Yes, I’m Obsessed with More Than Books (or these are my favorite things)

What do you mean not everyone keeps tons of makeup in a Caboodle from the 1980s?

What do you mean not everyone keeps tons of makeup in a Caboodle from the 1980s?

I get rather caught up in the research blogging and book stuff around here, so in an attempt to show you the more personal side of me, I’m going to try to complete Marketing for Romance Writers’ 52-Week blogging challenge. Every Friday, I’ll use their prompt for the week to tell you something about me.

This week’s theme is “A Few of my Favorite Things.” I’m limiting myself to five for the sake of brevity.

  1. Crystals – I know we’ve talked about this before, but I collect crystals. I love just to look at them – pretty, shiny – but I also meditate with them and believe in their healing powers.  I have a bunch of jewelry with various stones. My favorites? Selenite, moonstone and citrine.
  2. Makeup – Did you know that if I wasn’t a writer (or a history professor), I’d want to be a makeup artist? I’m not an artistic person – I can’t draw or paint or sculpt – but the things you can do with makeup amaze me. When I was 12, I took modeling classes at Barbizon (yep, child of the ’80s here) and one of the things we learned, besides that I am way too short to be a model, is how to properly apply makeup for everyday wear, as well as color and black and white photo shoots. I was hooked. Then when I was a sophomore in high school, I was on the makeup crew for a play. (Greasepaint is disgusting, but it was still fun to do special effects makeup.) I’ve played around with my own makeup ever since, but never actually pursued formal training. At the moment, I have around 50 eye shadows, 20 eyeliners and 15 lipsticks, plus all the other stuff: brushes, bronzer, foundation, etc.  Favorite brand: MAC, but I’m also getting into MBA Cosmetics and hoping to try out Storybook Cosmetics when their first line comes out.
  3. Cabins, Cottages and Tiny Houses – This started when I stayed at Hedgebrook, a writer’s retreat on Whidbey Island, about two hours outside of Seattle for two weeks. There is something about the small space that I find comforting. Living in one also taught me that I don’t need much to survive and I became somewhat of a minimalist. (But I do require indoor plumbing and internet access.) I also loved the wood-burning stove and despite my irrational fear of fire, I hope to have one someday. I’d rather spend my money on experiences than a large house, so a tiny house or a nice cabin would be fine by me. (Says the girl who wants to live in Chicago. Maybe I should amend that to a small apartment downtown?)
  4. Castles – On the other end of the architectural scale, I’m obsessed with castles. I have been since I was very young. When I was 11, I was fortunate enough to spend 3 weeks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with my mom and grandmother. I tried to count the number of castles we saw, but there were so many (literally around every turn) that I lost count somewhere around 120. My favorite ones I’ve visited are Neuschwanstein Castle and Heidelberg Castle, both in Germany.
  5. Miniatures –  Collecting miniatures and building huge doll house versions of my books is going to be my eccentric old, rich lady hobby someday. I think I like them because I can visualize worlds and stories in them, just like I do with my books. My grandmother actually made several miniature shadowboxes when I was young. But the best display I’ve ever seen is Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. I could stare into that thing all day long. If you get a chance to buy/read the book about the castle, you’ll learn just how rare and valuable some of the pieces are. It’s amazing.

What are some of your favorite things? Do we have any in common?

[Guest Post] Wales and the Tudors By Sarah Kennedy

51YLOAqIy0L._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_I am thrilled to have with us for the second time, historical fiction author Sarah Kennedy. The third book in her The Cross and The Crown series, The King’s Sisters, is out now. Today, she’s going to give us insight into what it was like to visit Wales while researching the trilogy. Take it away, Sarah!

The principality of Wales, to the west of England, has long been a site of contention, and many Tudor enthusiasts know of it through Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays, which feature the prince Owen Glendower, or through reading about the Welsh heritage of Henry VIII and his children.  The history of struggle over Wales, though, goes back much further.  The Normans occupied it, then the Anglo-Norman English, while the native princes of this beautiful and lush place tried valiantly to hold on to their power—and their homes.  A friend and I recently took a short road trip from Cardiff to Aberystwyth, wending our way north and then circling down the coast, stopping to see some of the historical sites that remain to mark the efforts of Welsh leaders to keep Wales out of the hands of their neighbors.  I’ve always been interested in the history of this small principality, and since a Welsh man plays an important role in my new and upcoming novels, The King’s Sisters and Queen of Blood, I was happy to see this beautiful place again.

The Tudor monarchs, during whose reigns my novels are set, were Welsh, but once they gained the throne of England, they, like monarchs before them, thought of Wales as part of England.  I want, in my novels, to highlight the tensions that existed between these two cultures, even during the long Tudor century.  Despite the fact that the red dragon of Wales appeared on naval emblems during Henry VIII’s reign, and Elizabeth I continued that tradition, Henry and his children are revered as English monarchs.

IMG_0807My friend and I were interested, of course, in the medieval Welsh castles that made up Edward I’s famous “ring of iron,” a series of fortifications erected by the king to subdue the Welsh and ward off invaders from the sea.  These are Anglo-Norman castles, and the Welsh princes often fought for control of them.  Among them is the great Caerphilly Castle, which was blown up from the inside during the English Civil War.  One of the great corner towers leans at a precipitous angle from the explosion.

image002We also visited Harlech Castle, which sits on the coast of the sea and provides breathtaking views.

These Norman castles are grand tourist destinations—but they’re not Welsh.  They were built by English kings to protect English interests.  We also wanted to visit some of these “more Welsh” sites, and wandered through the countryside until we came to Dolforwyn—a castle, as the small interpretive plaque informs visitors, “designed in Wales.”

IMG_0813This castle, which is difficult to find without careful attention to tiny roadside signs, was erected during the late thirteenth century.  The surrounding hills are now sheep fields, and visitors are asked to close the gates behind them as they walk up.  It’s a grand site, with views across the fields to the east, and though ruinous, Dolforwyn still shows what a castle (rather cozy in its dimensions) built by the Welsh for a Welsh prince looked like.  It has the typical D-shaped tower (called an aspidal), living quarters, cooking and storage facilities.  A town grew up around its base, protected by (and providing support to) the castle.  The builders, however, had neglected to sink a well inside the protective walls, and when attacked, the castle was easily taken by Edward I, who gave it to his ally Roger Mortimer (that’s my friend, Terry Southerington, peering over the edge!).

Many of these “designed in Wales” castles still exist in the Welsh interior.  They are often open to the air and neglected—and few visitors ever see them.  Most tourists prefer the great Edwardian castles.

Military fortifications were not the only great structures built in Wales during the Middle Ages, however.  This country was also home to many abbeys, most of which now lie, like the later-built castles, in ruins.  Tintern Abbey, made famous by William Wordsworth, is of course a popular tourist destination, but we made for the lesser-known, smaller sites, where monks lived and worked until the Reformation under Henry VIII.

IMG_0810Talley Abbey—or what’s left of it—lies at the end of a winding narrow road.  This little abbey was the only place where Premonstratensians (or “White Canons”) lived in Wales.  There’s not much left, but what is there testifies to a brief time of peace between the Welsh and the English, which allowed it to be built.  Sadly, the Cisterians considered the Premonstratensians to be dangerous rivals, and a lawsuit broke out which prevented the abbey from ever being completed according to the original plan.

IMG_0829The Cisterians, of course, fared no better under Henry VIII than did the White Canons, and abbey of Cymer is almost as ruined as Talley.  It sits behind a holiday park, part of a farm (visitors park at the farmhouse, which is just across the driveway from the abbey), but the remaining walls suggest a site once thriving, at least for the few monks who lived there.  They were horse-breeders, providing stud-service for Llewelyn ap Iorwerth, and though they, like other abbeys, suffered economically during the thirteenth-century wars between the Welsh and the English, their downfall only occurred—yes, you guessed it—when Henry dissolved the order and confiscated the building and its contents.

IMG_0809By the time of the Tudor monarchs, the great castles were out-of-date as military fortifications, and Henry VIII centralized power when he seized the church’s property.  Much of that property was in Wales.  The small, prosperous abbeys were closed, as were the English ones, by Henry, left to be scavenged by locals for building materials.  The Welsh Tudors have, in history, become more English than the English, and, perhaps ironically, many of the old castles’ occupants stood with the English monarchy during the later Civil War. And, yet, the complex and rich history of Wales that gave rise to their power remains—in its stunningly beautiful landscapes, its living language, and its many architectural ruins, both small and large, both Welsh and English, that still dot its hills and valleys and shores.

Do you have a question or comment for Sarah? If so, please leave it below. She’ll be checking them and answering as she can. Don’t forget, you can order The King’s Sisters at all major retailers.

What Did Camelot Really Look Like?

Think this is what Camelot looked like? Think again.

Think this is what Camelot looked like? Think again.

When I say the word “Camelot” what do you think of?

Probably a grandiose medieval castle made of stone with turrets and spires, something out of a fairy tale. And that is how it has been portrayed in drawings, movies and TV shows.

(Full disclosure, my Camelot does have some of these elements, but I’ve also given you a logical explanation of why it could be possible. In that, I’m invoking the fantasy side of the genre of historical fantasy. But all of the other castles in my books are true to the time period.)

But the reality of Celtic castles, if we assume King Arthur lived somewhere in the late fifth to early sixth century, is very different. In fact, the word “castle” really doesn’t even accurately describe them. They were more like fortifications than homes. For the most part, rulers didn’t have permanent residence there. The castles were protection for the surrounding populous and their livestock in case of attack.

Cadbury Castle in Somerset, which some believe to be the real location of Camelot. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Cadbury Castle in Somerset, which some believe to be the real location of Camelot. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Most Celtic castles were likely hillforts, which kind of resemble what would later become the motte and bailey style of castle. They were based on large earthenwork hills. The castle itself was at the top in the center, surrounded by one or more wooden palisades, and usually at least one earthen wall or ditch. There are many where the hill is terraced and each terrace has wooden walls and earthen ditches or ramparts to make it even more difficult for the enemy to succeed in siege.

The castle itself was likely to be wooden because timber was readily available. The exception is that stone was plentiful in Highland Scotland, and some British rulers, especially on the western coast, were thought to have fortified their wooden castles using stone. But they didn’t build them the way we picture until the 10th century. In fact, castles as we think of them didn’t come into prominence until the reign of Edward I, who is credited with building the great castles of Northern Wales.

These hillforts would have been defended with arrows, swords, axes and spears, along with sling shots. In order to conquer one, the enemy (depending on what technology they had available) may have used ballista bolts in addition to pure manpower.

Examples of hillforts in Arthurian legend include Traprain Law (King Lot’s capital in Lothian), Badon (if one takes Solsbury Hill outside of Bath to be the location of the battle of mount Badon), Maiden Castle (which is linked to several Arthurian stories), and Cadbury (which Geoffrey Ashe and many other scholars believe is the true location of Camelot).

Tintagel, long thought to be Arthur's birthplace. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Tintagel, long thought to be Arthur’s birthplace. (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

But what about Tintagel, you might ask?  It’s the most famous surviving castle linked to Arthurian legend (Arthur’s birthplace) and it’s made of stone. We know the site was occupied during what I’ll call the Arthurian period, but the castle itself dates to the 13th century. I’ll be visiting Tintagel in less than a month, so I can tell you more when I get back.

PS – Scholars can’t agree on if Camelot existed, much less where. Someday I’ll do a post on some of the possible locations. What I’ve described here is typical of the time period, but we may never know for sure what Camelot really looked like.

—–

Sources
British Forts in the Age of Arthur by Angus Konstam
Strongholds of the Picts by Angus Konstam
Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World by Matthew Bennett and Jim Bradbury, et al
There are probably more because I wrote most of this post from memory. Please check my research page for more possible sources.

How do you picture Camelot? What have you seen portrayed in movies, books or TV? Are there any other Arthurian castles you’re curious about?