Medieval ghosts
What could be more timely for Halloween than a story about medieval ghosts? This one is found on my favorite website, www.medievalists.net http://www.medievalists.net/2017/10/m...
And here are two medieval deaths that occurred on Halloween.
On October 31st, 1147, Robert Fitz Roy, the Earl of Gloucester, brother and mainstay to the Empress Maude, died. He was an honorable man who probably would have been a much better ruler than either Stephen or Maude, but he was, of course, barred from the throne because he was born out of wedlock. I liked writing about Robert and I missed him after he died—definitely not the case with all of my characters.
On October 31st, 1214, Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Leonora, Queen of Castile, died, less than a month after her husband’s death. She was said to have been so devastated by his death that she’d been unable to attend his funeral and it is hard not to conclude that she died of a broken heart—for science now says there is indeed such an affliction. She was fifty-three, and only she and John outlived Eleanor.
Now back to the looming bloodshed at Hattin. Writing a battle scene is always challenging, but it can be therapeutic, too, a means for me to express my repressed anger at the sad state of the world. And Hattin’s outcome will serve as a reminder that life has never been easy. Even in those rare times when it seemed idyllic to some segments of society, that was an illusion—as in the halcyon days for England’s upper class before the outbreak of WW I, when a scarily prescient prediction was made by the British politician, Lord Grey: “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
And here are two medieval deaths that occurred on Halloween.
On October 31st, 1147, Robert Fitz Roy, the Earl of Gloucester, brother and mainstay to the Empress Maude, died. He was an honorable man who probably would have been a much better ruler than either Stephen or Maude, but he was, of course, barred from the throne because he was born out of wedlock. I liked writing about Robert and I missed him after he died—definitely not the case with all of my characters.
On October 31st, 1214, Henry and Eleanor’s daughter Leonora, Queen of Castile, died, less than a month after her husband’s death. She was said to have been so devastated by his death that she’d been unable to attend his funeral and it is hard not to conclude that she died of a broken heart—for science now says there is indeed such an affliction. She was fifty-three, and only she and John outlived Eleanor.
Now back to the looming bloodshed at Hattin. Writing a battle scene is always challenging, but it can be therapeutic, too, a means for me to express my repressed anger at the sad state of the world. And Hattin’s outcome will serve as a reminder that life has never been easy. Even in those rare times when it seemed idyllic to some segments of society, that was an illusion—as in the halcyon days for England’s upper class before the outbreak of WW I, when a scarily prescient prediction was made by the British politician, Lord Grey: “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.”
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Sharon-Many times in your posts, you have shared your high regard for Eleanor's daughter, Leonora, Queen of Castile. If I've followed the family tree correctly, Eleanor of Castile, so beloved by Edward I, was Leonora's great, grandaughter, and great, great grandaughter of Eleanor herself. Given Edward's adoration of his wife, might it be possible that Eleanor's wit, charm, beauty and 'chutzpah' passed down through her female descendents? It would seem so. I believe Eleanor would have been proud that her genes continued on for so many generations, reinvigorating the Plantagenet line.
This has nothing to do with Halloween or battles ... just a bit about how one person's life can make a difference.
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Speaking of prominent figures a century ago making astonishing predictions about the 20th century... Eugenie de Montijo, the deposed last Empress of France, born in 1826 and died in 1920... she was really sharp about politics and simply loved all things new and futuristic. Not only did she learn to operate radio, bicycles, and aeroplanes when she was well over 70, but her predictions about 20th century political changes is jaw-dropping. When her mother complained about the decline of monarchies, she told her that her "view of the world is straight out of the Middle Ages" and that "no one can resist" the popular will anymore. In 1912 she said the worst problems facing Europe were "the antagonism between England and Germany", and on several occasions she remarked that the Russian nobility were absolutely corrupt. After WW1 she said about the Treaty of Versailles that she saw "the nucleus of more wars... how can Germany earn the money to pay?" A bit out of your era of interest, Sharon, but I think you would like Eugenie a lot. She seems to have been quite a woman.