Category: Brief histories of famous people across the world and ages

By Tim Lambert Her Early Life Julian of Norwich 1342-1416 was a great Christian mystic and writer of the Middle Ages, but little is known about her. It is a myth that women were unimportant in the Middle Ages. Some women like Julian certainly did have influence. However, we know very little about her life.… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Julian of Norwich

By Tim Lambert His Early Life King John was born in December 1166 or 1167. John was a younger son of Henry II and he was not expected to become king. His father conquered Ireland and in 1185 John was sent to that country. The expedition was a failure and John returned to England in… Continue reading A Brief Biography of King John

By Tim Lambert King Richard I was born in 1157 in Oxford. His father was Henry II and his mother was Eleanor of Aquitaine. Richard was an educated man. In 1172 he became Duke of Aquitaine. In 1183 his older brother Henry died and he became heir to the throne of England. Richard succeeded his… Continue reading A Brief Biography of King Richard I

By Tim Lambert Her Early Life Margaret Fell helped to found the Quakers. Margaret was born in Dalton in Furness in Lancashire in 1614 (the exact date is not known. Her father was John Askew, a well-off landowner. In 1632 Margaret married a barrister called Thomas Fell. Her husband later became a judge and an… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Margaret Fell

By Tim Lambert Her Early Life Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a famous Polish scientist. She was born Maria Sklodowska in Warsaw on 7 November 1867. Her father and mother were both teachers. They had 4 other children, all of them older than Maria. She had a brother named Jozef and 3 sisters, Zofia, Bronia, and… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Marie Curie

By Tim Lambert His Early Life Martin Luther was a religious reformer who lived in the 16th century. Luther was born on 10 November 1483 in the German town of Eisleben. (In those days Germany was not a single country but was a federation of states called the Holy Roman Empire). His father was Hans… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Martin Luther

By Tim Lambert Mary Anning was a famous paleontologist of the early 19th century. Mary was born on 21 May 1799 in Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. Her father was Richard Anning a cabinet maker. He and his wife Mary had a large family but only two of their children survived childhood, Mary and her… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Mary Anning

By Tim Lambert Mary Seacole was a famous woman of the 19th century. She was born Mary Jane Grant in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. (At that time Jamaica was part of the British Empire). Her father was a white Scottish soldier in the British army. Her mother was of mixed race. Her mother ran a boarding house… Continue reading A Brief Biography of Mary Seacole