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Electric History: The Queen’s Physician
by Sarah Dowdey | September 3, 2010
Reader, would you be deterred if I told you this post isn’t for “smatterers, learned idiots, grammatists, sophists, wranglers and perverse little folk”? Personally, I’d worry I’d see my payback in the comments section — not really an issue for 16th century writers. Still, it’s quite a warning to include in any work, yet there it is in William Gilbert’s influential book on electricity and magnetism: De Magnete, or in full, De Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de Magno Magnete Tellure, a title I’d agree could attract its fair share of wranglers.
For this post, I’m going way back. As much as we’ve covered the cutting-edge news and fundamentals of energy, we’ve yet to tap into the historical origins of our understanding.
Monday’s podcast brought us another installment in the life of Elizabeth I. In this episode, we discussed the Virgin Queen’s great love, Robert Dudley.
Sarah and I could talk about the romantic life of Elizabeth I for weeks. (We won’t, but we could.) She was pursued by every eligible man in Europe (and some ineligible ones), and her response was almost always the same: encourage, then deflect. She’s just not that into you, everyone.
Monday’s podcast brought you a little more Chinese history. The Taiping Rebellion is considered the most important event in 19th century. It helped end the imperial system forever. So why did most of us completely miss this in history class?
The rebellion started with a man named Hong Xiuquan (alternately spelled Hung Hsiu-ch-uan), a poor farm boy who dreamt of passing the civil service exam, only to fail over and over. Although his professional dreams were thwarted, Hong had a new, different kind of dream: a vision of himself as the son of God, younger brother to Jesus. And his mission (because these dream visions often end with a mission)? Reform China.
Wednesday, you witnessed the rivalry between Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I.
The central conflict between Mary and Elizabeth was that Mary wanted to be named Elizabeth’s heir. (By birth order, she was, and Catholics believed her to be the legitimate queen of England anyway.) But Elizabeth couldn’t name an heir, for fear of her throne — and her life.
Mary and Elizabeth were both threatened and fascinated by each other. As female sovereigns, both understood the difficulties of the other’s position better than anyone else could. And yet, each was an obstacle to the other’s power. Mary said once that she wished one of them had been a man, so that they could marry and unite their kingdoms.
With Monday’s podcast, Sarah and I brought you Harry Houdini, the Master Mystifier.
The man some call the greatest magician of all time had humble beginnings. He was born in Budapest and moved to Wisconsin as a young child, although he’d insist for the rest of his life that he was born in the United States. The family of Ehrich Weisz, for that was his given name, was very poor. Little Ehrich made a promise to his father when he was 12 that he would always provide for his mother, and provide he did. He picked up any odd job he could, from shoe shining to necktie cutting. But in the meantime, he also taught himself to pick locks — and walk a tightrope.
On Wednesday’s podcast, we brought you the early life of Elizabeth I.
Sarah and I like queens and princesses, and if you love royal women, you have to spend some time on Elizabeth I. Because she’s simply so interesting, we’ve divided the subject into three podcasts — one on her life before she was queen, one on her great love and one on her relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots. Another podcast on Mary’s implication in a murder will bring our Stuart/Tudor series to four.
When a person becomes the president, he or she is entitled to a 400k salary, as well as a hefty expense account — and the benefits don’t stop there! Learn more about the perks of being president in this podcast from HowStuffWorks.com.
When the British navy somehow defeated the seemingly invincible Spanish Armada, it emerged as a force to reckoned with, and it held this reputation for centuries to come. According to a BBC News story, recently discovered “superguns” have shed light on the technology used on the British ships during this time. Previously, historians believed that Elizabeth had been using cannon technology similar to that of her father, Henry VIII. That belief had made it difficult to reconcile accounts of how Elizabeth’s navy became more successful and more feared than her father’s.
This technology, according to experts, was years ahead of its time. Instead of using many cannons of various sizes, shapes and roles, a ship equipped with several of these superguns could bombard a distant enemy with rapid fire. And, it’s possible these superguns contributed to the unlikely defeat of the Spanish Armada, an event that changed the course of history.
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