#Tracy Adams is 💜

[wonder-worker]

“...The custom of calling [Agnès Sorel] the first “maîtresse-en-titre” or the first “official royal mistress,” as the expression is typically rendered in English, make it is easy to overestimate her visibility during her lifetime. But despite the claims of modern historians, the expression “maîtresse-en-titre” was manifestly not invented for Agnès Sorel. No contemporary document refers to her in that way. Indeed, the word “maistresse,” to designate a beloved woman whom one was courting or hoping to marry, begins to appear only later. [...] The composite expression “maîtresse-en-titre” becomes common only around the mid-eighteenth century as a general way of designating a favorite or current mistress, used to refer to the king’s favorite mistress but by no means restricted to this use.

Agnès, then, is never referred to as anything like official mistress. The titles that she held were associated with the properties given her by the king: she was the Dame de Beauté, Roquecezière, Issoudun, and Vernon-sur-Seine, although it is not clear that she actually exercised any real control over these towns. Another thing that the documents do not say is that Agnès was publicly acknowledged as the king’s mistress; it is not true as one historian writes, that in 1444, the king “publicly designated Agnès Sorel as the first official royal favorite” during a joyous entry. There is no trace of such a presentation in any document. Nor was she ever mentioned as the center of attention at any festival [...]

Still, chroniclers were aware of Agnès, and the attention that she receives from them far surpasses that devoted to any other woman of comparable rank of her time. As a basis of comparison, we might take the mistress with whom Charles VII’s father, the insane Charles VI, was supplied to protect the queen from the abuses that he showered on her. Odette de Champdivers figures in exactly one chronicle and then not even by name. The chroniclers who mention Agnès and were either rough contemporaries or active within about fifty years after her death and therefore able to consult people who had known her include Thomas Basin; Jean de Bourdigné; the Bourgeois of Paris; Jean Chartier; Georges Chastellain; Jean Le Clerc; Jacques Du Clercq; Mathieu d’Escouchy; Robert Gaguin; Nicoles Gilles; Jean Juvénal des Ursins; Olivier de La Marche; Thierri Pawels; Pope Pius II, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini. With one exception, Jean Chartier, who claims that the king never touched Agnès below the chin, they affirm that Charles VII loved Agnès madly, that she was beautiful, and several note that the king bestowed inappropriate material favor upon her.

For a hint of her political activity we can turn to Olivier de La Marche, Burgundian memoirist and chronicler, who writes in an entry about negotiations that took place in May and June 1445 that the king had recently taken up with a beautiful lady and that she did much good for the kingdom “by bringing before the king young men-at-arms and excellent companions, by whom the king has since been well served.” This suggests that she was able to influence the king’s appointments. In addition, we have mentions of her influence over the king in three depositions, each related to court factionalism and plots to overthrow the king along with Pierre de Brézé, his righthand man and the dauphin’s nemesis. One recounts, for example, that Pierre de Brézé controls the king through “that Agnès who serves the queen.” In another set of depositions relative to a different bit of political intrigue, the deponent refers to Pierre who has the king’s ear partly through the help of Agnès, “from whom Pierre has whatever he wants.” The same document says that the deponent had been instructed to inform the king that the dauphin was so upset with the king that he, the dauphin, was going to put things in order himself and chase Agnès away. In addition, the deposition lists code names for members of the court. Agnès’s is Helyos: Héloïse? The sun?

Agnès unexpectedly joined the king in Normandy in January 1450, having crossed France, pregnant, to tell him, according to one chronicler, that he was about to be betrayed by some of his people and turned over to the English. She then fell mortally ill of what we now know was a sudden ingestion of a massive amount of mercury. Certain chronicles reference the dauphin’s hatred of Agnès and a handful of sources suggest that he had her poisoned. Simply the fact that contemporaries thought that the dauphin might have done her in indicates a perception that she was influential.

The evidence adds up to what may have been clout with the king, but a profile so low that no ambassador was ever given instructions to seek her out, or, at least nothing indicates that any ever did. Nor is her presence ever mentioned at festivals, something that would have suggested her importance. Ambassadors to François I’s court, for example, routinely mention that François’s most significant mistress, the Duchess of Étampes, was present at court festivities, often mentioning where she was seated and with whom she spoke. But Agnès’s presence at such events was never noted.

-Tracy Adams, "Queens, Regents, Mistresses: Reflections on Extracting Elite Women’s Stories from Medieval and Early Modern French Narrative Sources"

[girlcockholmes]

hi. Good omens for the ask game cos im curious :3 i shrimply would like to hear ur thoughts because I love you

Favorite character: i dont knowwwww 🤒🤕…. i think aziraphale he is my little silly…. but i mean. Do Not Separate. theyre both my sillies.

Second favorite character: teehee im excited for s3 bc i wanna see more of muriel… in the book tho newt and pepper were my faves 🫶🏻🫶🏻

Least favorite character: erm they are all so fun…. maybe hastur then but idk everyone adds something fun :))

The character I’m most like: coughs sputters dies on the ground. aziraphale……

Favorite pairing: well….. 🤭 and newt and anathema are a close second i just think theyre soo silly and sweet 💜

Least favorite pairing: i dont really have anything against any canon or non canon ships. maybe adam and pepper in theory bc its annoying to turn her into Girl but i havent seen much of that honestly

Favorite moment: aghhhh its been too long since ive read the book i wish i could pick out one from there but i forgorrrrr….. in the show tho i definitely loved the body swap aziraphale as crowley is everythaaangg…..

Rating out of 10: the book 10/10 so silly and awesome forever. the show 8/10 just bc i do miss the balance of other characters outside aziraphale and crowley especially in the first season. i think shadwell and tracy especially missed out on a lot and theyre so fun

[uniwolfcorn]

Gerry's Gorey Demise

Content warning: Gore/gore mentions!

(Woooooooooo! I finally got this bad boy done! This here is a little something I wrote for Halloween! It's late but better late than never! XD)

(Credits towards the original song "A Gorey Demise" by Creature Feature as inspiration! For as dark as this song is, it's pretty dang catchy! Link to it will be at the end)

(Unfortunately the one letter I couldn't find a Gerry Anderson character for was Q. But I hope this is still ok! Big thanks to @katblu42 for beta reading and helping me with this! Happy late Halloween and stay safe Anderfans and fam!😊👻❤🧡💛💚💙💜💖🖤)

————————————————————————

On the night of Halloween, in an unknown void of darkness, monstrous mischief was alight. Ghouls flew around over the place, unnerving creatures chattered with one another in a series of unintelligible screeches and squawks, and all while mutilated bodies friendly yammer amicably amongst their corpse companions. The loud tinkle of a glass catches everyone’s attention.

“Alright, everybody sit down, quiet down, and listen up!” announced a battered and bloodied Virgil Tracy. “As you’ve may have guessed, we’re all gathered here to recite the annual obituaries. Every year we start from A to Z.” With a loud clap of his bruised hands, the crowd turned towards the stage that sat behind Virgil.

“Alright. Is the band ready?”

“Ready!” Captain Blue gave a thumbs up behind the drums.

“Hit it Adam!”

“One and a two...”

A is for Alan who drowned in a pool

B is for Brains who was eaten by ghouls

C is for Conrad with disease of the brain

D is for Dick who derailed on a train

E is for Ed who was buried alive

F is for Fermat who was stabbed in the eye

G is for Gordon who died in the womb

H is for Hood who was sealed in a tomb

“ONE BY ONE, WE BITE THE DUST, WE KICK THE BUCKET AND BEGIN TO RUST

GIVE UP THE GHOST WHEN YOUR NUMBER’S UP

WE ALL FALL DOWN!”

“ASHES TO ASHES, BONES TO PASTE

YOU’ll WITHER AWAY IN YOUR RESTING PLACE

ETERNITY IN A WOODEN CASE

WE ALL FALL DOWN!”

I is for Ian who lost his front brakes

J is for Jeff who was bitten by snakes

K is for Kyrano who was shot in the head

L is for Lady P who bled and bled

M is for Marina who was burnt to a crisp

N is for Nine who was pummeled by fists

O is for Ochre who lived life too fast

P is for Parker who swallowed some glass

“La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”

“Alright lads, all together now.”

“ONE BY ONE, WE BITE THE DUST WE KICK THE BUCKET AND BEGIN TO RUST

GIVE UP THE GHOST WHEN YOUR NUMBER’S UP

“ASHES TO ASHES BONES TO PASTE

YOU’ll WITHER AWAY IN YOUR RESTING PLACE

ETERNITY IN A WOODEN CASE

WE ALL FALL DOWN!”

Q is for Quiton who took the wrong trail

R is for Roger who rotted in jail

S is for Scott who was shot with a bow

T is for Tin-Tin who froze in the snow

U is for Unwin who was trampled by hooves

V is for Virgil who fell off the roof

W is for White who was hit by a car

X is for X20 who sunk in the tar

Y is for Yung who fell off a plane

Z is for Zodiac who simply went...

INSANE!

(Once again, credits towards the original song! ^^ )

[heartofstanding]

20 in 20 book tag

I was tagged by @harry-leroy​ thank you! 💜

Rules: List either 20 books you want to read in 2020 or 20 goals, or some mix of both, up to you! Then tag some friends to play along :)

20 Books for 2020

The Life and Afterlife of Isabeau of Bavaria, Tracy Adams

Love Visions, Geoffrey Chaucer (collected short works in translation)

Epitaph for Three Women, Jean Plaidy

Book of the City of Ladies, Christine de Pizan

Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England, Katherine J. Lewis

Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe

The Parentations, Kate Mayfield

The Old Lie, Claire G. Coleman

Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng

The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton

The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters

Henry V and the Southampton Plot, T. B. Pugh

The Bartered Queens, Freda M. Long

Ghost Stories, Edith Wharton

Conquest, Juliet Barker

Cashelmara, Susan Howatch

Big Sky, Kate Atkinson

Maurice, E. M. Forster 

Harry of Monmouth, A. M. Maughan

Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton

Goals

Make a serious dent in rewriting and revising what I’ve written of Brittle Crown so I can feel happy about writing more of it.

Read more medieval literature, particularly those works that I think can help my own writing become more informed.

Write more stuff about Blanche of Lancaster, Joan of Kent and the Black Prince.

Beat my Goodreads goal of reading 85 books into the dust (I always set my GR goals very low to avoid stressing me out and to ultimately enjoy beating the goal into the dust).

Explore the idea of doing a Masters of Creative Arts (Research) and maybe even apply if I can stop screaming.

Go through my read books and see if I can cull any. 

Make progress on the Eleanor novel. Maybe write up an outline if nothing else and set details in stone so I stop faffing around.

Write more of my in-progress fics and hopefully finish 3.

Hopefully achievable (I’m inching there slowly!): finish the fic about Humphrey’s birth. 

Find a new favourite but affordable lip balm now that Nivea changed the formula of my favourite lip balm (Hydo Care) so now it a) makes my lips burn and b) smells horrible..