilliant tale of women in the Renaissance and I have to say, it's absolutely brilliant! Frieda concentrates on a handful of women who lived during the Renaissance, all of whom had power and influence - Lucrezia Tournabuoni, The D'Este sisters, Lucrezia Borgia and Caterina Sforza. A fantastic read for anyone interested in the women of Renaissance Italy.

As well as this, I shall also be giving away a beautiful silver plated pendant featuring Lucrezia Borgia and a portion of a love letter written to her from Pietro Bembo. I found this beautiful pendant whilst browsing Etsy, and the person who made this lovely pendant has also made a huge selection of other ones too. Please do check out the shop. Now, I have just ordered this pendant but as it's coming from the United States it may take a while - but as soon as I receive it I shall pop it right back in the post for the lucky winner.

So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning? 

All you have to do is like the facebook page here! And once we've rolled over the magic 100,000 pageviews mark, I shall use a random number generator to pick the winner! Good luck!

There's also another very special announcement coming, I hope, very soon. Watch this space for details! I'm absolutely bursting to tell you all what it is but I've been sworn to secrecy!

Happy New Year

Just a little something from me to say both Happy New Year, and thank you for all of your support. With a special guest appearance from Cesare the stretching chinchilla.

A Little Christmas Message

I just wanted to drop in amongst the Christmas madness and wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Thank you all for joining me on the incredible journey that this blog has been through and I hope you'll all join me as I share more history joy in the months and (hopefully) years to come.

I hope you're all having a fantastic day with your friends and family, eating lots and drinking enough booze to sink a battleship. I'll be spending my day with "Borgia" and "Los Borgia" as my fantastic partner really knows me far too well...

I'll see you lot in a few days for the next instalment of Renaissance madness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Bit of Bloggy Stuff and Calling All Guest Posters.

I've just spent the past two hours contemplating moving this blog over to wordpress, even going so far as to create an account and export every single one of my blog posts and comments over to said new account. Then I realised "hang on a minute, I have a domain" and proceeded to try and move said domain name over to the new wordpress account only to really mess things up. There's also the fact that wordpress wanted to charge me an arm and a leg for the ability to use the domain name I'd already purchased through blogger. So after two hours of wrestling with complicated internet stuff I called it a day and deleted the new account and came slinking back to blogger.I'm not going to lie, I felt like a bit of a traitor when I started to build the new blog and I'm glad I realised before I hit the delete button on blogger how much I loved this blog. 

Plus, starting from scratch when I've had nearly 60,000 visitors just seems a bit rubbish.

So, in celebration I've decided to completely do over the design of this blog. I'm staying right here and you can expect lots more historical posts in the future and I've got loads and loads of ideas.

I'd also like to extend an invitation to anyone who wants to do a guest post for me. If you're interested then please do drop me an email at samantha@loyaltybindsme.org - you'll all know by now that this blog is primarilly an Italian Renaissance/Seventeenth Century England blog but I will accept pretty much anything as long as it's historical.

There will also shortly be an announcement regarding a project I've got in the works. I really want to tell you all about it RIGHT now but it's gonna have to wait a little while. Keep your eyes peeled though and all will be revealed soon enough.

And The Winner Is......

I am very pleased to announce the winner of the giveaway for Paul Stathern's "The Artist, The Philosopher and The Warrior"!

And the winner is..............

Claire Biggs-Tandy

Congratulations Claire! Please can you email me here with your postage address!

***

Lots of stuff coming your way on this here blog too!

• The remainder of my posts on Caterina Sforza (this may take a while as her life is so full of stuff!)
• Book reviews!
• A piece on the fantastic artist Michelangelo
• More on the Seventeenth Century - it's been a while and there are certain individuals who deserve a bit of attention.

If there's anything you would like to see on this blog, please do email me.

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...

And The Winner Is

We've done it! The facebook page has hit the magic 100 likes! I'm sure you'll all remember that I said I'd be giving away a copy of Christopher Hibbert's "The Borgias" as soon as we hit it.

And the winner is...April Renn! Now I have already announced this on facebook, but I wanted to do a quick post about it too! Please email me at talkingbloodglucose@yahoo.co.uk to claim your prize, and I'll pop it in the post.

The next giveaway will be when the facebook page hits 300 likes! So do get sharing guys :D

A Quick Reminder About the Book Give-Away!

Just a quick reminder that as soon as the facebook page hits 100 likes, I'll be giving away a copy of the book above. This book "The Borgias" also known as "The Borgias and their Enemies" (I stood there for ages in the bookshop utterly confused with a copy of both titles in my hand, it seems that the copy above is just another edition of the copy I have on my shelf!) is an utterly fantastic book telling the story of the infamous Borgia family, and it's so good I'll end up rereading it at some point in the very near future!

To be in with a chance of getting your hands on this wonderful book, all you have to do is like the facebook page. And as soon as we hit the magic 100 I'll be picking someone at random.

Please do spread the word about both this blog and the facebook page as we're not quite there yet! That and I'm really excited to get this book in the post to the lucky winner!!!

Happy New Year

I just wanted to say Happy New Year to each and every one of my readers, facebook followers and twitter followers. Thank you all for joining me on my first few months of history blogging, you've all made it worth it. It is my hope that you will all continue to join me throughout 2012 as I keep on posting about the areas of history that interest me and I hope interest all you as well.

So Happy New Year everyone. I'll see you all in a few days with my next "Inspirations From History" post!

Happy Christmas

Even Cesare Borgia is trying to get in on the Christmas Spirit

So, it's Christmas Eve and things are getting rather busy as I try and remember all the last minute bits and pieces that we need for the big day tomorrow. I just wanted to write a quick post to all of you to thank you for your support since I started this blog, and to thank each and every one of my facebook followers. You are all fantastic, and have made my first few months of history blogging absolutely awesome.

I hope each and every one of you have a fantastic Christmas and enjoy every minute of it. I shall return in a couple of days with new blog posts and discussions (around the Borgia's mainly, my obsession with them has gotten a little er...intense!) as well as guest posts and posts on some areas of history I wouldn't normally go for, but have developed in interest in anyway.

Happy Christmas everyone! Now, I have last minute gifts to wrap and baking to do...oh and a bottle of Christmas spiced mead to crack open!

A post from the author

I've been thinking all day of what I would write here on this blog when I got home from work. You may have noticed over the past couple of days that this blog has been MIA with a little message that said it had been removed. It's true, I hit the delete button. And there are many reasons for this stemming from issues that are going on in my personal life. I don't want to go into too much detail because a lot of it is rather personal.

When I started this blog, I had no idea that it would pick up so soon and I'm seeing more and more people comment on my posts and join the facebook page which is great. But it was very hard for me to come to terms with the fact that when you start doing things like this you can end up taking criticism, and that stops you from concentrating on the lessons you are trying to learn. It's even harder when you come up with stumbling blocks not only from criticism but also from past incidents too. I started this blog for people to learn from my knowledge, and I enjoy writing about the parts of history that I adore, and it is here for everyone. With everything that has happened recently though I have taken alot of what has happened to heart and for a while I wanted nothing more to do with it. For a while, my love of history took a back seat and I began to hate it all because of the blocks that had presented themselves in front of me. Obviously we benefit from positive feedback, but when things start getting intense and you notice things it can get very upsetting. As I said I'm not going into it in too much detail and it is my hope that I never need to do so.

This blog is here for everyone, and it is my hope that it will be for many years to come. It's a matter of ignoring the haters because you're always going to get hate when you start doing something like this, and rising above it. This has been a learning curve for me and I'm not going to let anything stop me from doing what I love. My readers know that it is my aspiration to become a published historian one day, and I plan on going back to University within the next couple of years to complete my Masters and eventually my PhD. This blog is a stepping stone, a place for me to share my own journey as well as providing all of you with posts that will interest and inspire.

I want to thank those of you who have left me nice comments on these posts and on facebook, you guys are all amazing and because of you I have realised that this blog is a place that people enjoy. May it never change.

A Little Bit About Me

I apologise for the delay in blog posts, my laptop ended up dying on me and so had to be sent for repair. But now it's back, you lot get to put up with me posting again. Hurah! Since being computerless, I've been thinking about posts I could put up here - should it be a book review? a piece on a particular event in history? But then I realised that I've never actually really introduced myself. And now that this blog is getting a little more well known, with it's page views reaching out for 1000 and now over 50 follows on the facebook page I thought it was about time to introduce myself properly.

Me, measuring up a section of an archaeological feature

My name is Sam. Well, it's Samantha but very few people actually call me that these days. I'm 23 years old and currently live in Southampton, UK, with my partner of 4 years. It's quite a nice little life that we live here, in our little flat on the waterfront. I'm not a big fan of my day job in the clerical sector but it pays the bills and for that I'm grateful. Considering as how unemployment is on the rise and everything.

As a child I moved around a lot, as I was an army child and never settled anywhere for long. That was until we moved to rural Wiltshire. There I completed my secondary education and my love for history grew and grew. As I went through GCSE and A-Level I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist and so when the time came I went off to University in Winchester to do my degree. I started off doing a joint course in history and archaeology, but for my sins gave up history after the first year. I wish now that I hadn't, and had given up on the archaeology instead. I had some wonderful lecturers in history whilst I was there and honestly regret not staying on and taking single honours in history. But at that point, my mind was set. I graduated with an upper second class honours in archaeology in 2009 and that's when we moved to Southampton. I was one of the luckier ones in my group, and almost immediately secured a post at the Unit in Southampton whereupon I worked on digs at Tudor House and also a building site next door to a waitrose. We didn't find very much but I loved it, I didn't mind crawling out of bed at 5am on a cold, winters day and getting myself to site. I loved being knee deep in mud, I loved being on a dangerous building site, I loved working with my colleagues. But alas, it wasn't to last and as it had with many archaeologists I lost my contract. I haven't worked in archaeology since.

Instead I have allowed my love for history to take over once again and have started doing research into various historical eras that interest me greatly. My bookshelf has grown and grown within the past few years so now they're full to bursting and I have no more room; and I have decided that I will end up taking this love of history further. I have plans to go back to University and complete a Masters degree in either the history of the Renaissance or possibly early modern (think Edward VI), and one day I hope to have a few books published on my specialist areas - the research of which is being conducted pretty much as we speak. One day I also hope to teach others and to share my passion for history with those who want to learn from me. How this will begin I don't know, but I am looking at ways and means of doing this, but eventually I hope to become a lecturer.

So how did my interest in history begin? I guess I can attribute that to my Aunt who began buying me books on Ancient Egypt. I would read them from cover to cover and watch documentaries on the television and beg my parents to take me to castles. When I was much younger I remember visiting Dover Castle and falling in love with the place and I would spend hours and hours in museums too. Whilst I was at school I can remember too learning about the six wives of Henry VIII, and there being a line of printed portraits on the wall. I was drawn to two of those women: Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard. At the time we were too young to be told the real reasons for their being beheaded - according to my primary school teacher Anne Boleyn was beheaded for being a witch (nooooo!) and Katherine Howard? Well, nothing was really ever mentioned about her. But there began my obsession with the Tudor dynasty which just grew and grew. Henry VIII has always been my favourite Tudor monarch but recently my interests have broadened, so that I have found an intense interest in the short reign of Edward VI. In fact the Tudors makes up the majority of my book collection. Other interests grew out of that, and a few years ago I developed a rather huge obsession with the English Civil War thanks to joining the reenactment society known as the Sealed Knot. In that I played the part of a musketeer, and took part in battle reenactments. I dressed in accurate portrayals of military uniform and learned every single piece of musket drill there was. From there I wanted to know more and more about the period, and the battles; and so specialised in this era during my final year at University - my dissertation was on the landscape archaeology of the Battle of Cheriton in 1644.

But honestly, anything old will always hold my interest - be it something from the Neolithic or a portrait from the Georgian era, I adore the stories that history can tell us. There is something magical about learning how these people lived, how they died, what they used in their everyday lives. And it's a passion that I hope to keep on sharing both here and in my everyday life also.