Witan Internship Available

Witan Publishing is now seeking a qualified intern for opportunities in e-publishing medieval scholarship. Some graduate education in medieval scholarship strongly preferred. Initial duties may include some copywriting, editing, and client relations. Applicants should send a cover letter and CV to inquiries@WitanPublishing.com, with the subject heading "Internship Application."

Lego Battle of Maldon

Here's a Lego Battle of Maldon. I'd have preferred Old English narration and Modern English titles, but hey, this is a really good version.



Thanks to Elizabeth Carnell for pointing this out over at the MyFace/SpaceBook.

Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen Battle the Forces of Mordor

I have long feared that a certain unnamed pizza place famous among medievalists (one that I frequent in early May of every year *hint*hint*) would lose its identity to a copyright lawsuit, and this appears to be what almost happened to a pub called "The Hobbit."

Fortunately, Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen (the latter playing Gandolf in the LotR films and the upcoming film adaptations of The Hobbit) have agreed to pay the copyright license fee so the pub can keep its name.

Intensive Old English Online

I've been asked many times if I'll ever teach an online Old English course, and the answer I always have to give is "Dunno. I'm not in charge of the schedule."

But here's your chance! The Swain is teaching one this summer. Here are the details:

English 3390/5390: Intensive Old English
Summer 2012
Dr. Larry J. Swain
Bemidji State University  


Textbooks: Reading Old English: An Introduction
by Robert Hasenfratz and Thomas Jambeck  
A History of Old English Literature by Michael Alexander 
Recommended:
The Anglo-Saxons James Campbell 

Fark Alert

Fark has a photoshop contest on the theme of "TV Shows in the Dark Ages." Enjoy.

Medieval Make-A-Wish

Is it wrong that I'm insanely jealous of this boy's Make-A-Wish? Sure, he's got desmoid fibromatosis, but he's also got his own castle, flanked by folks from the New Hampshire Renaissance Faire and the Neville Companye. Check out the photo gallery to see just how cool it is.

Has anyone else noticed just how many medieval reenactors are involved in Scouting as well? I'm curious as to why that is. My gut impulse is to say they are drawn to the places where Scouting values coincide with chivalric values ("A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.").

Medieval Cuisine and Agriculture

In the article "On the Impracticality of a Cheeseburger," Waldo Jaquith writes:

Further reflection revealed that it’s quite impractical—nearly impossible—to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in spring and fall. Large mammals are slaughtered in early winter. The process of making such a burger would take nearly a year, and would inherently involve omitting some core cheeseburger ingredients. It would be wildly expensive—requiring a trio of cows—and demand many acres of land. There’s just no sense in it.

A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not.

So often when we think that such-and-such a food was not around in the European Middle Ages, it's because the ingredients are New World. For example, you'll sometimes hear that medieval people thought tomatoes were poisonous, which is preposterous because medieval (European) people didn't think about tomatoes at all, having never seen them (here's Melissa Snell's accurate account of tomatoes in Europe). Medieval people didn't have potatoes, peanuts, squash, green beans, turkeys, chili peppers, corn, chocolate, etc.

What Jaquith's article made me wonder, though, was what modern dishes we eat that could not have existed in the Middle Ages not because of distance between new world and old, but because the harvest times of the various ingredients were so different that one could not practically make them. Since vegetables were often pickled to preserve them, I'm imagining certain kinds of salads that we take for granted today might be impossible without wilted or pickled ingredients.

I've worked on a farm in my youth, but it was with modern planting, harvesting, and so many of the plants were New World that I really have no idea about medieval agriculture -- but I'm sure many out there do. What modern dishes were impossible or impractical in the Middle Ages?