by Lisa Shea
Hillie eased his way over to them, one elderly paw at a time, but she blinked in surprise as a pair of young puppies tumbled in after him, eagerly weaving amongst his legs. Their tiny eyes were bright with curiosity.
She dropped down to a knee in delight. “Where did these munchkins come from?”
Philip smiled. “Jolenta’s stepfather keeps a few dogs and one of them bred a short while ago. These two seem to have taken a shine to Hillie, so he gave the pups to Hillie as a present.”
Isabel laughed. “Oh, now Hillie is owning puppies?”
Philip gave Hillie’s head a fond ruffle. “I think owning isn’t quite the right word. More like they have created a family.”
Judging by the look in Hillie’s eyes as he gave a gentle lap to the smaller pup’s head, Philip was exactly right.
The trio of dogs moved off into the festival and Isabel followed behind them, content to explore at their pace. Philip stayed by her side, his presence a warm reminder of just how joyful her life now was.
Philip drew her in. “Next spring, I think. We’ll have a spring wedding. Your father will stand at your side, we’ll bedeck Hillie and the pups with flowers, and we’ll celebrate the new peace.”
She smiled up at him. “We agreed to wait for the fighting to end before marrying. Do you really think it’ll be just a few months? Father thinks it might be years.”
He raised an eye brow. “Getting cold feet? We can delay longer if you wish. As long as it takes.”
She shook her head. “Spring would be just perfect. It would give us time to truly know each other. I’m just curious why you feel it could be that short. After all, the King and the barons are in high dudgeon right now.”
He gave a low smile. “The King has never proven himself to be a great soldier like his brother. He is more a manipulator and negotiator. No, I imagine this conflict will resolve fairly quickly, one way or the other. And life will move on. Perhaps with the King’s son, Edward, as a ruler both sides can agree on. The lad’s young – only nine – but he already shows great promise as an even-tempered, considerate young man. And he’ll have Hugh de Burgh as an advisor. Hugh is one of the King’s most trusted friends and Hugh encouraged King John to sign the Magna Carta. So that’s a powerful combination for us. For England.”
Hillie and the pup-tumble came to an enthusiastic halt before a booth.
Isabel looked up.
The table was laid out with beautiful bird cages, each holding a small creature. Some were golden and bright, singing beautiful songs. Others were delicate and tan in color. There were black birds with shiny eyes and brown birds with orange chests.
One bird in particular was a quiet brown color and about the size of her hand. Its dark eyes held her with intelligence.
It opened its mouth.
The most beautiful song sailed out of it, catching her breath. It sung of love and hope, of beauty and peace.
She looked up at the vendor, who had her back to Isabel. “It is lovely! How much is it?”
The woman, dressed in a long, dark dress with a white wimple over her head, did not answer or turn.
Philip’s eyes creased. He gently reached over and tapped the woman on the shoulder.
The woman started and turned. Her eyes went between the two. “I’m sorry, did you have a question for me?”
The woman seemed to be about Isabel’s age, perhaps a year or two younger. Strands of coppery hair escaped from the edge of her wimple, and her eyes were shadowed.
Philip spoke. “My fiancé was wondering how much the nightingale costs.”
“Five pence,” answered the woman. “That includes the cage.”
“Her song is truly beautiful,” continued Philip, his eyes holding hers. “Don’t you think?”
A slight blush came to her cheeks. “Everyone says so.”
He nodded. Then he said, gently, “You’re deaf, aren’t you.”
Her lips pressed together, but she nodded. “Yes.”
Isabel looked around. “Surely you’re not here alone? Are your parents with you?”
The woman’s face shadowed. “My parents are dead. They … died … when I was young.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not, alone, though,” continued the woman, shaking off the clouds with visible effort. “My brother is here, and my uncle as well. They had to go to the merchant’s quarters to acquire some supplies for us. When this market is over, my uncle intends to take us far west. To Portsmouth, perhaps.” She gave a low shiver. “With the growing storm clouds, I pray that we make the journey safely.”
Isabel knew the woman did not speak of mere rains.
She felt a warm glow at her hip.
She looked down at Andetnes.
Suddenly the words of Alicia came back to her. It seemed a lifetime ago, when she received the sword in that quiet wood-working shop.
Do not become too fond of Andetnes. When you have at last found contentment, there will be another whose fate balances on the point of a pin. You will know when it is right. And the sword will have a new mistress.
Tears welled in her eyes. She looked around the keep, bustling with life and joy. She looked to her father, relaxing in the shade and enjoying his new station. She looked to Hillie and the pups at her feet. And at last she looked to Philip at her side, her betrothed, the man she had always dreamed of.
She smiled with soul-deep contentment and turned back to the woman before her. “What is your name?”
The woman dipped her head. “My name is Ariana.”
Isabel smiled. “Well, then, Ariana, be at peace. We will do all we can to ensure you embark on your journey with everything you need. And I know that, someday, you will find a joy that you cannot even imagine.”
Ariana’s gaze held deep shadows. “How could you know such a thing?”
Isabel twined her fingers into Philip’s and looked into his eyes. She became lost in those warm depths. “Because I have.”
* * *
The Sword of Glastonbury series continues with Book 15, coming out in 2017!
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Medieval Dialogue
I’ve been fascinated by medieval languages since I was quite young. I grew up studying Spanish, English, and Latin, and loved the sound of reading Beowulf and the Canterbury Tales in their original languages. I adore the richness of medieval languages. How did medieval English people speak?
There are three aspects to this. The first is the difference between written records and spoken language. The second is the rich, multi-cultural aspect of medieval life. And the third is how to convey this to a modern-language audience.
Let’s take the first. Sometimes modern people equate the way medieval folk would talk, hanging around a rustic tavern, with the way Chaucer wrote his famous Canterbury Tales. Something along the lines of this (note this is a modern translation, not the original Middle English version):
“Of weeping and wailing, care and other sorrow
I know enough, at eventide and morrow,”
The merchant said, “and so do many more
Of married folk, I think, who this deplore,
For well I know that it is so with me.
I have a wife, the worst one that can be;
For though the foul Fiend to her wedded were,
She’d overmatch him, this I dare to swear.”
Sure, it seems elegant and rich. But did worn-down farmers sitting around a fireplace with mugs of ale really talk like this?
Do we think the London street-dwellers in the
1600s skulked down the dark alleys emoting like Shakespeare –
Two households, both alike in dignity
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
And, in the 1920s in Vermont, did farmers really wander down their snowy lanes murmuring to their farming friends, a la Robert Frost:
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
As someone who lives in New England, I can pretty resolutely say “no” to that last one. And, given my research, I’m equally content saying “no” to the previous two. There is a big difference between poetry written with deliberate effort and the way “normal people” talked, flirted, cajoled, and laughed day in and day out. People simply did not talk in iambic pentameter. I’m a poet and even I don’t talk in iambic pentameter :).
Modern people sometimes think of the medieval period in terms of the plays we see. We imagine actors on a stage, speaking in formal, stilted language, carefully moving from scene to scene. But medieval life wasn’t like that. It was a rich cacophony of people struggling hard to survive amongst plagues and crusades, with strong pagan influences and the church trying to instill order. People fought off robbers and drove away wolves. They laughed and loved in multi-generational homes. It was a time of great flux.
England - A Melting Pot
England wasn’t an isolated, walled-off island. It was continually experiencing influxes of new words and sounds. The Romans came and went. The Vikings came and went. The French invaded. Nearly all of the English men headed off to the Crusades, leaving behind women to gain strength and position. The men returned with even more languages. Pilgrims went to Jerusalem. Merchants arrived from all over. This was a true melting pot.
So, in part because of this, Middle English was a rich, fascinating language. People in this time period had a wealth of contractions, nicknames, abbreviations, and combinations of words they used. Often people could speak multiple languages - their old English, the incoming Norman language, Latin from church, and random other words from tinkers, merchants, and pilgrims they encountered. Medieval people had all sorts of words for drinking, for fighting, for prostitutes, you name it. They had slang and shortcuts just like any other language does. After all, these are the people who turned “forecastle” (on a ship) to “foc’s’le” and who pronounce the word “Worcester” as “Woostah.”
But, here’s the trick. With the medieval language being so rich, varied, intricate, and full of fascinating words, how can we bring that to life for a modern audience?
Centuries of Change
Let’s start with a basic issue - most modern readers simply cannot understand authentic medieval dialogue. They don’t have the grounding in Middle English, French, and Latin that would be required. Even the fairly straightforward, basic Chaucer works look like this:
And Saluces this noble contree highte.
Modern readers generally wouldn’t know that “highte” meant “was called” as in “And Saluces this noble country was called.”
This happens over and over again. Words change meaning. In the Middle Ages, if you abandoned your wife it means you subjugated her. You got her under your thumb. It didn’t mean you left her - quite the opposite. Awful meant awe-ful - as in stunning and wonderful. It had a positive connotation. Fantastic wasn’t great - it was a fantasy; something that didn’t exist. Nervous didn’t mean worried or agitated - it meant strong and full of energy. Nice meant silly, and so on.
If a book was written with proper medieval words and meanings, first, even if the words are reasonably close to what we use now, modern readers would have to struggle with the spelling -
By that the Maunciple hadde his tale al ended,
The sonne fro the south lyne was descended
So lowe, that he nas nat to my sighte
Degrees nyne and twenty as in highte.
But, again, that is just the tip of the issue with medieval language. The word “bracelet” didn’t exist until the 1400s. Necklace wasn’t a word until 1590. The word “hug” wasn’t around until the mid-1500s. We also didn’t have the words tragedy, crisis, area, explain, fact, illicit, rogue, or even disagree! Shakespeare invented the words “baseless” and “dwindle” in the 1600s. Staircase is from 1620. A story written solely with words that existed in the year 1200 - and that still retain their modern meaning so modern readers could understand them - would be fairly basic.
(Speaking of which, the word “basic” didn’t exist until the mid 1800s.)
Conversely, some words we might think of as thoroughly modern, like “puke”, were also used in Shakespeare’s time. “Booze” traces back to the 1500s. And these are just the proofs we have. While “shiner” for a black eye can be traced definitively to the 1700s, it could easily have been used for centuries before then and we just don’t happen to have a letter or newspaper article which mentions it.
It’s fair to say that people in medieval days did get black eyes and had a wealth of interesting terms for that situation. After all, it could be a rough life back then. Was one of the terms used “shiner”? Maybe, maybe not. Out of the ten fun phrases they used, probably nine of them would make zero sense to a modern reading audience. So authors strive to find phrases that provide meaning to a modern audience without being too l33t and techno-speak. It doesn’t make sense to completely avoid the word “bracelet” simply because it technically didn’t exist in the 1200s. Surely people in the 1200s had several words for “bracelet” and we are simply using the word modern readers understand. Similarly, people in medieval times hugged! They just called that action something else.
Medieval people loved playing with words. They called their kids “dillydowns” and “mitings” (little mites). They called sweethearts “my sweeting” and “my honey. They loved snapping out insults, from “dunce” to “idiot” to “pig filth” and “maggot pie.” And, again, these are just the ones that happened to get recorded.
Medieval people loved contractions. There’s a phrase “ne woot,” meaning knows not. They’d simply say “noot”. They did this with all sorts of words.
So writing in modern English should have this same sort of loose, fun sense to the writing. It’s important to remember that even the kings, in this era, were rough fighters. They were out with soldiers, crossing multiple countries, and experiencing a range of languages. They weren’t necessarily concerned about speaking in iambic pentameter. They were more concerned about breaking down their enemy’s walls to plunder what lay within and then drinking themselves under the table to celebrate.
So, certainly, treasure the poetry and prose of the time. As a poet, I appreciate that immensely. But also keep in mind that people did not talk in poetry. They did not speak in fantasy-speak of Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. They talked and laughed, flirted and cursed, gossiped and cajoled in a rich, multi-lingual, contraction-filled, sobriquet-laden dialogue which mirrors how we talk in modern times.
About Medieval Life
When many of us think of medieval times, we bring to mind a drab reality-documentary image. We imagine people scrounging around in the mud, eating dirt. The people were under five feet tall and barely survived to age thirty. These poor, unfortunate souls had rotted teeth and never bathed.
Then you have the opposite, Hollywood Technicolor extreme. In the romantic version of medieval times, men were always strong and chivalrous. Women were dainty and sat around staring out the window all day, waiting for their knight to come riding in. Everybody wore purple robes or green tights.
The truth, of course, lies somewhere in the middle.
Living in Medieval Times
The years in the early medieval ages held a warm, pleasant climate. Crops grew exceedingly well, and there was plenty of food. As a result, their average height
was on par with modern times. It’s amazing how much nutrition influences our health!
The abundance of food also had an effect on the longevity of people. Chaucer (born 1340) lived to be 60. Petrarch (born 1304) died a day shy of 70. Eleanor of Aquitaine (born 1122) was 82 when she died. People could and did lead long lives. The average age of someone who survived childhood was 65.
What about their living conditions? The Romans adored baths and set up many in Britain. When they left, the natives could not keep them going, and it is true they then bathed less. However, by the Middle Ages, with the crusades and interaction with the Muslims, there was a renewed interest both in hygiene and medicine. Returning soldiers and those who took pilgrimages brought back with them an interest in regular bathing and cleanliness. This spread across the culture.
While people during other periods of English history ate poorly, often due to war conditions or climatic changes, the middle ages were a time of relative bounty. Villagers would grow fresh fruit and vegetables behind their homes, and had an array of herbs for seasoning. The local baker would bake bread for the village - most homes did not hold an oven, only an open fire. Villagers had easy access to fish, chicken, geese, and eggs. Pork was enjoyed at special meals like Easter.
Upper classes of course had a much wider range of foods - all game animals (rabbits, deer, and so on) belonged to them. The wealthy ate peacocks, veal, lamb, and even bear. Meals for all classes could be flavorful and well enjoyed.
Medieval Relationships
Some movies present a skewed version of life in the Middle Ages. They make it seem that women were meek, mild, and obediently did whatever their father or husband commanded.