Queer Medieval links: books mentioned, maps, more

Last week’s big old Medieval Pride event I did at Town Hall Seattle for Humanities WA went brilliantly. We sold 500+ tickets; I’m not sure how many attended online and how many in person, but there were a lot of people in the audience. (I have some good photos of the event but I’m waiting for permission to post them.) Afterwards I signed for well over an hour—thank you all for waiting so patiently! And thank you to Charlie and Colleen of Charlie’s Queer Books for running the line so beautifully. For those who didn’t have the time or energy to wait, there are some signed books at Charlie’s Queer Books, or—as always—you can get them from Phinney Books, my neighbourhood store.

I’ve never done an event at Town Hall before but it was really smooth. Finding parking was easy—there are several pay lots nearby—and everything is very accessible. Also their Green Room had a mini-fridge stocked with beer and I had a plate of delicious nibbles to chomp as we sorted out logistics, got fitted with my mic and so on. So I can recommend it—whether as performer or audience.

The livestream was recorded. The Medieval Women’s Choir begins at 08:29, and then there’s a lot of blank space, so I’ve set it to begin at the start of the main event at 1:01:26. Enjoy!

[EDIT TO ADD: It looks like this was a time-limited posting, so it’s no longer available. Sorry. I’ll see if I can figure out how to get a couple of clips up, but it may take a while.]

Women’s Medieval Choir begins 08:29. Main event at 1:01:26.

During the talk I promised to add some notes here about books I mentioned, and ones I knew I was forgetting. During the book signing I also promised a few readers links to other things.

LinksMy research blog, Gemæcce, with two posts of particular interest:“Playful Mating With Another Woman““The Beautiful Sin“Maps:3 maps for Hild and Menewood1 map for SpearMy PhD thesis, Norming the Other: Narrative Empathy Via Focalised Heterotopia All about Hild and Menewood All about Spear Bede on Hild (translated by Roy Liuzza; this is my favourite of others’ translations—my own is deliberately literal and not really useful for other people)BooksNonfiction:African Europeans: An Untold History, Olivette OteleAnd in case you’re still not convinced that Britain has always had residents of every skin colour, here’s a blog post on the subject, ranging from the Bronze Age to today The Emergence of the English , Susan Oosthuizen Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England , Penelope Walton Rogers Britain after Rome , Robin Fleming Double Agents: Women in Clerical Culture in Anglo-Saxon England , Clare Lees and Gillian OveringHistorical Fiction that had an impact on me or think is done particularly well:Rosemary Sutcliff: Sword at Sunset and others (not queer, sigh)Mary Stewart: The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and others (so very not queer)Mary Renault, Fire From Heaven (this is about Alexander the Great, and super queer)Patrick O’Brian, the Aubrey/Maturin series beginning with Master and Commander (Napoleonic war fiction: Jane Austen on a ship of war…)Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith, and others (Victorian-era lesbian picaresque)Manda Scott, Into the Fire (fabulous split timeline novel about Joan of Arc)Poetry:Maria Dahvana Headley, Beowulf, a New Translation (If you want a translation of the Most Famous OE epic poem that really captures that jock bro energy of heroic age warrior society, this is for you)Y Gododdin Nothing like it. Late sixth/early seventh century Welsh heroic elegyOld English poetry such as The Ruin or The Wanderer Epic Old English wistfulness and melancholy. Wonderful stuff.Books by specialists in the Late Antique/Early Medieval debating the era and Arthur’s historicity:Guy Halsall, Worlds of ArthurNick Higham, King ArthurChristopher Gidlow, The Reign of Arthur

If I promised you something but you don’t see it here it means I forgot—it was a busy night, and I wasn’t taking notes—so just drop a comment and I’ll add it.

Hopefully I’ll be able to post those photos in a day or two. So stay tuned.