culture
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UPDATED POST ON sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri at https://sparkypus.com/2020/05/14/the-medieval-doggie-and-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-them-2/ It’s obvious from the amount of depictions of dogs from the medieval period they were highly prized by our ancestors, both for work and play. They are everywhere! Their delightful little figures pop up on tombs, heraldry and manuscripts regularly. Some think, when depicted on a…
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Every September on Wakes Monday, which follows Wakes Sunday, an unusual dance takes place in the small Staffordshire village of Abbots Bromley. A company of dancers bearing huge, ancient reindeer horns, accompanied by a Fool with a pig’s bladder, a Maid Marion who is a man in female dress, a Hobby Horse, a Triangle Player,…
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Panorama of Old London. The Old Bridge stood to the west of the new one. https://www.britain-magazine.com/features/inspiration/shakespeares-london/. Of course Shakespearean London is post Ricardian but most of the streets and buildings covered in this interesting article would have been there in Richard’s time. For anyone visiting London, this article would be an excellent referral point…
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For the purposes of the historical novel upon which I am at present working, I have recently been looking into the complicated business of medieval hunting. By which I mean the sort of hunting indulged in by royalty and the aristocracy. The poor man sneaking off with some midwinter game has been left well alone…
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There is no disputing that fish was very important to the medieval diet. The Church ruled that not only was it required food on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but also for Advent and the forty days of Lent. And I’m sure there were other days when it was mandatory too, but the previous sentence covers…
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While researching who was the Sheriff of Kent in 1375, and when, exactly, in March he would have been elected (neither of which has any bearing on this post) I came upon the following site: The High Sheriff of Kent From this, I have extracted the following interesting little snippet. “….Sheriffs are nominated annually for…
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The truth about the Christian New Year’s Eve….
Admiral Villeneuve, Antipopes, Charles “III”, Constantine, conversion, decimal system, Edmund of Rutland, Eglise St. Germain Rennes, Gregorian Calendar, Hogmanay, Horatio Nelson, Janus, Julian Calendar, Julius Caesar, Mary Stuart, Naval warfare, New Year’s Eve, paganism, popes, Richard Duke of York, saints, St. Sylvester, suicide, Trafalgar, WakefieldNew Year’s Eve now and New Year’s Eve in the mediaeval period actually refer to two different calendar days. Old New Year’s Eve was 24th March. For an easy-to-understand explanation, please go to here, but whichever the day, it was still New Year’s Eve. We now celebrate it with much fun, laughter and hope, but…
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Reconstruction of Christmas at Eltham 1482 – Historic England (illustration by Peter Urmston) In the 14th century it became a royal tradition to spend Christmas at Eltham, and by 1482, Edward IV also held his Christmas there. The top picture is an imagined scene of this Christmas in the great hall (pictured immediately above) with…
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I was browsing, and came upon the following interesting details about how Henry VII celebrated Christmas and Twelfth Night. It is from Christmas: Its Origin and Associations by William Francis Dawson, which I found in Google Books. The following extract has been tweaked a little by me, to create more paragraphs and thus make it…
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If you are interested in what medieval children played with, i.e. theirs toys and so on, rather than the things they found lying around and used according to their imagination, then this is an excellent site. It is part of the lars datter site, which offers a great deal of scope and information. The site’s official…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 