Tea at Trianon: The 13 Anglo-Saxon Kings of England in Order

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, February 12, 2022

The 13 Anglo-Saxon Kings of England in Order

From The History Hit:

Æthelstan ruled first as King of the Anglo-Saxons, before becoming the first King of England after conquering York and therefore unifying the kingdom for the first time. During his reign, Æthelstan centralised government to a greater degree and built working relationships with the rulers of Wales and Scotland, who acknowledged his authority. He also developed relationships with other rulers in Western Europe: no other Anglo-Saxon king played such a major role in European politics as Æthelstan. Like many of his contemporaries, Æthelstan was deeply religious, collecting relics and founding churches across the land (although few remain today) and championing ecclesiastical scholarship. He also enacted important legal codes in an attempt to restore social order across the land. On his death in 939, his half-brother Edmund succeeded him. (Read more.)