Coloring Page Anglo-Saxon Alphabet -- 8th and 9th Century

Free, printable, realistic. Coloring book pictures, sheets. - 11253

Coloring page anglo-saxon alphabet 8th and 9th century. Free, printable, realistic. Coloring book pictures, sheets. - 11253

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Our Favorite Fictional Females

In honor of the launch of a new companion blog to the acclaimed History and Women, Imaginary Women: Women of Myth and Legend.. and fiction, by the way, we invite each and every visitor to this blog to leave a comment stating your favorite fictional female and why she is your favorite.

Just click "Comments". You can choose from myth, legend and fiction of any medium, any genre. There is only one exclusion. She cannot be someone who really existed (in that case she belongs in History and Women!)

You are welcome, as well, to write about your favorite "Imaginary Women" and any others you wish including characters in your own work -- just let Nan know what you'd like to do at hawthorne@nanhawthorne.com.

I am off to think about my own answer. I can't use Aethelflaed -- she's real. Hmmm.

Thanks for participating!

Special Request:Speaking of History and Women, as one of the editors for I have set myself a task to write a bio on a woman from every country's history. I have to start somewhere, I decided to start with countries that start with my favorite letter of the alphabet, N, but am having a devil of a time locatng information on women from countries other than North America and Europe. Can you help? Just drop me a bote at the address above.. and thanks.

---

Free copy of the ebook of An Involuntary king: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England -- limited time offer. Just write to hawthorne@nanhawthorne.com.

A Fine Jest or Twain

Seems like a good day for a couple good jokes... or just a couple jokes, anyway.



Sir Edgbert, knight of the realm, was hurrying home on a cold, dark, wet night when, suddenly, his horse suffered a major coronary and died on the spot. All Sir Edgbert could do was collect up what belongings he could and tramp onwards.

After staggering for a spell, he decides that he must get alternative transport. Accordingly, he heads for the nearest building which, as luck would have it, is a small farm. He strides up to the door, bangs on it and shouts 'A horse! A horse!. I must have a horse!".

The door opens to reveal a young girl. She looks at Sir Edgbert and says, "Your pardon, good night but my father and brothers are returning from the village on the other side of the forest and will not be back before noon tomorrow. They are riding all our horses".

Sir Edgbert is saddened by this and says "But I must return home immediately. Have you any idea where I may accuire alternative transportation?".

The young girl says "I know of no other horses hereabouts, but sometimes my brothers ride our Great Dane dog when the need arises. Would use of that help?"

Sir Edgbert is desperate and says "If I must, I must. Show me the animal". The young girl leads the way around to the back of the farmhouse to a stable. She dissapears inside and returns leading and enormous dogs which is quite of a size for riding. Unfortunately, the dog has seen better days. It's coat is threadbare, it's legs are spindly and it seems to be breathing labouriously.

Sir Edgbert looks at the young girl and says, "Surely, you wouldn't send a knight out on a dog like this?"

(From Aha.Jokes.com)

A new monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old texts by hand.

He notices, however, that they are copying copies, not the original books. So, the new monk goes to the head monk to ask him about this. He points out that if there were an error in the first copy, that error would be continued in all of the other copies.

The head monk says "We have been copying from the copies for centuries, but you make a good point, my son." So, he goes down into the cellar with one of the copies to check it against the original.

Hours later, nobody has seen him. So, one of the monks goes downstairs to look for him. He hears a sobbing coming from the back of the cellar, and finds the old monk leaning over one of the original books crying. He asks what's wrong.

The old monk sobs, "The word is celebrate."

(From coolFunny jokes.com)

Your shroud of Turin is painted on velvet
Your daughter's chastity belt has rusted
You can't afford a cod piece................nobody notices
You have more sheep dogs than sheep
You sold your only horse to buy that jousting lance you just had to have...
The plague improved your complexion...........but only for a little while
The Pope sends you to the Crusades...........in Norway
Your armor is made from that foil that came with your chewing gum
Your wife is stronger than your plow horse...but the horse is prettier
The grail you brought home has "made in China" printed on the bottom
Your wife says you have the smallest turret in the kingdom
You won "most improved " at the tournament
They call your daughter "made Marian "
Your family crest is a chicken with a banner that says "peace before discomfort"
Your sheep seem strangely nervous around your oldest son

(From Top20Fun.com)

Oskorei Wessex Fight for Glory

A well-produced video by Luke du Laic and Brendan Lamplough.



From YouTube page:

Two men as brothers take swords as gifts from the high ones and do battle, honour against honour; one trying to better the other...watch and see....

Directed by Luke du Laic.

Co produced by Luke du Laic and Brendan Lamplough of Kiwi fruit productions.

Fight Choreography, scene location scouting, storyboarding by Luke du Laic

Final cut Edit and soundtrack editing gratefully conducted by Brendan Lamplough. www.kiwifriutproductuions.com

How I Do It: One Author's Approach

Guest post by Brandy Purdy, author of The Confession of Piers Gaveston and The Boleyn Wife, due out from Kensington in early 2010. For more information, see www.brandypurdy.com.

s an author, I am often asked, “how do you do it?” a question, I have heard, most frequently asked of magicians also. The explanation is not quite so simple as how a magician pulls a rabbit out of a hat or saws a lady in half. Even I don’t fully understand how I do it. I have never taken a writing class or read a how-to book. The knowledge just seems to be a part of me, perhaps something I imbibed or absorbed through years of voracious reading without even realizing it.

When I settle on a subject to write about I do research, I take notes. I always keep notebooks close to me so I can write down ideas, whether they come to me in bed after I have turned out the light to try to sleep or when I’m in the bath. Perhaps because I have been a fan of classic films since I was a little girl, my books, and the ideas that later make up the scenes, chapters, and dialogue, come to me like snippets of film playing on a movie projector inside my mind. The quality and length of these clips vary. Sometimes it is like watching a film without my glasses on, I hear the sound, but the images are all a blur, then it is my job as a novelist to bring them into focus and sharp clarity, Other times the picture is clear but the sound is garbled or scanty. And sometimes the whole thing is a bloody confounded mess like an old silent film on decayed nitrate film-stock desperately in need of restoration. And it is my job to make sense of it all, to put all the clips, which come to me entirely out of sequence and in random order, in the proper chronology, to bring the picture into focus and as sharp as possible clarity, and to make sure all the dialogue is audible and at as perfect as possible pitch. When these scenes pop into my head, the projector is running, and I have to grab a pen and strive to write down as much as possible of what I am hearing or seeing.

To give an example, imagine being shown a snippet of Gone With The Wind then being asked to write down every little thing you remember, what was said, how it was said, what emotions the characters conveyed, the costumes, hairstyles, the setting. As a novelist, it is my job to put the pictures I see in my head into words, to make a novel out of the movie in my mind. When the book is written and I can read it through and watch the whole movie as I read then I know I have it.

Every writer is different, but that is the best explanation I can give of how I do it.

Strange -- and Funny -- Things

Fun with Speech Output

The software i use to turn text on the screen into spoken words changed the voices available to use with it. The upgrade removed the Microsoft Speech Engine, one of the better choices with clear and human qualities. I should tell you here that the software always comes with a number of choices, only one of which is really human sounding. The others are robotic or at best dull voiced. The new human sounding voice is called NeoSpeech, and all I can imagine since this was supposed to be an up-grade, implying improvement, is that NeoSpeech is less expensive than the Microsoft text-to-speech. It not only cannot read many odd characters, which, as a novelist and amateur historian of the Anglo Saxon period, I am wont to use, but it has the strangest tendency to change how it says certain things.

For example, the boice on my computer has developed a lisp. Not always. It said the s's in "always" and "said" just fine. But try it with

The kingdom in my novel is "Críslicland" which the computer now reads as C. R. Slickland". Words with "æ" are also minus that phoneme. The word "ítheling" is "thee-ling" with the soft "th".

The funniest lately, however, is a word read aloud every time I open the Blogger dashboard for my blogs. I was puzzled when suddenly the male voice I am using at the moment started saying "innuendo" at certain times, none of which involved that specific word. It finally occured to me that what it was reading is "in new window" but the computer is definitely saying "in nyoo wen do".

For the record, I contacted the company. This software is, after all, costs several hundred dollars. I told them about the oddities with the speech... They told me, "We are aware of the problems and will have a better version in the next upgrade". In other words, "If you want a better product, you will have to buy it."

Hys-torical Dreams

One night recently I had a spate of historical dreams. All I can really remember of two of them is a line from each, but I suspect the line is the best part.

"Henry II was such a great soldier that he was even commanding armies from the womb."

Jim told me me he had gone out for coffee with a Norman king named William. I replied, "Well it must have been William the Conqueror then, because William Rufus hated coffee."

Do you think I have been reading too much historical fiction?

American Radio Theater Production of The Confession of Piers Gaveston July 29

The American Radio Theater has produced a play by Brandy Purdy based on her controversial novel, The Confession of Piers Gaveston which will be aired for the first time online on 29 July. Following the production Purdy will take comments and questions. The performance will take place Wednesday July 29 at 9:00 PM Eastern/8:00 PM Central/6:00 PM Pacific at the Accessible World Auditorium.

The Play

The play begins as Gaveston is led in chains to his imprisonm ent, taunted by peasants and villagers along the way. In a unique tweo boice narration, he tells how he came to the point of execution. Script by Brandy PUrdy. Prosucer/director Joy Jackson. Cast: Greg Porter as Piers Gaveston, Pat McNally as Gaveston's alter ego, Richard Haviland as Edward II, also the Earl of Warwick, Kim Turner as the Narrator, the Earl of Lancaster, the Chamberlain, and the Priest, Diana Haviland as the Fool, Marge Lutton as Princess Mary, Joy Jackson, Melinda Mains, and Liz Roach as Peasants.

You can obtain a copy of the play on CD by contacting JJLjackson@aol.com.

American Radio Theater

The American Radio Theater is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting the creative art and technical craft of audio theater. We are based in Seattle, Washington, but have members across the United States and across the globe. They are looking for twenty minute scripts for use on their hour-long reular broadcasts. You can purchase copies of their performances. Contact Joy Jackson at JJLjackson@aol.com for more information.

AccessibleWorld.org

Accessible World Auditoriumis at

http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs5affc3cfa191

This special event requires no password and is free of charge and open to anyone worldwide with an Internet connection, a computer, speakers, and a sound card. Those with microphones can ask questions. To speak, hold down the control key and talk; then let up to listen. Those who do not have a microphone or prefer not to speak can type in the text box on the screen.

If you are a first-time user of the Talking Communities online conferencing software, there is a small, safe software program that you will need to download. A link to the software is available on the entry screen to the Accessible World Auditorium. To ensure sufficient time to download the software, it is a good idea to arrive about fifteen minutes prior to the start time. After the download, click "Enter the Room," type a username, and leave the password blank.

If you plan to participate in the discussion, you should bring a microphone. It is not necessary however as you can particpate by text char or just sit back and enjoy. An archived recording of the hour will be available for download afterwards by contacting Bob Acosta at boacosta@pacbell.net and asking for the link to the downloa of the American Radio Theater special program.

You can contact Brandy Purdy at bkpbooks@yahoo.com. Bisit her web site at http://www.brandypurdy.com for more on the play and her novels.

Me and Eseld

Nan and her newest friend, Eseld - BFF!

They Don't Make Inquisitions Like They Used To...

Torquemada gets the word...

Vatican Praises Latest Harry Potter Film

Simon de Montfort Makes Henry III Expel All Aliens from England.

Number 300

300

This is the 300th post on Nan Hawthorne's Booking the Middle Ages!

Prime Factors of 300=2x2x3x5x5.

300 is a triangular number and the sum of a pair of twin primes (149 + 151), as well as the sum of ten consecutive primes (13 + 17 + 19 + 23 + 29 + 31 + 37 + 41 + 43 + 47). It is a Harshad number.

The Three Hundred, the name given to the Spartans who fought to the death at the Battle of Thermopylae (although two were sent away prior to the battle and survived, Aristodemus and Pantites Xerxes)
Movies about the Three Hundred and the battle:
300 Spartans (1962)
300 (2007)

In bowling, a perfect score, achieved by rolling strikes in all ten frames (a total of twelve strikes).

The lowest possible Fair Isaac credit score.

In cars:
Chrysler 300 (during the 1950s and 1960s, accompanied by a letter).
Nissan 300ZX

In paintball, 300 ft/s is the maximum legal velocity of a shot paintball.

Humans are born with 300 bones, but adults only have 206 bones because some fuse together naturally.

The Hill of Tara in Ireland: a monument are 300 postholes measuring two meters wide have been discovered.300 towering oak posts once surrounded the hill.

300 is the Spirit of God in numerology of the Bible Wheel.

The Old Three Hundred is a term used to describe the 297 grantees, made up of families and some partnerships of unmarried men, who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin and established a colony in present day Brazoria County in southeast Texas.

The Year 300

BCE

Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus, is taken as a hostage to Egypt after the Battle of Ipsus and makes a diplomatic marriage with the princess Antigone, daughter of Ptolemy and Berenice.
Ptolemy concludes an alliance with King Lysimachus of Thrace and gives him his daughter Arsinoe II in marriage.
Seleucus founds the city of Antioch, some 20 miles up the Orontes River, naming it after his father.
After the death of his wife Apama, Seleucus marries Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius Poliorcetes.
The central texts of Jainism, the Jain scriptures, are recorded (approximate date

Art

In Pella (in Macedonia), the artist Gnosis makes a mosaic floor decoration called Stag Hunt and even signs it with "Gnosis made it". It is today preserved at the Archaeological museum in Pella.

AD/CE

The Franks penetrate into what is now northern Belgium (approximate date).
The city of Split is built.
Diocletian's wall is built in Palmyra.
A Romano-Celtic temple-mausoleum complex is constructed in what is now Lullingstone, and also in Anderitum (approximate date).
The lion becomes extinct from Armenia around this date.
The elephant becomes extinct in North Africa from around this date.
The Algerian Wild Ass becomes extinct around this date.
The Mayan civilization reaches its most prolific period, the classic period, in what is now Guatemala, Belize and parts of southern Mexico adjacent to the former two. During most of this period, Tikal dominates the mayan world.

Arts and sciences
The magnetic compass for navigation is invented in China (approximate date).
The Panchatantra, a Sanskrit collection of fables and fairy tales, is written in India.
The Tetrarchs, are probably made in Egypt. After 330 are moved to Constantinople. In 1204 are installed at the corner of the facade of the St Mark's Basilica, Venice (approximate date).
Diocletian's Palace, Split, Croatia, is built. Its model is kept at Museo della Civiltá Romana, Rome.

Religion
Peter of Alexandria becomes Patriarch of Alexandria.
Possible date of the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, manuscripts of the Bible written in Greek.
Tiridates III makes his kingdom of Armenia the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion.
Approximate date of the Synod of Elvira in Elvira, Spain, which was a church council that prohibited interaction with Jews, pagans, and heretics.

Births
Asanga, founder of the Yogacara of Mahayana Buddhism (approximate date)
Frumentius, Syrian Christian trader (approximate date)
Hilary of Poitiers (approximate date)
Li Shou, emperor of Cheng Han (d. 343)
Emperor Min of Jin (d. 318)

Deaths
December 28 — Theonas, Patriarch of Alexandria
Sporus of Nicaea, Greek mathematician and astronomer (approximate date)
Zhang Hua, official of the Jin Dynasty (b. 232)
Liu Ling (b. 221)
Empress Jia Nanfeng (b. 257)
Sima Yu (b. 278)

I will be 300 in the year 2252.

"Historical Fiction Round-up" a Success!

More than a dozen great historical novels are posted on our first Historical Fiction Round-up -- check them out!

We will do these round-ups regularly, maybe every six weeks or less. In the meantime, feel free to list your books on that page... people will be coming back here to look at the list often.

Thanks for your participation, both authors and readers!

Tomorrow: OUr 300th blog entry!!

Historical Fiction Round-up

With this post we begin an irregular feature here on Nan Hawthorne's Booking the Middle Ages, Historical Fiction Round-up.

We invite all authors of historical novels from any era and in any sub-genre to use the Comments feature below to tell visitors to this blog about your latest book, with ordering information and anything else you can fit into the box.

I will add a link to all the Round-ups to the sidebar so visitors need not search the entire blog, which is approaching 300 posts, to find information on your book. Our stats are not stellar but they're pretty darn good, averaging about 1200 hits a month.

So.. who will be first? Well, I will, but be sure to get your books up here or on a future Historical Fiction Round-up.

Historical fiction fans! TYake a look at Comments below to read about the latest and best historical from the very people who bring them to your anticipating eyes!

Nan Hawthornehawthorne@nanhawthorne.com

Biography, Josephine, Lady of Críslicland, Affynshire and Cleethorpes

A fictional biography drawn from An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England - see right.

Josephine, Lady of Críslicland, Affynshire and Cleethorpes
748-835 AD

Josephine, called "Sunshine" as a child, was born to the king and queen of Affynshire on 27 April, 748 AD, at Ratherwood. She was the second of three children, having an older sister named Lorin. She spent her childhood years between the royal stronghold of Ratherwood and her mother's families forest stronghold of Keito Uxello in the foothills of the Pennines. Her older sister died young, followed shortly by their mother. She was betrothed to Lawrence, the second son of the king of the neighboring kingdom of Críslicland, when she was but right years of age, becoming his wife and lady of that kingdom in 764 when she was sixteen. After her father's murder soon after her marriage to King Lawrence of Críslicland, Josephine became Lady of Affynshire in partnership with her husband, her younger brother not being suitable for kingship in the estimation of that country's Witan.

A few years later, after the birth of a son, Peter, twin daughters, Caitness and Elaine, and the adoption of the orphaned Tavish, Josephine paid a visit to her family in Keito Uxello when her mother's kinsman, Ceretic, was gravely ill. The day before her planned returned to Críslicland, a cabal led by Malcolm of Horsfort seized control of the stronghold of Ratherwood and the whole kingdom. Josephine joined her cousins' resistance force, being an able archer in her own right. After a brief reunion with her husband at the camp where he and his armies lay in siege of Ratherwood, she set out for Críslicland, but was ambushed on her way to the border by henchmen of Malcolm. With the help of Siannone ui' Níall (English: Shannon O'Neill), a bard with whom she was traveling, Josephine escaped and made her way back to her husband's stronghold of Lawrencium. Again, she was caught behind the lines when her husband's cousin, Gadfrid, usurped the crown. With the assistance of a Breton mercenary lord, Elerde of Léon, she and her children escaped to the Holy Isle of LindisfArne. When Lawrence succeeded in regaining the throne of Críslicland, the royal couple and their family was reunited. In the meantime, Lawrence had agreed to let the Affynshire crown go to Josephine's eldest cousin, the highly acclaimed archer Ruallauh, Earl of Keito Uxello.

Lawrence and Josephine lived peacefully for several years until in about 793 the Viking raids along the east coast of England began. Military pressure from Offa, King of Mercia, had been ongoing throughout his father's and his own reign, and at the death of King Ruallauh in 798, Lawrence, Ruallaug's son Ceretic, and King Offa signed the Treaty of Lincoln that ceded both Críslicland and Affynshire to Mercia. Josephine, understanding that her husband took the step for the better protection of his people, n evertheless was only too ready to stop being the Lady of Críslicland.

Josephine and Lawrence enjoyed many years of relative peace until Lawrence's death in 835. Josephine died three years later at the age of 89. a remarkable age for a woman of her era.

[Source, Josephine's co-creator Nan Hawthorne, author of An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England. Josephine's original creator is Laura D., who prefers to remain last-nameless.]

Test Your Knowledge of the Middle Ages

One of the best resources online about the Middle Ages for its sheer variety is About.com with its constantly changing offerings on an unbelievable breadth of information. Having Scorpio in my ascendant I love quizzes, and these are not the least of About.com's treasures.

Their General Knowledge Quiz on Medieval History is one such. It changes every time you refresh the page, so you can take the quiz over and over. You can also choose the length of the quiz, so no fear of that trapped feeling one gets when one suddenly realizes you didn't really want to commit that much time!

Taking a look at the quiz now I am finding such topics addressed as castle architecture, religious symbolism, rulers, literary greats, heraldry, and knightly orders. I got six out of ten correct, earning this assessment, "Not bad -- but not great. You may want to learn more about the Middle Ages." Indeed I shall.

Have fun.. and let us know how you do.. if you dare.

Forsoothly Translations

Just for fun

After yesterday's questions about how much archaic language is too much in a novel, time to play.

Identify or add to these forssothly translations of famous line.

"Fear we not but that which is calléd by that very name."

"Prithee proceed, Varlet, to ensure the fullness of my day."

"The answer, O companion mine, wafts on the wings of fair Aeolus."

"Aye, our endeavours may bear sweet fruit!"

"Anon do I gaze on thee, lass."

"Alas, did I the importunate deed once more."

"Longeth I to enclose thy sweet hand in mine own."

Or...

"We have nother to fear but fear itself."

"Go ahead, pubk. Make my day."

"The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind."

"Yes, we can!"

"Here's looking at you, kid."

"Oops, I did it again."

"I wanna hold your hand."

Your turn!

Writing Forsoothly... When Is It Too Much?

My two submissions so far in a writing practice group have resulted in some minor culture shock for me.

The critiques I have gotten have mentioned discomfort with my tendency to write in what they see as an archaic cadence, not just in terms of word choice (e.g.. wicket, porteress, wonted) but what they characterized as assumptions about the reader. I sat up and took notice! Not only do I write like that all the time, sometimes even in my daily life, but I immerse myself in reading mostly historical novels set in the Middle Ages.

I wonder if I have programmed myself to think and write "forsoothly", as one reenactment group calls it. The bect question is, does it matter? Would readers unfamiliar with and possibly uncomfortable with such prose read my books anyway? Is there a plus to writing this way, making it part of setting the scene?

I am calling on other historical novelists to register your opinions on any or all of the following questions:

1. Does an archaic tone to a novel's narrative or dialogue help or hurt it?
2. What is too much when it comes to archaic usage?
3. Someone I know finds you can be too modern as well, using expressions like "I'm just not into him." What do you think?
4. Since any novel that takes place before the Tudor era in England and in any other place where English was not the language is essentially a translation, does it really matter what words an author chooses?
5. I am well known for pointing out that just because a particular word was not recorded does not mean it was not in use in the time about which one is writing, my example being "pitcher". But other writers point to words like "masochism" and "sadism" that came from the names of specific people who were not born yet definitely is outside the reasonable. My question here is why the author can't just write "self destructive" and "deliberately cruel"? Your opinion?

Please click on Comments below to chime in on the topic.

My thanks, gentle reader! (See?)

TOMORROW- Come back and play with some forsoothly translations.