Five Fascinating Facts about Charlemagne’s Francia

By Kim Rendfeld

Charlemagne’s personal life rivals a soap opera. In 773, the beginning of my first novel, The Cross and the Dragon, he is twice divorced, married to wife No. 3, and about to go to war with his ex-father-in-law, the king of Lombardy, who is threatening Rome. I didn’t make any of that up. Oh, and his first cousin, the duke of Bavaria, is married to the sister of wife No. 2. And Charles had two sons named after their grandfather Pepin (the younger originally called Carloman).

A coin with Charles’s image from late in his reign
(from Wikimedia Commons, permission granted
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License)

But wait, there’s more. After Hildegard, wife No. 3, died, Charles married Fastrada. In 792, his eldest son, Pepin (also called Pepin the Hunchback) rebelled, planning to kill his dad and three half-brothers (the sons of Hildegard), and at least one scholar has speculated that Pepin’s mother, Himiltrude, wife No. 1, might have been involved. When caught, Pepin and his coconspirators blamed Queen Fastrada’s unspecified cruelty. Considering that Pepin had other reasons, like not receiving a subkingdom as his baby brothers did, one may rightly suspect Fastrada is being made a scapegoat.

After Fastrada died, Charles married Luitgard, probably after dating her for two years. Luitgard did not bear Charles any children, and that was probably why he married her. At the time, the emperor had three grown sons, each of whom expected a kingdom. If he had any more sons born in wedlock, it could lead to civil unrest. And that’s probably why he did not remarry after Luitgard died. Instead, he had several mistresses, who bore children. Those mistresses proved Charles’s virility and thus his physical perfection, a qualification for a king to rule. Physical abnormalities were believed to be a sign of God’s anger.

When a Frankish king died, each son born in wedlock got a kingdom. Although aristocrats did try to divorce childless wives, there was also such a thing as having too many sons as Charles’s son Louis the Pious found out the hard way. Louis’s first wife bore three healthy sons, and he divided his kingdom among them. Unfortunately, she died, and he could not remain celibate. So he married a girl half his age. The problem is she was fertile. And when she bore Louis’s fourth son, he had to find a way to accommodate the prince. One of the three older sons did not want to give up his land, and that led to civil war, the very thing Charles was trying to avoid later in his life.

Bertha Broadfoot, 1848, by Eugène Oudiné
at Luxembourg Garden, Paris.
(copyrighted photo by Marie-Lan Nguyen
via Wikimedia Commons)

Early medieval women were not delicate flowers awaiting rescue. Here are just a few examples. In the 770s, Charles’s mother, Bertrada, was a diplomat working to ensure peace between her sons, both of whom were kings, as well as Rome and Lombardy.

When Frankish King Carloman died, Charles seized his younger brother’s lands. But the widowed Queen Gerberga was not about to let her young sons lose their inheritance (or give up her power as regent) without a fight, even if it meant forming an alliance with the Lombard king, Charles’ ex-father-law angry over the divorce from wife No. 2.

Queen Fastrada was influential. A surviving letter from Charles to her implies that he counted on her to make sure the litanies to ensure God’s favor in a coming war were performed, very important in an age that believed in divine intervention.

A 14th century depiction of the
Battle of Roncevaux Pass
(public domain image via
Wikimedia commons)

The historical event that inspired The Song of Roland was not written down for decades. Many of us are introduced to Roland through the 11th century epic poem, but it is a form of historical fiction, light on the history and heavy on the fiction. For one thing, the perpetrators of the massacre were Christian Gascons (Basques), not Muslim Saracens. While researching what really happened during the 778 ambush at Roncevaux for The Cross and the Dragon, I found the earliest accounts were written a few years after the emperor died in 814. In fact, Charles’s official record says everything went well. So this massacre must have been traumatic to him. For more about the actual event, see my post about the attack. 

Medieval people bathed. Aristocrats would take a bath once a week. OK, that is not as often as most of us in 21st century America, but it is more frequent than my teachers led me to believe.

Baths were a requirement for palaces, and bathhouses contained hot and cold pools. The bathhouse at the Charlemagne’s palace at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle in French) was spring fed and could accommodate up to 100 bathers. Abbeys also had baths for the residents, guests, and the sick.

Some people abstained from bathing but that was to atone for sin, similar to fasting. (For more, see my post about that misconception.

Kim Rendfeld is the author of two books set in Charlemagne’s Francia, The Cross and the Dragon (2012, Fireship Press) and The Ashes of Heaven’s Pillar (forthcoming, Fireship Press). You can connect with her at her website, www.kimrendfeld.com, her blog, Outtakes of a Historical Novelist, Facebook or Twitter.

Five Fascinating Facts About… Roman Beauty

by Heather Domin

Roman ladies shaved their legs (and so did plenty of dudes)

Most ancient cultures, including the Romans, found body hair unhygienic and unattractive. Fashion-conscious Roman women shaved, plucked, tweezed, and waxed their way to smoothness in pretty much the same way people do today. Waxes were made from tree resins or beeswax; sugaring goes all the way back to the Egyptians, and threading came to Rome via Persia and India. Manscaping was also in fashion, to the point that Stoics mocked their smooth brethren as effeminate and morally corrupt. (When conservatives label something morally corrupt, you know it’s popular!)

Roman girls treated their hair worse than we did in the 80s

A Roman lady’s intricate hairstyle
featuring ringlets, braids, and twists

Roman women dyed their hair with a host of substances, from innocuous herbs (calendula, chamomile, henna, saffron, turmeric) to terrifying tonics made from ammonia, lead oxide, lime-water, pigeon poop, and dead leeches soaked in wine. (!!!) They also curled their hair with hot irons and wore it in complicated styles requiring tight braids, metal pins, and even twine. Once all that processing took its toll and you looked like a refugee from a Whitesnake video, you could cover the wreckage with wigs – they came in many styles ranging from simple hairpieces to flamboyant multicolored creations that would make Lwaxana Troi jealous.

Roman perfume was serious business

In Ancient Rome perfume was much more than something you splashed on before a date. Romans  of all genders used perfumes in the form of infused ointments, not just to smell nice but to enhance health and well-being. Scents had specific purposes: you might choose a certain blend before taking a test, giving a speech, performing religious rites, or even before battle; others were used for headaches, nausea, depression, or fatigue. Roses were popular, along with violets, lavender, spices like ginger and cinnamon, fruits like citrus and pomegranate, resins like myrrh and cedar, and herbs like lemongrass, citronella, mint, and lemon balm – basically, the essentials of modern aromatherapy.

Roman underwear was an actual thing

the famous "bikini girls" – some
in subligacula, some in subligaria

Those mosaics of ladies in bikinis aren't costumes for female gladiators or dancing girls, but examples of legit Roman underwear. The tube top bra (strophium) didn't exactly lift and separate, but it kept the girls in check; undies could be a string bikini (subligacula) or a loincloth (subligaria). Both sexes wore underwear for exercising, working, riding, or any time for comfort, modesty, or warmth. Commando or not, most people wore an extra tunic beneath their clothes (I use the word “under-tunic” in my books, but there was no real difference except maybe the material). Tunics were fastened at the shoulders rather than sewn, so you could undo them and roll the fabric around your hips for an insta-loincloth.

Roman clothes were colorful and comfortable

fresco from Pompeii showing brightly
colored clothes on men and women

The Romans produced fabrics from wool, linen, hemp, nettle, silks, and cottons – even ordinary folks could afford soft, well-fitting clothes rather than the drab shapeless sacks often depicted, and for the upper classes it was walk walk fashion baby. Far from a sea of white togas and gowns, Romans used colors and stripes to make literal fashion statements announcing their office, rank, marital status, job, or even sports affiliation (team colors weren't invented for football!). Ovid advised men to wear "well-cut clothes", implying that tailoring was available. Indeed, fashion was for everyone in Augustan Rome: "The men take a page out of the women's book," Ovid observed, "and wives can barely outdo their husbands in luxurious attire." Swag.

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Heather Domin is the author of The Soldier of Raetia, set in Augustan Rome, and Allegiance, set in 1922 Dublin. She is currently finishing revisions on the sequel to SoR and working on a contemporary paranormal set in Glasgow.

Five Fascinating Facts about the Vikings in Northumbria

By Michelle Styles

The capital city of  Northumbria Eforwic (York) was first captured on 1 November 866 when the city was busy celebrating All Saints Day. There was hardly any bloodshed because supposedly everyone was at church except for the Vikings. It was the Vikings who renamed the city Jorvik. Vik means a bay in Old Norse. The Romans called it Eboracum and the Anglo Saxons changed it to Eforwic.

The Vikings reputedly attacked Northumbria as revenge for the death of Ragnar the Hairy Breeched whom the Northumbrian king Aella put to death by imprisoning him in a snake pit. His three sons – Ivar the Boneless, Ubbi and Halfdan of the Wide Embrace invaded England to revenge him. the actual historical context is that there was thought to be a civil war raging in Northumbria between Osbert and Aella and the Vikings took advantage of it. It is thought that consolidation pressures in Scandinavia drove warriors out of their  homelands.

On 21 March 867, the Northumbrians tried to retake the city but the Northumbrian army was soundly defeated. Both Osbert and Aella were killed. Aella is supposed to have been ‘Blood-eagled’ -- hacking his ribs from his spine and pulling his lungs out. The only time this sort of death is mentioned in the Viking sagas. There is no historical evidence that it actually happened. The Vikings were known to turn the defeated on their stomachs to allow the eagles to feast on their backs. The Anglo-Saxon church made Aella into an instant saint.

In 872 Northumbria rebelled again. The rebellion was put down in 874. In 876 Halfdan, after wintering on the Tyne in 875, shared out  Northumbria’s lands  and his warriors settled. Prior to this, the Vikings just demanded Danegeld and used the country as their own private larder. The northern part of Northumbria (basically the county of Northumberland) became a client kingdom of Northumbria –Bernecia.  The Yorkshire division into Ridings dates from the Viking era.

Halfdan died in 878 and Northumbria plunged into a period of civil war. A recently discovered a hoard of coins from the period shows several Viking kings’ names which have been lost to history.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance in a wide range of time periods. Her next book Paying the Viking’s Price is set in 876 Northumbria and is published in November 2013. You can learn more about Michelle and her books (including reading an excerpt  of Paying the Viking’s Price) on www.michellestyles.co.uk.

Five Fascinating Facts about Spain’s History as a Melting Pot

The word “Spain” conjures a bizarrely uniform concept among a lot of English-speakers. I’m happy to say that Spain is not now, and never has been, uniform in any way. So many cultures have left their stamp on the Iberian Peninsula that it’s difficult to choose just five facts you may not know already.

The oldest cave paintings outside Africa are located in El Castillo, Northern Spain. According to this article, “A hand stencil in El Castillo cave, Spain, has been dated to earlier than 37,300 years ago and a red dot to earlier than 40,600 years ago, making them the oldest cave paintings in Europe.” The current theory is that “modern” Homo sapiens didn’t leave Africa until right about that time. It’s therefore likely that these ancient paintings had Neanderthal artists. All humans of non-African ancestry today have about 2.5% Neanderthal genetic material, which strongly suggests that when Homo sapiens met their Neanderthal relatives, they made love, not war. Where did they do that loving before moving throughout Europe? In Spain! 

Trajan, one of two Roman emperors
born in Hispania

The Celtic cultures of Northern Spain predate the Celtic cultures of Britain. Many origin myths indicate that the blond giants of Spain strode across the sea to settle in what are now Scotland and Ireland. No one knows exactly how long the Celtic culture has been present in Northwest Spain, but when the Romans arrived, they were well established — and willing to fight the Roman upstarts. They continue to astonish visitors today.

Medieval Christian Spaniards were happy to think of themselves as the descendants of Germanic tribes. After the fall of Rome, several Germanic groups invaded the peninsula and, mixing with each other and the native populace, they became the Visigoths. These Latin-speaking, law-giving, Romanized Germans ruled most of the peninsula for more than two hundred years, until 711 A. D. Although the Muslim takeover wiped out the Visigoth government, the Moorish conquest gave rise to a complex intermingled society that nonetheless maintained defined identities along lines of religion, race, and social status. A vocal faction of disenfranchised Christians spent the next 781 years promoting the idea that taking back the peninsula would restore Spain’s former Visigothic glory. (Of course, they got it all wrong, but that’s another story.)

Ceremonial crown of Reccesvinthus,
one of the most revered Visigoth kings.

They say the great leader of Muslim Spain, Abd ar-Rahman III (891-961), had blue eyes and blond hair he dyed dark to blend in better with his troops. This coloring can be “explained” by his mother, a Christian concubine in the caliph’s court. However, his father’s side of the equation, while unquestionably noble, was hardly pure Arabian or even North African. His father’s mother was Onneca Fortúnez, a royal princess of the northern kingdom of Pamplona.

Flamenco @ MIT, January 2009. Photo by Jessica Knauss

Gypsies arrived in Spain in the fifteenth century, and have been contributing cultural phenomena now widely considered quintessentially Spanish ever since. UNESCO added flamenco to their list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2010. No one denies the gypsy heritage of today’s Andalusian culture; however, the gypsy people are not generally held in any higher regard than they are in any other country. Throughout history, the Romani people have encountered this kind of ambivalence, but in Spain it reaches a unique extreme.

In spite of its geographical location at the edge of the known world in ancient and medieval times, Spain never found itself on the periphery of history. Instead, it has always been a crossroads and a forge where mixtures and new cultures are born time and again.

Jessica Knauss freelance edits fiction and publishes great books with Loose Leaves Publishing. Many of her contemporary stories have appeared in literary magazines, and her longer works are available for purchase at many retailers. She holds a PhD in medieval Spanish literature from Brown University. Seven Noble Knights is her novel set in tenth-century Spain. Find all the latest here.

Five Fascinating Facts about Irish in the United States

By Ginger Myrick

In my most recent release, Work of Art, the main character is an Irish immigrant. I had to do a bit of research to familiarize myself with her plight and found some very interesting information. It turns out that the Irish—including Americans of Irish descent—have played an astonishing role in the shaping of the modern U.S., indeed the transformation of a few paltry English colonies into an independent nation. Let’s take a look. 

It is estimated that 250,000 Irish made their way to America during the Colonial period. In the mid 1600’s, Irish left their homeland in droves to avoid the heated battles between Catholics and Presbyterians when the two groups—with opposing views on how Christianity should be practiced—were forced into close proximity by the Plantation of Ulster. King James I of England implemented the plan intending to pacify and civilize Ulster, and reward his fellow Scotsmen for their loyalty. He granted large plots of acreage to his countrymen with only one major complication; the local Gaelic chieftains still regarded the lands as their own. In 1639 the resentment boiled over, culminating in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. To avoid the slaughter, many Irish in search of a more peaceful existence made the journey to the New World, eventually settling in the back country of the Appalachian Mountains. They contributed such large numbers to the American Revolution that one British general was prompted to speculate that "half the rebel Continental Army were from Ireland." 

Also of note is the large number of Irish who participated in the U.S. Civil War. The Union Army recorded slightly less than 150,000 native Irishmen, with a comparable number of Irish-American soldiers, among their forces. Thirty-eight confirmed regiments bore the distinction “Irish” in their titles. The Confederate Army employed a lesser number but still enough to warrant the formation of their own units. These divisions carried symbolic Irish banners and names, and upheld traditional practices such as attending mass before heading into battle. One notable brigadier general for the Confederate States Army, General John McCausland, was the son of an Irish immigrant. 

Irish manpower played a major role in shaping the cities of the Northeast. Due to advancing technological developments and westward expansion, there was a huge demand for workers during the industrial boom of the 19th century. Irish immigrants stepped up to fill the need. The labor was utilized in lumbering, the steel industry, and construction in the big cities building canals, roads, and railways. Approaching the midpoint of the century, jobs became scarce, and many advertisements for employment began to specify “No Irish.” But because of their willingness to work cheaply, often at a fraction of the cost of other laborers, wages were driven so low that eventually it became an unwise business decision not to hire them. Fortunately, the industrial revolution experienced a second wave and the economical workforce was again put to good use. 

Today, the number of Americans of Irish descent is approximately six times the population of Ireland. In the years between 1845-1852, Ireland was ravaged by the Great Famine, a disaster of epic proportions. Faced with few options, again the Irish people headed for more welcoming lands. It is reported that one million Irish emigrated to Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and the U.S., many of them finding refuge in the port cities of New England. At one time, as many as 300 Irish nationals per day disembarked in New York seeking a better life in the New World. By 1855 a quarter of the population in Manhattan was of Irish descent, that proportion growing to over half by the turn of the century. There are similar numbers for other major American cities most notably Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence. Irish-American population continued to grow exponentially until it reached the staggering aforementioned ratio. 

Irish Americans have played prominent roles in the U.S. government. Eight of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence came from Americans of Irish descent. Matthew Thornton, George Taylor, and James Smith were actually native born Irishmen while Charles Carroll, Thomas Lynch Jr., Thomas McKean, George Read, and Edward Rutledge, were first or second generation Irish-Americans. In addition, Charles Thompson, the secretary at the Congress, also signed. Similarly, six out of the thirty-six delegates who had a hand in creating the Constitution also had Irish roots. There have been too many notable Irish-Americans to name in positions of government from local to the national level, but they even managed to climb all the way up to the highest elected seat in the land. From Andrew Jackson to Barack Obama, twenty-two American Presidents—half of the forty-four men who have held the title of Commander in Chief—can claim some degree of Irish ancestry.

Ginger Myrick was born and raised in Southern California. She is a self-described wife, mother, animal lover, and avid reader and knitter. Along with the promotion for THE WELSH HEALER, and EL REY, she is currently crafting her third novel, which takes place during the U.S. Civil War. She is a Christian who writes meticulously researched historical fiction with a ‘clean’ love story at the core. She hopes to persevere with her newfound talent and show the reading community that a romance need not include graphic details to convey deep love and passion.

Five Fascinating Facts about Moorish Spain

By Lisa J. Yarde

Centuries ago, when Moors ruled the Iberian Peninsula, they ushered in an age of discovery and enlightenment that would not be repeated in Europe until the Renaissance. 

Nearly eight hundred years of Moorish rule significantly influenced the culture of Spain. To appreciate the impact of Moorish rule, consider the language of Spain, where the city of Almeria (derived from the Arabic al-Mariyah), and Alhambra (derived from the Arabic al-Qal'at Al-Hamra for 'the Red Fortress'), alquería (Spanish for farmhouse, from the Arabic al-qaria for 'the village'), and aceña (Spanish for watermill, another Moorish invention, from the Arabic as-saniyah), indicate Arabic roots. Arabic was the language spoken in Moorish courts. The Moors encouraged musical forms such as flamenco and the development of musical instruments like the guitar. They also enriched daily experiences through the introduction of the toothbrush, the cultivation of oranges and lemons, almonds, coffee, bananas, eggplants, and the development of cottons and silks. Through translations of Ptolemy, Archimedes and Pythagoras, and the introduction of a new numbering system, Arabic and Moorish society improved and altered our modern understanding of medicine, mathematics  and astronomy.
  

Abbas ibn Firnas, a ninth-century Cordoban, made one of the first known attempts at human flight in Europe. Born in the Andalusian region of Ronda, Ibn Firnas became noted as a physician, engineer and an inventor of a water clock, which he called al-Maqata, as well as a process for cutting rock crystal. He is also known for his failed attempt at gliding. According to the Moroccan historian al-Maqarri, who wrote about the events seven centuries afterward, Ibn Firnas pursued the idea of flight for humans by scientific means. Aged  65 or 70 at the time, he invited the people of Cordoban to the Jabal al-arus (Mount of the Bride) area outside Cordoba, where he had "... covered himself with feathers for the purpose, attached a couple of wings to his body, and, getting on an eminence, flung himself down into the air, when, according to the testimony of several trustworthy writers who witnessed the performance, he flew to a considerable distance, as if he had been a bird, but in alighting again on the place whence he had started his back was very much hurt." The injury supposedly plagued him for the rest of his life. The lunar impact crater Ibn Firnas is named for him.

   

Tenth-century Cordoba existed as one of Europe's largest and most sophisticated cities. Cordoba became the undisputed capital of Moorish Spain in the eighth century. At night, lighted lamp posts lined the narrow, clean streets, paved with cobblestones. There were pedestrian sidewalks alongside the streets. Running water ran through pipes into reservoirs and fountains, to be distributed throughout the city's nine hundred baths, mosques and private homes, all equipped with latrines. Cordoba's Great Mosque, the palace of Medina Azahara and the library of al-Hakam II drew visitors from across Spain and the rest of Christian Europe. Averroes (Ibn Rushd) and Maimonides were born in Cordoba during its golden age. 
     

The hospitals (maristan) of Moorish Spain were open to people of all faiths, regardless of economic status. Within Moorish tradition, there was the concept of free care for anyone who was sick.  Along with providing care for the infirm and well, poor and wealthy alike, the hospital also served as an asylum. Beginning in June 1367, the hospital of Granada built in the Albaicin, dwarfed by the Alhambra along the right bank of the Darro river, became a renowned example of compassionate care for its residents. The Nasrid ruler Sultan Muhammad V ordered the hospital's construction beginning in September 1365. Glazed mosaic tiles, marble and stucco lined the interior. Plaster encased the brick facade of the two-storied structure. There were two staircases on the longer sides of the building giving access to the second floor. Recessed galleries and square rooms surrounded a courtyard featuring a long pool with two fountains on either side, decorated by lions similar to those figures in Alhambra's Court of Lions. Those from Granada's Moorish hospital are now housed in the Alhambra Museum, the palace of Charles V.

The Giralda tower in Seville became Spain's first observatory. Completed during the reign of the Moroccan ruler of Spain, Almohad caliph Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur, construction began on the tower under the architect Ahmad ibn Busa. Stones within the Giralda date back to Spain's Visigothic and Roman periods. There was no staircase built within the tower; instead 34 gradually ascending ramps provided access as the tower soared to 320 feet. Four bronze spheres plated with gold rested atop the Giralda until a 14th century earthquake destroyed them. After the conquest of Seville in 1248, the observatory became a belfry.  The Giralda remains the bell tower of the cathedral of Seville, where the bones of Christopher Columbus have rested since the 19th century.
    

Lisa J. Yarde writes fiction inspired by the medieval period. She is the author of historical novels set in medieval England and Normandy, The Burning Candle, based on the life of Isabel de Vermandois, and On Falcon's Wings, chronicling the star-crossed romance between Norman and Saxon lovers. Lisa has also written three novels in a six-part series set in Moorish Spain, Sultana,  Sultana’s Legacy and Sultana: Two Sisters, where rivalries and ambitions threaten the fragile bonds between members of a powerful family.