By Laura Rahme
Wednesday 2 October 2024
The magical gris-gris - a journey in understanding by Laura Rahme
By Laura Rahme
Tuesday 24 September 2024
Five Minute History: The Spy Kit used by Undercover Agents in WW2 by Deborah Swift
The Spy Kit used by Undercover Agents in WW2
By Deborah Swift
By Deborah Swift
Tuesday 27 August 2024
The Historical Importance of Brittany by Jennifer Ivy Walker
By Jennifer Ivy Walker
La Bretagne (Brittany)-- the peninsula in northwestern France whose coastline borders the English Channel to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west-- is known for the many myths and legends of the Celtic people who once inhabited the region long before Julius Caesar and his Roman legions conquered Gaul in the first century BC.
Among the Celts of la Bretagne, men trained to become Druid priests or savage warriors (les guerriers), and women were often guérisseuses celtiques-- gifted healers whose natural remedies included herbs of the forest, healing crystals, and curative waters of Brittany’s sacred springs. There are many legends of mythical creatures in Brittany, including the famed fairies Morgane la Fée and the Lady of the Lake Viviane, in Arthurian tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande. My trilogy, The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven, is a fantasy retelling of the Celtic medieval legend of Tristan et Yseult, interwoven with Arthurian myth.
During the Second World War, Brittany was part of Hitler’s 2000 mile long Atlantic Wall, which extended from the southern coast of France all the way up the northern coast of Norway. Many Breton seaports were considered crucial in defending the German occupied territories against the anticipated Allied invasion. One of those key ports was the medieval walled city of Saint-Malo, on la Côte d’ Émeraude (the Emerald Coast), at the border between Brittany and Normandy. The Battle of Saint-Malo, which was fought between the fourth of August and the second of September 1944, is the culminating point of my novel, The Witch of the Breton Woods.
After the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944, the Allied Forces succeeded in retaking the Cotentin peninsula from the Germans, and moved west for the Battle of Brittany. The French Resistance was crucial in the Allies’ liberation of France. The Witch of the Breton Woods features a fictional band of Resistance members known as Les Loups (The Wolves), with a nod to the Celtic myths and Arthurian legends from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande.
By Jennifer Ivy Walker
Monday 26 August 2024
Five minute history - The Coal and Iron Police by Jennifer M. Lane
My favorite thing about reading historical fiction is being inspired by little pieces of history that leap off the page. Quite often, I find myself launched into an unexpected, adjacent realm of research, like the time I was a teenage girl and found myself researching Napoleon's days in exile after reading about Waterloo.
By Jennifer M. Lane
Wednesday 14 August 2024
Five minute history - Kingdom of Hungary (15th Century) by Katerina Dunne
Return to the Eyrie is a personal story with fictional main characters but is set against the complex historical background of the late 15th century Kingdom of Hungary. Medieval Hungary was a powerful multi-ethnic and multi-lingual kingdom, which covered a large part of Central Europe.
15th-century Europe map copied from
https://www.gifex.com/detail-en/2009-09-17-811/Europe-during-the-15th-Century.html |
During most of the 15th century, the main danger for Hungary came from the Ottoman Empire, which was rapidly expanding towards the west and north. Smaller kingdoms and principalities, such as Serbia, Bulgaria or Wallachia, had already become vassals of the Ottomans while Constantinople fell to them in 1453. All this meant that Hungary was now the last frontier holding back the Sultan’s advance towards Central Europe.
The years between 1458 and 1490 were dominated by the figure of Mátyás (Matthias) Hunyadi, who became king aged fifteen in January 1458. Although his family’s origins are a little obscure and subject to many theories, it seems that Mátyás was the first king of Hungary who was elected despite not being of royal blood. Therefore, this caused problems to his rule right from the start. Powerful barons and prelates within Hungary as well as the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Poland disputed his legitimacy. So, Mátyás had to secure his throne first and foremost before dealing with the Ottoman threat. In fact, he spent more time at war with his Christian neighbours than fighting the Ottomans. He also spent much effort trying to influence politics in Bosnia, Wallachia and Moldavia, by supporting his favourite candidates as rulers there. The most famous example was Vlad Dracul III (also known as Vlad the Impaler) whom Mátyás initially supported, then arrested and imprisoned for many years until he finally released him in 1475 and sent him back to Wallachia to reclaim his throne. However, Vlad’s rule was short-lived as he was killed at the end of 1476. Similarly, Mátyás fought against the Moldavian Prince, Stefan III (later known as Stefan the Great), during the early years of his rule; however, he later supported Stefan in his efforts to repel the Ottoman attacks on Moldavia.
Some historians believe that Mátyás probably realised that the only way for him to be successful against the Sultan’s armies was to unite the neighbouring countries under his rule and thus increase his military strength. Others believe that he was more interested in becoming the Holy Roman Emperor himself.
But apart from his political and military achievements, Mátyás was also well-known for bringing the Italian Renaissance and Humanism to Hungary, becoming the patron of many scholars and artists and establishing the famous Corvina Library in his Buda palace.
All these elements of the historical background of the time are woven through the storyline of Return to the Eyrie. The main characters participate in the King’s military campaigns, while they also witness the devastation of the Ottoman attacks on the border areas of Hungary. The different battle tactics—from cannons, siege machines and gunboats to armoured cavalry and mounted archers—are depicted in the novel, showing the size and variety of the military forces Mátyás had at his disposal. As the characters travel across the kingdom, they meet people of different ethnic origins who speak a variety of languages, accentuating the multi-cultural nature of medieval Hungary. In addition, the splendour of the royal palace and the King’s legendary fair judgement (which became the subject of popular folk tales after his death) are also demonstrated when he deals with the heroine of the novel.
Bust of King Mátyás Hunyadi at the Royal Palace in Visegrád (author photograph) |
By Katerina Dunne
Thursday 13 June 2024
The Mask in 17th Century Venice by Deborah Swift
The Mask in 17th Century Venice by Deborah Swift
When I decided to set The Fortune Keeper in Venice in the 17th century, I was aware of the carnival season and the revels and disguises in my novel, and knew that the timeline would fit neatly with the two previous books. The plot of the novel features an assassin, and I realised the masked celebrations of Carnival would be an ideal place for this character to hide in plain sight.
Every day mask-wearing seemed to begin as a form of politeness in business or at the gaming table. Large amounts of money passed through Venice in the golden age of sail, as it was a centre for trade between east and west. Talk of money, and negotiations over assets, were often easier when the face could assume a neutral appearance. Soon mask wearing in Venice became widely understood to be indicative of high status; a maintainer of propriety, a device used by the nobility which, rather than aiming to deceive, was designed to preserve the status quo. When rich people adopt something, they soon have imitators, and the mask quickly became common attire. The exception being that masks were still forbidden in churches and convents, probably because these were the repositories of wealth, as well as holy places.
In the early 17tth century after several incidents of murders by masked men, the Council of Ten banned carrying a weapon when masked. Town guards were asked to frisk maskers for weapons, but these searches became so common they soon became cursory, and there was no guarantee a masked man would not be armed.
In the late Renaissance, women were often masked for modesty, and this led to a law that forbade prostitutes from wearing the mask. In 1608 any ‘woman of ill-repute’ found wearing one would be chained between the columns in the Piazetta at San Marco, whipped, and banned from the city for four years. Yet only a hundred years later, when masking had become de rigueur, prostitutes were actually required by law to wear masks in public.
By the 1770’s and 80’s the laws on mask wearing were so unclear that compliance to the law became almost impossible to enforce. There were laws, but no-one took any notice of them. In that respect, it was like the recent Covid mask-wearing; there was guidance and advice, or soft laws, which were widely interpreted in different ways. People rebelled as they saw the enforcing of mask-wearing laws as an attempt to control the population at a time of the city’s rapid expansion.
For the authorities, controlling mask-wearing was an attempt to make sure people knew who was in charge – and an example of this is the State Inquisitors who passed a law saying, ‘no patrician may enter the theatre or the orchestra seats unless masked.’ The key here is the word ‘patrician’— as it was clearly an attempt through masking, and the sumptuary (clothing) laws, to define and reinforce the upper classes.
As well as the difficulties for a novelist of when a person should be masked, and what the penalties might be for murder, the other difficulty was technical. Most masks worn by nobles were the bauta, the full mask and tricorn. For women, the moretta mask which covered the whole face, and was held between the teeth by a button, was common. It struck me that the lack of facial expression must mean reliance on gesture must have been mandatory for most maskers. In certain situations, my protagonist wouldn’t be able to ‘raise an eyebrow’, ‘blush’ or ‘smile’.
Nevertheless, the mask phenomenon in Venice, and its connection to crime, is absolutely fascinating. I can heartily recommend the book, ‘Venice Incognito – Masks in the Serene Republic’ by James H Johnson for anyone who wants to know more about masks and the class hierarchies in Venice.
Bibliography
Venice Incognito – Masks in the Serene Republic James H Johnson
Working Women of Early Modern Venice Monica Chojnacka
Law and Punishment in Early Renaissance Venice – Guido Ruggiero
By Deborah Swift
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