Cat's Historical Doodles

Margaret was born on 28 November 1489, in London. She was the oldest daughter of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York . She was named after Margaret Beaufort , her paternal grandmother. Daughters were, of course, important political assets in a world where diplomacy and marriage were closely linked. So, before Margaret's 6th birthday, Henry VII planned a marriage between his daughter and James IV of Scotland as a way of ending the Scottish king's support for Perkin Warbeck (a pretender to the throne of England). On 24 January 1502, Scotland and England concluded the Treaty of Perpetual Peace, the first peace agreement between the two kingdoms in over 170 years. The marriage treaty was concluded that same day and was viewed as a guarantee of the new peace. Margaret's marriage was completed by proxy on 25 January 1503 and she was now regarded as Queen of Scots. Later in 1503, Margaret travelled to Scotland; she left Richmond Palace on the 27 June and cross...

Catherine was born circa 287 in Alexandria, Egypt. According to the traditional narrative, Catherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Egyptian Alexandria during the reign of Emperor Maximian (286 - 305). From a young age, Catherine devoted herself to study; when she was a teenager, she had a vision of the Madonna and the Child that persuaded her to become a Christian. When the persecutions began under Emperor Maxentius, Catherine went to him and rebuked him for his cruelty. Hoping to discredit her, Maxentius summoned fifty of the best pagan philosophers and orators to debate with her and refute her pro-Christian arguments. However, Catherine won the debate and some of her adversaries, conquered by her eloquence, declared themselves Christians; they were condemned to death. As a result of the debate, Catherine was scourged and then imprisoned. During her imprisonment, over 200 people came to visit her, including Maxentius' own wife, Valeria Maximilla. Catherine ...

Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg was born on 2 May 1729, in Pomerania, Prussia. She was the eldest child of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, and his wife, Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Sophie had an uneventful childhood and, although she was a princess, her family had very little money. Sophie's rise to power was supported by her mother's wealthy relatives. The choice of Sophie as the wife of her second cousin, the future tsar Peter III, had the goal to strengthen the friendship between Russia and Prussia and to weaken Austria's influence. Sophie first met Peter at the age of ten...and she found him detestable! She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such an young age. Empress Elizabeth loved Sophie who, on arrival in Russia in 1744, spared no effort to ingratiate herself not only with the Empress, but with her husband and the Russian people. On 28 June 1744, the Russian Orthodox Church receiv...

Isabella (French: Isabelle) was born on 9 November 1389 and was daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife, Isabeau of Bavaria. She was the third of twelve children; one of her younger sisters, Catherine of Valois, would become the mother of the Tudor dynasty. Isabella grew up during a period of political tension between France and England known as the Hundred Years War. This situation was only made worse by the mental instability of her father, King Charles. On 31 October 1396, Isabella married the widower King Richard II of England, a move for peace with France. Isabella was only seven years old at the time! The fact that Isabella was a child was discussed during the negotiations, but Richard thought that this was an advantage, as he would be able to shape her in accordance to his ideal. Isabella herself told the English envoys that she was very happy to be Queen of England, because that would make her a great lady. Richard II travelled to Paris to fetch his future Qu...

Alfred Lothar Wegener was born in Berlin on 1 November 1880, as the youngest of five children. His father, Richard Wegener, was a theologian and teacher of classical languages. Alfred attended school at the Köllnisches Gymnasium in Berlin, graduating as the best of his class. He went on to study physics, meteorology and astronomy in Berlin, Heidelberg and Innsbruck. He obtained a doctorate in astronomy in 1905 at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Alfred had always maintained a strong interest in the developing fields of meteorology and climatology and decided to focus his studies on these subjects. In 1906, Alfred participated in the first of his four Greenland expeditions; he later regarded this experience as a decisive turning point in his life. It was during this expedition that he constructed the first meteorological station in Greenland, where he launched kites and balloons to take meteorological measurements in the Artic climatic zone. After his return in 1908 an...