Posts Tagged ‘royal history’

12
May

The Monarchy, Sewers and Modernization

   Posted by: Tori Martinez    in Historic Places, Royal History

The following is an excerpt from my new eBook, “An Unusual Journey Through Royal History,” which features 18 essays on a variety of royal history-related subjects spanning a thousand years.

These are the first few paragraphs of the chapter entitled The Monarchy, Sewers and Modernization. Enjoy!

It may be slightly surprising to see the words “monarchy” and “sewer” appear together in the same sentence, but the two have actually shared a very close connection for quite some time. This is due largely, but not entirely, to the historically close proximity of the strongholds of the British monarchy to the River Thames, which, up until about 140 years ago, was London’s biggest sewer. More tangentially, both the British monarchy and London’s sewers owe their current form to the Victorian Era and both have, for some time, been in need of modernization.

The reign of Queen Victoria presided over not only a period of major industrial development, technological advancement and enlightened thinking, but also of major improvements and modernization to the monarchy. By the time of the Great Stink in 1858, when the smell from rotting sewage in the Thames was so bad that Parliament had to be abandoned, the monarchy had evolved from a rather disrespected, if not entirely dissolute, institution to a progressive and meaningful symbol of government and family values.

As the monarchy advanced into a more modern institution, a forward-thinking man named Joseph Bazalgette was tasked with doing the same for London’s foul and deadly sewage system – creating an incredibly modern and revolutionary design that transformed the Thames from a cesspit into a free-flowing river and London from a deathtrap to a modern European city.

But, once again, the fates of both the monarchy and the sewers are intertwined. Somehow, once both the monarchy and the sewers were updated to sufficiently accommodate the modern era, they just stopped growing. Sewers that were built to accommodate 2,000,000 people are now expected to serve more than 60,000,000, and a monarchy that was well-suited for the Victorian mentality has continued on in much the same way ever since.

To read the rest of The Monarchy, Sewers and Modernization, download a copy of “An Unusual Journey Through Royal History, available for Kindle, Nook and other eReaders at the links below (you don’t even need an e-reader since both Kindle and Nook can be downloaded on most devices for free).

-Tori

“An Unusual Journey Through Royal History” by Victoria Martínez can be purchased through the following links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X7LYPQ
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/An-Unusual-Journey-through-Royal-History/Victoria-Martinez/e/2940012509307
Who Dares Wins Publishing: https://whodareswinspublishing.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=115

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26
Apr

An Unusual Journey Through Royal History

   Posted by: Tori Martinez    in Royal History

I often wonder what it is that makes me feel so connected to and fascinated with history. It seems to me to be innate, something I was just born with. I suppose if I wanted to be very romantic about it I could say that it’s because it is said my family is descended from King Louis XI of France and that we have other royal and aristocrat connections besides. 

Perhaps, but I think it really just boils down to the richness of history, something I personally feel is lacking in our computerized and somewhat impersonal modern world. I’ve always loved escaping into history, whether through traveling, reading, researching or writing. I think of it as a journey of the imagination I can take whenever I want, and I’m always happiest in the world of history.

Not the kind of history you learn in school, mind you. The forced memorization of dates and battles too easily kills the imagination – never mind the interest – of many a young mind, and turns many people off to history even into adulthood. That’s where I like to come in and try to change people’s perceptions of history.

It’s important to me not only that people stop thinking of history as just a boring memorization task or something for scholars, but also that they see beyond the most popular and over-hyped people and aspects of history. My favorite subjects to research and write about are the ones that have been overlooked or ignored.

For years I’ve been writing columns, articles and blogs about just such historical subjects, and a good majority of this material has been focused on royal history. Earlier this year, I had the good fortune of meeting a publisher who expressed interest in these works and offered to publish them as compilations in eBook and book format.

So, here I sit on vacation in what I consider my second home, London, eagerly awaiting the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton, just as the first of these books has been published. Double joy for me!

My first compilation is an eBook called “An Unusual Journey Through Royal History,” which is comprised of 18 articles I’ve written over the years on subjects like royal tattoos, court dwarfs, circumcision and – my personal favorite – the difficulties of marrying off a 200-pound Victorian princess. 

The book has something for everyone and is essentially light reading, although readers will find that they are well-researched and even – as one reviewer wrote – “essentially scholarly in nature,” though never pedantic.

Although the book is available for Kindle, Nook and other eReaders, anyone with a computer can read the book as both Kindle and Nook can be downloaded on most devices for free. I’ve provided the links below, and I hope you’ll spend the $2.99 to take this unusual journey with me. In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting some excerpts and teasers from the book in case you need more convincing. 

-Tori

“An Unusual Journey Through Royal History” by Victoria Martínez can be purchased through the following links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004X7LYPQ
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/An-Unusual-Journey-through-Royal-History/Victoria-Martinez/e/2940012509307
Who Dares Wins Publishing: https://whodareswinspublishing.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=115

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6 Comments
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