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?

Reactions to "Michael Jackson and Saint Guinefort"

Here are a few reactions to my First Things piece, "Michael Jackson and Saint Guinefort," both positive and negative.

• Saint Superman
• Catholic Sensibility
• Shrine of Holy Whapping

Everyone seems to be assuming I'm Catholic for some reason. Sorry to disappoint; I'm a Restoration Movement Christian currently attending a Presbyterian church.

Also, weirdly, the Washington Post lists my piece in the "Trench Warfare" section of their political browser. I can't quite figure it out, since the piece is not political (except in the broadest sense that man is a "political animal"), and if it's any kind of trench warfare, it's from the Right Flank of the Church, directed right back at the Right Flank of the Church.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

For your Tuesday morning:

• Medieval Research with Joyce discusses researching illumination for her historical romance.
• Medieval Cookery has posted manuscript images of the Forme of Cury.
• Studies of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages has two CfPs: Why Arthur and SGGK in Popular Culture.
• Anglo-Saxon Aloud is now going to start doing prose.
• A Stitch in Time discusses selling things at (modern) medieval markets.
• Steven Till has several new posts, including one on Hedingham Castle, the lancet (in windows), a discussion of fantasy artist Michael Komarck, an article on a knight's skeleton, and a review of Warrior of God.
• Senchus discusses the possible meanings of a Pictish symbol.
• The Swain talks about his impressions of Hrolf Kraki and makes some medieval connections with Captain Cook.
• Quid Plura commemorates the Battle of Kosovo.
• Podictionary discusses the medieval origins of the words Boston and tennis.
• Per Omnia Saecula reviews The Last Legion.
• News for Medievalists has about a half-dozen new articles, including one on friend of the Wordhoard Stuart Lee. I once had a student listen to Lee's podcasts and say, "You say the same things he does," to which I replied, "No, he says the same things I do!" Seriously, though, do they think Old English is a different language from school to school? Of course we said the same things!
• Muhlberger has a link to images from the Foteviken Open Air Viking Museum, and claims the medieval people would find El Cid the best movie ever.
• Modern Medieval has a link to a medievalist Bizarro comic.
• Medievalism discusses two new books: Renaissance Medievalisms and The Gargoyles of Notre Dame: Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog links to an armor exhibit in D.C.
• Lingwe announces the Hobbitonian Anthology of Articles about J.R.R. Tolkien and his Legendarium.
• You can win free swag over at In the Middle, read about Anglo-Saxon apartheid, or read about Mark Sanford as Lancelot.
• Stephanie Trigg has images of Bruno's medieval costume.
• The Heroic Age has an update with nine new posts.
• Got Medieval has medievalist portraits of Michael Jackson, and video game review of Joust, Inferno, and Magna Carta II.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Europe has posts on the Spanish March of Aizo, a charter workshop at Oxford, and wizards in Asturias.
• If you don't want to go to Oxford to read charters, Another Damned Medievalist breaks it down for you.
• A Chaucer bobblehead!
• Since the last Miscellany, Archaeology in Europe has had over two dozen new posts. That's what I get for waiting so long to do another MMM.
• About.com defines the Anglo-Saxons.
• Carmen's Chatter discusses the influence of AElfric on the Rule of St. Benedict.