Thanks to all our loyal followers, readers and fellow history lovers, The Freelance History Writer blog has reached 75,000 views! Readers from all over the world have come to learn about Scottish, Tudor, Women’s, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval and Early Modern History. New posts are added each week so join us or return to read more history.

The all-time most popular post at this point is about Margaret of York. She was a player during the Wars of the Roses from the House of York and was the sister of King Edward IV and Richard III. In 1468, she married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. She never had any children but she helped raise Charles’ daughter Mary of Burgundy and also helped Mary govern the Duchy when Charles the Bold died in 1477. She was a formidable woman!

The next most popular post is about Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland. Perhaps what makes her story most compelling is that the marriage between Joan and James I, King of Scots was a love match! This is most unusual for a medieval royal marriage. Joan and James’ daughter, Margaret Stewart, married Louis, Dauphin of France in 1436 but she died of consumption before Louis became King Louis XI, The Universal Spider. And in one of the most dramatic scenes in Scottish history, James I was assassinated in front of his wife by some disgruntled noblemen. The post on the assassination is another popular post here at The Freelance History Writer.

Over the last few months, I have started a new line of research on Anglo-Saxon English history. It’s hard to talk about this mysterious era without looking at the reign of King Alfred the Great so we have a post about his life. Alfred’s grandson, King Aethelstan was the first King of Wessex to successfully unite all the kingdoms on the island of Great Britain. He also had many sisters who were married into the royal houses on the continent. I’m hoping to pursue this line of research with more posts next year on other Anglo-Saxon kings and queens.

Other women who generated a lot of views recently represent both ends of the medieval era. The wife of King Alfred the Great, Ealhswith intrigued readers. We don’t know a lot about her and she was never called Queen, but she was beloved by the people and the mother of illustrious children. Another wife we don’t know much about is Berengaria of Navarre, the wife of Richard the Lionheart. She married Richard while he was on Crusade in the Holy Land and didn’t set foot in England while Richard was king. An even later medieval woman that readers seemed to find interesting is Marjorie Bruce. She was the daughter of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots and the mother of the Stewart dynasty. Like Mary of Burgundy, she died after falling from horseback while pregnant.

Regarding Tudor history, the post on Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales has been very popular. He was the elder brother of King Henry VIII who married Catherine of Aragon and died shortly after, possibly of the English sweating sickness. It’s tantalizing to think about how history would have been different if Arthur had lived and Catherine of Aragon had born a child by him.

We have had two guest posts in the last few months by Katherine Emrick, a history student with a keen interest in the French Revolution. She gave us a biography of Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles and Simmone Evrard, the wife of the Friend of the People, Jean-Paul Marat. The Freelance History Writer also participated in the very first Blog Hop and giveaway. I hope to do more Blog Hops in the future. So thanks again for reading The Freelance History Writer blog. Don’t forget, if you want to read more about a topic, there’s a list of books at the end of each post. And if you have a history question, just comment on any of the posts.