Another week is over, so that means it’s time for our Weekly Wrap Up! I hope you have all had a good week.
Earlier in the week, I met up with historian Laura Brennan, who is working on a project about the Duke of Monmouth. She had a look through my 100 Facts and thought they were coming along well, so I was pleased – it’s always so important to get feedback from other historians about one’s work.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Some very good news is that some stolen 17th-century books discovered in San Francisco have been returned to Italy. According to SFGATE: “A treasure trove of Italian antiquities — including two nearly 400-year-old books discovered in the Bay Area, and frescos from Pompei — is being returned to its country of origin after being stolen piece by piece by thieves, officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday.
The books, “Stirpium Historiae” and “Rariorm Plantarum Historia Anno 1601,” were swiped from Italy’s Historical National Library of Agriculture and sold to an antiquities dealer in Italy. From there, a buyer in the San Francisco Bay Area, who was unaware of their illicit origins, purchased the books, both of which date back to the early 1600s, said Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the Homeland Security Investigations unit, David Prince.” To read more of the article, please click on the image below.
Nicola Fago, Italian Baroque composer, was born on the 26 February 1677.
John #Evelyn, English writer, gardener & diarist, died on 27 February 1706 (b. 1620). He’s my favourite 17th-century diarist, but you already knew that! 😉
NEWS:
There were some extremely disturbing videos from the Middle East this week (surprise, surprise) and I was deeply angered and horrified by the destruction of ancient artefacts and statues by Islamic State. I usually try to keep my personal political views separate from this website, but I strongly believe these people must be stopped NOW. I hope that the appeasers who are in power now can get their act together soon and root out all those who wish to destroy our civilisation. Few people know that as well as being a 17th-century historian, I am also a trained anthropologist – to see such blatant hatred of our ancient past is therefore doubly offensive to me.
Anyway, I do hope you all have a pleasant weekend and a good week ahead of you. Look for a post from me on the English Historical Fiction Authors website tomorrow, entitled “When Kensington Palace became a royal residence.” I’ll post a link for that when it gets posted.
Best regards, A x