We’re talking about one of my favorite topics: historical fun facts! They’re few but weird this month. I hope you enjoy!
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The oldest evidence of humans and dogs living together are from 26,000 years ago! Canine paw prints were found next to those of a child in a cave. “In the back of the cave, one can see the ancient footsteps of a small child walking alongside a wolf. Stretching over 150 feet (45.72 meters), the prints were made in soft clay, hardened, and were left undisturbed for thousands of years” (x). There’s also evidence that the dog/wolf was accompanying and not stalking the child, who was probably 8 to 10 years old. (Source)
Mary Shelley kept her husband’s heart after he died. There’s hardcore and then there’s I-invented-science-fiction hardcore. When Percy Bysshe Shelley died, his wife, Mary Shelley – the author of Frankenstein – lived on. P. Shelley’s body was burned, but his heart did not. Some stories claim that it calcified because of an earlier bout with tuberculosis (most of the sources from Google that aren’t super reliable say this). Whatever the reason, M. Shelley kept his heart. After she died, their son opened her desk and found it. Now you might be asking, “So their son had it buried once he found it, right?” Nope. It ended up being buried with him when he died nearly 40 years later. So, overall, a very hardcore family. (Source)
Elizabeth of York and Richard III probably never had an affair, although we’ll never know what Richard III actually wanted to do. Historian Alison Weir found sources going back centuries who thought he did want to marry her, as well as those who think he didn’t, and both include Richard III’s contemporaries. I tend to take many things about Richard III with a lump of salt because Shakespeare’s Richard III was much of history’s first exposure to Richard III. And Shakespeare wasn’t going to write good things about the man who his queen’s grandfather defeated in battle under the assumption that he (Richard III) shouldn’t be king. (Source)
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
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