Who Murdered Chaucer? A Review
I really wanted to like this book. I have read Terry Jones' Barbarians and agreed with his premise that the Romans were the savages. I have also enjoyed Monty Python and the Holy Grail as well as...
View ArticleArchbishop Arundel: As Black As He Was Painted?
Margery Kempe lived from around 1373 until some time after 1436 when her autobiography ends. She was alive when Geoffrey Chaucer (1342-1400) was and so her story is great for its first hand...
View ArticleRichard II and His Throne Usurping Cousin Henry IV
The later Middle Ages have not been the era that interests me the most. I am more interested in the Age of Heroes, the time of the Great Migration, i.e. early Middle Ages, when King Arthur and...
View ArticleThe Death of Geoffrey Chaucer
Having criticized one theory about Chaucer's death, I feel I should offer some other theory as to how he died and it should be more plausible than the one I criticized. The facts as we...
View ArticleThe Name of the Rose, A Review
It has taken me a while to read this 502 page novel. Not because it is not interesting. It certainly is but Umberto Eco's passion for medieval history and language are very evident in this book....
View ArticleThe Other 'F' Word: Fart
One thing that people often find more fascinating than where common phrases and words come is where the naughty words or 'not polite' words come from. After all, 'passing wind' can be referred to...
View ArticleDeeds of the Romans, Story #130
Of course this story may have another number in another collection but I feel like translating one of the shorter stories that probably does not get much attention on the world wide web....
View ArticleA Bit of Irony
For Remembrance Day or Veteran's Day or Armistice Day (whatever you call it), most people around here have a public reading of John McRae's 'In Flander's Fields'. It is a moving poem and the good...
View ArticleCat Got Your Tongue?
Idioms are fascinating things. They are particularly challenging for people who are learning any new language and it seems like English has more than its fair share of them. One idiom that I use...
View ArticleHeading into December
The Christian faith is such a curious blend of things taken from Judaism, original thought and borrowings from 'heathen' faiths. In the end, what is accepted or acceptable is not so much divinely...
View ArticleAbout a Statue and an Apple
Alexander tells about the state of things where Virgilius built a notable palace in the city of Rome. In the middle of which stood a certain statue which was named for a goddess of the Romans and...
View ArticleThe Anglo Saxon Reeve and Chaucer's Pilgrim
I have been doing a close reading of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with a few friends and we are at the Reeve's description in the General Prologue. This seems like a good time to discuss the term...
View ArticleFeast of St. Nicholas
Today is the feast of Saint Nicholas and, if you are a purist, you would have set your boots outside your door last night for Saint Nicholas to fill up. Of course, if you were bad, Saint...
View ArticleThe Pearl
What can a Medievalist say about the slaughter of innocents? Years ago, I read a poem called The Pearl, which had been written in 14th century Yorkshire by the same poet who wrote Sir Gawain and...
View ArticleThe Glass Is Half Full
At this time of year, people tend to look back at the year that was and include some wishes or hopes for the new year. To me, new year's day is just a day. The year begins at other times in other...
View ArticleAshes to Ashes
...and dust to dust.... Most of you would be able to finish this line. Usually there is a little poem that I read on a bathroom wall which pops into my head. It tells what would happen to male...
View ArticlePuns Are Funnier in Latin
The Venerable Bede reported in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People that Pope Gregory, aka Gregory the Great, the fellow who told his missionaries to incorporate any local customs that...
View ArticleA Step Back in Time
I have not been posting much lately because I have been immersed in researching genealogy. It has given me a new appreciation for the priesthood. Part of their job description was in being a...
View ArticleThe 'N' Word
I just heard that Mississippi has finally filed the paperwork to properly ratify the 13th Amendment which abolishes slavery. They ratified the amendment in 1995 but failed to file the proper...
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