but if the family took refuge in the germanic side of Switzerland then the german connection would fit in with your family ?

they could, of course have converted to Catholicism and stayed in France but obviously their convictions were too strong

the interesting parallel is with the Orangemen led by William III, king of England & Holland who often was in conflict with Louis XIV with the religious wars and of course Williams incursion into Ireland sparked of the Battle of the Boyne etc

all interesting stuff with religion, as was often the case at the root of the problems...

Indeed.
I have just got back from a few days in Dumfries & Galloway and I am now aware of a(nother) huge gap in my knowledge of British history, in this case concerning the Scottish Covenanters, 18,000 of whom died at the hands of other so-called Christians.
Politics and religion, a volatile mix to begin with ... and when you just add "certainty" to it, the bloodshed and butchery erupts.

Yep. I went on a 'ghost walk' in Edinburgh a couple of months ago, the main part of it being a visit to a poltergeist's tomb, someone MacKenzie (George?). This MacKenzie fella was a lawyer, responsible for the execution of hundreds if not thousands of covenanters in the 17th century.

Interesting tour, even for those like me who don't believe in nonsense like poltergeists.

Another branch of my tree were descended from King Kenneth McAlpine of Scotland who was murdered by the Picts and had to leave to go to Ireland because of religious persecution.

Money and religion .... the root of all evils.

does sound interesting - don't they do a similar tour in the Esat End of London on the trail of Jack The Ripper ?

watched some programmes on the Military Channel a few days ago about the Nazi war criminals called 'Nazi Hunters' - it's a brilliant though harrowing series all about the quest by Simon Wiesentahl and others to bring Nazi animals to justice - many of the guilty Nazis had financial and physical help in the way of safe houses etc funded by the Catholic church - unbelivable stuff , but rivetting if you like that sort of thing !

Highly recommended viewing

Best thing I have ever done in London. I had the good fortune of Donald Rumbelow (famous Ripperologist and author) being our Ripper tour guide and even managed to speak to him personally about the Ripper Diaries that was big at the time. I love stuff like that, although I keep meaning to do the Ghost Tour of Hull but never got around to it.

The torch processions are proving a big hit in Yorkshire.
They are heavily televised and heavily attended.
Well done to all concerned.

rumour has it they will soon be organising ghost tours at Odsal .....


As a matter of interest,what did Mr Rumbelow think about the strong theory that one of Queen Victorias sons was responsable for the murders in Whitechapel ?

When we lived in London we vowed to be perpetual tourists, otherwise it's too easy to take it for granted, and there are several companies who do guided walks, showing you things that you've walked past so many times without realising the history and significance. (We went on a Theatre walk once and the guy doing the tour was Edward Petherbridge! ... he was wont to climb onto dustbins etc to point out and hold forth on what we were looking at ... sounds a bit OTT but it was actually great fun having a proper actor telling you about the theatres and old-time actors).
Books of walks around London are also pretty good but I'd advise to be careful to choose one with plenty of text rather than just pretty pictures of what you see anyway.

The boats are fun but I'd take their commentaries with a pinch of salt, they are part-fact, part-hearsay and part comedic-effect.

IIRC Mr Rumbelow is in the "the foreign Jew did it" camp. It was proved "Eddie" wasn't in London for some of the murders, but theres a theory now that possibly one or two of the ladies were not the victims of the Ripper.

this is just like ' the Geoff Hurst moment' in 1966 - did the ball cross the line or not ? basically we will never know but it's great to speculate !

It goes via Queens Gardens cop station which is said to be haunted by that black paratrooper Humberside Police managed to kill whilst in custody....Apparently.