Getting Medieval

Saint George's Feastday

We must make mention of this pretty important medieval saint, Saint George, patron saint of England (it's in the Union flag!) and many other places.

Saint George. A fourth century martyr, George became the patron of many countries, including England, as he was the patron of soldiers and armies. He was born in Lydda, Palestine and was himself a soldier. He is best known for his heroics found in the Golden Legend, practically a field guide to the middle ages compiled by Jacobus de Voragine in the 13th century, who gathered the lives of many saints. The familiar legend wherein George slew a dragon to save a fair maiden from a gruesome death is more metaphor for his accomplishments fighting the evil of paganism. Though it does make for great imagery in church windows. George became a soldier in the Roman army and a secret Christian. But Diocletian decreed that the Christians must be persecuted. George refused and even spoke out against it. Well, he was arrested, put to various tortures which he survived, never denouncing his faith, and was eventually beheaded.

His cult was so popular that by the 15th century his feast day was almost more important than Christmas. Because of his immense popularity, his feast day (death day) is celebrated on many different dates: 23 April (Roman Catholic); 3 November (Russian Orthodox); fourth Sunday in June (Malta); third Sunday in July (Gozo)

He is the patron of a dizzying array of countries, afflictions, and occupations: Amersfoort, Netherlands; Aragon; agricultural workers; archers; armourers; Beirut, Lebanon; Boy Scouts; butchers; Canada; Cappadocia; Catalonia; cavalry; chivalry; Constantinople; Crusaders; England; equestrians; Ethiopia; farmers; Ferrara, Italy; field hands; field workers; Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Genoa, Italy; Georgia; Germany; Gozo; Greece; Haldern, Germany; Heide, Germany; herpes; horsemen; horses; husbandmen; Istanbul; knights; lepers; leprosy; diocese of Limburg, Germany; Lithuania; Malta; Modica, Sicily; Moscow, Russia; Order of the Garter; Palestine; Palestinian Christians; plague; Portugal; Ptuj, Slovenia; riders; saddle makers; saddlers; Senj, Croatia; sheep; shepherds; skin diseases; skin rashes; soldiers; syphilis; Teutonic Knights; Venice.

So if you are a saddle-making farmer Boy Scout with herpes in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, take heart. Someone’s looking out for you.   

LA Times Festival of Books 2012 Day Two

Second day and we had better sales! To those who stopped by and bought a book, thank you so much! We had a good time in the Sisters in Crime booth as well as the MWA booth--when I could slip over there.

So more pictures:

I signed along side incredible author Stephen J. Schwartz yesterday at the Mysterious Galaxy booth.

 

Medieval Times had a booth this year. No jousting, though.

 

Crazy big tree that the kids like to romp around. I'm sure many a co-ed romps around it, too.

 

The famous USC Marching Band gave us some music to open the festival today.

 

She signs again.

 

Politcial activists were there as per usual.

 

More fun architecture.

 

And saw this fellow on a wall, searching for his genitals. ("I know I saw them around here somewhere!") Sorry, had to say it.

 

And then while leaving, we spotted this iconic sign along side the 5 freeway. As a kid in Los Angeles, I grew up looking forward to seeing the Felix sign as we drove by, so I couldn't resist grabbing a photo today. Just a little nostalgia for this native Angelino.

 

LA Times Festival of Books 2012 Day One

Arrived early to help set up the Sisters in Crime LA booth, so got to see the sordid underbelly of the fest... Naw, not really. But as usual, there were lots of great authors and lots to see. Strangely, even though I am a native Angelino and lived in LA most of my young life, I have never before been to the campus of USC (Don't tell anyone, but I'm really a UCLA gal). But be that as it may, the weather was lovely and our booths were under the shade of the trees. You've still got a chance to come by tomorrow and say hi. Let's take a look.

LA Chapter prez Patty Smiley (left) listens intently to Edgar-awarding winning author Les Klinger, while author and Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America prez, Gary Phillips, looks on.

Mystery Ink bookstore in Huntington Beach plays host to debut authors Ashley Ream (left) and award-winning author Darrell James.

I do my first signing of the day at Mystery Ink.

Chatting with Edgar award-winning author Naomi Hirahara.

 

Signing and mugging with authors (from left) Sheila Lowe, Diane Emley.

And then there was this...

And this...

Lots of fun architecture. I love collegiate structures. They don't build 'em like this anymore, with fun details like this...

...and this...

Medieval frat boys.

Tried to look up Tommy Trojan's skirt but there was nothing to see. I'll try again tomorrow.

Buried Treasures Discovered at Furness Abbey

Not as in a pirate's buried treasure, but like a treasure trove of wonderful finds in burial plots in the ruined abbey itself, from the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.

Two years ago, the abbey's adminstraters from English Heritage noticed cracks developing in some of the walls. True, it's already a ruin (thanks Henry VIII) but they didn't expect such rapid decay. They did some emergency excavations in order to begin to stabilize the walls and discovered the grave of an abbot along with his treasures.

They found the abbot's silver crook (head of his staff of office), a ring, and, of course, his skeleton. This was a Cistertian abbey, and the authorities say that the placement of his buriel--in the presbytery near the high altar--is quite unusual. They don't quite know who the bloke is. He might be William of Dalton who became Abbot of Furness in around 1406, but he might also be Bishop William Russell, a cleric from the Isle of Man was buried at Furness in 1374.

More investigation is ahead but the treasures will go on display at Furness Abbey in Cumbria on May 4 and 7. For more, read the story from The Independent.

Medieval Skeletons in Oxford

I always like a good medieval skeleton story, don't you? These fellows were discovered at St. John's College in Oxford in 2008. Originally, they were thought to be a part of the St. Brice's Day Massacre. You remember that one, don't you? From 13 November 1002. No? Don't feel bad, neither do I. King Æthelred the Unready, tired of all these bloody Vikings and of those who stayed and settled, ordered all the Danish men in England to be put to the sword. Not a nice thing but pretty medieval. He believed that they would take orders from their Viking overlords and kill the king and all his counselors. 

In fact, here's Æthelred's royal charter from 1004 explains why he did what he did:

"For it is fully agreed that to all dwelling in this country it will be well known that, since a decree was sent out by me with the counsel of my leading men and magnates, to the effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a most just extermination, and thus this decree was to be put into effect even as far as death, those Danes who dwelt in the afore-mentioned town, striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge and defence for themselves therein against the people of the town and the suburbs; but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessity, to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burnt, as it seems, this church with its ornaments and its books. Afterwards, with God's aid, it was renewed by me."

In fact, they didn't just put men to the sword but women and children, too. But in analyzing these particular bones, scientists came to the conclusion that the "bone collagen suggests a diet more like other Scandinavian populations than that of local groups, and the (tooth)  enamel isotopes point towards a Scandinavian rather than a lowland English origin. Comparison with Oxford Archaeology's recently excavated Weymouth Ridgeway mass burial suggests, however, that the execution of a captured raiding party is more likely than the slaughter of Oxford inhabitants of Danish descent."

So...not local Danish? Best summation from the facts that they were a raiding party, between the ages of 16-25, with multiple stab wounds. More can be found here from the folks at Medievalists.net.

LA Times Festival of Books 2012

I missed it last year at its new digs at USC, but I'm going this year! Next weekend,in fact.

And by the way, it's FREE! You shouldn't miss it. Tons of authors will be there, there's stuff for kids, books to peruse and buy, food--it's crazy! Pop by to just say Hi, to get one of my bookmarks and sword pens while they last, or to get a book signed. I'll be the one wearing the "Chaucer is My Homeboy" shirt. 

 

Saturday I'll be at the Mystery Ink bookstore booth # 370 from 11 am to Noon; then at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore booth # 372 from 2 pm to 3 pm.

 

On Sunday I'll be signing at the Sisters in Crime booth # 373 from noon to 2 pm, and sprinkled here and there between signings, I’ll be hanging around the Sisters in Crime booth or the Mystery Writers of America booth # 371. Yeah, I'll pretty much be at the same general area Saturday and Sunday. See more here: http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/general-information/

 

Come join us!

 

 

http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/general-information/

 

 

Medieval Easter and the Triduum

A few years back, I did a pretty thorough accounting of medieval holy week. So it's time for a cheesy clip show. You can revisit it here:

http://www.getting-medieval.com/my_weblog/2011/04/medieval-easter.html

Medieval Haggadah Offers Insights

As we approach Passover (Passover Eve this Friday night), it seems fitting to discuss one of history's true treasures. Known as the Birds' Head Haggadah because of the figures depicted therein with bird's heads and human bodies, the haggadah--the prayer book used to conduct Passover seders in the home with variations still being used today--is a manuscript dating from around 1300. It's considered one of the most fascinating pieces of Jewish art from the Middle Ages. As in most illuminated manuscripts from the era, it depicts daily life, but in this case, Jewish daily life. Though the figures have bird heads--scholars believe they are griffin heads, a popular medieval motiff--it is believed they utilize bird heads because of the biblical prohibition of depicting humans, the graven image problem.

Last month, Professor Marc Michael Epstein of Vassar College, gave a lecture at the Univesity of Toronto entitled, “Birds Head Revisited: Identity, Politics and Polemics the Birds’ Head Haggadah,” and according to Medievalists.net:

The Birds’ Head Haggadah is one of a whole series of manuscripts from medieval France and Germany that were deliberately illustrated not to show the human faces. In others medieval texts other kinds of animal heads were used instead. Meanwhwile, the Birds’ Head Haggadah originally depicted the non-Jewish characters in its illustrations as having blank faces – centuries later faces were drawn onto these figures.

One of the main topics of Professor Epstein’s discussion were the illustrations found on folios 25v and 26r of the Haggadah, which depict the making of Matzah, an unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jews during the week-long Passover holiday. Epstein believes these illustrations, which show the pricking of the bread and then placing it into an oven, were meant to counter accusations from the Christian community that the preparation of Matzah was a mockery and attack towards the Christian practice of Communion.

As every educated person should know--and those medievals, too, god bless 'em--is that communion came from the Last Supper which was a--wait for it--Passover seder...with matzo! Of course, this is where the Blood Libels stem from, the belief that Jews killed Christian children and used their blood to make Passover matzo, nevermind that there is a huge blood consumption prohibition in the Jewish faith, especially anything to do with human blood. Christians also wrongfully believed that Jews would steal the Eucharistic bread to humiliate and hurt it (if it is truly the body of Christ, so medieval Christians thought, then it could theoretically feel pain. Except that Jews didn't believe in Jesus as the messiah and therefore didn't believe that the Eucharist was anything more than bread--or badly made matzo. Go figure.)  

Nevertheless, the book was not for Gentiles but for Jews and still stands as a fascinating look back over the centuries. You can read more about it from Professor Epstein's book (below).