I am talkative enough that I am going to break this up into pieces. Because I know you care enough about what I think to draw it out. ;)

( Aprico[t|ck]s )

So this afternoon curtana linked to the absolutely wonderful and hilariously warped LOL Manuscripts, which is not actually about manuscripts at all (sorry, paleographers on my flist, of whom there are many) but rather devoted to making fun of the often-insane illustrations accompanying early modern printed texts ( Read more... )

This one is not nearly as lurid as the last one of these I posted, but it is interesting, as a cultural artifact.

The tune called for is the well-known lute piece "Wilson's Wild," though the version of it I know requires a bit of rearranging to make it fit the lyrics in a way that's actually singable. For this reason I haven't included the lyrics ( Read more... )

All the Elizabeth talk on lj (here and elsewhere) has put me in sort of a historical mindset, so I thought I would post some of the Armada ballads I know. Most of them seem to be the work of Thomas Deloney, who is generally cracktacular. We lead off with one on the subject of a rumor prevalent in early accounts of the Armada, though it seems to ( Read more... )

So a while back I was being all grabby-handsed and squeeful about this album, but since then my emusic downloads have refreshed, so I now have it, and it is quite wonderful. It has a very, very long ballad about King Lear, and another one with verses bewailing people's constant flouting of the sumptuary laws. Oh Renaissance England, you are so ( Read more... )

Yet another excerpt from the Golden Garland of Stuff &c. This one is about the legendary and certainly untrue tale of the foundation of the Order of the Garter, notable for its extremely odd depiction of the Hundred Years War (obviously they didn't call it that then). It is interesting, too, that the lady in this version of the Garter story ( ( Read more... )

Here's another Princely Delight for you guys (I should make a separate tag for these), and this one is especially delightful in that it's completely hilarious. Also, it's a duet, so if you want to sing it, you can recruit a friend of the opposite gender to do the other part (or, you know, the same gender, that's okay too ( Read more... )

For those of you tired of Harry Potter and in need of something else to read, another slection from The Golden Garland of Princely Pleasures and Delicate Delights.

As we have already had ballads about the other two Richards, I thought it would be fitting to complete the set. Also, various people on my flist (such as fajrdrako and arriterre) will certainly ( Read more... )

By request, the next installment from the Garland of Princely Delights is this rather gory song, of interest to Shakespeare fans as it follows the plot of Titus Andronicus pretty much exactly -- it is generally accepted that the ballad is in fact based on the play (see, for instance, Jonathan Bate's Arden edition of Titus Andronicus, pp. 83-85). ( Read more... )

Here's another installment from Johnson's Golden Garland of Princely Pleasures and Delicate Delights. I mentioned it several days ago and still find it too much fun not to share, though it will probably make the devoutly Ricardian among you a bit unhappy. Also, I wonder if it's inspired by Shakespeare: his Richard III after all was a big hit by all ( Read more... )