marilyn

April Post:

Medieval Nobility and Marriage

In last month’s post, I wrote about romance and chivalric love. This month I thought I would continue with a post about marriage. As you know, girls had very little say over their lives. Parents, overlords, or the king, had ultimate say over who they would be given to in marriage.

From an early age children in medieval society understood that their marriage would be arranged. Girls were not allowed to choose who they would marry but on occasion men were. Typically, girls would meet their betrothed only a short period of time before the wedding.

Upper society marriages were usually performed out of necessity, not love. The marriage was sometimes pre-arranged when children were still very small. It was about making a good match, with another affluent family, to ensure property, land, and wealth, and the continuance of the male blood line.

Orphaned girls of nobility were placed under the wardship of a lord or king. Wardship rights allowed for the lord or king to give the girls inheritance or lands to a man of their choosing, thereby controlling and increasing their influence and revenue.

Before 1100AD most marriages did not include a religious ceremony. Even though marriage was generally arranged, all that was required for those going against the parents’ wishes was consent, a kiss, and consummation. In fact, they could say I do, just about anywhere, even as they climbed into bed. However, proving they were married was rather difficult. So, in the twelfth century the Roman Catholic church formally defined marriage as a sacrament, sanctioned by God.

To announce the wedding, a notice was placed on the front door of the church. This was done for two reasons, to announce the upcoming ceremony and to allow time for any impediments to be disputed. Banns had to be read three times to declare the intent to marry.

On the wedding day the couple would meet the priest outside at the door of the church. The bride and groom would stand beside each other facing the door. The bride had to stand on the left because of the belief that Eve was created out of Adam’s left rib. The couple would be asked if they were of age. Christians were allowed to marry from the age of puberty, 12 for girls and 14 for boys. They would be asked if they were related in any way, for example did they share great- grandparents? The dowry would then be read. The groom might present his bride with a small bag of coins to distribute to the needy, who had come to watch the marriage. The couple would exchange vows and a ring given. Once the couple was married, they would be led into the church for the nuptial mass.

Although the church did not require parental consent, families still had a great deal of influence over the choice and approval of the marriage partner. It was also expected that couples would get permission from their lord. Marriage outside ones social class was frowned upon.

Parental consent was not required until a law was passed in England in the 18^th century. Scotland however kept the old ways and so Gretna Green, which was just across the Scottish border, became a popular place for couples to wed, if they did not have their parents’ consent.

Blushing bride’s and embarrassed bridegroom’s, had to submit to the act of bedding.

The bedding ceremony was the act of putting a newlywed couple together in the marital bed before numerous witnesses, usually their family, friends, and neighbors. In England the ceremony often began with a priest blessing the bed. The purpose of the ritual was to establish consummation of the marriage, without which the union could be annulled. The gathering of witnesses would stay to watch the couple’s first sexual intercourse, with many ribald jokes. Sometimes the act was symbolic and the couple would be left alone to consummate the marriage. The virginity test was the evidence of blood on the bridal sheets. This sheet would either be displayed or if necessary, given to the bridegroom’s parents as evidence of the girl’s virginity. This was particularly important in patrilineal societies, and legitimacy was essential if a child was to be accepted as a rightful heir.

Recommended book: Novel “The Unveiling by Tamara Leigh”

This will be my last post for the time being as I turn my writing energy towards book three and four, both only in the early stages of creation.

You can contact me through my website. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE or email at: marilyn@storyteller.space

                                                                                                Marilyn

March Post: Medieval Romance in upper society

Medieval upper- class, romance was as wonderful as it is today, but love and marriage were a far different matter. Couples generally met through parental arrangement, presented to each other as a business arrangement for financial and social gain and of course the breeding of children. Love was not a requirement. The man was very often many years senior to the girl. A girl was considered eligible for marriage by the time her body reached puberty, as young as 12 or 13 in many cases. Because these alliances were loveless arrangements, romance by the 12^th century could be gained outside the marriage, if the rules of chastity and fidelity were observed.

This kind of romantic love was based on the code of Chivalry which came with a list of rules. Knights and Ladies of the court often indulged in the acceptable behavior of flirting with each other, regardless if they were married or not, as attraction sparked between them. It was acceptable for a married woman to give a personal token to a chosen knight, to be worn during a tournament, showing everyone the knight had her favor.

Sex of course was absolutely forbidden, virginity being highly prized by a future husband. But Knights and Ladies did indulge in holding hands, dancing, and giggling together in quiet corners. This acceptable form of flirtatious love was so popular, a list of permissible actions was written as a guide. One of the rules was, Marriage is no real excuse for not loving. Perhaps this is how the famous love story of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, started as courtly love but developed into a true love story under King Arthurs nose. The couple having fallen deeply in love, disregarded the rules of chastity. They were sadly discovered, and legend has it that Lancelot ended his days as a hermit and Guinevere joined the church to become a nun.

More next month.

Recommended book: “The Greatest Knight” by Elizabeth Chadwick

February Post: 

Manuscripts

Most days will find me in my office word crafting the latest novel. Occasionally I look out the window at my garden, letting thoughts come and go as I try to build a chapter that will beckon my readers to follow me into a scene that is both captivating and beguiling. Characters from the novel inhabit my daily life almost like real people, even when I am not sitting at the computer writing their story. I listen to their voices, try to figure out ways to solve conflicts, meet unexpected situations, and watch them fall in love. So, this got me thinking about medieval writers, and how the life of an author in the twenty first century has been made comparatively easy. I don’t have to sit in a drafty turret with only a candle for light, scratching away with a quilled pen, dipped in ink that I have made from scratch. Nor for us squeamish vegetarians, having to use scrapped animal skins to write on. I am fortunate to have the luxury of a computer, the internet and a collection of medieval reference books.

Some of these references are critical in writing historical fiction. What would we do today without those writers who came before us, writing letters, manuscripts and diaries?

Some of the famous manuscripts dealing with the history of the British Isles are the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, a famous source of 11^th century news, as Sharon Bennett Connolly, a non-fiction writer said. It gives wonderful snippets of information about Anglo-Saxon England. Like the description in 1066 of the appearance of Halley’s Comet. I wonder what the people of Llawgwalch would have made of that fiery comet lighting up the night sky. Bede in 731 wrote “Ecclesiastical History of the English people.” Gerald of Wales wrote “Description of Wales” dating from 1193 or 1194 and by the early part of the thirteenth century stories of Chivalric Romance were being written.

On a trip to Trinity Collage Dublin a few years ago I was lucky enough to see the exhibited “Book of Kells”, a nineth century illuminated manuscript. Sometimes known as the Book of Columba containing the four Gospels of the New Testament. It was created in a Columban monastery in either Ireland, Scotland or England. It takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, County Meath in Ireland which was its home for centuries. The Abby was pillaged by Vikings many times at the beginning of the 9^th century, no one knows how the book survived all of those raids. The pages are of high-quality calf vellum. The lettering is written with iron gall ink. And the colors used were derived from a wide range of substances. Blues were made from an indigo dye extracted from woad. White was derived from gypsum and purple was created from a dye from orchil lichen. The tools were simple but the artistry is stunning.

Writing surface: Parchment is made from specially untanned skins of animals, primarily sheep, calves and goats and has been used as a writing material for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of young animals. The making of parchment required dehairing, soaking, sometimes in lime, then stretching, and scraping, repeated over several days until a desired thickness was achieved. Other treatments were used to make the skins more aesthetically pleasing and easier to use by the scribe. Rubbing with pumice to make it smoother, while powders and pastes were used to remove grease so the ink or pigment would not run.

Writing utensil: For a very long time the writing tool was a quill. Feathers were mostly removed and the quill had to be tempered with heat to be strong enough to not splinter when writing. A slit was carefully cut in the quill so that it would hold ink, much like todays pens. The quills came from a molted flight feather, preferably a primary wing feather from a large bird. Goose or swan were considered to be the best.

Inks: These had to be produced with mortar and pestle. Iron gall ink was used form the fifth century. It was made from the oak gall, a small round ball that grows on the leaves or twigs of the oak tree. It is formed when a gall wasp lays its egg. These galls contain tannic acid. They would be ground and mixed with iron sulfate, gum Arabic and a liquid like rainwater or wine. It is unsure when the gall ink was first used. Pliny the elder 23-79 AD recorded an experiment he made using iron sulfate on a piece of papyrus that had been treated with tannic acid.

Erasing: A knife would be used to scratch mistakes from the parchment.

What did people use before parchment?

Did people write letters to friends and family? Yes, they did.

Archeologists found wooden writing tablets at the auxiliary Roman fort of Vindolanda, just south of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. They are thin pieces of wood about the size of a modern postcard. The tablets are made from birch, alder or oak. One tablet was written around 100 AD, by Claudia Severa, the wife of the commander of a nearby fort, to Sulpicia Lepidina, inviting her to a birthday party. The tablets are held at the British Museum in London, but some are on loan to the Vindolanda Museum.

Recommended books or websites:

Simon Garfield:  To the Letter (A celebration of the lost art of letter writing) Historical letters from Antiquity. Chapter two is about the Vindolanda letters.

Ref: The Making of a Medieval book:  The J. Paul Getty Museum getty.edu

If there is a specific historic fact or event that you are interest in related to this time frame and would like to see as a post please feel free to contact me through my website. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE or email at: marilyn@storyteller.space

 Marilyn

January Post

A New Year!                  A new adventure!             And a new Book!

I am pleased to announce book two in the series “Fateful Enchantment” should be ready for release in February 2022.

My editor has done her magic. The book designer is working on a beautiful new cover. Then it’s off to the publisher for a launch date.

The book will be available in Kindle, paperback and for the first time, in hardback.

What is currently happening at the writing desk?

I have just started book three in the series, possibly a prequel reintroducing some of the new characters from “Fateful Enchantment” who have their own stories to tell. Book four will follow with Rhain and Mairwen on further adventures. And in February I will be continuing the monthly posts with medieval life and vignettes of characters from the books.

I hope you will enjoy Fateful Enchantment as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

As soon as I have the actual publication date, I will update you, so you can continue the adventure.

May your New Year be filled with happiness and peace!

December Post: A Christmas Vignette

Laughter rang through the wooded hillside above Llawgwalch valley each voice and laugh, distinct in the crisp morning air. Bundled up in woolen mantels and shawls, the women of the manor chattered like magpies as they walked through the woods with baskets, gathering winter greenery. Soon the baskets overflowed with sprigs of red-berried holly. Small children, bundled up, dragged pine boughs down the slope to the horse-drawn sleigh that waited on the path with its leather collar, bedecked with bells and gay ribbons. Agile boys climbed trees to gather mistletoe high in the branches, calling out to those below as they lowered the bundles. The air was perfumed with the fragrance of cut pine, while fat snowflakes gently drifted down from the grey-laden sky.

Today was the start of the festivities and the longest holiday of the calendar year. Villeins, cotters, and all the manor folk stopped their daily work to celebrate the twelve days of Yuletide. The women returning from the woods busied themselves with decorating the hall. Brightly colored ells of fabric draped around garlands of pine and mistletoe while the red berries on holly branches jeweled every trestle board, transforming the hall in to a scene of joy and good cheer.

In the lower valley, the men and older boys felled a fine, broad tree. They were busy sawing off the limbs, readying it to be loaded onto the ox-drawn wagon, that was to take it to the manor hall. The tree had to be long and broad enough to feed the hall’s fire continuously through the twelve days of Yule until the end of twelfth night. It took every strong able-bodied man to heft it through the main doors to the fire pit. Grunts and shouted orders accompanied its placement. When it was finally set down, a resounding cheer went up.

Families arriving from the village with gifts for the Pennaeth joined those who lived at the manor for the traditional lighting of the Yule log, which were to be followed by music, feasting, dancing and spiced ale. Everyone gathered in a circle. Children, anxious to see the excitement, squirmed between legs to pop up red-cheeked in the front row. A hush fell over all as the Pennaeth’s voice rang out, offering the Yule log blessing. Wine was splashed across the tree, welcoming it into the hall. With great ceremony, Rhain approached with a lit torch, fashioned from the end of last year’s Yule log, to light this year’s fire. Soon the flames licked up around the wide base of the tree and the crackle and pop of sap could be heard in the quiet hush of the hall. The fire would be tended, day and night, moving its length steadily into the pit, for everyone knew it was bad luck if the fire were to go out.

                                                                    ~~~~

In medieval times the Celts believed that for twelve days at the end of December and the beginning of January, the sun stood still, which is why the days grew shorter and shorter.) If the yule log could be kept burning bright for those twelve days, then the sun would be persuaded to move again and make the days grow longer. Traditionally the twelve days started on the 26th of December. Christmas day was considered a holy day, so feasting and revelries did not commence until the day after, continuing until the 6^th of January, which is Epiphany.

The first Monday after Epiphany was called Plough Monday, the day when workers went back to tend the fields.

Yule is the name for the old Winter Solstice festivals.

Merry Christmas

If you would like to receive future monthly posts, updates, and giveaways, please leave me an email at marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn

November Post: Harvest Festival

This is the time of year when many of us are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving or a similar holiday feast of thanks. Harvest festivals have been celebrated in Britain since pagan times, giving thanks for a successful harvest and asking for blessings for the season to come.

With fond memories, I think about my childhood growing up in England. I remember the excitement that ran through the school that I attended at the anticipation of attending the harvest festival service in the village church. All the classes would gather in the hall before walking crocodile fashion, two by two, along the lanes to the old stone church with its square, crenelated tower, centuries-old from the time of the Normans. As we made our way, the tower bells would begin tolling, ringing out over the English countryside. I could imagine the bell-ringers hauling on the ropes, swinging the great bells into a peel of thanksgiving and welcome. Inside the church, the flagstones echoed with the footsteps of so many children the stone walls holding the scent of antiquity. We sat quietly and expectant, huddled close together along the wooden pews, looking at the beautiful needlework of the hassocks tucked into the back of the pews in front of us. All around, the somber church had taken on an air of festivity. Candles and lights twinkled, casting their glow on all the harvest offerings decorating the altar and the steps below. There were baskets spilling over with fruits and vegetables, flowers, autumn leaves, and sheaves of wheat. We sang special hymns like “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “All Good Gifts.”

The festival of the harvest has been celebrated by country-folk for centuries.  Today we have forgotten, perhaps, the importance of growing and reaping our own food. Medieval life revolved around the agricultural year. Timing was paramount, before rains and cold could destroy a crop meaning the difference between survival or starvation for the whole community. Festivals were conducted between August and November depending on where you lived. The Anglo-Saxon word for harvest was “haerfest” Traditionally, the first day of harvest would be celebrated on August 1^st which was called Lammas, meaning “loaf mass.” This was when the first wheat was to be harvested and baked into loaves of bread, then given to church for use in the mass.

After the mass, all the men, women, and children went into the fields to start gathering in the crops. The Lord of the manor could command all tenants and peasants who dwelt on his land to reap his grain. (The English called wheat corn.) This was back-breaking work. Cutting tools were basic scythes and sickles. Work started at dawn and went on until dusk, with a short break for food and drink in the middle of the day. The whole community worked together to bring in the harvest. On the last day of reaping, the people would often race to see who could finish the last ridge of corn first. The last stand of corn might be cut by a pretty village girl. The “Cailleac” or last sheaf of corn was thought to represent the spirit of the field. From that last sheaf, a “corn Dollie” would be made and decorated. The Dollie would be taken to the barn with much merrymaking and music, drenched in water as a rain charm, and kept for re-planting the following year. In the evening, at the end of the harvest, there would be a big celebration given by the lord called “Harvest Home.”

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Information from Encyclopedia Britannica

 If you would like to receive future monthly posts, updates, and giveaways, please leave me an email at marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn

Embroidery of the 11^th Century English Artisans

A small vignette:  “Mairwen and the Lady” excerpt from the soon to be released book two in the series “The Shadow of Black Mountain.”

“The Lady opened the door to her chamber and welcomed Mairwen inside. The room was a marked difference to her own chamber, where the walls remained unadorned, this was full of fine furnishings. Tapestries hung on all the walls giving the room a warm rich atmosphere. The colors the Lady had chosen for the hangings and bed curtains were deep burgundies and golden yellows. Embroidered pillows and covers adorned two wooden seats that faced the narrow window opening. In front of one of the seats an embroidery frame stood, the light of day filtered in catching the silken threads in a blaze of bright color.

“What a delightful chamber.” Mairwen crossed to the embroidery frame to admire the beautiful linen cloth on its stretcher. The scene was of hunting dogs and heraldry.” This is beautiful my Lady; you have a fine hand with the needle.”

Women throughout the ages, just as today, have used embroidery to embellish clothes, purses, cushions, table linens, samplers, and tapestries. Unlike today, where fabrics, tools, and threads are easily accessible and inexpensive, during the medieval period, everything had to be made from raw materials wool off the sheep, and linen from flax. The beautiful embroidery threads we take for granted had to spun then dyed with available plant dyes and luxury items like silk had to be imported. Like now, mothers taught their daughters how to sew and stitch, but even in the 11^th century places like Wilton Abby had schools for young noblewomen and embroidery workshops.

English artisans were renowned throughout Europe for their superior embroidery. William of Poitiers, 11thC, wrote “The women of England are very skilled with the needle and in the matter of tissues of gold.”

Opus Anglicanum, or English work, is fine needlework of Medieval England done for ecclesiastical or secular use on clothing, hangings, or other textiles, often using gold and silver threads on rich velvet or linen backgrounds. They became one of the most prized luxuries of the European Middle Ages.

There are only a few samples of these early 10^th and 11^th century items that have survived.

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, culminating in the battle of Hastings in 1066. It is thought to date to the 11^th century within a few years of the battle. The cloth is composed of 70 scenes and is 70 meters long, created by English embroiderers. The material used as the background was linen, the depictions in wool thread. The tapestry is on display in Bayeux in Normandy.

Almost a thousand years later great tapestries are still being made.

The Great Tapestry of Scotland is one of the world’s largest community art projects, hand stitched by 1,000 people from across Scotland. It is made up of 160 linen panels and 300 miles of wool. It depicts the country’s history, heritage, and culture from 8,500 BC to present day. The tapestry is on permanent display in its own purpose-built gallery and visitors center in the town of Galashields in the heartland of the Scottish Borders.

Medieval embroidery threads would have come from wool readily available throughout the British Isles. Flax was also grown, but the luxurious lust to be gotten from silk thread had to be imported.

Flax was a plant fiber used in the Anglo-Saxon period. The plants were pulled up and dried. Once dried the seed-heads had to be removed and used for planting the fields the following year. The usable silken fibers were encased in the hard-woody stems. The stems had to be placed in water to soak for 3-6 weeks, this was called retting. Once they were partially decomposed, the flax would be dried out, then beaten to remove the fibers from the outer surface by pounding with mallets. Scutching removed the bits of woody stem from the silky fibers inside. Combing the fibers into separate lengths that could finally be spun into threads, then into cloth, was done using a comb with long iron teeth. This was known as heckling.

Gold thread was very popular for ecclesiastical or royal garments. One of the ways gold thread would have been made was by hammering gold into thin plates, then cutting it into thin strips. They would have been “worked into blue, purple, and scarlet yarn (Grimm).” Gold thread would have been very expensive and made the garment quite heavy to wear.

Simple tools were required to produce beautiful embroidery. A thousand years ago needles could be made of bronze, iron, or bone. Scissors are another sewing tool that has changed very little through the centuries. With threads, and cloth, and imagination beautiful articles both large and small, have been created.

I hope you enjoyed this small sampling of history.

References:

Carol McGrath. “Embroidery of the 11^th Century.”

Jessica Grimm, “The origin of gold thread.”

“The Great Tapestry of Scotland Center.”

If you would like to receive future monthly posts, updates, and giveaways, please leave me an email at marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn

September Post: The Vikings and Bjarke Strongarm

A small vignette:  Bjarke Strongarm, a character from Twilight Sojourn.

“Bjarke Strongarm was a seafaring trader, it was a steady, reliable occupation, but when trade was slow and the lure of adventure beckoned, Bjarke hired himself as a mercenary. He remembered as a boy before the family hearth, listening to the stories his father Harald and his grandfather told of the old Viking raids across the seas.

He would imagine himself standing at the prow of a dragon-ship, His young arms holding onto the intricately carved

dragon’s neck, his golden hair streaming wildly back from his face, whipping in the wind. The sea a rearing froth of foam, slipping under the keel, sea spray wet on his cheeks. He found himself smiling at the thought of his boyhood self, longing to take to the sea with his father and go raiding. In 1081 Ireland was settled and the Viking way of life was becoming a thing of the past.

Bjarke had returned earlier in the day to Vedrarfjordr in southern Ireland from a profitable trip to a Frankish port, his cargo had been unloaded and he sat now with a horned cup of ale, listening to the talk around him. Vedrarfjordr’s mead hall was packed, with men from the longphort, the shore fortress on the river Suir.  The buzz of conversation that washed around Bjarke was of a late season raid to the shores of Wales. Someone was gathering troops and ships.

The thought of placing the fearsome dragon head, that had once ornamented the prow of his father’s longship, onto the prow of the Sea Hawk, sent a kick of excitement thumping through his veins. He pushed himself up from the bench he’d been resting on and shouldered his way through the closest group of men to a man he knew. At six-foot-tall, the huddle of men easily gave way to Bjarke, making room for him in their midst.

He nodded his head to the man he knew. “Olaf. Who is this you talk of?” Olaf clapped a hand to Bjarke’s shoulder. “They speak of Gruffudd ap Cynan, he is gathering an army, to make a second bid for the throne of Gwynedd, in Wales. They say he needs ships to carry men across the Irish Sea. They are to leave in a few weeks.”

“Are they raiding?”

Olaf laughed heartily. “I suppose. A battle for sure. There is much talk of an Welsh army massing near a place called St Davids, for certain there will be pillaging. It will be like old times my friend,” he chuckled.

 “My ship is large. Do you know how many men and ships Gruffudd is gathering?”

“Word has it he is calling for six hundred, both Danes and Irish.”

Bjarke whistled. “That many! Who do I talk to? The Sea Hawk can carry supplies and men.”

“Olaf jerked his head towards the front of the hall. Gruffudd’s commander is over there.”

Bjarke strode the length of the hall, to find a throng of men gathered around the commander, four deep, vying for the chance to sign up. He had more than most to offer, he had the Sea Hawk. He looked down at his ale still half full, lifting it to his mouth he took a long swallow, his throat working as he emptied the cup. He took a breath and thumped the empty cup down on the board. A man sat opposite watching him. He didn’t look like a Dane, not dressed in typical furs, but dressed in a tooled leather gambeson. The man’s green eyes looked at him with cool appraisal, then he gave a nod and lifted his own cup, to swallow a mouthful, breaking their connection.

“You travelled far stranger?” Bjarke leveled his blue eyes on the man, curious. It was obvious by his dress the man was a warrior, a bowman possibly judging by the scuffed leather guard he wore on his left wrist, although he also carried a sword.

“Far enough,” answered Rhain ap Cunadda.”

                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Vikings terrorized the British Isles from the end of the eighth century for almost four hundred years. On June 8^th 793 Viking dragon ships came ashore on the Holy island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland. It was not the first attack on these shores, but the desecration of St Cuthbert’s sent shock waves throughout Europe. The monks from the monastery were slaughter, drowned in the sea or taken to be sold as slaves in the slave markets of Europe. Thereafter the Viking raids intensified.

Why did they come? For many reasons! Their homelands were over populated, the economic resources poor, and the lure of adventure and wealth was a great incentive. In the beginning they raided coastal monasteries, easy targets holding great wealth with only monks guarding them. The two main countries that went Viking, meaning any seafaring pirates who raided, were the Norwegians and the Danish.

Skilled boat builders and seamen, they easily navigated the North Sea. Their longships equipped with many oarsmen were not at the mercy of the winds and currents. They designed their longships, with shallow drafts, allowing for easy navigation up estuaries and rivers, over the years, taking the raiders far inland. At first the attacks were hit and run affairs but after a time the Vikings began to over winter so they could begin their attacks early the following year. Longphorts were built, families joined the raiders and slowly many of the islands around Britain as well as the mainland were settled by the raiders. Over the four hundred years many came and settled rich fertile land. Viking place names and festivals are still to be seen throughout the British Isles today.

In 794 the first Norse attack began in Irish waters, these early raiders returned back home with tales of the bright green fields and rich fertile land of Ireland. The raiders came in greater numbers and settled. For nearly two hundred years Dublin remained exclusively a Norse or Danish city. The Irish people called the Norwegians, white heathens “Lochlannaigh.” The Danes were referred to as black heathens “Danair.” By the tenth century Dublin, Cork and Waterford were all strong walled ports, “Longphorts” from where Vikings would cross the Irish Sea to raid, for riches and slaves. Danegeld was a tribute paid to the Vikings so they would leave towns and villages alone and raid elsewhere.

History and Twilight Sojourn:

Gruffudd ap Cynan the future king of Gwynedd in Northern Wales was born in Dublin; his mother was the

granddaughter of King Sigtrygg Silkbeard. His father was a Welsh Prince, who was claimant to the Kingship of Gwynedd. Gruffudd frequently used Ireland as a refuge and a source for gathering troops because of his close family connections with the Danish settlement around Dublin.

In 1081 Gruffudd made an alliance with Rhys ap Tewdwr of Deheubarth. Gruffudd embarked from Waterford with a force composed of Danes and Irish warriors. (Chapter Four.)

Waterford is a port city on the southeast coast of Ireland. The name is derived from an old Norse word “Vedrarfjordr” and believed to have been founded in 914 by the Viking Ragnall (the grandson of Ivar the Boneless).

The photographs were taken from trips to Norway and Iceland. The images of the Viking ships were taken in Oslo at the “The Viking Ship Museum”. If you would like to read more, here are some references.

The history of Gruffudd ap Cynan

The website: The history Press

The Viking Warrior by Ben Hubbard

The Story of the Irish Race by Seumas MacManus

Recommended Books: James L. Nelson has a whole series of novels about the Vikings coming to Ireland. The first novel is about a man who takes his son on his first Viking raid to the shores of Ireland, and the adventures that befall them. These are the first three books.

“Fin Gall.” In book and audible.

“Dubh-Linn.” In book and audible.

“The Lord of Vik-Lo.” In book and audible. 

If you would like to receive future monthly posts, updates and giveaways, pleased leave me an email marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn

Imagination and historical facts are the recipe for a time travel novel. I normally do extensive research on both the relevant historical period and site locations before I start writing a storyline, but for book two in the series The Shadow of Black Mountain I have done spot research to clarify things while writing.

In book two, Rhain and Mairwen are no longer on the run and they find themselves back at Llawgwalch and the Pennaeth’s manor.

“Rhain lifted the heavy iron latch and pushed open the door just wide enough to allow them to walk in. The warmth that hit Mairwen’s face was as thick as a wool blanket. It smelled chokingly of wood smoke, tallow candles, food and sweat. The hall was packed with people gathered for the evening meal. Long trestle tables, were situated down both sides, the full length of the hall. People sat crowded along benches and stools eating from shared trenchers. Their talk filling the hall with the loud drone of conversation punctuated with bursts of laughter or raised jocular voices. Serving women bustled busily amongst the trestles bringing more food and deftly scooping up stacks of empty platters.”

As the words of the story are softly clicking out under my fingers, part of my focus is on the computer screen, the other is lost in the sights and sounds of a medieval hall. Like a slow- running movie reel that I can start and stop at any time as I move my characters through scenes. What does a great hall look like? How is it lite? Do the candles and fire give off a certain smell? Does the smoke in the air catch in their throats or make their eyes water? Rhain grew up living in this manor hall but for Mairwen, as a twentieth century women, the experience must have been overwhelming with so much to take in.

Medieval meals were eaten as a community in a large hall. The high table would have been on a dais, a raised platform at the head of the hall, facing Mairwen as she stepped inside. Here is where Rhain’s family and other high-ranking men of the community like the Reeve, who supervised all the work on the Pennaeth’s property, would have sat. Medieval society was highly stratified nobility, clergy, and commoner’s. The nobles dined on fresh game seasoned with exotic spices and displayed refined table manners. Rough laborers could make do with coarse barley bread, salt pork, and beans and were not expected to display etiquette.

The commoners that crowded the hall’s trestle tables would have been household servants and those that worked at the manor. People shared, two to a trencher of food, and drinking cups. Stew pots would very likely have contained a pottage, which was a stew made of vegetables, meat, and garden herbs. The pottage would be ladled onto a trencher, made from a thick slice of stale bread slightly hollowed out. The juices would soften the bread making it more palatable; this would have been eaten with a spoon, but many other foods were eaten with fingers, making mealtime a messy business. People were expected to provide their own meat daggers or knives which were carried by men and women alike, attached to their belts for use at table.

 At the high table, shallow basins of water were provided between courses and each diner would have a linen cloth provided to clean their fingers, before attempting to pick up a wine goblet. Thicker and more delicious pottages were served to those at the high table. These were called mortrews and if the pottage was made with a cereal, it was called frumenty, made by boiling wheat in a meat broth or milk and typically served with venison.

Either part of a larger meal, or as a snack, sops were commonly served. These were pieces of bread which were used to soak up wine, soup, broth, or sauces. Pies were also common, filled with meat, vegetables, or fruit. The pastry however was not made to eat. Huff paste made from suet, flour, and water, was intended more as a cooking vessel. Other foods included eggs, cheese and milk, fruit, and nuts. Beer or ale was drunk and wine for those rich enough to afford it.

In the middle ages the diet was grain based, supplemented with limited seasonally-grown vegetables like peas, cabbage, fava beans, onions, leeks, carrots, and garlic. Potatoes were not known in England until they were introduced in 1536. Wheat bread, finely milled, was reserved for nobility, while dark, coarse bread made from barley or rye, fed the commoner. Meat was either farmed or hunted, while fish and eels were available from the rivers. Meat and fish not eaten immediately were preserved so they would not spoil, by either salting, smoking, or pickling, then stored for leaner times.

Llawgwalch manor would have raised sheep, pigs, geese, and chickens. The land would have produced barley, rye, or oats. Villeins were tenants who worked their leased land in exchange for service to the Pennaeth. As agricultural laborers they were expected to work three days of the week on the lord’s land, the remaining days on their plot, and in times of conflict, they were expected to serve carrying arms.

Game was hunted and sometimes unlawfully poached. Venison, boar, swans, and cranes were food for the nobility only. Birds were hunted by hawking, with a falcon or hawk.

Typically, only two meals a day were eaten, dinner and a light supper. Breakfast or to break one’s fast was not always eaten. The church preached against gluttony and other weaknesses of the flesh, so members of the church and cultivated gentry avoided it. Men tended to be ashamed of the weak practicality of breakfast. For practical reasons breakfast was still eaten by working men, young children, women, the elderly, and the sick.

The research is fairly limited to what life was like in Britain in 1080, the Normans, after the conquest, brought many different French customs and cuisines to Britain. Slowly, the Anglo-Saxon way of life began to change. Wales kept to their own customs far longer than other parts of Britain that were more heavily influence by the Norman barons who were given confiscated land for their service to the conquering King William.

In writing about a time so far in the past, I hope I don’t stray too far from the facts. If you would like to read more, below are some references.

Scully, Terence “The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages.”

Adamson, “Food in Medieval Times.”

Henisch, Bridget Ann “Fast and Feast in Medieval Society.”

Next month I will be writing about Vikings and the fictional character of Bjarke Strongarm in “Twilight Sojourn”, chapter four.

If you would like to receive future monthly posts, updates and giveaways, please leave me an email at marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn

I have had lots of questions about why I chose Wales as the setting for my novel, instead of the Scottish Highlands, which feature in many time travel novels. So here is the answer.

I knew I wanted to write, time-slip historical romances. Twilight Sojourn started life as a short story, actually chapter nine, Enchanted Place, though it has gone through many renditions since I first wrote it.

I already had the rough outline for my story, though as yet it was mostly written on sticky notes. Mairwen and Rhain needed an authentic medieval event in history to become part of.

From the very beginning things seemed to fall into place. Here were the key elements I needed. A battle or conflict, Vikings, A genuine motte and bailey castle on the Welsh/English border, Marcher Lords, and Norman soldiers. Quite a tall order.

One of the first historical event I happened to stumbled upon was a perfect match. A piece of Welsh history that had two larger than life heroes. Gruffudd and Rhys. Although Gruffudd ap Cynan plays only a minor role in the story, his Viking ancestry added an extra flare, who wouldn’t want an ancestor by the name of Sigtrygg Silkbeard.

Gruffudd, determined to fight for his rightful place as the king of Gwynedd (a principality in north Wales) sails with an army of Danes from Ireland. A Viking army of some 600 strong arrive in Porth Clais in a fleet of longships to join forces with Rhys ap Tewdwr the king of Deheubarth who has been driven from his castle at Dinefwr, by three princes of rival principalities, one of whom holds Gwynedd’s throne. Rhys has been forced to take sanctuary at St David’s Cathedral. The two form an allegiance and strike out to do battle the very same day, with the army massing just north of St David’s. The battle of Mynydd Carn: “Gruffudd the foremost warrior advanced like a hero” “scattering his opponents with his gleaming sword.”

So, in this historical extract, I had the battle I needed and the Viking army. The more I read, I was amazed to discover that the Marcher Lords had made a deal with the three rival princes to bolster their ranks with Norman soldiers. This gave me all the key players and the locations.

My husband and I booked a flight to Ireland from the US. I wanted to visit the places that would feature in the story. We flew from Cork across the Irish sea, looking out the window during the one-hour flight to Bristol, I thought about the fleet of Viking ships sailing from Waterford, my own hero Rhain ap Cunadda sailing with Bjarke Strongarm. We flew over the coast of Wales and I eagerly looked for the bay the longships would have sailed into.

We rented a car in Bristol and drove into what used to be Deheubarth but is now Carmarthenshire. We had booked ourselves into a lovely old manor B&B, where we planned to stay for a week, not far from Dinefwr castle. From here we could explore the surrounding area and make day trips to places further afield. I had done my research before leaving home for possible locations to feature in the novel.

The first place was a special find, I remembered reading a wonderful children’s story called “The Gauntlet” by Ronald Welch, about a boy who slipped through time and ended up on a castle high on a crag. It was the castle I had come to find.

Not more than five miles from our B&B, in a beautiful rural setting was the most romantic castle ruin you could wish to find. Carreg Cennen Castle. We could see the castle, perched on top of a Limestone crag, its battered grey walls, imposing against the blue sky from some distance away. As we drove closer, I just knew that this was the perfect setting for the beginning of the story. The castle is built literally on the edge of the crag, the south curtain wall, drops 300 feet to the valley floor. Not only was there a public footpath that dropped down through the woods into the valley, but the highest point of the crag, beyond the castle walls cried out to be the rocky circle through which Mairwen slips through time.

Another day we drove to the coast, planning to visit Porth Clais, where the Viking longships dropped anchor, bearing Gruffudd to within half a mile of St David’s cathedral. The inlet was long and narrow with high headlands at the entrance. I tried to imagine the inlet packed with longships, over 900 years ago. Many times, over the previous centuries, Viking ships had slipped into bays and coastal villages raiding Wales, for slaves to sell in the Irish markets. This time Gruffudd headed an army that would sweep north to reclaim his throne.

 We picnicked on the headland overlooking St Brides bay, before going to look at St David’s cathedral where Rhain went to meet with Rhys, the day of the battle.

The last trip we took was north to find the site of the eleventh century motte and bailey castle near the border town of Montgomery. We tried for a while to find the site of the old Norman castle, Hen Domen but gave up and went into the lovely market town of Montgomery for a pub lunch. Everything was falling in to place, if we could just find the old site. Walking around the center of town we discovered a small museum.

Another surprise, there was a whole room devoted to the excavation of Hen Domen done in the 1960’s, with a lovely scale model of what the motte and bailey castle would have looked like. Leaving there armed with directions we went back to searching the roads. Nothing. We finally stopped and ask at a farm. “Oh, it’s just over there in the field.” Dodging cow pats we trooped across the field, forced our way through some brambles, to find ourselves in the old moat. What a thrill to walk all around this ancient site, we stood on the hill where the keep would have been, and thanks to the scaled model in the museum we could picture the lay out of the building.

It had been a magical week, and left me with a feeling that Rhain and Mairwen’s story wanted to be told. Why Wales, because it is a truly a beautiful part of the British Isles with an amazing history.

Other books set in Wales: Elizabeth Kingston’s series “The Welsh Blades.”

Book one. “The King’s Man”

Book two “Fair, Bright, and Terrible.”

Book three “Desire Lines”

I would love to hear from you, readers and writers alike. Be assured I will always answer. Thank you for joining me.

If you would like to receive future blogs, updates and giveaways, pleased leave me an email marilyn@storyteller.space or visit my website for more about writing and the history behind the scenes. HTTP://STORYTELLER.SPACE

 Marilyn