Were there any working baths in seventh-century Northumbria? I’m guessing not, but perhaps some of those wall forts were in reasonable shape. Birdoswald? How about Arbeia? We know that Osric was born there…
Read more "Working Roman baths in 7th C Northumbria?"I am switching Gemæcca, my previous site, to WordPress—and taking the opportunity to rename it Gemæcce. It will happen gradually. Think of this as a test. As such, I’m just going to repost something from my personal blog.
Read more "My new site"According to Bede, when Hild is recruited to the church in 647 CE she is in East Anglia, and has been for a year. I’m trying to work out why.
Read more "East Anglian accession dates"How do you say, fourteen hundreth in Latin? I will cheerfully admit that my Latin is rubbish, but I had a go anyway.
Read more "Happy 1400th anniversary to Hild!"NOTE: This blog relates to 2014. I’m coming to the UK next month, 1—10 October. I’ll be doing a bunch o’ stuff to support Hild. If you’re a reader of this blog I hope you’ll come along and introduce yourself.
Read more "I am coming to the UK at beginning of October"This year is the 1400th anniversary of Hild’s birth. According to Bede.* Given that her feast day is mid-November, and in my novel her birthday is mid-October, I’ve decided autumn would be a splendid time to celebrate.
Read more "Latin for fourteen hundredth anniversary?"It was a challenge to set aside the most recent hypotheses about the ethnogenesis of the English and write purely from Hild’s experience, her cultural perspective.
Read more "Anglo-Saxon ethnic origin stories"Hild will be out in the UK on Thursday July 24. The first UK notices are beginning to appear. I’m particularly proud of two. One from Alex Woolf…the other from Max Adams.
Read more "HILD out in the UK on Thursday 24th July"I’m now into <iHild II (working title Menewood) and I’ve started to wonder about the location of Hild’s first religious foundation. Aidan, when he recruited Hild to the Church in AD 647, gave her a single hide of land on which to live for a year. Bede tells us only that this land was “ad septentrionalem plagam Viuri fluminis.”
Read more "Hild’s first religious foundation"On To the Best of Our Knowledge I’m “Getting Medieval” with fellow writers George R.R. Martin, Karen Joy Fowler, and Bruce Holsinger, weapons expert Kelly DeVries, and more! To coincide with this weekend’s premier of Game of Thrones Season 4, it’s a whole hour of conversation about why we’re so interested in the Middle Ages.However, […]
Read more "Getting Medieval on "To the Best of Our Knowledge""