First, take your royal sturgeon….

  It’s always rewarding to find a site that is helpful with medieval research. By this I mean everyday research, not the highly specialised work of historians. This site was stumbled upon because I needed to find out how sturgeon would have been served in the medieval period. Yes, it had been a royal fish…

Brilliant writing that is both fiction and non-fiction….!

Every so often a book comes along that really doesn’t fit into any genre…except perhaps history in general. “Medieval Woman: Village Life in the Middle Ages” by Anne Baer is fiction, and yet not, because the author has done some splendid, detailed research, and then put it all together around a year in the life…

Medieval mules were highly treasured….

It seems to me that the poor old mule is seldom spoken of with the same ringing tones of admiration that is used of horses, and yet according to this site the mule was greatly prized during the medieval period. The article is very interesting, and certainly opened my eyes to the amazing qualities of the…

The Medieval River Ferry

A few days ago I had a need to describe a medieval ferry in my work-in-progress, albeit as a background, scenic item. I realised I had no idea how they were propelled, or even what they looked like. The answer seems to be rather like this one at Evesham. The vessel itself is rather like…

‘NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT’

  The term ‘nasty, brutish and short’ is a phrase often used, half jokingly, for the lives of our pre-modern ancestors. It wasn’t always, but in many cases, life in the Middle Ages could be harsh–especially in regards to illness and injury. A recent assessment of skeletons discovered in Cambridge at three separate sites shows…

THE MEDIEVAL BED (update) – A PRIZED POSSESSION

REBLOGGED FROM sparkypus.com A Medieval Pot Pourri A nice example of a medieval bed.  Note the commode next to the bed complete with a lock!  The side curtains are shown this way in most illustrations.  I thought they may have been bunched up into some type of bag but it has been suggested to me that…

What did colours mean in the medieval period….?

Even today, we associate certain colours with certain things, e.g. white for chastity, black for mourning and red protects against evil. Back in the medieval period many more colours had meanngs at different times of the year – well, the Church does now as then, of course, but I mean for people in general. With…

Clothes lines fluttering in 14th century Moorfields? I fear not….

  Writing historical fiction involves a lot of research…well, it does if the resultant book is to be taken seriously. So when it came to describing medieval Moorfields, just north of London’s city wall, I came upon the inevitable mention of drying grounds for washing. Yes, I knew all about them, because they turn up…

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT MEDIEVAL BEDS..

Opulent beds could be used to entertain friends and even shared with  guests staying overnight.  Well at least you would be warm.. A very interesting article here on medieval beds including a glossary …   I haven’t a clue as to what is going on with this lady and gentleman  but, as it shows a medieval…

Hygiene in Medieval Times

Have you ever asked yourself how people washed and perfume themselves in Medieval time? And what about the smart and noble Plantagenets? Was there a difference between rich and poor people? You will be surprised to discover that Mediaeval people were cleaner than we can imagine and they smelled good. As you can imagine, hygienic…