#which means he was born in 1796

[sinister-things]

Does anyone know when the other ghosts were born?? I know they celebrated Kitty's birthday in one episode but what about the others??

[grace-williams-xo]

ALRIGHT. I had time to kill waiting for an appointment so I have dug through countless pages on the Julia Quinn wiki, the Bridgerton wiki and used a ss from Julia’s fb to compile the most comprehensive list of as many characters as possibles birthdays and middle names. No point in keeping it to myself let’s go.

Canon (probably) Bridgerton biographical info:

Middle names

This is the birth name of everyone I could find a middle name for. Scratching at the walls for Julia Quinn to tell us the children’s middle names (though I have headcanons)

Violet Elizabeth Ledger

Simon Arthur Henry Fitzranulph Basset

Katharine Grace Sheffield (Kathani Sharma’s middle name isn’t confirmed anywhere)

Sophia Maria Beckett

Penelope Anne Featherington

Michael Stuart Stirling

Lucy Margaret Catherine Abernathy

Gareth William St. Clair

Birthdates

This is very messy because some idk, some vary between show and book and some are inconsistent everywhere (Colin I’m looking at you)

This is the fb post in question. (Julia Quinn how dare you tell us you have all their birthday’s written down and not tell us 😭)

Edmund: 1764–1803 (was 38 at death, meaning his birthday was later in the year than May ish when he died) [EDIT: his tombstone in the show says he died in May]

Violet: 11th April 1766 (Aries)

Anthony: 17th September, 1784

Benedict: July/August, 1786

Colin: 2nd March, 1791 (books) 1792 or 1793 or 1794 (tv) [okay, so, both wiki sites say show Colin’s born 1792 or 1793 and it has broken my brain because he is canonically one year older than Daphne and in a copy of the pilot script I found online Daphne is listed as 18 (which fits with her debut) and him 19 but for him to be 19 in the social season he would’ve had to have just turned 19 (bc start of March birthday) and that would make him also born in 1994 but it is clearly not possible for Violet to birth two children in six months furthermore in s2 Benedict outright says that Colin is 21 which would have made him 20 in s1 and thus born 1792; so Colin was born in 1793 or 1792 or maybe even 1794 or inside a fucking void idk anymore but show Colin’s birthday probably isn’t March]

Daphne: August/September, 1792 (books) 1794 or 1795 (tv) [I think 1794 because she is listed as being 18 in a copy of the pilot script I found online, and she is debuting, so she would’ve been 18 turning 19 born in 1794]

Eloise: April (before 22nd) 1796

Francesca: April (before 22nd) 1797

Gregory: January/February (I think February), 1801

Hyacinth: May/June, 1803 [EDIT: Edmund’s tombstone in the show says he died in May, making Hyacinth’s birthday likely in June imo but I actually have no basis for that guess other than vibes]

Kate: 1793 (books) 1788 (tv)

Sophie: 1794

Penelope: 8th April 1796 (Aries)

Simon: 1784

Phillip: 1794

John: 1792

Michael: 1791

Lucy: 1807

Gareth: March 1797

If you made it this far, good job! If you have any info to add, please do so in the replies/reblogs.

[scotianostra]

25th January marks the annual celebration of Burns Night - a time to celebrate Scotland's favourite son, and world renowned poet and song writer Robert Burns who was born on this day 1759.

I have covered Oor Rabbie on may occasions so on this day I hope to bring you a few facts about Scotland's National Bard and his legacy.

Known as somewhat of a ladies man, Burns is known to have fathered 12 or 13 children, depending on the source, to 4 different women. His last born child, Maxwell, was born on the same day as his funeral 25 July 1796, meaning his wife Jean Armour missed his send off.

As a lad growing up in Ayrshire, Burns was always fond of supernatural stories, most of which were told to him by an old widow who helped out on his father's farm. These stories no doubt had an influence on his writings in the future and perhaps were the inspiration for his classic masterpiece, Tam O'Shanter and the lesser known Adress to the Deil and Halloween. Even in these poems he flattered the fairer sex with his words, this from the latter poem.....

The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat, Mair braw than when they're fine; Their faces blythe, fu' sweetly kythe, Hearts leal, an' warm, an' kin':

Of course Burns also gives another of his favourite subjects a mention in this verse, "the deil himsel," Look it up it's another guid yin!

Burns didn't always want to stay in Scotland - he hoped to move to the Caribbean island of Jamaica. Although following the success of his poetry collection 'Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect' (or the Kilmarnock Edition as it is known), he opted to move closer to home, settling in Edinburgh for a time.

For all his fame, Burns never forgot his humble roots. His love for farming stayed with him throughout his life and his writing often dealt with issues affecting the poorer classes, notably highlighting the need for greater social equality. Indeed he is known as the Ploughman Poet, a nod to his farming life.

And on his legacy, Burns has gathered some very famous fans since his passing, US president Abraham Lincoln could recite Burns’ works by heart. Bob Dylan says that ‘A Red, Red Rose’ by Burns is his source of greatest creative inspiration and Michael Jackson song Thriller is said to have been inspired by Tam O'Shanter.

In Japan at pedestrian crossing you don't get beeps like here in Scotland, they play a rendition of the Burns song ‘Coming Through The Rye’.

There are more statues in honour of Rabbie than any other male figure in history, only surpassed in total by Queen Victoria. (I am not including religious statues).

In 2005 Robert Burns was the first person ever to feature on a bottle of Coca Cola, about a million were made they currently trade for around £10 and I have one, unopened in my kitchen cupboard.

Arguably Burns most famous song, Auld Lang Syne, has appeared in over 170 Hollywood films including The Apartment, It’s A Wonderful Life and When Harry Met Sally. , but he only rewrote the verse, he sent the poem to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788 indicating that it was an ancient song but that he'd been the first to record it on paper. The phrase 'auld lang syne' roughly translates as 'for old times' sake', and the song is all about preserving old friendships and looking back over the events of the year.

In the US city of Atlanta, there is a life-size imitation of Burns’ first home in Alloway, South Ayrshire, although it doesn't have the famous thatched roof.

In Scotland, there are some 20 official Burns memorials dotted around the country, from Aberdeen to the final resting place of Burns in Dumfries, which commemorate his journey from Ayrshire to “Auld Lang Syne”.

‘My Heart’s in the Highlands’ was translated and adopted as the marching song of the Chinese resistance fighter in the Second World War.

In 2009 STV viewers voted Robert Burns ‘The Great Scot’, beating the likes of William Wallace, Robert the Bruce among others.

There are Burns Clubs scattered across the globe, but the very first one, known as The Mother's Club, was founded in Greenock in 1801. They held the very first Burns Supper on what they thought was his birthday, January 29th 1802, only to discover that his birthday was actually January 25th!

Since then Burns suppers have been held worldwide.

I know some of you out there will toil to understand some of Burns's poetry, don't fear you will find the Best of Robert Burns, translated into the "de'il's tongue" just Click here...

The song Ae Fond Kiss, was one of my mums favourites the words "Never met-or never parted, We had ne'er been broken-hearted" are inscribed on her grave......"

[lulu-cat-princess]

According to the button house archives Thomas was born in 1796 which means he was one year old when this was happening in the USA:

For context The Reynolds Pamphlet was published in 1797.

[royaltysimblr]

Princess Josefina of Norden, Dowager Queen of Alland (1761-present) 

Princess Josefina was born in 1761 at the Brunsbuttel Palace to Karl Duke of Norden and Princess Helene of Vasa. She was the eldest surviving daughter of the royal couple who suffered multiple miscarriages in the previous years. Josefina was raised at the royal court in Brunsbuttel which was highly sophisticated and evolved to become one of the most splendid courts in the continent. Josefina was very close to her older brother Wilhelm whom she shared a governess with in her youth. Josefina would be joined by four more sisters, being especially close with her twin sisters Princess Maria Theresa and Princess Paulina. Josefina learned six languages and became skilled in the piano, the harp, the flute, and the clarinet. In 1776, Josefina was married to King Oscar IV of Alland in a grand ceremony. The match was arranged by her cousin, King Charles XII of Vasa to cement an alliance between the neighboring country. Josefina was destined to become an amazing consort and a leading lady at court. Josefina was not particularly close to her husband Oscar but she had ambitions of her own which she sought to achieve by whatever means necessary. She ended up having tremendous political influence over her husband. She was said to have influenced her husband to allow women to serve in public offices as well as to have the right to vote for their leaders in the Alland Parliament. In 1779, she gave birth to Crown Prince Charles of Alland who would later become King Charles III. Josefina would have two more successful pregnancies, giving birth to Princess Maria Eleanora who would become the Queen Consort of Vasa, and Princess Josefina Luise Landgravine of Ansbach. Josefina influenced her husband to join Norden, Wardenburg, and Augustinia in the Second Calais War, providing aid in troops and arms. Josefina was a very controlling mother, causing a strain between her and her children in the future. In 1790, Josefina suffered a fatal miscarriage and was bedridden for five months. Oscar and his sister Maria Amalia helped nurse Josefina back to health during this difficult time, causing the couple to become closer. In 1797, Josefina’s son, Charles, was married to Princess Louise of Wardenburg, the eldest daughter of the King of Wardenburg. This marriage cemented an alliance between the two countries who were historically opposed to each other for a century. Charles and Louise would have three children, Prince Oscar, Princess Amalia, and Prince Haakon. In 1796, Maria Eleanora was married to the twice widowed King Charles XII of Vasa. Maria Eleanora was heavily opposed to the marriage and loathed the older king. Maria Eleanora begged her father to call off the betrothal but he refused. Maria Eleanora would blame her mother for the rest of her life for the loveless marriage that she would endure. Josefina’s daughter, Josefina Luise whom she had named after herself, was married to Rudolf the Landgrave of Ansbach. Rudolf and Josefina Luise had a much happier marriage and had grown up to love her mother unlike her two older siblings. In 1804 tragedy struck when King Oscar died, leaving Josefina a widow. Josefina, instead of mourning, decided to bury herself into political work by trying to influence and assist her son. The new King Charles of Alland would not budge, and resisted her help. Josefina took very much offense to this, and started to snub her daughter in law the new Queen by not inviting her to society events. Throughout Josefina’s life she remained close to her sisters Paulina, Louise, Maria Theresa, and Viktoria. After the death of Maria Theresa she was devastated and traveled all the way to Porto to be there for her sister’s widower. Josefina always cared for her sister Viktoria and was saddened by her marriage as she hated Prince Heinrich for his poor status. Josefina like the rest of her siblings helped Viktoria financially and sent funds to renovate Schloss Rostock. Josefina became the godmother to Viktoria’s eldest daughter, Princess Sophie who is the prospective bride to the Tsarevich of Beloshov. Josefina remains a revered figure in Eusalia due to her overbearing political influence over her husband which has helped Alland become more involved in the affairs of the main continent. 

[themculibrary]

200k+ Masterlist 2

Links Last Checked: January 1st, 2024

part one

1796 Broadway (ao3) - rainproof, teaberryblue steve/tony, bruce/natasha M, 460k

Summary: Captain America respectfully requests that all complaints be addressed to him in writing. On paper, the nice old-fashioned way, because the computer screen hurts his eyes.

Put your phone down, Tony.

Bend Around the Wind (ao3) - Scyllaya loki/tony E, 403k

Summary: A few months after the battle of New York the God Loki appears back on Stark Tower under chaotic circumstances. This time however he is on the run. Tony Stark gets caught up in the crossfire and is taken along with the Aesir. Can the two of them ever make truce in order to get away? And even if they do, how does one escape from such a dark corner of the universe, when they are so very far away from the Nine Realms, that not even Loki knows the way back home. But first, they need to survive.

Blue Lips, Blue Veins (ao3) - romanoff steve/tony E, 300k

Summary: Tony Stark is Iron Man.

Before that, he was an man with bigger heart than brain. Before that, he was an asshole with a bigger mouth than sense. And before that, he was was a scared little boy. Not that it matters. Stark's always have had iron in their backbone.

Born from the Earth (ao3) - venusm steve/tony, clint/phil, tony/oc E, 277k

Summary: Tony Stark's born an omega in a world where that means he's supposed to follow certain social rules. He becomes Iron Man anyway: Fuck biology.

If only his biology (and the world) would quit fucking him back.

Counterpart (ao3) - sara_holmes steve/tony M, 217k

Summary: coun•ter•part [koun-ter-pahrt] [noun] 1. a person or thing closely resembling another, especially in function. 2. a copy; duplicate. 3. one of two parts that fit, complete, or complement one another.

Just because Hydra used the DNA of a Captain America from another dimension to create a lab-grown, six-year-old super-soldier, it doesn't mean that said six-year old super-soldier is biologically Steve's, right?

(Where Steve wants to ban Clint from bringing things home from alternative dimensions, until he doesn't.)

God's Righteous Man (ao3) - FoxyAtlas steve/bucky M, 232k

Summary: A story in which the serum doesn't affect Steve's size, the shield goes to Bucky, and they reunite years before the Battle of New York. Also, Steve is a punk, but that's canon.

A timeline starting with the Howling Commandos and going all the way to Pre-Infinity War.

Pieces of Echoes (ao3) - geekymoviemom T, 334k

Summary: When weapons designer and SHIELD consultant Tony Stark and his son are kidnapped following a routine weapons demonstration, newly defrosted World War II hero Steve Rogers is sent to find them.

But what begins as just another mission, a way for Captain America to reintegrate back into society, quickly warps into something more as betrayals are discovered, harsh, long-buried truths are finally brought to light, and Tony and Steve come to realise that their biggest allies are each other.

Pirate's Heart (ao3) - NotEvenCloseToStraight bucky/steve/tony E, 267k

Summary: The 1700s, the Golden Age of Piracy, and Captain Steve Rogers has all he wants: a ship, a loyal crew, Bucky at his side, and the horizon offering a new adventure everyday. But an impulsive kiss gone wrong leads to a marriage between Steve and Tony Stark, and now Steve doesn't know what to do about ANYTHING. Steve loves Bucky, but something about Tony draws him in. Tony is too innocent for this life, but he picks up a sword anyway. Bucky is Steve's, but when he offers his hand to Tony and now the three of them are something new. When the truth about Steve's mission to ruin the Stark name comes out, Tony runs away, leaving Steve and Bucky behind in search of answers to the secrets hidden from him his whole life-- about his company, about Uncle Obie, about his parents death.

Steve and Bucky cant abandon their mission against Stane and Tony cant deal with the answers he finds in New York. Is this the end? Is Tony gone forever? Or will he leave his old life and return to the sea and the Pirates that hold his heart?

Poetic Justice (ao3) - Limmet loki/tony M, 311k

Summary: When the time comes to pass sentence on Loki after the events in The Avengers, Odin decides to go for the poetic justice angle. For his attempt to enslave humanity, Loki has his magic and powers bound, and is sent back to Midgard and given over to Tony Stark to be his slave.

This was not a turn of events Tony had ever seen coming.

Rock Me Gently (ao3) - enigma731, invisibledaemon gamora/peter M, 479k

Summary: “She is our–She is Gamora,” Nebula says. “There is only one Gamora and I know her better than any of you do.” She pauses and glares at Peter, clearly challenging him to protest that. For once, he doesn’t dare. “This Gamora has jumped forward in time nine years, but she is the same person at her core. Just as you are the same despite not having experienced the last five years I did. We are all just–out of sync at the moment.”

Show Me What I'm Looking For (ao3) - JamieB93 mj/peter, pepper/tony M, 381k

Summary: Peter Parker has spent the last year struggling to believe he has finally found a place he belongs. He has come a long way and whilst there is still a way to go, Peter begins to blossom and open himself up to the world. Which brings with it all the usual teenage dramas.

A touch damaged and more than a little rough around the edges, Peter is very often his own worst enemy. Still plagued by the scars of a traumatic past and newer challenges - it seems Peter's happy ending might not be so easily in reach.

Still Here, Still There (ao3) - ArwenP steve/tony N/R, 218k

Summary: Tony and Steve never think about having a child- until they do. They have their son, Peter, and then... everything goes to hell.

Now that they decided to keep their son away... what will happen to all of them?

Sunrise in Exile (ao3) - Ragdoll (Keshka) tony/stephen E, 384k

Summary: Tony does the math and realizes their best chance to save the universe is by... not confronting Thanos on his own turf.

So he steals a wizard and a spider and a space ship. And he runs.

(Three humans and an A.I in space, the alien friendships they make along the way, and discovering how science and magic might coexist in a universe where they can be one and the same.)

Until It Sleeps (ao3) - frickss75 steve/bucky M, 407k

Summary: Steve finally has Bucky back in Brooklyn with him, but he is finding out that his issues are deeper than he thought. His PTSD manifestsin many ways, including some very bizarre sleep behavoir. And Bucky is fighting internally with constantly returning memories and some deep seated fears about himself. Steve loves Bucky no matter what and is determined to prove it to him however he can.

Walking The Wire (ao3) - emquin N/R, 372k

Summary: “I knew your mother,” Tony said, figuring it was the right way to start. “You know this. She used to work for me and I liked her a lot. We were friends and she sort of reached a part of me that very few people could in those days. I think it was partly because she was brilliant and because she didn’t bore me like most people did. I didn’t love her -- not like that, but I cherished her friendship.”

“Mr. Stark why are you telling me--”

“She left when she found out she was pregnant,” Tony said and had to glance up, “and didn’t even bother to tell me about it.”

-

It was a one night stand and Tony had a lot of them, but this one changed everything. Tony always knew Peter Parker existed. He had no idea that Peter would become Spider-Man, but he kept tabs on his son, even when he couldn't meet him. Peter Parker grew up unaware of his superhero father, admiring Iron Man from afar and unaware that one day he would too become a super-hero - an Avenger. Spanning the entirety of the MCU , this fic covers a canonical view of what it would be like if Peter was Tony's biological son dwelving heavily into the canon. AU post-Infinity War with an AU version of Endgame and with a Stony endgame.

whatever souls are made of (ao3) - atypicalsnowman tony/stephen M, 320k

Summary: Soul bonding canon divergence. Fourteen million futures and Stephen saw just one where they win. Tony has to soul bond to a virtual stranger whereas Stephen... Stephen is in love.

This is a story of how two broken men became friends, then family, then fell in love.

And saved the universe.

Your Latest Trick (ao3) - ChortlesOfDoom loki/tony, pepper/tony E, 273k

Summary: Following a violent, masterfully feigned death aboard the Statesman, Thor believes Loki's gone for good; more importantly, so does Thanos. Exhausted and hungry for revenge, Loki returns to Earth, but as he bides his strength, anonymously supplying the Avengers with inside knowledge between his own preparations, he begins to see the true cost of holding on.

You've got a friend in me (ao3) - boleyn13 loki/tony, clint/natasha, pepper/tony M, 412k

Summary: After faking his death in the Dark World Loki is free to do what he wants. Instead of leaving everything behind Loki is driven by his thirst for revenge and won't find peace before he destroyed every single one of the Avengers. This time though he won't use violence, but the weapons of the God of Mischief: trickery, deceit and illusion. Loki decides to befriend the Avengers. However they won't know it's him. Not until he is close enough to strike. Unfortunately Loki didn't consider the possibility that he might get too close.

[glorioustidalwavedefendor]

In 1890, everybody rode horses, used candles to see at night, and communicated through letters.

*sigh*

How fast people forgett

EVERYONE Rode horses

Well, let‘s ignore that most people would use a sort of horse drawn carriage, especially in the city

And also boats, becasue a lot of cities still had open channels …

But:

The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812.

Also, Bikes had been a thing since at least the 1820s

By 1890 it was a common way of transportation even for women, to teh point where skirts where developed to accomodate for that

Also, people just walked … like a lot … liek a lot a lot

So depending on who you where and where you lived you might get through live in 1890 just fine without ever learning how to ride … or how to groom a horse ...

In 1890 EVERYBODY used candles

NOPE

Gas made its debut in London (…) in 1807.

(…)

By the 1840s, gas began to make a tentative appearance in the urban home.  Gradually it became a middle-class must-have.

(…)

The arrival of electricity in the 1880s caused a stir.

So in the 1890s most people would have used oillamps or gas, and some rich modern housholds would have used electricity.

A candle by this point was more like a flashlight, or for decoration like today

EVERYONE communicated through letters

Yes, but not exclusively …

The electric telegraph quickly became a means of more general communication. The Morse system was officially adopted as the standard for continental European telegraphy in 1851 with a revised code, which later became the basis of International Morse Code.

The 1890s where insanely modern and a lot closer to us today then many people seem to realize

I think the bigger difference was for people born before 1800 and after 1800

Captain Francis Crozier (*1796) was hilariously cranky about steam engines, he prefered sailing ships, although in his defense teh steam engine in question was a rigged former train engine and didn‘treally work all that well …

Captain John Ross was more modern minded and promptly got his steam powered "victory" stuck in the arctic ...

we were the liminal kids. alive before the internet, just long enough we remember when things really were different.

when i work in preschools, the hand signal kids make for phone is a flat palm, their fingers like brackets. i still make the pinky-and-thumb octave stretch when i "pick up" to respond to them.

the symbol to save a file is a floppy disc. the other day while cleaning out my parents' house, i found a collection of over a hundred CDs, my mom's handwriting on each of them. first day of kindergarten. playlist for beach trip '94. i don't have a device that can play any of these anymore - none of my electronics are compatible. there are pieces of my childhood buried under these, and i cannot access them. but they do exist, which feels special.

my siblings and i recently spent hours digitizing our family's photos as a present for my mom's birthday. there's a year where the pictures just. stop. cameras on phones got to be too good. it didn't make sense to keep getting them developed. and there are a quite a few years that are lost to us. when we were younger, mementos were lost to floods. and again, while i was in middle school, google drive wasn't "a thing". somewhere out there, there are lost memories on dead laptops. which is to say - i lost it to the flood twice, kind of.

when i teach undergrad, i always feel kind of slapped-in-the-face. they're over 18, and they don't remember a classroom without laptops. i remember when my school put in the first smartboard, and how it was a huge privilege. i used the word walkman once, and had to explain myself. we are only separated by a decade. it feels like we are separated by so much more than that.

and something about ... being half-in half-out of the world after. it marks you. i don't know why. but "real adults" see us as lost children, even though many of us are old enough to have a mortgage. my little sister grew up with more access to the internet than i did - and she's only got 4 years of difference. i know how to write cursive, and i actually think it's good practice for kids to learn too - it helps their motor development. but i also know they have to be able to touch-type way faster than was ever required from me.

in between, i guess. i still like to hand-write most things, even though typing is way faster and more accessible for me. i still wear a pj shirt from when i was like 18. i don't really understand how to operate my parents' smart tv. the other day when i got seriously injured, i used hey siri to call my brother. but if you asked me - honestly, i prefer calling to texting. a life in anachronisms. in being a little out-of-phase. never quite in synchronicity.

[wikiuntamed]

Five steps of Wikipedia for Monday, 4th March 2024

Welcome, fàilte, mirë se vjen, أهلا بك (ahlan bika) 🤗 Five steps of Wikipedia from "Sacred Songs for the Holy Year" to "1796 United States presidential election". 🪜👣

Start page 👣🏁: Sacred Songs for the Holy Year "Sacred Songs for the Holy Year is a 1949 album by RCA of recordings from 1920 and earlier by the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. Originally RCA-Victor album DM-1359 it was reedited in 1977 by the record label RCA Victor...."

Step 1️⃣ 👣: Giuseppe Verdi "Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Italian: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈverdi]; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the help of a local patron, Antonio..."

Image by Giovanni Boldini, Giuseppe Verdi

Step 2️⃣ 👣: Aaron Copland "Aaron Copland (, KOHP-lənd; November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing..."

Image by CBS Television

Step 3️⃣ 👣: 1936 United States presidential election "The 1936 United States presidential election was the 38th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 1936. In the midst of the Great Depression, incumbent Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated Republican Governor Alf Landon of Kansas. Roosevelt won the highest..."

Image by

Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided

Step 4️⃣ 👣: 1816 United States presidential election "The 1816 United States presidential election was the eighth quadrennial presidential election. It was held from November 1 to December 4, 1816. In the first election following the end of the War of 1812, Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe defeated Federalist Rufus King. The election was..."

Image by John Vanderlyn

Step 5️⃣ 👣: 1796 United States presidential election "The 1796 United States presidential election was the third quadrennial presidential election of the United States. It was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties..."

Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0? by Soerfm

[freehawaii]

KE AUPUNI UPDATE - NOVEMBER 2023

When Lāhainā Was the Capital After his victory at the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795, the archipelago (except for Kauaʻi and Niʻihau) came under the singular rule of Kamehameha the Great, King of the island of Hawaiʻi. Thus, was born what eventually became known as the Hawaiian Kingdom. In an absolute monarchy, the King is the government. Wherever the King is, thatʻs where the government is. This means wherever the king lived, that was the capital. To make sure Oʻahu was firmly under control, after the Battle of Nuʻuanu, King Kamehameha remained on Oʻahu for a year (1795-1796). Because he lived in Waīkikī, the seat of government, the first capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, was Waīkikī. When King Kamehameha relocated from Waīkikī to Hilo in 1796, Hilo became the capital. In 1802 Kamehameha moved to Lāhainā, and that became the capital until 1812 when Kamehameha set up his home at Kamakahonu in Kailua-Kona (where the Kailua Pier, Ahuʻena Heiau and the King Kamehameha Hotel are now located) making Kailua-Kona the capital. There, in May of 1819 King Kamehameha the Great joined his ancestors, and his son, Liholiho, ascended the throne as Kamehameha II. The next year, after welcoming the first party of missionaries from America at Kamakahonu, King Kamehameha II relocated to Mokuʻula in Lāhainā and Lāhainā again became the capital. After the death of Liholiho in 1824, King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) and the royal family continued to live in and rule from Lāhainā as the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Thus, Lāhainā was the nation’s capital during the crucial, formative years of the Hawaiian Kingdom. King Kamehameha III oversaw the transformation of his domain, the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, into an independent, highly enlightened, literate, progressive sovereign country. Literacy and education was a high priority and hundreds of schools sprang up all over the islands. The first high school “west of the Mississippi River” was Lahainaluna High School, overlooking Lāhainā. The first Hawaiian scholars (in the western sense) like historians David Malo and Samuel Kamakau and Kamehameha III’s closest friend and consummate diplomat, Timoteo Haʻalilio, were graduates of Lahainaluna School. During those years at Lāhainā Kamehameha III issued the Hawaiian Declaration of Rights (1839); promulgated the first Constitution for the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands (1840); converted His government from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy; dispatched the envoys Haʻalilio, Richards and Simpson to Europe to petition for recognition of the Hawaiian Kingdom as a sovereign nation; weathered the “Paulet Affair” which ended peacefully with Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day. It was while the Kingdom’s capital was in Lahaina that King Kamehameha III received the news that his envoys were successful in securing the recognition of Hawaii’s sovereignty through the Joint Proclamation by the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of France (followed by the USA, Belgium, and so forth). The day became known as Lā Kuʻokoʻa (Independence Day), and later this month, on November 28th, Hawaiians and friends in Hawaiʻi and around the world will be celebrating the 180th anniversary of our independence. Eo!

“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani ---------- Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

------ For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53. 

------ "And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media." PLEASE KŌKUA… Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort... To contribute, go to:  

• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII • PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net • Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net  “FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc. Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at... http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO! Malama Pono,

Leon Siu

Hawaiian National

[millingroundireland]

Beginning with a boom: The Irish origin of the Mills and Bibby families

This was originally the first chapter in my family history on the Mills family, but has been adapted and changed for this blog. All the sources are noted in a bibliographic essay at the end of this post, with maps and other photos throughout. Enjoy! I excerpted this from the original post on the WordPress version of this blog, and broke it up into smaller chunks to put on here, to make it more readable.

The year was 1796. Invasion rocked the isle of Ireland, or as the Irish call it, Éire. In the Expedition to Ireland, or Expédition d'Irlande, Napoleon’s imperial French army had tried to assist the Irish who were revolting because of taxation and religious laws, in hopes of creating a sister republic friendly to the British, but had failed. Again, in 1798, the French, one year after the Dutch had unsuccessfully invaded, were at it again (Figure 1.1). The imperial French army had come to the island for the last time in hopes of weakening the British empire and support the Irish revolt against the rule of the British which flared up again in May of that year. Again, they were unsuccessful as 150,000 British troops across all of Ireland, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, the same who had fought the Americans during the Revolutionary War and surrendered at Yorktown, was ultimately victorious with the Irish rebels on the run while the invading French were made prisoners.

Figure 1.1: Maps of the French invasion(s) of Ireland 1796-1798 courtesy of DK’s World History Atlas (left) & the Times Concise Atlas of World History (right).

The Mills family was about to begin anew. Seven years after the failed invasion by the French, in 1805, John Mills was born in Ballysheehan, County Tipperary, Ireland (as they call counties in Ireland), with his middle name was Rand as family stories say. While some sources say he was born in 1804 or even 1806, he attested, by his own recollection, that he was born that year. Three years later, in 1807, Thomas Mills was born in the same location as John. Neither Thomas nor John’s parents are currently known. However, it is likely that both Thomas and John were brothers. A Margaret or Jonathan Mills are listed in the 1766 religious census for Ireland, living in Mealiffe and Cashel, indicating deeper roots of the Mills family on the island. As for the surname of Mills, it also has a strong basis in England from a “John Mills” in 1541 to a “William Mills” in 1608. Furthermore, the surname of Bibby was derived from Norse movement and originates from Christian believers as well. As for the surname of Mills, it means either “living near a mill” and/or was a “genitive of an abbreviated form of Michael.”

As for County Tipperary, where the Mills family was living, it was a relatively well-populated area which was undoubtedly agricultural (it still is) as it was not near the textile industries clustered around Dublin or in the northern part of the island. Ballysheehan itself, called Baile Uí Shíocháin in Irish, is a town and civil parish in Middle Third barony, within Munster Province and the southern part of County Tipperary. This small area, which is a little more than 400 acres, has been historically Protestant, is only 3 miles north of Cashel (Figure 1.2), and had only, as Samuel Lewis wrote in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, about three thousand inhabitants by 1838.

Figure 1.2: Cashel in the middle of County Tipperary, with Ballysheehan nearby, courtesy of Carl Radefeld's 1844 map of Ireland within the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection on davidrumsey.com.

The Bibbys, which later marry into the Mills family, had long roots in County Tipperary. First of all, the surname of Bibby, which is more common in Great Britain than Ireland, is also spelled Bibbey, Bibey, Bybee, Biby, Bebby, and Beeby, was located in Ireland mainly from 1847 to 1864. Reportedly it is a relationship name “from the Middle English personal name Bibby” and occurs in places such as Manchester, England. Other connections to Ireland are not known.

In 1813, a man named Robert Bibby was born in Ireland. While his exact birth place is not known, it is likely that he was born in County Tipperary. Like Thomas and John, his parents are not known. In later years, Thomas Lyndop Bibby was born (in 1822) in Cashel, Ireland, County Tipperary. His parents were reportedly John Bibby and Mehitable Lyndop, who died in 1840. These could have been the same parents of Margaret Ann Bibby, born two years after Thomas, also in Cashel. It is possible that the Bibby family was large, as could have been the Mills family, and they may have crossed paths. After all, Bibbys were born as far back as 1765 (Thomas Bibby) in Ireland.

© 2018-2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[revolutionarywarhistory]

The story of the Extra Regiment's ordinary soldiers: From McCay to Patton [Part 10]

Continued from part 9

Giles Thomas, a Virginian, and Thomas Gadd, Marylander

In August 1832, Giles Thomas appeared before justices of the court saying that he he was 68 years old, having no evidence of his service "except a certificate for a lot of bounty land of Fifty acres" and that his name "is not on the pension roll of the agency of any State." He would be dead by 1850, as he is in censuses from 1810 to 1840. Living in Montgomery County, Virginia, he would die by 1842, with reports that he enlisted at the age of 16. Even a paperback book by W. Conway Price and Anne Price Yates titled Some Descendants of Giles Thomas, Revolutionary Soldier claims to go over his life story, and is available through the Virginia Tech University Libraries.

Reprinted from my History Hermann WordPress blog.

By 1840, Giles, age 76, was still living in Montgomery County as a census of pensioners made clear. Originally from Charles County, Maryland, he had at least one child with his wife Nancy:  a daughter named Elenor/Eleanor who had married into the Barnett family, living from about 1791 to 1853. Some within the DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) have clearly done research on him since he is represented by one member in a New York chapter. Then we get to his Find A Grave entry which says his spouse was Nancy Ann Wheeler (1762-1845) and that they had two children named William Jenkins (1796-1863), and Elias (1801-1877) and describes him as a person born on November 30, 1763 in Baltimore County, Maryland and married Nancy on June 04, 1786 in Blacksburg, Montgomery County, Virginia. On March 21, 1842, he died, with his gravestone describing him as a private within the Maryland line:

Courtesy of Find A Grave

Then we get to Thomas Gadd, who was born January 1760 in Baltimore and reportedly died in Rockcastle, Kentucky. Some say he died in 1832 (probably based on pages out of this book), but this is incorrect. His entry on Find A Grave says he died in 1834 and was put in an unmarked grave. In 1833, he was put on Kentucky Pension Rolls, and was age 74, living in Rockcastle County. [31] Other genealogical researchers seem to indicate that he had at least five children, including William. This cannot be further confirmed. [32]

However, a number of realities are clear. He seems to have been living in the county as early as 1810. Additionally, he was was alive as late as May 23, 1833 when he made the following deposition in Jesse Williams's pension:

I Thomas Gadd state, that I was in the Revolutionary War, and served in the same Batalion mentioned by the above applicant [Jesse Williams] in his original declartion but under diferent Captains. but I was well acquainted with the officers named by said applicant. I was not personally acquainted with the applicant in the service, but from a long acquaintance with him since and from conversations with him years ago and having served the same kind of service myself I have no doubt but he has stated the truth in his declaration & that he served as he states. Given under my hand this 23d day of May 1833

Hence, he could have died in 1834 after all.

The 1830s and 1840s: William Elkins, Giles Thomas, and William Patton

In 1835, William Elkins was on the pension roll and was living in Jefferson County, Ohio. [33] Sometime later on, he was buried somewhere in Jefferson County, although the location is not altogether clear.

Five years later, Giles Thomas is still alive and breathing in Montgomery, Virginia. A census that year describes Giles as a revolutionary pensioner who is 76 years old, basically saying he was born in 1764, putting his age 16 when joining the extra regiment. [34]

Jump forward another five years. William Patton appeared before magistrates in Wythe County, Virginia, aged 90 years, 8 months, and six days, putting his birthday sometime in September 28, 1754 by my calculations. The following year he says he was age 91, meaning he was born in 1755, differing from what he said the previous year. Hence, his age is not fully clear.

Map of Wythe County Virginia. Courtesy of Google Maps.

© 2016-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[publius-library]

HI

CAN YOU TELL ME EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT THE REYNOLDS AFFAIR AND PAMPHLET

I sure can.

First, I want to talk about Maria, because I think a great injustice is done to her in general.

Maria Lewis, which is what I will be calling her, was born in New York City on March 30, 1768. She was one of eleven children, six half siblings and five full. Maria grew up literate, but largely uneducated. She was married to James Reynolds when she was 15, on July 28, 1783. He had served in the revolution in the commissary department (which, if you know anything about the commissary, it was virtually useless), and was several years older than Maria. He was constantly asking the government for money. They had one child, Susan, born on August 18, 1785.

Before 1791, James Reynolds moved with his wife and child from NY to Philadelphia. In summer of 91, Maria visited Alexander Hamilton at his residence in Philadelphia asking for help because her abusive husband had abandoned her. Hamilton had the means to assist her in moving back to NYC, and arranged a later meeting to give her the money. He arrived at her boarding house, she brought him to her bedroom, and, according to him, “Some conversation ensued from which it was quickly apparent that other than pecuniary consolation would be acceptable.” She was 23 years old. He was 34.

The affair continued throughout the summer and fall of 1791 while Hamilton’s family was in Albany, NY. After a short while, Maria informed Hamilton that her husband sought reconciliation, and she agreed without ending the affair. She obtained an interview for Reynolds, in which he applied for a position in the Treasury, which Hamilton refused.

Hamilton exhibited that he wanted to end the affair on December 15, 1791, when Maria sent him a letter from Reynolds.

“I have not the time to tell you the cause of my present troubles; only that Mr. Reynolds has wrote you this morning and I know not whether you have got the letter or not and he had swore that if you do not answer, or if he does not see or hear from you today, he will write to Mrs. Hamilton. He has just gone out and I am alone. I think you had better come here one moment that you may know the cause, then you will the better kmow how to act. Oh, my God, I feel more for you than myself and wish I had never been born to give you so much unhappiness. Do not respond to him; not even a line. Come here soon. Do not send or leave any thing in his power.”

The affair ended for a time in December, but began again after Reynolds needed more money, and manipulated Maria into restarting the affair. Reynolds would write to Hamilton as a “friend”, and Hamilton would send $30. The last loan was in June 1792.

Reynolds was imprisoned for forgery in November of that year, and wrote to Hamilton for assistance, who denied all requests for money from both Reynolds and Maria.

James Monroe, Frederick Muhlenberg and Abraham Venable, rivals of Hamilton, visited Reynolds in jail after being made aware that he had contact with Hamilton by Reynolds’ partner in crime. Reynolds didn’t mention anything specific, but hinted at Hamilton’s public misconduct. The congressmen then interviewed Maria who maintained Reynolds’ accusation of speculation on Hamilton’s part.

James Callendar, a newspaper writer, also heard of this accusation, and published it in The History of the United States for 1796. Hamilton rebuked it with the Reynolds Pamphlet that cleared his name, but also placed the majority of the blame for the affair on Maria. It is likely that the events stated in the Pamphlet are accurate, however Hamilton phrased the narrative to make Maria appear as a villainous seductress, in order to keep public scrutiny away from himself. He would have known to do this, because it was the same thing his mother’s first husband did to his mother before his birth. These situations are very similar, however the consequences Rachel Faucette faced were much harsher, which is likely why Hamilton felt justified in mirroring Johann Lavien’s actions.

It is clear Maria is a victim in this circumstance, as she was very young, and was being emotionally, financially, and possibly physically abused by Reynolds. It is also likely that Reynolds threatened abuse to her daughter if she did not comply with his demands. She was publicly scorned after the Reynolds Pamphlet. Hamilton is not the victim.

In 1793, Maria Reynolds petitioned for a divorce with the assistance of Aaron Burr, who offered her and her daughter a place to live in order to fully escape Reynolds. Before the divorce was finalized, she went to live with Reynolds’ partner-in-crime, Jacob Clingman, whom she married in 1795. She settled in Alexandria, Virginia, then Britain after facing public scrutiny over the Pamphlet.

Maria became the housekeeper of Dr. Matthew. Peter Grotjan reported that he had met Maria, and she claimed to have written a pamphlet of her own with her side of the story. It was never published, and there is no other evidence of it’s existence. In 1800, Susan was sent to a Boston boarding school after Burr petitioned William Eustis to help her.

Maria married Dr. Matthew in 1806. Susan Reynolds came to live with her mother in 1808, and spent several years in Philadelphia. Susan was unhappily married several times. She had two daughters.

Maria Lewis died as Maria Matthew on March 25, 1828.

Hope this helps!

[josefavomjaaga]

@northernmariette asked me to compile a list of houses the Soults owned, preferably with pictures. That list will be a lot shorter than I wished, because outside of Soult’s home region almost nothing seems to be left.

Still there, but from the looks of it probably somewhat changed: The house of Soult’s mother Brigitte in what used to be called Saint-Amans-la-Bastide (rebaptised Saint-Amans-Soult in 1851, in honour of the village’s most-renowned son). Today’s adresse: 8 Rue du Maréchal Soult (what else)

Saint-Amans, as somebody has recently noted, even today is in the middle of nowhere. This particular region of nowhere is called »la Montagne Noir«, and its inhabitants apparently had a certain reputation for being taciturn, severe and on their guard. Which might explain why Soult got along best with folks from his natale region later.

Anarchasis Combes describes the village of 1769 like this:

In the flat part of the village, between two mountain slopes, stood the church, with its bell tower from the end of the 14th century, an entrance on the south side, surrounded by the cemetery. On the sloping ground, while gaining the edge of the Thoré, one saw, separated from each other by pàtus [I’m not sure of the meaning, sth like a small courtyard?] or by small unpaved streets, five houses with a first floor, with windows and shutters painted with red ochre; they were thus made distinguishable from the lower dwellings, which were reduced to a simple ground floor. Three of these houses belonged to some bourgeois, who oversaw the cultivation of their meager estates, the other two were inhabited by the local notables, the priest and the notary.

So, young Jean-de-dieu, being the son of said notary, definitely belonged to this metropolis’ upper class. After all, his home had a first floor! And judging from the picture above, his birthplace has improved a lot since then, because by now the building even has acquired a second floor, and so did the neighbor houses!

-

I would have loved to smuggle in a picture of 1796 Solingen and Louise Berg-Soult’s house at this point. However, with Solingen’s town center completely destroyed during WWII, that’s out of the question. Wilhelmine Berg and her daughter Louise lived in a street named »In den Casernen« that does not exist anymore, though I suspect today’s »Kasernenstraße« may still refer to it. The closest thing to a reference I could find is an old photography showing the house of Louise’s uncle Abraham Knecht, the so-called »house on the stairs«, where the wedding took place [to be found in the book »Alt-Solingen und Dorp« by Axel Birkenbeul, the house itself being demolished in 1900]:

From Solingen, Louise followed her military husband around for the next three years, through Germany and Belgium to Switzerland, until the end of 1799, and joined him whenever he stayed in the same place for some time and could make sure Louise would not be in immediate danger. In January 1800, he for the first time could visit Saint-Amans again and introduced Louise to his mother (the two women apparently liked each other immediately). Soult’s home leave was cut short, however, when a courier from Masséna urgently called him to Genoa. Louise remained in Saint-Amans, but when she learned of Soult being wounded and taken captive during the siege of Genoa, she immediately left and reached upper Italy precisely at the time when Soult was exchanged. From now on, she stayed by his side again, first in Turin, then in Taranto, Apulia, until on June 12, 1802, General and Madame Soult finally reached Paris, that neither of them had seen yet. It was also the first opportunity for them to give up their nomad ways and to acquire a home. Particularly as Louise was pregnant for the first time.

-

But at first, it seems they merely rented an appartement in Rue Caumartin No. 742, from where they at some point moved to Quai Voltaire, No. 3. That’s where their son Napoléon-Héctor was born. As to buying a house, it seems the Soults acquired a »maison de campagne«, in September 1802 before even thinking about a house in Paris. The estate was called »Villeneuve-l’Étang«, close to the parc of Saint-Cloud. It’s gone today, destroyed around 1880. There are some paintings, however:

Both Soult and his wife were very attached to »l’Étang«, and the castle is an important topic in their correspondence. However, during the Restauration, after Soult’s return from exile, they had to sell the estate to the Duchesse d’Angouleme, in December 1821. Apparently they never attempted to get it back later. (I’ve found an interesting detail on this website: apparently, Soult demanded the castle be attached to another parish as he found the way to his church too long, meaning that, unlike some of his fellow generals, he actually did go to church. And Madame Soult had – sheep. Even a couple of merinos. Lannes’ enthusiasm seems to have been contagious. Somehow I now picture all the marshals walking their priced merinos on a leash, like Marie-Antoinette…)

According to Nicole Gotteri, the total price for the estate of Villeneuve-l’Étang was 270,000 Francs. The Soults made a down payment of 135000 francs in September 1802 and paid the remainder in two installments, on February 16 and August 26, 1803, at five percent interest. At which point Gotteri inserts quite an interesting list of income per annum for an officer in Soult’s position:

until 1798: général de brigade: ~12,000 Franc per annum

1799 – 1800: général de division: ~18,000 Franc per annum

1801: lieutenant général in Taranto: ~24,000 Franc per annum

Assuming Soult saved just about everything he had in income since his marriage (1796), that’s still only 96,000 Francs. So where did you acquire the rest of those 135,000 Francs in September 1802, Monsieur, hm? (Just because I have a soft spot for you doesn’t mean I’m not watching you! - Nicole Gotteri vaguely invokes »gratifications«, a term that may very well refer to the same thing that was seen as »French extortions« by those locals of occupied countries who through their war contributions had to finance the extra payments to French soldiers.)

-

Soult now being one of the four commanders of the »Garde Consulaire«, he also needed a representative »hôtel« in Paris and thus acquired a house in Rue de l’Université, No. 291, later No. 57, though it seems the entrance to the appartements where the family really lived (the rest of the house was rented to tenants) in the beginning was Rue de Lille, No. 498.

Soult bought the Paris house on the same day he paid off his first installment for Villeneuve-l’Étang, 16 February 1803, for 120,000 Francs – not a bad invest, considering that in 1865, the town of Paris had to rebuy it from Soult’s heirs for 1.47 millions, just so it could be torn down to make room for the reconstruction plans of famous baron Haussmann. Yes, this house is gone, too. I could not find any picture but would be very interested if somebody else manages to.

Update: I may have found something, even if it’s called No. 67 here:

-

Even Gotteri admits that the Soults acquired these very imposing houses before Napoleon truely installed his imperial court and ordered his militay chiefs to become gentlemen and even nobility. They clearly did not mind this development.

It’s quite likely that Soult over the years acquired more estates, particularly in his home region and for his family, but his main residencies (even if he barely ever saw them) were Rue de l’Université and Villeneuve-l’Étang. So let’s fast-forward to the time after Waterloo, when Soult was exiled and nolens volens had to find a place to live. This place was Alleestraße 7 in Düsseldorf, close to the Ratingen gate (»Ratinger Tor«) where, according to a newspaper, he rented a seven-room appartment for his family, lived a very retired life and did not even have his own carriage. (He did at one point join a local club, however.)

I do know there exists a drawing of the house as it looked back then, but I could not locate it online, sorry. In case anybody wants to check the quarter on Google Maps, please don’t get confused, the street has been renamed to »Heinrich-Heine-Allee«.

-

Which brings us back, full circle, to Saint-Amans. As stated above, finally allowed back to France in 1819, Soult sold his estate of Villeneuve-l’Étang to the Duchess of Angouleme in 1821, for a whopping 740,000 Francs! This decision still cannot have come easy to the family, but with Soult being effectively in disgrace and his income vastly diminished, upkeep for this ostentatious estate would soon become impossible.

Assuming that his days of fame were over (Soult had turned fifty when he came back from exile), he stayed in Saint-Amans longer and longer. From 1827 on, he built his house »Soultberg« on a hill about fifteen minutes from the village church of Saint-Amans.

This is the place where Soult lived most of the time during his remaining years (he probably had not expected there would be so many of them), even when he became minister of war during the July Monarchy. According to Anarchasis Combes he did not want people to refer to it as a castle, because…

A castle, he said, is a fortified building, and I had no ambition to imitate Vauban, by building a pavilion in the middle of a park.

So, this is what a pavilion à la Soult looks like. It is also the place where he died.

-

And then we have the very last building. Yes, Soult had his own funeral place planned and built during his lifetime.

I think I have already posted that apparently, from this chapel on the side of Saint-Amans’ village church, one can see both the house that Soult was born in and the one that he died in. As if he wanted to overlook his whole life from his last resting place.

On a lighter note: That possessive »S« on the door of the chapel, hooked into the »B« of (Louise) Berg makes me smile every time I see it. Obviously, just because he was dead did not mean he would let go of her!

[hollenka99]

BTS for the regicide AU? -River

Ask Game

@egopocalypse

Regicide is a bit too big for me to comment on as a whole because as of the 16th, the total for the transcripts of au related dms I’ve been maintaining stands at 738,123 words over 1796 pages. However, I thought I'd focus on the behind the scenes of I Beg of Thee Have Mercy On Me (I Was Just a Boy, You See) since that's a good way to look at the world of Regicide through a single fic.

For any followers who might not know, Regicide is a royalty au that Anon and I created back in January and have brainrotted about on daily basis ever since. There are 15 paths, grouped into the three categories of Fratricide, Patricide and L’Manburg (aka war). So when I say stuff like F1 or P3, I mean the first fratricide and third patricide paths etc. 

It goes without saying but this will contain spoilers for the fic. And because this is F1, there is a section about suicidal ideation and self harm but I’ve put a warning right before I talk about it and it’s only one paragraph.

It's mentioned at the start that Wilbur is the 7th son and 13th child. There will be 26 kids in total, 15 of them being boys. The reason for this is because, when I tried to create half brothers, I was a dumbass who asked Anon to pick a number between 1 and 20. If I was smart, I would have said 10 or at least made 'up to 20' for siblings, not just brothers. Either way, she said 15 thanks to having no context regarding her decision and then when I was filling up the list with sisters, 11 girls popped up unintentionally. Oh and also, Wilbur was originally Sextus (6th son) with Septimus born a week after him. However we decided we didn't want Wilbur to have the awkward name so the other brother's birthday became September 6th, making him Sextus instead. This did open the door for me to decide I wanted Wilbur to get close to Sextus since he knows he could have been teased instead if their birthdays were switched. Which then developed into them becoming close just because of proximity in age in general. He is my favourite of the half brothers and I am holding him gently. He and Wilbur are so close that Fundy’s middle name is Christopher after Sextus in most paths (it’s Wilbur in those where he’s dead before he can meet his son).

Anon and I tend to discuss non-canon versions of paths nearly as often as we do canon events. Kidbur's near death experience is no exception. A lot of talk is about a sweet 4 year old ghost who gets really upset because most of his family is ignoring him (aka literally can't see him). Also wholesome stuff like his grandfather looking after him once Wilbur moves on, then him meeting 17yo Tommy after Techno makes all their brothers join Wilbur. But in canon, we have it that he got sick while attending celebrations for the 1500th anniversary of the capital’s founding. As much as Phil is indifferent about his younger sons, he does rush back from attending celebrations elsewhere to provide moral support and keep an eye on their kids so Kristin can focus on tending to Wilbur. Once they’re in the clear, Phil takes Techno to see a play about Wilbur I, as a way of teaching him about the fratricide tradition.

I’m not sure why we decided to make 10 the age princes learn about fratricide. I honestly think it was just a nice round number, old enough for them to begin understanding the reality of their situation but young enough to not leave them oblivious for too long. Technoblade was told by Phil when he was 9 thanks to favouritism and of course, Techno himself revealed the truth to Wilbur when he was 7, right after Tommy’s birth. But Wilbur learning about the tradition then watching two brothers with whom he was close to die right in front of him marks the sort of era where his bitterness grows about being a Antarctic prince, a son of Phillip V at that. We never actually said in dms that the twins’ deaths happened the same day as Wilbur going into the crypts. Until June (when I finished the fic) those were just two events that happened when Wilbur was 10. But while writing, I felt they’d work really well side by side and in close succession. So when I showed Anon the finished draft, they wanted my head for making it worse by having it be the same day.

Also, speaking of Billy and Ben, I have to admit their names came from us memeing. We were discussing the idea of fathers naming eldest sons and mothers naming the younger boys, with the reverse being true for daughters. Given that Phil distances himself from his sons, I made a joke that he’d pick a dumb name for his 3rd and 4th sons, like naming them after Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men (British children’s characters for toddlers). Except it stuck and they’ve been Billy and Ben since February. Most side characters aren’t named but Sextus was named Christopher after Phil’s father, Tommy’s namesake is an uncle and Technoblade shares his name with a legendary warrior figure.

I can't remember when we created Death and War but neopolitan trio come from blessed bloodlines on both sides. Thomas I (founder of the dynasty and the empire) attracted War's favour, causing him and his descendants to have premonitions while, as mentioned above, Death blessed an ancestor of Kristin's and as a result, her family can interact with ghosts. The reason Wilbur's gift from Death is unusually strong is because he's been in her favour since birth. The same for Techno with War (far more in tune with his premonitions) as well as Tommy with both gods (stronger premonitions and ability to see the dead but not as strong as the other two’s specialty). None of the brothers are aware of this though, they just assume it's a side effect of the dual divine heritage, so I haven't been able to mention it in fics so far.

We knew we wanted to include Sally and Fundy in the au and having her be L’Manburgian helped bring L’Manburg itself into the picture. We both love their wedding because they’re both a pair of pissed off teenagers whose parents have gone about this the completely wrong way. It’s typical for couples to spend at least a year getting to know each other before thinking about marriage since Antarctic people value unions that have good interpersonal foundations. This trial year is especially important for arranged couples since they’re not meeting out of chance. However, Kristin wants to maximise the length of time Wilbur’s happily married to a girl she feels he’d get along well with and as much as the Salmons want Sally to be happy too, they’re also aiming to put her in a powerful position. By definition, their marriage is actually forced instead of arranged because Salbur don’t meet until they’re at the altar and neither really consented to this, more just went along with it because they felt they had no real say in it. So those several months where they don’t want to interact with their spouse could have been avoided if their trial year was in the lead up to the wedding, not the first year of marriage.

No official comment on this excerpt except for the fact it's sweet. But I do want to say Anon is the one who comes up with the majority of worldbuilding ideas that we then build upon, including linguistic quirks. They’re even in the middle of creating a conlang for Antarctic which is really cool. A lot of this linguistic stuff tends to go over my head a bit when they explain it so sometimes I worry my interest doesn't show properly when I struggle to convey how much I'm nodding my head as I listen to them talk about the ongoing process. But yeah, I am that Will Smith meme with his arms out like look at my friend create a language from scratch. She also knows a bunch of Ottoman and Roman history thanks to being a history major so that contributes a lot of inspiration towards the au. I mean the whole thing started after she told me about how the Ottomans practiced fratricide for a while and I went here's a fucked up Wilbur after coming back from walking my dog.

I used Technoblade's death and the build up to it to show that as much as Wilbur is acting on his paranoia, as much as he has painted Techno as a heartless villain, he still loves his brother. This is his turning point, in fact this is the turning point of the entire path. This murder isn't what sets F1 apart from all the other paths, him going on to kill Tommy too is what makes F1 unique, but this is where things truly begin breaking apart for him. It was important to us to portray Wilbur as someone who had lost his way, someone who did things he never wanted to believe he was capable of but still remained himself at his core. At the very beginning, Wilbur was meant to kill both his brothers because he was prideful and felt he was the only one truly suitable for the role. But then everyone got fleshed out before too long. Now he is as he's presented here: somebody who grew up in an impossible situation which has left him protective of those stuck in it with him, scared of the future and desperate for any semblance of control over it all.

Phil is an interesting character in Regicide. We don’t want anyone to be black and white, all of them have layers and complexities. Even in F4 when we were planning to make Dream the main antagonist before the recent controversy, his corruption arc began with him trying to avenge Techno to feel like there was some justice to be had which then descended into him doing anything to remain in power, no matter how wrong. With Phil though, at least in the fratricide paths, he’s not that bad. He isn’t the best dad when it comes to his sons but that’s because he’s got it in his head that dying will be easier for him if he doesn’t spend his final hours dreading what his children are about to go through, the way he saw his own father dread his sons’ fates. With his daughters and Techno, he does his best to be there for them. When Wilbur or Tommy are set to be the next emperor because they’re the eldest/only living son left, Phil tries to reach out and get to know them. Patricide is a mixed bag since P1-3 are essentially ‘Fratricide but Phil is killed earlier′ so he’s more or less the same. Then in P4-5, those are war-centric paths so he’s the same version as the Ls.

With the L’Manburgian war paths, Phil isn’t so redeemable. He’s still the same guy but at his worst. I mean in P4 he orders his best archer to shoot Wilbur with arrows tainted with wither poison and in a few paths like L2, he literally has his sons imprisoned, executed then denied the ability to move on. And yet, for Phil, he just sees a wayward son deciding to undo the 150 years’ worth of effort it took their ancestors to finally conquer L’Manburg in the first place, all because Wilbur grew attached to the place. As for ordering the death of a 14 year old? Well, sending a message obviously. Same with making them die to an axe like a commoner instead of being hanged like a noble. Nobody is above the law as far as he has something to say about it. If Wilbur wants to act like he’s any other L’Manburgian then fine, he can die like them.

[Suicidal ideation and self harm warning for this next section]

This is the start of F1bur's destructive habits. He‘s going to get worse over the years as his mental health drags his physical health down with it. All of it thanks to paranoia and a need to survive long enough to ensure Fundy never has to be hurt like he has. At times, he will quite literally only stay alive because he owes it to his brothers to finish the book or Fundy’s still young enough that he can convince himself that his son needs him. There’s a point in his 40s where the book is ready for publication and he contemplates brewing a spiked tea so he can finally stop being shunned by everyone he loves, as well as not have to deal with Tommy’s anger anymore. Fundy’s a grown man by now, he doesn’t need his dad holding him back. There’s a sentiment that keeps cropping up in this au and makes both of us put our heads in our hands (/pos) which is ‘If you love someone, you’d let them go’. This applies here too. The only good thing about that scene (other than Wilbur obviously never going through with poisoning his drink in the first place) is that Tommy’s ghost finally realises how much hurt he’s actually caused his brother, leading to him being able to move on soon after. Fundy also plans to get engaged around this time so Wilbur tells himself he’ll stick around until the wedding. Then to meet his first grandchild. And the next grandson too. Until it’s a decade later and he’s coming home from visiting Fundy in order to meet his new granddaughter. At which point 30 years’ worth of not looking after his health catches up to him. In terms of mental health, F1 and L5 (where he’s shut in a dark cell with only Tommy’s ghost for company after the war) are the hardest on Wilbur. But whereas F1bur died after a few years of his life finally feeling like it might be worth living, L5bur’s life being saved following a suicide attempt causes him to start gradually healing from what Phil put him through until he’s living because he wants to. 

Ah yes, Karl. I don’t remember what exactly the process was but I think he started off as nothing more than a great-grandson of Wilbur I who died during the first ever round of royal fratricide so that Wilbur could relate to him. Karl then also served as inspiration for Wilbur since we knew we wanted him to write a collective biography about each of his brothers, causing Karl to leave behind unfinished notes related to a similar project. I don’t know when we came up with the idea for reincarnation to be a thing in this au but it was probably February, in the context of F1 crimeboys being reborn as two boys named Seb (Wilbur) and Isaac (Tommy) so in their new lives they could start their relationship over. Suggesting Karl might be Wilbur’s past life wasn’t too much of a stretch from there. In the afterlife, there’s a mist filled section where if you walk in, you will start to lose your memories so that by the time you eventually make your way to the other side, your mind’s blank and ready to be sent to your next life. Kind of like a gaseous Lethe to be honest. The concept of the mist is definitely all Anon’s so shout out to her for that. In my mind, Karl waited for Sapnap to show up then after they’d been reunited for a while, they went in together, hand in hand. We’ve never really discussed what happened to Sapnap but Karl obviously became Wilbur. Wilbur remembers nothing of Karl’s life, even if certain things trigger a sense of deja vu seemingly randomly. With Seb and Isaac though, they begin to remember being crimeboys after meeting but again, Seb has absolutely no recollection of once being Karl. Either way, I liked dropping subtle hints in this scene that Karl was more to Wilbur than he realised. That last line about the words bouncing back to Wilbur at Karl’s grave is my favourite.

The coronation proceedings are heavily based on Elizabeth II's coronation since there's footage of the whole ceremony online. This bit especially is essentially just the same things she was asked to swear in an oath but tweaked a little to fit Wilbur and the Antarctic Empire. We knew that we wanted part of the coronation to involve the new emperor swearing to uphold the fratricide tradition. That bit is completely ad-libbed by me while the snippet of legalese that Wilbur read when he was 13 was based on the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 (I tried to access the 1707 version but legislation.gov.uk always makes stuff hard to read if they don’t have the original version which is the only downside to the website that really helped me through the legal modules of my degree). Anon and I were also talking about how difficult it must be for emperors who are fathers at the time of their coronation since those sons will have to watch their dad promise to ensure their deaths after his own. I’m sure Phil’s father had the same reluctance when he swore that oath since he had 7 sons, the youngest of which was Phil himself at 2 years old. It’s a shame the two never got to meet because I think Wilbur and his grandfather could have gotten on quite well since they were quite similar in some ways.

Either way, I hope this look into Regicide was interesting. There’s some stuff I wasn’t able to include since it was too niche or path-specific but this covers a fair amount of ground in terms of Regicide in general.

[frevandrest]

What do we know about SJ's sisters?

Sorry for my late reply! We don't know a super great deal about SJ's sisters, but there is some info.

SJ had two younger sisters: Louise Marie Anne (1768-1857) and Marie Françoise Victoire (1769-1832). They were both born in Nampcel. 

Louise Marie Anne

She was born on 12 September 1768 (about a year after SJ). On 11 February 1790, she married a notary and, at that point, a commander of the National Guard, André François Emmanuel Decaisne (1757-1829). Decaisne was from one of the most notable families in Blérancourt. This was the second marriage for Decaisne. His late wife was the sister of Emmanuel Thorin, the man who married SJ's girlfriend, Thérèse Gellé.

Some historians point out that this is interesting (outside of the general "soap opera of Blérancourt" as I call it :P), because Thorins were royalists, and Decaisne (a revolutionary at that point) might have wanted to distance himself from that, and to forge ties with a revolutionary family. Which makes sense, except that SJ was a nobody in 1790, so it couldn't be because SJ's influence. On the other hand, it could be that SJ's revolutionary opinions and ambitions were already well-known, and Decaisne felt it was appropriate to ally himself with such a family (I mean, I also assume he liked SJ's sister asdfsdaf). I also heard that Decaisne helped SJ financially, to publish L'esprit de la révolution in 1791.

SJ was a witness on the Louise Marie Anne's wedding to Decaisne, along with his mother and Victoire:

A year later, Louise Marie Anne gave birth to her first child, Louis. I believe SJ was a godfather to his nephew:

Louise Marie Anne and her husband had 8 or 9 children together. It is interesting to follow how they named their children, because a boy born in 1793 received a very revolutionary name Brutus; but the youngest boy, born in 1807, was named Napoleon.

Brutus died in 1812, at the age of 19, in Napoleon's Russian campaign. :( I wrote about Brutus more here.

Another nephew, Constant-Camille, was the Justice of the Peace at one point.

As for nephew Napoleon Decaisne, I don't know much about him, except that he was a pharmacist (as claimed here), and that he married the niece of Saint-Just's best friend Thuillier.

Marie Françoise Victoire

She was born on 10 November 1769 (about two years after SJ). On 21 November 1791, she married Adrien Bayard. SJ was a witness on this wedding, too:

Shortly after, SJ wrote a letter to Bayard; it seems that Victoire was feeling unwell and he was commenting on his sister's health and also kind of welcoming Bayard into the family. The letter is nice (sentimental by SJ's standards, even), and can be read here.

It seems that Bayard had an apartment in Paris, because upon election for the National Convention, SJ wrote to him, asking him to stay at his place before he finds accommodation.

This didn't seem to happen, since SJ was late for the start of the Convention - he was not there for the roll call on the first day of the Convention, and we don’t know why. (If he were, he would've been a secretary, because the two youngest deputies were secretaries and the oldest one the President for that day. But the second-youngest deputy, Barbaroux, was also not there, so Tallien, the third youngest, was a secretary.)

Adrien Bayard died in 1795, and Victoire remarried in 1796 - she married Decaisne's brother Claude. So two sisters were married to two brothers. 

Victoire was widowed again in 1801, and in 1803, (according to this source), she married Jean Nicaise Michel Lesassière. I cannot be 100% sure, but his father’s name, Louis-François Lesassière, is the same as Thérèse Gellé’s godfather, so it is possible that it was the same man.

As far as we know, Victoire did not have any children, so the only descendants of the Saint-Just family were Louise Marie Anne's children.

[scotianostra]

On this day in 1796 poet, James MacPherson, died.

Seumas MacMhuirich/ Seumas Mac a’ Phearsain, in Gaelic or James Macpherson is mostly well-known for his translation of the epic Ossian poems of his native land but was also an accomplished poet in his own right and a leading political figure of the time. Born into a reasonably wealthy family, Macpherson traveled to Aberdeen in his teens where he studied at King’s College with a short sabbatical in Edinburgh.

Whilst at university he began writing verses and published his first work The Highlander in 1758, though for some reason he tried to withdraw it afterwards. He was, however, always attracted back to his home town of Ruthven in Inverness-shire and returned there to become a teacher after finishing his studies.

Over the years, Macpherson had been able to collect a number of Gaelic poems which he could recite by heart. When he met writer John Home, he was encouraged to put them down in a book called Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland which was published in 1760. This caught the attention of a benefactor who provided Macpherson with the means to research and put down the poetry and tales of the Highlands.

In 1761, Macpherson supposedly found the remnants of an epic poem by Ossian and a later that year published the work under the title Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books. Other works followed and, in 1765, he published the definitive Collected Works of Ossian. The translations did not go uncontested and there were a number of critics and scholars, notably from Ireland, who doubted their authenticity.

Even the great Samuel Johnson later commented that Macpherson had merely found fragments of poetry and then had woven them into an epic using his own imagination. Macpherson did say that there were originals of the poems he had found but never produced these during his lifetime and controversy over the provenance of the Ossian epic poems continued well into the 19th century. In 1764, Macpherson traveled to America where he served as secretary to George Johnstone, the colonial governor at the time. He returned to our shores just two years later and wrote a number of historical books before being elected to parliament in 1780. As MP for Camelford he turned away from writing and there is little information about his life during this period.

In his later years, MacPherson retired to Inverness-shire where he purchased an estate. Now a relatively wealthy man he was known for buying properties in the region and may well have purchased his right to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

Macpherson died at the age of 59 and was indeed interred at the Abbey. Sometime after he passed away, a noted historian, Malcolm Laing, concluded that MacPherson’s Ossian collection was a modern creation and not from found ancient texts which had been translated. Whether this is true or not, many consider the Ossian poems to be great works and they have been translated into many languages over the years.

There is a lot more on McPherson and his works here on Poemhunter, another site I use on a regular basis when researching posts. https://www.poemhunter.com/james-macpherson/biography/

If you know anything about the Ossian poems, you will know they are lengthy pieces of prose written over 6 books, so here is a shorter poem by the Gaelic Poet.

The Six Bards.

Night is dull and dark, The clouds rest on the hills; No star with twinkling beam, No moon looks from the skies. I hear the blast in the wood, But distant and dull I hear it. The stream of the valley murmurs, Low is its murmur too. From the tree at the grave of the dead, The lonely screech-owl groans. I see a dim form on the plain, ‘Tis a ghost! it fades, it flies; Some dead shall pass this way. From the lowly hut of the hill The distant dog is howling; The stag lies by the mountain-well, The hind is at his side; She hears the wind in his horns, She starts, but lies again. The roe is in the cleft of the rock: The heath-cock’s head beneath his wing. No beast, no bird is abroad, But the owl, and the howling fox; She on the leafless tree, He on the cloudy hill. Dark, panting, trembling, sad, The traveller has lost his way; Through shrubs, through thorns he goes, Beside the gurgling rills; He fears the rock and the pool, He fears the ghost of the night. The old tree groans to the blast; The falling branch resounds. The wind drives the clung thorn Along the sighing grass; He shakes amid the night. Dark, dusty, howling, is night, Cloudy, windy, and full of ghosts; The dead are abroad; my friends Receive me from the night.

Whether you think MacPherson is a fraud or not he was the first Gaelic poet to gain international recognition, and in my opinion if he penned the Ossian epic himself it is still some feat!