The Middle Ages – not as smelly as you might think

Leonardo da Vinci - Self Portrait If you have been using the internet for any length of time, the chances are you have come across the email forward listing all sorts of horrible indignities our ancestors lived with and (in some versions) suggesting that these are the origins of modern sayings. To give you an … Continue reading The Middle Ages – not as smelly as you might think →

Resources for finding your witches

In my post yesterday, I included a reference to a trial for witchcraft. Of course, the people who were executed on that occasion were not the only ones who were accused of such a crime and many people living today are descended from those who came to the attention of witch hunters. I have an … Continue reading Resources for finding your witches →

Don’t laugh, someone lives there

The Genealogue published an interesting post yesterday about the origin of the name of the Christmas Mountains in the US. The ironic thing about the theories is that one sounds quite reasonable, the other like the opening scenes of a horror film, but the latter is most likely to be true! Here in the UK, … Continue reading Don’t laugh, someone lives there →