Posted by Ally Broadfield Apr 21 2012, 12:00 pm in Ally Broadfield, Baseball, Lapta, Russia
In truth, the game evolved over many decades, if not centuries, and its roots are, in reality, a tangled web of bat and ball games brought to this country by immigrants. – Frank Ceresi in The Origins of Baseball (Baseball Almanac, 07-2004)
Yes, baseball is the American pastime, but its origins are difficult to trace. Some believe it was based on the English game of cricket, which can be traced back to Tudor times in the early 16th century. Others believe it was based on the English game of rounders, which can also be traced back to Tudor times. But what about the Russian game of lapta? First known to be played in the 14th century, descriptions of the game have been found in medieval manuscripts. Balls and bats were also found in the 14th century layer of excavations of the city of Novgorod, the Russian capital in the 9th and 12th centuries.
Posted by Ally Broadfield Mar 21 2012, 5:13 am in Ally Broadfield, Catherine the Great, Women's History Month
Good fortune is not as blind as it is generally thought to be. It is often nothing more than the result of sound, consistent actions that go unnoticed by the crowd, but which nevertheless make a particular event possible. Still more often it is the result of an individual’s characteristics, nature, and behavior. ~These are the words with which Catherine II began her memoirs.
Posted by Ally Broadfield Feb 21 2012, 6:54 am in Ally Broadfield, Emperor Alexander I, Feodor Kuzmich, Imperial Russia
While researching my current work in progress (which takes place in St. Petersburg in 1815), I came across some very curious information about the death of forty-eight year old Russian Emperor Alexander I. Alexander reportedly died on the morning of December 1, 1825, in the remote Crimean town of Taganrog, yet many claim he appeared eleven years later in Siberia as starets Feodor Kuzmich (A starets is a spiritual director or religious teacher in the Eastern Orthodox Church; specifically: a spiritual adviser who is not necessarily a priest, who is recognized for his piety, and who is turned to by
I live in Texas with my husband, three children, and a menagerie of animals ranging from dogs to lizards and everything in-between. My books are set in Regency England and in Imperial Russia during the early 1800s.
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