Norman Conquest Day 2010

Before the battle

The Norman cavalry attacks the Saxon foot soldiers across the field of battle

(You understand this cake is representative only?)

After the battle

Happy Norman Conquest Day 2010!

Visit my past Norman Conquest Day celebrations for 2008 and 2009.

Google Isn’t the Answer to Everything!

So last night I was doing some research for my latest work-in-progress. (Yes, believe it or not from my lengthy absence from this blog, I actually am still working on my work-in-progress!) I have this book called The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, by George Frederick Kunz. In it, I found the following statement:

“There is established a very pretty custom of assigning to the various masculine and female Christian names a particular gem, and such name-gems are often set together with natal and talismanic gems and with gems of one’s patron saint.” (pp 46-47)

Kunz includes sample lists of name-gems (example: Mary = Moonstone, James = Jade, Thomas = Topaz, etc). He also includes lists from various cultures and time periods of natal, or birthstones. But nowhere in the book could I find a list of gemstones for patron saints.

What to do, what to do? What else but hop on the internet! I thought I would track down such a list very quickly, print it out, and stick a copy in The Curious Lore of Precious Stones for future research reference. Instead, I spent nearly two hours typing in every combination of words I could think of in a vain effort to find any such list. The closest I could come was a list of gemstones assigned to the original twelve apostles from a website called Fifteen Promises Heritage Rosaries, which gave me a list of stones for the original twelve apostles in the New Testament and stones for twelve guardian angels. The source of this list was not cited.

I continued my fruitless search, until at last, I decided that perhaps Kunz’s reference to “patron saints” had not referred to Catholic saints in general, but had been intended to be limited to the original twelve apostles. (Though I would have appreciated it if he had simply said as much to begin with!) So, I stopped typing in “saints” and “Catholic saints” in front of words such as “gems”, “gemstones”, “precious stones”, “stones”, etc, and began adding the word, “apostles”. Not only did information finally start popping up, but nearly every site, after explaining the arguments for and against assigning gems to the apostles, referred me back to their prime source for their information: The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, by George Frederick Kunz! One site called it “the definitive book on fascinating, traditional gem lore.”  (Jewelry Mall)

So back I went to where I had started in the first place: The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, sitting right beside my laptop with my WIP. The drawback to this book is that, while it does have an index, it’s not a terribly exhaustive one, so it took some hunting to see if I could find any information about the “apostle stones”. Eventually I did, although it was not in list form, as the name-stones and natal-stones had been. (Which is why it was more difficult to find.) Instead, the information was embedded in a long treatise by Andreas, Bishop of Caesarea, who lived in the tenth century. The information matched exactly with the internet list from Fifteen Promises Heritage Rosaries, though I had to “pull it out” of Andreas’ text. (The origins of this information are important for me, since once again, my WIP is medieval and my characters need access to information that would actually have been available during their lifetimes.)

So now, at last, after having gone in a very wide circle, I end up where I began with the information I was looking for in same book I started out with in the first place.

So, if you are looking for “definitive” information “on fascinating, traditional gem lore”, I’d suggest you skip right over Google and go straight for George Frederick Kunz’s book, The Curious Lore of Precious Stones. Just be prepared to read carefully, because the index can sometimes be less than helpful in quickly locating specific information.

(By the way, if anyone out there knows a list assigning gemstones to Catholic saints beyond the twelve apostles, I would love to know about it!)

Living the History

Although this blog focuses mostly on book learnin' for conducting medieval research, there are, of course, other ways to "experience" the Middle Ages, after a sort. If you're a cook, then try making and sampling a medieval dish. Some books that contain medieval recipes include Fabulous Feasts: Medieval Cookery and Ceremony, by Madeleine Pelner Cosman; Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, by Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler; and The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban & Silvano Serventi.

Alas, I hate to cook, but don't let that discourage you from doing so! Until I overcome my personal reluctance (I suppose "laziness" is closer to the truth!), I'll have to continue to rely on my overly active imagination and trust in my characters' palates. (Don't worry. As one of my favorite plaques says: "I live in my own little world, but it's okay. They know Me here!")

Music is another way to sample what life might have been like in the Middle Ages. Now music is something I can do! Or at least, I can happily listen to it. (I suppose I could happily eat medieval food that someone else cooked for me, too, if I could find someone else to do the cooking.) You have only to visit Amazon.com and type in the words "medieval music" into the Music category to come up with a plethora (I love that word...plethora!) of CDs that feature music from the Middle Ages. One of my favorite albums from clear back when it was an old fashioned LP (thankfully converted to CD and MP3 versions) is Music of the Crusades. And my very favorite musical selection on that album...actually, my all time favorite medieval selection of all!...is called Ja nus hons pris. This song is credited to Richard the Lionheart, supposedly composed by King Richard while imprisoned on his way home from the 3rd Crusade and held for ransom. You can listen to a snippet of Ja nus hons pris on Amazon (though I downloaded my copy from iTunes) and read an English translation of the words at These Vintage Years!

If you follow my JDP NEWS blog, you'll know that one of the highlights of my year is attending the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Renaissance and Medieval Festivals are, admittedly, fantasy versions of those time periods, but still, they're great places to "pretend" and soak in at least a little bit of historical atmosphere. And there are other "living history" experiences you can take part in, such as the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Whether researching in the comfort of your own home or at a public historical re-enactment, let's not underestimate the power of wearing an authentic medieval outfit to really get one in the spirit of the times!  Here are a few Medieval/Renaissance clothing websites that I've come across. They all carry Medieval, as well as Renaissance (and occasionally Tudor) costumes:

The Renaissance Store
RenaissanceModel.com
Pearson's Renaissance Shoppe

You can also find these links in the right hand sidebar of this blog under (appropriately enough) "Medieval, Renaissance, and Tudor Clothing"

To be totally upfront, The Renaissance Store is the only "store" I have personal experience with, and that was only to buy medieval jewelry, not clothes. But they're all very enjoyable websites to browse, and Pearson's Renaissance Shoppe has the added benefit of maintaining a companion blog.

Do you  have any favorite medieval recipes, medieval songs, medieval re-enactments, or medieval shopping places? If so, I'd love to have you share it in the comment section!

Women Riders: Jot That Down!

Recently while asking for feedback from some other authors on a scene I had written for my current work-in-progress (a new medieval novel), one author who sets her stories in a later historical time period, questioned the fact that my heroine was riding her horse astride rather than sidesaddle. To be truthful, I found myself startled that I had written the scene that way. I had done no immediate research to put my heroine astride in her saddle, yet somewhere in the back of my mind, I had known that for the Middle Ages, this was the correct way for a lady to ride a horse. Somewhere, very long ago, I knew I had read that kernel of information in a research book. But where?

Fortunately for me, I have my research books loosely filed according to subject matter on my bookshelves. To date, I own only one book specifically on medieval horses, and that one deals with the medieval war horse, not exactly the subject I was looking for. So I went to my section on “medieval women” to see whether I had written my riding scene correctly or not. Sadly, every one of my indexes let me down in finding a quick answer. So I browsed the tables of content until I found a chapter labeled: “Lifestyle and Travel” in English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages, by Jennifer C. Ward. Flipping to, then through this chapter, I found the following sentences: “There were several ways in which the noblewoman could travel. One way to travel was to ride, usually astride…” This last phrase was followed by a footnote. Following the footnote to the bottom of the page, I found the reference: J.J. Jusserand, English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages, London, 1891, 100-105.

“I know that book!” I said. Even more excited, I exclaimed, “In fact, I own that book!”

English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages was one of the first additions to my medieval research library, owing to the fact that I had a particular interest in medieval “travelers” while writing my very first medieval novel. And thanks to my loose filing system, I knew immediately where to find it.

The bad news was, the page numbers listed in the footnote citation in English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages did not match up with the pages in my edition of English Wayfaring Life. Instead of women riders, I found myself reading about English minstrels. (They were walkers, not riders.) Once again, the index failed me, too. However, curiously enough, for 7 pages out of 315 page book, something had inspired me to jot notes in the margins of Chapter II, “The Ordinary Traveller and the Casual Passer-By.” And one of these jottings turned out to be “women and riding.” Bingo! Here I found the affirmation that I was looking for that women did, indeed, ride astride during most of the Middle Ages, that the side saddle was not invented until late in the 14^th Century, and even then rarely used, and even a description of the saddles that were used at the time.

Here, once more, is evidence that, however irksome and time consuming it may feel at the time, you will never, ever (EVER) regret jotting notes in the margins of your research books to help you quickly reference specific topics discussed in each chapter. (Now I just need to re-read the whole book and fill in the rest of my “jottings”.)

English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages (The Medieval World)

Change in Comment Settings

Due of a stream of "anonymous" comments to my last post having nothing whatsoever to do with this blog, I have (hopefully temporarily) reset my comment settings to "registered users". I know from experience that this setting makes it harder for many people to leave comments on blog postings, but I don't know any other way, short of screening every comment, to put a stop to Mr. Anonymous. I'm hoping that he/she will grow tired and take his/her annoying behavior elsewhere and that I will be able to reinstate the "general" comment setting soon. In the meantime, thank you for your patience!

Winner of "A Medieval Herbal"

Congratulations to Jaimey Grant! Jaimey has won my duplicate copy of A Medieval Herbal. Merry Christmas and Happy Writing, Jaimey!

And a very Merry Christmas to everyone who entered my drawing!

One More Gift Book Title

It's amazing what one stumbles across while cleaning house for the holidays. No, alas, it's not another duplicate book, so no contest involved here. (Though my contest for a copy of A Medieval Herbal is still on going through Christmas Eve!) It is, however, a copy of Through the Glass Window Shines the Sun: An Anthology of Medieval Poetry and Prose, edited by Pamela Norris. This is a little larger than the gift books I referred to previously. Okay, so maybe it's quite a bit bigger at 7.5" X 7.5". But it's still very much in the style of the gift books I described in my previous post on that subject, designed with the text on one page and a beautiful period painting reproduction on the facing page.

Through the Glass Window... begins with an introduction by Pamela Norris. In her own words, this book: "...brings together writing and painting from across the spectrum of medieval life, spanning a period of around 350 years, from the late twelfth century to the reign of Henry VIII."

Ms Norris divides her book into four sections:

• "The Queen of Heaven", focusing on medieval religious prose and poetry
• "My True Love and Lady", focusing on secular love between men and women
• "In Peace and War", focusing on "the diversity of medieval life"
• "Marvelous Tales", with excerpts from the sort of fantastical stories that men and women of that age enjoyed wiling the hours away listening to on a cold winter's night. (Many of which might equally well wile away many a winter's evening of our own...or spring's, or summer's, or fall's, for that matter!)

As I warned you to be the case with most of these beautiful gift books, this one, too, is currently out of print, but used copies are available on Amazon, and it never hurts to Google the title for additional options.

Christmas Contest for Yet Another Duplicate Book!

I just finished holding a contest over on my sister blog, JDP NEWS, and it hardly seems fair that I should neglect you, my faithful Medieval Research with Joyce followers, from a Christmas contest of your own. Fortunately for you, I have rounded up...yes!...another duplicate book from my medieval  library!

This one is called A Medieval Herbal. It is a small gift book size (5" X 6.5"), hard bound, and to quote from the back cover blurb: "With lavish period illustrations and engaging lore from authentic botanical texts, A Medieval Herbal offers a fascinating glimpse into the traditional art of herbal healing." (See my prior post on Gift Books for more information.)

From what I can tell on Amazon, this book is out of print, so this isn't something you'd have the good fortune of stumbling across in a bookstore, like I did several years ago!

How can you enter to win a copy of this book? It's Christmas time, we're all busy, so I'm going to keep this one simple! Simply leave a comment on this blog telling me why you'd like to win this book. AND either include your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you win, or if you'd rather keep that personal, email me your email address (mailing address are good, too!) to jdipastena@yahoo.com, with "Medieval Research with Joyce Contest" in the subject line. Deadline for entering will be midnight PST, December 24th, with the winner announced on December 25--Christmas Day!

Don't Overlook the Value of Gift Books

I'm talking small (5" X 6.5"-ish), hardbound, beautifully illustrated little books you'll find, not in the history section of your bookstores, but in the "gift section"-- if you're lucky enough to stumble across such a book and if your favorite bookstore has such a section. These are mostly books I've discovered "accidentally", for you never know when they will appear and often it does feel like pure "luck" to be in the right place at the right time just as one of these little jewels is available. For that is how I view these books, as "jewels" in my research collection.

Many of these "jewels" come in the form of A Book of Days. Two such examples in my collection are:

Medieval Lovers: A Book of Days and Medieval Gardens: A Book of Days. Both of these books are filled with reproductions of contemporary medieval paintings, tapestries, etc. These reproductions "show", rather than "tell", what life was like during this period. But there is "telling", too! "Telling" in the form of contemporary quotes, whether medieval verses about love (in Medieval Lovers) or medieval advice about gardening (in Medieval Gardens). The lovely thing in both cases is that the text accompanying the pictures is "contemporary". We hear the medieval voice itself on these subjects!

A Medieval Herbal also contains contemporary medieval pictures and text, but this one is not a Book of Days. This gift book contains a modern introduction, followed by short medieval treatises on a variety of herbs, such as betony, fennel, marigold, wormwood, and many, many more. There are also sections on "In the Wood", "The Seven Herbes That Have Great Vertue", "In the Monastery Garden", "Gathering Herbs", "Drying and Storing", and "In a Pleasure Garden".

Last, but very much not least in my gift book collection, is Love and Longing in the Age of Chivalry. This is my smallest jewel of all, at only 4.5" X 5.5". It varies from the books mentioned above in that the artwork is a combination of contemporary medieval art and Pre-Raphaelite paintings. (If you're unfamiliar with the Pre-Raphaelite painters, then you are in for a treat. Click here to read about the Pre-Raphaelite painters and here to see examples of their paintings.) The text is also a mixture of medieval poets (Chrétien de Troyes, Bernard de Ventadour, Chaucer, etc), and more modern poets, such as Sir Thomas Mallory and John Donne. The former far outnumber the latter, however, once again giving you plenty of opportunities to sample the medieval "voice" in  matters of love!

Now for the bad news. Many of these "jewels" in my collection now seem to be out of print. Most have used copies available on Amazon, however, so there is hope for some of you to track down copies of your own. (And Google searches can usually help you find other buying options, too.) The lesson? If you are fortunate enough to happen across one of these little gift books, run, don't walk, with it to the cash register! If you delay, thinking you can come back and buy it just any old time, it not only might be gone when you come back, it might be out of print!

And the good news? Once again, I just happen to have a duplicate copy of one of these books in my research library. To find out how you can win a copy of A Medieval Herbal, click here.

Excerpt from "An Epiphany Gift for Robin" in Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season

Here's just a short excerpt from my medieval short story, "An Epiphany Gift for Robin", included in the new Christmas anthology, Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season. I have to keep it short, since it's from a short story. Too many words and I'd give the whole story away! :-)

Excerpt:

    The food was long gone now, along with the merry games played by the villagers to keep warm in the winter snows. The ivy and holly so gleefully gathered and hung by the children to brighten their tiny thatched cottage had grown dry and crisp, crackling off their garlands and crushed by shoes to form a fine, fragrant dust on the earth-beaten floor. Today, Epiphany, the day the Magi had presented their gifts to the Christ child, was the last day of respite her family would have from the backbreaking work in the baron’s fields.

     “What foolish thing have you done?” Marriot demanded of her husband. Gifts were only given to small children on Epiphany, especially among the poor. 

     Her husband’s dark eyes danced with that mischievous gleam that had won her heart ten years ago. “Sometimes a bit of foolishness is just what a man needs to bestow on the woman he loves.”

     She heard a trio of high-pitched giggles from the children.

     “Open it, Ma, open it!” little four-year-old Lottie trilled.

     “Aye, Ma. Da’s been ready to bust for days, waiting for you to see it,” said Robin.

     Marriot cast a suspicious gaze at her middle child. He bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet, the exact image of his father at the same age with his black hair and bright dark eyes.

     “Do you know what this is, Robin?”

     Robin smiled slyly, but neither shook nor nodded his head.

Stolen Christmas and Other Stories of the Season is available at the following sites in the following formats:

Hard copies from CreateSpace and Amazon.com

E-copy formats from Smashwords

They'll make great Christmas gifts!

My First Week at Costco

I blogged about my first week of Costco book signings on my JDP NEWS blog today, if any of you would like to read about it.

Also, my future dates and locations are a bit up in the air, so I'm revising a number of previously posted dates to TBA's in my post below. I'll update my schedule as I receive it. Just click on the hand with the pen in my right hand sidebar to check out my dates as I receive and post them.

Winner of "Medieval Women"

Congratulations to Rachelle Christensen, winner of my book giveaway for Medieval Women, by Eileen Power. I hope you enjoy the book, Rachelle!

Thanks to everyone who entered. And for those of you who didn't win...I've stumbled across a couple more "duplicate" research books in my house, so there will be at least two more giveaways coming up...I just can't promise you when!

Illuminations of the Heart at Costco!

Remember that "new venture" I mentioned yesterday that will leave me limited time for blogging in the immediate future? Well, that's due to the fact that Illuminations of the Heart is hitting the big time...sort of! For the next two and a half months, I will be signing copies of my sweet medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart, at various Costco's in Arizona. I'll be signing three days of the week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons for four hours a day, rotating between four Costco stores in the Phoenix metropolitan area. However, though my book signings are only four hours each, my driving time back and forth to each of these signings will add another four hours to each of my days. So I'll be forced to cut back on some things such as email and...yes...daily blogging! If I have the energy, I'll try to share some of my Costco adventures with you along the way when I can. (If I have any adventures, that is.)

I'm posting my signing schedule below. If you live in southern Arizona, I would love to have you drop by and say "hi!", whether you buy a book or not. If you have friends or relatives who live in southern Arizona, I'd love to have them drop by and say "hi!" too! And if you drop by on Oct 22, 23, or 24, you'll also be able to meet my editor, who is flying all the way down from Utah to give me moral support my first week!

And remember, even if you already have a copy of Illuminations of the Heart...they make great Christmas gifts! :-)

Click on the city for each date for a link to the address and a map:

Thursday, Oct 22^nd

1-5 PM             MESA 

Friday, Oct  23rd

^{1-5 PM             GILBERT} 

Saturday, Oct 24^th

1-5 PM             CHANDLER 

Thursday, Oct 29^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Friday, Oct 30^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Saturday, Oct 31^st

1-5 PM             GILBERT

Thursday, Nov 5^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Friday, Nov 6^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Saturday, Nov 7^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Thursday, Nov 12^th

1-5 PM             GILBERT

Friday, Nov 13^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Saturday, Nov 14^th

1-5 PM             TBA

Thursday, Nov 19^th

1-5 PM             TBA 

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26^TH – THANKSGIVING DAY

Friday, Nov 27^th

1-5 PM             GILBERT

Saturday, Nov 28^th –

1-5 PM             TBA 

Medieval Word of the Day

Mural chamber: chambers built inside the thickness of a castle's wall

Though I didn't use this term directly in my story, my character Acelet got thrown into a mural chamber in Illuminations of the Heart. But you'll have to read the book to find out who threw him in there and why!

And now Medieval Word of the Day is going on hiatus, because I've used up all the words from my glossary in Illuminations of the Heart, and I will soon be starting a new venture that will leave me with limited time for blogging. More about that tomorrow!

Thank you to all those who have faithfully followed along with my Medieval Word of the Day. I've enjoyed sharing these words with you! Medieval Word of the Day will return when I bring out a new book with a new glossary full of terms.

Happy Norman Conquest Day!

Happy Norman Conquest Day! This year, Duke Wiliam (the standing knight, soon to be King William) is holding a council of war atop my cake, planning his invasion of England. (And yes, I know the armor and hair styles are all wrong for 1066. These knights are "representative", okay? Someday I'll track down some more authentic looking Norman and Saxon knights to put on my yearly cake!)

(And yes, someday I'm going to learn to take better pictures, too!)