by Molly Owen | Dec 3, 2011 | Blog, Ruth A. Casie
A few weeks ago I found a great post on Sapphire Phelan’s Passion Center. She had a great overview of the history of romance over the centuries. She provided insight into the etymology (origin) of words, history of romantic practices, and how love and marriage has changed over the centuries.
The need to procreate and to be close to another person hasn’t changed over the centuries. It’s part of who and what we are. What has changed is how we go about it. The romance of it all.
Sapphire’s post starts with the Greek explanation of the four types of love, philia, brotherly or familial love, eros intimate or romantic love, storge an affection or fondness and agape a selfless or spiritual love.
The definition locked down, she begins her march through time. This is what I found so intriguing. She acknowledges the brutality of the ancients raiding villages to capture wives, and moved on to the Medieval custom of arranged marriages for property, monetary and political alliances. She also provided the origin of honeymoon.
I hadn’t realized that today’s courting rituals was rooted in medieval chivalry. “The importance of love in a relationship emerged as a reaction to arranged marriages. Still, it was not considered a prerequisite in matrimonial decisions. Suitors wooed their intended with serenades and flowery poetry… Chastity and honor were highly regarded virtues. In 1228, women first gained the right to propose marriage in Scotland, a legal right that then slowly spread through Europe.” This era saw the rise of romance in literature and on the stage, albeit only men performing.
Loves spoons were all the rage in 17th century Wales as a way for a suitor to state his case. In England, chivalrous gentlemen sent a pair of gloves to the object of their affection hoping they would wear them to church on Sunday as a sign of their acceptance. The Renaissance had its own customs keeping in mind that the main goal was to produce children.
During the Victorian Era courting was very formal and controlled. As Sapphire mentioned, “It became a sort of art form among the upper classes.” There’s a great web site by Michelle J. Hoppe that gives all the particulars for Courting the Victorian Lady.
Today, romance still blooms. Many of the traditional methods of dating are no longer of much use to either sex these days. Though some of even the oldest ideas are still considered romantic in our times, many are not practiced simply because they do not seem to fit in our modern world. To me romance is soft and tender quiet words spoken, small things done without asking, It’s time alone as well as time with friends. It’s a touch, a kiss, a whisper, and sometimes even silence.
What is romance to you?
by Molly Owen | Nov 3, 2011 | Blog, Ruth A. Casie
In Mesopotamia, somewhere in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, dating back to 3700 B.C., someone put stone to tablet and hammered out a message and we’ve been hammering out messages ever since.
What is the love affair with the written word? They have the power to move people and even nations; people steal them, go to war for them, suppress them, cry over them, and love them.
I love painting with them, finding just the ones that transport you to another place all in the comfort of my comfy overstuffed chair. The dappled sunlight in the forest, the clashing sound of swords striking steel, and the softness of the first kiss, *sigh* I love them all.
I’ve had stories in my head as long since forever. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have a damsel in distress and a knight in shining armor racing to save her. (I’ve always thought historical romance). There were times when I finished a book I loved the characters so I continued the story.
It may have been Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander that started me thinking how the accomplishments of today’s woman, the ones we take for granted, would play out in earlier times; accomplishments in music, sports, and medicine. No longer is she the damsel in distress but rather a full partner capable in the great hall, the theater, the surgery, and even the battle field. I found the idea intriguing and went off and spun my tale.
So, I started thinking. It’s the 21st century and time travel is still a Wellsian fantasy, but not for Rebeka Tyler. A small miss step at the standing stones at Avebury will transport her into the adventure of her life. That’s how I started writing Knight of Runes, all hammered out from my computer.
Help me count down the days to release. Only eleven days left. Leave a comment and one randomly chosen winner will receive a free copy (Epub or PDF) of Knight of Runes. Winner picked November 14.
by Molly Owen | Oct 7, 2011 | Blog, Ruth A. Casie
This is where it all started, the 1963 movie, Tom Jones. Albert Finney (Tom Jones) licks his chicken bones and Joyce Redman (Mrs Waters) looks like she’s making love to an apple. It showed that playing with your food could be fun and anything edible will do! But what was a banquet really like?
The extravagant feasts and banquets of the Middle Ages are legendary. However, while menus for the wealthy were extensive, only small portions were taken. Hosts were expected to offer extensive choices. With more extensive travel, a change in society emerged, possibly prompted by the Crusades, that led to a new and unprecedented interest in beautiful objects and elegant manners. This change extended to food preparation and presentation and resulted in fabulous food arrangements with exotic colors and flavorings. Banquets prepared during the Middle Ages were fit for a king.
Staffing and Presenting the Banquet
The kitchen squires where responsible for provisioning the kitchen. Assisted by the cooks, they chose, purchased, and paid for the goods.
The food was plated on the serving dishes and staged in the kitchen until it was time to bring to the tables in the Great Hall.
The Noble of the castle, and his distinguished guests, sat at a great table that was set on a raised platform, a dais, at one of the hall.
Buffets were tables with a series of wooden stepped shelves. The number of shelves indicated the host’s rank. The more shelves the higher the rank. The ‘Stepped Buffets’ were covered with rich drapes and used at banquets and feasts. The Nobles impressed their guests by using their finest gold or silver plates as service plates on the buffet.
The banquet feast consisted of three, four, five, and even six courses. At times the presentations of the main courses were made into a theatrical representation with colored jellies of swans or peacocks or pheasants with their feathers. Served as a specialty the beak and feet of these birds were gilt and placed in the middle of the table as a centerpiece.
French Medieval Banquets
The French cooking historian described a great feast given in 1455 by the Count of Anjou, third son of King Louis II of Sicily. This description demonstrates just how theatrical a presentation can be:
“On the table was placed a centre-piece, which represented a green lawn, surrounded with large peacocks’ feathers and green branches, to which were tied violets and other sweet-smelling flowers.
In the middle of this lawn a fortress was placed, covered with silver.
The fortress was hollow, and formed a sort of cage, in which several live birds were shut up, their tufts and feet being gilt.
On its tower, which was gilt, three banners were placed.
The first course consisted of a civet of hare, a quarter of stag which had been a night in salt, a stuffed chicken, and a loin of veal.
The two last dishes were covered with a German sauce, with gilt sugar-plums, and pomegranate seeds.
At each end, outside the green lawn, was an enormous pie, surmounted with smaller pies, which formed a crown. The crust of the large pies were silvered all round and gilt at the top.
Each pie contained a whole roe-deer, a gosling, three capons, six chickens, ten pigeons, one young rabbit, and, no doubt to serve as seasoning or stuffing, a minced loin of veal, two pounds of fat, and twenty-six hard-boiled eggs, covered with saffron and flavoured with cloves.
For the three following courses, there was a roe-deer, a pig, a sturgeon cooked in parsley and vinegar, and covered with powdered ginger.
The feast continued with a kid goat, two goslings, twelve chickens, as many pigeons, six young rabbits, two herons, a leveret, a fat capon stuffed, four chickens covered with yolks of eggs and sprinkled with spice, a wild boar, some wafers and stars and a jelly, part white and part red represented the crests of the honored guests, cream covered with fennel seeds and preserved in sugar, a white cream, cheese in slices, and strawberries, and, lastly, plums stewed in rose-water
Besides these four courses, there was a fifth, entirely of wines then in vogue, and of preserves. These consisted of fruits and various sweet pastries.”
I researched medieval banquets when I wrote Knight of Runes. Eating is fundamental and enjoyable. While Arik and Rebeka don’t get it on quite like Tom and Mrs. Waters there is definitely an air of the playfulness in the scene. The trouble with watching that scene is I really get hungry. I’ll let you figure out for what!
Ruth A. Casie
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