Historical Ragbag is a site about the odds and ends of history, with lots of books.
About Historical Ragbag
Historical Ragbag is a collection, a conglomerate of interesting pieces of history. Over the years I have found many little pieces that are too small to make it into the main overarching narrative. I love finding new things so I thought it might be worth sharing them with other people. I regularly post pieces of history, including photos when possible. The historical pieces include everything from profiles on historical people, to historic buildings, to in depth research into little understood topics, to historic quizzes. The content of this blog is original but Historical Ragbag also has a Facebook page and I post interesting historical articles from other sources there. Historical Ragbag can also be found on Twitter and Instagram.
I intend to include book profiles. I won’t call them reviews because I am not going to be evaluating the books. I own, have owned and have discovered many interesting and often odd books over time. As I’m sure any fellow bibliophiles out there can attest, part of the fun of finding a fascinating new book is sharing it. I’ll be doing so here.
I am also a writer, so there will be an element of fiction to Historical Ragbag. It will be clearly marked as such. As well as positing the occasional short story and possible poem you will find a longer ongoing piece called Accidental Love. This has been updated regularly and is now complete. I am hoping to start a new piece of historical fiction soon. I am also including a section called A Medieval Novel. This page is about the historical fantasy novel which I am hoping to get published at some point. This is an historical novel with fantastical elements. It is set in 1185 in England with sorcerers. I won’t be posting the novel itself but I will be posting the occasional character profile and information about the many places the characters visit.
About Me.
My name is Ellen and I’m from Melbourne Australia. I’m a librarian, historian and writer. I did my honours degree is medieval history and therefore, as this is where my main interest lies, medieval history makes up a significant proportion of the content of this blog. That being said I am also interested in Australian history so it features on this blog as well. While I’m not a photographer I have travelled to the majority of the historical places I write about and I took a lot of photos so the vast majority of the photos on the blog are mine. If a photo isn’t taken by me I will be sure to include a link as to where it came from. I believe fundamentally in the importance of referencing, so I will always provide sources for my research as well as, usually, somewhere to find out more.
If you have any questions, or if you find something interesting historically that you might like to contribute, feel free to email me at historicalragbag@gmail.com
Also if you want to use any of the content I’m usually amenable but please ask first 🙂
Hope you enjoy it.
Ellen
One final note. I run this blog for free because I genuinely enjoy writing about the random historical things I come across and digging people and events out of the shadows of history. And I love a good story. It isn’t free to run though so if you’ve enjoyed reading some of the content and you can afford it if you felt like making a small donation towards upkeep that’d be lovely.
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Historical Ragbag 
Thank you for the follow, it’s very encouraging.
Terry
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no problem.
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I’ve just ‘discovered’ your blog, Ellen, and am loving it.. I see I have a lot of posts to catch up with..
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Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Hope you like combing through the back catalogue 🙂
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I’m sure I will, history, books, great photos, poetry, cemeteries, did I mention books and history?
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Books and history make everything better 🙂
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I have included your blog “Port Fairy ..” in INTERESTING BLOGS on FRIDAY FOSSICKING at
http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/friday-fossicking-december-2-2016.html
Thank you, Chris
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I have included your blog, Advent Castles, in INTERESTING BLOGS on FRIDAY FOSSICKING at
http://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/friday-fossicking-december-2-2016.html
Thank you, Chris
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thanks 🙂
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Couldn’t figure out where to leave a comment on your piece about Gerald of Wales, but enjoyed it very much! One of our earliest travel writers?
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that’s funny it should just be down the bottom. glad you liked it, and yes apart from a few Romans one of the earliest and one of the only ones from the period. There’s not much other material like his.
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Dear Ellen,
William Marshal and in particular Isabella are my ancestors 🙂
Isabella inherited extensive lands and titles in her own right (something quite rare at the time for women) as she was descended from the de Clare (D’Brionne) family line (1066 and before) so when she married Marshall the inheritance crossed to him as a significant dowry if you like. In modern terms she was an exceptionally good catch! This history isn’t too small to hit the usual narrative. Rather that the King and his family were not going to be upstaged by the person who was basically his right hand man. Isabellas Mother was the King of Linesters daughter (Ireland) which is why Northern Island is within the English crown and has been for centuries. William sent (Another of my ancestors to help the King of Linister secrure Northern Ireland and in return the King let him marry Adolfe (I believe this to be the origin of the famous story of Triston & Isolde. Anyway, upon the Kings death Strongbow (my ancestor) stayed there and almost became king of Linister. But, Willuam ordered him back to Court in England. He was already annoyed he’d married the Irish Princess! As Strongbow was loyal to his king, he did this, and to prove the loyalty he basically gave the King Northern Ireland. They had Isabella who of couse married Marshall.
Loads more to this lot than meets the eye. Especially where significant figures in history prop up.
Among them are
The Bruce (King of Scotland)
Mary Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I (Mary’s coysin)
Richard III
Macbeth
Joan of Ark or Ack
Boudica or Boudica
The war of the Roses
Platagenat and the 300ywar rule (all my family)
Right down to our present Monach.
So not insignificant at all rather just a more favourable narrative chosen for political drive for the bum on the seat who’s in charge at that point in history. My family have been woven in every direction through significant parts of Britons history starting with 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.
Regards
Lady C D’Brionne Edwardes
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Hi thanks for your comment and taking the time to read my posts. Isabel and William are two of my favourite people to write about and it’s always nice to come across people descended from them, incidentally I am as well but as its more than 800 years there’s quite a lot of us 🙂 While I really appreciate your enthusiasm, in the interests of factual accuracy which is an important part of this blog, I wanted to say that a few of your time lines are out in regard to William and Isabel, especially in regards to the kings William was involved with and the geographical location of Leinster. You can find out more more about their relationship and William here https://historicalragbag.com/william-marshal-and-isabel-de-clare/ and more about Isabel and her position as an heiress here https://historicalragbag.com/2014/11/27/marriage-alliances-1180-1250-part-4-isabel-de-clare/ if you’d like to know more I recommend David Crouch’s biography of Marshal, it’s the best of all the ones that have been written.
All the best
Ellen
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