Susan Higginbotham's Blog: History Refreshed by Susan HIgginbotham, page 48

The Taming of the Duke

In around 1435, Henry VI’s council decided that strict measures were required for the upbringing of a royal ward. The ward was to rise between six and seven in the morning and to say prayers, and then go and wait upon the king, where he was to hear mass with him. Our young person was also to hear daily evensong. He was to go to bed no later than ten. His household had apparently recently been purged of undesirables; instead, he was to be waited upon by squires hand-picked by the king’s council,

Catch-Up Time!

This is more of a "yes, I'm still out there" post than anything else, I'm afraid. I was pretty wiped out most of last week by some flu-like bug. That and the periodic appearance of winged termites in the house kept me quiet on the blog front.

Last week, however, I did get the advance review copies for Hugh and Bess, and they're lovely! If the termites get near them, they're doomed. (Actually, they're doomed anyway, since the exterminators have been by.)

I'm also eagerly awaiting the publication of

The Pious--Yes, That's Right, Pious--Elizabeth Woodville

Any Ricardian novel worthy of its genre contains a scene where Elizabeth Woodville and/or her mother dabble in witchcraft, though in both women’s cases, the allegations of witchcraft are utterly unsubstantiated. What you won’t get if you read one of these novels is any indication of Elizabeth’s acts of Christian piety and of her actions that reflect her conventional Christian beliefs, though they, unlike her supposed witchcraft, are well documented. Here are some of them:

*Elizabeth’s device was

Get Your Motivation Here!

I do have a serious post in me somewhere, I promise, but tonight's not the night. Thanks to Richard over at Historical Fiction Online, I learned of this site that lets you create your own motivational posters. Here's my maiden effort:

New Blog Title

Ever had one of those days when everything makes you cranky? Tonight it was my blog title (actually, I've been sick of it for a long time). So what do you think of the new one?

By the way "Medieval Woman" comes from my mishearing of the lyrics of the ELO song "Evil Woman." This, so I understand, is called a "mondegreen," and there is an entire site devoted to them. My favorite remains "There's a bathroom on the right" for "There's a bad moon on the rise," and "Like a ham and mustard shake" for "L

The Reign of Edward II, as Told by You-Know-Whats

In the interest of equal time, here is the reign of Edward II told by Lolcats. Really, why buy one of those expensive biographies of Edward II when you can get the whole story here?

The Reign of Richard III as Told by LOL Cats

Not long ago, it occurred to me that with all the ink that's been spilled on Richard III, there has not yet been a telling of his story through Lolcats. Naturally, this is a situation that I thought should be remedied straightaway. (There's even one at the end for you Ricardians who patiently follow this blog, hoping that I'll see the light.)

If you ask nicely enough, maybe I'll try to do one for Edward II's reign. Maybe I'm looking up pictures on Lolcats right now. Who knows?

Search Terms O' the Month (And Last Month)

How have people reached my website lately? Let me count the ways:

was edward ii friends with the pope?

Sure! They sent each other greeting cards all of the time.

king edward ii something nice he done

Well, he made friends with the Pope, didn't he?

historical novels about the tudors

People actually write historical novels about the Tudors?

history of sir oswald spiffy

I love spiffy history.

sue higgenbotham cpa

Buddy, you are so at the wrong website.

did the woodvilles hate richard iii

Of course not! Everyon

400 Posts, a Pretty New Cover, and a Tombstone

I just noticed that my last post was my 400th post! Happy 400th post to me!

Also, I was excited to see that the pretty new cover for Hugh and Bess is now on Amazon. (Naturally, you might ask: "Where's Hugh?" He's there--trust me--probably just went out for an ale with the boys.)



And if you're fearing that I'm going to bang on about historical accuracy in historical fiction again, no worries. Instead, enjoy this cautionary message from Tombstone Generator:

Accuracy Redux

Over the past couple of days, a few posts have popped up dealing with the subject of historical accuracy in historical fiction, specifically with the question of how one should depict historical figures. Here, for instance, are posts by Nan Hawthorne and Literate Housewife.

It's true, as Literate Housewife points out, that fiction is just that--fiction--and that readers should never take a novel as the last word on any subject. (For that matter, the same holds true with nonfiction; mistakes aren'