Morning Medieval Miscellany

This Wednesday morning:

• Hammered Out Bits has a post on Norse and Anglo-Saxon knives, with a video.
• The Heroic Age has a links page of medieval news this week.
• Magistra et Mater discusses Gregory of Tours and symbolic history. Muhlberger's Early History comments on it.
• Medieval Living discusses difficulty in constructing medieval wheels.
• The medieval word of the day is bailey.
• Point of Know Return discusses Lydgate's Troy Book.
• Podictionary discusses Excalibur (the word).
• Steven Till asks about the "Holy Grail in America" episode on the History Channel.
• About.com has a story about a medieval village discovered in Qatar.
• Here's a brief history of medieval classical music and a review of the game Trine, both h/t LaNiche Music's Twitter feed.

Finally, below is a VOA report on Pennsic, h/t A Commonplace Book. News for Medievalists has that and more video reports as well.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

For your Tuesday morning:

• Steven Till has the top 100 medieval castles.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog announces The Art of Illumination at the Met and Old Master Drawings at Penn State.
• The Medieval Club of New York has an upcoming lecture, "The Jaharis Gospel Lectionary: A Manuscript for Use in Hagia Sophia," and also posts the schedule of coming events.
• News for Medievalists has an article about a BBC radio episode about St. Thomas Aquinas.
• Mearcstapa has their 2010 Leeds submissions.
• The medieval word of the day is liege lord.
• Archaeology in Europe has a dozen new posts.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

The last few Miscellanies have not gone out because of student supplicants begging for mercy. Let's see how far I get today:

• Medieval Living has posts on medieval tiles and medieval kilns.
• The most recent medieval word of the day is fealty. Or fee simple, depending on the blog.
• About.com has news of a potential 10th-century Korean settlement found in Russia. Sorry, I have nothing to add -- I know nothing about the northern Korean kingdoms.
• Drout offers an announcement of his new recorded lecture, The Anglo-Saxon World.
• The Swain needs help compiling a list of important manuscripts and inscriptions from the early medieval period, 400-1100.
• Podictionary has a post on the connections between the word coroner and Robin Hood (sort of).
• News for Medievalists has several new articles, including one on how we almost ended up with King Arthur instead of Henry VIII.
• Old Norse News has a survey about learning Old Norse.
• Medievalism announces the publication of Eminent Chaucerians? Early Women Scholars and the History of Reading Chaucer, edited, ironically enough, by two men.
• Lingwe has a post on Lloyd Alexander.
• DARC has glass drinking vessels.
• Homilaria discusses early medieval monasticism for understanding Western patristics.
• Geoffrey Chaucer hath a new post about Quanje Weste.
• Getting Medieval discusses Jewish marriage and labor customs.
• Soon I'll be abandoning tea and Coke Zero for spellcasting sodas.
• Slouching Towards Extimacy discusses The Once and Future King.
• Fantasy fanatics take medieval make-believe to Bill Schupp park, h/t Steven Till.
• Mony Wylsum Way discusses a point of translation in a Latin chronicle.
• Medieval Club of New York posts their fall events.
• Dante blogging continues.
• You can see Viking silver in York.
• A proto-dragon! h/t Lost in Transcription.
• Medieval Ecclesiastical Art has some beautiful images of medieval pulpits.
• Muhlberger's Early History has a post on Geoffroi de Charny.
• Jonathan Jarrett has a glowing review of The Long Morning of Medieval Europe.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog has several new exhibitions around the world.
• In the Middle has a CfP for "Insular Identities and the Borders of Medieval Britain."
• Speaking of CfPs, The Heroic Age has a bunch too.
• Here's some video from a Viking fair.

Happy Birthday Medievalists.net!

Happy birthday to Medievalists.net, which is one year old today!

Becoming a Medievalist

I received the following e-mail this morning [with redactions lest the person not want to be indentified]:

Ever since I read the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien in jr. high I have had the desire to be a Medievalist at the University level. In January I will be starting my first semester at college. My question is what kinds of classes should I take in order to provide a good base to work towards becoming a medievalist? Of course I will need to take courses in English literature, but other than that I am not so sure. At the moment I am thinking of taking an introductory course in Latin. Any suggestions would be more than welcome.

I was thinking about transforming into Professor Awesome, PhD and offering up little nuggets of wisdom about not neglecting Western Civ, philosophy, and perhaps considering German (especially if he's interested in the philology side), but I'm wondering what the Wordhoarders would suggest, particularly thought how have pursued the academic track.

So, ymbsittendra, what would you all suggest?

Me and K'zoo 2010

A few people have asked me privately, and it's true -- I may not be going to K'zoo in 2010. There are a variety of personal forces causing me to drift in that direction, but perhaps the most important professional reason is that for the first time in forever I have no particular piece of research I want to present. I've got research, I'm just not jonesing to take it to K'zoo.

I'm not saying I won't go for sure, but I haven't sent in any paper proposals to sessions, so it's looking unlikely. Don't worry; I've not entered into a post-tenure sloth period.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

For your Tuesday:

• Medievalists.net has an interview with Ian Mortimer about his book The Time-Travellers Guide to Medieval England.
• The Medieval Word of the Day is wall-walk.
• Canterbury Cathedral is being repaired with duct tape, which I think is supposed to outrage us, but instead makes me think of the incredible utility of duct tape. h/t Steven Till.
• News for Medievalists has an article on artifacts found at Brechin Cathedral and one on Scottish castles for sale.
• Mearcstapa has a CfP for Leeds 2010, "Exploring the Monstrous."
• DARC has images from Viking Hill at Bonfield.
• The Heroic Age has almost 20 new CfPs and other announcements.
• Medieval Material Culture discusses three exhibits: a Cardiff exhibit on the Welsh view of the Crusades, more on the Nuremberg Mahzor, and a Vienna exhibit on Charles the Bold.
• A Johns Hopkins student killed an intruder with a samurai sword.
• George and the Dragon is, to my knowledge, Patrick Swayze's only medievalist role.

An Oldie But a Goodie

This collection of accidentally-funny statements by students pops up every so often. I've heard people say that they think it's all made up, but none of those people work in academe. I'm confident it's all absolutely true.

My personal favorite: "Victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their necks." I'm feeling lazy ... insert your own juvenile joke below.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

An extremely truncated Miscellany this morning. I was having serious problems with my RSS Reader, and so I cleared everything out of it -- which means if you posted anything of import over the last week, I've probably not read it. If you want to direct my attention to something you've written, please feel free to drop me an e-mail. So, all we have for now:

• About a dozen new posts on The Heroic Age, with lots of CfPs.
• A 14th-century Hebrew manuscript, the Nuremberg Mahzor, is going on display for the first time.
• Here's a medieval English chicken recipe, for Chykens in Hocchee.

That's it! It would be wonderful if someone were to swing by my house and cook me up some of that chicken.

Web for Medieval Source-Based Textual Scholarship

An e-mail about all the new resources at the Web for Medieval Source-Based Textual Scholarship page came across MEDTEXTL, and I went and looked at the page again. It's sweeeeeeet. Even if you're not a scholar, you'll want to go to the page and look at all the links to actual manuscript images.

Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

This is only barely medievalist, but Season 3 of "The Guild" is cracking me up so much I felt like posting it.

Review of Dante's Inferno (2007)

The film Dante's Inferno (2007) is a very interesting project. Shot with little paper puppets and placed in a more modern, gritty urban landscape, the film manages to capture some of what Dante was doing in his original. Though it takes a while to catch its rhythm, the film eventually develops as a dark comedy with wry social commentary, and the occasional history lesson to offer context to some of Dante's original denizens of Hell.

At first I found the paper puppets a little off-putting (and a friend of mine found it unwatchable because of them), but eventually I came to appreciate the medium, and even enjoy a few of the little tricks they would do that emphasized the silly 2-D puppets shot on 3-D miniature sets (such as having a reaction painted on the reverse side of the puppet, and simply turning the puppet around to change how it looks). It also allows it to continue to be a dark comedy. If the Inferno were to be shot as an ultra-modern CGI FX fest, it would run the risk of either being unbearably gory or having to pull too many punches. The puppets allowed a dark depiction of Hell that's not going to put you in therapy. To get a sense of the look of the film, watch the embedded trailer below.

The structure was a little awkward. The film rushes through the first 6 levels of Hell in the first half hour, then meanders about the last 3 levels for an hour. As a result, the first third of the movie isn't nearly as funny and insightful as the last two-thirds, and I'd have wished for a more evenly paced journey.

I found some of the political cheap shots off-putting, and there's a strong anti-Catholic sentiment. The underlying political idea (though it is inconsistent) seems to be that Republicans are politically evil, and Democrats are personally evil. At first it seemed to me that rather than scoring cheap and vapid political points, it would have been better to assign one party to be the Guelphs and one the Ghibellines to bring it in line with the poem. Upon further consideration, though, I wonder if it isn't appropriate to have these political cheap shots, since it strikes me as likely that Dante's audience might have felt that he was being unfair, but we are simply too far removed from the situation to have that sense.

One last potential problem with the contemporary references is that they might be too contemporary. I suspect if I asked my students who Lee Atwater and F. Lee Bailey are, they would neither know nor care. Atwater particularly has been dead nearly 20 years now, and the O.J. Simpson trial (how most people would know Bailey) was even longer ago. Doing rear-guard action on such minor culture war battles all these decades later only makes the film feel dated in a way that historical references of greater magnitude (like Pope John XII or John Wilkes Booth) do not.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

It'll take me a long time to clear out this backlog, so let's get started!

• Start with Carnivalesque LIII.
• A Corner of Tenth-Century Medieval Europe has a CfP for "Problems and Possibilities in Early Medieval Diplomatic."
• Dante blogging continues. I know of at least one student who's reading along and wowing his professor with his insight.
• Got Medieval has In Search of Robin Hood, the September feast day calendar, and a knight on a hobby horse.
• Gypsy Scholar has a post on the problem of free will in medieval philosophy.
• Hammered Out Bits has a neat post on the Norse system of measures for exchange.
• Heavenfield muses about religious conversion as a form of translation.
• The Heroic Age has more than a dozen CfPs and such.
• Heroic Dreams has some updates on The Hobbit film.
• DARC has some images from their Norse camp, sans modern stuff.
• In the Middle announces the inaugural issue of The Glossator, and has a CfP on "Romance Temporalities."
• Here's a newish blog: Medieval Living. Update feeds and blogrolls!

Well, there's much more, but Google Reader just started acting up, so more later.

Dragon*Con 2009 Post-Mortem, Me as Professor Awesome

Dragon*Con this year was unfortunately short for me. I arrived much later than expected Friday night (around 11PM), and then had to leave shortly after lunch on Sunday. Even though it was short, it was still a good time, and we got to do some medieval literary geekery.

Let's start with the medieval lit geekery. The other scholar in my session didn't make it, so I was the star of a one-man show. The session was well-attended; I counted just as I started, and there were forty people at that point, and more than a dozen people came as the session went on, filling the room completely. Prof. Matt Brown did an excellent job of promoting the academic track at the convention. The Q&A session went on for about 45 minutes, which is unbelievably amazing for the session on a Saturday night when the drinking has begun.


The star of this year's Dragon*Con was, without a doubt, Adam Savage of Mythbusters. He was going around in a costume that obscured his face, and so was offering hints through Twitter as to who he was. Everywhere I went, I heard the same conversation: "Do you think that guy over there is Adam? What about that guy over there? Oooh, that guy has a lot of silver buttons ... wasn't that a clue?" Great PR!


On the (sort of) medievalist side, Felicia Day of The Guild and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog was the woman everyone wanted to see. For the moment, she's the queen of fandom geekery. Myself, I wouldn't consider The Guild medievalist, but there's an argument to be made for it. Steve from Blue's Clues told one of my minions she looked like Felicia Day, and I have a good friend who's in love with her (Felicia Day, not my minion), so I got an extra dose of the lovely and funny Ms. Day.



I was happy to see Dragon*Con was a lot more family-friendly this year. In past years, I've seen a lot of topless women in public area. This year I saw only one topless woman. I didn't see any concerted effort to keep the Con cleaner, but it was. Perhaps next year I'll take my kids.

One other thing about the Con is that I'm giving up correcting people about Professor Awesome, Ph.D. I invented Prof. Awesome to be an evil alter-ego, the kind of professor whose favorite subjects upon which to pontificate are those he knows nothing about. In Professor Awesome, PhD I've been able to poke fun of the excesses of my profession.



Before Dragon*Con, though, I started to get e-mails and Facebook messages addressing me as "Professor Awesome, PhD."* When I correct people, they seem to get confused and not understand how Prof. Awesome, PhD could both be me and not be me. So, I give up. I'll be Professor Awesome, PhD, and just find some other way to poke fun at my profession.



Finally, I met lots of interesting people at the Con, and regret not being able to stay longer. One of the more interesting people I met was Allegra Torres who is working her way through college as -- get this -- a chainmail model. Yes, an English major chainmail model. Sorry guys, she's already got a boyfriend.

Allegra Torres. Image is a bit blurry, but you get the idea.

*Interestingly enough, the only person to ask for my autograph at the Con did not come to my session, and when I asked if he wanted me to sign it with my real name or as "Prof. Awesome, PhD," he didn't seem to have heard of my alter-ego. One lovely young woman asked for a copy of my paper, which is a much more academic thing to do. I don't mind signing autographs; it just seems weird for a professor.

Back from Dragon*Con

Caring for my elderly dog brought me back from Dragon*Con early -- I'll probably be able to post a report on it tomorrow. A little preview of what's to come:

• I give up. I've fully embraced the idea of being Professor Awesome, Ph.D.
• "Chainmail Model" is an actual job description.
• I'm now searching for a +5 Helm of Sexterity.
• Meat. I like meat.
• One game of Munchkin can lead to immediate addiction.
• It's official -- everyone hates Twilight. Everyone. If you like it, you are not a part of everyone. You're essentially a non-entity. So there.
• Even an übergeek like me finds children endlessly quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail obnoxious.
• I now sympathize with The Monarch having to deal with minion incompetence.
• The only thing that can draw a crowd at Dragon*Con during the drinking hour on a weekend is the promise of hot girl-on-bear action.
• Waxing: Felicia Day, Adam Savage, Steampunk, Anthony Daniels
• Waning: Leia steel bikinis, Boba Fett, public nudity

Dragon*Con 2009

I'll be at Dragon*Con this year, though I've been getting so many messages referring to me as my evil alter-ego (Professor Awesome, PhD), that it might be more appropriate to say that Professor Awesome, PhD will be at Dragon*Con this year presenting under my name.

My session:

D*C Comics and Popular Arts Conference Session #2: The Historical Roots of SF & Fantasy Sat 08:30 pm Location: Greenbriar - Hyatt (80 min)

Scholarly presentations on the historical roots of SF and fantasy. Richard Scott Nokes (Troy University) explores the medieval roots of human hybrids---characters such as elves, trolls, and cyborgs that play an important role in SF and fantasy---challenging the notion that such characters arise from distinctively contemporary hopes and anxieties bout the posthuman. Luis Arata (Quinnipiac University) discusses Somnium, a SF/fantasy novel by 17th Century astronomer Johannes Kepler, in which Kepler develops and defends in narrative form elements of Copernican physics that he would later discover through formal mathematics.

I've been telling folks it's an 8:30 AM session, but now I see it's 8:30 PM! Huzzah!

If you'd like to meet me and can't make it to my session, I'll try to keep things updated on my Twitter feed. I won't have a laptop during the conference, so e-mailing me is probably not a good way to contact me.

Also, for those who have asked, I will sign autographs (but I won't have an "autograph signing session" -- what am I, William Shatner?), and no, I don't charge for autographs -- but you have to promise not to forge my signature and steal my identity.

Žižek on Medieval Torture

Via First Things, I found this little quote from an NYT opinion piece entitled "Knight of the Living Dead":

Are we aware that the last time such things [public discussion of torture] were part of public discourse was back in the late Middle Ages, when torture was still a public spectacle, an honorable way to test a captured enemy who might gain the admiration of the crowd if he bore the pain with dignity?

Of course, Žižek has never been one to let the facts get in the way, but come on -- even he should know torture is as much (and perhaps even moreso) a modern phenomenon as a medieval one. I guess in this case it's because the modern torture has mostly been carried out by those Žižek likes.

WikiGrendel

This is interesting -- Wikipedia has a page entitled "List of Artistic Depictions of Grendel." Yet Professor Awesome, PhD still has no Wikipedia entry.

Uncomfortable Medieval Plot Summaries

I can't properly attribute this because of the semi-anonymous nature of the place I got it from but here are "Uncomfortable Plot Summaries." Those of medievalist relevance:

• BEOWULF: Colonists hire assassin to drive natives from land.
• CONAN THE BARBARIAN: Petty thief murders religious leader.
• LABYRINTH: Girl is negligent baby-sitter. [and I would also add is the jailbait love interest of David Bowie]
• LORD OF THE RINGS: Midget destroys stolen property.
• MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL: British comedy troupe inadvertently creates language lab for nerds.
• ROBIN HOOD: Disgruntled veteran protests taxes. [Actually, I'm very comfortable with this plot summary]
• SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS: Layabout stepdaughter shacks up with seven miners.

On the non-medieval front, this reminds me of that horrible film, The American President, in which the President sleeps with a lobbyist and changes policy in exchange for her affections -- and we're supposed to applaud him for it. A film that could only be loved by an audience that is both politically and ethically ignorant.

Why I Sojourn Here

La Belle Dame sans Merci

John Keats

O what can ail thee, knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.


O what can ail thee, knight at arms,
So haggard and so woe-begone?
The squirrel's granary is full,
And the harvest's done.


I see a lily on thy brow
With anguish moist and fever dew,
And on thy cheeks a fading rose
Fast withereth too.


I met a lady in the meads,
Full beautiful - a fairy's child;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.


I made a garland for her head,
And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She look'd at me as she did love,
And made sweet moan.


I set her on my pacing steed,
And nothing else saw all day long,
For sidelong would she bend, and sing
A fairy's song.


She found me roots of relish sweet,
And honey wild, and manna dew,
And sure in language strange she said-
"I love thee true."


She took me to her elfin grot,
And there she wept, and sigh'd full sore,
And there I shut her wild eyes
With kisses four.


And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream'd - Ah! woe betide!
The latest dream I ever dream'd
On the cold hill's side.


I saw pale kings and princes too,
Pale warriors, death-pale were they all;
They cried - "La belle dame sans merci
Hath thee in thrall!"


I saw their starv'd lips in the gloam,
With horrid warning gaped wide,
And Iawoke and found me here,
On the cold hill's side.


And this is why I sojourn here,
Alone and palely loitering,
Though the sedge is wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

For this Monday morning:

• The Heptarchy Herald discusses Sherlock Holmes, medievalist.
• Dante blogging continues with Canto X.
• The medieval word of the day is oblate, not to be confused with the medieval history term of the week, which is apse.
• Gearwor presents Beowulf, fitts 28 & 29.
• Hammered Out Bits discusses accessorizing for Vikings.
• Continuing the discussion of gargoyles, Quid Plura presents "A Sonnet from the Boartuguese."
• In the Middle has a CfP on "The Other, the Outsider, and the Outlaw in Medieval Romance," and a report from a really cool screening of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
• Modern Medieval has a CfP on "The Medievalism of Nostalgia."
• Writing a paper on medieval devils? Here's a bibliography on medieval devils -- all the work is done for you!
• Medieval Material Culture Blog points us to an exhibition of gothic art in Magdeburg.
• Muhlberger discusses the big Viking hoard found in Northumbria.
• There'll be a medieval poetry workshop in Lowell, MA on October 17th.
• Beowulf = viral marketing.

That is all. Go forth!

Morning Medieval Miscellany

For this Friday:

• Medieval Research with Joyce has been diligent about the new Medieval Word of the Day feature. The most recent is lawn, which doesn't mean what you think.
• Medieval Cookery has a post on GenCon and Pennsic.
• Gearwor has Beowulf, fits 26 & 27.
• Michael Drout talks about the experience of being a History Channel talking head for the Clash of the Gods series. The one on Lord of the Rings airs Sept. 21st, and the one on Beowulf airs Oct. 5th.
• Steven Till reviews Betsy Tobin's Ice Land.
• Jeff Sypeck's neighborhood has been invaded by gargoyles.
• More casting news for Game of Thrones, h/t PoliScifi.
• News for Medievalists has three new articles: One on a late medieval expedition to Canada, a review of The Bayeux Tapestry: New Interpretations, and one on the search for Leonardo da Vinci's lost "Battle of Anghiari." The later has videos, the first of which calls Leonardo "the greatest mind of the Renaissance." Jerks, always stealing the good late-medieval stuff for the modern era, and dumping all the bad early-modern stuff on the Middle Ages.
• Papa's Secret Voodoo Boot needs help picking a Latin dictionary.
• Linda McCabe has some artist's renderings of what the Ozark medieval fortress will look like. If there's one story of modern medievalism I haven't properly kept up on, it's this one.
• Mony Wylsum Way translates the Earl of Kent's confession.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog has three new links pages: Quintains, sweet bags (which are technically modern), and caparisons, for the well-dressed equine in your life.
• Magistra et Mater has a really excellent post on medieval attitudes in historical novels. If you're writing any medieval (or medieval fantasy) fiction, you really need to read this. I found myself talking aloud back to the post while reading it.
• Speaking of which, Medieval Bookworm reviews Nicole Galland's Crossed.
• Heroic Dreams talks about Renaissance Faire news, and directs us to Renaissance Magazine.
• The Heroic Age has a dozen new CfPs and other announcments.
• The Cranky Professor continues Dante blogging.
• A Commonplace Book has an example of modern manuscript production.
• The Herald has an article on Robert Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid.

Here's a blog with medieval content I'd missed: Spinning Clio. Update your blogrolls & RSS feeds accordingly.

Prepping for Dragon*Con

This morning I am writing a presentation for Dragon*Con that will deal, in part, with bestiality in medieval literature, and the medieval roots of some contemporary anxieties about genetic engineering.

• Medieval Lit -- Check!
• Genetic Engineering -- Check!
• Bestiality -- Check!

Ah, the Dragon*Con triple threat...

The Heptarchy Herald

Here's a brand-new blog that's already in my RSS feed: The Heptarchy Herald. In his second post, Michael discusses cooperation among medieval scholars and disciplines.

Update your blogrolls accordingly.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

I've got some sort of weird problem with my RSS feed (wherein some things don't seem to ever delete, or will randomly pop up again later) leading me to be more aggressive in my deletion policies -- and also leading to this MMM being posted in the afternoon. If you've got an important post that's fallen through the cracks here, please feel free to e-mail me a link.

• Archaeology in Europe has over two dozen new articles.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Medieval Europe has a post on the preoccupations of Lothar I, and a review of historical archaeology. By the way, if you ever entitle a book in lower-case letters, know that I'll never read it, unless your name is e.e. cummings. And probably not then. This goes double for you, bell hooks.
• Dante blogging continues with Cantos III, IV, V, and VI.
• Early Medieval Art sends us to Sacred Destinations.
• Carl Pyrdum has been eaten by Reynard the Fox.
• Henchminion discusses the problems of cleaning gambesons.
• The Heroic Age has a links page and a CfP on "Technology, New Media, and Medieval Art History."
• This isn't strictly-speaking medieval, but much of the academic medieval blog-o-net-o-sphere-thingy has been debating use of jargon and clarity in writing. In the Middle gathers the links to the comment threads here.
• Medieval Bookworm reviews The White Queen and Flint.
• Publication of Tolkien's The Book of Jonah has been pushed back to next year.
• The Lost Fort has images from Scharzfels Castle.
• The Medieval Garden Enclosed features the cucubalas.
• In addition to some new linkspages, Medieval Material Culture Blog uses videos to distinguish between à plaisance and à outrance in tournaments.
• Muhlberger reviews Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent, and the Battle for Europe.
• Mony Wylsum Way has a post on how Froissart scapegoats Edward II.
• The Naked Philologist offers some morbid 13th-century poetry.
• News for Medievalists has over a dozen new articles.
• Per Omnia Saecula reviews King Arthur.
• Podictionary offers the origins of the word gun.

OK, that's not quite all of them, but I'll catch up in the next one.

For the Middle-Aged, not the Middle Ages

And now for something completely non-medieval:

The Beloit College Mindset List, class of 2013!

A few comments:

They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
This year a librarian retired, and the invitations to the party looked like card catalog cards. The workstudies in the office wondered why there was a hole punched in them.

The European Union has always existed.
Does it exist now?

Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
When I start a story with, "When I lived in the former Soviet Union ..." my students look at me like I'm saying, "When I lived in the Ottoman Empire..."

Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power.
Joe Biden has real power? When did this happen?

They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen. Yet not one ever has.

My Birthday Wish List

Today is my birthday. For those wishing to get me a gift, I'm registered at Medieval News. If you all pitch in together, you should be able to get me one (or all!) of those.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Let's see how far I can get before the kids' alarm clocks go off:

• Archaeology in Europe has 19 new posts.
• BabelStone has 72 medieval images. h/t Cliopatria.
• Muhlberger's Early History has video of medieval explosives!
• The Cranky Professor is Dante blogging.
• The Heroic Age has over a dozen new posts, CfPs and the like.
• Getting Medieval has images from Guedelon.
• The Medieval Bookworm reviews The Doomsday Book. Back when we were putting together MediEvolution, one of the segments for our test run was a review of the same book.
• Lingwe discusses Tolkien's View: Windows into his World.
• Mearcstapa posted an abstract for a submission to K'zoo.
• The Medieval Garden Enclosed reminds us that it's time for threshing.
• Mony Wylsum Way plays a writers' game with Arthurian characters.
• Steven Till has seven essential fantasy reads, none of which I've read. As a general rule, I find fantasy novels by authors with the first name "Terry" unreadable.
• Popular Culture has posts on two new books: Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages on Film, and Medieval Film.
• Cloregy has a post on hurricanes in the Medieval Warm Period.
• Prof. Rodney Stark defends the Crusaders.
• Think no one is passionate about medieval literature? Some guy stabbed two people to death in an argument over books on medieval lit.

Here's to hoping I don't get stabbed during my Anglo-Saxon poetry lecture today...

King Mindaugus Statuette

Since it's too hot to write anything substantive, I offer here an image of a wooden statuette of King Mindaugus given to me by a friend, crafted by a Lithuanian carver of some local repute (though for the life of me I can't remember his name at the moment).

Though it very obviously evokes Christ (looking depressed and wearing a crown of thorns), it's actually supposed to be Mindaugus in the attitude of Christ -- though I'm not certain what he's go glum about. Maybe it's because there would be no further kings, unless you count Mindaugus II ... which most Lithuanians don't (more on that in the video below). I'm guessing the crown is not supposed to be thorny in this case.

I've photographed him on top of a stack of 8x11 paper, for perspective.

Below is a video of a much larger statue, and a little about the position Mindaugus holds in the Lithuanian culture.

Too Hot to Blog

It's about 80 degrees outside, and a thermostat problem has caused the heat in my building to run. I was going to write a Miscellany and a post about the Lithuanian king Mindaugus, but it's so hot in here I can't recall what I was going to write.

I'm sure it was going to be something brilliant, though. Anyone who has something interesting to say about King Mindaugus, please help me out by contributing it below.

Moratorium on Monk Eadwine

I am hereby declaring a one-year moratorium on academic books using "Monk Eadwine at Work on the Manuscript" as their cover art.

I used to like it, but Monk Eadwine's agent should tell him he's over-exposed.

These two scribes are also in danger of being included in my moratorium.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

As you head into your weekend:

• About.com has a medieval terms quiz.*
• The theme for next year's annual Medieval Studies conference is New Directions in Medieval Scandinavian Studies.
• News for Medievalists has an update with four new articles.
• JJ Cohen discusses Karma Lochrie's "Provincializing Medieval Europe: Mandeville's Cosmopolitan Utopia."
• Hammered Out Bits has a post on various kinds of medieval pots.
• A Corner of Tenth Century Medieval Europe has a final report from Leeds, and discusses Cambridge University's 800th anniversary.
• Archaeology in Europe has 19(!) new articles. It'll take me all weekend to read them all.
• Mahdi Karroubi (an ally of Hossein Mousavi) called alleged torture and rapes of protestors in Iranian prisons "medieval torture and corruption."
• My Life After University has a post on the medieval section of Tallinn. I've been there; it's stunningly beautiful. h/t laNiche Music.

*I didn't do too well. Why am I still confused that a Hundred is a unit of land (a division used for taxation purposes, as I recall)? Am I confusing it with something else?

Manly Medieval Men with Beards

This may be the greatest links page ever: Larsdatter has the Medieval Beards page.

My (ironic) favorite is Dürer's Self-Portrait in a Fur-Collared Robe. In that image, Dürer depicts himself as a sort of Christ figure -- thereby being one of a small handful of people I'd punch in the face if I had a time machine. Maybe he was so interested in the Protestant Reformation because he thought Martin Luther might start worshipping him.

Just look at him -- the dude clearly thinks he's the shizznit.* What a douchebag.


*You have now read the first occurance of "shizznit" in my writings. Make a note of it.

Morning Medieval Miscellany

Today we start classes at Troy. Here are a few items to keep me from despairing:

• Archaeology in Europe has over a dozen new posts.
• Cinerati discusses Terry Goodkind and objectivist philosophy.
• The Heroic Age has seven new posts. Don't miss this set of links.
• In the Middle has a post on authenticity and Guedelon.
• Medieval Bookworm reviews Hugh and Bess.
• Magistra et Mater talks about problems with historical fiction.
• Medieval Material Culture Blog has two new links pages: medieval children & children's clothing, and embroiderers at work.
• Muhlberger's Early History has images and video from Pennsic. For those who don't know, Pennic is a huge annual SCA event.
• News for Medievalists has a post on Becket medieval art (with video), and one on an early medieval mill in Ireland.
• The Ruminate has a post on Bede and hybridity.
• Studies of Popular Culture and the Middle Ages announces Kevin Harty's new edited collection, Cinema Arthuriana.
• Gearwor gets in on the discussion of Remi Brague and medieval philosophy, and has an image of the 51 headless Vikings.

Dear World,

Please stop asking me details about the "real" King Arthur, then arguing with me when I say he's a mythical figure and that if there is any historical basis, we're better off talking about King Arthurs, plural.

If you want to insist there's some real bona fide King Arthur and that I'm wrong, fine, but don't insinuate that I'm part of some grand conspiracy to hide the truth from the world.

I mean, really, what purpose would there be in hiding that? And no channeling Geoffrey of Monmouth by saying it's to keep the Welsh down, because I frankly couldn't care less between the Welsh and the English.

XOXOXO
Scott

Morning Medieval Miscellany

After going two weeks without a Miscellany, I hit the reset button on the inter-net-o-web-o-sphere, and here's what's come up since then:

• A Commonplace Book has images from Pennsic.
• Gypsy Scholar has a post on Rémi Brague and medieval philosophy.
• The Lost Fort has a visit to Dunstaffnage Castle.
• Medieval News tells us of a 7th-century city discovered in Turkey.
• Podictionary tells us how the word tawdry comes from the 7th-century virgin St. Audrey. Fascinating.
• There was a ship graveyard found in the Baltic off the coast of Sweden, with ships going back to the Viking age.
• About.com tells us about Pope Innocent III.
• Firefly Studios has a "medieval fact of the week" series to promote their game "Stronghold Kingdoms." It looks like the game is going to be a historically-based MMO.

Looting Medieval Churches in Northern Cyprus

Medieval News has an excellent article on how medieval churches in northern Cyprus are being looted through a combination of organized crime and government cooperation. Don't miss it.

Prayer of the Woods

I got an e-mail from someone asking about "Prayer of the Woods." He's seen web sources that say that it is over 1000 years old, and that it was translated from Portuguese.

Surely there's someone in this community who can confirm the origins, and maybe even give us more detail.

Prayer of the Woods

I am the heat of your hearth on cold winter nights, The friendly shade from the summer sun, and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on.

I am the beam that holds your house, and the board of your table. The bed on which you lie, and the timber that builds your boat.

I am the handle of your hoe. The door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle and the shell of your coffin.

I am the bread of kindness and the flower of beauty. Ye who pass by, listen to my prayer: Harm me not.

The Norton Anthology is neither written by Ed Norton nor an anthology. Discuss.

I've been trying desperately not to blog over the last week, since that would only distract me from putting together my syllabi for the fall semester (as it is doing as I write this now).

Still, I can't help but comment, once again, about the truncated medieval offerings of the Norton Anthology of English Literature, which omits tons of extremely canonical Old and Middle English literature from its tiny, tiny medieval Volume A, but which includes so much dull, boring, stuff in the remaining five volumes of modern literature that I'm convinced the editors were paid by the pound.

For example, their Anglo-Saxon offerings:

• Caedmon's Hymn (and the bit of Bede introducing it)
• Dream of the Rood
• Beowulf
• Judith
• King Alfred's Preface to the Pastoral Care
• The Wanderer
• The Wife's Lament

That's it. Really. As a bit more insult, when they added Judith in the 8th edition, they removed Battle of Maldon, as if the extra few pages was going to over-inflate the Anglo-Saxon section.

OK, I can't deal with now ... if you could knock some sense into the editors, what would you insist they include?

Met "Pen and Parchment" Exhibit a Knockout

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hosting an exhibit through August 23rd entitled "Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages." Here's a rave review from The New Republic, which calls it "the most original museum show in this country since 2002," and "a knockout, at once sumptuous and restrained."

h/t Merlin DeTardo

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?