Given the subject matter of the rant today, I think a few lines from Swinburne’s “Tristram of Lyonesse,” a long Arthurian poem, are appropriate
( Read more... )
Glad this helped! As far as making the ideas of Empire and a Victorian Society fit together, I think they already do to a large extent. For example, there was a current of thought in Victorian England that women should also feel they were part of the Empire's victories, since they brought up the sons who would become soldiers. Britian's people also sometimes felt they were the "civilizing" force for a good part of the world, teaching the "savages" to behave better. That's not so far from the things like roads and culture that the Romans brought into the territory they conquered.
History books would probably help you best of all, but you won't have to work hard at all to get the ideas to mesh, I think.
Victorian England held the Roman empire in great consideration. It was considered an ideal model of ethics and morality, based on completely wrong assumptions and overly romantic concepts of "classical beauty". The sexual inhibitions of their culture were similarly based on gross misunderstandings and wishful thinking about the "enlightened" and "uncorrupted" people of the world past.
Boy, were they in for a big surprise when Pompeii was unearthed! The ancients' vastly different attitude about sexuality was considered so shocking that for years no women nor uncultured men were allowed to visit the ruins!
7. Standards of beauty were very different. It was common, for example, for medieval women to wear their headdresses in such a way as to expose their naked foreheads. Widely-spaced teeth were supposed to indicate lustiness of disposition.
Slenderness doesn't appear to have been quite the issue with medieval people that it is with us, probably because slenderness was more common. After all, food was less available, both in quantity and in variety. A thin girl was probably undernourished, and might well prove to be too frail to do hard work or to survive childbirth. Remember that for centuries, painters and sculptors portrayed women our society would consider fat as being queens and goddesses of love.
8. There shouldn't be a lot of variety to your peasant's diet. Bread (a coarse mixture of wheat and rye, or barley and rye), pottage and ale...those were the mainstays. Cheese wasn't always available, nor were eggs, nor were beans. Meat would be too costly to buy, and would probably only
( ... )
Very good. I especially like the bit about not having American plants in a world where America hasn't been discovered; that kind of thing annoys me when the author has tried to do research into other areas, yet somehow missed that bit.
As an addendum to number one, the inheritance laws of medieval societies influenced family dynamics as well. Brothers and sisters often formed very close bonds, while two brothers might not, due to being in competition for the inheritance
( ... )
Excellent cases in point. If more people writing medieval fantasies used those kinds of things, it would be a lot more interesting to read about than, "Daughters and youngest sons are the pretty and clever ones but are despised, elder brother is a bully and favored, wash, rinse, repeat."
Comments 21
(The comment has been removed)
History books would probably help you best of all, but you won't have to work hard at all to get the ideas to mesh, I think.
Reply
Boy, were they in for a big surprise when Pompeii was unearthed! The ancients' vastly different attitude about sexuality was considered so shocking that for years no women nor uncultured men were allowed to visit the ruins!
Reply
People tell me "Oh, I wish I lived in medieval times!" and I say "No, no you don't."
Reply
7. Standards of beauty were very different. It was common, for example, for medieval women to wear their headdresses in such a way as to expose their naked foreheads. Widely-spaced teeth were supposed to indicate lustiness of disposition.
Slenderness doesn't appear to have been quite the issue with medieval people that it is with us, probably because slenderness was more common. After all, food was less available, both in quantity and in variety. A thin girl was probably undernourished, and might well prove to be too frail to do hard work or to survive childbirth. Remember that for centuries, painters and sculptors portrayed women our society would consider fat as being queens and goddesses of love.
8. There shouldn't be a lot of variety to your peasant's diet. Bread (a coarse mixture of wheat and rye, or barley and rye), pottage and ale...those were the mainstays. Cheese wasn't always available, nor were eggs, nor were beans. Meat would be too costly to buy, and would probably only ( ... )
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
Leave a comment