Today at Unusual Historicals: María de Padilla, Royal Mistress

Reenactors portray María de Padilla and King Pedro
in the Royal Palace in Sevilla. 

The theme this month at Unusual Historicals is "Mistresses." For my turn, it could be none but María de Padilla, whose legal status as queen was never confirmed. Nonetheless, she is more famous and beloved than many historical queens. The few facts that have come down about her make for great historical novel fodder! Read all about it at Unusual Historicals today.

Mozarabic Art at Unusual Historicals

The author stands with her villainess
in Barbadillo del Mercado, Spain 

Today at Unusual Historicals, I get to rhapsodize about the unique art phenomenon of Mozarabic manuscript painting.

It's the art form my characters in Seven Noble Knights would have been most familiar with.

Yes, lots of bizarre, brightly colored pictures! Check it out!

Thanks for stopping by.

Today at Unusual Historicals: My Characters' Moment in Space and Time

Me and my gal, Lambra

This month, Unusual Historicals is letting us historical fiction authors go crazy on our favorite topics: the "unusual" setting and time period of our stories! Mine is about the formative history taking place during Seven Noble Knights. "My Characters Lived in... Tenth-Century Spain" has tons of information and pictures I've gathered over my many years of obsession with medieval Spain. Check it out!

Thanks for stopping by.

Today at Unusual Historicals: My Intellectual Hero, Alfonso X

Alfonso X. That's him on the left
in the blog banner, too. 

The theme at Unusual Historicals this month is "The Intellectuals." Maybe they don't make history as often, but without the brainiacs to write things down, there would be no history at all. 

My personal and intellectual hero is—no secret—Alfonso X, el Sabio. Read about just a few of his brilliant accomplishments here at Unusual Historicals. 

If you'd like some event specifics, I made two-part biographical summary here and here. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Today at Unusual Historicals: First Ladies

Unusual Historicals is celebrating Women's History Month with a series of posts about "First Ladies." My humble contribution is up today. It's about the woman who married Count García Fernández and gave him six children, Ava de Ribagorza. Was she or wasn't she a traitor to Castile? The world may never know, but I explore what little we know of her contribution here.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Werewolf and a Serial Killer Today at Unusual Historicals

picsfair.com 

The myth of the werewolf is found in cultures all over the world. While researching the werewolf myth in Spain, I came upon the case of Spain's first serial killer. What do these two things have in common? It's just strange enough to be true, and perfect for this scary season. Read all about it at Unusual Historicals today!

Castles at Unusual Historicals

Almodóvar del Río Castle. Photo by Jessica Knauss

Today I have a post at Unusual Historicals about a castle, and king, and a cantiga, by way of announcing my latest historical project, stories based on the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Enjoy!

Do You Want Your Books in Paper or Parchment?

Please welcome Kim Rendfeld to my blog. Kim's latest well-researched and heart-touching historical novel is The Ashes of Heaven's Pillar. I had a small part in bringing both of Kim's novels to publication, and she has read my Seven Noble Knights and provided invaluable historical insight. Today she's talking about something we of the 21st-century often take for granted: literacy.

Hrabanus Maurus presenting his book to Pope Gregory IV (Fulda, 831-840)
(Austrian National Library)

What a book was made of seems trivial, but that choice had consequences for the spread of knowledge in entire early medieval societies.

One thing that struck me in Jessica’s Seven Noble Knights was that literacy was so widespread on the Muslim side of the border in tenth-century Spain. Even the common soldiers could read and might own a book. No so in eighth-century Francia, the setting for my novels, The Cross and the Dragon and The Ashes of Heaven’s Pillar. In the world of my characters, few people could read, and even fewer could write.

The reason for this difference had nothing to do with intelligence. Rather, it was the material used to produce books. Muslims used paper, which was much more affordable than the parchment favored by Christians.

Parchment came from sheepskin, and one sheepskin produced two large pages. So, a large book required a lot of sheep. This meant that to have the raw materials for a book, you needed enough land to devote to feeding sheep instead of raising crops.

On top of that was the cost of labor. A normal size manuscript took a team of scribes two to three months to copy by hand, and then it was edited by the head of the shop. If the book had special merit, an artist would be brought in to decorate letters and paint leaves kept in reserve. After that, the book was assembled, and if expensive, bound, an innovation of the Carolingians. Really special books had gold or ivory in the binding.

So literacy – and the scientific, theological, and philosophic knowledge contained within books – was limited to the clergy and wealthy laity. In Francia, books were so precious that owners invoked dire consequences if they were damaged. One scribe wrote: “The book was given to God and His Mother by Dido [of Laon]. Anyone who harms it will incur God’s wrath and offend His Mother.”

In an age where litanies were performed to gain God’s favor in an upcoming war, these are not empty words. If you borrowed a book, you would be especially motivated to take care of it. God’s anger was terrifying enough, but you certainly wouldn’t want to offend His Mother, whom you often asked to intercede for you.

Books are a new things for the main characters in my latest release, The Ashes of Heaven’s Pillar. Not only are Leova and her children, Deorlaf and Sunwynn, illiterate Saxon peasants and recent converts to Christianity; they are taken to Francia from a culture that doesn’t have a written language as we know it. They are war captives sold into slavery, and although they learn a new spoken language, Roman, they never learn the written language of Latin.

In this excerpt, we’ll meet Thomas the clerk, one of the few literate people in this novel, and find out why it’s good to be friends with a guy who can read. Here, he is reading a message from Countess Gerhilda’s brother about the death of their father.

While Gerhilda bawled, Thomas silently read a few more lines, stared at Sunwynn, and squinted at the parchment. “I apologize, my lady, this parchment has been written on more than once and is hard to read.” He looked at Sunwynn’s face then at the parchment. “It has rained almost every day.”

Her brow furrowed, Sunwynn puzzled over Thomas’s actions. His explanation of why he had hesitated did not ring true. Why had he gazed at her after he read the message? Had he read something that concerned her? She had no idea what it could be. She was unimportant. Patting Gerhilda’s hand, Sunwynn felt ashamed for her relief that Gerhilda was too distracted to notice.

The clerk continued to read about spring planting and the number of men who went to war. When he finished the letter, he rolled the parchment. “I would advise against trading today, Countess.”

“No, not today,” Gerhilda said in a monotone.

Gerhilda released Sunwynn’s hand and wrapped her arms around her large belly. Sunwynn stood, stepped past her lady, and grabbed the half full cup.

“Let me fetch you some more wine, my lady,” she said softly, “to calm you and help the baby.”

“Don’t tarry.” Gerhilda’s eyes carried a plea, not an order.

“No, no, my lady. I promise.”

Hurrying toward the wine cellar, Sunwynn wondered how she could ask Thomas about the letter. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Thomas bow to Gerhilda and leave the hearth. Instead of going directly to the tower, he rubbed his forehead and said something about needing herbs for a headache. She slowed a little as she went through the door, and soon Thomas caught up with her. Walking alongside her, he did not seem ill at all.

When they were outside, Thomas looked over his shoulder, then directed his gaze toward Sunwynn. “There was something else in that letter,” he murmured.

“What is it?”

Thomas looked over his shoulder again. Sunwynn did the same. Servants were bustling about, but no one could overhear them if they kept their voices low.

“A Saxon slave has run away,” Thomas said.

“Deorlaf!”

Thomas offered his arm for support. Sunwynn grasped his forearm and leaned against him. She staggered forward, almost spilling the wine.

“So he is your kin?” Thomas asked.

“My brother.” Sunwynn gulped a mouthful of wine. “He must be mad. He will die out there.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I needed to know. But why did you keep this from Gerhilda?”

“I’ve known of too many masters who punish the whole family for one servant’s misdeed. No good would come from punishing you and your mother, and I am…” Thomas shook his head. “You are a good woman.”

If circumstances were different, I would ask my brother to betroth me to you. Behind her, the sound of footsteps pounding against the hardened ground shook Sunwynn from her daydream. Releasing Thomas, she turned. The merchant was running toward her, his face pale, his eyes wide.

“Countess… in pain…”

Sources

Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne by Pierre Riche

Daily Life in the Age of Charlemagne by John Butt

Kim Rendfeld is the author of The Cross and the Dragon (2012, Fireship Press) and The Ashes of Heaven’s Pillar (August 28, 2014, Fireship Press). To read the first chapters of either novel or learn more about Kim, visit kimrendfeld.com. You’re also welcome to visit her blog Outtakes of a Historical Novelist at kimrendfeld.wordpress.com, like her on Facebook at facebook.com/authorkimrendfeld, or follow her on Twitter at @kimrendfeld, or contact her at kim [at] kimrendfeld [dot] com.

Unusual Historicals: The Cantigas de Santa Maria

Alfonso X el Sabio as mediator in the F manuscript.

Today at Unusual Historicals I get to share with you the medieval phenomenon that occupied my every waking moment for three years, all told: the Cantigas de Santa Maria. I hope you can glimpse why there's so much to love about these thirteenth-century songs. Enjoy!

The Most Adventuresome Author Today at Unusual Historicals

Today at Unusual Historicals, I try to capture some of the adventure of the life of Miguel de Cervantes in a post about a trip he took in 1575, with unexpected and life-changing results. Enjoy!

A Marriage That Sparked Rebellion, Sieges, and Battles

Urraca's royal signature 

Don't miss my post on Unusual Historicals today. In the category of "Happily Ever After — Or Not," Urraca of Castile and Alfonso I of Aragón may be the most Or Not in all history! No one wants to read about a happy marriage, anyway.

The History Behind Zorro at Unusual Historicals

This month's theme at Unusual Historicals has been freedom fighters. Okay, so he's fictional, but the freedom fighter that came to mind for me is the one and only Zorro! Turns out, he may have more history behind him than any serial watchers ever imagined. Check it out!

Thank you for your support!

Alfonso X and Sevilla at Unusual Historicals

Check out this epic post on Unusual Historicals, in which I share a little of the history of my favorite king and his favorite city.

Unusual Historicals: The Traitor Countess

I'm honored to have a guest post at Unusual Historicals today. It's a wonderful site that makes readers aware of the less-well-covered topics in historical fiction. They're all the more fascinating for their obscurity. Please check out what I have to share with you about "The Traitor Countess" in history and legend.

Full disclosure: "The Traitor Countess" is on my list of choices for the basis of my next novel. But it's sort of negative, and I'm also attracted to the "Romance of Prince García" and a couple of other topics. Time to decide!

The picture at the top of this post is the "author" illustration from the beginning of Alfonso X's Estoria de Espanna, where I get all the sources mentioned in the Unusual Historicals post. It's well-worn, but anything having to do with Alfonso X is beautiful to me (I'm funny that way). Most deluxe manuscripts have a presentation page, where the illustration often shows the author presenting the book to his (or her!) patron. Alfonso X is both the patron and the "author," so his deluxe books have author pages with him in the center, giving the knowledge for the book to the scholars in attendance who would actually write it down -- the workshop I mention in the Unusual Historicals post.

Why have two traitors when you can have four? I discuss the vile actions of the traitors in The Seven Noble Knights of Lara at the SNKL site today.

Not enough medieval Spain for you? Come back next Monday for a hyper-Spanish guest post from novelist Lisa Yarde.

Enjoy!