tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post3934321265609251775..comments2023-06-01T04:08:23.369-07:00Comments on Gemæcce: Where It BeganNicola Griffithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00401940329164370169noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-70436664902651115622008-01-15T08:57:00.000-08:002008-01-15T08:57:00.000-08:00I have about a hundred manuscript (okay, typescrip...I have about a hundred manuscript (okay, typescript) pages, which equates to about 60 printed pages of a hardcover novel (depending on book design). Hild is ten going on eleven. She has a tutor, she's about to take a trip to East Anglia and Kent. Pretty soon exciting stuff will happen: Paulinus, James the Deacon, baptism etc.<BR/><BR/>With luck (with great good luck), I'll have a first draft of the entire novel by the end of 2008. Then there will be much rewriting. Then I'll get trusted readers to take a look (yes, I'll ask for volunteers), then I'll rewrite again, then I'll take it to a publisher.<BR/><BR/>Usually I sell a novel before I even start it but this project is so unusual that I want it whole and fixed before taking input from editors.Nicola Griffithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00401940329164370169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-52036430390893692602008-01-15T08:13:00.000-08:002008-01-15T08:13:00.000-08:00What a great post. I always enjoy learning about ...What a great post. I always enjoy learning about the origins of projects, and how people's passions have taken hold from the first planting through to the deepening roots.<BR/><BR/>How far are you into writing the novel so far? I see that it's been steeping in your mind for some time, but what form is it in right now?<BR/><BR/>I'm eager to see where you go with it!bwhawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17909010609907741198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-48187374722380471582008-01-05T17:57:00.000-08:002008-01-05T17:57:00.000-08:00I have a vague notion that Æbbe was married off to...I have a vague notion that Æbbe was married off to one of the Picts, but offhand I can't recall who, or where I got that from.Nicola Griffithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00401940329164370169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-33249704006466715322008-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:002008-01-05T16:23:00.000-08:00Bede doesn't mention that either Hild or Aebbe of ...Bede doesn't mention that either Hild or Aebbe of Coldingham were widows because by his time, virginity was prized so highly that their previous marriages were something to be hushed up. We only know that Aebbe of Coldingham was a widow because of the Anon. Life of Cuthbert. Bede cuts out that she is a widow in his Life of Cuthbert. <BR/><BR/> In Hild and Aebbe's generation, most abbesses were widows, but from the next generation the percentage of widows as abbesses drops off heavily. By Bede's time I suspect the only way that a widow got to be an abbess is if the monastery was founded for her by her family or on her hereditary land. <BR/><BR/>The same goes for covering up Hild and Aebbe's children, if they had any. Of course its possible that they didn't. Infertility is not new and would have probably been even worse then since overall infection rates were worse then. If they had children, a churchman wouldn't mention them unless they also entered the church and/or did something noteworthy. Daughters were never mentioned unless they were nuns, somehow effected their husbands career, or were the mother of someone special.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15707321685043937423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-26237735262625851362008-01-05T16:03:00.000-08:002008-01-05T16:03:00.000-08:00Nicola - if i did memes, which I don't, I would do...Nicola - if i did memes, which I don't, I would do Eleanor of Aquitaine, about whom we know rather a lot. I'm not sure that we know more than 3 or 4 things about Cartimandua, and much of what we do know comes from Tacitus, who is not always reliable.<BR/><BR/>We know that she was Queen of the Brigantes in her own right. We know that she choose to negotiate peace with the Romans rather than risk bloody conquest. We know that she divorced her husband, Venutius, and that her friendship with Rome seems to have been in issue between them. We know that Venutius began a civil war and took the throne for himself, only to be crushed by the Romans. And that's it. A war, a marital quarrel, and nothing much else to restrain the authorial imagination.<BR/><BR/>Ah, and I see that Barbara Erskine has produced just such a book.Cherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328347167113836522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-34172992104578139942008-01-05T15:19:00.000-08:002008-01-05T15:19:00.000-08:00Cheryl, why don't you play the history meme game ...Cheryl, why don't you play the <A> history meme game</A> and write about Cartimandua?<BR/><BR/>Michelle, this is definitely worth thinking about. Thank you. But assuming the Ealdorman was an Angle, and assuming Hild was the kind of woman I'm imagining her to be, she would have converted her husband. If so, why didn't he rate a mention from Bede? Unless, of course, the Ealdorman was a Briton, and hooked into the native British clergy (who we know Bede disapproved of). Hmmn. Much pondering ahead.Nicola Griffithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00401940329164370169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-85994258621186552502008-01-05T14:36:00.000-08:002008-01-05T14:36:00.000-08:00Thinking about your ties to Leeds and Elmet... how...Thinking about your ties to Leeds and Elmet... how about having Hild married to the ealdorman charged with holding Elmet and incorporating it into Deira. It would have also been a dangerous border territory vs. Penda. If she were the English Lady of Elmet, the death of her father there would have been very tangible history. Whether she had a grudge about it, just felt sad, or even felt gratitude to the British for hiding him from Aethelfrith depends on your take on the cause of his death. Elmet is the one part of Northumbria that Edwin took and never got loose again so he would have probably put a high status marriage there.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15707321685043937423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8167606116032558518.post-56441892998474473082008-01-05T14:11:00.000-08:002008-01-05T14:11:00.000-08:00A quick shout-out here for Cartimandua who was Que...A quick shout-out here for <A HREF="http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_cartimandua.htm" REL="nofollow">Cartimandua</A> who was Queen of the Brigantes when Claudius invaded. We'll never know now how the politics really went, but there is plenty of scope for historical novels.Cherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328347167113836522noreply@blogger.com