December Meme: Under-appreciated Historical Figures

[kmo_lj]

 Today's topic comes courtesy of 

Comments

[limbomonkey]

Thanks for posting this. Neat stuff, history.

[kmo_lj]

Thanks for reading! Yes, it is neat stuff! ;)

[kith_koby]

This was very interesting, I really enjoyed it. People totally undervalue Dolley Madison. I knew about her saving the Washington Portrait when the White House was burned, and about her parties, but I didn't realize they were actual political spaces. Of course, Louisa was also brilliant, as was her husband. Such amazing people... (and yeah, Jefferson was a total dick. I read a biography of John Adams recently, and Lord, Jefferson was a dick to everyone, even those he considered his 'friends'. I loved reading Abigail Adams letters scolding him )

Personally, one of my favorite under-appreciated women in history is Joan of England, Llewellyn Fawr's wife.

[kmo_lj]

Yeah, it was all downhill for TJ after the Declaration of Independence. Among the many reasons to dislike him, he hated the idea of women having any space in politics. He disliked the salonnieres he met when he was ambassador to France and basically expected women to be solely domestic. Dolley had to do a lot of work to undo that precedent.

I don't know much about Joan of England but i trust that she was awesome!

[kith_koby]

Yeah. Also, he got way too much into party politics, and basically backstabbed everybody.

Joan was brilliant. From being a bastard daughter of King John, she became Princess of Gwynedd when she married Llewellyn Fawr, who would over the course of his reign basically become Prince of all Wales. And Joan basically became his ambassador, helping to negotiate just about all of his major treaties/surrenders with England, thanks to her being John's daughter and Henry III's sister. Also, even though she was unfaithful to him, they made up and he took her back. If you want to read about her, check out Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman, one of my favorite historical novels.