Game of Thrones Season 2 Teaser Trailer
Filed under: George R.R. Martin, Fantasy on December 12th, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Medieval History Term of the Week: Chancellor
Chancellor
The officer of the royal household who serves as the monarch’s secretary or notary. The chancellor is responsible for the Chancery, the arms of the royal government dealing with domestic and foreign affairs. Usually the person filling this office is a bishop chosen for his knowledge of the law. (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms)
King John of England - Fees for Use of the Great Seal, 1199:
We, therefore, for the salvation of our soul and of the souls of Henry, one time King of England, our father of happy memory, and of the said King Richard, our brother, and of all our ancestors and successors, wish and grant, at the instance of the venerable father Hubert, Archbishop of Canterbury, our Chancellor, and decree that in the future nothing shall be taken for the use of the seal in our time or in the time of our successors, more than was anciently decreed to be received for the use of the seal of the Kings of England, and which was received for the use of the seal of Henry our father, one time King of England, of happy memory, namely, for a charter of new enfeoffment of lands, or tenements, or liberties, there shall be taken one mark of gold or ten of silver for the use of the Chancellor, and one of silver for the use of the Vice-Chancellor, and one of silver for the use of the protonotary, and five solidi for wax. For a simple confirmation to which nothing new has been added there shall be given for the use of the Chancellor one mark of silver, for the use of the Vice Chancellor one bysant, and one bysant for the use of the protonotary, and twelve denarii for wax. For a simple protection two solidi shall be given. If any one should presume to do anything contrary to this our decree, let him incur our anger and the anger of Almighty God, and every curse by which an anointed and consecrated king can curse. Moreover, the said Archbishop of Canterbury, our Chancellor, and all bishops who at our consecration laid hands upon us, with our consent, have promulgated sentence of general excommunication against all those who presume to do anything contrary to this our decree. To this decree, the first after our coronation, which we have made concerning our seal, we have put that seal in witness and perpetual confirmation.
*This text is part of the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on December 9th, 2011 | No Comments »
Historic Figures: Alfred the Great
Article from the BBC:
King of the southern Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex and one of the outstanding figures of English history, as much for his social and educational reforms as for his military successes against the Danes. He is the only English monarch known as ‘the Great’.
Alfred was born at Wantage in Oxfordshire in 849, fourth or fifth son of Aethelwulf, king of the West Saxons. Following the wishes of their father, the sons succeeded to the kingship in turn. At a time when the country was under threat from Danish raids, this was aimed at preventing a child inheriting the throne with the related weaknesses in leadership. In 870 AD the Danes attacked the only remaining independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom, Wessex, whose forces were commanded by Alfred’s older brother, King Aethelred, and Alfred himself.
Filed under: Anglo-Saxons, People, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on December 8th, 2011 | No Comments »
Archaeologists make new Stonehenge ’sun worship’ find
From the BBC News:
Two previously undiscovered pits have been found at Stonehenge which point to it once being used as a place of sun worship before the stones were erected.
The pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site and may have contained stones, posts or fires to mark the rising and setting of the sun.
Filed under: Archaeology on December 5th, 2011 | 4 Comments »
My novel is complete
The novel is complete, finally. After seven revisions over a period of nine years, it’s finished. I have nothing left to edit. It’s in a final form ready to be sent off to agencies for representation. The next part in the process will be to polish the query letter I’ve already written and send it off to the narrowed-down list of agents who accept both historical fiction and fantasy. There are also a few more agents I’d like to research that I might add to the list.
Below is an excerpt from Chapter 2 of my novel. The scene takes place at a later point in the chapter from my previous excerpt, after Caelen has already arrived in Cenlis.
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He awoke to the sound of voices from outside. The room was dark as the candle on the desk had burned out some time ago. Caelen climbed out of bed and walked to the door. He pressed his palm to the wooden frame and inched the door open so that a slit of light slashed across the floor.
Across the yard, he saw a few of the brothers talking to a group of men. Caelen counted six men in the group. Five were soldiers wearing black, and the other was dressed in a clergyman’s clothes. The clergyman was addressing the monks in a raised voice while the soldiers waited behind him. Caelen cursed under his breath.
They’ve come for me.
Caelen guessed they must have followed him from Alecon, and if they caught him, they would hang him. He needed to go now.
Caelen eased the door open and slipped out behind the buildings along the northern wall of the monastery. Rain spattered the buildings, thunder clapped, and bursts of white light filled the darkening sky. He could hear the irritation in the clergyman’s voice rising on the wind. The brothers could do nothing to calm him.
Caelen touched the wolf head pommel of his blade.
Where was Darius? Would the abbot hide him or hand him over to the soldiers?
He knew he must reach the eastern gate before they caught him. He ran. His feet slapped puddles of water as he crossed the yard, while behind him, he could see the soldiers’ torches fanning out to find him. He counted three men, including the clergyman, heading toward the guesthouse.
Caelen nearly made it to the eastern buildings when two more torches rounded the far side of the chapel. He hadn’t seen those soldiers earlier as they must have already been searching for him while the clergyman talked with the monks. Caelen ducked into the building nearest him, a tiny one-celled chamber stacked with shelves of glass vials and books. Outside, the rain pounded the thatched roof and dripped off the eaves.
Caelen peered through the wooden slats at the approaching soldiers. The two men circled behind the other buildings out of view and then re-appeared. They were just an arms throw away, so close Caelen could smell the smoke from their torches and hear their mail coats jingling as they walked. They stopped just outside the door, seemingly content to make a sweep of the monastery without checking all the buildings, and if they had been doing their jobs, they would have caught him, and he would likely be hanging from the end of a rope before dawn.
Their backs were to him, and Caelen knew he would not have a better chance to kill them both. He would have to act quickly, kill them with two strokes, and then run for the eastern gate. He wasn’t sure where the clergyman and the other two soldiers had gone, as he couldn’t see the guesthouse from inside the chamber, and it was that thought which caused him to hesitate.
And it was that hesitation which lost him his chance.
Filed under: Novel on November 29th, 2011 | 13 Comments »
Medieval History Term of the Week: Escheat
Escheat
[es-cheet]
1) The right of a feudal lord to the return of lands held by his vassal, or the holding of a serf, should either die with out lawful heirs or suffer outlawry.
(MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms)
2) Reversion of property to feudal lord or Crown upon default of heir or upon conviction of treason or felony.
(Sayles, George O. The King’s Parliament of England, 144)
3) The reversion to a lord of a fief for default of heirs or the outlawry of the holders.
(Warren, W.L. Henry II, 633)
*term definitions retrieved from Netserf’s Medieval Glossary
From the text of the Magna Carta of 1215:
If a man holds lands of any `escheat’ such as the `honour’ of Wallingford, Nottingham, Boulogne, Lancaster, or of other `escheats’ in our hand that are baronies, at his death his heir shall give us only the `relief’ and service that he would have made to the baron, had the barony been in the baron’s hand. We will hold the `escheat’ in the same manner as the baron held it.
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on November 23rd, 2011 | No Comments »
HBO’s Game of Thrones - Season 2 Production Video
Game of Thrones, season 2, premiers April 2012. The second season is based on A Clash of Kings, the second book in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. If HBO creates each season on each of the books in the series, they will make it to season six before book six is even published. They better slow down.
Filed under: George R.R. Martin, Fantasy on November 21st, 2011 | No Comments »
Brief History of the Normans
From Regia Anglorum:
By c. 900 the Vikings had ravaged northern France to such an extent that there was little plunder to be found along the rivers which had formed their major avenue of attack. Ironically it was a Danish Army (under a leader called Hrolf or Rolf in some chronicles), which arrived in 911 to pillage the lower Seine Valley that created the Vikings’ only lasting impact on western Europe.
Hrolf attempted to besiege Chatres without success, but his army was such a threat to the Seine valley, that Charles, King of the Franks, negotiated a treaty at St. Clair-sur-Epte. Under this treaty all the land bounded by the rivers Brestle, Epte, Avre and Dives was granted to the Danes; effectively the land they already controlled. By 924 the Franks were forced to grant the Danes the districts of Bayeux, Exmes and Sees, and in 933 the Cotenin and Avranchin.
Filed under: The Normans, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on November 17th, 2011 | No Comments »
Clash of the Gods: Beowulf
Clash of the Gods: Beowulf is being re-shown a couple of times this week on the History Channel: Friday, November 18 at 9:00am ET or Friday, November 18 at 3:00pm ET.
Filed under: Medieval History TV Guide, Anglo-Saxons, Videos, Vikings, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on November 14th, 2011 | No Comments »
Knights of Mayhem
In conjunction with post about the sport of jousting making a comeback, Knights of Mayhem is premiering on NatGeo November 15, which is a new series dedicated to the folks who are trying to make jousting the next extreme sport.
About the show:
Will full-contact professional jousting be the next extreme sport? For some, it is a real-life passion and thrives outside of the movies and Renaissance fairs. Charlie Andrews leads the “Knights of Mayhem,” a group of modern-day Lancelots and Galahads dedicated to transforming this medieval sport from a staged act to a professional sports phenomenon that will sweep the globe. For these “knights,” jousting is no dinner show. Donning 130 pounds of steel armor, they mount 2,000-pound horses and charge at each other with solid hemlock lances at speeds up to 30-mph, while peering through a quarter-inch eye slot in their helmets. When lance and knight collide, riders struggle to control their horses and absorb devastating impacts with potential for concussions, broken bones and far worse.
Filed under: Medieval History TV Guide, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on November 10th, 2011 | 4 Comments »
