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historic-old-guard-lover · 4 years ago

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Does Boooker still loathe the English ?

TL;DR: Probably. The would-be French and would-be English have invaded, fought, and demeaned each other for pretty much the entirety of the last century (1066 CE to ~1914 CE). Even if Booker doesn’t really care about international politics despite being born during a time when the countries were actively fighting, he still would have been raised to look down on them as Protestants. And it’s not hard to find a reason to dislike the British *cough* destructive imperialism *cough* in the pursuit of spices that they don’t use *cough* and they made speaking their language globally important *cough*. (aside: France has a bad history of Imperialism, too, so Booker doesn’t have much of a moral high-ground) Let’s take the shortest tour through French-British conflict that I can give you. There will be a a few names, but please know that I already cut out hundreds of them.

What kicked off this epic mutual dislike? A literal bastard Frenchman with inadequacy issues. Beginning in October of 1066, the soon-to-be-famous William the Conqueror got tired of just being the bastard son of the Duke of Normandy (northernmost France) who secured the duchy for himself and decided to invade and conquer his distant cousin’s country. As you might have guess from his moniker, he was successful and had himself crowned King of England by December of that year. It helps to remember the distinctions between all those pesky pieces of the British Isles:

[ID: Euler diagram showing geographic (green) versus political (blue) labels.]

William conquered England, below, and then had the Pope approve of his new position by Easter. Yes, you heard correctly. This guy had such an inferiority complex that he became the internationally-recognized monarch of a neighboring country within a year. For the next hundred odd years, Anglo-Norman and not Old English was the official language of England. The whole British Imperialism thing starts to make a little more sense: they had it done to them first and they lost badly. Eventually, William’s (still Normand) descendants known as the “Plantagenet Kings” stretched themselves a little thin trying to claim all of France as their kingdom as well and decided to re-brand themselves as English and reinstate Old English as the official language to cope. And yes, this is those Plantagenets who will give rise to the Yorks and Lancasters who will cause the English War of the Roses where all the royalty kills each other for power and leaves the Tudors to come to power. But we’re not there yet.

[ID: picture of the British Isles and Northern France which shows the lands controlled by William the Conqueror by 1087 in pink. Notably, he controlled only England and not Wales or Scotland.]

Before the Normand royals of Britain all kill themselves, they have to stir up international drama. Edward I claimed in 1295 to the members of parliament that the King of France planned to invade England and extinguish the English language. Yes, this was a NORMAND king who was doing the same thing a generation or two ago. Then in 1346, his still-Normand grandson Edward III forged an ordinance from Philip VI of France calling for the destruction of the English and presented it to his parliament. This little performance kicked off the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453 CE). It’s towards the end of this major conflict that the royals decide to incite civil war, by the way, because they really were too dramatic to live. Just so you know, I skipped over TWELVE WARS between William the Bastard’s (yes, a real moniker) invasion and the Hundred Years’ War so that this article wouldn’t drag on forever. By the time that the Hundred Years’ War is over, the (Welsh) Tudors are on the English throne and, excluding that time the English invaded France in 1475, the two nations decided to stop trying to conquer each other. This is Europe, however, and they’ll continue to be fighting each other through proxy wars at least twelve more times before we get to the 1770s. A lot of this proxy fighting happens over Italy, in case you’re interested.

If you thought that 700 years of nearly continuous armed conflict (a decade or two doesn’t really count as a break in the long run) wasn’t enough to justify the hate between England and France, you’ve underestimated the power of religion. France hosted the (what we call Roman) Catholic Papacy in Avignon from 1309 to 1376. France is to this day a VERY Catholic nation, with up to 88% of its population belonging to the Church if you count lapsed members. Between William (1066) and the 1770s, a little itty bitty religious movement you might have heard of called the (Protestant) Reformation shook Europe when the German Princes decided they were tired of listening to this Roman Pope dude, so they supported this funky little scholar-monk-priest name Martin Luther whose students eventually said fuck it, the papacy is trash let’s start our own church. Christians, being Christians, took this as a new thing to hate about each other despite the fact that most of the doctrine is still the same and whether you were Catholic or Protestant became very important to people from the mid-1500s CE onward. In comes the man with many wives, Henry VIII. He was king while the German Princes were revolting and decided he wanted a divorce from his first wife. The Pope said along the lines of unless you give me a good reason, it’s a no from me and Henry replied something like the fact that I want to marry a younger woman is reason enough, I’m going to make up my own damn church and I get to have as many divorces as I want and then he established the Church of England. And then he went on the have six wives (and one mistress whose bastard he acknowledged) who were either beheaded or divorced except for the last one. I personally regret he never got to the full eight-piece set he must have been going for. Since 1534 when Henry VIII first flaunted papal authority by divorcing his wife, the French and English have also had the pleasure of hating each other over religious differences.

[ID: French corsairs with booty and British prisoners in 1806, depicted in a later painting by Maurice Orange from the Wikipedia page on French state-sanctioned pirates called “corsairs” that I didn’t have the space to get to in the article.]

Booker is born and grows up in a France that is funding the American Revolution and stealing from their trading ships (because fuck the British). This whole “America” decision destabilizes the country, leads to the popularity of the guillotine, and sets the stage for Napoleon Bonaparte (who, fun fact, was actually average height because the French decided to change the length of an inch for a while and if you think otherwise, it’s British propaganda). It helps to understand that the English and French had entered what we now call the Second Hundred Years’ War, this time started by the English trying to depose the French King, where they’d been skirmishing with each other from 1689 until Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815. When I say that the diplomatic strategy was “fuck the British,” this is what I’m referring to. There were very few rules that couldn’t be broken in pursuit of disadvantaging France’s island neighbor and vice versa. As a poor person, he definitely hated the French monarchy but he probably equally hated the English because, again, fuck the British defined the 1700s CE. Booker ends up conscripted in part because of the British (and in part because of Napoleon being a little too power-hungry). I think our depressed Frenchman has enough room in his heart to hate both the British and Napoleon...and neither has given him a good reason to stop hating them. UK-French relations arguably only normalized because of the increasing threat that Imperial and then Nazi Germany posed. Even during WWII, however, the British dragged their feet to begin helping the French eject the Nazis and let the Americans lead that front (which was only 200-something years late repayment for helping with their Revolution, but who’s counting?). I have no guesses as to what Booker thinks of the EU, but the Brexit debacle is just another reason to resume disliking the UK for someone who unabashedly disliked them for two hundred years. Oh yeah, and they’re God-damned Protestants to boot. (note: that’s from a Catholic perspective, not mine)

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mayhemxmugglesxmagic · 4 years ago

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Headcanon – The Malfoy Family (Pre- English History, Viking Lineage, etc.)

TL;DR The Malfoy’s have Viking heritage due to their connections to William the Conqueror and Rollo (The first Duke of Normandy), and as such Draco would find ancient runes easier than most, as well as certain forms of divination and wandless spell casting using the earth as conduit , which due to my past headcanons works out great as his birth chart is heavily influenced by the element of earth -- fight me

We know that the Malfoy’s came to the UK with William the Conqueror and were given land due to their actions during his campaign to conquer England. The idea that the Malfoy’s are French comes from this, and the fact the sir name is French -- translating to ‘Bad Faith’. However, due to their connections to William the Conqueror we know they weren’t any old kind of French, they were Norman.

The Normans were an ethnic group that arose from contact between Norse Viking settlers and those already inhabiting a region of France that would become Normandy. This all happened over a long period of time but was set in stone when the Viking leader Rollo agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia in 911 AD. The intermingling of Norse settlers and native Franks in Normandy produced a cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries into the culture William the Conqueror and Armand Malfoy would have known before leaving for England.

Lets’s talk about William the Conqueror for a minute, also known as King William I, or William the Bastard. William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by his mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father at the age of seven. Now we know young nobles tend to be pawns and William not only had to deal with those around him using him, but also many attempts on his life. It’s completely possible that it was during this time Armand Malfoy met and befriended the young Duke by helping him quash rebellions and establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060 due to infighting between the Norman aristocracy who wished to control William.

Through Marriage and consolidation of power over religious centers, and war he expanded his control, and to many seemed unstoppable -- a Viking in all but name.

Now back to the Malfoy’s (who due to their coloring we can assume are very much likely descendant from this ethnic group and as such have Viking heritage ), and this idea of the Normans as an ethnic and cultural group descended from the Franks and Vikings -- specifically linked to the Viking leader Rollo. Rollo sometimes referred to as the First Duke of Normandy was an outstanding warrior among the Norsemen and secured a permanent foothold on Frankish soil in the valley of the lower Seine. This was then given to Rollo by King Charles III of West Francia in exchange for Rollo agreeing to end his brigandage, and provide the Franks with protection against future Viking raids.

Rollo’s place of birth is almost definitely located in the region of Scandinavia, although it is uncertain whether he is Danish or Norwegian (though many sources lean heavily on him being a misplaced Danish nobleman we fled to Norway with his family) and as such many of his followers and fellow Vikings were from the same area he was born. The first historical reference we have of Rollo is a failed siege of Paris in 885–886. Afterward he retreated and would return to raid and cause general chaos.

I suggest that the Malfoy’s, at that time known by a different name were in league with Rollo. After retreating from Paris, Rollo returned to Norway to gather more support, supplies, and men. It was there he found a wizard -- dying to advance his position and family, to prove himself. This wizard would help Rollo and follow him through the next phases of his life and be rewarded. The family eventually gaining a low level place in what would become the Norman court.

It’s important to note that in many Viking cultures the practice of magic was considered to be mostly feminine in nature, though men did practice it was well. However, when they did it was possible a social taboo, known as ergi ( denoting effeminacy or other unmanly behavior) would follow them, and they were sometimes persecuted as a result. As such this member of the family that would eventually become the Malfoy’s was either a respected witch (a religious leader in the community), or a Wizard with very little left to lose in the eyes of the other men around him.

The family would eventually gain the name Malfoy -- or ‘bad faith’ after their part in a failed coup or plot involving one of Rollo’s descendants such as his son or grandson, William Longsword or Richard I. This would leave the Malfoy’s on the outskirts of the court and highly suspected if not outs completely. Leaving the duty of restoring the families good graces on the shoulders of Armand Malfoy in the 11th century who seeing a bastard boy (slightly younger than him) as the only heir to the Duchy took his chance. That chance secured the Malfoy fortune and place in society through successful conquest after successful conquest.

In short -- the Malfoy’s descend from an opportunistic magic norseman and as such their magic would be much better suited to magic linked to viking or Normand heritage such as Runestones, or seiðr (a practice of believed to be a form of magic relating to both the telling and shaping of the future involving visionary journeys, chanting of spells, and hexing one’s enemies using the earth as a conduit. It was a practice believed to be able to be used for great good or evil, as well as for daily guidance).

It’s also interesting to note the Vikings practiced cultural assimilation within the areas they settled -- they adapted to survive and thrive, a trait the Malfoy family prides themselves on.

#hc: Alchemy and Arsenic (Draco)#hc: and the sins of the father shall be laid upon the son (Lucius)#hc: Adapt or Die (The Malfoy's)

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girl-with-a-quill · 6 years ago

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CHAPTER 7 Notes-The Journey To Us

These are the notes for Chapter 7, chapter that you can find here:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/8273341/chapters/37275146

NAME ORIGINS (with a side of head canons):

Ife: a name common in Ethiopia, meaning ‘Love’

Halima: A name with Arabic roots that means ‘gentle and humane’. Halima is part of the Omo tribe, within the Boudalan, who descended from the Ethiopian contingent. They adopted part of the traditional clothes the real-life Hamer tribe from the Omo River valley, since this is what the performers trapped with them were using. Halima doesn’t know, but she is a direct descendant of the kind Captain Ife Salim, whose name was later used as a title for the advisor and ‘second’ of the Gen. The Ife’s main function is to remind the Gen of the core values of their people when she has to make hard decisions, particularly those relating to fairness and solidarity.

Faizah: A name with Arabic roots that means ‘victorious’. The current Gen was fierce since she was a child and is considered a mighty warrior who has won many battles.

Nuru: An Ethiopian name that means ‘born during the day’, but in this iteration of my made up ndeshonasleng it means more like ‘the awakened one’. Like all Blinkas who inherit the strange extra-sensorial perception abilities passed down from the group that came out of a lab in Delphi (chapter 6), she had the milky film on her eyes when she was born, so her mother named her accordingly. Her father was from the MasMas tribe (descendants of the Maasai dancers and the Kenyan contingent) and her mother was Ndeshona (the Zimbabweans), so she wears the blue and yellow colors of her mothers’ tribe (that Ndebele women still use today).

Nyanga: what spiritual healers are called by the Zulu. In Zimbabwe, the Shona call them N’anga, but it’s pronounced similarly. Nuru is the Blinka of the Boudalan and was trained as such just like Sybil, but also carries out many of the customs a Nyanga would have (the closest equivalent would be a shaman).

Gen: the real word for leader the Boudalan kru uses is ‘Ishe’ which means chief and Lexa used to address her at first, but the people kept the nickname Gen in reference to their first leader, the General of the peacekeepers.

RANDOM TRIVIA STUFF:

Ndeshonasleng: The ndeshonasleng is a made-up language for this story, though it stems primarily from Shona and Ndebele spoken in Zimbabwe, with some Swahili, common English and the weird English the Subjects created mixed in. My headcanon is that with time, the different languages merged a bit, with Shona and Ndebele being the most predominant since those were the languages the General and the historian/cultural attaché spoke. The latter in particular would’ve made a conscious effort to keep their history, culture & languages alive by teaching the children that were born. She would’ve ended up using her own languages more often, though obviously the others (Swahili, Arabic, Oromo) became a part of it. It’s supposed to be a bit of a fusion but also borrowed some linguistic structure from Trigeda if that makes sense? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ LOL

Ishe Komborera: The Ishe Komborera Africa song they sing when they arrive at the mine is a song that was the national anthem of about 5 or 6 countries in Africa at different times, so it’s a very recognizable tune, regardless of what language they sing it in. Due to my parents job, I lived in Zimbabwe a couple of years when I was a tiny kid and used to sing this almost daily at school. It’s the only words of Shona I kinda remember, lol Here is how it sounds (with the most hilariously random video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTjurMoqdYE

Libraries, maps, roads and knowledge in the ancient world:

Records: When William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, conquered England in the 1066 and became its king, he later commissioned the Domesday Book, a massive survey that recorded the population and ownership of every piece of land in England. Not unlike Lexa’s effort to map and create registries of everything in the Coalition. The Egyptians and the Romans were other civilizations that rose to such heights in part because of their almost obsessive and meticulous organization and effort to keep record of things: land, population, crops, etc.

Maps: The same crazy Normands eventually also were behind the famous Tabula Rogeriana, which was a world map with descriptions of each territory, created by the Arab geographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi, in 1154. Al-Idrisi worked on the commentaries and illustrations of the map for fifteen years at the court of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily. The text incorporates exhaustive descriptions of the physical, cultural, political and socioeconomic conditions of each region and each of the seventy sections has a corresponding map. It was a compilation of maps of the known world that remained the most accurate for 300 yrs! So what Lexa did in the previous chapter and is briefly mentioned here, with mapping out all the clans and lands, is not at all impossible and in the tradition of great visionaries.

Libraries: Ancient Egyptians wanted the Library of Alexandria to house all human knowledge and to do that, they did some pretty crazy things. They invited and funded scholars from Greece and elsewhere to come live there so they could produce more manuscripts. They made a law that all ships docking in Alexandria had to turn over all books aboard, so they could be copied by the scribes and then they would return the copies and keep the originals, lol. They hired book hunters to sail all over the Mediterranean to find more books to bring back. They even stopped exporting papyrus to other countries so only they could centralize the making of more manuscripts and scrolls! Also, the library not only housed scrolls, but also had lecture halls and classrooms, as it was a center for learning and producing knowledge. They did all this in 283 BC, that’s 2,300 years ago! Though the ancient library is gone, they built a new one on its supposed site and its magical. I went there once and had a super nerd-gasm.

Egyptians not only had the greatest library in the ancient world, with the library of Alexandria, but they also had a place called the House of Life. It was where priests learned to read and write, the place where scribes were trained, and where the children of the rich and the elite went to school to learn economics, law, astronomy, geography, mathematics. It was where the interpretation of dreams was taught. And, it was where papyrus with medical texts were housed and medical students would be taught by head healers, priests and scribes. You had to be a scribe first to a be a doctor, and they had both male and female doctors, mind you. I only recently found out about this House of Life, looking for examples that could demonstrate that the Library in Polis, the Keeper of Words, the scribes and judges training in Delphi, all that, could be plausible in less ‘advanced’ civilizations like the grounders if we were doing this way back in the day!

Roads: The via romana was the network of roads built by the ancient Romans throughout their history, some of which was so well built, parts of it still exists in many places throughout Europe and all the way to the Middle East. At its peak, there were 29 military highways radiating from the capital, and the late Empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres of roads, of which over 80,500 kilometres were stone-paved. It’s where the expression ‘all roads lead to Rome’ kinda came from. If the Romans can do it, so can Lexa! p.s. the map bellow just shows the main roads (during Hadrian’s period) to give you an idea of the enormous scale of the whole thing.

Boudalan cities: they’re inspired by the style of construction of Great Zimbabwe, the amazing 11th century city that was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe for about 3 centuries, built by the ancestral Shona. Because the peacekeepers were in a mine with rocks and mining instruments, they used what they had to build the wall of their first ‘bunker’ and given that Amos, their engineer, was of Zimbabwean heritage, he used it as inspiration for the settlement they built after outside and then that became their style or sorts. Except even more grand given his knowledge of modern engineering, etc. At least, that is my head canon.

CheMin: The CheMin, short for Chemistry and Mineralogy, is an instrument on current Curiosity rover on Mars. It identifies and quantifies the minerals present in rocks and soil. It can tell if there was water involved in their formation, deposition, or alteration, and also to find potential mineral biosignatures or indicators for past habitable environments (where life could have existed basically). At least, that’s what google tells me. What do I know?!

XRD: It’s an instrument that uses X-ray powder diffraction to determine the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal without destroying it to do so. It would be the type of thing that is used to determine if it’s a carbon-based crystal, for example, though I don’t know if portable ones exist.

Mines: You know there is an actual Mine Museum in Butte, Montana. So if there is ever a nuclear apocalypse and you’re in the vicinity, you might try your luck hunkering down there LOL😂

#clexa #clexa fanfic #commander lexa #clarke griffin #TheJourneyToUs #TJTU #NotesChapter7

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aurora-dioramas · 2 years ago

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Medieval Norman Castle A (25mm 1:72 scale Plastic Model)

Medieval Norman Castle A (25mm 1:72 scale Plastic Model) Details: The Norman Castle A set consists of 13 segments, as follows: 3 corner left towers (short); 1 corner right tower (short); 2 middle towers left; 1 middle tower right; 5 wall segments; and 1 wall gate; History: The Normans (Norman: Normaunds; French: Normands; Latin: Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. The term is also used to denote emigrants from the duchy who conquered other territories such as England and Sicily. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. Said settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia following the siege of Chartres in 911 AD. The intermingling in Normandy produced an ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries. The Norman dynasty had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and the Near East. The Normans were historically famed for their martial spirit and eventually for their Catholic piety, becoming exponents of the Catholic orthodoxy of the Romance community. The original Norse settlers adopted the Gallo-Romance language of the Frankish land they settled, with their Old Norman dialect becoming known as Norman, Normaund or Norman French, an important literary language which is still spoken today in parts of mainland Normandy (Cotentinais and Cauchois dialects) and the nearby Channel Islands (Jèrriais and Guernésiais). The Duchy of Normandy, which arose from the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, was a great fief of medieval France. The Norman dukes exercised independent control of their holdings in Normandy, while at the same time being vassals owing fealty to the King of France, and under Richard I of Normandy (byname "Richard sans Peur" meaning "Richard the Fearless") the Duchy was forged into a cohesive and formidable principality in feudal tenure. By the end of his reign in 996, the descendants of the Norse settlers "had become not only Christians but in all essentials Frenchmen. They had adopted the French language, French legal ideas, and French social customs, and had practically merged with the Frankish or Gallic population among whom they lived".Between 1066 and 1204, as a result of the Norman conquest of England, most of the kings of England were also dukes of Normandy. In 1204, Philip II of France seized mainland Normandy by force of arms, having earlier declared the Duchy of Normandy to be forfeit to him. It remained disputed territory until the Treaty of Paris of 1259, when the English sovereign ceded his claim to the Duchy, except for the Channel Islands. In the present day, the Channel Islands (the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey) are considered to be officially the last remnants of the Duchy of Normandy, and are not part of the United Kingdom but are instead self-governing Crown Dependencies. The Normans are noted both for their culture, such as their unique Romanesque architecture and musical traditions, and for their significant military accomplishments and innovations. Norman adventurers played a role in founding the Kingdom of Sicily under Roger II after briefly conquering southern Italy and Malta from the Saracens and Byzantines, and an expedition on behalf of their duke, William the Conqueror, led to the Norman conquest of England at the historic Battle of Hastings in 1066. Norman and Anglo-Norman forces contributed to the Iberian Reconquista from the early eleventh to the mid-thirteenth centuries. Norman cultural and military influence spread from these new European centres to the Crusader states of the Near East, where their prince Bohemond I founded the Principality of Antioch in the Levant, to Scotland and Wales in Great Britain, to Ireland, and to the coasts of north Africa and the Canary Islands. The legacy of the Normans persists today through the regional languages and dialects of France, England, Spain, Quebec and Sicily, and also through the various cultural, judicial, and political arrangements they introduced in their conquered territories. Sourc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normans Era: Medieval Dark Ages Description: This 3D Printed model represents an historically accurate facsimile at a scale that one can use for diorama making, model train railroad scenery, war gaming terrain, or creative projects. Quality: Before selling a 3D print, we make a series of test prints at different model scales to ensure quality, and print reliability. In addition, we print each 3D model using the same resin or PLA plastic brand every time for consistent and repeatable results. Scale: 25mm figure height (1:72 scale) Type: 3D Printed Models: unpainted 3D Printed models for you to customize and integrate into your wargame tables, model railroad displays or other artistic and creative projects. License: This is a licensed 3D Printed Model designed by 3D-Print-Terrain (www.3dprintterrain.de) all rights reserved. Read the full article

#3Dprintedmodels #dioramamodels #wargamemodels

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angel-princess-anna · 7 years ago

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Downton Abbey - References to Historical Figures + References to Other Fictional Characters and Works

The following are two lists; one are real people who where mentioned on Downton Abbey, and the other is fictional characters and works that were also mentioned in the show. I complied these two lists together (because sometimes I had to research what was indeed being referenced!). As I didn’t know if I’d ever been sharing these lists, I don’t have the episode numbers listed out, but they do go in order by mention.

Real Historical Figures Mentioned in Downton

* means that the person was not contemporary of the characters and there for famous or well-known to them. Others without it may not be known personally by them, but are their contemporaries. Some of these have made it to the character list, if for sure they did indeed know the Crawleys, or other any other major character.

- Lucy Rothes (Titanic survivor, friend of the Crawleys) - John Jacob "JJ" Astor (business man who died on Titanic, friend of the Crawleys) - Madeleine Astor (not mentioned by name, but as JJ's wife, Titanic survivor, Cora did not like her) - Sir Christopher Wren* (architect, designed the Dower House) - David Lloyd George (politician and Prime Minister starting in 1916) - William the Conqueror* - Mark Twain* (author) - Queen Mary (wife of King George V) [mentioned in S1, appears in S4CS] - Queen Catherine of Aragon* - Oliver Cromwell* - Bishop Richard de Warren* - Anthony Trollope* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1882) - Piero della Francesca* (painter) - Franz Anton Mesmer* (scientist) - Thomas Jefferson* (politician, inventor, third president of the United States) - Léon Bakst (Russian painter and scene- and costume designer) - Sergei Diaghilev (another Russian artist) - Edith Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marchioness of Londonderry (sounds like the Crawleys did attend her parties from time to time) - Emily Davison (suffragist) - Herbert Henry "H.H." Asquith (politician and Prime Minister until 1916) - Kaiser Wilheim (ruler of Germany; Sir Anthony personally visited him a few times) - Vincenzo Bellini* (composer) - Gioachino Rossini* (composer) - Giacomo Puccini* (composer) - Karl Marx* (philosopher) - John Ruskin* (social thinker and artist; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1900) - John Stuart Mill* (philosopher) - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria - Guy Fawkes* - Gavrilo Princip (member of the Black Hand and Franz Ferdinand's assassin) - H.G. Wells (author) - Major General B. Burton - Heinrich Schliemann* (German businessman archaeologist, died in 1890; deleted scene mention) - General Douglas Haig (later a field marshal) - Belshazzar* (King of Babylon) - Mabel Normand (actress) - Plantagenets* - Eugene Suter (hair stylist) - Alexander Kerensky (Russian political leader) - Vladimir Lenin (Russian communist revolutionary) - Florence Nightingale* (nurse; died 1910) - Czar Nicholas II and the Romanov family (ruler of Russia) - Jack Robinson (footballer; he stopped playing in 1912) - Frederick Marryat* (author) - George Alfred "G.A." Henty* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1902) - Maximilien Robespierre* (French revolutionary) - Marie Antoinette* (French queen) - Erich Lundendorff (German commander) - Sylvia Pankhurst (suffragist) - Jack Johnson (boxer) - Commander Harold Lowe (Fifth Officer of the Titanic; if P. Gordon was really Patrick, he would have known him personally) - Theda Bara (actress) - Robert Burns* (poet, read by Bates; name is not uttered on screen, but it is clear on book cover) - Jules Verne* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1905) - Marion Harris (singer of "Look for the Silver Lining"; name is not uttered on screen) - Edward Shortt (Home Secretary from 1919-1922) - Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of York (one of the first actual historical figures in the show; married Matthew and Mary, visited Downton Abbey for dinner) - King George V (king of England) [mentioned in S3E1, appears in S4CS] - Charles Melville Hays (president of the Grand Trunk Railway that Robert invested in; died on the Titanic) - Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts) - Lady Maureen Dufferin (socialite, friend of the Crawleys) - Georges Auguste Escoffier (famous chef and restaurateur) - Marie-Antoine Carême* (famous chef) - Queen of Sheba* - Napoleon Bonaparte* - The Bourbons* - The Buffs* (famous army regiment; "steady the Buffs" popularized by Kipling) - Croesus* (king of ancient Lydia; mention several times starting in S3 and through S4) - Thomas Edwin "Tom" Mix (Wild West picture star) - Dr. Samuel Johnson* (English writer; quote paraphrased by Carson) - Jean Patou (dress designer; maker of Edith's S3 wedding dress in-show) - Lucy Christiana, Lady Duff-Gordon (dress designer of "Lucille"; a survivor of the Titanic) - The Marlboroughs (famous family; mentioned like the Crawleys knew them personally, Sir Anthony did) - The Hapburgs* (rulers of the Holy Roman Empire) - Maud Gonne (English-born Irish revolutionary) - Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (Irish revolutionary) - Constance Georgine Markievicz, Countess Markievicz (Irish revolutionary and politician) - Lady Sarah Wilson (née Churchill) (female war correspondent) - Gwendolen Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk (real person and friend of Violet's) - Pope Benedict XV - Lillian Gish (actress) - Ivy Close (actress) - Alfred the Great* (9th century ruler of England) - Oscar Wilde* (author; he would have been somewhat contemporary, died in 1900) - Nathaniel Hawthorne* (author) - Charles Ponzi - Walter Scott* (author) - Charles Dickens* (author) - Virgina Woolf (author, one of the first actual historical figures in the show, was not actually mentioned though, just a background guest at Gregson's party) - Roger Fry (artist, one of the first actual historical figures in the show, was not actually mentioned though, just a background guest at Gregson's party) - Sir Garnet Wolseley* - Phyllis Dare (singer and actress) - Zena Dare (singer and actress, sister to Phyllis) - Maurice Vyner Baliol Brett (the second son of the 2nd Viscount Esher, Zena Dare's husband) - King Canute* (Cnut the Great, norse king) - Nellie Melba (opera singer, one of the few actual historical figures in the show) - Al Jolson (singer) - Christina Rossetti* (poet) - Marie Stopes (feminist doctor and author of Married Love) - George III* (ruler of England) - Lord Byron* - Arsène Avignon (chef at Ritz in London, actual historical figure in the show) - Louis Diat (chef at Ritz in New York) - Jules Gouffé* (famous chef) - King of Sweden (whoever it was when Violet's husband was alive) - Rudolph Valentino (actor) - Agnes Ayres (actress) - Lord Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington* (Lord Chancellor and abolitionist) - Albert B. Fall (US senator and Secretary of the Interior) - King Ludwig* (I’m assuming of Bavaria) - John Ward MP (liberal politician, actual historical figure in the show) - Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe (Royal Navy, Blake and Tony served under him) - Benjamin Baruch Ambrose (bandleader at the Embassy Club, his band appears on-screen but it's not pointed out who he is) - The Prince of Wales (David, who became Edward VIII when King) - Freda Dudley Ward (socialite and mistress of the above) - The Queen of Naples* - Wat Tyler* (leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England) - Edmond Hoyle* (writer of card rules) - Ramsay MacDonald (Prime Minister Jan-Nov 1924) - Archimedes* - Boudicca* (Queen of the British Iceni tribe) - Rosa Luxemburg (Revolutionary) - Charles I* - Douglas Fairbanks (movie star) - Jack Hylton (English band leader) - Edward Molyneux (fashion designer; Cora has a fitting with him in S5E3) - The Brontë Sisters* (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, all authors. Anne's work The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was the charade answer in S2CS.) - Leo Tolstoy* (author) - Nikolai Gogol* (author) - Elinor Glyn (author of romantic fiction) - Czar Alexander II - Prince Alfred (son of Queen Victoria) - Grand Duchess Maria (wife of Alfred, daughter of the czar) - Peter Carl Fabergé (Russian jeweller) - Ralph Kerr (officer in the Royal Navy; Mabel mentions a man by this name as a friend) - Keir Hardie (Scottish socialist, died in 1915) - The Moonella Group (formed a nudist colony in 1924 in Wickford, Essex) - John Singer Sargent (American painter, died in 1925) - Rudyard Kipling (author and poet - often quoted starting in S1, but first mentioned by name in S5) - Mary Augusta Ward (Mrs. Humphrey Ward - author; I'm not adding her to the character list, died in 1920) - Adolf Hitler - Pola Negri (film star) - John Barrymore (actor [Drew Barrymore's grandfather]) - King Richard the III (of England)* - Hannah Rothschild and Lord Rosebery (British socialites Violet knew; Hannah died in 1890) - General Reginald Dyer - Lytton Strachey (supposedly was at Gregson's party) - Niccolo Machiavelli* - Adrienne Bolland (aviatrix) - The Fife Princesses (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - Duke of Arygll (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - The Queen of Spain (as listed by Sir Michael Reresby) - Lady Eltham (Dorothy Isabel Westenra Hastings) - King John* - Neville Chamberlain (Minister of Health in 1925, later Prime Minister; appears on-screen in S6E5) - Anne de Vere Cole (Neville Chamberlain's wife. Fictitiously, she is Robert's father's goddaughter. Her father is mentioned has having served in the Crimean War with Robert's) - Horace de Vere Cole (Anne de Vere Cole's brother) - Joshua Reynolds* (painter) - George Romney* (painter) - Franz Xaver Winterhalter* (painter) - Sir Charles Barry* (real architect of Highclere, cited here as one as Downton Abbey) - Tsar Nicholas I* - Teo (or Tiaa)* - Amenhotep II* - Tuthmosis IV* - King Charles* - Clara Bow (actress) [To my knowledge, the Ripon election candidates in S1E6 were not real people, as were not always the case for military personnel Robert referred to.] Fictional Characters and Works Mentioned in Downton - Long John Silver (referenced by Thomas) - Andromeda, Perseus, Cepheus (Greek mythology) (referenced by Mary) - Sydney Carton (A Tale of Two Cities) (referenced by Robert) - Princess Aurora, and later Sleeping Beauty (the ballet I presume) (referenced by Robert) - Horatio (Hamlet; Thomas quotes a line in a deleted scene) - "Gunga Din" (poem by Kipling; quoted by Bates and later quoted by Isobel) - Little Women (referenced by Cora) - The Lost World - Elizabeth and her German Garden (book given to Anna by Molesley) - Wind in the Willows (referenced by Violet) - "If You Were the Only Girl in the World" (sung by Mary, Matthew and cast) - "The Cat That Walked By Itself" (short story by Kipling; quoted by Matthew) - Iphigenia (Greek mythology, may be referenced in The Iliad but I cannot confirm) - Uncle Tom Cobley ("Widecombe Fair") (referenced by Sybil) - Alice and the Looking Glass - "The Rose of Picardy" (only a few strains played, possibly the John McCormack version which was out in 1919) - Zip Goes a Million and "Look for the Silver Lining" (song played by Matthew) - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (title used in The Game) - Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Angel Clare (referenced by Mary) - Lochinvar (from Sir Walter Scott) (referenced by Martha) - "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (played at Mary and Matthew's wedding) - "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (sung by Martha and cast) - "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron" (English folk song sung by Carson) - Way Down East (film) - The Worldings (film) - "Molly Malone" (Irish song) - The Scarlet Letter (referenced by Isobel) - Lady of the Rose (musical) - The Lady of Shalott (ballad) - The Puccini pieces from S4E3 - The jazz pieces from S4E4 sung by Jack Ross ("A Rose By Any Other Name") - The Sheik (film) - The jazz pieces from S4E6 sung by Jack Ross ("Wild About Harry") - "The Second Mrs Tanqueray" (play and films) (referenced by Edith) - "The Sword of Damocles" (Greek myth) - Dr. Fu Manchu - Mrs. Bennett (Pride and Prejudice) - A vague allusion to Wuthering Heights (talking about the Brontë sisters and moors) (referenced by Rose) - Vanity Fair and Becky Sharp (Molesley reads this with Daisy) - "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (sung by Denker) - "The Fall of the House of Usher" (short story by Edgar Allen Poe) - Madame Defarge (A Tale of Two Cities) - Ariadne (Greek mythology) - "Cockles and Mussels" (Spratt sings a few bars in S6E5; this is also called "Molly Malone") - Elizabeth Bennett and Pemberley (Pride and Prejudice) (referenced by Violet) - Mr Squeers (Nicholas Nickleby) (referenced by Bertie) - The Prisoner of Zenda (adventure novel by Anthony Hope) (referenced by Tom) - "The course of true love never did run smooth" (quote from A Midsummer Night's Dream) Not included are proverbs or sayings (which Anna says a lot of), nor Biblical references. Do note that there's a lot of scenes with the characters reading, but we don't know exactly what.

#downton abbey #resources

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sathtrash · 7 years ago

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Immortal FAHC a la sathtrash (part 1)

(That’s a dumb title, I’m aware, let me live)

Jack was a Prussian aristocrat in the 1600′s. Her mother and father were a Duke and Duchess, and her Mother’s sister was married to a son of one of the King Louis’, Jack can’t remember anymore which it was. She was well treated, and well respected, and married a sweet man from Austria when she was 17, or maybe 19(? She doesn’t remember), after being betrothed to him since they were children. They were happily married for several years before Jack’s ‘death’. She and the sweet Austrian man had been expecting a child, but being a 17th century European woman presented a lot of problems childbirth wise, and Jack succumbed to an infection after giving birth to a stillborn son. Her husband mourned her, and had her put in her family crypt with her mother and a brother who had died as an infant, and laid her to rest with their child in her arms. Jack awoke a few days after being interred in the crypt, feeling exhausted and aggrieved. She left her dead son in her dead mother’s arms, and slipped out of the still unsealed crypt doors, and took off into the night. She thought perhaps she had simply been stuck in a fever sleep, but took her freedom happily.

Geoff invaded England with King William I, the Conqueror. He was a Normand knight and was happy to fight and die for the man he believed to be his true King. Geoff followed William into battle, and at one point saved the soon-to-be King’s life, and for that he was rewarded a small lordship after William had won the throne of England. Geoff ruled his allowed keep with a fair hand, and was genuinely loved by his serfs, who saw him as a fair landlord, and a good man to do business with when tax time came. He took a wife at the behest of a few small noble friends when they said it’d help him run things if he had a wife to be his second in command. The woman seemed pleasant enough, but she was an adulteress, and while Geoff had been willing to overlook this, she decided she couldn’t deal with him anymore, simply because he wasn’t young and ‘pretty’ like her lover, and she enlisted her lover to kill Geoff for her. The lover stabbed him to death, and Geoff rose within hours, before word could get out to his people. He came upon his wife and her lover and killed them both. He had been willing to overlook a sleight on his honour as a husband, but he would not endure an attempt on his life. His wounds healed, and he went on as normal, until his Serfs realized that he didn’t seem to be aging anymore. He faked a peaceful death in his sleep, leaving his keep to a ‘nephew’ who was really himself, and kep on this way for a long time, until feudalism began to die, and he had no one on his lands that he needed to take care of, and then he left, gave his keep to a trusted friend, and disappeared.

Ryan has been around for a long time. He can no longer remember if he was Greek or Roman after some centuries, just that he spent a long time in both places. The only thing he truly remembers about either is that he was a Roman citizen when he studied astronomy and arts at the Library of Alexandria in her earlier days, but he was a Greek citizen when she was burned to the ground by Roman invaders, and the news reached him in Athens and he was furious, he refused to visit Rome until the Empire fell because he was so angry with what they’d done, and even then he’s only been once or twice since. The interesting thing for Ryan is that he simply never died. He was healthy, and aged until he was around 25 or so, perhaps closer to 30, he really doesn’t remember, and then he stopped. He moved around a lot once he realized he had reached 50 without ever looking like he was getting old. It’s partially how he gained the name of Vagabond, he was a legend throughout Europe for his wandering ways, and had simply become just that to many people, a man to be feared as a children’s bedtime story, no longer a real man, but a boogieman to some, an everliving being who seemed to come in with plagues, and if you saw him, surely a disease would follow. Simply because he had been in Spain during the plague and had not succumbed, because he bathed regularly (when you spend time in Alexandria you learn the wonders bathing does for your health from the Jewish and Muslim people who surround you).

(Lads and more under the cut)

Gavin was nearly an English prince through marriage. His family were Italian nobles, and he had been given to the English King to foster at a young age, betrothed to Henry VIII’s older daughter Mary, who was a few years older than him. When the King’s second daughter Elizabeth was born, and Mary was illegitimized as his heir, the King broke the engagement, but maintained a relationship with him that was amiable enough that he allowed Gavin a small keep near Hatfield House, where he was allowed to spend time as a companion and friend to Lady Mary, and the baby princess Elizabeth. He spent much time with them as Elizabeth grew up, and he helped the younger daughter with her language studies, only a lady like her half-sister by the time she was old enough to learn. News had reached his family that he was no longer betrothed to the Catholic Princess, but as he was an adult they could do nothing to bring him back from the place he now considered home. He remained at Hatfield for a number of years before being touched by Sweating Sickness and dying within a day of his symptoms appearing. He was being prepared for burial when he awoke, scaring a maid half to death. Knowing he couldn’t stay when there was such talk of witches and rising from the dead, he slipped out of his quiet home near Hatfield in the night and disappeared.

Michael was a young man during World War I. He was born at the turn of the century and his family considered their millennium baby a good luck charm for their family. They ran a small mob business, nothing big or visible to the police, but successful enough that they considered Michael’s luck to be a big part of it. When he enlisted in the Great War in 1916 he had no qualms about helping, he’d always dreamed of something more than being in Jersey his whole life, so why not join the military. He ended up joining the army and training in munitions, which he relished in. It was an unfortunate accident that he happened to be in Halifax in December of 1917. He had been aboard a French munitions ship called the Mont-Blanc, he’d boarded with a few other American Army in New York, and they were going to Bordeaux via the Halifax Harbour for a refuel and to pick up more supplies. The freighter collided in the Bedford Basin straight with a Norwegian ship called the Imo, and caught fire. Her munitions caught light, and caused the biggest manmade explosion ever (until the atomic bombs of course). The explosion devastated the Richmond district of Halifax, and sent Michael flying so far he nearly reached the Citadel. But he was in one piece, completely alive, and narrowly avoided being impaled on a cast iron fence. His family had been right all along; Michael was the luckiest boy, especially coming out of that explosion. He gathered himself, got to a hospital, and claimed he’d been on leave, and began trying to help where he could, mostly carting in bodies and the injured, helping nurses move people back and forth from rooms and hallways and offices, and bringing the dead down to the morgue to be cleaned and prepared for family identification, if they indeed had family left to mourn them. And the ones who no longer had families, Michael would take their personal effects and hold onto them to remember them. He had been lucky enough to survive a blast that had a casualty count of over 10,000 when you tallied together deaths and injuries, and they had been on land, he’d been on the ship and lived, and he only thought it right, saw it as a way to atone for what happened. He stayed in Halifax for a number of years, claiming he’d been discharged after losing sight in one eye from a shard of glass caused by the blast breaking a window in the room he’d been in, while being thought dead by those at home.

Jeremy was the youngest of the crew. Born in the late fifties, he was a young man in the disco scene of the 1970′s, and his flamboyant nature thrived in the bright hues and thumping beats of disco. He lived and breathed for orange bell bottoms and purple sequined shirts. Disco was an escape, one that brought him away from a hard family life, and into the music industry. He was a rising star in the disco scene, people loved Rimmy Tim, and in the ever disco prejudiced America, to be loved as a disco artist was a feat all on it’s own. But the movement in the US died quick, and so did the rising star of Jeremy’s career, disco was a niche he couldn’t figure out how to move outside of, hard rock and roll was the thing now, a far cry from what he loved, and still far away from the rap his disco would evolve into later, decades later. With no outlet for his frustrations Jeremy, like many before him had done, with no outlets, he turned to substance abuse, alcohol and hallucinogenic drugs simply to try and bear a crushing weight of illhandled childhood trauma, depression, and anxieties. He overdosed in 1976, three years before disco was officially dead. He figured if he couldn’t be a star like he had been moving towards, he’d go out like one, and die in a blaze of liquor, drugs, and glory like Hendrix. Except Jeremy woke up. And with nothing else to do, he disappeared. And the only thing he was ever remembered for was a brief career, an absurd orange and purple outfit, and a simple disappearance, never to be seen again as Rimmy.

Lindsay and Trevor were friends in the late Victorian period. They had grown up together, Lindsay the daughter of the head housemaid and butler, and Trevor the son of a Lord. Trevor’s father was familiar and affectionate to his house staff, considering them as good as family in every aspect of life, and had named the Collins’ butler, a man affectionately referred to only as Tuggey both above and below stairs, as Trevor’s Godfather, should something happen to the family. He and Lindsay were tutored together, played together, and often had little sleepovers on the couches in his father’s library. The two were thick as thieves, and when Trevor was older, and began taking on more important roles in the house, he made sure that Lindsay was hired on, and had a small trust place in her name in case she ever decided to leave service. The two remained happily friends until an incident happened. A new young maid who had been hired on had left an oil lamp on in the kitchen after she’d cleared up for the night. The lamp glass had a fault no one had seen, and the heat caused it to shatter, and spit out embers with the broken glass, it caught a few pairs of stockings Lindsay and the other girls had left out to dry, and soon the kitchen was in flames. Trevor lived on one of the lower floors for convenience, and smelled the smoke while he was reading in bed, and had jumped into action. By the time he reached below stairs the kitchen and one hallway were burning, and it was fast approaching the servants quarters. Without a thought for himself Trevor moved into action and began knocking on doors, yelling at the servants to go out the back door at the opposite end of the hall from the flames, a door they only used to above stairs deliveries, trying to save their lives. He had been the only person above stairs to be home, both his parents up at his Grandmother’s dower house for the night to visit with her, as she had been ill, so he needn’t worry about them. But when he was outside with the servants and had taken count, he realized two were missing, Lindsay and her mother, who had developed a bad hip and had trouble moving quickly. Usually Lindsay’s mother stayed with Tuggey in their little cottage on the house’s grounds, but her hip had been hurting something awful that evening and she elected to stay in Lindsay’s room with her for the night. Trevor had raced back inside to Lindsay’s room, and found her in the hallway trying to help her mother outside. Lindsay had been badly burned trying to help her mother, and soon so was Trevor when he simply picked the woman up and carried her outside, Lindsay on his heels. Lindsay’s mother was mostly alright, save a somewhat bad burn on her hands from a brass door handle, but Trevor and Lindsay’s burns should have killed them. They both received bad burns on their arms and faces from being near the flames that had licked overhead. But after a long time healing, both were fine. But they were certain they shouldn’t have been.

#fahc #immortal fahc #fahc jack #fahc geoff #fahc ryan #fahc gavin #fahc michael #fahc jeremy #fahc lindsay #fahc trevor #this is getting really long so I'll detail the crew meeting up and some other stuff in another post #I just don't want this to be too much in one go #I'll start on the second part asap tho #drugs tw #overdose tw #stillbirth tw #body horror #trigger warning #death

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sca-nerd · 7 years ago

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Fall Crown Tournament

Crown is this weekend. And the list looks promising! Not to play favorites, but... I’m all about these three.

Duke Anton Tremayne Fighting For Duchess Luned of Snowdon Duke Bryan of Sacred Stone Fighting For Duchess Brianna O Duinn Earl John Peregrine of Restormel Fighting For Countess Honor of Restormel Earl Robert de Rath Fighting For Mistress Magdalena Sanguigni Graf Dietrich von Stroheim Fighting For Lady Una Olfuss Sir Thorfinr Brimill Fighting For Lady Octavia Fortunata Sir Joscelin d'Outremer Fighting For Lady Symone de la Rochelle Sir Ragnarr Rifsbrjotr Fighting For Lady Leyli Volorum Nerk'yevi Sir Abran de la Barra Fighting For Bietriz Desrosiers Baron Lochlainn hua Rigbarddain Fighting For Baroness Edan Lowery Baron Alric The Mad Fighting For Baroness Cellach Mor Lord Sigurd Ericsson of Bergen Fighting For Baroness Aine ingen Chuimin Lord Jonathan Blackbow Fighting For Jane of Sacred Stone Baron Erwin Bloodaxe Fighting For Baroness Mary Isabel of Heatherstone Lord William of Bedford Fighting For Lady Juliana ad aquam Lord John Angus West Fighting For Maestra Gracia Esperanca de Seville Lord Hakon of Ponte Alto Fighting For Elenor Bywater Baroness Marie Thérèse Normand Fighting For Lord Naran Numuchi Lord Griffin Warwick Fighting For Lady Cecille Cassaire Lord Oswin inn heimski Fighting For Lady Anastasiia Iosifova Lord Eirikr ulfr Thorisson Fighting For Lady Rhiannon Morgaine Lord Geoffroy Hart Fighting For Lady Matilda Wynter Lady Una Olfuss Fighting For Graf Dietrich von Stroheim Lord Richard Thornton Fighting For Lady Marie Marschalc Lord Xavier da Corlione Fighting For Lady Artemisia Catarina De Corleone

#MySCA #SCA #society for creative anachronism #fall crown #kingdom of atlantia

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cflaesgems16 · 8 years ago

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A Caroline in Northern France

After my family came to visit me, I had a few days off of school and I decided to visit Northern France from Paris. I went to Rennes in Brittany, to see Mont Saint Michel; and I also went to Bayeux in Normandy to visit the D Day Invasion beaches. Unfortunately the tour I booked for the D Day beaches was cancelled because not enough people signed up. Instead, I explored the small town of Bayeux. I definitely have to come back to Northern France and visit the D Day beaches and pay my respects for the courageous men who lost their lives to protect the United States and save Europe from fascism.

After Paris, I went to Rennes. The architecture in this area of France is vastly different from where I live in Alsace. The buildings in Rennes reminded me of the houses in Beauty and the Beast. I took a bus from Rennes to Mont Saint Michel, an island commune one kilometer off the northwest coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches (Photos A & B). The tides surrounding the Mont Saint Michel can vary greatly, it use to be only accessible during low tides. However, with modern technology you can access it via the path. Occasionally, sheep will graze on the salt marsh meadows, causing the sheep to be called pré-salé sheep, a well flavored meat that is a local specialty.

The main reason the island commune exists is because of the Mont Saint Michel Abbey (Photo C). The first mention of an abbey on the island is from the 9th century. Originally the island was called Mont Tombe, but was renamed Mont Saint Michel in 710, after erecting an oratory to Saint Michael by bishop Saint Aubert of Avranches in 708. The legend says that Aubert, while sleeping received an order from Saint Michael to erect an oratory on the Mont Tombe--three times (Photo D). The archangel was reputed to have left his finger market on Aubert’s skull, the skull is displayed at the Saint-Gervais d'Avranches basilica with such a scar on it.

Photo A

Photo B

Photo C: The Abbey built at the top and center of the island

Photo D

Soon afterwards, the Abbey became a major focus of pilgrimage. As the abbey grew due to Benedictines settling in the Abbey, a village grew on the island. Also, as the abbey grew, its architecture expressed many different styles from the different periods of time. The abbey also was an “impregnable stronghold” during the Hundreds Year War, it is an example of military architecture--the Mount became a symbol of national identity.

In 1979, Mont Saint Michel became an UNESCO World Heritage site, and it truly is an amazing place (Photos E & F). You feel like you’re at the end of the Universe, where everything becomes nothing (Photo G). The view is amazing, and the climb up there is incredible. Although I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to architecture, I was still impressed by the abbey’s facade (Photo H).

Photo E

Photo F

Photo G

Photo H

Next on my Northern France trip, I went to Bayeux. As I mentioned, I had originally planned to go on a tour of the D Day beaches (Omaha to be exact) but it was cancelled. Instead I explored Bayeux and visited their massive cathedral (Photos I & J). The present cathedral was consecrated in 1077, in the presence of William, Duke of Normandy and King of England. At the cathedral, William forced Harold Godwinson to take the oath, the breaking of which led to the Norman conquest of England. The Bayeux Cathedral also was the original home of the Bayeux Tapestry (Photo K). The Tapestry depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. I didn’t know about any of this history until I left Bayeux! If I had, I would’ve checked out the tapestry. It just goes to show that each area in France, has it’s own unique culture and special part in history!

Photo I

Photo J

Photo K: Bayeux Tapestry

The last place I went to in Bayeux, was the Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, which is a very detailed museum explaining the D Day beach invasion to August 29th 1944, where the Allied troops liberated Paris, from the Germans (Photo L). The museum has a lot of information and military equipment including, weapons, American, English and German uniforms, and vehicles (Photos M & N). This would be a great museum to check out before touring the D Day beaches. Nearby, there is also a Commonwealth cemetery, which is chilling to see all the graves (Photos O & P). I paid my respects before returning back to my Airbnb.

Photo L

Photo M

Photo N

Photo O

Photo P

Although, I was really disappointed that I couldn’t visit Omaha beach and I was suffering from a very bad cold, I enjoyed this trip a lot. All of my Airbnb hosts were very friendly, I learned a lot of history, and Northern France is absolutely beautiful in the spring with the grazing cows and fields. I will definitely have to return someday to visit the D Day Beaches, one of the most important military invasions in history. The food in Northern France was amazing too, a lot of seafood, that I will discuss in depth in my next Foodie Friday post.

Après ma famille m’a rendu une visite, j’avais quelques jours de congé de l'école, et j’ai décidé à visiter la France du Nord de Paris. Je suis allée à Rennes en Brittany, à voir Mont Saint Michel; aussi je suis allée à Bayeux en Normandie à visiter les plages du Jour J. Malheureusement, le voyage organisé pour les plages du Jour J était annulé parce qu’il n’y a pas assez de personnes inscrites. À la place, j’ai exploré la petite ville de Bayeux. Assurement, je dois revenir au nord de la France et visiter les plages du Jour J et rendre hommage aux hommes courageux qui ont perdu la vie pour protéger les États-Unis et sauver l'Europe du fascisme.

Après Paris, je suis allée à Rennes. L’architecture dans cette région de la France est très différent que Alsace. Les bâtiments en Rennes ils me rappellent des maison dans La Belle et La Bête. J’ai pris un bus de Rennes au Mont Saint Michel, une île se situe à un kilomètre de la côte nord-ouest, à l'embouchure de la rivière Couesnon près d'Avranches (Photos A & B). Les marées entourant le Mont Saint Michel peuvent varier considérablement, elles ne sont accessibles que pendant les marées basses. Cependant, avec une technologie moderne, vous pouvez y accéder via le chemin. Parfois, des moutons pâlissent sur les prairies des marais salants, ce qui obligera le mouton à s'appeler le mouton pré-salé, une viande bien aromatisée qui est une spécialité locale.

La principale raison pour laquelle l'île commune existe est à cause de l'abbaye du Mont Saint Michel (Photo C). Le premier mention d'une abbaye sur l'île est du 9ème siècle. Initialement, l'île s'est appelé Mont Tombe, mais il a été renommé Mont Saint Michel en 710, après avoir érigé un oratoire à Saint Michel par l'évêque Saint Aubert d'Avranches en 708. La légende dit que Aubert, pendant son sommeil, a reçu une commande de Saint-Michel pour ériger un oratoire sur le Mont Tombe - trois fois (Photo D). L'archange était réputé avoir laissé son marché sur le crâne d'Aubert, le crâne est affiché à la basilique de Saint-Gervais d'Avranches avec une telle cicatrice.

Peu de temps après, l'abbaye est devenu un foyer majeur de pèlerinage. À mesure que l’abbaye parce que les bénédictins ont habité dans l’abbaye, un village a grandi sur l'île. Aussi, à mesure que l’abbaye, son architecture a exprimé beaucoup de styles différents des différentes périodes de temps. L'abbaye a également été un «bastion inexpugnable» pendant la guerre des centaines d'années, c'est un exemple d'architecture militaire - le Mont est devenu un symbole de l'identité nationale.

En 1979, Mont Saint Michel est devenu une site UNESCO World Heritage et il est un vraiment lieu incroyable (Photos E & F). Vous sentez que vous êtes à la fin de l'Univers, où tout devient rien (Photo G). La vue est incroyable, et la montée là-bas est incroyable. Bien que je ne connaisse pas très bien l'architecture, j'ai été impressionné par la façade de l'abbaye (Photo H).

Puis dans mon voyage au Nord de la France, je suis allée à Bayeux. Comme j’ai dit, initialement, j’avais l’intention d’aller dans une voyage organise des plages de J Jour (Omaha pour être exact) mais elle avait annulé. Donc, plutôt, j’ai exploré la ville de Bayeux et j’ai visité la cathédrale grande (Photos I & J). La cathédrale actuelle a été consacrée en 1077, en présence de William, du Duc de Normandie et du roi d'Angleterre. À la cathédrale, William a forcé Harold Godwinson à prêter serment, dont la rupture a conduit à la conquête normande d'Angleterre. Aussi la Cathédrale de Bayeux était la maison pour la Tapisserie de Bayeux (Photo K). La Tapisserie représente les événements menant à la conquête normande de l'Angleterre concernant Guillaume, le Duc de Normandie et Harold, comte de Wessex, plus tard roi d'Angleterre et culminant dans la bataille d'Hastings. Je ne connaissais aucune de ces histoires jusqu'à ce que j'ai quitté Bayeux! Si j'avais eu, j'aurais vérifié la tapisserie. Cela montre simplement que chaque région en France a sa propre culture unique et une partie spéciale dans l'histoire!

Le dernier endroit j’ai visité en Bayeux était le musée commémoratif de la bataille de Normandie, qui est un musée très détaillé expliquant l'invasion de la plage du Jour J au 29 août 1944, où les troupes alliées ont libéré Paris, des Allemands (Photo L). Le musée avait beaucoup d’information et l'équipement militaire qui inclurent: les armes, les uniformes américains, anglais et allemands, et les véhicules (Photos M & N). Ce serait un excellent musée à visiter avant de visiter les plages du Jour J. À proximité, il y a aussi un cimetière du Commonwealth, qui se délecte pour voir toutes les tombes (Photos O & P). J'ai hommage avant de revenir à mon Airbnb.

Bien que, j'ai été vraiment déçu que je ne pouvais pas visiter la plage d'Omaha et que je souffrais d'un très mauvais rhume, j'ai beaucoup apprécié ce voyage. Tous mes hôtes Airbnb étaient très sympathiques, j'ai beaucoup d'histoire, et le nord de la France est absolument magnifique au printemps avec les vaches et champs de pâturage. Je vais certainement devoir revenir un jour pour visiter les plages de Jour J, l'une des invasions militaires les plus importantes de l'histoire. La nourriture dans le nord de la France était incroyable aussi, beaucoup de fruits de mer, que je vais discuter en profondeur dans mon prochain article de «Foodie Friday».

#northern france #france #brittany #normandy #mont saint michel #island #amazing #pilgrimmage #dday #wwII #invasion #dday beaches #history

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cookerypokery · 6 years ago

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Welcome back to Cookery Pokery! I haven’t updated in more than two years. I blame the election. Hard to enjoy a meal in peace these days. I have a permanent gross taste in my mouth that even the best meals can hardly drown out.

So why come back? Why now?

The short answer is that 1) I am in Normandy; 2) I am drinking alone in a bed and breakfast in Normandy; 3) It reminds me of another time I drank with people in Europe; 4) Never you mind, I’m back, bébé!

Today’s post is about a threesome. Les saucisses, le fromage de chèvre, et le cidre normand. FUCKITY FUCK, IT’S GOOD! I bought them today at a market in Bayeux, the town of the famed medieval Bayeux Tapestry that depicts William the Conqueror shooting his enemy Harold Godwinson in the eye. Trust me, this ménage à trois is a sensual mélange. Close that porn tab and have yourself a real treat. Normandy, the birthplace of tarte aux pommes and Camembert, is rightfully famous for its apple and dairy products. What a happy accident that they pair so well. The only exception, I hear, is that Norman cows do not like it if you shove apples up their butt.

Let me explain. Schmear some creamy goat cheese on a baguette, take a bite and then—avant de swallowing—swig some cider. The goat cheese has a slight gaminess that just melts into the wild yeast of the cider, while the sweetness of the apples brings up the rear. Everything just melds together in a flavor rainbow.

Yes, yes, I know I said this was a threesome and I haven’t talked about la saucisse yet. Basically, it’s the phallus. Call me old-fashioned.

I am about 400 milliliters into a 750-milliliter bottle of said cider.

In the spirit of Cookery Pokery, there will be no copy-editing or revisions. This is going up now. You’re welcome.

Photo: The author kneels at the historic altar of Lord Piggy, Duke of Normandy.

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easytravelpw-blog · 6 years ago

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Full text write on https://easy-travel.pw/the-north-coast-of-france-the-ultimate-road-trip-from-dieppe-to-calais/france/

The North Coast of France: The Ultimate Road Trip from Dieppe to Calais

01 of 07

A Road Trip Along the North Coast of France

Christine Wehrmeier

The north coast of France is often ignored, particularly by visitors from the UK, who regard it as a place to drive through as fast as possible on their way down to the south. But they’re missing a treat. It’s a fabulous area with a long sweeping coastline, major attractions, and seaside resorts — some rather grand catering in the past to the English milords and Parisian rich; others beloved by sailors and fishermen. This neglected treasure of a coast is ripe for a road trip.

There are two ways to do this driving tour. If you’re in Paris, this tour makes an excellent few days outside the capital. If you’re in the UK, it’s a perfect short break that delivers the best of France in a nutshell.

DFDS offers ferry crossings from Newhaven to Dieppe, Dover to Dunkirk and Dover to Calais. Prices on the Newhaven service start from £49 each way for a car and two people. Bookings include reclining seats; private cabins are available for a small additional fee. Crossings take four hours each way and DFDS provides three daily sailings during the summer. On the Dover routes there is a choice of up to 54 sailings per day and prices start from £39 each way for a car and up to nine passengers. An upgrade to include access to the premium lounge costs £12 per person each way and priority boarding is £10 per car each way.

Continue to 2 of 7 below.

02 of 07

Day 1: Dieppe

Atlantide Phototravel/Getty Images

Morning

If you're coming from the UK, take the DFDS ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, leaving at 9.30am and arriving in France at 2pm local time.

If you're coming from Paris, the 195-km (121-mile) drive will take around 2 hours 30 minutes.

Afternoon

Walk along the small streets parallel to the English Channel starting at the Estran-Cité de la Mer, the local museum of the sea. Seventeenth-century houses in white brick line the Grande Rue; continue onto rue de la Barre where number 4 housed a pharmacy in 1683. Voltaire lodged here with his friend the apothecary when he came back from exile in England in 1728 then went to live with his lover Emilie du Châtelet in Champagne. Other houses date from the 18th century.

The old section ends at the Château, originally a huge circular tower that was part of the 14th century fortifications of this once vital sea port. Today the massive stone structure with its rounded defensive walls and small windows high up above the surrounding countryside houses a good museum. Ship models, maps and instruments along with Dutch paintings and furniture catch and keep your imagination. But don’t miss the superb collection of Dieppe ivories, made from the ivory imported from Africa and the Orient. The 17th century saw 350 ivory carvers in Dieppe; today you’ll only see a small workshop in the museum.

Beyond the Château, you come to the Memorial to August 19th, 1942. It commemorates the date when a force of 7,000 soldiers, mostly Canadians, was launched from the UK against the Germans in north France. It was a disaster; 5,000 men were killed or taken prisoner. But lessons were learnt and during the later Normandy D-Day Landings, artificial ports were towed over, while heavily defended harbors like Dieppe, were avoided.

Dinner

Eat in Dieppe, where the tang of the ocean means fish or shellfish. Oysters at the Comptoir A Huitres, or a huge plateau de fruits de mer will hit the spot in this simple restaurant.

The Café des Tribunaux is a large brasserie-style café that started as an inn at the end of the 17th century. It was the favorite place for the Impressionists, and was painted by Sickert, who spent his summers in Dieppe in the 1890s, moving there permanently from 1896 to 1905. It’s a great place for people watching, sitting on the terrace with a cold beer or glass of wine.

Overnight

If you want to stay in Dieppe and like sea views, try the Inter-Hotel de la Plage. It looks just like a pleasant seaside hotel and has rooms for every budget. The sea-view options are the more expensive. There’s no restaurant, but with plenty of choice in Dieppe, this is no hardship.

Outside Dieppe, the Auberge du Clos Normand is everything you want from a former coaching inn. Today it’s a delightful old building with wooden balconies, rooms overlooking a farm, a restaurant with an old tiled floor and brick walls.

Continue to 3 of 7 below.

03 of 07

Day 2: Houses, History and an Estuary in the Somme

Franz-Marc Frei/Getty Images

Morning

Dieppe is on what is known as the ‘Alabaster coast’ (Côte d'Albâtre), an 80-mile-long stretch of white cliffs and wonderful beaches along the seashore. Just south west of Dieppe on the D75, the road takes you the charming little resort of Varengeville-sur-Mer, where half-timbered houses stand shyly behind thick hedges. So near to the UK, this was a part always loved by the British. Le Bois des Moustiers should therefore not come as a surprise, but who would have expected this glorious house, designed by Sir Edwin Luytens in 1898, and a perfect example of the Arts and Crafts movement? The gardens were an extension of the house, designed by Luytens’ collaborator, Gertrude Jekyll. It’s a little piece of English architectural and cultural history, open to the curious from mid-March to mid-November.

A piece of French history awaits at the Manoir d’Ango, built as a summer palace for the invaluable ship owner, naval advisor to Francois I and privateer, Jehan Ango, between 1535 and 1545. Walk through the forbidding and huge wooden gate and you step into an Italian Renaissance jewel, built around a large internal courtyard with a pigeonnier in the middle. It’s open from April 1st to November 1st.

Lunch

Eat in Varengeville on the terrace at the charming Auberge du Relais, with menus from €23, or indulge in a great plateau de fruits de mer (€40 one person or €75 for two).

Afternoon

Drive back through Dieppe and along the coast road, the D925. Go through the small seaside resort of Le Tréport and on to the golden beaches of Mers-les-Bains, a typical resort of Victorian villas that doesn’t seem to have changed since the 19th century. The coast road continues up through Picardy to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a charming seaside town where William, Duke of Normandy, embarked on his journey to conquer England in 1066.

Saint-Valery still has its medieval citadelle in the upper town, while the lower town has quays running along the estuary lined with brightly colored houses, restaurants and hotels.

You can imagine the past life at the Écomusée Picarvie with its collection of tools, photographs and artefacts. Or just spend the afternoon doing all those things people do in seaside resorts: digging for shellfish, taking a boat trip, cycle through the surrounding countryside with a guide. But be careful; the Somme estuary has strong tides that ebb and flow, creating dangerous currents.

Opposite, Le Crotoy is a pretty former fishing hamlet that faces south, giving you wonderful views and a landscape that inspired the likes of Jules Verne, who wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea here; Colette and the Impressionist painters, Sisley and Seurat.

Take the road north along the coast, through now silted-up fishing hamlets that seem left in a time warp. You’ll arrive at the Parc Ornithologique du Marquenterre, a magical place of sand dunes and pine forests where you can hire binoculars and walk through the paths stopping at the observation posts and looking at the remarkable collection of nesting birds here through powerful telescopes.

Dinner

In Saint Valery, book at La Table des Corderies, where the chef Sebastien Porquet champions the freshest local products.

Or, drive to Le Crotoy for dinner overlooking the glorious bay and dining on more excellent local, seasonal dishes at Bellevue.

Overnight

The Hotel Picardia is a chintz-filled gem of a place, set in a 19th century building. With only 18 rooms (seven are family rooms) and close to the waterfront, this is a favorite so book well in advance.

Continue to 4 of 7 below.

04 of 07

Day 3: Glorious Gardens, Saint-Valery-sur-Somme to Montreuil-sur-Mer

Simon Greenwood/Getty Images

Morning

From St-Valery, head north east into the countryside. Make for Crécy-en-Pontheiu which you’ll get to by driving on the D111 through the Crécy Forest. All that is left from the famous battle of 1346 when Edward III did such damage to the French troops using the new six-foot longbow, is the Moulin Édouard III 1km northeast of Crécy on the D111 towards Wadicourt. This was where Edward watched the battle.

The gardens of the delightful Abbaye de Valloires are your destination this morning. From Wadicourt, continue on the D111 to Dompierre-sur-Authie. You’ll enjoy the drive through the beautiful Authie valley before you reach this peaceful spot. The gardens stretch out from the ancient abbey, its warm stone walls forming the perfect backdrop for a series of five themed gardens. Have lunch in the abbey restaurant.

Afternoon

If you’re a garden fan, cross over the river and take the D119 that runs along the opposite bank of the river Authie to Auxi-le-Chateau. From here take the D941 to Frévent, then the D82 to Séricourt. This is a wonderful, slightly eccentric private garden. The garden's 29 themes take you on a walk through war and peace, down a shaded alley of white cedars and under roses and clematis trained on a pergola. Séricourt is featured in the Top Gardens of France.

From Séricourt, take the D340 to Hesdin and Montreuil-sur-Mer for tonight’s stop in the delightful small town abandoned by the sea.

Dinner

If you're staying at the Château de Montreuil, eat at the Michelin-starred restaurant for a memorable meal. Or, choose from various other options in the area.

Overnight

The Château de Montreuil sits behind a front gate in its own gardens. It’s a gracious, 3-story white-washed building looking more like an Edwardian stately home than a top château hotel. Inside the rooms are a mix of periods and styles; choose the Tudor age in the room with a four-poster, or stay in this century with a more contemporary design.

Continue to 5 of 7 below.

05 of 07

Day 4: Montreuil-sur-Mer to Le Touquet-Paris-Plage

Nicolas Thibaut/Getty Images

Morning

Montreuil itself is a sizable town. Once one of the major medieval ports of France, it lost all purpose when the river Canche silted up in the 15th century, leaving the town to remain in a time warp, ignored by the rest of the country. Today it's a quiet, pretty place with historic ramparts and a citadel that played a part in World War I, good shops and restaurants and a fabulous view over the river.

Spend the morning here then drive the short distance to Étaples, a working fishing port with an intriguing attraction about the local fishing industry, the Maréis La Corderie.

Lunch

Aux Pêcheurs d’Étaples is the place for excellent fish and seafood. You’ll find it above the fish market on the quayside.

Afternoon

Le Touquet-Paris-Plage has always been a magnet for both Brits and vacationing Parisians. It’s a gracious, relaxed seaside town with a whole range of sporting activities from water sports to horse-riding. It is also a top golfing destination. Le Touquet has always been one of the top seaside resorts in France, once attracting the likes of Oscar Wilde and Noel Coward.

Dinner

There are plenty of dining choices in Le Touquet for all budgets. If you stay at Le Westminster, you must eat in the Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Pavillon. Otherwise, try Le Café des Arts where the French classics are first rate, served in a casual, relaxed restaurant.

Overnight

Le Westminster is the top hotel in the area, a glorious embodiment of the elegant Edwardian age. It's kept its popularity; signed photos of all the stars and celebrities who stay here line the walls of the public corridors.

If you want to be outside the main town in a delightful forest and next to a top golf course, choose Le Manoir with its very English-club-like feel.

Continue to 6 of 7 below.

06 of 07

Day 5: Le Touquet to Wimereux

LECLERCQ Olivier / hemis.fr/Getty Images

Morning

Drive along the Opal coast then take the turn to Hardelot-Plage. It’s a haven for children, and for adults there’s the unusual attraction of Hardelot Château. Built on 13th century foundations, it was the brainchild of Sir John Hare who used Windsor Castle as his inspiration to rebuild it in the 1830s. With its mix of French and English influences, it celebrates the entente cordiale. Today Hardelot Château has a delightful, domestic Edwardian interior that comes as a contrast to the very castle-like stone exterior.

In 2016, a new 338-seater Elizabethan theatre was opened in the grounds. The theatre is open all year round, and is immensely adaptable for theatre and music. The main attraction is the Theatre Festival which runs from mid June to mid July each year.

Lunch

The Brasserie L’Ocean looks over the sea from the large picture windows of the restaurant and from the outside terrace. It’s open all day and has menus from €23.

Afternoon

Boulogne-sur-Mer is a very short drive along the coast. The seaside town is lively, with a top attraction, the Centre National de la Mer (National Centre, Nausicaá). This is a great place for families, with tank after tank of hammerhead sharks, jellyfish, turbot and rays. Don’t miss feeding time for the sea lions who always put on a great show, and the delightful penguins.

Take time to walk away from the harbour and the seaside up to a surprisingly interesting medieval upper town. You can walk around the old medieval walls with their paths, rose beds and garden benches to take time to look at the view.

Dinner

If you're staying at La Matelote, you won't want to eat anywhere else (see below). The restaurant is well known locally, and is always full of locals as well as hotel guests.

Overnight

In Boulogne itself, there are two good possibilities. In the upper town of Boulogne, book at this charming bed and breakfast. L’Enclos d eL’Evêché has just three rooms which are chic, decorated with great flair. There’s an excellent breakfast as well.

The town’s best hotel is the long-established, very comfortable La Matelote. Opposite Nausicaá, it’s been beautifully renovated and now has a pool, Jacuzzi, hammam and sauna. If you can, book a room with its own balcony onto the sea.

Outside Boulogne at Wimereux, book at one of the most popular, and well-known hotels along this stretch of coast. The Hotel Atlantic has a lovely seaside feel, with rooms overlooking the ocean. It has a spa and the 1-Michelin star restaurant, La Liegoise.

Continue to 7 of 7 below.

07 of 07

Day 6: Wimereux to Calais

LECLERCQ Olivier / hemis.fr/getty images

Morning

After a good breakfast, drive up the coast, past windy sand dunes to the headland: Cap Gris-Nez. All along this part, to Cap Blanc Nez, numerous turn-offs from the road take you to walking paths with stunning views towards England. At Wissant, you get to the long sandy beaches where Julius Caesar launched his assault on England in 55 BC.

Your final drive takes you up to Calais, the port which most people just use as a starting point for their journey through France. But Calais is a surprising place which has spent the last few years renovating its historic buildings.

Lunch

Stop off at La Cote d’Argent on the sea front for top seafood in a modern, spacious restaurant.

Afternoon

Calais has some delightful surprises. The major don’t-miss attraction is the Lace Museum, officially the Cité Internationale de la dentelle et de la mode de Calais (International Center of Lace and Fashion). Calais was once a great lace making centre; here you’re taken through the story. There’s something for everyone: fashion from the past and the present; demonstrations of lace making on a huge industrial machine bought in England, and videos that fascinate with their detail on making the patterns.

The Calais Town Hall and Belfry is a glorious extravagant building, looking much older than it 110 odd years. In the garden, one of Rodin’s Burgers of Calais statues holds pride of place. It commemorates the incident in 1347 when Edward III of England captured Calais and threatened a mass execution of the citizens. He changed his mind, instead deciding that six of the main leaders should be executed. This was too much for Edward’s wife, Queen Philippa of Hainault, who successfully pleaded for their lives.

There’s a lot more to see in Calais: the huge Notre-Dame church where a young Charles de Gaulle married Yvonne Vendroux in 1921, and the statue of the couple outside; the excellent Fine Arts Museum, and the old-fashioned but evocative Musée de Mémoire 1939-45, telling the story of occupied Calais.

And that’s all to do before you go shopping, which Calais is famous for.

Dinner

The rue Royale in the medieval fortified part of town is full of restaurants and bars. Book at the Histoire Ancienne, a family-owned and run bistro-style restaurant that serves classic dishes in a friendly relaxed venue. Menus from €19.

Overnight

The old-fashioned but well renovated Hotel Meurice is near the beach and just a few minutes' walk into the centre of town. A grand staircase at the entrance sets the scene, and the hotel is particularly popular with British visitors. It has a good bar that buzzes into the late evening.

So ends this tour of fabulous North France. Want to go further? Head up to Dunkirk near the Belgian border where the remains of Operation Dynamo in World War II still lie along the beaches. Outside the town, you can see the Operation Dynamo sites where the fight continued.

#travel #airlinetickets #airtickets #cheapairfare #planetickets #travelinsurance #travelquotes #travelblogger #traveller #travelling #travelocity #travelodge #vacation

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astrognossienne · 3 years ago

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upcoming star analyses

Barbara Stanwyck

Bonnie + Clyde

Johnny + June Carter Cash

River Phoenix

Whitney Houston

Selena

Jenni Rivera

Aaliyah

Michael Hutchence

Phil Lynott

Jimi Hendrix

John Lennon

Yoko Ono

John Lennon + Yoko Ono

Judee Sill

Françoise Hardy

Jane Birkin + Serge Gainsbourg

David Bowie

Anaïs Nin

Ernest Hemingway

Clare Boothe Luce

Jean Arthur

John Gilbert

James Cagney

Anthony Quinn

Toshiro Mifune

Sessue Hayakawa

Anna May Wong

Philippa Schuyler

Dorothy Dandridge

Sidney Poitier

Diahann Carroll

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.

Hazel Scott

Fredi Washington

Paul Robeson

Josephine Baker

Duke Ellington

Joyce Bryant

Rex Ingram

Billie Holiday

Dinah Washington

Louis Armstrong

Ella Fitzgerald

Ira Aldridge

Lena Horne

Canada Lee

Katherine Dunham

Juano Hernández

Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

Hattie McDaniel

Stepin Fetchit

Buster Keaton

Mary Pickford

Mabel Normand

Sarah Bernhardt

Mary Astor

Caresse Crosby

Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor

Judy Garland

Sammy Davis, Jr.

Mickey Rooney

Henry Fonda

George Reeves

Orson Welles

Olivia de Havilland

Joan Fontaine

Olivia vs. Joan

Vivien Leigh

Laurence Olivier

Vivien Leigh + Laurence Olivier

Rex Harrison

Mary Miles Minter

William Desmond Taylor

William Randolph Hearst

Marion Davies

Joan Blondell

Betty Grable

Bettie Page

Sharon Tate

Dorothy Stratten

Alain Delon

Ghislaine Maxwell

Peter O’Toole

Katharine Hepburn

Spencer Tracy

Hepburn + Tracy

Linda Darnell

Joey Heatherton

Savannah

Dorothy Hale

Franchot Tone

Steve McQueen

Frances Farmer

Fatty Arbuckle

Tallulah Bankhead

Paulette Goddard

Claudette Colbert

The Bennett sisters: Constance, Joan, and Barbara

Jane Russell

Gina Lollobrigida

Tyrone Power

Harold Lloyd

Leslie Howard

Burt Lancaster

Audie Murphy

John F. Kennedy

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

John F. Kennedy + Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy

John F. Kennedy, Jr.

JFK Jr. + Carolyn Bessette

Gary Cooper

James Stewart

Lana Turner

Sophia Loren

Rita Moreno

Lupe Vélez

Dolores Del Río

María Félix

#stay tuned children 🙂#star analyses

20 notes · View notes

historyandculturesquad · 7 years ago

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2. Vikings and Middle Ages

VIKINGS AND THE BEGGINING OF NORMAN BRITAIN

-VIKINGS INVASION

The Vikings' homeland was Scandinavia: modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark. From here they travelled great distances, mainly by sea and river.

What we call the Viking Age lasted from approximately 800 to 1150 AD. During this period, around 200,000 people left Scandinavia to settle in other lands, mainly Newfoundland (Canada), Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, England, Scotland, the islands around Britain, France (where they became the Normans), Sicily.

At 789 the Vikings begin their attacks on England. The first place the Vikings raided in Britain was the monastery at Lindisfarne, a small holy island located off the northeast coast of England. Some of the monks were drowned in the sea, others killed or taken away as slaves along with many treasures of the church.

In the years that followed, villages near the sea, monasteries and even cities found themselves besieged by these sea-based foreign intruders. Soon no region of the British Isles (Britain and nearby islands) was safe from the Vikings. They attacked villages and towns in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and England.

By 866 the Vikings had arrived in York. They made York (or Jorvik as they called it) the second biggest city in the country after London.

The last major Viking battle took place at Stamford Bridge near York in 1066, but the threat of further Scandinavian invasion, with ambitions to conquer and rule, did not diminish until well after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when William the Conqueror became King of England after the Battle of Hastings.

-KING AFRED. DANELAW.

Alfred became king in AD871 when his elder brother died.

During his reign he was advised by a council of nobles and church leaders. This council was called the Witan.

Alfred made good laws and believed education was important. He had books translated from Latin into English, so people could read them. He also told monks to begin writing the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

To help protect his kingdom from Viking attacks, Alfred built forts and walled towns known as ‘burhs’. He also built warships to guard the coast from raiders and organised his army into two parts. While half the men were at home on their farms, the rest were ready to fight Vikings.

Alfred died in 899 and was buried at his capital city of Winchester.

The Danelaw was an area that covered the north and east of England during the 9th and 10th centuries. It was mainly controlled by Danish (not Norwegian) Vikings, and the Dane's law was used to rule the people (hence Danelaw).

The Danelaw area came about because the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were not powerful enough to beat back the arrival of the Danish army under King Guthrum. The only real resistance was by the Saxons, and even they were beaten back at first. The only reason they did not overrun the west was because the Danes were supplied from the east, and the west of England was simply too far for them to get supplies to their army.

This gave the Saxon King Alfred the time to regroup and form an effective defensive army.

-EDWARD “THE CONFESSOR” AND HIS SUCCESSION

Edward "The Confessor" was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. He was born in 1003 and died in 1066. Son of Æthereld "The Unready" and Emma of Normandy, Edward began his reign in 1042, after his brother's death. His deep religious habits made him gain the nickname "The Confessor". He wasn't a vigorous leader, but he was eventually canonized and became St Edward "The Confessor" after his death. This event lead to the dispute for the throne between Earl Harold (friend of the late king), Duke William of Normandy (Edward's first cousin) and Edgard Aetheling. William "The Conqueror" imposed his rule on the new kingdom.

-BATTLE OF HASTINGS

King Harold II of England is defeated by the Norman forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, fought on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, England. At the end of the all-day battle, Harold was killed–shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend, and his forces were destroyed. He was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England.

Two weeks before, William, the duke of Normandy, had invaded England, claiming his right to the English throne. In 1051, William is believed to have visited England and met with his cousin Edward the Confessor, the childless English king. According to Norman historians, Edward promised to make William his heir. On his deathbed Edward granted the kingdom to Harold Godwine, head of the leading noble family in England and more powerful than the king himself. In January 1066, King Edward died, and Harold Godwine was proclaimed King Harold II. William immediately disputed his claim.

On September 28 1066, William landed in England at Pevensey, on Britain’s southeast coast, with approximately 7,000 troops and cavalry. Seizing Pevensey, he then marched to Hastings, where he paused to organize his forces. On October 13, Harold arrived near Hastings with his army, and the next day William led his forces out to give battle.

After his victory at the Battle of Hastings, William marched on London and received the city’s submission. On Christmas Day, 1066, he became the first Norman king of England, in Westminster Abbey, and the Anglo-Saxon phase of English history came to an end. French became the language of the king’s court and gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English. William I proved an effective king of England, and the “Domesday Book,” a great census of the lands and people of England. Upon the death of William I in 1087, his son, William, became William II, the second Norman king of England.

MIDDLE AGES

-WILLIAM I

Also known as Guillaume le Bâtard.

He became the first by the first Normand King of England. He was born at Falaise, at 1028 and he died in 1087 in Rouen, the capital of the Normandy. Also, he became Duke of Normandy as William II, and became king of England as William I. He succeeded because of his bravery as a soldier and also, as a rule during the Middle Age. He earned lots of prestige as the mightiest noble in France, due his success during the conquest of England.

-FEUDAL SYSTEM

The Middle Ages are known for their political and military social structure. This was based on the holdings of lands in fief and on the resulting relations between lord and vassal.

This structured the society in this way:

-King & Queen: they possessed all of the power and have a large amount of influence on the people they rule. They only answered to the societal welfare of their people and the roman catholic church.

-Barons: lords and nobels would attend to business matters in relation to his land. Reports would be heard regarding estate crops, harvests and supplies. They would answer to the royal family.

-Knights: the were pardoned by the pope of all past and future sins when they gave service. They were usually utilized or crusades. Also, they had the primary obligation to the roman catholic church and pope and their service relieved them of their sins. They also served the king and queen in war.

-Villeins: they were the majority of the population and the lowest in the feudal system. Life as a pleasant would be very difficult as they had to work as farmers daily. They had an obligation to everyone in a higher feudal class especially their king and queen.

-HENRY II

King Henry II was born the 5 of March of 1133 at France and died the 6 of July of 1189 ar Chinon Castle. He was the son of Geoffrey, Cound of Anjou and Empress Matilda. He was lord of Scotland, Ireland and Wales and Count of Anjou, Brittany, Poitou, Normandy, Maine and Gascony.

His reign falls in a century flanked by the Norman Conquest and Magna Carta. He inherited his father’s duchy and became Duke of Normandy by the age of 18. At 21 he succeeded to the English throne and by 1172, the British Isles and Ireland had acknowledged him as their overlord and he ruled more of France than any monarch since the fall of the Carolingian dynasty in 891. It was Henry who set England on a path to becoming one of the world’s most dominant nations.

He married Eleanor of AquitaineEleanor of Aquitaine, the daughter of William X, Duke of Aquitaine and Aenor de Chatellerault. She had previously been the wife of Louis VII, King of France, who had divorced her prior to her marriage to Henry

Henry's carousing chum and chief administrator was a cleric by the name of Thomas a Becket. When the See of Canterbury fell empty in 1162 Henry convinced a very reluctant Becket to become the new Archbishop. Henry, of course, assumed that his friend would be sympathetic to the royal cause in the escalating battle between church and state. At that time anyone in orders could only be tried in church courts. In practice, the number of clerics was huge, including several levels of lay priests and clerks. Henry, anxious to assert the power of royal justice, claimed that the "criminous clerks" should be tried in royal courts. To his surprise, Becket refused to agree.

The Archbishop fled to France after defying Henry. They eventually were reconciled with the aid of the pope, and Becket returned. He immediately infuriated Henry by excommunicating those bishops who had prudently supported the king during Becket's exile. Henry flew into one of his famous rages. Four knights, perhaps seeking to curry favour with the king, rode from Westminster to Canterbury and killed Becket in front of the main altar of the Cathedral when he refused to relent.

-CATHOLIC CHURCH: MONASTERIES, NUNNERIES AND FRIARS

The Church was the single most dominant institution in medieval life, its influence pervading almost every aspect of people's lives. Its religious observances gave shape to the calendar; its sacramental rituals marked important moments in an individual's life (including baptism, confirmation, marriage, the eucharist, penance, holy orders and the last rites); and its teachings underpinned mainstream beliefs about ethics, the meaning of life and the afterlife.

During the Middle Ages, English clergy and laity made important contributions to the life and activities of the Roman Catholic Church. The English church, however, shared in the religious unrest characteristic of the later Middle Ages. John Wycliffe, the 14th-century reformer and theologian, became a revolutionary critic of the papacy and is considered a major influence on the 16th-century Protestant Reformation.

The break with the Roman papacy and the establishment of an independent Church of England came during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–47). When Pope Clement VII refused to approve the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, the English Parliament, at Henry’s insistence, passed a series of acts that separated the English church from the Roman hierarchy and in 1534 made the English monarch the head of the English church. The monasteries were suppressed, but few other changes were immediately made, since Henry intended that the English church would remain Catholic, though separated from Rome.

-BLACKDEATH

The Vikings invaded Europe due to the overpopulation in Scandinavia. The high population levels resulted in limited amounts of farm land. These farm lands had to produce an abundance of food in order to sustain the current population. Scandinavians were forced to move into new houses, find new jobs and land. They invaded Scotland, Ireland and Britain.

The people of Scotland, Ireland, and Britain reacted with anger and fear, when the vikings invaded their homeland. Soon the towns and houses of Europe were evacuated. This act prevented the vikings from attacking. The vikings preferred effortless targets, while vacated towns were not as desirable. Once some areas of Europe were attacked, the Vikings began to settle in the attacked areas of town. This frustrated the people of Europe.

The Black Plague was also known as the Black Death. The disease was spread through rodents. The rodents fleas that carried the disease. These rodents roamed the infecting millions of people.

-RICHARD I “LIONHEART˝

1. King Richard was born in Oxford in 1157 but during his 10-year reign he only spent about six months in England.

2. It is not even clear how much English he could speak. His main languages were French and Occitan, which is now the language of Catalonia.

3. His main aim was to recapture Jerusalem from the Moslem forces of Saladin. He failed to do so despite almost bankrupting England in his efforts

-KING JOHN. MAGNA CARTA.

The reign of King John shows what often happened in the Middle Ages when a monarchlost a war – his authority was completely undermined. The barons rebelled and, on 15 June 1215, they forced John to agree to Magna Carta (The Great Charter) - a set of demands by which the barons tried to limit the power of the king to their advantage.

The reign of King John was a turning point in the history of England's government. The barons – successfully – had said 'no' to the king, and made him do as they wanted. The charter only spoke about freemen and not the majority of people who were peasants. No monarch of England ever had unrestricted, or 'absolute', power again and within a century England saw the beginnings of Parliament.

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