culture
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Have you ever asked yourself how people washed and perfume themselves in Medieval time? And what about the smart and noble Plantagenets? Was there a difference between rich and poor people? You will be surprised to discover that Mediaeval people were cleaner than we can imagine and they smelled good. As you can imagine, hygienic…
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UPDATED POST AT sparkypus.com A Medieval Potpourri https://wordpress.com/post/sparkypus.com/645 Stained glass depiction of King Richard and his legendary horse, White Surrey. As we now know sadly, Richard, did not own a horse called White Surrey or, as he has sometimes been called, White Syrie (1). But Richard did own horses aplenty and we are fortunate lists…
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Long before Gourmet Magazine went out of business in 2009, collapsed under too many overwrought articles on bovine emissions, it had been an intellectual colossus in the culinary world. From the 1940s through the ’60s, it featured lush travel articles on world cuisine venturing into far-flung places such as Persia, Bhutan (“a taste of Shangri-La!”)…
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Humans have always kept pets…or so it seems to me, anyway. We simply like to have certain animals around us. I can’t imagine that the likes of rhinos, bulls or camels were ever on anyone’s list of must-have pets, but there have always been cats, dogs, birds and so on. “…. Pets were a rarity…
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I am hopelessly addicted to icecream. It’s one of my Great Weaknesses, and now I learn that Richard III has one named after him. (Ha! I’ll bet you thought I was going to say it was his Great Weakness too!) Go to the Leicester Mercury and you will find that “…. Independent Leicester city centre…
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The Monastery of Deer in Aberdeenshire has been lost for centuries, but now the discovery of a stone medieval gaming board has raised archaeologists’ hopes that they have found the missing buildings. The search has been on since 2008. It was at Deer that the monks wrote the celebrated 10th-century illuminated manuscript known as the…
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Well, I recently read that Edward III paid “not quite $1,200” for Sir Robert de Clynton’s war horse. Right. Very helpful. I have no idea how that would translate to today’s dosh. Anyway, while searching for more on the subject, I came upon this site which is interesting, if not always easy to work…
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Queek/queak is a strange word, with at least three very different meanings of which I am aware. Since the early 18th century, queak has meant a high-pitched squeak or screech, such as the call of a bird or squeal of a pig. On the other hand, Queek Headtaker is “the legendary and much-feared Lord of…
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The above scene is one of my favourites. Modern, but a wonderful take on a medieval feast. The details are exquisite—think Bruegel—and very funny, although juggling with chicks is probably not to modern taste. I don’t know where it comes from.
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Death bed of Richard Whittington…London 1442-1443. A link to an interesting article covering all things about the medieval bed including childbed, deathbed and much, much more …
The New Murrey and Blue blog 