Recent content by artisticrainey

You're welcome! I'm by no means an expert but I'm glad to share any information that I can :)

No problem, I should have been clearer in the first place. I can see where the confusion came from.

By modern slant I meant the "is killing in war murder" argument, rather than the translation itself. I'm no translator, so I can't vouch for the words and their interpretation and I won't try. However, the view of killing in the Middle Ages wasn't as tied up in morality as it can be now. Even...

The translation is usually interpreted as kill, rather than murder. Regardless of what the "true" translation is, the king still had to do penance. I think you're putting a very modern slant on the kill/murder idea. A lot of the killing was done in the name of religion (Crusades etc) but it was...

Which church are you talking about? The only church I have any knowledge of is Medieval Christianity, so I hope it is in some way useful. Also, the church and its hierarchy did change depending on the part of the Middle Ages you're talking about. I'm going to focus on the Later Middle Ages...

Hi there, Crannogs are quite ancient dwellings, and I think in Medieval Ireland there would not have been many still in use. It would have been rare, rather than the norm. In any case, as crannogs were large, communal areas with few partitioned areas, people would have slept in the same...

Sorry to sort-of jump in here, but in Britain and Ireland at least (not sure about anywhere else) often nuns acted as midwives. There's recently been a TV show based on the idea in London's East End. Here's an article about the nuns who inspired the show (which was based on a nun's memoirs)...

Something related and also useful: Middle English Dictionary It's a Middle English dictionary, useful if you find a Middle English word you don't know the meaning of.

Welcome, Arakech. I hope you can find your inspiration.

You're welcome! The knowledge all comes from books and journals that I've read so I have to thank them! Sadly I'm not a researcher myself anymore, but the skills never leave you and it can be easy enough to find info when you know where to look :)

You're welcome! I speak from experience. I've laboured for a long, long time on an idea and a manuscript of about 100,000 words that just won't work because I didn't start out with a good idea of my plot. Looking forward to reading your posts!

Hello there. Your ideas sound very interesting. I find if I tighten up a good idea into the bare bones of a plot, it's easier to write it out. It's so much more difficult to finish a story if, when you start, you haven't the faintest idea of where you're going (now there are exceptions to...

The very, very richest IE: the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury, their nearest and dearest and anyone who visits them and is of sufficient rank/importance would have a very large four poster bed with enclosing curtains. The mattress and pillows would be stuffed with feathers (usually...

Well, if you ever have any questions, I'll do my best to answer if I can. I'm sorry to say that I don't, but if I come across anything I'll let you know. I think because she died so young (even in Medeival terms) there wasn't much of a chance of writing much about her -- which is compounded...

Welcome. I've been here for a day or so and I've certainly enjoyed it :)