Medieval Living

Came across Jill Williamson’s blog this morning. She has several articles related to Medieval life, the most recent being part 3 of a series on Medieval Lighting. I commented on her article about how simple an oil lamp can be, but that most people today would be unable to use one . . . no switch to turn it on! Anyway, Jill’s articles are nice reads – some of the information was not new to me, but some of it was. I never considered using the oil from cheese to burn in a lamp – the aroma must have been . . . interesting. Stop by her site and congratulate Jill on her Christy Award nomination.

Anyone who has surfed the vastness of the world wide web has had the experience of looking for one thing but finding another. Well I have been working on a reading list of Medieval fiction for homeschoolers, with an emphasis on material appropriate for elementary school ages. In the midst of it all, I stumbled upon Susan Higginbotham’s blog, aptly titled “Medieval Woman . . .” For anyone who doesn’t know, Ms. Higginbotham is an award winning author of Medieval historical fiction, with such stories as The Traitor’s Wife, Hugh and Bess, and The Stolen Crown among her titles.

I enjoyed her blog immensly, as it contains some wonderful references to 14th and 15th century English history . . . which is the same period we aim to use as the reference for the development of our living history museum. I enjoyed her recent post about a book found at the flea market . . . History of England in Words of One Syllable . Will have to look for that one.

Well, back to work – although Ms. Higginbotham’s works are wonderful reads, I don’t think I will add them to my reading list for eight year olds. If you know of a good Medieval fiction title for elementary aged kiddos, please drop me a line! Perhaps it will be the one I missed while busying myself with some other person’s blog!

Oh . . . her blog roll looks fascinating! I will surely be checking out her list of blogs, many which I have not heard of before.

It’s been a few days since I was on here last. Frankly, I’ve been too busy! After all, I do have a full time teaching position, a non-profit to operate, a grandson to watch over, a mother-in-law who believes I exist for the sole purpose of repairing everything that needs repaired (even when it really doesn’t need repaired), and a wife who of course needs and deserves my undivided attention. Blogging? When? Thank goodness my daughter is going to do my taxes this year (her college degree in business administration is finally paying off!)

I’ve been in touch with another member of the homeschool community here – sounds like there is some interest brewing regarding some of our classes here at Medieval Living. I also am hoping to build some simple inkle looms for one of the special education teachers at school. I think it will be fun to teach his students some basic weaving – looking forward to that! My daughter is wanting to send me to classes for Irish fiddle playing. So, I’ve dusted off the violin, bought some new rosin and am seeing if there is any prayer of playing anything on key – then I will “consider” learning some reels and jigs and hornpipes. I can play them on the tin whistle, but it’s been several years since the violin came out of its case – wish me luck!

Well, I’m going to throw something together for lunch, then its out to the freezing cold workshop to see if I can put some projects on the “completed” list. As I said . . . “Blogging? Who has time?”

Cheers!

Add a GoodSearch “search bar” to your web browswer!!!

Unfortunately, I don’t have alot of time for reading fiction. I have far too many activities – teacher, carpenter, Medieval recreationist, musician (ah, you should hear the neighborhood cats yeowl in agony when me fiddle comes out of the case!), blogger, webmaster . . . father, husband, grandfather, and son-in-law (for two very needy in-laws). And my son and daughter decided that I need a Wii so they purchased one as a present for Christmas . . . now I have to spend 30 minutes per day on that thing, or else get chastised by a Wii voice for not keeping up my exercise routine!!!

Enough of reality and back to fiction . . . I do browse the web in search of interesting fiction, and also query some of my nerdier students regarding their reading preferences. A couple of stories came to light – Veil of Lies and Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson. The stories revolve around a Medievalish detective by name of Crispin Guest. She presents some nice stories – and her blog also includes recipes and some light hearted poking at college students. I enjoyed reading of Crispin (with his own facebook and myspace page) and of articles of Medieval interest. I suggest you pay her a visit . . . she might even like it if you buy one of her books!

Steven Till was one of my very first contacts as I entered the world of blogging. I appreciated his assistance and comments regarding my blog, and still frequent his blog. A few days ago, I had a comment by a young lady who caused me to consider what other bits of information I should be including here. So yesterday, I posted a brief note about some articles written about applied Medievalism and in particular, teenage girls becoming Medieval nerds. Of the teenage girl nerds whom I know, and especially those with a Medievalist bent, I have noticed that they are avid readers, devouring any and all stories with a Medieval and/or fantasy theme. They can’t seem to get enough of it. Well, I thought it appropriate to point out Mr. Till’s writings – he has a few of his short stories posted on his blog - “The Ravens Beneath the Ash”, “The Sea-Ghost”, and “Exeter Burning”. Whether teenage girl nerd or not, I would suggest you visit Steven’s blog and enjoy these three wonderful stories. Thank you, Steven, for some wonderful writing.

Dr. Richard Nokes was one of my the first blogs I posted into my blogroll – I enjoy his writings and musing on Medieval history, and he has honored me by adding my blog to his blogroll as well. Thank you. Back in 2008, Dr. Nokes wrote an article entitled “Applied Medievalism and Me”. It was in response to another author’s article, “Applied Medievalism” by Jeff Sypeck. I enjoyed reading both of these articles, but what really caught my attention was a third author’s response . . . “Why Teenage Girls Become Medieval Nerds: A Very Long Exposition”, found on The Naked Philologist’s blog. Being a high school teacher and also a member of the Society for Creative Anarchonism, I have the opportunity to observe teenage girls . . . and yes, there are actually quite a few who could be classified as Medieval Nerds. Anyone who visits “roll playing” sites on the web will quickly note the significant number of girls playing Medieval fantasy rolls. (Yes, you need to filter out the guys who are pretending to be girls playing Medieval fantasy rolls – the web is the web!)

So . . . teenage girls . . . if you find yourself being a bit of a Medieval nerd, you will find an ally in The Naked Philologist – whom I believe would categorize herself as Medieval nerd (just maybe a little older?) At any rate, for those teenage girls (and for the parents of teenage girls), take a look at all three of these articles – I am sure you will find them enlightening, amusing, entertaining, and, if you find yourself falling into the Medieval nerd category, very supportive.

You’ve heard the saying: “Been there, Done that, Got the tshirt”? If you been around and done enough things in life, you start to understand that statement. However, there’s a very nice blog regarding travel around Great Britain, aptly named, “Been There – Done That“. Very interesting articles and a plethora of photographs of places, buildings of interest and so on. Being interested in ye olde English structures, I thoroughly enjoy this particular site. Take a few moments and visit the blog. In addition, they have a wonderful forum with numerous photos and opportunities to ask questions. I think its worth the time for anyone interested in travels about Great Britain.

Being a teacher, I often deal with myriad disabilities of my students. There are countless books, articles, and “data” available on disabilities, but the question I find interesting is “how have disabilities been dealt with over the centuries?” And then the obvious question . . . specifically, how were disabilities dealt with in Medieval times? I found a very enlightening blog that deals with this very topic: Medieval Cripples, Crazies and Imbeciles . . . and a Service Dog? The author, being hearing impared himself, is working on a PhD on the subject of Medieval disabilities. Although the blog seems inactive at the moment, I thought it had interesting information for anyone interested in the topic.

Can’t believe I hadn’t stumbled upon this blog before . . . Will McLean is a long time Medievalist, interested in Medieval recreation for nearly 40 years. He was one of the contributors to the book, Daily Life in Chaucer’s England. His blog, A Commonplace Book, discusses a wide variety of Medieval history themes (as well as some not-so-Medieval ones).

Here is a nice blog – Heroic Dreams: All Things Medieval - I especially enjoyed the articles on catapults and such! Blog discussions include such things as Renaissance faires to medieval swords and castles to mead making. I really enjoy the mead articles!!! The author of the site is also author of Storm The Castle and other related sites. Did I say that I liked the mead-making artlces? Well his website on mead making, The Joy of Mead, is quite extensive and informative. Makes me anxious to attend the next SCA event, as there is usually a very nice selection of meads to sample . . . and sample again . . .and again . . . and . . . well, you get the idea!