Napoleon Bonaparte receiving the keys of Vienna at the Schloss Schonbrunn , 13th November 1805. (1808) Anne-Louise Girodet de Roussey-Trioson (1767-1824) When Napoleon defeated his enemies in battle he expected the vanquished to concede and hand the keys of their capital cities to him. This occurred in Vienna (twice), Berlin and Madrid in the early […]
Author: Jennifer Antill
Mrs Adams in Winter
Sometimes you come across a book that would have been really useful when working on a project years ago! My talk ‘Russian Roads’ was developed in the early 2000’s. It is a rather eclectic mix that examines travelling in Russia through the ages. It also illustrates the work of the Peredvizhniki, the group of Russian […]
The Streltsy
Tom Holland and Dominic Sandford, on their excellent podcast ‘The rest is history’, recently featured a series on the subject of Peter the Great and the Great Northern War. I have not yet had time to listen to the whole narrative, but I much enjoyed the first episode which told the story of Peter’s early […]
Diplomatic Immunity
Right: Charles Whitworth, 1st Baron Whitworth (1675-1725) Guillaume Birochon Left: Andrey Artemovich Matveev (1666-1728) Artist unknown My Royal Connections talk is now complete and I recently delivered it for the first time at Brantham Historical Society. I think that it went well, although it was challenging to fit almost a thousand years of history into […]
A modest proposal
Ivan the Terrible showing his treasure to the English Ambassador. (Alexander Litovchenko 1875) The Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Did Ivan the Terrible propose to Elizabeth the First of England? I have been researching my Royal Connections talk that I will be giving to several historical societies later this year. Relations between the Russian and English […]
Fortune’s Price is published!
Fortune’s Price, the sequel to my first novel Small Acts of Kindness, was published last week. The book’s action commences in the summer of 1830, a time when Russia experienced an uprising in the Kingdom of Poland and the arrival from the east of a cholera epidemic. The main characters, many of whom the reader […]
The soviet dacha
Soviet-era dacha in Resheti, near Ekaterinburg I have just dusted down a talk that I gave some years ago about Russian dachas. I have been asked to give it again in early December. The lecture traces the history of this aspect of Russian life from its start in the 18h Century to the recent past. […]
Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and music in 19th Century Russia
Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1850)Christina Robertson (1796–1854) As I prepare for the publication and launch of my second novel, Fortune’s Price, I have taken some time out to read a book I came across recently about the life of the Grand Duchess, Elena Pavlovna (1807 – 1873)(pictured above). Born Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, she was […]
The Great Flood of 1824
In this very strange year for weather unseasonable floods have been reported in some parts of the world. I was reminded of this recently when giving my talk ‘The Bronze Horseman, A tale of Peterburg’ to a group of hospitable WI Members in Long Melford. The talk focusses on Peter the Great and the founding […]
Funding the Moscow Foundling Home, early savings and loans banks in Russia
Recently I have been researching the background to the Moscow Foundling Home, a place which is destined to play a major role in my current work in progress, ‘In the Shadow of the Flames’ (working title). The action of the novel will be set against the background of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, and […]