Elizabeth Ellen Carter's Blog, page 25
October 23, 2014
Friday Night @ The Big Cat Cafe – Time After Time
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Medieval Mythbusters – Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels
Queen Elizabeth may have had her bath once a week, ‘whether I needeth it or no’, but people in medieval times might have thought she was odd.
Not because, she bathed, but because she didn’t bathe enough…
Yes! It’s time for Medieval Mythbusters!
Hey! My eyes are up here sport!
A yearly bath? Nope.
Charlemagne, for example, used to bathe each morning in a large pool or river, where he would meet with his ministers, who were also invited to bathe.
Bathing was part of a ritual before certain ceremonies, such as knighthood, and in the romances of chivalry we see that the laws of hospitality required offering guests a bath before they dined.
Bathing was, pardon the pun, an every day affair – and with soap as well!
Most people in the period stayed clean by washing daily using a basin of hot water. Soap first began to be used widely in the Middle Ages (the Romans and Greeks did not use soap) and soap makers had their own guilds in most larger Medieval towns and cities. Heating the water for a full bath was a time consuming process, so baths at home were less common, but even the lower strata of society enjoyed a hip bath when they could get one.
If you didn’t have a bath at home, you could go to one of the communal baths – a habit that lingered from the time of the Romans – and that was a system that worked very satisfactory until the Black Death. Bummer.
The prominence of the public bathhouse went into rapid decline in the sixteenth-century. Several suggestions have been made to as why – were more puritanical religious people able to impose their moral values on the community, or were the diseases that struck Europe since the Black Death convincing people from to avoid them. The disease of syphilis, which broke out in Europe the late fifteenth-century, would have also motivated people to stop their sexual promiscuity, thus reducing the other reasons for having a bathhouse.
The Dutch philosopher Erasmus, writing in 1526, notes the fall of the public bathhouse. “Twenty-five years ago, nothing was more fashionable in Brabant than the public baths,” he remarked. “Today there are none, the new plague has taught us to avoid them.”
So, life in Medieval times was filthy? That’s a dirty lie!
We call:
It’s a bust
Meet the characters of
Warrior’s Surrender
and WIN!
Visit my post on this page – http://eecarter.com/index.php/meet-th...
And share my Warrior’s Surrender e-cards – or any of my Medieval-themed blog posts and you go in the running to win a certified organic Botanical perfume, Brave – the perfect scent for a heroine like Alfreya of Tyrswick.
Don’t forget to tag me, so I can track your entries! 
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October 21, 2014
A Season To Remember Excerpt – A Touch of Christmas
As Starship Bluefire settles into orbit around Earth, Captain Andra Veluthian anticipates meeting her favourite human, Colonel Nick Madigan. Have his efforts to save the planet succeeded? And if so, will she lose any chance to be with him?
Knowing Andra’s fascination with all things Terran, Nick has planned a surprise for her. After all, it is Christmas, the season of giving. But when Earth’s leader and the Gravlarian captain spend time planet side, the temperature soars.
It looks pretty from space, but has Earth done enough to earn its place in the Glavlar Federation?
Excerpt
Starship Bluefire – Log entry #1878 Orbit established around Planet Earth
Local time: 0715 – 22 December 2525 AD
“Reverse thruster off. Docking complete, Captain.”
Captain Andra Veluthian ordered her viewing screen to retract, rolled her shoulders then rested her head against the padded headrest of her Conforma-chair and looked at the view. Framed by a huge window on the bridge, planet Earth appeared close and surprisingly whiter than on her last stopover two years earlier. Through breaks in the dense cloud cover she could even discern the long coastline of what Earth dwellers used to call South America and, just appearing on the western edge across an expanse of ocean, was the island continent they called Australia. Home of the wombat, wallaroo and one handsome colonel.
Colonel Nicholas Madigan, political leader and guiding hand in Earth’s struggle against extinction.
Last visit, the fair-haired colonel had set more than a few hearts pounding among her crew. Including hers.
A Season To Remember, yours free from Amazon, November 28.
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October 20, 2014
Spice, spice baby
The world’s first celebrity chef. Check the line up to get a table.
Again, another medieval myth is that medieval food was stodgy gruel, roasted meat and plain vegetables.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Spice was extensively used in the middle ages and became even more popular across Europe as Crusaders brought back new and extensive spices from the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Your medieval spice cupboard:
Pepper – The most sought after spice. Black pepper was the most expensive. Imported from Asia and later Africa.
Cinnamon – A Spice made from bark of the Cinnamomum zeylanicum
Cloves – Cloves were indigenous to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia
Nutmeg – Spice made from seeds also indigenous to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, of Indonesia
Ginger – Ginger was a spice also known as ‘Grains of Paradise’, also called Atare Pepper, was used as a substitute for the more expensive black pepper during the 1300 and 1400′s
Saffron – The dried aromatic stigmas of this plant, was used to color foods and as a cooking spice and dyes
Cardamon (aka Cardamom ) was a spice made from the whole or ground dried fruit a plant of the ginger family, indigenous to India and Sri Lanka
Coriander – A Spice made from seeds and leaves and a relative of the parsley family
Cumin – Spice made from the dried fruit of a plant in the parsley family
Garlic – A spice imported by the Romans
Turmeric – Spice made from a root, related to ginger and has a vivid yellow-orange color
Mace – A spice made from the dried fleshy covering of the nutmeg seed
Anise – A liquorice flavored plant whose seeds and leaves are used to spice a variety of dishes
Caraway – Caraway or Persian cumin are the small, crescent-shaped dried seeds from a herb
Mustard – A spice with a pungent flavor, either used as seeds or ground
Myriad of spices available to medieval cooks
And while the cost of many spices was expensive – this web site has done a breakdown on how much spice might cost a tradesman, a carpenter in the 15th century (it also has some great recipes too) – they were readily purchased by people in all stratas of society, not just the very wealthy.
It is often assumed that prohibitive prices for spices during the Middles Ages kept them to the fortunate few of the times. But in fact, the study (mainly between 1345 and 1347) of the books of Bartholomew Bonis, a rich 14th century merchant of Montauban, who dealt in spices among other things, shows that the consumption of spices was more important than we might expect…
…Buyers of spices, apart from the poorest, came from all social categories: Notables, lords, bourgeois, but also craftsmen: butchers, cobblers, tailors, bakers, carpenters, blacksmiths and even herdsmen and ploughmen.
Try this very surprising medieval Gingerbread Recipe.
Exclusive Excerpt – Warrior’s Surrender out November 7
Villagers from around the district left their winter preparations of curing meats and making preserves to take part in the revels in a field just outside of Tyrswick village.
Two large tents had been erected on the field and surrounding them were dozens of covered stalls selling goods from all parts of the globe. Merchants hawked the finest silks and spices from the Far East, ribbons and satins from France, intricately woven lace from Flanders as well as local produce, of which there was plenty.
Sebastian insisted on accompanying Frey for a walk amongst the stalls and she accepted his arm. They walked in the company of Baron Rhys and Lady Rosalind, along with Heloise and a couple of men-at-arms, to accept the good wishes of villagers.
Meet the characters of
Warrior’s Surrender
and WIN!
Visit my post on this page – http://eecarter.com/index.php/meet-the-characters-of-warriors-surrender-and-win/
And share my Warrior’s Surrender e-cards – or any of my Medieval-themed blog posts and you go in the running to win a certified organic Botanical perfume, Brave – the perfect scent for a heroine like Alfreya of Tyrswick.
Don’t forget to tag me, so I can track your entries!
Share!
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October 18, 2014
Medieval Recipes – Syllabub
Later, Heloise watched Rosalind pass up the stairs and round the corner to the guest chambers just as she reached the landing on the Great Hall. Heloise stopped to warm her hands by the fire. She did not notice Sebastian until he spoke to her.
“There you are! You’ll miss out on the dances standing here by yourself,” he told her.
She blushed. Sebastian swept her hands into his. “Your hands are freezing!”
His notice of her discomforted rather than flattered.
“I know where you’ve been,” he announced.
Heloise jumped. She worked to prise the tongue from the roof of her mouth.
“You do?” she exclaimed, eyes darting for the door.
Sebastian grinned and folded her arm through his and led her towards the knot of dancers.
“You’ve been down in the kitchen pestering the cook for a taste of the syllabub, haven’t you?”
Investigating medieval desserts has been fun and one of the most delicious is syllabub.
A modern syllabub
There first written references and the earliest references date back to the 1500s, so I might get accused of some historical inaccuracy here but I will say in my defence that just because we can’t find an earlier reference it doesn’t mean the dish wasn’t known before that date.
So there.
Depending on how it is made, syllabub could be drunk as a drink or eaten as a dessert with a spoon, while lemon is popular variations include berry, champagne, amaretto, ginger and Turkish Delight. According to this keen food historian syllabub is like an alcoholic whipped cream that could keep its shape when placed in ring moulds. Yum!
Another syllabub, older in origin than the solid kind, was the whip or whipped syllabub. If the very large number of surviving recipes is anything to go by, it seems to have been very popular, This was very different in nature to solid syllabub. It does not really seem to be understood by modern cooks. The cream/wine mixture was whipped in a large bowl, usually with a birch whisk… As the bubbles rose they were skimmed off the surface and put on a sieve to drain overnight.
It is the blending of an acid, like lemon, to milk to lightly curdle which helps give syllabub its structure.
Here’s an easy modern recipe I love from the BBC’s Good Food web site.
Lemon Syllabub
Ingredients
284 tub whipping cream
50g caster sugar
50ml white wine
zest and juice from ½ lemon
almond thins or berries, to serve
Method
Whip the cream and sugar together until soft peaks form. Stir in the wine, most of the lemon zest and the juice. Spoon into glasses or bowls, sprinkle with the remaining zest and serve with almond thins or berries.
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October 17, 2014
Happy Book-aversary Moonstone Obsession
Happy birthday to Moonstone Obsession!
One this day 12 months ago, I became a published author for the first time.
Nothing compares with the thrill of a project that one has been working so hard on for such a long time see the light of day.
Moonstone Obsession was my first serious attempt at writing a full length novel. I had dabbled in fanfic and short stories before but this was a full length work.
Now in just three weeks time my second book, Warrior’s Surrender is released.
Sir James Mitchell, the type of man it would be easy to fall in love with.
The excitement is there (oh boy and how!) but I feel a little more organised, a little more prepared.
But still, there is that hidden fear, will people like it? Will they ‘get’ Frey and Sebastian? There is a mystery and some light supernatural themes – will that be too much for people?
A new work is like the the launch of a new play. Even if you are familiar with opening a show, there is no guarantee that people will like it.
But now is not the time for nerves – it is a time for a celebration.
Moonstone Obsession has been in the hands of readers for a year now and judging by the reviews, I think people do like it.
I love writing, I love bringing historic eras to life, I love giving a voice to characters to tell their story.
I want to do this for many, many years to come.
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Episode 4 (not, really, it’s 3) Friday Night @ The Big Cat Cafe
All I wanted was a word,
A photograph to keep…
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October 15, 2014
Medieval Book Worms – An Illuminating Study…
She fingered the titles as she walked by—Bibles, stories of saints, legends of yore and local histories. Frey had a decent command of Latin thanks to nearly six years in Scotland. There had been precious little else to occupy her days and the scholars paid to keep the exiles’ offspring out of mischief did not care if one more joined in their studies.
At the far end of the library, her attention was caught by a raised platform upon which a stood a beautifully carved desk. On it, in turn, sat a large, elaborately bound leather volume.
Frey opened the cover. The beautifully illuminated frontispiece was decorated in vivid red, green, and blue inks, as well as gold leaf. It read Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum—The Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
A beautiful illuminated manuscript
Up until the era of moveable time, books were expensive and handcrafted.
It might be assumed that because they were written by hand, they weren’t accurate, subject to errors and interpretation.
That concept comes close to being a medieval myth, but alas it didn’t make the cut for this week’s Mythbusters.
Here is how books were copied.
Until the 9th century, there were no divisions between the words in either Greek or Latin manuscripts. In other words, thereaderwouldhavetoknowwhenonewordleftoffandanotherbegan. The text would be checked for scribal errors only, corrected, and then the rubricator would add the titles, initial capitals and paragraph marks. Rubric comes from the Latin word for red, because these important headings were often inked in red. After the rubrics were added, the manuscript was ready to be sent to the illuminator.
Owning a book, indeed the ability to read, was something to be celebrated and great pride was taken in accurately copying the source text:
Before the invention of mechanical printing, books were handmade objects, treasured as works of art and as symbols of enduring knowledge. Indeed, in the Middle Ages, the book becomes an attribute of God.
Every stage in the creation of a medieval book required intensive labor, sometimes involving the collaboration of entire workshops. Parchment for the pages had to be made from the dried hides of animals, cut to size and sewn into quires; inks had to be mixed, pens prepared, and the pages ruled for lettering. A scribe copied the text from an established edition, and artists might then embellish it with illustrations, decorated initials, and ornament in the margins. The most lavish medieval books were bound in covers set with enamels, jewels, and ivory carvings.
A medieval psalter – look at the beautiful illustrations!
The book, as we know it today, started in the Roman era.
Eventually, in an important innovation, the Romans substituted parchment for the wooden leaves of the tabula to form the notebook (membranae), which was the prototype of the modern book. Parchment was folded in half to yield a gathering (or quire) of two leaves or four pages, one-half the width of the original (folio). Folding the sheet again gave four leaves or eight pages (quarto); and yet again, eight leaves or sixteen pages (octavo), which was the size of most notebooks. Papyrus also could be used to make books, but the sheets were not large enough to be folded more than once, which meant that a papyrus book had to be formed from a number of single-sheet quires.
And, there are some issues which transcend time and technology…
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October 13, 2014
A Season To Remember Preview – Sands of Time
Kitty faces her first Christmas without the love of her life. She looks back with fondness on the memories of Christmases past and, with the love and support of her grandson Joe, finds inner strength to face the future with anticipation. Kitty realises that, as she gets older, time passes so quickly. Although sad and happy memories flood through her on this special Christmas day, she chooses to embrace every moment of life.
Pigface on the dunes.
Excerpt
They were nearing Kingfisher Island. Not a grain of the tract that joined the small sandy cay to the mainland was visible. A couple of small boats were moored along the deep channel on the southern side of the causeway, with people fishing from them. The boats bobbed up and down on the whitecaps, sometimes disappearing from view, then emerging again.
“Just over there, please, Joe. Near that clump of mangroves.”
Joe pulled on one oar, turning the bow of the boat towards where she pointed. Within a minute, she heard the sand scraping against the keel under the boat. Clamping her hand on the gunwale for support, she stood carefully and jumped over the side, landing in knee-deep water. Joe shipped the oars and joined her, the water not even reaching halfway to his knees. He grabbed the pointy prow and pulled the boat up onto the beach.
She gazed around her, the familiar sight of the few remaining stumpy mangrove trees, and the covering of pigface on the small dunes bringing a lump to her throat. The mauve star-shaped blossoms of the coastal succulent groundcover looked exactly as they had done for all these years. Nature’s legacy, constant and predictable, unlike humans, whose term on this planet was fleeting. For a moment she recalled the faint, salty perfume of the little dune succulents whose strong roots helped the sandy hillocks from washing away with each tide. When crushed, they emitted a soft waft of delicate scent. Not for the first time, she wondered why they’d been given the hideous name of pigface.
Joe’s outstretched hand appeared before her eyes, inviting her to take it. She refocused her vision, reached out, grasped it, and took a few steps through the water and up towards the sandy beach. Joe tugged gently on her hand, helping her to stand upright in the choppy waters which made the little boat bob roughly. A cascade of spray caught them both in the face as it slapped against the side of the wooden boat with a thud. They laughed in unison, blinking at each other through salt-filled eyes.
“Gotcha, Nan.” Joe’s smile, always so generous, beamed at her. She smiled back, raised her arm, and wiped her face with the sleeve of her blouse.
He held on to her hand until she reached the dry beach, then he stretched into the prow of the dinghy and pulled out an anchor attached to a sturdy rope, walked further up the beach, and buried it firmly into the sand. When it was secured, Joe turned and retrieved the picnic basket and the rest of the things they needed for their visit to the island, and deposited them where the low dunes met the beach. She walked to the picnic basket, leaned over and opened it, took out an old blue blanket, and spread it down on the sparse tufts of grass. Ignoring her sand-encrusted feet, she stepped onto the blanket, sank back on her elbows and gazed dreamily up at the cobalt sky.
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Top 5 Medieval Inventions
Our medieval mythbusters article has had us inspired to look for great medieval inventions. Here is five of our favourites.
1. Water Mills
Water, water everywhere!
Though they were invented hundreds of years before the Middle Ages, their numbers exploded during this time. By around 1000 A.D. there were tens of thousands of mills harnessing river and tidal power throughout England, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The technology invented by the Greeks was further refined during the Middle Ages and was used to power tanneries, blast furnaces, forge mills, and paper mills which evolved into the machinery used in today’s factories and facilities.
2. Mirrors
Prior to the mirrors we know today, looking glasses were simply highly polished strips of metal. First mention of a mirror was made in 1180 by Alexander Neckham who said “Take away the lead which is behind the glass and there will be no image of the one looking in.”
3. The Spinning Wheel
What goes up, must come down, spinning wheel, watch it go ’round.
The original of the spinning wheel are still quite debated and although many believe that it was first invented in India, no proof exists. It was during the Middle Ages that the spinning wheel first made its way to Europe through the Middle East. Before its existence, the method used for weaving was hand spinning where individual fibers were first drawn out of wool that was held on distaff and was twisted to make a strand. This strand was then wound on a spindle. To make this entire process easier, the spindle was first horizontally mounted so that it would be rotated easily. The wheel was turned slowly using the right hand while the distaff with the fiber was held at an angle in the other hand to create the required twist.
4. Spectacles
In 1289 in a Florentine manuscript entitled Traite de con uite
He’s making a spectacle of himself…
de la famille, Sandra di Popozo wrote: “I am so debilitated by age that without the glasses known as spectacles, I would no longer be able to read or write. These have recently been invented for the benefit of poor old people whose sight has become weak”. Years earlier, Friar Roger Bacon wrote a description of lenses to make letters bigger in his Opus Majus (1268) – so it’s clear that the first spectacles were made somewhere between 1268 and 1289.
5. Horse Shoes
Horses are designed to live and roam in the wild. With human domestication in cities and the construction of roads this made horse transit difficult. The horseshoe which was invented sometime in the 9th century allowed this powerful steed to venture to non-grassy areas without harming their hooves. This would be extremely important in the growing city structures where consistent, effective transportation would be necessary to move goods and people.
Meet the characters of
Warrior’s Surrender
and WIN!
Visit my post on this page – http://eecarter.com/index.php/meet-the-characters-of-warriors-surrender-and-win/
And share my Warrior’s Surrender e-cards – or any of my Medieval-themed blog posts and you go in the running to win a certified organic Botanical perfume, Brave – the perfect scent for a heroine like Alfreya of Tyrswick.
Don’t forget to tag me, so I can track your entries!
Share!
The post Top 5 Medieval Inventions appeared first on EE Carter.
