fun fact: most of the information we know about classic pirates (blackbeard, anne bonny, mary read, calico jack) is from one book. and it’s more hilarious the more you know.
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (or A General History of Pyrates) by Captain Charles Johnson
firstly: captain charles johnson is not a person nor a captain. it’s a pen name. and we have no clue who he actually was. he probably chose “captain” to give himself a sense of credibility he did not have. (could possibly have been daniel defoe or nathaniel mist and you can actually find modern copies printed under both their names)
secondly: he made a lot of it up. he gathered whatever information was available and just made up the rest and anything he thought would make it cooler. that’s not even to mention the second volume where he made up several entire people. this dude was just making stuff up and it’s now the earliest history we have of these people and we’ve accepted it as fact.
thirdly: it was initially published in 1724. (golden age of piracy was 1650s-1830s, dude was writing about the present) several of the pirates he writes about were still alive. and the rest were very recently dead. (henry every is an outlier) he was literally making up facts about people who were very much alive likely while he was writing it.
so this mysterious random dude made up stories about pirates who were still running around killing people and it’s now accepted as pirate cannon. amazing
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Joseph Edward Southall (English, 1861-1944)
Sigismonda Drinking The Poison, 1897
Birmingham Museums Trust
The subject of this painting comes from "Sigismonda and Guiscardo". In this tale Tancred, King of Salerno, kills his daughter's lover and sends her his heart in a golden goblet. She kisses the heart, fills the cup with poison, drinks, and dies.
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Something I had done years ago on A4 size paper. I think I skipped a few due to lack of space. Kings and Queens of England (after king Henry IV)
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Time Travel Question : Murder and Disappearance Edition I
Given that Judge Crater, Roanoke, and the Dyatlov Pass Incident are credibly solved, though not 100% provable, I'm leaving them out in favor of things ,ore mysterious. I almost left out Amelia Earhart, but the evidence there is sketchier.
Some people were a little confused. Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury are the Princes in the Tower.
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I think if me and my Tumblr mutuals worked together and tried reeeeallly hard we could steal a ship and become pirates and take down the upper class reblog if you want to join my pirate crew I am being so fr
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Farmworker bringing in the harvest, Sussex, England, ca. 1937 - by Edward Malindine (1906 - 1970), UK
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