The Other Medieval Queen

When we think of a medieval queen, the woman who often comes to mind is the queen around whom I developed my debut novel Widow's Peak, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Yet, there is another queen who was at least equally as powerful in medieval times. Isabella of France was responsible for many changes in the history of England.

Isabella was born a princess of France sometime in 1295. While still an infant, she was promised in marriage by her father to Prince Edward of England with the intent to resolve some of the many conflicts over land holdings between the French Nobility and the Norman English Rulers. However, the English king, Edward I, attempted to break the engagement several times and the marriage only proceeded after he died, in 1307.

The new king, Edward II, was tall, athletic, and wildly popular when he and Isabella were married in January, 1308. She was twelve years old and considered a great beauty, but her time at the French court more than prepared her for the machinations of the English court.

Although they produced four children, Edward was notorious for lavishing sexual attention on a succession of male favourites, all of whom Isabella considered a threat to her son and thus to her own standing. The timing of her turn against her husband seems to be tied to his preference for his favorite, Hugh le Despenser. During her pregnancy with her fourth child, she begged her husband to exile Despenser from the kingdom. Edward agreed, but later that year reneged and called his favorite back to England. Apparently, that was the last straw as far as Isabella was concerned. It is rumored that sometime during the next few years she took as her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Though Mortimer was married and had twelve children, the affair was soon openly acknowledged.

It’s commonly accepted that Edward II was an ineffectual ruler. When Isabella's brother, King Charles IV of France seized Edward's French possessions in 1325, she returned to France as a delegate charged with negotiating a treaty. However, she became a focal point for the many nobles opposed to Edward's reign. In alliance with her lover, Roger Mortimer, Isabella gathered an army to oppose Edward. Enraged by such treachery, Edward demanded that Isabella return to England, but her brother refused to expel her, saying she came to France of her own free will and could remain as long as she desired. As it turned out, her stay was not long enough for Edward II.

With the support of both the King of France and the King of Holland, Isabella and Mortimer landed in Suffolk in 1326 with a fleet of eight man of war ships and an army of mercenaries. Edward II offered a reward for their deaths and the king was rumored to have carried a knife in his hose saved just to kill his wife if he got the chance. Isabella responded by offering twice as much money for the head of Hugh Despenser, who was still Edward’s favorite.

The invasion by was successful and Edward's few allies deserted him without a battle. The Despensers were killed, and Edward II was captured and forced to abdicate in favor of his eldest son, Edward III of England. Since the young king was only fourteen when he was crowned in 1327, Isabella and Mortimer ruled as regents in his place. As instigator of her own husband's removal from the throne, Isabella contributed greatly to the decline in England of the power of the monarch and thus the rise of democracy.

According to legend, Isabella and Mortimer plotted to murder the deposed king by sending the famous order, Eduardum occidere nolite timere bonum est, which, depending on where the comma was inserted, could mean either "Do not be afraid to kill Edward; it is good" or "Do not kill Edward; it is good to fear". There is little evidence of who decided to have Edward assassinated, and none whatsoever that the infamous note was ever sent.

When Edward III turned 18, he and a few trusted companions staged a coup and both Isabella and Mortimer were taken prisoner. Mortimer was executed for treason, but Isabella was spared she was allowed to retire to Castle Rising in Norfolk. She did not, as legend would have it, go insane, but enjoyed a comfortable retirement and made many visits to her son's court, doting on her grandchildren, and later taking the habit of the Poor Clares before her death in 1358.

In the tumultuous 63 years of her life, Isabella of France married the bi-sexual King Edward II of England, lived with him for 17 years, bore him four children, fled to France in fear of his powerful favorite, returned with her lover, Roger Mortimer, to lead a rebellion and place her son on the throne, saw Mortimer executed as her son asserted his power, and lived to retire to a nunnery. She was indeed a medieval woman who dared pursue power.

I'm giving away a copy of Alison Weir's intriguing biography, Queen Isabella: Treachery, Adultery, And Murder in Medieval England. Leave a comment about your favorite queen, ancient, medieval, renaissance, or any other period. I'll draw a winner on October 31st.

Hanna Rhys Barnes

Some may be sad to see the last days of Summer. Not me. This is my favorite time of the year. The change in seasons takes me back to the roots of my imagination, mythology. I was always fascinated by the stories of gods and goddesses. Starting with the Greeks and Romans in first grade, I have managed to work my way through dozens of mythological pantheons. Egyptian, Babylonian, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Hindu, Polynesian, African, Nordic, Celtic, I’ve read about and studied pantheons from all over the world.

The first days of Autumn bring cooler temperatures. And the harvest. Which brings me to my favorite goddesses, the harvest goddesses. In the Oxford Dictionary of Goddesses in World Mythology, there are over six hundred agricultural goddesses listed and that’s not even including goddesses related to non-domestic plants. I have yet to find a culture that didn’t have at least one harvest goddess. Many of the Mother Goddesses of the most ancient cultures morphed into agricultural goddesses in the “civilized” cultures.

Harvest goddesses always had plenty of followers in their temples. Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest and her Roman counterpart, Ceres were major players with celebrations that lasted for days. Nehebka, one of the Egyptian agricultural goddesses was also one of the judges of the dead.

Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of grain was also known as the “Queen of Heaven and Earth.” With things like food and eternal happiness at stake, who wouldn’t want to keep a goddess happy.

The myth of the harvest goddess has inspired many of our stories, the most popular of which is that of Demeter and Persephone. Classic mother-daughter feud that gets settled by a bad-boy hero. Another example is that of Inanna, whose husband betrayed her and brought down the rath of the ultimate woman scorned.

Harvest goddesses can be anything from sweet and motherly to rainers of fire. They are strong and wise, but you don’t want to cross them.

I have a special reason to love autumn this year. On September 23^rd, my debut novel, Widow’s Peak, will be released in both Print and E-book Formats from The Wild Rose Press. I finally get to harvest the fruits of my labors. Stop by my website at www.hannarhys.com and sign up for my quarterly newsletter for a chance to win a free copy of Widow’s Peak as well as a chance to win one of two beautiful art pieces in my Super Contest.

Hanna Rhys Barnes is one of those people with an evenly balanced right and left brain. She has a BA in English, but recently finished her final year as a high school math teacher. She loves to cook and was a pastry chef in a former life.

A member of RWA’s national organization and of several local chapters, she currently lives and works in Portland, OR, but occasionally visits her retirement ranchette outside of Kingman, AZ. Hanna’s debut Novel, Widow’s Peak, is currently available in Print at the Wild Rose Press, Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. She is currently working on Book 2 in the series, Kissed By A Rose.

The Wearing of the Plaid

Forgive my lateness, but I still can't get my pictures to upload. So I'm just going to forge ahead.

Every so often, the clans of Scotland gather to account for themselves. And I’m not just talking about your annual highland games, where strong men in kilts toss big poles and bonny lassies dance around swords. In July of 2009, Scotland is having a homecoming. The clans are being called home. The calling of the clans is important. Important enough for the ruler to attend. Yes HRH Elizabeth II will be there, waving and smiling, as the clans march by, parading the strength of their numbers. There will be parties and state dinners, meetings and balls. Rivalries will flare, but unlike in times past, no blood will be spilled (except maybe for a bloody nose). Whisky and ale will flow, and flow, and flow. And oh yes, men in kilts will be everywhere. I know this because an acquaintance of mine is the “Chief” of clan MacFarlane. He’s a strapping hulk of a man, with long blond hair. Just what you’d expect a clan chief to look like. Women follow him around, especially if he’s wearing his kilt. So of course I had to write something loosely based on the MacFarlane clan (extremely loosely, but still it was the image of Michael that planted the seed in my head). I'll post an excerpt once I'm further along. 

The Scots are ever proud to display their tartans and you’d best not insult a man for wearing his kilt, even if you’re not in Scotland. I’m seeing more and more kilt wearers, here in Amreica. Scotsmen, young, old, and in-between are wearing their family plaids. The most traditional are even pleating the whole nine yards. I’m told that’s where that phrase comes from. A traditional formal kilt takes nine yards of material. The length is carefully folded into pleats and fastened on. Modern kilts are a bit easier, but still there's a bit involved. Here's a step-by-step on how to wear your everyday kilt by Matthew A C Newsome:

This is how I get dressed in the morning.

1.        Put on your shirt. Whatever shirt you are wearing, be it a button down, polo shirt, t-shirt, whatever.

2.        Put on your kilt. It may seem obvious, but the pleats go in the back! (Some people do need reminding of this). The two flat aprons overlap in the front. On most kilts, there will be a leather strap at the end of the right-hand apron. This will cross over in the front and pass through a hole in the left side of the kilt and fasten to a buckle at the outer left waist. (I make my kilts a bit different: see here). The top of your kilt should come up well above the belly button. Make this as snug fitting as is comfortable. It needs to be snug enough to keep your kilt in position -- you'll stand straighter, as well!

3.        Now cross the apron to your left over to the right and fasten withone or two leather straps there. It is important to keep things even. You want this outer apron to lie smooth across your belly. In a well made kilt, where the straps and buckles are placed evenly, this means that you should position the straps on both the left and right equally. In other words, if your left-side strap is on the second hole, then you need to wear your right-side strap at the second hole, as well. This applies for the straps at the waist. If your kilt has a third strap down on your right hip, take care to fasten this only as tightly as necessary to allow the apron to lie flat and smooth. People have a tendency to wear this strap too tightly and this creates a pull across the front apron. (Or you could just follow my suggestion and have this superfluous third strap removed and not worry about it!).

4.        The kilt is designed to sit up high on the waist. Most civilian kilts are made with a 2" rise. This means that (on most men) the bottom of the leather straps (the upper straps, if your kilt has a lower one on the hip) will be at your natural waist line, at the top of your hip bone. The top of the kilt itself should come to just under your rib cage. On thinner men, this will be the natural place where the kilt feels comfortable. Larger men, with a waist (belly) larger than their hips tend to want to wear their kilt at the hips, below their belly. Avoid this temptation! Nothing looks worse than a man with his beer-belly protruding out over the top of his kilt. Wear your kilt high, above your belly button. Believe me, it looks a lot better and more fitted.

5.        Most well-made kilts will have one of the pivot points of the tartan (the point at which the pattern mirrors itself, often a dominant stripe) at the center point of the front apron. See that that line is centered, and line up the buttons on your shirt to that line.

6.        Reach down underneath the kilt and give your shirt a little tug to get it in place, and smooth the shirt out. If you need to during the day, you can repeat this little maneuver to neaten up your appearance.

7.        If you are wearing a belt, now is when I would put it on. If you plan on wearing a vest or waistcoat (or a cummerbund for as part of a formal ensemble), then you will not want to wear a belt. Most kilt belts are between 2" and 3" wide, with the average being about 2.25" to 2.5". I'll do a different post later on about formal/casual styles of kilt belts. Your kilt may or may not have belt loops in the back. These belt loops are actually a relatively modern addition to the kilt. They are not necessary and many kilt makers (myself included) still do not put them on. It is the straps and buckles that will keep a properly fitted kilt up, not the belt, which is purely decoration. If your kilt is sans loops, just put the belt on at the natural waist. Some are of the opinion that the belt should come up even with the top of the kilt (so that you cannot see any kilt above the belt). J. C. Thompson advocates this in So You're Going to Wear the Kilt! I find this very impractical to maintain, however, without the belt slipping off the top of the kilt, and see no reason for it. The belt should cover the leather straps on the kilt, and it's perfectly fine if the top half inch or so of the kilt shows above the belt. If your kilt does have belt loops, go ahead and run your belt through them. So (again, Thompson being an example) say that since these belt loops are a new addition, made originally for the sporran strap (true) and therefore should not be used for the belt. So they say to wear your belt on top of the belt loops. If you want to do this, I won't argue with you. But I will say that to most who see you it just looks like you missed your loops when you put your belt on.

8.       The belt should be snug fitting (but not so tight as to bunch up or crease the kilt!). A snug fitting belt will stay in place (and help the kilt stay in place on those men with no hips!). A loose fitting belt will work its way south during the day and the next thing you know your half inch of kilt showing above the belt has turned into three or four inches, and nothing looks sloppier.

9.        Again, make sure everything lines up -- your belt buckle should be even with the center line of the kilt apron (and the buttons of your shirt).

10.     The next thing I put on are the hose. When you put them on, pull them all the way up, over the knee. Take your garters and fasten them above the calf, below the knee. The flashes (the colored cloth ribbons) should be on the outside of your leg, positioned just slightly to the front. (Just FYI, the elastic band is a garter, the colored ribbons are the flashes, and together they are referred to as "garter flashes." They are not called "flashers" or "flashings" -- both of those things will get you arrested!). Garter flashes in place, the top of the kilt hose now folds down, hiding the garters, with the bottom few inches of the flashes showing. Don't get too hung up on how many inches the fold over of the hose needs to be. Just use your best judgment. Some kilt hose are designed to be folded over two or three times for a thicker top. Most just fold over once.

11.      Next I usually add the sgian dubh. This just gets tucked into the top of my right kilt hose (because I am right handed), on the outside of the leg. Too many people wear their sgian dubh with the entire handle sticking out of the hose. This is uncomfortable, and you may loose your sgian dubh that way! All that needs to be showing is the top half or one third of the handle -- enough to grab it when you need it.

12.     If you are wearing a tie, now is when I normally put it on. You will have to tie it a bit shorter than you normally do with your trousers, because the kilt has a much higher waist. If you wear the tie at the same length, it will come down too far below the waistline of the kilt. You want to tip to be just a bit below the top of the kilt, but not too much.

13.     Now you are ready to put on your sporran. Adjust your sporran strap so that the top of the sporran is a few inches (not too much! I'd say no more than 3" or 4") below the belt. If your sporran moves around too much, feels like it is slipping, or feels uncomfortable in any way, you are probably wearing your sporran strap too loosely. If you want to run the strap through the belt loops in the back of your kilt, feel free. That is what they are there for. Most men won't need to do this, but again, if your waist is larger than your hips, this may help keep everything in place. Some men with larger bellies have a problem with their sporran hanging down below their gut and creating an unsightly pull in the front of the kilt. One solution to this are the handy sporran slings that are being sold now, allowing the sporran to hang from the main kilt belt. These will keep the sporran in the correct position no matter your waistline! Again, make sure your sporran is centered.

14.     If you are wearing a vest or waistcoat, now is the time to put it on.

15.     We are almost done! Time to put your shoes on. I don't have time to go into detail about the proper way to tie the ghillie brouge laces, other than to say there are about half a dozen "proper ways." Unless you are dressing formal, you don't really need to wear your ghillies, anyway. Just wear comfortable shoes.

16.     Lastly, before you head out the door, put on any outerwear. This means jacket and/or bonnet.

17.     One minor word about the bonnet. No matter if you are wearing a balmoral or a glengarry, the ribbons should be centered in the back, with the hat cocked ever-so-slightly to the right, highlighting your crest badge. On the balmoral, it is customary to wear the ribbons tied into a bow. (This is a remnant of the old broad bonnets that were sized with a draw-string). With a glengarry, the ribbons are left loose.

And you thought putting on a corset and buttoning up a hundred buttons was complicated.

Hanna Rhys Barnes is one of those people with an evenly balanced right and left brain.  She has a BA in English, but recently finished her final year as a high school math teacher.  She loves to cook and was a pastry chef in a former life.

A member of RWA’s national organization and of several local chapters, she currently lives and works in Portland, OR, but occasionally visits her retirement ranchette outside of Kingman, AZ

Hanna’s Debut Novel, Widow’s Peak, is due to be released September 23, 2009 from The Wild Rose Press. She is currently working on Book 2 in the series, Kissed By A Rose.

First You Walk

It seems we are on the verge of a major change in the art of wordsmithing. What exactly do I mean by wordsmithing? To me it stands for getting ideas from one person to another through the use of words.

The human race has been “wordsmithing” for many thousands of years. Long before there was the written word, we felt the need to share part of ourselves with others. Storytellers kept the past alive by speaking and singing tales of our creation, myths, battles, heroes, and the history of the tribe/family. The tradition is carried on today with storytelling and folksong festivals all over the world.

The next big step (other than the creation of the written word itself) was to keep a permanent record so that if the storyteller got killed in battle, the history would not be lost. Over time many civilizations learned to record history on everything from clay, to stone, to wax, to paper (papyrus was an early form of paper), but by far the masters of bureaucracy, a fancy term for making sure it is recorded, was the Roman Empire. The reason we know so much about Rome today is because they had so much “paper” that no matter how many times the city burned to the ground or was looted by invaders, there was always something written down that didn’t get destroyed.

So the human race toddled along writing things down. Being a scribe was hard work, but at least you had job security, one square meal a day, and a place to sleep. 

Until Mr. Gutenberg came along with his marvelous printing press. We all know what that did to the publishing world. Manuscripts could be mass produced and the rich no longer controlled the distribution of reading material. The middle and even lower classes started to learn to read, realized that they were getting the wrong end of the stick, revolutions and uprisings, pilgrims, Australia…well you get the picture. 

So the human race walked along printing books. Being a publisher eventually grew from being a three or four man operation to investing large sums of money in equipment and hundreds of people to run the equipment, find books to print on the equipment, sell the books you’ve printed and keep track of the whole thing. Until someone invented a CRT and a CPU and put them together to make a computer, which someone turned into a PC/Mac which Bill Gates turned into Microsoft, and Steve Jobs turned into Apple. We all know what happened then.  Laptops, cell phones, smart phones, and finally e-readers.

So now it seems the human race is poised to run. Yet it’s almost as if we are afraid to step away from the starting block. Print Book or e-book? That seems to be the question of the day in the publishing industry. Why not both? As an author, I know I am happy to have as many outlets as possible for my creative endeavors. I love writing e-books and I love writing for print. As a reader, I love being able to have 200 books on my i-phone and I love turning the page of a novel when I’m in bed late at night. So I’m encouraging all publishers to do both. It can only help. Especially in times like these.

Let me know if you prefer one over the other and why.  Or stop by and comment on any of the blogs posted this holiday weekend. I will enter you to win one of three gift cards; a $10 Amazon Gift Card, a $10 Wild Rose Press Gift Card or a $15 Limited Edition Widow’s Peak Visa Gift Card. The winner of the Widow’s Peak Gift card will also be entered in my Super Contest to win one of two art prints. Check out the Super Contest at my blog Never Too Late For Love.

Hanna Rhys Barnes is one of those people with an evenly balanced right and left brain.  She has a BA in English, but recently finished her final year as a high school math teacher.  She loves to cook and was a pastry chef in a former life. A member of RWA’s national organization and of several local chapters, she currently lives and works in Portland, OR. Hanna’s Debut Novel, Widow’s Peak, is due to be released September 23, 2009 from The Wild Rose Press. She is currently working on Book 2 in the series, Kissed By A Rose.

Mothering Sunday

Today is Mothering Sunday in the UK. Since I arrived ten days ago, I have seen many signs of what a big holiday this is. All the bakeries encourage you to order your Simnel Cake and nearly every popular musician has a CD of songs with special meaning for your mum. All the shops carry cards and the supermarket is stuffed with all kinds of flowers. People are planning to leave home early in the morning to get to mums in time for Sunday dinner.

The earliest records of a celebration of mothers date back to the ancient annual festivals honoring the maternal goddesses. Rhea, Hera, and Demeter, were favorites of the early Greeks and  the Romans celebrated Cybele during the Hilaria, a three day festival that eventually got so wild that followers of Cybele were banished from Rome.

More Recently Mothering Day in England officially dates back to the 1600's, though many believe it is taken from the celebrations that the early Christians held in honor of the Virgin Mary. It is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of lent and the restrictions usually enforced during lent are relaxed for this day.

 

Mothers have been important in English history and literature for ages. They have been quite quirky, like mums in Jane Austen, powerful and politically astute like Eleanor of Aquitaine who bore and counseled three kings, and great warriors like Boudicca (pictured right), who started a war with Rome when her daughters were besmirched. And I've read more than one regency romance where the hero is driven by his mother, either to escape her dominance or out of respect and love for her. Regardless if he is the tortured dark loner, the honorable gentleman, or the alpha male who leaps to the rescue, mothers have made their sons into the heroes we love to read about. 

My mother passed on nearly five years ago at the age of eighty. She didn't look a day over sixty (Great genes. I hope I get them:) ). She was an imposing woman. A force to be reckoned with. No one believes she was only five foot three, because her personality was so strong. 

She was a leader in her community. She sat on the city council of our town for many years. She was a founder and president of her sorority's  alumni chapter. She taught sixth grade for fifteen years then counseled middle school students for the same length of time. 

When I was growing up, we fought many times. She was a person who wanted it done her way, or else. And I, especially as a teen, didn't want to do it her way. Mind you, I didn't give my parents many headaches. But my mother taught me to be an independent thinker, even though she didn't much like it when my thoughts were independent of what she thought(lol). But later in adulthood we did come to a level of mutual respect and understanding. By watching her, I learned to go for what I wanted and to not stop until I got it. And so today I am an author who is almost published.

 Widow's Peak my first novel will be released on September 23rd, from The Wild Rose Press. It too is about a medieval mother, Lady Amye Barnard, who finds that after a long widowhood, life still has a few surprises for her. Here's a short excerpt:

Amye noticed the shift in breathing as her charge fell into slumber. She closed her book and quietly withdrew. Once outside she took a deep breath and leaned against the door. Had he called her beautiful? No. Be not foolish. He spoke of the reading.

Pushing aside thoughts of the handsome troubadour, Amye went to check on her household. In the list, Siward had just finished training the garrison. Their bodies, wet from the work of sword play, reminded her of wiping the sweat from Laine’s fevered brow. When she checked with Genevieve, in the kitchen, supper was nearly prepared. She wondered if the soup had been to his liking. A chill wind blew through the courtyard as she passed, and she ordered the braziers filled so he would be warm that night. Try as she might, thoughts of him intruded on her. Where did these feelings come from? I must stop this nonsense this instant.

For more, visit my website at www.hannarhys.com 

Through much of my life, my mantra was "I will never be like my mother", but each day I see that I am getting to be more and more like her. I notice little mannerisms that she used to do or phrases she used creeping into my everyday actions. And at her funeral, dozens of people came up to me and said what an influence she had been on their lives. I realized then, that's how I want to be remembered. As a strong person who has been a good influence on those around her. I may not have helped hundreds of people like my mother, but I will do as much as I can for those who ask.

What is the most valuable thing that your mother taught you? 

Leave a comment and I'll enter you in my Mothering Sunday contest to win this beautiful pewter and mother of pearl pendant on a silver chain from my trip to the UK!