Category: History

Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus

Era / Region: Early Modern Period, Sweden
Lifespan: 1645 – April 27, 1719
Primary Role(s): Priest; parish vicar
Alternate Names / Titles: Lars Christophri Hornæus; Lars Christoffersson

The Life

Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus was born in 1645 in Härnösand, Sweden, under the name Lars Christoffersson. During his lifetime, it was common for Swedish students and clergy to adopt Latinized names, often derived from their place of origin. The name Hornaeus is generally understood to be a Latinized form of Härnösand.

He began theological studies in the 1660s and was enrolled at the University of Uppsala by 1667, where he studied alongside his brother Petrus. In 1672, Lars was ordained as a priest of the Church of Sweden.

Following his ordination, he was appointed assistant minister in Ytterlännäs, serving under Olaus Erici Rufinius, who held responsibility for the parish of Torsåker and its surrounding areas, including the annex parish in the Dal Hundred. Rufinius died later in 1672, and Lars succeeded him as assistant minister.

Hornaeus became parish vicar through the customary practice of widow conservation, by which a clergyman inherited a parish by marrying the widow or daughter of his predecessor. Since Rufinius had been widowed, Hornaeus married his daughter, Brita Olofsdotter Rufinia, in a ceremony held at the parsonage in Sunnanåker, within Ytterlännäs parish. The couple had a son, Lars Hornaeus, who later became a minister. Through his descendants, Hornaeus’s family remained active in the clergy for multiple generations.

In 1668, a wave of witchcraft accusations began spreading through Sweden. By 1674, the witch panic reached Torsåker. As parish vicar, Laurentius Christophori Hornaeus presided over the Torsåker witch trials, which became the largest witch trial episode in Swedish history.

Hornaeus continued his clerical duties until his death on April 27, 1719, in Nordanåker, Ytterlännäs parish. He was buried beneath the old church in Ytterlännäs, where his grave remains preserved beneath a hatch in the church floor between the altar and the sacristy entrance.

Following his death, his son Lars Larsson Hornaeus succeeded him as pastor and led the congregation until 1751.

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
Other

Marcus Attilius

Era / Region: Roman Imperial Period, Italy
Lifespan: Unknown (active mid–1st century CE)
Primary Role(s): Gladiator
Alternate Names / Titles: —

The Life

Marcus Attilius is known through surviving graffiti discovered near the Nucerian Gate at Pompeii. These inscriptions record gladiatorial contests held at Nola and preserve the names and outcomes of several fighters. Unlike most gladiators named in the graffiti, Marcus Attilius bears both a praenomen and a gens name, identifying him as a free-born Roman citizen rather than a slave.

Attilius entered the arena as a voluntary gladiator, enrolling in a gladiatorial school by contract. By doing so, he temporarily surrendered his legal rights and social standing for the duration of his service. He fought as a murmillo, a heavily armed gladiator equipped with a gladius, a large rectangular shield, a crested helmet, and protective shin guards.

The graffiti records that the games at Nola marked Attilius’s first appearance in the arena. Despite being a tiro, or novice, he was matched against Hilarus, an experienced gladiator who had fought fourteen times and won twelve victories and who was associated with the household of Emperor Nero. In this contest, Marcus Attilius forced Hilarus to surrender and was declared the victor.

Attilius fought a second bout shortly thereafter against another veteran gladiator, Lucius Raecius Felix, who had also achieved twelve victories in previous contests. Attilius won this fight as well.

Because Hilarus was associated with the household of Emperor Nero, Marcus Attilius’s activity can be placed within the reign of Nero, between 54 and 68 CE.

These victories were recorded by spectators in painted inscriptions, showing Attilius armed as a murmillo and listing his opponents and results. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE buried Pompeii and preserved these graffiti, ensuring that Marcus Attilius’s career survived in the archaeological record.

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
Other

Americas of Altejas

Era / Region: High Middle Ages, Western Europe and the Levant
Lifespan: Unknown
Primary Role(s): Nun; religious founder
Alternate Names / Titles: Americas of Althejas

The Life

Americas was a nun from Altejas whose life is known only through brief ecclesiastical references. She lived during the period of the First Crusade, when calls for religious action and pilgrimage were issued by the papacy.

Following the direction of Pope Urban II, Americas sought to take part in the Christian effort in the Holy Land. She went to her bishop to request his blessing and approval to establish a hospice for the poor in Jerusalem. The purpose of the hospice was to provide shelter and care for pilgrims and the needy in the region.

No further details of her life, the outcome of her request, or the later history of the hospice are recorded in surviving sources. Her appearance in the historical record reflects the participation of religious women in charitable and devotional projects connected to the early crusading movement.

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
Other

Thomas Derrick

Era / Region: Elizabethan Era, England
Lifespan: fl. 1596 – c. 1610
Primary Role(s): Sailor; executioner
Alternate Names / Titles: —

The Life

Thomas Derrick first appears in the historical record in the 1590s. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy during the Anglo-Spanish War and was part of the English fleet under the command of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. In 1596, Derrick took part in the capture of Cádiz during the English assault on the Spanish port.

After the sack of the city, Derrick was among twenty-four sailors accused of raping local women. The men were tried and sentenced to death by hanging. When no soldier or officer was willing to carry out the executions, the Earl of Essex offered Derrick a pardon on the condition that he execute the other condemned sailors. Derrick accepted and carried out the hangings aboard one of the fleet’s ships, using blocks and rigging to suspend the men from the spar.

Following the fleet’s return to England, Derrick became an official executioner. He was assigned to Tyburn, the principal site of public executions in London. Over the course of his career, he carried out more than 3,000 executions, a role that placed him outside ordinary social life due to the stigma and danger associated with the profession.

In 1601, Derrick executed his former commander and pardoner, the Earl of Essex, after Essex was convicted of treason. As a nobleman, Essex was permitted to choose beheading rather than hanging. Derrick, accustomed to the noose rather than the axe, required three strokes to sever Essex’s head.

During his years as an executioner, Derrick introduced mechanical innovations to the gallows. He replaced the traditional rope-over-beam method with a system using a beam, topping lift, and pulleys. Around 1610, he constructed a gallows capable of hanging more than a dozen people at the same time.

Derrick’s name became associated with the structure from which hangmen suspended their nooses. From this usage, the word “derrick” entered the English language as a term for lifting frames and, later, cranes. He was also the first executioner known to have been the subject of a ballad in the English-speaking world.

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
Other

Florine of Burgundy

Era / Region: High Middle Ages, Western Europe and Anatolia
Lifespan: 1083–1097
Primary Role(s): Crusader noblewoman
Alternate Names / Titles: Florina of Burgundy

The Life

Florine of Burgundy was born in 1083 into the ruling house of Burgundy, the daughter of Duke Odo I of Burgundy and Sybilla of Burgundy. She was raised within the political and military culture of the Burgundian nobility, where warfare, dynastic alliances, and religious obligation shaped aristocratic life.

According to later tradition, Florine married Sweyn the Crusader, a Danish prince who had taken the cross during the First Crusade. Together, they joined the movement of armed pilgrims traveling east toward the Holy Land, intending to reach Jerusalem.

Florine and Sweyn are said to have led a force of approximately 1,500 Danish knights across Anatolia. While passing through Cappadocia, near Philomelium in modern-day Turkey, their army was ambushed by Turkish forces. The crusaders were heavily outnumbered, and the encounter ended in defeat.

One account states that Florine fought alongside her husband until she was killed by multiple arrows during the battle. Another version claims she was captured alive, brought before a Turkish ruler, and executed. Both Florine and Sweyn died in 1097, and their force was destroyed.

Her death occurred during the early phase of the First Crusade, a period marked by severe losses among crusading armies attempting to cross Anatolia.

Interpretive Lenses

Religious Readings
Philosophical Readings
Psychological Readings
Esoteric Deep Dive
Political / Social Readings
Other