A Springfield Armory Hellion semi-automatic rifle. Minnesota lawmakers are advancing legislation that would ban many rifles with similar features, including detachable magazines and pistol grips. IMG

[View Article at Source]Not good.The post Democrat Chances of Flipping House, Senate Reach New Highs appeared first on Conservative Brief.

The British LibraryMarguerite de la Roque was abandoned with her lover and her servant on an uninhabited island near Newfoundland. In 1542, Marguerite de la Rocque left behind the luxurious life she knew in France to travel to the New World. But her voyage didnt go as planned. During the journey across the Atlantic, Marguerite was abandoned on the desolate Isle of Demons near Newfoundland. Marguerite had been left to die because shed taken a lover during the voyage. The scandalous romance shocked the ships captain, who was also Marguerites relative, Jean-Franois de La Rocque de Roberval. Jean-Franois abandoned Marguerite, her lover, and a servant on the island.This is the incredible true story of Marguerite de la Rocque.A Doomed Journey To The New WorldBorn around 1515, Marguerite de la Rocque was a wealthy nobleman who owned land in France alongside her relative, Jean-Franois de La Rocque de Roberval. While Marguerites reasons for sailing to the New World are unclear, the Dictionary of Canadian Biography reports that Jean-Francois hoped that the expedition could help him regain his lost fortune.With the blessing of King Franois I, who appointed Jean-Francois the lieutenant-general in the country of Canada, and tasked him with spreading the holy Catholic faith, Jean-Francois set out in 1542. He set sail with three ships, the Valentine, the Anne, and the Lchefraye. Joining him on the expedition was Marguerite, then a young and unmarried woman. Public DomainJean-Franois Roberval, the nobleman who abandoned his relative Marguerite de la Rocque on an island.At some point in the nearly two-month journey, Marguerite began a romantic relationship with one of the men in onboard. The affair would change the course of her life and his. Somehow, Jean-Francois found out about Marguerites love affair. Furious with Marguerite and perhaps hoping to take sole ownership of the land they shared Jean-Francois decided to punish his relative by abandoning her on an island. He left Marguerite, her lover, and a servant named Damienne on the Isle of Demons (an island which does not exist, and may have actually been Quirpon Island or Harrington Harbour).Alongside her lover and a servant, Marguerite de la Rocque also had a gun, some knives, and a Bible.Marguerite de la Rocque On The Isle of DemonsWhat was life like on the Isle of Demons? According to Marguerite, Queen of Navarre, who wrote a version of the story in her short story collection Heptamron, the little island in the sea was inhabited only by wild beasts.The poor creatures, left alone with fierce beasts, had recourse only to God, the queen claimed.In Heptamron, the queen wrote that Marguerite and her companions were able to build a small dwelling. They fended off wild animals with guns and rocks, and were able to subsist for a while by hunting and eating plants. But Marguerites lover drank such unwholesome water that he became greatly swollen, according to the queens account, and died in a short while.Library of CongressA map which claims to show the Island of Demons. The island does not actually exist, and Marguerite de la Rocque may have actually been marooned on Quirpon Island or Harrington Harbour.Marguerite, the queen wrote, buried her lover in a shallow grave, and fended off animals attracted by the scent. She passed the time in reading, contemplation, [and] prayers, according to the queen, having a cheerful and contented spirit in a body emaciated and half dead.But life on the Isle of Demons soon got much worse. Marguerites servant died, and she soon found out she was pregnant. Though Marguerite had the baby, the infant died soon after it was born. Marguerite de la Rocque was alone, struggling to survive, left to contemplate the cruelty of man.In Heptamron, the Queen of Navarre wondered if women should prefer wild animals to men, with one of her narrators in the story noting: If beasts did not bite me, their company would be more agreeable to me than that of men, who are irascible and unbearable.Though Marguerite de la Rocque seemed doomed, rescue was coming.The Rescue of Marguerite de la RocqueAfter living on the island for two years, Marguerite de la Rocque spotted a ship in the distance. She built a fire and signaled to the passing ship, a fishing vessel from France. The fisherman saw the smoke and came ashore, and discovered, to their shock, a Frenchwoman on the island. The British LibraryMarguerite de la Rocque was rescued after more than two years of living on the uninhabited island.Marguerite de la Rocque returned to France after her rescue. She settled in Nontron, and founded a school for girls. According to the queens version of Marguerites story, ladies happily sent their daughters to Marguerites school because she was a shining example of fidelity and perseverance.Indeed, the dramatic tale of Marguerite de la Rocque captivated Europeans. Both the Queen of Navarre and Andre Thevet, an explorer and writer, wrote versions of her life story. (Thevet claimed to have met Marguerite in person). While their versions vary, historians generally agree that Marguerites story seems based in fact. But what about Marguerites relative, Jean-Franois de La Rocque de Roberval, who abandoned her? Although he never answered for leaving Marguerite and two others on a deserted island, his colony was a failure. Capt. Roberval was very cruel in dealing with his men, forcing them to work; otherwise they were deprived of food and drink, recorded Thevet. If anyone failed in his duty, Roberval had him punished. One day he had six of them hanged and some he ordered to be banished to an island, in leg-irons.The gold and precious stones that Roberval sent back to France also proved worthless. After abandoning his colony and returning to France, Roberval was assassinated during the French Wars of Religion.His relative, Marguerite de la Rocque, never wrote about her experiences on the Isle of Demons. Yet her story has endured through the ages, while the story of Jean-Franois de La Rocque de Roberval is all but forgotten. After reading about Marguerite de la Rocque, the French noblewoman who was abandoned on an island, discover the remarkable survival story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft, the woman who survived 41 days adrift at sea after a hurricane damaged her ship and killed her fianc. Or, look through these incredible survival stories from people who cheated death.The post The Incredible True Story Of Marguerite De La Rocque, The French Noblewoman Left To Die On An Isolated Island appeared first on All That's Interesting.

To turn a historical event into entertainment is hard enough, but then filmmakers must also consider how to relay the events significance accurately and responsibly.Filmmakers, then, have to ask themselves whether they ought to portray the weight of real-life events or simply try to tell a good story. They have to decide which details can be left out and which must be shown when shaping history into narrative.Its not an easy task, so we will assess how these 11 movies based on true stories did in portraying an accurate piece of history.Movies Based On True Stories: How Mel Gibson Portrayed William WallaceWikimedia CommonsA statue depicting William Wallace in Scotland.When Braveheart was first shown in theaters in the spring of 1995, audiences across the United States were stunned by the realistic depictions of real-life Scottish knight William Wallace enmeshed in medieval battle.Its a captivating film, but its rife with historical discrepancies. It appeared as though Mel Gibson, the director and star of the film, cared more about crafting a character-driven drama than an educational one. Icon ProductionsMel Gibson did eventually admit that Wallace was more ruthless than portrayed in the film.Gibsons Braveheart tells the story of Scottish rebellions against the English across the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Rebellions like these did indeed happen. However, according to Daily History, thats about where the truth starts and ends in Braveheart.For instance, the movie gives Wallace an attractive backstory that includes traveling around Europe and learning the ways of the world in his younger years. But little is truly known about the Scotsmans early life.The image of a poor man of the people that Gibson gave to the Scotsman is empathy-inducing. However, the generally agreed-upon assumption about Wallaces real background was that he hailed from a noble family and lacked much of the humanity that was depicted in the film.At least the Oscar-winning director later recognized how historically inaccurate his film was.Wallace wasnt as nice as the character we saw up there, we romanticized him a bit, Gibson admitted. Actually, he was a monster. He always smelled of smoke, he was always burning peoples villages down. He was like what the Vikings call a berserker.'A clip from Braveheart of William Wallace protecting his wife.We kind of shifted the balance a bit because someone has got to be the good guy against the bad guy; thats the way that stories are told, Gibson explained. Although the film uses the murder of Wallaces wife by English soldiers as an impetus for his violence, in reality, there are no records besides a poem to prove that the Scotsman had ever been married. Plus, the Scots were already rebelling against England when Wallace joined the fray. Further, Wallaces relationship with Isabella of France, Edward IIs wife, was greatly altered. In truth, she was around nine years old at the time the Scotsman was killed and there was no way they could have had a relationship. The movie returns to partial truth for William Wallaces execution. It rightly shows his capture and how during his trial he insisted that he had not committed treason because he had never pledged his loyalty to the English crown. However, the movie fails to mention the many other charges lobbied against him, like raiding and pillaging civilians, which were most likely true.Ultimately, the film is mired in half-truths and outright falsehoods. But its also one of the most cohesively constructed adventure films ever made, with a deeply engaging cast of characters and engrossing arcs. It earned five Academy Awards including Best Picture.The Creative Liberties In GladiatorWikimedia CommonsThe Roman Emperor Commodus, who was portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator.Ridley Scotts sword-and-sandals epic was certainly entertaining, but adventure set in ancient Rome was nonetheless historically thin. The film Gladiator is often compared to Braveheart, even though the movies are set centuries apart in different parts of the globe. According to The Guardian, despite the directors numerous on-set historians, the script by David Franzoni took tremendous creative liberties. Marcus Aurelius doubt regarding his successor and nefarious son Commodus was true, but his wish of making Rome democratic was pure fantasy.Commodus was portrayed with pitch-perfect malevolence by Joaquin Phoenix, but even his depiction was more humane than the real-life figure. Indeed, the real Commodus was even more vile, torturous, and barbaric than the movie ever made him out to be.Commodus herded women, killed rare animals for fun, ate feces, fed his guards poisoned figs, and forced people to beat themselves to death with pinecones. Unfortunately, this kind of cruelty was interpreted as a strength, so Commodus was actually quite popular among his people.The movie did show correctly that Marcus Aurelius died because of Commodus. Though Commodus himself didnt kill his father, a friend of his, Cassius Dio, recorded how the emperors doctors killed Marcus Aurelius so that Commodus could become emperor.Scott Free ProductionsMaximus (Russell Crowe), confronted by well-armed opposition and ferocious tigers.In a similar act of narrative leeway to Braveheart, Scotts film employs plot points that make emotional sense in lieu of historical accuracy. Mauritanian slave traders didnt scour rural Hispania for dying men to nurse back to health on the off-chance that they could be sold. This point was pure fiction. The film also conveniently forgets to mention that Commodus fought in hundreds of gladiatorial events that way it could portray him as more of a coward than he actually was.But Scotts masterful direction of the gladiatorial battles and the peripheral landscape of excitement was surely accurate. The fights were indeed gruesome and the audience did enjoy them on a visceral level. As a modern viewer though, it is petrifying to consider that to delight in this kind of violence was once so common. Commodus is confronted by Maximus in the arena in this scene from Gladiator.According to How Stuff Works, the use of catapults in open battlefields like the opening forest battle in Germania was absolute fiction. The whole character of Maximus, himself, was created just for the film as well. But these are debatably minor quibbles when contrasted with other narrative faults of the movie.Despite the movie squeezing Commodus 12-year reign into a seemingly one or two-year period, the depiction of his death is arguably the most egregious deviation from the truth.In the film, the fictional Maximus valiantly defeats Commodus in battle for all of Rome to see. This plot point may be a neatly tied bow on a well-constructed story, but its a far cry from the truth.In reality, Commodus met his end far less publicly and without much dignity. He was strangled in his bath by a wrestler named Narcissus.The post The Truth Behind 11 Of Your Favorite Historical Movies appeared first on All That's Interesting.

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