Category Archives: Building a History

The Rest of the Story on Those Seven Honest Women (Medieval Mondays #5d redux)

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They're not who you think they are

They’re not who you think they are

It remains to this day the most incredible piece of medieval research I’ve turned up, even if I’ve since learned it’s not completely true.

In previously Medieval Mondays posts, I’ve written at length about medieval marriage.  This in turn led me to write about medieval divorce.

Divorce (technically annulment of the marriage in its strictest sense) was a matter at the sole discretion of the Church, whose preference was almost always to keep marriages together.  As such, the Church generally only granted divorces for six specific reasons.

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Filing the Holes in Black History

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african-roots

During my undergraduate degree in environmental studies, a particular course in the history department caught my eye.

This course was called History of Africa South of the Sahara.

I first I discovered this course during my first year while thumbing through the course catalogue planning for my upper years.

Ooh, this would be an interesting elective, I thought upon reading the course description:

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A-Hunting We Will Go in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #6c)

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King John hunting deer

King John hunting deer

Hunting, in the medieval times, was a way of life.

This is the case in more ways than one.  On the one hand, hunting was an essential task for generating food for a noble household.  According to Joseph and Frances Gies, authors of Life in a Medieval Castle,

The deer and other quarry supplied a substantial share of the meat for the castle table, and the forest supplemented game with nuts, berries, mushrooms, and other edibles.  It also furnished the principal construction material and fuel for all classes. (p. 134)

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A Fun Medieval Supplement to Warfare (Medieval Mondays #6b)

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03-08-01/53

Fewer elements of medieval culture capture the modern imagination like the tournament.

Pictured as it often appears in period movies and shows, the medieval tournament calls to mind any number of the following images:

  • Scores of knights clad in the colours of their family crests with their horses caparisoned to match
  • Ladies in flowing gowns bestowing their scarves and other such fripperies upon their favourite competitors
  • Numerous contests of skill, honour, and sportsmanship, like the medieval version of the Olympic Games, of which the joust is most anticipated activity of all

And most importantly, a refined air of chivalry permeating the entire event.

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The Problem with Historical Fiction (and the Power of Historical Fiction)

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The historical fiction shelf you won't find in most bookstores and libraries

The historical fiction shelf you won’t find in most bookstores and libraries

The problem with historical fiction is that it’s not actually genre.

Not the way romance or mystery or thriller are genres.

There are no defining characteristics – no genre conventions – of historical fiction other than the story taking place in a non-contemporary time period in which the manners, social conditions, and other details of the era are clearly depicted.

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Making Merry in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #6a)

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Medieval piggyback wrestling

Medieval piggyback wrestling

People knew how to have fun in the Middle Ages.

In truth, in any age of history, people sought to amuse themselves during whatever moments they could spare from their workdays, however brief these moments of respite might be.

The medieval times was actually rather unique in this regard.  During the 13th century, people had more holidays and days off work than are granted in the modern western world.

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On the Say of Seven Honest Women (Medieval Mondays #5d)

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Duty calls

Marriage is tough; this is the case no matter what period in history one considers.

Medieval marriages, though, as discussed in my three previous posts on this topic, were all the more difficult for the numerous challenges that arose at every stage of their formation.

Yet another difficulty of medieval marriage was hard it was to go about ending one.  This was neither easily nor readily done given that, according to Eileen Power, author of Women in the Middle Ages, “Divorce in the modern sense did not exist in the Middle Ages.” (p. 33).

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Un/happily Married in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5c)

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Medieval marriage 3

Medieval marriage, much like medieval society as a whole, was not an institution of equality between both partners.

For the medieval woman, marriage did dramatically increase her prestige compared to an unmarried girl, who had no real occupation or standing in her household and spent most of her time in the company of older female chaperones.

Medieval woman thus looked forward to marriage and the subsequent establishment of a home that was independent of those of their parents.

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A Nice Day (Eventually) for a White Wedding in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5b)

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Medieval wedding ceremony (note the location and the bride's dress)

Medieval wedding ceremony (note the location and the bride’s dress)

In modern times, when a couple gets engaged to be married, they next begin planning the wedding celebration.

In the medieval times, long before the engagement, after overcoming the various challenges of finding a suitable partner discussed in last month’s post, the next step was to plan for death.  In particular, that of the man.

That is to say, there would be negotiations regarding the endowments the would-be bride and groom would grant each other.

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Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5a)

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A medieval betrothal

A medieval betrothal

Getting married in the medieval times was a complicated business.

On the one hand, it seemed straightforward enough – far less complicated than today:

  • Almost every man and woman could reasonably expect to someday wed.
  • The definition of marriage was not contested as it often is today: there was no same-sex marriage or common law marriage or the modern legal and political wrangling commonly associated with these.
  • Wedding ceremonies themselves were quite simple, wholly untouched by today’s wedding industrial complex.
  • Divorce was illegal, so when two people married, it was (in almost all cases) literally unto death.

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