And You Thought Braveheart Was Bad...

     I am one of many historical novelists who rolled her eyes and cried "Welladay!" watching the movie Bravehearrt with its wildly fanciful and downright irritating historical inaccuracies. No, William Wallace was not the father of Edward III... I know someone who was told that her recounting of the execution on Blacklow Hill of Piers Gaveston could not be accurate because everyone knows Patrick McGoohan threw him out a window. Read the Randall Wallace novel... it's just as bad, and he admits it's all fantasy and that he thinks it should have happened the way he said, not how it really did. Tell Gaveston that! Heck, tell Isabella that! "Mais non, I will not couchez avec this smelly blue Scottish man!"
     But... given the choice I would rather the kids I know got their history from movies like Braveheart... than from video games.
   That's one thing I learned during my little "Battle of Hastings" party with the neighborhood boys that I wrote about in yesterday's blog. Throughout the video two or three of them kept telling me about scenes in games the movie reminded them of. One boy's brother's name is Jason. I told him about Jason and the Argonauts and how Jason was a famous hero. He replied, "Jason wasn't always a hero because sometimes he fights other good guys." In the game. Another boy proceeded to describe all the weapons a medieval soldier would carry into battle, axes and swords and crossbows and morning stars.. all at the same time. I noticed in the game Stronghold that in the Dark Ages version the otherwise acceptable stronghold has a neat line of latrines and numerous eel pond.
     I never have been an old fuddy duddy when it comes to games. I had an old Sega Genesis once and only stopped playing with it because my eyesight and it were no longer compatible. But I worry about kids' understanding of the history of the peoples of our planet. I can imagine how hard it is to teach history these days.. constantly having to correct peculiar notions of what Beowulf was about or how much of the sort of goofy magic was in a legendary hero's story.
     I don't know what I am proposing.. nothing really. The average parent is not going to be able to sit down with their kids and calmly explain that knights did or did not do this or that. So just be aware as you are writing your novels that you probably will never be able to compete for the 15 year old mind.
     However, if any game companies are interested, my novel of Anglo Saxon England is definitely available for licensing.. Ah, "An Involuntary King: The Game". Splendid.

Keeping Tabs On.. The Gambling lexicon

Planning a novvel that will feature a riverboat gambler from the mid 19th century, I started looking into what card games were commonly employed by gamblers.  One of the most popular was a game called faro.  In it players place bets on which of a full set of a particular suit of cards will be drawn from the card box or "faro bank".  Two cards are placed on either side of the bank, one called the banker's card and the other the player's card.  If a player matches the banker's card, he loses.  If he matches the player's card, he wins.

I still need to learn how to play this game, how one wins and how one cheats.  But one thing I learned from a video on YouTube about faro is that players would often keep track of what cards were played on small pieces of paper.  These pieces of paper were called "tabs"  As they were used to keep the banker honest, to "keep tabs on someone" came to mean keeping track of their actions or assertions.

Wanna play?

OK All You Crown-Heads - William & Kate Paper Dolls!

My husband will roll his eyes at this, but I know you guys... all you crown-heads sucking up every bit of Kate and William you can get.  But can you play with them or see them in their underwear?  Now you can.  Graphics specialists Dover Publications has come out with William and Kate Middleton Paper Dolls.

That's the Amazon link, but if you go straight to Dover you can send free ecards to your crown-head friends and make their toes tingle with delight.

http://www.doverpublications.com/sampler/0304

Even the honeymoon will be over by the time of the mid-July HNS Conference, but I will expect to see you playing with your Kate and Wills paper dolls anyway.  'Nuff said.

Prince William in his underwear.

Dover, as you know, does those fabulous art sampler books, with editions to please every history obsessed author and reader.  It is highly likely that I will use some of their work in Alehouse Tales.  They were among the first to supply CD-ROMs  to make one's artistic life easier.  But since I have been getting their regular freebie sample emails I have discovered that they not only have books of clip art of a superior quality, they also do books, music, games, puzzles, and more.  Like paper dolls.

So go take a look.. crown-head or no, you will find something you like!

http://www.doverpublications.com/

Book Puzzle!

Here are a couple of my book collage yarn paintings.  See if you can match the image in the yarn painting with the book title!

1. Libertas, Alistair Forrrest
2. Ten Dragons, Barbara Weitbrecht
3. Loki's Daughters,  Delle Jacobns
4. Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
5. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
6. Memoirs of Colonel Gerard Vreilhac, Anel Viz
7. The Ruby in her Navel, Barry Undsworth
8. Gallows Thief, Bernard Cornwell
9. Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe
10. Counterpoint: Dylan's Story, Ruth Sims
11. Shards of Empire, Susan Schwartz
12. The Sallee Rovers, M. Kei
13. The Serpent's Tale, Ariana Franklin
14. The Reavers, by George MacDonald Fraser
15. And a bow and arrows I don't remember which book they were from!  So you get at least one point.

We will do the second yarn painting in a couple of days along with the answers to this one.

The Shakespeare Quote Generator

Give thy porcupine no tongue.

Which work of Shakespeare was the original quote from?

Get your own quotes:

See more like this at surrealist.com .

Rescue the Queen

Or let the queen rescue someone else!


Right click and choose "save as..." to save this maze to print out later.

An Anglo Saxon Riddle

he people of Anglo Saxon England loved riddles. The telling and solving of these early interactive poems was a major source of entertainment for young and old around the campfire or fire pit, and luckily for us many such riddles were recorded in The Exeter Book. Here is just one of 91 such which you can find in Old English and Modern English at http://www2.kenyon.edu/AngloSaxonRiddles/texts.htm.

Riddle 37

Writings reveal this creature's plain
Presence on middle-earth, marked by man
For many years. Its magic, shaping power
Passes knowing. It seeks the living
One by one, winds an exile's road,
Wanders homeless without blame, never there
Another night. It has no hands or feet
To touch the ground, no mouth to speak
With men or mind to know the books
Which claim it is the least of creatures
Shaped by nature. It has no soul, no life,
Yet it moves everywhere in the wide world.
It has no blood or bone, yet carries comfort
To the children of men on middle-earth.
It has never reached heaven and cannot reach
Hell--but must live long through the word
And will of the king of creation's glory.
It would take too long to tell its fate
Through the world's web: that would be
A wonder of speaking. Each man's way
Of catching the creature with words is true.
It has no limbs, yet it lives!
If you can solve a riddle quickly,
Say what this creature is called.

Riddle 71

I grew in the ground, nourished by earth
And cloud-until grim enemies came
To take me, rip my living from the land,
Strip my years-shear, split, shape me
So that I ride homeless in a slayers hand,
Bent to his will. A busy sting,
I serve my lord if strength and strife
On the field endure and his hold is good.
We gather glory together in the troop,
Striker and death-step, lord and dark lunge

My neck is slim, my sides are dun,
My head is bright when the battle-sun
Glints and my grim loving lord bears me
Bound for war. Bold soldiers know
That I break in like a brash marauder,
Burst the brain-house, plunder halls
Held whole before. From the bone-house
One breaks ready for the road home.
Now the warrior who feels the thrust
Of my meaning should say what I'm called.

Find the solutions at the very bottom of the right hand column on this page.
http://historicallyoffcenter.blogspot.com/p/quiz-answers.html

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.

Ile de Saint-Honorat Monastery Jigsaw Puzzle

Since the fifth century, the island has been home to a community of monks.

History

Fortified monastery of Abbey Lérins.
Church and monastery of the Lérins Abbey. Picture taken from the fortified monastery.The island, known to the Romans as Lerina, was uninhabited until Saint Honoratus founded a monastery on it at some time around the year 410. According to tradition, Honoratus made his home on the island intending to live as a hermit, but found himself joined by disciples (including Saint Caprais (Caprasius)) who formed a monastic community around him. This had become "an immense monastery" by 427, according to the contemporary writings of John Cassian.

The monastery provided three bishops for the See of Arles: Honoratius himself, followed by Hilarius and Cesarius in the fifth and sixth centuries respectively. Reputedly, Saint Patrick, patron of Ireland, studied at the monastery in the fifth century.

Over the following centuries, monastic life on the island was interrupted on several occasions by raids, mostly attributable to Saracens. Around 732, many of the community, including the abbot, Saint Porcarius, were massacred on the island by invaders. According to tradition, many of the monks escaped, because Porcarius had been warned of the attack by an angel and had sent them to safety.

In medieval times, the island became a very popular place of pilgrimage. This was encouraged by the writings of Raymond Féraud, a monk who composed a mythological life of Honoratus.

In 1635 the island was captured by the Spanish and the monks were expelled. They returned from exile in Vallauris two years later, when the island was retaken by the French.

The monastery continued to suffer from Spanish and Genoese attacks. The number of monks dwindled to four and, in the proto-revolutionary climate of the time, the monastery was disestablished in 1787. Under the Revolution, the island became the property of the state, and was sold to a wealthy actress, Mademoiselle de Sainval, who lived there for twenty years.

In 1859, the island was bought by the Bishop of Fréjus, who sought to re-establish a religious community there. Ten years later, a Cistercian community was established, and has remained there since.

Jigsaw ppuzzle by Jigzone. History entry excerpted from Wikipedia.

Could You Pass 8th Grade History?

I am having email problems which are distracting me from my usual erudite and incisive blog posts.. so here's another quiz. Just so you know, I missed the one about the Confederate states. My sincerest apology to the Becker family.

Can You Pass 8th Grade History?

It's futuristic history for us medieval types, but it's interesting anyway. Just follow this link to take the quiz.

Jigsaw Puzzle: Castle Gate

Click on the puzzle to solve. You can then change the cut and number of pieces.

Which Henry Is Which?

On a lighter note today, try your hand at identifying which Henry is meant in each of the following questions, courtesy of About.com.

1. Which Henry won the batlle of Agincourt?

2. Which Henry was king when St. Thomas More was beheaded?

3. Which Henry inherited his insanity from his grandfather, Charles VI of France?

4. Which Henry married the ex-wife of a French king?

5. Which Henry won the Battle of Bosworth Field? (the jerk)

6. Which Henry inherited the throne when his brother was killed while hunting? (see the latest review in That's All She Read".)

7. Which Henry was king when Thomas Á Becket was murdered?

8. Which Henry was the youngest English monarch ever to be crowned?

9. Which Henry usurped the throne from King Richard II?

10. Which Henry was given the title "Defender of the Faith" for his writings against the actions of Martin Luther?

11. Which Henry was both the son of a king Henry of England and the father of a King Henry of England?

12. Which Henry was the first English monarch to be crowned while still a child?

13. Which Henry lost his son and heir in the wreck of the White Ship?

14. Which Henry founded the Angevin dynasty?

15. Which Henry died while imprisoned in the Tower of London?

16. The warship Mary Rose was one of the favorite ships of which Henry?

17. Which Henry was captured by Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Lewes?

18. Which Henry was king when Owain Glyndwr led Wales in rebellion against the English?

19. Which Henry created the Star Chamber, a closed court that answered to no one but the king?

20. Which Henry was the first English king to read and write English with any ease?

(I got and 20 wrong.)

Click on the About.com link above to take the quiz there and to get the right answers.

And if you have the herman's Hermits song going through your head all day, don't blame me.

Another Medieval Puzzle

Click on the arrow to scatter the pieces and solve the puzzle.

Here's Lookin' at You, Varleet!

Gorey Castle Jigsaw Puzzle

This site, JigZone, allows you to choose the number of pieces and their shapes. E njoy!