Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Creme de la Crime (March 1, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1780290160

Book Description:

An intriguing new Brother Athelstan historical mystery - December, 1380. When the corpse of Sir Robert Kilverby is discovered in a locked room, Brother Athelstan accompanies the King’s coroner to investigate. For Sir Robert had in his possession a priceless relic, a sacred bloodstone, which has now disappeared. Did Sir Robert die of natural causes or was he murdered? Athelstan is sceptical of rumours of a curse hanging over Sir Robert, but when it is discovered that a second old soldier has been gruesomely slain on the same night, the rumours no longer seem so far-fetched . . .

I generally don’t read a lot of murder mystery type books, and if I do, they are most likely going to be set during the middle ages, obviously. One of the best I’ve read is Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, and while Bloodstone does not compare to Name of the Rose in breadth and scope — Eco’s book is two to three times as long — in some respects it could be considered more enjoyable. Doherty’s book is much more concise, as he quickly gets to the murders at hand and the investigation that ensues. The story does not get lost in philosophical and scholarly debates.

The strongest element of the book is that it is unpredictable. Maybe I haven’t read enough murder mysteries, but I really had a difficult time predicting who had committed the crimes. Doherty also does a fairly nice job with his characters. For such a short novel, only 240 pages, the reader does get a good sense of the characters, though most are not overly complex. The major characters like Athelstan are well-liked the entire time. The secondary characters do slightly shift in perception as the story unfolds. Doherty’s dialog is also fairly good. Most of it comes across as being realistic. It’s not Hemingway-esque or on the level of Bernard Cornwell even, but it is still good.

The only quibbles you might could have with the story is the setting. Doherty does a nice job with putting the reader in the medieval period, but I’m certain you could nit-pick and find elements that are historically debatable.

Overall, the story is a good-read. The pacing is good and the suspense is well drawn out. Perfect length.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

King Harold Godwineson is remembered as one of the great `losers’ in history, the man who provided William the Bastard with the opportunity to earn a more flattering sobriquet. Harold’s defeat at Hastings has obscured not only the very real military talents that earned him victories over formidable Welsh and Viking opponents but, more importantly, the sophistication of the military organization he and other late Anglo-Saxon kings possessed. Scholars have not sufficiently appreciated Harold’s logistical accomplishments in the summer and autumn of 1066. Learning of William’s invasion plans. Harold summoned in May a massive naval and land force, characterized in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as “larger than any king had assembled before in this country.” He billeted his troops along the southern coast of England and harbored his fleet throughout the summer and early autumn on the Isle of Wight, awaiting William’s move. Finally, on 8 September, at least two months after the army and fleet had been assembled, provisions finally ran out and the troops returned home. Almost immediately thereafter Harold learned of the invasion of Harald Hardrada, hurriedly assembled a new army and forced marched it some 200 miles along the Great North Road to Stamford Bridge, then, after a hard fought and bloody victory, he forced marched the survivors south to confront William at Hastings.

Read the full article.

The English Middle Ages saw the construction of some of the world’s greatest buildings, structures that still shape our towns, cities and countryside and mould our national identity. This tradition continued into modern times and beyond. These lectures give a controversial new view of how England has been built starting with the departure of the Romans and ending in the present day. These lectures were delivered by Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, in his role as Visiting Gresham Professor. All information about these lectures and all future free public lectures can be found on the Gresham College website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk

Monarchy

Synopsis: The English Crown is one of the oldest surviving governing bodies in the world. Hosted by the erudite, energetic Dr. David Starkey (The Six Wives of Henry VIII), this series tells the epic and bloody stories of Britain’s kings and queens from the Saxon era (Alfred the Great) to the early 20th century (Victoria).

Season year: 2004

Season 1 episodes include:

• “A Nation State” - The unique idea of a monarch who is answerable to the people has its roots in early Anglo-Saxon kings such as Alfred the Great, the intellectual warrior who united England.
• “Aengla Land” -  After decades of pounding by Danish invaders intent on “shock and awe,” England survives and thrives–but faces a true crisis after Edward the Confessor’s death.
• “Conquest” - With a mere 7,000 soldiers, William of Normandy conquers and brutally subjugates a nation of two million, changing England’s culture, social structure, and politics forever.
• “Dynasty” - harismatic and hot-tempered, Henry II restores order to his realm by law and by the sword. Later in his line, the Magna Carta curbs and codifies royal power.
• “A United Kingdom” - During “the century of Edwards,” the Hammer of the Scots boldly extends his rule over neighboring kingdoms, Edward II loses the crown as a captive of his passions, and Edward III styles himself as a new King Arthur.
• “Death of a Dynasty” - In a kingly conflict dramatized and embellished by Shakespeare, Richard II and his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, vie for the throne and begin a decades-long struggle that threatens the very basis of the English monarchy.

The four sciences, i.e. arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music, which made up the higher division of study in the Middle Ages.

*Source: A Dictionary of Medieval Terms & Phrases by Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams

Additional Reading:

Petrus Paulus Vergerius: The New Education (c. 1400)
P. P. Vergerius the Elder (1370-1444) was a teacher at Florence, Bologna, and Padua. He was present at the Council of Constance, and later worked for the Emperor Sigismund.

Soon after 1400, he wrote the first important Renaissance treatise on education for Ubertino, the son of Francesco Carrara, lord of Padua. Printed here, it represented a sort of humanist program. It does discuss the medieval trivium and quadrivium, along with the traditional disciplines of medicine, law and theology. But the stress is on the newer “liberal studies,” of history, moral philosophy, rhetoric, and literature.

A bronze, Viking-era “piggy-bank” containing thousands silver coins dating from the 11th century has been unearthed on the Baltic island of Gotland in what Swedish archaeologists have described as a “fantastic” treasure find.

The silver treasure was found last Thursday during an archaeological examination of a field in Rone, on southern Gotland.

Read more…

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (October 25, 2011)
ISBN-10: 1439112908

Book Description:

The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. A time machine has just transported you back into the fourteenth century. What do you see? How do you dress? How do you earn a living and how much are you paid? What sort of food will you be offered by a peasant or a monk or a lord? And more important, where will you stay?

The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England is not your typical look at a historical period. This radical new approach shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived.

Through the use of daily chronicles, letters, household accounts, and poems of the day, Mortimer transports you back in time, providing answers to questions typically ignored by traditional historians. You will learn how to greet people on the street, what to use as toilet paper, why a physician might want to taste your blood, and how to know whether you are coming down with leprosy.

Review from Publishers Weekly:

In this compelling volume, Medieval history expert Mortimer (The Fears of Henry IV) transports readers to jolly, squalid old England for a thorough survey of everyday 14th century life. Going beyond the “nasty, brutish and short” of it, Mortimer’s immersive visitor’s-guide approach to popular history gives readers a seamless sense of being there. The population is young-”Half of the population is aged twenty-one or less”-but incredibly diverse. The idea that social classes were distinct and few-fighters, prayers, and farmers-gets exploded in Mortimer’s examination society and the Medieval character, including everything from humor and juggling to mariners to doctors. Mortimer even argues, convincingly, over relative standards of hygiene (”to regard a medieval kitchen as ‘dirty’ because it has not been wiped down with modern detergent is to apply our own standards inappropriately”). He also looks at the role of period’s four greatest writers of the time , and reveals the horrors of contemporary medicine (with terrifying descriptions of the plague) and law (the outskirts of every town were decorated with the hanged corpses of minor criminals). Mortimer’s toungue-in-cheek vistor’s guide is an impressive accomplishment, turning 600 years of history transparent to give 21st century audiences a clear view on Medieval life.

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Rating on Amazon: 4.5 stars

]]> http://steventill.com/2012/04/13/middle-ages-history-recommended-reading/feed/ http://steventill.com/2012/04/13/middle-ages-history-recommended-reading/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/steventill/~3/E-REPpb8ONw/ http://steventill.com/2012/04/10/cathedrals-of-britain/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:52:26 +0000 stevent http://steventill.com/2012/04/10/cathedrals-of-britain/ From the BBC:

The cathedrals of Britain span the millennium - from the cathedrals dating from the 1100s to the modern cathedrals found in Liverpool and Coventry. They display a wide array of architectural styles from Early English Gothic, to the majesty of the Renaissance at St Paul’s and the sixties modernism of Liverpool’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. In the Middle Ages and up to the Reformation in the 1500s, the Church enjoyed enormous power and wealth, and cathedrals are eloquent symbols of its dominant place in British society.

Read more…

This article cover:

• Salisbury Cathedral
• St. Paul’s Cathedral
• St. Michael’s of Conventry
• Winchester Cathedral
• Wells Cathedral
• St. Magnus Cathedral
• Lincoln Cathedral
• Liverpool’s Cathedrals

with links to many other cathedrals in Britain.

You might also find interesting the BBC video, “The Medieval Mind: How to Build a Cathedral.“

]]> http://steventill.com/2012/04/10/cathedrals-of-britain/feed/ http://steventill.com/2012/04/10/cathedrals-of-britain/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/steventill/~3/tQgJTDHzIsA/ http://steventill.com/2012/04/05/the-viking-invasion-of-england-lindisfarne-abbey/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:10:11 +0000 stevent http://steventill.com/2012/04/05/the-viking-invasion-of-england-lindisfarne-abbey/ The sack of Lindisfarne Abbey is considered by many historians to begin the period of the Viking invasions of England. It is mentioned briefly in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as such:

This year came dreadful fore-warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.

While this was not the first time the Vikings came to England, it is certainly the most memorable. This invasion would spark a series of subsequent invasions that lasted for the next few centuries as the Norsemen attempted to conquer the entirety of England.

Additional Reading:

• From Lindisfarne.org
• More from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle at chicago.edu
• Why the Vikings Came to Britain from the BBC
• Video on the attack on Lindisfarne from the History Channel

]]> http://steventill.com/2012/04/05/the-viking-invasion-of-england-lindisfarne-abbey/feed/ http://steventill.com/2012/04/05/the-viking-invasion-of-england-lindisfarne-abbey/