Hug a Medievalist Day giveaway!

I'll bet you thought next Sunday is Easter, and you would certainly be right. But it is also time to celebrate Hug a Medievalist Day again! I recently moved into a new house and in packing up the old one, discovered that I have two copies of Medieval Women. This slim book (112 pp) is a collection of lectures by medieval historian Eileen Power covering "...medieval theories of the woman's work and her place in the world." These lectures "...give a vivid account...of the lady, the peasant, the townswoman, the nun. A chapter on education surveys the schooling available to girls, as well as the subjects and skills that were taught."

(Your copy's book cover will not look exactly like this. I couldn't find a copy of the cover on the prize version.)

If this sounds like a book you'd like for Hug a Medievalist Day, just enter via the Rafflecopter form below and leave a comment telling me the name of a medieval character, real or fictional, that you would like to hug.

Deadline to enter is Hug a Medievalist Day (March 31), 2013. The winner will be drawn on April 1. (That that's no fool!) USA entries only, please.

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on April 1, 2013 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Questions? Contact me at jdipastena@yahoo.com.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Announcement: The British Library's collection of medieval manuscripts is going digital!

A friend just passed on this news to me and I couldn't wait to share it with you! The British Library has announced a plan to digitalize their entire collection of medieval manuscripts (25,000 books dating before 1600) and make them accessible over the internet. Once the project is finished, “Anybody can enjoy them whether they are the leading academic on some aspect of that manuscript … or a schoolchild doing a project,” according to Claire Breay, head of medieval and earlier manuscripts at the library.

Financial Times magazine has been allowed to publish six of these manuscripts on their website, so you can go and view them right now! Here is the link to the FT article, which is also full of fascinating details about various manuscripts in the collection. (Like the one from a Book of Hours in 1540 with illustrations reflecting the first renderings of the game of golf.)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/9b655e8e-70bd-11e2-85d0-00144feab49a.html#slide0

I am so excited! What a treasure trove this will be to researchers, including historical authors like me! (I am pretty sure one of Siri's descendants--my heroine in Illuminations of the Heart--is going to grow up to be an illuminator, too. :-) )

Merry Christmas 2012!

The Christmas carol, The Friendly Beasts, is believed to have originated in 12th Century France. Although the English lyrics were written in 1920, it's nice to remember the song's medieval origins. This is one of my favorite modern renditions by Brian Stokes Mitchell and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Merry Christmas!

Medieval Word of the Day

Rights of warren: permission granted to a knight or baron to hunt small game in the royal forests, such as hares, conies, pheasants, partridges, etc.

(From the Lady and the Unicorn tapestry series, late 15th Century)

Medieval Word of the Day

Chase: a private forest not under royal forest law, or an area of the royal forest where a knight or baron had been granted permission to hunt big game, such as deer and boar.

Medieval Word of the Day

Blanchet: a very coarse woolen cloth.

Medieval Word of the Day

Prime: the second canonical hour of the Catholic Church, after which nuns might listen to readings from the scriptures or lives of the Saints; in 12th Century England, it could fall between 3:40-6:00 AM.

None: the fifth canonical hour of the Catholic Church, after which nuns might eat dinner while one of their number read to them from the scriptures or lives of the Saints; in 12th Century England, it could fall between 1:40-3:00 PM.

See canonical hour.

Medieval Word of the Day

Canonical hour: One of seven prayer times observed by the Catholic church during the Middle Ages. During the Equinox, the hours fell as follows:

Matins: 5:00 AM
Prime: 6:00 AM
Terce: 8:30 AM
Sext: 12:30 PM
None: 2:30 PM
Vespers: 5:00 PM
Compline: 7:00-8:00 PM

These times naturally varied throughout the year as the days accordingly grew longer or shorter. To read more about the canonical hours during various times of the year, visit Court Will Begin at Half-way Terce: Keeping Time in High Middle Ages.

InD'Tale Review of "A Candlelight Courting": 4.5 stars and a Crowned Heart!

I was so excited to see this review of my new medieval e-novella, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance in InD'Tale Magazine that I just had to share! Here's a portion of what the reviewer, Beth Chamberlain, had to say:

"What  an enlightening and enjoyably tender read! Though short in length (the only downside of this story), it is long in understanding. The morals and morays of the middle ages are brought out in this story regarding the place of women and their choice of the roles they were to live. In the telling of this tale the dialogue is written with a sensitivity and a knowledge of the history of that time period. As one reads, one comes to understand that some of the things that we have taken for granted, were once very precious to those who came before us, and their sacrifices, hopefully, were not in vain.
Beautifully done, Ms. DiPastena!"

Read the entire review at http://indtale.com/reviews/candlelight-courting

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance is available for only $1.99 on Kindle and Smashwords.

Medieval Word of the Day

Relics: objects venerated as sacred from their association with a saint or martyr.

Reliquary: a container where relics are stored.

Many reliquaries were elaborately decorated. Here's one example of an early medieval reliquary dated from the 7th Century:

You can see another example that I shared with my readers on my JDP NEWS blog: What Am I Writing Now?

Medieval Word of the Day

Rosary: a Roman Catholic devotion consisting of a series of prayers spoken in a specific order; includes the Ave Maria and the Paternoster. Also a string of beads that helps the person praying keep track of the prayers.

(From the painting Medieval Pomanders with Rosary, 15th Century)

Medieval Word of the Day

Paternoster or Pater Noster: Latin words meaning “Our Father,” the first two words in the Lord’s Prayer, often prayed with the Catholic rosary. 

Medieval Word of the Day

Ave or Ave Maria: Latin words meaning "Hail Mary," from a prayer that begins, "Hail Mary, full of grace," often prayed with the Catholic rosary.

(Virgin Mary and Christ Child, ivory statuette, c. 1260-1280)

Medieval Word of the Day

It's time for a new Medieval Word of the Day series! These are all "new" words that I used in my medieval story, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance.

Let's begin alphabetically with the Apostles' Creed: a statement of early Christian belief adopted by the Catholic Church, believed to have been dictated by the Twelve Apostles of the New Testament. The date of its origins are unknown, but it was referred to by the Catholic Saint Ambrose as early as 390 AD.

Click here to read the Apostles' Creed.

(The Twelve Apostles with the Virgin Mary receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. Artwork dated c. 1460-1480)

Christina of Markyate and "A Candlelight Courting"

I first met Christina of Markyate (born approx 1097) in Who’s Who in the Middle Ages, by Dr. John Fines. Those of you who follow this blog know that this is one of my favorite browsing books about the Middle Ages. (The above link will take you to a book description, but please note that the giveaway is closed.) I read and reread this short biography of Christina for years before it occurred to me to see if I could find a copy of the longer biography cited by Dr. Fines, The Life of Christina of Markyate, a medieval bio by a contemporary of hers translated by C. H. Talbot. Christina, who’s given name was Theodora, became the founder of Markyate Priory in Bedfordshire, England. Her parents were very much set against her becoming a nun and betrothed her to a man named Burthred when she was young. When Christina stubbornly refused to marry Burthred, her parents let the young man into her room one night, hoping he would compromise her virtue and thus force her hand. Instead the next morning, her parents found the couple sitting together chastely having discoursed on religious subjects all night. Burthred and her parents tried several more times to convince Christina to agree to the marriage, but ultimately, Christina escaped and after suffering through many more challenges, became first a holy recluse, and ultimately the first prioress of Markyate.

Dr. Fines and Christina’s anonymous biographer both tell her story in lively, enjoyable styles. Copies of The Life of Christina of Markyate are available on Amazon and other online retailers.

Why am I discussing Christina on Medieval Research with Joyce? Because for years the story of her interlude with Burthred in her chamber intrigued me. In my imagination, I invented many variations of how that evening might have gone and dreamed of someday writing a story of some sort “inspired” by this incident. This summer I finally had an opportunity to do so when I was invited to write a short medieval Christmas story for a romance anthology. When I finished my “inspired by” version, I decided it wasn’t quite what the anthology was looking for and wrote a second story, called “Caroles on the Green”. (Available in A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Edition) But I had grown quite fond of my version of Christina and Burthred’s story, so after I finished my anthology contribution, I returned to Christina and Burthred, polished their story up, and published it as a short e-book called A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Story. A Candlelight Courting is not the story of Christina of Markyate, but of a fictional young woman called Christina of Norgate, also betrothed to a man named Burthred. They, too, have a candlelight courting, but with a very different ending than the original Christina’s. Here is the back cover copy:

When Burthred comes courting on Christmas Eve, Meg rejects his advances. She has her heart set on becoming a nun and insists that he call her Christina, the spiritual name she has chosen for herself. She tries to make him swear on her box of holy relics that he will not pursue her, but he carefully words his oath to allow him to stay in her candlelit chamber and try to change her mind.

What Meg does not confess is that her reliquary box holds a secret.

Burthred needs a wife, and no one will satisfy him except Meg. He swore on his father’s deathbed that he would marry her. But Burthred has a secret, too. When they come together before the Yule fire, their shared revelations will either join their hearts together or tear them apart.

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Story is available on Kindle, Smashwords, iBooks, and Sony, coming soon to Nook.