The Medievalist Place on Earth

I just got back from a day at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World which, for those of you who do not know, is built around a series of areas. Each area has a different motif, and is a "land" within the Magic Kingdom. For example, there's Fantasyland (medieval fantasy motif), Tomorrowland (futuristic motif), Main Street (early 20th-century small town motif) etc.

The overall layout interests me. Cinderella's castle does not dominate Fantasyland as you might expect. Instead, it is the centerpiece of the entire park, the hub around which everything else revolves. Main Street, then, does not open up onto the county courthouse, but onto a medieval castle.

It would be wrong, however, to over-read this as a medieval image. Instead, I think the dominant idea is one of the fairy tale, which is then associated with medieval architecture. The park is innundated with fairies and princesses, but you're hard pressed to find a knight, or happy peasants working the fields, or a monastery, or any of the other popular images associated with the Middle Ages. Fantasyland does have Excalibur in a stone that you can pose with, but there is little else Arthurian.

Consider too the cosplay. Little girls are dressed like fairies and princesses, but little boys dress as pirates -- not princes or knights or kings. Swords are either clearly pirate cutlasses or lightsabers (for nighttime play) -- but consider all the various Prince Charmings, and Robin Hoods, and other fairytale male characters that boys could be dressed as.

All of which leads to my point -- are fairy tales necessarily gendered feminine? Most of the medieval/fairytale images at the Magic Kingdom are gendered feminine. Even though it's called a "kingdom," there's no king to be seen, not even a Mickey & Minnie in a crown. Instead, the castle is Cinderella's Castle (Snow White's at Disneyland, I think), named for the princess rather than the monarch. Who is the king/queen? Since it's the "happiest place on Earth," and since Cinderella is awake, presumably it's not Malificent (the evil stepmother/queen). Are we to assume the kingdom is ruled by the newly-crowned King Charming?

I'm not trying to pretend that Disneyworld has a functioning political monarchy. These slippages, though, are big, and I think work to show the way the fairy tale is gendered (at least in the Disney conception of it). The only truly important part of the Middle Ages to Disney World is the princess -- the image of the princess is the hub around which everything else revolves, just as the castle is the hub of the park.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Having just returned from vacation, I found a lot of medieval items clogging the pipes of the Inter-web. Here are some of them:

• News for Medievalists has five new articles. Really, you should be going there on your own without me telling you.
• Medieval Cookery will be at GenCon.
• Gearwor has Beowulf fitts 14 & 15, and talks about three-word alliterative clusters and the word hilde in Beowulf.
• A Stitch in Time has some photos and video from her exhibition.
• Steven Till has the cover and publication info on Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper.
• The Ruminate has a bibliography for Codex Boernerianus, and talks about the job market.
• Podictionary discusses the Old English origins of the word drive.
• Per Omnia Saecula has the latest on the "acts of lust" contest promoting the new EA Dante game, and watched Eragon so you don't have to.
• Got Medieval also has details on the Dante game.
• Old Norse News has a recent books round-up.
• Apparently there was a recent medieval Dr. Who episode.
• MEMO has two CfPs for K'zoo.
• Magistra et Mater continues blogging Leeds.
• Eileen Joy is blogging ISAS.
• JJ Cohen has three links you should have: The Global Middle Ages Project, MappaMundi, and the Scholarly Community for the Globalization of the Middle Ages.
• Also at In the Middle, the BABEL Working Group is on Facebook.
• DARC blogs two museum visits.
• Heroic Dreams reviews the documentary Reclaiming the Blade, which I really liked as well.
• The Heroic Age has almost a dozen CfPs, links, and other announcements.
• Heavenfield has a CfP on plague and famine, and talks about Bede's account of his meeting with Adomnan.
• The British Library will be getting the Macclesfield Alphabet Book. h/t The Cranky Professor, who also has a link to a slide show of MS images.
• A Corner of Tenth-Century Europe has a post on notaries' anthropomorphic animals symbols.
• Archaeology in Europe has about eight new articles.
• Matthew Gabriele has links for his Podcasts on Medieval Texts.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Light (if any) blogging for the next few days. In the meantime:

• Archaeology in Europe has over a dozen new posts, many medieval.
• Another Damned Medievalist is looking for an August host for Carnivalesque. If you've got a blog that hasn't received much notice, hosting a Carnivalesque is a great way to let people know you're out there.
• Cinerati discusses the marketing of the World of Warcraft movie. Easily Distracted talks about the problems of making a game movie.
• A Commonplace Book discusses 15th-century shield use vs. modern reenactors' use, and has a 15th-century episode of Spanish chivalry.
• Dame Eleanor Hull discusses the painstaking research that has to take place before publishing medieval textual criticism.
• Got Medieval talks snail porn. The sad thing? I googled "snail porn" just to see what would happen, and his post isn't even the first hit.
• The Heroic Age has over a dozen new posts.
• DARC discusses iron mandrils.
• In the Middle has a post on gender in Middle English studies.
• The Lost Fort has images from the island of Staffa.
• Magistra et Mater discusses gender and history at Leeds.
• The Medieval Garden Enclosed has a post on chicory.
• Medieval Material Culture blog has an article on the service records of medieval English soldiers. News for Medievalists has more info on that database. So does About.com.
• About.com also has posts on the Vinland Map controversy and a metal detectorist's late-medieval find.
• Muhlberger's Early History has a post on Bernard of Clairvaux and the Knights Templar.
• Musings from a L.O.O.N. has a post on a medieval fortress being built in Arkansas. She was kind enough to send me some contact information, so I hope to have a post of my own on this after I return from vacation.
• I just bought a new cologne, but Per Omnia Saecula makes me regret my choice!
• Podictionary discusses the medieval origins of the word Wednesday. If you've never understood my bizarre references to Odin every time I post a Miscellany on Wednesday, this ought to clear it up.
• Obama is in league with Loki. h/t Poliblog.
• The Ruminate has a bunch of stuff.
• Steven till has a post on Old Wardour Castle, and the medieval history term of the week is reliquary.
• A Stitch in Time has a manuscript image of shoulder straps.
• Wormtalk and Slugspeak passes along a Tolkien CfP.

Left-Handedness in the Middle Ages

This comic strip (which I suspect is supposed to be about homosexuality) depicts the medieval church as being intolerant of the left-handed.

I've heard this idea before -- that left-handedness was somehow associated with evil or witchcraft in the Middle Ages. The problem is that I can't recall ever having run across any such reference.

I asked a historian friend of mine who's done a bit of work in witchcraft and sorcery from the late-classical/early-medieval period, and he too had never seen any good scholarly reference for this idea.

So, folks, is it true? Can someone give me an actual medieval reference -- or is this like the "fact" that people in the Middle Ages didn't eat tomatoes because they thought they were poisonous: just a load of bunk?*


h/t Ninalog

*For those who don't know, tomatoes are a New World plant. Medieval Europeans did not eat tomatoes because they had never seen (nor even heard) of them, yet somehow this myth won't die.

Sam Raimi to Direct World of Warcraft Flick

I gave up playing World of Warcraft about a year ago, and never regretted it, until now.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Pushing the envelope of what can be considered a "morning" miscellany:

• Wraetlic has headed off early for ISAS, and has a post on poetry entitled "Puffins and Computers and Digital Anglo-Saxon."
• A Stitch in Time has a finished hairnet.
• Medieval Silkwork has an image of a dress in progress.
• Think all this sewing is just for women? Muhlberger's Early History shows that at least some knights did their own sewing.
• Mark Lord has a post on medieval myths about witchcraft, h/t Steven Till.
• Speaking of Steven Till, the medieval history term of the week is Danelaw, the featured historical fiction novel is Housecarl, and casting continues for the "Song of Ice and Fire" series.
• The Swain has a post on "DiGlossia in Anglo-Saxon England."
• Per Omnia Saecula has an image of Dante sand art.
• News for Medievalists has about a half-dozen new articles.
• There's been some discussion on listservs and elsewhere about this: A scholar at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts is declaring the famous (notorious?) Vinland map genuine.
• Modern Medieval had a couple of posts, but kept crashing every time I went to a permalink. Normally it works fine, so I'd suggest heading on over there and seeing their new Tweetboard feature.
• Medievalism has a post on the book Queer Movie Medievalisms.
• A Commonplace Book has a post on cutting pikes in battle.
• The Heroic Age has a CfP for "Thinking Small: Scale and Meaning in Medieval Art."
• DARC and Hammered Out Bits have several new crossposted items on their current projects.
• Just because you don't exist doesn't mean you can't blog, as Crispin Guest demonstrates.
• Eileen Joy has the second installment of her impressions of Leo Bersani.
• Magistra et Mater is blogging the International Medieval Congress in Leeds.
• Medieval Bookworm discusses Twilight of Avalon and Pope Joan.
• Here are a couple of sources that came through my e-mail: A bibliography of manuscripts of medieval Latin chronicles, and the Repertorium Fontium Historiae Medii Aevi.
• In medievalist architecture, the North Bay Road Castle was damaged in a fire.

A New Saga

The Onion has another medievalist offering, this time about a new saga.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Here's a Miscellany for your Wednesday morning. Since I'm writing this Tuesday night, and Leeds is ongoing, the Miscellany will be about 6 hours old when you can finally read it.

• Age of Perfection compares Leeds and Kalamazoo.
• JJ Cohen and Eileen Joy are live blogging Leeds. Ooops, here's another Cohen post that came up while I wrote this Miscellany.
• Archaeology in Europe has an article on the search for the tomb of Suleiman I.
• The Bitter Scroll muses about depression, Tolkien, and the Anglo-Saxon worldview.
• Another Damned Medievalist is blogging a monasticism conference.
• A Commonplace Book has a recreation of the Pas de la Belle Pelerine to be held at Pennsic, and a post on shield construction.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Europe has a post on fiscal land, and a post on some recent readings.
• The Cranky Professor has a post (and image) about a statue of Virgin and Child made around 980. The statue was made then, not the post.
• Got Medieval has a knight confronting a snail.
• Henchminion responds to the snail image, and the weird similarity between Richard Scarry and De Nominibus Utensilium.
• Heavenfield discusses the symbolism of the number 300 in medieval battles, and shows us where to win free tickets to Brendan and the Secret of Kells.
• The Heroic Age has over a dozen new posts.
• Heroic Dreams discusses an upcoming book on castles, and the new Wheel of Time book.
• Humanities Researcher has a CfP on blogging and medieval studies.
• Lingwe discusses Tolkien Studies 6 and a planned Lewis/Tolkien collaboration that never took place.
• The Lost Fort has some beautiful castle images.
• Lost in Transcription has some Pearl-Poet Society CfPs for K'zoo 2010.
• The Medieval Garden Enclosed has a post on grain harvesting.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog posts some new exhibits.
• Medievalism announces that the Studies in Medievalism conference deadline is extended, and discusses the Post-Historical Middle Ages.
• Modern Medieval discusses the construction of the "Dark Ages" and "Renaissance."
• News for Medievalists has four new stories.
• Per Omnia Saecula watches In the Name of the King so you don't have to.
• Steven Till discusses the Battle of Barnet and interviews Victor Verney.
• Getting Medieval discusses some medieval skeletons.
• Gearwor discusses the Beowulf on the Beach kerfluffle, and has Beowulf, fitt 13.
• Medieval Research with Joyce discusses books on medieval manuscripts.

Hammered Out Bits has two posts on a glass bead making furnace. It's a cross-post from the Dark Ages Re-Creation Company blog. I knew of the existence of DARC, but not the blog, so I'm updating my RSS feed accordingly.

Sir Gwilym of Many Conquests

Here's a news* story about Gwilym of Many Conquests, and his many descendants.

I see they've interviewed that publicity hound Lucas Pearson of Cardiff University.


*wink, wink

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Circumstances have conspired to keep me from a full-bore Miscellany, but here's a little bit:

• Medieval Cookery has a post on the importance of a single word difference in manuscripts.
• Gearwor has Beowulf, Fitt 12 and a comment on sunflowers.
• There's a medieval manuscript illuminations exhibit at the National Museum of Art, entitled "Heaven on Earth." h/t About.com.
• Studies of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages has the medieval-themed offerings of TCM for July.
• A Stitch in Time discusses beeswax as a medieval sewing tool.
• The Medieval History Term(s) of the week are trivium and quadrivium.
• Yesterday was the Feast of St. Benedict.
• Owlfish went to a modern opera about a 12th-century troubador.
• The International Congress on Medieval Studies CfPs are up.
• In a new installment of Medieval Literature I Didn't Know, the Swain has Codex Boernerianus.
• Dr. Virago discusses pedagogy issues and Chaucer's placement in the curriculum.
• How did you spend Independence Day? Jeff Sypeck spent it listening to a Welsh woman retelling stories from the Mabinogion.
• News for Medievalists has an interview with Axel E. W. Müller.

Not even close to being caught up, but I put a little dent into it. By the way, here's a medieval blog called Medieval Times. Update blogrolls, etc.

No Miscellany Today

Sorry about not having a Miscellany as promised this morning. I had serious computer problems, but I think I've got them more-or-less ironed out. Hopefully tomorrow.

RIP: Virginia Brown

According to Ruff Notes, Virginia Brown, paleographer and fellow emerita of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, passed away over the weekend.

Tomistica.net has more details.

Various Updates

Since it's too late for a Morning Medieval Miscellany, and I've got hundreds of posts sitting on my reader, here are a few updates:

• Archaeology in Europe has over twenty new posts.
• The Heroic Age has twenty-two.
• News for Medievalists has about a half-dozen.
• In the Middle has seven.
• Food History has five new recipes.
• Medieval Bookworm has about a half-dozen reviews.

There. That gets me to under 50 to read tomorrow morning. I've barely skimmed the above, but they're reliable sources, so even though I can't vouch for the posts themselves, I suspect you'll be happy with what you find.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Here in the U.S., we've got a three day weekend -- so here are some things to enjoy as we prepare to combine explosives, alcohol, and patriotism:

• Studies of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages has updates on the SciFi (SyFy) Channel's offerings, those on Chiller, and an update on BBC's Merlin in America.
• A Stitch in Time talks steel needles.
• Steven Till has links to images of castles.
• Per Omnia Saecula has an article about a school being built over a medieval Jewish cemetery. Sounds like a possible horror movie premise.
• News for Medievalists discusses the latest issue of English Historical Review.
• Henchminion asks about semi-feral animals in medieval cities.
• Got Medieval argues that Stonehenge is a proper medieval subject.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Europe considers Vikings and the Normans.
• Archaeology in Europe has about a half-dozen new articles.
• Firefly Studios has the Medieval Fact of the Week.

Finally, does anyone know what's going on at Medieval Music? At first I just thought the site had an ESL issue, but when I look at the links, they seem to have no bearing whatsoever on the subject matter. Something seems not right there.

Sword Polish

I met a young woman tonight who collects fantasy swords, and was interested in knowing what would be a good sword polish. I assured her that in this august community of Wordhoarders there were enough experts on swords that we ought to get some really good answers.

So, folks, what's a good sword polish?

Let's Go Shopping for Medieval Clothes!

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate shopping for clothing. I find even virtual shopping for medieval clothing to be a drag.

I've got a $20 gift certificate to Historic Enterprises, and I'm looking to buy something. I'm willing to go as high as $60 total for the right thing -- but I just can't choose! I can't even narrow it down to a few items; I'm all over the place.

I already own the generic Viking outfit (back when I got it, they didn't differentiate between Anglo-Saxon and Viking), and I have a hat to protect my bald pate. Wherever possible, I wear linen rather than wool, because it's a billion degrees in Alabama all the time. Also, I prefer early medieval and northern Europe, but I might mix periods/regions if the overall effect isn't ridiculous.

So, let's go shopping. What should I buy?

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Welcome to July! Also to kick off this month:

• Archaeology in Europe has an update.
• In the Middle discusses Jewish/Christian/Queer, which was apparently published by a typesetter without a space bar but with a working backslash key, and has the cover design for postmedieval, which is apparently published by a typesetter without a shift key. I kind of like this cover color better.
• News for Medievalists has a story about the remains of a medieval castle found in a tunnel excavation in Basque. If I'm reading the image right, was the castle basically inside that tunnel? Kind of cool.
• Here's a George RR Martin fansite called A Podcast of Ice and Fire. h/t Steven Till. At my insistence, Wordhoarder Nick of Nowhere has begun reading Game of Thrones, and apparently doesn't like it, so that's one less fan for Martin.
• Medieval Bookworm has a review of Robin McKinley's Beauty.
• The Brussels Journal has "A History of Western Music, Part I."
• Here's a blog I've seen, but has somehow not popped up on my Blogroll or RSS feed: Medieval Music.

Quid Plura says that General Hospital has a storyline about courtly love. Seriously. It cracks me up when Maxine apparently thinks courtly love is some new sexual position. I've embedded the video below.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Some things for you:

• Archaeology in Europe has an update with lots of new posts.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Europe has a post on Pictland.
• The Heroic Age has a collection of medieval news links.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog talks about a medieval shoe.
• Podictionary has the medieval origins of the word channel.
• About.com has a new General Knowledge Quiz. I rocked the first quiz, but did rather poorly on this one.
• This came across Twitter: An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo-Saxon England. It's from 2008, but this is the first I heard of it.

Title Check

A bleg for feedback -- I'm submitting a paper to an academic panel at Dragon*Con. It needs to be academic in content, but popular in tone. Since most people who aren't already committed to sitting through the paper will only encounter the title, in this case the title is vitally important. It has to say, "Hey, world, this is going to be interesting, not boring! But don't worry, it won't just be a bunch of fluff, either!"

Here's the title I'm working with: Pre-Post-Humanism: The Medieval Roots of Hybrid Humans in Science Fiction and Fantasy

What do you thing? Too hoity-toity?