Osmund the Hunter

By Leofwen Taverner of Eoforwic**

Gentle reader, with your leave I shall correct an omission I had made in telling you of the guests at my merry Yule feast. Oftimes now I have mention those twain who harvest the fruit of the sea that fills my hungry travelers’ trenchers and bowls. Yet did I fail to tell you the name of that harvester of the forest and fields, my good friend Osmund the Hunter. For though the fish be aplenty most times of the year if Alduin and Swedferd and their fellows choose to seek them far and near, ‘tis a merit to Osmund who brings wild game and birds that fill the nostrils with a rich treasure and the mouth a hearty supper e’en when game is scarce.

Nor could he be more unlike to the merry fishermen could Osmund! He is a quiet man, not at all glum but passing solitary. His profession suits his temperament. Most happy is he to spend his hours alone amid the beasts of the woodland and also the heath and fens nearby. He is not loathe to spend time with his fellow man, but oft seeks his own counsel. When a company is gathered, as any evening at my tavern, you may yet find Osmund within or if the days are fair and the game is abroad, you shall not, but shall you see him soon with a brace of partridge and a smile.

Nor does this good man bring only game meant for the spit or firepit. Though most of the comes with fowl such as pigeons, cranes, grouse, or wild hens, or small game like squirrels, wild pigs and hare, he may as well have in hand a fox, weasel or badger for the fur and upon a time he has brought home the deep warm pelt of a wolf.

Upon a cold evening not long ago good Osmund sat to share a bowl of ale with me at the table nearest our hearth. Few others wished to brave the chill so stayed away to warm their toes at their own coals, so Osmund and I shared the hall with yet but two or three travelers who hunched o’er their bowls of potage happy to have found refuge for that one night at least. Osmund had brought me hares and quail , and they were now upon the table in the kitchen awaiting my maids’ attentions in the morning and my guests’ bellies upon the morrow’s supper.

Osmund, who speaks but little on most occasions, did recall to me the time, many years ago, when our lord King was at war in Affynshire and all the fyrd* was called up to fight at his brave side. Osmund himself, a stout bowman as it is how he makes his living, was required to go, and proud to serve his King as well. But well do I remember long months of little game upon the trestle as Osmund’s gift with the bow was to hunt the enemy. Full sore was he to have to kill another man, for ‘tis a waste, he says, when his bow could be a-bringing hearty victuals to his neighbours’ pots and not just a soul to God’s own hall. But farm and smithy and shop and more likewise emptied of its young men and many came not again.

I did ask my friend about the game that the King and his housecarls and e’en our lady Queen will hunt and the feasts that then may take place in the royal hall hard by our town. He smiles his admiration for the great beasts our King himself hath provided to his own table, deer, boar and others. The lady Queen herself is known for her skill with a bow, ahorse and running, which makes likewise the King to smile and that with pride at his lady’s prowess. Dear Osmund ventured to wonder if the King shall take to the new fashion of using falcons and hawks to hunt for smaller game. I inquired if he should also wish to partake of falconry, but said he it is a sport only for the noble and wealthy. Then he leaned to me and in the softest voice did confide that he should fear that the birds would take too much game and thus deprive my firepit of a roasting wild goose and his scrip of jingling silver.

I know that Osmund is not wed, and ne’er has been, and think I that he loves his liberty too warmly to share it. His cottage lies outside the stockade walls and one may see him not for many days at a time. Upon a time I have seen him walking with his bow upon his back and a smile on his face, whistling a merry tune as he takes that fondest step across the verge of the path and onto paths the rest of us may only guess at.

Still when this good man and I may sit upon an evening and drink together Osmund is warm and cheering company, with his quiet wisdom and his patient heart. We are of an age and if I thought he would take my offer I should try to take him to my bed, for he is the sort of comely that is born of long hours in the woods and fields and long years observing all that passes round. But I comfort me with the small voice that does tell me that ‘twould change our companionable moments and I should lose the comfortable friend and never gain a lover. I shall content me with the soft fur of a wolf he did bring as a gift to me on a day long gone past and which lies across my bed, and across my body when the night is cold.

So shall I let mine eye drift to the kitchen door anon and wait to see the tall and bashful fellow stoop within, his sack full to bursting with his hunt’s bounty. Mayhap this time will be grouse, or mayhap smaller birds aplenty. A wild goat will be a boon indeed, but happy we to have the smaller creatures that Osmund’s arrow may find.. Though in sooth game is not so ready to hand as are the creatures of the sea, when Osmund doth take his bow and smile to the woods, what game there is shall straight way find its path into my cooking pot.

* Fyrd: the levy of common men, farmers, fishermen, hunters, laborers, shopkeepers, and so forth, called up by the lord or reeve to serve in the King’s army. See the article on Regia Anglorum at http://www.regia.org/fyrd1.htm .

** Leofwen Taverner of Eoforwic is Nan Hawthorne, author of An Involuntary king: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England. This story was originally published on the Blue Lady Tavern blog, soon to be rereleased as "Alehouse Tales". See http:..www.nanhawthorne.com for more information.

New Blog: Alehouse Tales

Welcome to Leofwen's Alehouse

Alehouse Tales

The place is Wintanceaster, the foremost town in the Kingdom of Wessex. The year is 985 A.D. The king of Wessex is Ethelred, who would come to be called "Unræd", or "Ill-advised“. Wintanceastre is where you will find Ethel red’s palace, the great Minster, the convent known as Nunnaminster, and the encircling wall that Alfred the Great built.

If you walk south from the southern gate you will be in the collection of cottages that cluster about a stone cross and was beginning to be called St. Cross in its honor. One of the cottages facing the cross has had some additions built onto it. The main door is covered by a leather hide to keep out drafts. By the broom you can see hanging outside the doorway you know that this is an alehouse and that the ale is freshly brewed.

If you push aside the hide and go into the alehouse you will have to pause a moment to let your eyes adjust to the smoky dimness of the interior of the cottage. There are no windows, just a small smoke hole in the middle of the turf roof for the smoke from the small fire pit in the middle of the floor to vent. There are tallow candles on what you recognize as two long tables with long benches along their sides. There is another door on the opposite wall, but on this one's hide covering is pulled aside so the alehouse keeper and her servants can come and go with bowls and pitchers. You smell a combination of traveler's bodies, the rich sweet smell of malted barley and yeast. You also smell an enticing aroma of cooked meat and cabbage and onion potage. Your stomach rumbles, and you look for a place to park your posterior.

"Was thu hal!" comes a cheerful female voice. "Come in, wayfarer, and sit. I will have Milthryth bring you a bowl of my fine potage and a brimming beaker of my fine Saxon ale." It is Leofwen, the alehouse keeper, a stout bright eyed woman in her forties. Her smile is broad and genuine. Her hair is covered with a linen head scarf, her body in a plain gown of green wool made in the rectangular construction that uses every scrap of the weaver's hard work. Over it she wears a heavier linen apron, stained with broth and ale but not filthy. You notice her hands are clean. Her cheeks are pink, her eyes blue, and the warmth she radiates makes you feel at home.

Leofwen gestures to a mousy little woman who is peeking in at that aft door. The servant, who must be Milthryth, turns quickly. You learn later that the cook fire is in back of the alehouse, and that the addition built on after Leofwen took over the establishment t is her brew house. The servant comes back in with a beaker of ale and an empty bowl. She hands the bowl to the older woman, who brings it to you, taking the liberty to lift a leg over the bench and sit next to you. In the meantime, Milthryth has gone to the pot hanging from an iron tripod over the central fire. She brings you the bowl, steaming and redolent of meat, grains and herbs, and you take your wooden spoon out of your traveling sack and dig in.

"Will you want to sleep in the alehouse tonight, traveler?" the woman asks, leaning companionably towards you. "You tell her you are uncertain. You are a musician and hope to be sleeping on the floor rushes of the king's hall.

"You may have quite a lot of competition for that spot on the rushes," she tells you as she gives your harp an interested inspection. "With the king to be wed this coming fortnight, every skald and musician in Wessex and beyond is here looking for work." Even our own floor will be like a fishmonger's display in the market. But never fear. If you need it, we will find a place to squeeze you in."

You smile gratefully, placing your silver penny on the table. You think to yourself, "I may or may not find a place in the king of Wessex's court, but I can tell already that I shall enjoy my stay here."

Leofwen seems to have read your thoughts as she takes the penny and slips it into her belt pouch. "We have travelers from all over the island and from across the water. They bring us tales of great events and stories that will keep your ears nailed open. "You take a deep draught of the fragrant ale. She was not boasting. It is some of the best you have ever tasted.

At the end of the other long table an argument breaks out. You look up concerned. Leofwen, rising, bids you not worry. "'Tis nothing. Those two cannot get through an hour without squabbling." She goes to the men and calms them with her deep hushed voice. Someone makes a remark and she laughs.

Aye, come what may, you know your journey to Wintanceastre will not have been a tedious one.

---

We hope you will visit often to learn more about Leofwen and the visitors to and the events that touch her ale house.

New Anglo Saxon Novel, The Amber Treasure, by Richard Denning

The Amber Treasure
Richard Denning

The Amber Treasure is the story of Cerdic, a young Angle living in the Dark Ages kingdom of Deira at the end of the sixth century AD/CE. During his lifetime Cerdic is fated to find himself in the midst of the last Celtic attempt to drive the descendants of the Germanic invaders from what was once their land. Starting in childhood, Cerdic is as much subject to the legends and songs of the great Northumbrian warlords told by the bards as any other boy. It is how he learns what warfare really means to him as a person that makes The Amber Treasure the gripping and satisfying tale it is.

Cerdic is the son of a farmer of higher rank, the nephew of a warrior lord whose heroic death is the impossible standard for a young man's plans. He lives a secure life in the Villa, the old Roman farmhouse now crumbling but nevertheless symbolic of a time he cannot quite understand. He has every reason to believe his placid life will continue as it is, that is, until Celtic raiders come and steal a precious treasure from the Villa, amber jewelry presented by the king as reward to the great hero's wife and now the possession of Cerdic's mother. The Celts, which Denning calls "Welsh" from the old English word for foreigner, take more than the jewelry. They take other precious things, his older brother's life, his sister as a slave, his innocence and youth and his trust in both a Welsh slave and his own half brother, his father's unacknowledged and bitter bastard. As part of a small force he travels to Welsh Elmet to get his sister and the treasure back and to avenge the violation of his home and trust. His heroism in freeing all the captives leads to his involvement in a larger effort to prevent a huge Celtic force from overthrowing Deira. The constant impact of disappointment, disillusionment and compromise not only constitutes Cerdic's own growing maturity and leadership but sets the stage for his future adventures.

The Amber Treasure is the story of three swords, the image that is the spine of this novel. Cerdic's warrior uncle's sword stands for the heroic heritage the young man longs to live up to. The second is a fine newly forged sword that is too rare and dear for anyone to wield until it is won by an unworthy man. The third is the sword of a long dead Roman that Cerdic takes from the hand of the first man he kills in battle, the sword that is the reality of war to both the young man and to us, the readers. The symbolism here is also emblematic of one of the things about this novel I most appreciated. Unlike so many depictions of the Middle Ages of late, Dennning provides us with a credible disillusion with battle and glory that is untouched by false modern sensibilities. Cerdic's falling out of love with his uncle's legacy is the natural outgrowth of real experience, coming from an intelligent and reflective mind. It is a grim recognition of the consequences, not a lecture from a distant post-modern future.

Denning presents us with an interpreted early England that does not much stray from what is known but rather offers a flavor of it enhanced with engrossing descriptions, such as the King's hall, the nature of shield wall battle, the stink and fascination of the city of Eoforwic.

The author has a knack with characterization as well, constructing distinct and consistent main and secondary characters, Cerdic's family and friends, the leaders he watches for how to inspire and also not to inspire men and how to make decisions, the enemies who become clearly human to him, and the two young men who challenge his prejudices. Along with the imagery of the swords, the common binding of the novel is a bard, Lilla, an almost unworldly figure who represents the illusion of glory. You know Cerdic has fully matured when he turns to Lilla at a critical moment and tells him to tell his tale another time, for something more important must come first.

This novel is intended to be part of a continuing story and as such is told by Cerdic from the perspective of many years later in his life. I look forward to what Denning does with this.

All in all, The Ambber Treasure is a strong and engaging tale told with skill and oloquence, satisfying and yet thought-proboking by an able storyteller.

The Ambber Treasure is not yet released, so I cannot say what formats and languages it may ultimatley be avcailable in. The author, Richard Denning, supplied me with a digital galley for this review.

Introducing anew Anglo-Saxon blog

A few days ago, I stumbled across a blog called Anglo-Saxon England, which, in my not very humble opinion, is a potential gold mine for anyone interested in the period.  The author of  the blog also has a message board site called Englistory.  There is a link on the Anglo-Saxon England blog, which you can follow if you wish to join.  It, too, is a valuable resource for all sorts of historical stuff, especially about Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, etc..  Come take a look at both places. If you are interested in this period of history, it will be well worth your time.

Anne G

What Was It Like to Live in the Early Middle Ages?

You know what it is like to go camping. How would you like to camp from the moment you are born to the moment you die?

1. You spend a lot of time outdoors because indoors there was very little light even at the best of times.

2. You are only warm and dry when the weather outside is warm and dry.

3. If something hurts, it keeps hurting until it heals. The efficacy of herbal medicine that you read of in historical novels is highly optimistic.

4. You break a tooth on the bits of millstone in the bread you eat.

5. You do not change your clothes very often at all.

6. You never go more than several miles from where you were born.

7. You do not hear about important events for weeks, months or even years.

8. If you do travel, you are out in the weather whether walking or on horse, If it rains you get soaked. The roads are narrow and muddy much of the time.

9. If your leave your loved ones or they leave you to live even a matter of leagues away, you hear very little if anything from or about them ever.

10. The food you eat is based on what is in season at the time or what could be preserved or stored. There is little variety.

11. You breathe in smoke from your fire day and night.

12. You probably have to deal with lice and fleas.

13. If you become pregnant you know you have a strong chance of dying in childbirth.

14. Just about everything you have you or someone in your family made by hand.

15. You never have any privacy.

The point of this list is not to disturb anyone's illusions, but simply to acknowledge differences that are easy to forget. It is likewise easy to forget that these conditions still exist in the world.

Feel free to add to this list.

Reprinted from Nan Hawthorne's Booking the Middle Ages.

Cook it, Anglo-Saxon style(and more)

I get a lot of news feeds, and one  of them is from, surprise, surprise, a site called Medieval News.  A day or two ago, they had  a piece from a cooking site called CookIt!, which is based in England's east coast(apparently).  There are both modern recipes and "historical" ones, and since this is "Early Medieval England", I think some readers might be interested in looking at the recipes from Anglo-Saxon times.  I looked at them, and what I can tell you  is this:  these recipes are not all that different from what a lot of people who cook "organically" often eat:  lots of beans and vegetables and  what we would call soups and stews today.  Very nourishing, using whatever they had available, with a little of whatever flavorings they could put into it, and were available, very "seasonal"(there's a reason why February was called Kale Month in Anglo-Saxon times!  Anyway, some of the recipes, which are aimed at what Americans would call "middle school" kids, are not all that hard to make.  There's one for baked apples which really looks delicious!  And there are some others that are worth trying, too. Also, the "Medieval" section looks interesting, though some of the recipes there look a bit complex, or else they're things people probably wouldn't want to eat very often(and probably didn't eat very often then, either).  But it's fun, and the directions are easy to follow. 

 

Enjoy,

Anne G

A huge Angl0-Saxon hoard

I hope this is not least, and not last, but, in browsing around my blog feeds earlier today, I got news of a huge hoard of Anglo-Saxon artifacts, discovered in Staffordshire by someone working on a field.  It is believed to possibly be larger than the famous Sutton Hoo material, and, from what I've seen of it, displays some pretty sophisticated workmanship.  Also whoever designed it, or whoever it was designed for, had an "esthetic" eye; all the pictured items are stunningly beautiful and finely made.  It also seems to date from approximately the same period as Sutton Hoo. 

 

Those interested can take a look at the official site, where  photos of some of the material is displayed, and will give you an idea of what was in it.  There are even more pictures to dazzle your eye and boggle your mind at Flickr.  The photos are, if anything, even better than on the "official" site.  Either way, prepare to be stunned and amazed.

Anne G

Warriors of the Dragon Gold, by Ray Bryant. Book review

First published 1987. Edition reviewed: Caxton, 2001, ISBN 1-84067-384-2.

The novel is set in England, with excursions to Normandy, Brittany and Denmark, and spans the period from 1013 to 1066, ending on the morning of the Battle of Hastings. Most of the characters are real historical figures, including Aethelraed Unread (Ethelred the 'Unready'*), King Canute, Queen Emma, Sweyn Forkbeard, Earl Godwin of Wessex, Hardicanute, Harold Harefoot, Queen Edith (daughter of Godwin and wife of Edward the Confessor), Harold Godwinsson (later Harold II), Edward the Confessor and Aelfgifu ('Gifta'), daughter of Aethelraed Unraed. In the last two-thirds of the book there is also a major fictional character, Cedric Cedricsson or Cedric Shieldless, friend to Harold Godwinsson and leader of his bodyguard.

Warriors of the Dragon Gold is a novel on a vast canvas, no less than the political history of England over a fifty-year span, from the last days of Ethelred to the eve of the Norman Conquest. It begins with the invasion of England by the Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Canute, and ends with the twin invasions of England by Harald Hardrada of Norway and William of Normandy. The novel explores the turbulent politics of this half-century of war, intrigue and murder, and the many threads that led up to William's invasion. In his preface, the author states that he set out to explain a puzzling scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, where an unidentified lady Aelfgifu and 'a certain priest' appear once and are never mentioned again. The author identifies this lady as Aelfgifu (Gifta), daughter of Ethelred Unraed and half-sister of Edward the Confessor, and builds his tale on the premise that she holds the key to William's conquest of England.

The vast scope of the novel and its enormous cast of characters makes for a rather sprawling narrative. The family trees provided at the beginning of the book are most helpful in keeping track of who is who. There is no one central character throughout the novel, and different people dominate as the narrative progresses. The first third of the story centres on Gifta (the back cover blurb implies that she is the central figure throughout, but this is misleading), and follows her flight into exile, the loss of her husband and most of her family, and the comfort she finds with a young priest. Then she disappears for well over 200 pages, and the story shifts to English court politics and centres on Canute, Earl Godwin, Earl Godwin's son Harold and Harold's friend Cedric. This makes for a complex and episodic structure. Readers who like a story structured as a three-act play centred on one key protagonist will probably find this novel hard going. On the other hand, it means there's a range of characters for readers to identify with, which was just as well for me, because for some reason I didn't warm to Gifta and was much more interested in Harold and Cedric.

The large cast means that only some of the characters are fully developed. Earl Godwin is a vital and powerful figure, dominating the middle third of the novel as he dominated the politics of the time. Harold Godwinsson is likeable and engaging. Cedric progresses from a shy teenager to hardened battle commander, and is the character who changes and develops most during the story. Similarly, some of the story threads disappear for long periods, or play only a small part in the overall narrative. Gifta's espionage activities, which are supposed to be crucial to Harold's defeat at Hastings, are never shown in the narrative. There is a mention that Godwin 'had not handled the thread of Tostig's life as carefully as he should' - which is a great line - but the relationship between Tostig and his father and brothers is not explored in any detail. Yet Tostig's decision to get Harald Hardrada to join him in invading England is surely one of the most far-reaching events in English history - if Harold Godwinsson had not had to fight both Hardrada and then William, at opposite ends of the country, within a short space of time, the outcome at Hastings might have been very different. Overall, the book gave me the feeling of a trilogy or possibly even a series shoehorned into a single book by means of ruthless pruning.

There are some splendid set-piece scenes, such as Cedric's duel with Olaf, the murder of Ethelred's son Alfred, Harold Godwinsson's successful invasion of Wales, and the poignant scene between the English warriors on the eve of Hastings. The cultural contrasts between Anglo-Danish society and Norman ways are well drawn, with a vivid description of a Norse earl's hall and a Norse feast. Readers who like to play Hunt the Anachronism should be warned that there is a reference to Godwin's tenants paying rent in pigs and potatoes, and the name Cedric is first recorded in Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, according to the Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. Since the name Cedd was certainly in use in the seventh century (Bede mentions an English priest of that name), it seems to me entirely possible that it might have been compounded with the common name element -ric to make Cedric and the compound happened not to be recorded, but it seems an odd choice of name for a major character.

A sprawling novel in a complex and fascinating period of history.

*The popular modern form of the nickname. Unraed means 'Ill Counsel' or 'No Counsel', a pun on Aethelraed which means 'Noble Counsel'

Reconstructed Anglo Saxon Villages

Actual or virtual, visit some of the reconstructed Anglo Saxon villages to learn more about life in early medieval England.

West Stow Anglo Saxon Village
You can visit the reconstruction of an Anglo Saxon village near Bury St. Edmunds.

England. The chance discovery of fragments of pottery earthed during a trial for sand and gravel extraction led to the excavation of West Stow. Between 1965 and 1972 the site was stripped and excavated. Luckily the area had been covered with a sand dune since the 13th century, giving the archaeologists a unique opportunity to study an entire Anglo-Saxon village. Most of the timber had rotted away, but there was enough evidence to plot the changes in the village between the 5th and 7th centuries.

West Mucking
Explore a virtual Anglo Saxon village.

On the web. The sun is setting on the village of West Mucking. Around you, animal noises mingle with voices. Hens are clucking, pigs are snuffling, and further away you can hear sheep bleating. The villagers are finishing their work for the day; they call to each other as they pass you, coming back from the fields or woodland, carrying their tools. You can smell the smoke from hearths in the houses, and also the piles of rubbish! From one of the houses comes laughter... Use mock archaeological methods to uncover the village.

The Village of Wychamstow
See how the reenactment society, Regias Anglorum, conceived and is building a reconstructed Saxon village.

On the web and in England. Welcome to the virtual village of Wichamstow. The village, which if it keeps up this sort of growth will soon be a small town, is situated by the river Fisclacu. When the village has been deemed to be large enough to be officially called a town, it will have to put together a warship and crew to serve the King in times of war. If things should get worse, there is always a chance that he will also order Wichamstow to build a defensive earth bank and ditch around it with defended gates. The ditch would be about 2 metres deep, with a 2 or 3 metre bank, topped with a timber palisade wall of carefully arranged planks. Inside the palisade is a catwalk for the troops to defend themselves and the populous. If either of these projects has to be executed, it will all have to come from the locality and inhabitants, so it's not a popular step.

Firsby Saxon Village Project
Follow the progress of a private development by Ða Engliscan Gesiþas of a Saxon/Viking village in Lincolnshire.

England. Steve and Judith Jones, members of Ða Engliscan Gesiþas living ten miles north of Lincoln, are building a replica Anglo-Saxon period hall using authentic materials and techniques. Steve and Judith plan to make the house into a partially-defended settlement on a four acre site. This will be run as a study centre for the late Saxon/Viking period and an ancient crafts centre. They will also be making and firing pots of the period, smelting, forging and demonstrating crafts.

Do you know of m ore such projects? Let us know about them! Use the Comments link below.

This isn't a well known story, but you might enjoy this interview

The story I"m referring to, is the Icelandic saga, "Audun and the Bear".  It's not as well known as some others, but it's quite interesting, and  at medievalists.net, the author of a book about it gave an interview.  Incidentally, I've heard of this saga; it was reproduced as a children's story years ago, and I kind of vaguely remember it.  Even more interesting is that the hero, Audun, sort of "gambles" everything he has on buying this polar bear in Greenland and has a lot of adventures getting it to the king of Denmark.  In the course of these adventures, he meets and outwits Harald Hardraada, who, as some of you probably know, attempted to invade England in 1066, ahead of William the You-Know-Who.  He didn't succeed, any more than he apparently succeeded with this Audun, but he survived in the saga, and apparently, so did Audun.  In any case, what the author of the book about this saga has to say, should be of considerable interest to anyone who studies Anglo-Saxon England or the "Viking era"(the aughor mentions Beowulf and several other pieces of Anglo-Saxon literature in the course of his interview.

Anne G

Eleventh Century Saxon Music

Before the Stave

Listen to program.

Francis Fyfield unpicks the hidden codes of a beautiful 11th-century manuscript that confirms that the English were pioneers of musical notation long before the arrival of staves.

With the help of Professor Susan Rankin and the French performer Dominique Vellard, Francis tells the story of the Winchester Troper, a tiny book belonging to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and written in Winchester around the year 1030, and how scholars have used it to clarify the way musical notation developed in the 11th and 12th centuries.

The magical discovery in the Troper was that polyphony, the use of two-part harmony, which many thought did not appear in manuscript form before the 13th century, was actually captured by the cantor scribbling in the Troper at a time when Winchester was at the heart of Anglo Saxon culture. This little book provides us with insights into the soundscape of Edward the Confessor's England.

But it only does so thanks to the scholars like Susan and Dominique who have deciphered what looks like modern shorthand notation.

The programme describes the process of unravelling the musical language and how that fits in to the broader story of the development of musical notation in Europe. Frances tries to get an idea of who this cantor was who managed to preserve a golden era of Anglo Saxon music well before the universal staves and notes were developed to simplify the process.

Reprinted without permission from BBC 4: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lybns

Five Mistaken Beliefs About the Dark Ages

Mistaken Belief the First – That Vikings wore helms with horns on them.

Why should any soul not trying to enter the Gates of Heaven ere his time have anything on his helm that would make it easier to knock off his head? Helms in our time, whether Saxon or Dane, were only adorned by the most foolhardy , and never with horns.

Mistaken Belief the Second – That Celtic warriors painted themselves with woad

Those who believe this base that belief on the word for the Pictish people, whose name means “painted”. Now prithee explain to me how one may travel the road from that fact to the destination that throughout the history of Scotland their warriors painted themselves blue? For that is what you shall have to do, and without any proof you shall have to climb a very steep path.

Mistaken Belief the Third – That Charlemagne was and spoke French

In my time - and the great king lives at this very time - there is no country called France and no language that is French. There is the Kingdom of the Franks, ‘tis true, but that language has not developed. It shall develop in Gascony from a sort of poor Latin, but Charlemagne himself spoke a Germanic language, Frankish. And so did the great warrior, his nephew, Roland.

Mistaken Belief the Fourth - That there was a King Arthur

Verily, I know that I shall be taken to task by many a reader for stating that there was no King Arthur. It is a fondly held myth, especially by those who wish to remain in Power by claiming descent. There is no evidence of such a man in any record, even in the writings of the Venerable Bede. The closest one might come to such a hero is an obscure Celtic chief who may serve to bolster some claims, but otherwise has no relation to the legends.

Mistaken Belief the Fifth – That King Offa of Mercia was a Moslem

King Offa of Mercia minted the first gold coins in Western Europe. One of those coins bears his handsome profile on the obverse and Arabic writing on the reverse, translated in part to a reference to Allah. This, my good friend, is because his Mercian majesty’s mint copied a Byzantine coin in order to lend credibility for those traders who had only known Norse silver coins used in England ere that time.

Leofwen Taverner of Eoforwic

Originally published in the Blue Lady Tavbern blog, soon to be Alehouse Tales. Check at Shield-wall Books for release date.

More on Brewing Saxon Ale

From the Blue Lady Tavern Archives. I offer this as a companion to the post below.

ethinks I need not say that the heart of any Saxon tavern is the ale* it serves. Though in truth there are breweries, such as the fine Five Cats Brewery here in Lawrencium, many a tavern in towns brew at least some of its ale to save the cost but also too make a reputation for excellent drink as well as food and a clean safe pallet upon which to rest weary bones. The ale we serve here at the Blue Lady Tavern is without equal in all the land, mayhap in all England!

The foremost aim of any good brewer is to know the tastes of her custom. My family has been brewing and running hostels for the traveler for generations, so we know well what pleases the palate of the men of the North Country. Northumbrians like their drink strong and strongly spiced. Here in Crístlicland the taste runs to subtle flavours and an ale that may be as easily enjoyed upon waking as in the late night conviviality. I am proud to say my ale is drunk at the King’s table.

Now ‘tis said that cleanliness is not a virtue of a good brewer, but I say that that is nonsense. How can one control the flavour when one knows not what exact ingredients are within the brew? ‘Tis simply sloth or ill advised slavery to a family tradition, nothing more. How clean your brewing tools are is as high upon the list as the quality of your ingredients. Whether ‘tis your choice to purchase these ingredients from a worthy merchant or to prepare them in your own brewery, keep a sharp eye on the servants that they follow your instructions precisely as you give them, or brook no slack in the ingredients you purchase.

That being laid out, let me advance to describe the basic ingredients of good Saxon ale.

Malted grain ~ Whatever grain it suits you to use, whether barley, as I use, or corn** or other such, you may choose to malt it or to purchase it well prepared. The grain is soaked for several days, then allowed to dry. Be certain the water for soaking is pure and the drying shed is clean and dry. Once the grain has started to sprout, it is ready to dry. Then crush or grind it coarsely so as to allow many surfaces for fermentation of the hearty malt.

Gruit ~ The character of any ale comes forth from what the brewer adds to flavour it. Some use honey. In the North spices such as the costly cinnamon are preferred. Most, and I be one of these, use blossoms for they may be mixed to make a unique ale and they will lend towards the amount of yeast needed for fermentation. Some use blossoms of yarrow or bog myrtle, but any edible blossom that pleases the palate may be employed. I shall not tell you what I use, for ‘tis what makes our ale at the Blue Lady so special. ‘Tis a mystery all must forego the revelation thereof!

Yeast ~ When you have brewed for a long time, or even, in truth, simply many times, you need not add yeast to the mash, the mixture made of the malt and gruit together, to make it ferment for the very air of your brewery will lend it. ‘Tis likely you must needs at the outset obtain some yeast from another, but as you work your new trade you shall see that yeast forms in the very process it engenders, which you will strain away and keep for the next brewing. You shall also find that some grains have more of the yeast God grants for this purpose than others.

‘Tis passing difficult to gauge your measurements, as I may not be privy to the measures you use. In simple, use one or more than one measure of malt to one measure of clean cool water. ‘Tis likely you needs must try one batch and then another ere you may find the proportion that pleases you.

To begin, put a large copper cauldron on a fire, let the water grow hot but not boil, then add your coarse ground malted grain. The water you employ may change the flavour of the ale, for good or ill, and you may wish to let it sit partly covered for a day ere you use it for brewing, to let it rest and become what some call “soft”. If you have a source you have discovered of water that be already soft, count yourself blessed. Let the water with the mash simmer for about two hours, rarely less. Have your strongest servants tip the cauldron o’er a clean wooden barrel to our all of the mixture in, then letting it cool in the barrel. When it is as cool to the touch as a pond on a warm spring day, add your gruit in sufficient quantity to flavour the ale as you will. Keep a fire going in the shed or room where the barrel lies uncovered for the period of time between three ringing of the church bells, sometimes more, particularly if brewing upon the shorter daylight of winter when the bells come more frequrent***. Then cover with a light cloth. There is no cause to stir or otherwise disturb the mash. It will do what God made it do without your mortal aid!

Wait at least one full tour of the sun across the sky and back and no more than three. Then you may strain off the mash, saving it for more brewing and also for making the heartiest of bread. Once you have the mash fully strained, let the sediment that remains in the barrel sink to its very bottom. Then strain with fine cloth, wait one hour and strain again, and yet again. The yeast that you shall gather in this way will serve you for many generations. The yeast I use in my ale at the tavern is older than the very Saxon people in this part of England.

You may now taste the ale to vouchsafe that it is ready for your travelers to enjoy. You must at once begin another brewing, for ale will sour in two days time. As a fine brewer of my long acquaintance once told me, “after two days only the bravest or silliest men of the village would drink the ale, but usually it was only fit for pigs." The stale brew was often fed to the pigs as it was said to improve the flavour of the meat. "****

Gentle reader, I wish you skill and discernment in your creation of this nourishing and beneficial drink. Do not allow those who drink it to drink to excess and go out and fall in the street, for it shall not speak well of you that the aroma of your brew may be smelt upon the breath of stinking drunkards.

Advisories

* “Correctly any beer made in our period should, in fact, be referred to as Ale. The word Beer used to refer to a brew containing hops, or Beor (honey). Hops were not used in this country until much later. The first record of their use being 1236 A.D.” Early Medieval Brewing, Regia Anglorum, http://www.regia.org/brewing.htm
** Wheat. The American word corn refers to a New World plant.
*** Six or more hours.
**** Quoted in Early Medieval Brewing, Regia Anglorum, http://www.regia.org/brewing.htm.

Maybe Old English Ale tasted like this

Flash!  I just stumbled across an article which had a Northern California brewery making ale with 45 million year old yeast.  The taste was apparently unique, not like anything you get in the way of beer or ale today.  So I wonder?  Did ale in Anglo-Saxon times, taste more like this brew, or was it unique in its own way?  Not that they necessarily used 45 million year old yeast; they wouldn't have been able to conceptualize anything that old.  But who knows?

Anne G

8th and 9th Century Anglo Saxon Alphabet Coloring Page

Free, printable, realistic. Coloring book pictures, sheets. - 11253

Coloring page anglo-saxon alphabet 8th and 9th century. Free, printable, realistic. Coloring book pictures, sheets. - 11253

Shared via AddThis

Those "sexy" medievals

Elizabeth Chadwick's blog, Living The History  has an absolutely fascinating entry today.  It's all about well, sex, medieval-style.  Which apparently wasn't much different from the modern kind.  Except that there were monks and priests imposing penances for certain kinds.  Like, for example, kissing your husband or wife on a Sunday.  Or "doing it" on the "wrong" day of the week.  Maybe this was a crude attempt at birth control?  Even if the monks in question probably would have been horrified if anyone had pointed that out. 

 

Still, it doesn't seem to have stopped anybody from having their fun, so to speak, because there seems to have been, as Ms. Chadwick points out, an awfully long list of , um, proscribed activities.  Om the other hand, medieval people seem to have been realistic about certain aspects of this.  You could get an annulment if your husband was impotent.  Ms. Chadwick describes one example where some matrons in England tried to "stimulate" some poor fellow, and he wasn't "stimulated", so they declared him a "fraud".  In other words, marriages were primarily for the  procreation of children, and if one of the other of the couple couldn't "produce", well, that was  Just Too Bad.  Usually, though, women were blamed for this.  It was almost never the man's fault. 

 

But people could entertain themselves with "innuendo" in various ways.  The Chadwick blog also has a very interesting picture of an object, which apparently is based on an important part of the male anatomy.  I've seen similar "objects", disguised as cup handles(my daughter accidentally wandered into a store selling such items an as I wandered in after her, I saw these things.  I yanked her back out pretty fast, not because I'm especially "prudish" about such things, but because this stuff is pretty much over the head of an 8 year old). 

Finally, medievals, at least in England, in Anglo-Saxon times, were ingenious about inventing ways of entertaining themselves.  Again, Ms. Chadwick gives an example. It's a riddle.  I happen to be familiar with this particular one; it sounds somewhat "pornographic" to the modern eye and ear, but its answer is actually quite innocent.  I'm sure people must have been highly entertained, whiling away their time guessing these riddles.  They had to be, I suppose. because they didn't have TV, movies, the Internet, etc.  Few people could afford books, let alone  read them.  And they invented jokes and riddles that even today, produce smiles!

Anne G

Me timbers are too stout to shiver!

Since the decision came about to re-edit the first book of the Macsen’s Treasure series, INTO THE PATH OF GODS, I knew a number of historical points needed to be corrected as well as some other logistical issues. One scene that originally took place along a roadside needed to be moved to a more logical location and will now take place on a trading ship. While the updated scene provides the same storyline and character pathways, it will now make more sense and have more impact. As result I needed to check into a little seafaring history of fifth century Britain.

Unfortunately, maritime archaeological finds for that timeframe is scant. However, we do have the remains of two Romano-British ships discovered in the River Thames, one of which was located at Blackfriars beneath 20 feet of water at high tide. It was excavated in 1962-63. This ship is thought to have been built by native British shipwrights in the second century AD, putting it quite earlier than the period of Arthur, but it is also thought to be of the type already in use in Britain since before the Roman invasion. It is probably indicative of the type of ship still in use in the latter half of the fifth century.

Based on this conjecture, I have patterned the vessel in the book after the Blackfriars ship. The following list encompasses the basic facts that the archaeologists recorded.

· Built carvel style
· Hull entirely of oak
· Hull planking had massive floor timbers 12” wide, 8-1/2” thick
· Strakes were 2” thick and caulked with hazel twigs
· Strakes attached to floor timbers with special 29” nails
· Nails were driven through the strakes and floor timbers
· Ends of the nails’ shanks hammered over to embed the tip into the timbers
· No keel; two central planks instead, 2’2” wide, 3” thick
· Beam of about 22’
· Overall length about 55’
· Depth more than 7’ amidships
· Bottom nearly flat, enabling ship to rest evenly at low tide
· Chine angle 30-35°
· Oak planks covered cargo area in central part of ship
· Mast-step was a rectangular socket about a third of ship’s length from the bow
· Bronze Roman coin found in the step as a votive offering
· Assumed only one square sail on one mast
· Must have been a deck, due to depth of ship
· May have been a cabin on deck in the stern
· Cargo had been building stone when ship sank

Some definitions:
Carvel-built: the planks are all flush from keel to gunwale. Planks are smooth-seamed.
Chine: the angle where the side and bottom of a hull join
Gunwale (pronounced GUN-nel): the upper edge of a ship’s side
Stem: a timber forming the front extremity of the ship
Strake: a row of planking on the side or bottom of a ship from stem to stern on the outside of the hull.

The information here comes from George F. Bass’s book A History of Seafaring, published back in 1972. I was afraid his information would be out of date, but I’ve also checked out two more recent books and the Blackfriar’s boat is still considered the definitive archaeological find for the timeframe in question. While the ship in the re-edited scene is not terribly significant, I’m always appreciative of good information. Knowledge is a good thing!

Medieval Lincoln

I've just come across a really nice video of medieval Lincoln, thanks to Medievalists.net. It's on YouTube, and it is a virtual tour of the city, which was once one of the largest and wealthiest towns in England. As you will see when you view the video, there is plenty to delight the dedicated fan of medieval times.  There are many old buildings, a castle, and a cathedral, and all of these were started or built in the 11th or 12th centuries. There are also several good examples of what are known as "cruck" houses.  Many people would call them "half-timbered", and in the US, imitation ones are called "Tudor", though the style itself is much older. Interestingly, Lincoln Cathedral's  "Romanesque" style(it was built in the late 11th century and added on in subsequent centuries, has been copied in many places. An important academic library in the city where I live(and in which I delved for information for my Great Medieval Science Fiction Masterpiece -- as well as some other subjects), was originally built in an imitation of this style, though I have no idea whether or not it was built in imitation of Lincoln Cathedral.

Anne G

The Anglo Saxon Lyre