MY NEW BOOK - LOVE IN THE ROSES

 

After two years of research and writing, it gives me tremendous pleasure to say that my medieval romance, Love in the Roses is now available!

I really wanted to explore love in 15th century England - were the Dark Ages really as miserable as they made out? I mean, how much joy can there be in a land before potatoes and coffee?? 

I have made it as historically accurate as possible. There is mild poetic license utilised for the sake of a good romance story, but when is that not the case, really? 

I think you can see from all the medieval research blog posts that I have invested a LOT of effort and care into this stand-alone book. 

So, what's it about? 

Isabel has never met her husband…

Their parents have arranged the marriage. But, when Isabel discovers who her intended is, it becomes apparent that he’s on the wrong side of the Wars of the Roses.

As a knight with honour, surely her father would not sacrifice their family to the House of Lancaster. Yet, to her horror, he insists upon the union with Sir William.

15^th century England is perilous – betrayal and ruin are only ever a heartbeat away. And death hides behind every door. Can Isabel survive and be a good wife, even when she’s married to the enemy?

Adventure through Medieval England in this intriguing story of love battling against all odds.

This is a stand-alone historical romance which contains an abundance of marital bedchamber antics.

The fictitious tale of a knight’s daughter, living life as it very well may have been in 1484.

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I really hope you enjoy this one. If you do, please don't forget to leave a review. 

Paperback also available on Waterstones and  Barnes & Noble. 

Always in love and light,

TL

RESEARCH - Medieval England - Post 16: Fashion

 Fashion

Phew, this could be a massive post. But I shall try to keep it concise.

I once heard it said on a history programme (sorry, I can't remember which), that there is a change of fashion along with a change of monarch. On the whole, this seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb. 

Now, the medieval era, as repeatedly stated, covers a very long time (500-1485). There were seven changes of king between 1422-1485 alone (although some were repeated)! And yes, this is applicable to both men and women.

Can I get the obvious out of the way? The main difference between rich and poor at this time was not in the style, but more the quality of material. 

Let us glimpse at Sumptuary Laws. Edward III, in the 14th century, seems to have been the first English monarch to impose such restrictions on what one was permitted to wear. His statute denied anyone under the rank of knight from wearing fur. And also forbade the import of textiles from outside of the British isle and the export of wool. Some surmise this was to put a cap on the cost of household liveries. 

In 1363, part of the laws determined that knights (and their families) with land worth 400 marks annually may wear whatever they wish, with the exclusion of weasel and ermine furs, or clothing of precious stones (except those worn in ladies' hair).

However, knights (and their families) with land worth 200 marks may not wear fabric over the worth of £4 in total. No cloth of gold, nor a cloak, mantle or gown lined with pure miniver, sleeves of ermine or any material embroidered with precious stones; women may not wear ermine or weasel-fur, or jewels except those worn in their hair.

In 1463, a further Act introduced by Edward IV, placed further clothing restrictions, determined by social class. 

Knights below the rank of lord were prohibited from wearing any cloth of gold, anything wrought with gold or sable fur, and no velvet upon velvet. Their wives and children must follow these rules as well, any person in this category caught with prohibited items will forfeit 20 marks to the King for each and every offense.    

People with an income of less than 40s per annum were not permitted to wear any item prohibited in the higher classes or fustian, bustian, any scarlet cloth (purple or red), nor any fur except black or white lamb. A fine of 40s would be issued to any disobeying this. 

A slightly more amusing section of this one was the legislation against the wearing of long-toed shoes. They had become longer than the entire length of the foot! This just sounds like a trip hazard to me, but they you have it. Those less than a lord were restricted to a 2 inch pike on their shoes or boots.

In 1483, they took this even further still. All persons in England except for the royal family were forbidden to wear gold or purple silk. Persons below the level of duke were not permitted to wear cloth of gold or tissue, and no one below a lord could wear plain cloth of gold. 

Servants of husbandry/peasants were not allowed to wear any material which cost more than 2s for the broad yard.

Eurgh! 

These were all fairly hard to enforce. People will always wear what they want, punishment be damned.

Whilst I'm discussing shoes, these beauties are patten shoes - worn over the top of other shoes so as to better avoid the deep mud and err... excrement in the roads.

From bottom to top...headwear

 

The conical hennin (pictured) is perhaps the most commonly associated with the medieval period, thanks to movie princesses. However, they really only emerged from around 1430, according to some sources.

However, from around 1250-1500, the escoffion was en vogue. A thick, circular woollen/felt/silk band was rolled and worn in a horn shape. Gauze or silk could then be draped over. This is also of the hennin family of headwear. 

Beehive (shorter, squatter) and butterfly hennins (wider, split horns) also had their time.

I rather like the crespine; fine netting worn either side of the head attached to a circlet (like the bottom left of the above image).

Whatever style of headwear a woman chose, whether rich or poor, one should always cover their hair. This was a pious, religious stipulation. In fact, in 1162, prostitutes were forbidden from wearing a veil lest they should be mistaken for someone with virtue!

As the Middle Ages continued, the hairlines grew higher. Ladies were known to pluck their hairline and wear their hats further back. 

From the 13th to 15th centuries, women wore wimples (or gorgets). This should be worn over the chin. Unlike today's nuns who generally wear it under.

The coif was worn by men and women. A simple, linen bonnet/cap, usually tied under the chin. The rich tended to only wear these as nightcaps. The poor would keep it as daywear under other headwear.

Oddly, ladies' gowns/dresses didn't undergo much of a change. It was more their headwear. There was usually a kirtle worn over a chemise. An overgown was then worn over these.

Colours could hold significance though. I may have used this symbology in my book 😉

Blue - fidelity (& represents the Virgin Mary)

Green - love

Grey - sorrow

Red (crimson) - privilege/power/blood of Christ

Yellow - hostility (but also certain saints days)

Men's clothing saw more variations. From short to long houppelanades. And who can ever unsee those hose, boys? With shorter styles, no wonder the codpiece was worn, otherwise one's family jewels would be on display! 

Knickers! Historians are very excited - the above items have been found and dated to around the 15th century. 

And that seems like a delightful note to end this series of research posts on! 😊

I hope you've found all this info useful. 

It's at least a starting point to show what you may want to delve into.

In some ways, the Middle Ages were very different from our modern world. But surprisingly, in many ways, not that much has changed at the same time. I guess humans will always been humans. 

Always in love and light,

TL

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My book, Love in the Roses is available for pre-order (click here).

To protect her family, she must marry the enemy!

The fictitious tale of a knight’s daughter, living life as it very well may have been in 1484.

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RESEARCH - Medieval England - Post 15: Time & Money

Time & Money

Time is money, as they say. So one shall look at both in the same blog post.

 

Time

How did one tell the time in Medieval England? Hmm…it depends which part of the Middle Ages we’re talking about, and to some extent, where.

Now, this can get a bit complicated, so I’ll try to be pretty basic here. After all, you’re probably not going to get too bogged down by hours.

However, for centuries, we followed Canonical Hours – which dictate prayer times. These were:

{  Vigil (eighth hour of night: 2 am)

{  Matins (a later portion of Vigil, from 3 am to dawn)

{  Lauds (dawn; approximately 5 am, but varies seasonally)

{  Prime (early morning, the first hour of daylight, approximately 6 am; added during the 12^th century)

{  Terce (third hour, 9 am)

{  Sext (sixth hour, noon)

{  Nones (ninth hour, 3 pm)

{  Vespers (sunset, approximately 6 pm)

{  Compline (end of the day before retiring, approximately 7 pm)

The three major hours were Matins, Lauds and Vespers.

The minor hours Terce, Sext, None and Compline.

Church bells would be rung to call the (seven or eight) hours. This was strictly regulated; woe betide any who rung bells outside the rules! They were also rung for celebrations, coronations, curfews, festivals, funerals, market openings, Sunday functions and weddings.

The breviary was created; a liturgical book for praying the canonical hours.

 

What did all this mean?

Essentially, people got up at the crack of dawn to pray (eurgh!). After which, the rich folk would have a little (white) bread and (red) wine for breakfast – still not compensation for such an early start in this author’s humble opinion. 

They did not generally have clocks. Although, some towns were starting to get fancy astronomical clocks (oooh!).

i.e. They wouldn’t ask their friends to come round to their place at two o’clock.

NB There were no minutes in the hours for most of the medieval era. The length of hours varied according to the amount of light.

e.g. in 12^th century London, Matins (first light) was rung at: 5am at the equinox, 6.40 am during midwinter but 2.30am at midsummer.

Similarly, vespers (last light), was rung at: 5pm at the equinox, 3pm during midwinter but 7pm at midsummer.

It wasn’t until the 14^th century that clocks, measuring equal hours, started to appear.

There were, of course, sundials. Apparently, some peasants even had them on the bottom of their shoes! They’d take the shoes off, face the sun and see where the shadow of the heel fell; clever! Sundials remained a stalwart of time-telling until watches, really. They are amazingly accurate, after all.

Ergo, one could not actually time cost you money in the Middle Ages (despite my tongie-in-cheek opening paragraph). Merchants were not able to charge fees on unpaid debt as that was akin to charging interest, which was illegal for most of the era. Time belonged to God!

 

Carrying on from ponderings on time, I venture that when entertaining, guests would come to “dinner” at the midday/noon meal. People would have to travel long distances down poor roads without lighting. Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume they’d do so when there was daylight.

 

Calendar

When writing of Medieval England, don’t forget they were using the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar clattered into our lives in 1582.

The Julian calendar used the sun (noon) as the starting point. Leap years were 366 days; originally, 6 months of 30 days, 6 months of 31 days.

February was the last month of the year; 29 days in leap years, 28 in others. The 1 day taken from February was added to August.

The specific method applied, created a 1 day shist every 128 years.

 

There is a handy site to find the day of the week for any date: https://www.dayoftheweek.org/

And a dates converter (which I used to calculate Easter for 1484): http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cal/medcal.shtml

And if you want a Julian date converter, I found: https://www.typecalendar.com/julian-date

 

Money

During my research, I came across this handy currency converter. You can select which year, and it will tell you the equivalent worth of modern currency:  https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/

Standard coins in use in the 15^th century:

{  Groat (four pence)

{  Half groat

{  Half penny

{  Farthing (one quarter of a penny)

 

Units used in accounting but not actual coins:

{  Pound (two hundred and forty pence/20s)

{  Mark (one hundred and sixty pence/two thirds of a pound/13s 4d)

{  Shilling (twelve pence)

 

l, s, d = pounds, shillings and pence (Latin = liber, solidus and the Roman denarius, hence the abbreviations).

The gold noble; before 1464 was valued at 6s 8d. However, after that, it became the rose-noble or ryal and was valued at 10s.

At the same time, the gold coin the angel was issued, valued at 6s 8d.

Later, Henry VII created a gold coin in 1489; the first sovereign, valued at 20s.

 

A few other coins appeared under different rulers, but I don’t want to over-complicate things.

Coins were hammered, therefore had a rough appearance. Milled/machine-made (smooth) coins didn’t appear until the 17th century.

So, what would all this buy you?

Part of my research looked at the wonderful book, “Medieval Gentlewoman” by Ffiona Swabey. In it, she explores the household accounts of Alice de Byrne (1360-1435). A fairly humble landowner; middle class, if you will.

In alignment with the 1388 Ordinance of Labourers, she paid her staff:

{ Bailiff – 20s (also received a 6s 8d bonus in the form of clothes allowance and faggots, as in bundles of wood)

{ Carter – 10s

{ Oxherd and cowherd – 6s 8d

{ Plough drivers – 7s

{ Swineherds and female labourers – 6s

{ Maidservant – 8s

Generally, a labourer may earn around £2 per year/2 pence per day. Carpenters could earn 4 pence per day. A knight could receive 4 shillings per day (48 pence/£73 per year) – presumably the non-landed kind . Whilst barons raked in £600 per year. 

Livery

Alice gave x24 householders eight yards of green cloth at just under 1s per yard. Lesser servants were given lesser amounts. But the total came to £8 for summer livery. But she once paid £36 for the annual livery.

 General Purchases (a rough guide):

      {  Rent; merchant’s house – L33-66 per year

{  Knight’s armour (complete) – L16 6s 8d

{  Gown (fashionable lady’s) - L10

{  Ready-made armour (probably from Milan) - L8 6s 8d

{  Mail – 100s

{  A book – L1

{  6 silver spoons – 14s

{  Gold brooch – 13s

{  An ox – 13s

{  Saffron – 12s per lb

{  A cow – 10s

{  Gold ring – 7s

{  Rent; cottage – 5s per year

{  Tunic – 5s

{  80 lbs cheese – 3s 4d

{  Spices – 1-3s per lb

{  A sheep – 1s

{  Linen – 1s

{  Wine (good) – 8d per gallon (1 gallon is 8 pints/4.5 litres)

{  Hat (posh) – 10d

{  Pair of gloves – 7d

{  Candles (wax) – 6.5d

{  A goose – 6d

{  Sword (poor) – 6d

{  Shoes (posh) – 4d

{  Candles (tallow) – 1.5d

{  Ale – 1d per gallon

{  A lamb – 1d

{  2 chickens – 1d

{  A dozen eggs – ha’penny

 

Almost half of one’s annual income may have been spent on maintaining the household (food, wages, livery).

Always in love and light,

TL

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My book, Love in the Roses is available for pre-order (click here).

To protect her family, she must marry the enemy!

The fictitious tale of a knight’s daughter, living life as it very well may have been in 1484.

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