Little Red Riding Hood. You know the story: A little girl in a red cloak and hood is told by her mother to take an item of food to her grandmother; while she’s en route to visit Granny, she meets the Big Bad Wolf, who tricks her into letting him sniff out the food; he …
The Original Little Red Riding Hood is Darker Than you Think Read More »
The life story of Juan Garrido would not be complete without mentioning the transatlantic slave trade, which existed from the 16th to the 19th century. Spain invaded the Americas in the 1490s. During that time, millions of enslaved Africans were transported through the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. The Spaniards captured them as slaves and …
The Life of Juan Garrido, The First Black Conquistador Read More »
Dante’s Inferno is one of the most famous literary works. It tells the story of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of hell. Each circle represents a different kind of sin, and Dante must face off against the demons that represent them. This epic poem is integral to Italian culture and has been translated into …
What Are the 9 Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno? Read More »
In 1844 one of France’s most well-known and popular books was published in serial format. Les Trois Mousquetaires, better known in the Anglophone world as The Three Musketeers, was written by the French novelist Alexandre Dumas. Based in the 1620s during the reign of King Louis XIII of France, it tells the story of a young man …
The True Story of D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers Read More »
At the monastery of Jasna Gora in Częstochowa in Poland today, there is a revered icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has been housed there for some time, but its history is shrouded in legend. The image is of Mary holding Jesus. It is believed, at least in Christian lore, to have been originally …
If a Native American from the interior region of North America, say from the Great Lakes, had traveled eastwards to what we now call New England in 1610, they would have traversed an area that was little different from how it had been 200 years earlier. The local Algonquian Indians dominated the region in their villages, …
On the 6th of April 1793, a meeting of the National Convention, the parliament of the French Revolutionary government, was held at the Salle du Manége riding academy near the Tuileries Palace in central Paris. The new French Republic, which had only been formally established the previous September, faced a series of threats, both within …
Ireland is synonymous with several things, many imaginary, such as leprechauns or St Patrick banishing all of the island’s snakes. A more real thing associated with Ireland is stout, the black-colored, bitter-tasting ale consumed there for centuries and exported worldwide. And of all the brands of stout that one might come across, none is as …
How The Guinness Brewery Signed A 9,000-Year Lease Read More »
History is littered with traitors who sold their countries or families for personal gain. But unfortunately, for some people, greed and power overrule loyalty. Every country has fallen prey to someone who has switched sides for their gain. It doesn’t matter if it’s money or political power promised to them. People have seen fit to …
On the 31st of October 1517, the Professor of Moral Theology at the University of Wittenberg, a man called Martin Luther, nailed a document to the door of All Saint’s Church in the town of Wittenberg. This document, known today as Luther’s ’95 Theses’, contained a series of arguments against the Papacy’s sale of indulgences. …
