Feb. 12th, 2015

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Died on this day in 1554 aged 18 Queen Jane of England(my toy,wikipedia).

Jane was the grand-daughter of the sister of Henry VIII. When Edward VI died with no children you might think his sister (Mary) was the obvious heir - but both Mary and Elizabeth had been declared illegitimate when their mothers' marriages to Henry had been annulled, although they had also been restored to the succession by Act of Parliament. The other options were the children of Henry's sisters Margaret and Mary (who were both dead) , Margaret is the ancestor of James who was eventually King of England - I don't know why she (well, her children) were excluded from the English succession, probably because they were Catholic and Edward wanted England to remain Protestant (also possibly because "union with Scotland" seemed bad). Mary's daughter Frances was also left out (I don't know why, she was Protestant, and in England, married to an English noble); Jane being married to Guildford Dudley the son of the Duke of Northumberland might have been part of it. Jane was only 17 when Edward died and she was told he had made her his successor. She (famously) got to be Queen for only 9 days before Mary showed up with an army and a lot of public support. Jane was arrested for treason, and held in the tower; allegedly it was at the urging of Philip (who was to marry Mary) that she was eventually executed. Jane was highly educated, and a convinced protestant to the end.

Born on this day in 1074 to Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Bertha of Savoy, King Conrad II of Italy(my toy,wikipedia). Conrad's brother was married to Matilda (or Maud) who fought (and lost to) Stephen. From skimming the wikipedia article I see two other women called Matilda who were important in his life. Apparently every other woman in the 11th century was called Matilda. This is very confusing.

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