Rainbow Room

30 He/him

[rainbow-femme]

“Henry VII was described as being without wealth, without power, and without claim to English throne”

Ongoing list of things I have in common with English kings

[rainbow-femme]

“The tzar is suffering from another one of his bouts of buffoonery.”

Me 🤝 Tzar Alexander I

[rainbow-femme]

“30th of March: Wrote badly and cried for no reason”

Same, Tzar Alexander II

[rainbow-femme]

“Sometimes the king declares he will leave early then slumbers till noon.” I feel it, William the Conqueror

[rainbow-femme]

“[Queen Maria Carolina] has always worn her distress openly; Weeping at her setbacks, complaining of her health and nerves, swearing that her troubles would be the death of her, and railing at those who opposed her plans.”

Mood

[rainbow-femme]

“He complained that he did not have the constitution for long social engagements.”

Me either, Prince Albert

[rainbow-femme]

The Crusades 1095-1291

[rainbow-femme]

There’s nothing I love more than dramatic irony in non fiction.

“In 1913, Tzar Nicholas ii decided to align himself with a new ally equally invested in keeping the peace in Europe. Serbia.”

[rainbow-femme]

Non fiction that includes comments based on the authors personal biases and opinions rather than fact is annoying and bad, unless it’s funny in which case it’s fine

[rainbow-femme]

The most terrifyingly huge man you’ve ever seen walks up with a fake mustache introduces himself as Pyotr Definitely Not the Tsar Alekséyevich and asks you to teach him how to build boats

[rainbow-femme]

“‘What!’ He [Napoleon] cried in a choked voice. ‘You are all going to leave me? You’re going to desert me? Then you don’t care for me anymore?”

Reading a biography on Napoleons first wife and I can’t get over this bit from when he found out she and his step kids would move out after the divorce

“You ABANDON the emperor? You leave him like the ex-parent? Malmaison! Malmaison for family for 1,000 years!”

[rainbow-femme]

One of my favorite themes in specifically historical fiction but honestly anything is

“We are enemies but we respect and even kind of like each other but we can never have peace and will always try to destroy each other. In another life we likely would not have known or cared about each other so it is worth it to be your enemy than never know you at all”

Extra points if their feud costs lives on both sides as well as personal loss but deep down they still would choose this life and this relationship and this blood on their hands over peace where they never would have pushed each other to terrible heights

[rainbow-femme]

This is about the War of the Roses but I’m just imagining everyone in the world who died that year in the afterlife getting an alert on their phone that a book was dedicated to them

[rainbow-femme]

Arabic rulers discouraging the people they conquered from converting to Islam so they could charge higher taxes

[rainbow-femme]

Hey did you guys know the term “liberal arts” is older than the Roman Empire

[rainbow-femme]

[rainbow-femme]

Can't stop thinking about Henry VIII's bedazzled cross booty shorts

[rainbow-femme]

His holiness Bishop Bussy

[rainbow-femme]

If I could change one thing about history without it changing anything else, it would be to make tattoos common and accessible to everyone because I love imagining what different historical figures would have gotten

Tell me this isn’t Henry VIII

[rainbow-femme]

I want something like comic con or anime cons but for history

“But!” you cry. “That’s a Renaissance fair!”

Wrong! Dressing up is not enough, I need people cosplaying favorite historical figures, I need all time periods and regions as options, I need fanart booths of historical figures and body pillows and panels with historical fiction authors and historians

Ren fairs are fun but they do not fill the need I have as someone who loves the idea of cons but does not like anime or comics enough to take part

If someone isn’t walking around with a slurpee and prints of graphic porn of Henry VIII and Charles Brandon that they are in no way attempting to hide while dressed as a period accurate Aggripina the Younger then what is the fucking POINT

[rainbow-femme]

Relationships between historical people that we will never fully know the extent of fascinate me

When Geoffrey Plantagenet died, the king of France Philip II had to be restrained from throwing himself into the coffin after it was put in its tomb

Geoffrey was the son of one English king and brother to another, England and France had years of enmity between them by this point, and he still struck up such a powerful relationship with the king of France by 27 that he was mad with grief over Geoffrey’s death

I’m not even suggesting it was necessarily a secretly romantic relationship, it absolutely could be a strong friendship between them and honestly that’s just as interesting

Geoffrey’s father frequently rebelled against, took land from, and all around embarrassed Philip’s father. Geoffrey regularly wanted to rebel against his father and Philip often helped. That their political alliance lead to a relationship, whatever the nature, that was so powerful it affected Philip that intensely is wild and we’ll just never know what went on to bring them that close

[rainbow-femme]

All this damn texting, people used to know how to communicate