#sir hamnet

[okochamasensou]

sirhamnet blinkie

[bibiana112]

The color that is dripping from my chest is the color you gave to me that day bestowed in RED (Akane (茜) is the Japanese word for 'deep red')

I Put the Coffin Out to Sea by Lisa Marie Basile/ Vermillion by VocaCircus/ Angry Too by Lola Blanc/ Zero Win Game by @kayzero/ Forget by Marina/ The Red Means I Love You by Madds Buckley/ The Faulty Feline Philosophy by Ferry/ Genealogy of Red White and Black cover by Sir Hamnet/ Snow White and Rose Red by Blackbriar/

[yume-fanfare]

Have you heard Sir Hamnet's cover of 妄想感傷代償連盟 (MKDR)? If not go and listen to it, I think they're cover really fits Mu perfectly.

ohh i hadn't, it's really nice!!! i really can't wait for muu's single i feel like the wait has gone on for FOREVER

[cinemaocd]

William Shakespeare: I have put much of the grief I felt over the loss of my son, HAMNET in this play called HAMLET. What do you think?

Everyone in Shakespeare's time aware of the situation: a bit on the nose but good for you sir.

Theater critics for the next 400 years: WHAT DOES HE MEAN??? WHO IS HAMLET??? WHAT MOTIVATES HAMLET??? WHY DOES HE ACT THIS WAY??? IT'S SUCH A MYSTERY but Maybe he's gay or wants to fuck his mom. Maybe no one in the play is real and the whole thing is Hamlet's delusion. How can I make this about roasting the world leader I don't like instead of what is in the text???

i hate when people criticise hamlet because the character hamlet is a bad person. like first of all he is not real. and what he is is a representation of grief. the whole point is that grief and depression make you angry and annoying and obsessive and self absorbed. they make you feel like you’re the only person in the world who feels the way you do. they make you take it out on others. hamlet is a manifestation of grief taken to the extreme. and not to assume things about the personal life of a guy who died 400 years ago but. shakespeare wrote hamlet after his son died. hamlet’s flaws were likely taken from his own grief. hamlet isn’t supposed to be a good person he’s supposed to show how unaddressed grief makes you fall apart and hurt people and it’s not always pretty

[utaitemusic]

Hello again! Could you perhaps upload Sir Hamnet's 2023 english cover of MKDR? Thank you! :)

posted!

[captscarletlog]

Faylin, one of the main characters of The Xenon Tech Archives series, and 2nd hand to Captain Scarlet. Their adventure together begins when a twist of fate allows Scarlet and Faylin to meet in an abandoned sector. Not quite understanding their connection to one another, they continue on, building their team and heading headstrong towards their goal of liberating their world.

[octosan]

so this is late considering she made the cover like weeks ago or something but have you seen sir ham's cover of barisol's child is an only child? i think it was okay personally but i want to know your thoughts if that's okay :)

It’s a good English cover.

Aside from the strange choice to depict Behemo’s girlfriend as his “loving wife” I thought the lyrics were pretty close to the original in meaning, and without serious inaccuracies to the story (which is nice because Barisol’s Child is a song that’s very tied up in the information from the novels.)

As for the sound of it I always think Sir Hamnet does a pretty good job of owning the lyrics she writes. There were pacing differences between some lines and the original that made me uncertain of how I was supposed to read the lyrics, but I didn’t really care when I was actually listening to it.

Oh, I also really liked the remix she used for the instrumentals.

[tittysuckersworld]

oh glob umm- tyty

disaster by conan gray

mkdr by umm english by sir hamnet or just the og one both slap

every night my teeth are falling out by the antlers

mr flower theif english by rachie

and sadly lastly little dark age by MGMT

@tea-twords , @mikopikopon, and @tineetinylily if want!!!!!! and or just anyone that wants to join in

(forgot to add @moth-lover-not-mother ejwbduwhe sry sry cant remember people things for anything- wish brain better sry)

5 songs i have on repeat recently

Water Water / Agua Agua by Empress Of

His Hands by Blegh

Secrets by The Weeknd

Bad Dreams by Joywave

White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane

Thanks for tagging me @icantwritegood <3

I tag @justanotherfanartist @napo-con-fritas @hermywolf @holmosexualitea and @angelhannah if you wanna do it :D

[majimassqueaktoy]

i have majima/majimako brainrot rn and Sir Hamnet's cover of 'Some Day My Cinderella Will Come' started playin on youtube and now im emotional about them again send help

Oh I don't know that one... But I'm listening and Oof I see it 😫💗 Thank you for this majimako food... I love you...

[thelibraryiscool]

When Hamnet is about Twelfth Night

I finished Hamnet. I was duly upset. But for all that the book ends with (spoilers -- though you should know better if you’ve got this far) a performance of Hamlet (and does it marvelously, even, I dare say, hauntingly) the play that Hamnet continually recalled for me, and made all the more poignant, was actually Twelfth Night. The play about twins who lose and then find each other. Who look so alike. Hence, the following:

It occurs to Hamnet, as he crouches there, next to her, that it might be possible to hoodwink Death, to pull off the trick he and Judith have been playing on people since they were young: to exchange places and clothes, leading people to believe that each was the other. Their faces are the same. People remark on this all the time, at least once a day. All it takes is for Hamnet to put on Judith’s shawl or for her to don his hat; they will sit at the table like that, eyes lowered, smiles concealed, and their mother will place a hand on Judith’s shoulder and say, Hamnet, can you bring in the wood?

VIOLA He named Sebastian: I my brother know Yet living in my glass; even such and so In favour was my brother, and he went Still in this fashion, colour, ornament, For him I imitate: O, if it prove, Tempests are kind and salt waves fresh in love.

(Twelfth Night, III.4)

What is the word, Judith asks her mother, for someone who was a twin but is no longer a twin?     Her mother, dipping a folded, doubled wick into heated tallow, pauses but doesn’t turn around.     If you were a wife, Judith continues, and your husband dies, then you are a widow. And if parents die, a child becomes an orphan. But what is the word for what I am?

SEBASTIAN He left behind him myself and a sister, both born in an hour: if the heavens had been pleased, would we had so ended! [...] She is drowned already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more.

(Twelfth Night, II.1)

    Judith crosses the road, her hood falling from her head. She stands outside her former home; she paces from its door to that of her grandparents. The very air feels coalescent, changed, as it does before a thunderstorm. She shuts her eyes. She can feel him. She is so sure of this. The skin on her arms and neck shrinks and she is desperate to reach out, to touch him, to take his hand in hers, but she dares not. She listens to the roar of her pulse, her ragged breathing and she knows, she hears, underneath her own, another’s breathing. She does. She really does.     She is shaking now, her head bowed, her eyes shut tight. The thought that forms inside her head is: I miss you, I miss you, I would give anything to have you back, anything at all.

VIOLA Of Messaline: Sebastian was my father; Such a Sebastian was my brother too, So went he suited to his watery tomb: If spirits can assume both form and suit You come to fright us.

SEBASTIAN A spirit I am indeed; But am in that dimension grossly clad Which from the womb I did participate. Were you a woman, as the rest goes even, I should my tears let fall upon your cheek, And say ‘Thrice-welcome, drowned Viola!’

(Twelfth Night, V.1)

[bookish-bee]

End of the year reading survey

How many books did you read? Did you meet your goal? I read 69 books, and my goal was 45. So yeah, I met my goal. Honestly I’m surprised I reached 60 because I had so little time this year.

Most read genre? Fiction, I guess? I don’t know, I was all over the place this year. They’re novels and poems and plays and memoirs. Letters, journals, historical fiction, mystery, epic poems and short stories. I’m going through the list right now and they’re are plenty of essays, analysis and nonfiction, too. I’ve really got to pick my territory…

Longest and shortest books you read. Shortest: maybe Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard. Maybe Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Maybe the Old man and the sea. Maybe the Importance of Being Earnest, or Twelve Angry Men. I’m not sure if plays count. Longest: Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment with Ovid’s Metamorphoses a close second (although the latter is a reread).

Favorite book published in 2021? I don’t think I read a single one. I mean, Hamnet is 2020. That’s not far off

Favorite debut book in 2021? I Never Promised You a Rose Garden was a debut, I think, but not 2021. And In the Woods. I liked I Never Promised You a Rose Garden better. If you want your heart torn out.

Favorite book not published this year? Haha… how are we defining “book”?

Favorite novel: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Favorite play: Ros and Guil

Favorite Poem: Dante’s Inferno (Kaddish is a close second). And lots of Rilke and TS Eliot and Sappho.

Favorite short story: The Metamorphosis

Favorite mythology(?): Ovid or Virgil (both rereads)

Memoir: Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit or I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Letters: Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet

Analysis: Art: Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Writing: On Poetry and Poets by T.S Eliot. Specific: The Figure of Beatrice by Charles Williams (oh the lengths I went to find that one…)

Historical Fiction: Lincoln in the Bardo

Mystery: My annual reread of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Magical Realism: The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende.

Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings (reread).

A book that lived up to the hype. Um. Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. You see quotes across half the internet… and it’s just a beautiful read.

A book that did NOT live up to the hype. I don’t think Hamnet did. It was good but not brilliant. I’d still recommend it.

Book that felt like the biggest accomplishment. Fucking Crime and Punishment took me MONTHS to read. I read other things at the time. I mean, I loved it, but it took a lot of time.

Favorite character. Fictionalized Virgil from the greatest (and only) self-insert/celebrity-Christian-Bible-fanfiction-that-become-canon you’ll ever read: Inferno.

Least favorite character. Charles Kinbote from Pale Fire (I loved him and thought he was an absolute douche) or Svidrigailov from C&P (just an unbelievably awful guy).

Most shocking book/moment. The Catcher in the Rye when JD Salinger ended it without an ending. Jane Eyre when… the plot twist. It gets me every time. And Great House when you realize who “your Honor” is and what happens with Dov. Fucking a.

Favorite couple/OTP. Razumikhin & Dunya 4ever

The best written book you read this year. If I say Ernest Hemingway A Farewell to Arms will someone kill me. Just kidding. Maybe The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende or one of the Metamorphosis(es).

Book that you pushed the most people to read in 2021. Dante’s Inferno and Letters to a Young Poet. One friend in particular.

Favorite book cover of the year. Okay, I got the Hemingway library edition of A Farewell to Arms and it’s gorgeous. And the Vintage cover of Pale Fire is stunning. And the Penguin version of Metamorphoses (Ovid). And I just love the Pocket Poets series by City Lights, so add Howl and Kaddish to the list. And the Vintage International version of The Plague.

Favorite translation (I added this prompt): Inferno: Dorothy. Sayers. I swear by her translation. If your reading it in English only read this one.

Crime and Punishment: Oxford edition by Nicolas Pasternak Slater. I hear there are other decent translations but I thought this one was very good.

Favorite book adaptation. 

I have developed a list over the years:

Ordinary People

Hamlet (David Tennant)

Atonement

The Life of Pi

Shakespeare in Love

12 Angry Men

Brokeback mountain

The only one I both watched and read for the first time this year is Brokeback Mountain. The short story killed me.

What book made you cry the most? Kaddish by Allen Ginsberg (poem) makes me cry every time. Brokeback Mountain made me cry. And a really good production of King Lear (not a book. who cares). It was the first live theatre I’d seen all year (that I wasn’t involved in). I think I also cried after the Count of Monte Cristo because it was finally over. I liked it but it was a lot. It was actually the second book my grandfather ever read, the first being The Three Musketeers. Bastard out of Carolina and Ordinary People and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden all made me cry the first time around, but not this year.

What book made you laugh the most? Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead killed me. I loved it. It might have also made me cry I don’t remember. Oh! There’s a good filmed adaptation as well! It’s directed by Tom Stoppard. I’d recommend that too

A new favorite author you discovered this year. Rilke. Rilke. Rilke. Also Kafka. And Borges. And Virgil. And James Baldwin (well, I first read him a couple years ago). And Dorothy Sayers for sure. I read a lot of Camus and Hemingway but I wouldn’t say they’re favorites (yet). I read more Dorothy Allison but I think I discovered her last year. And I wouldn’t say she’s a favorite but Patricia Cornwell is really fun if you’re every looking for a forensic/mystery/thriller.

Favorite book you re-read this year. Oh no. Good question. Okay: Ordinary People by Judith Guest.

What is the best non-fiction book you read this year? Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt. Runner up is The New Jim Crow (did I read that this year?) or Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.

Thank you @figuringthengsout for tagging me <3 I picked up some good recommendations from your survey

If you got through my whole mess of a survey consider yourself tagged. And my lovely mutuals, especially @youareapipedream <3

[tittysuckersworld]

Where is smiley? - serani poji

MKDR - english version from 5 years ago by sir hamnet

and Black Sheep - brie larson vocal version cause of lesbaim au making and guebfudbhcjebfhebdg

uhh uhh dont know who to tag so open tag!!! pls just do this i crave to know more sounds

MUSIC LOVERS ASSEMBLE!!

i feel like starting a tag chain so i hope this works out :)

reblog this with 3 songs:

the song your listening to right now (or last one you listened to)

your current favourite song

a song of your choice

______________________________________________________________

mine:

its now or never - elvis presley/love in the dark - adele

trastevere - måneskin

nevermore - queen

______________________________________________________________

tagggzzzz: (np ofc) @heartstopper-lover123 @s0lit4ir3 @ali-da-demon @vicwritesfic @skeelly @charliethinks @tori-my-love @chronic-skeptic @toulouseradiosilence @stewpid-soup @nine-frogs-in-a-trenchcoat @pessimistic-gh0st @theshyqueergirl @crowleybrekkers @a-bowl-of-soop @frogfairy444 @robinheaney12 @fairyghostgirlgaming @thatsawesomedontyouthink @venusplanetoflove2 @thelovelyvie @abookishshade @spir4nts-lun4r @i-have-no-idea-111 @kit-the-queer @a-wondering-thought @scatteredraysofhope @coco6420 @softlyunbreakable @givennnnnn @far-beyond-saving @darling-im-wonderstruck @heartstoppernerdsstuff @nonbinary-idiot-obviously @rebelrobinrules1984 @daydream-of-a-wallflower @leonine-elizer @angel-devil-star and anyone else who wants to join!!

[themalhambird]

2021 book meme

Tagged by @nuingiliath, thank you!

1. Best book you have read in 2021 so far?

The only things I have read this year have been for my English Lit MA, which makes the best ‘book’ I’ve read this year John Webster’s The White Devil

2. Best sequel you have read in 2021 so far?

I have not read a single sequel in 2021, unless you want to count Henry IV Part I as a sequel to Richard II

3. A new release you want to check out?

Uhhhh…? I want to read Hamnet, which I have, and Detransistion, Baby, which I do not have, and a recently compiled collection of things written by Elizabeth I, which I also do not have, but the Stars Are Not Yet Aligned for all that.

4. Most anticipated book release of the second half of the year?

Haven’t the foggiest idea what’s coming.

5. Biggest surprise?

...my memory is too bad for this game

6. Biggest disappointment?

Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lanamoor. It had so much promise. It went so completely off the rails.

7. Favourite new author (either new to you or debut)?

Francis Burney for novels. Thomas Middleton for Early Modern Drama

8. Favourite new fictional crush?

Vittoria Corombona

9. Newest favourite character?

Vittoria Corombona

10. A book that made you happy?

What’s happiness?

I’m kidding I’m kidding, but nothing’s springing to mind so. Either this is my memory again or nothing I read sparked that particular emotion.

11. A book that made you cry?

...I don’t know. I remember there was something but I don’t know what…?

12. Most beautiful book you have bought or received this year?

I brought a first folio facsimile on Ebay that I’m now married to. I haven’t looked inside it much, mind you, but it sits under my coffee table looking so damn handsome.

13. What book do you need to read by the end of the year?

A friend lent me Dune, so I want to read that fairly soon. Just waiting for whenever my brain decides Okay It Is TIme To Read Dune Now.

14. What book do you need to re-read by the end of the year?

Bahaha right now I don’t feel like I’m gonna be able to read anything by the end of the year, my brain just feels like sludge. I’m thinking about rereading Mansfield Park to get me back in to the reading thing. I’m thinking about rereading the Stormlight Archive books. I’m also thinking I will probably do neither of these things and just keep listening to Emily D. Baker on youtube because she’s funny, I like her voice, and it does not involve me having to concentrate on a page

tagging @shredsandpatches, @maplelantern, @skeleton-richard, @verecunda, @ellynneversweet, @navy-matte

[botwstoriesandsuch]

I’m curious, what are some of your favorite songs from the botw OST? I know you are partial to anything Rito related, but what are some of the other tracks from the OST that you like?

Right on! I love most of the Rito related songs, plus the character themes, and divine beast themes, and also the Hyrule castle theme, and the dark beast ganon theme, and the gerudo town theme.... plus the hundred and hundred of covers made by other people on the internet made me love basically the whole OST it’s honestly impossible to just pick one.

In fact... allow me to just copy off my masterlist for a second...

- michelleheafy (Rito Village Piano/Vocal Cover)

- The Toader (Stable Theme Cover)

- Rush Garcia (Hero of the Wild)

- Sam Griffin (Kass Theme Guitar Cover)

- Insaneintherain (Rito Village Jazz Cover)

- Liltommyj (Open Your Eyes Remix)

- Genna Renee Music (Urbosa’s Theme Guitar Cover)

- SENZOKU GAME MUSIC (BOTW Wind Orchestra)

- The Toader (Zora’s Domain Cover)

- Grissini (BOTW Medley)

- Sam Griffin (Stone Talus Cover)

- DSC (Kass Theme Electric Guitar Cover)

- Melody Geeks (Sidon/Attack Vah Ruta Cover)

- DS Music (Zora’s Domain Piano Cover)

- Shady Cicada (Dark Beast Ganon Rock Cover)

- ThePandaTooth (Breath of the Wild Piano Covers)

- Sir Hamnet (Deathly Loneliness Attacks)

- CallumMcGaw (Main Theme Guitar Cover)

- Vetrom (Daruk’s Theme, Instrumental Mix)

- Cello Basset (Gerudo Town Cello Cover)

- Cello Basset (Zora’s Domain)

- R3 Music Box (Mipha’s Theme)

- Man on the Internet (Daruk’s Theme)

- BenthovenGaming (Champions Lament)

- Vetrom (Trailer Theme)

aaand there’s probably a few more in my actual youtube playlist, but here’s what I got for you! I love the music in this game so much...

[mercerislandbooks]

A Taste of the Best of 2020

Readers, it’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? It’s hard to believe we’re even ready to talk about our favorite fiction and nonfiction books of the year. Many of us, and many of you, have found books to be a welcome escape, reading our way through all this year has thrown at us. Traditionally the staff compiles a list of the ten fiction and ten nonfiction titles from the year - the books that reminded us why we love to read so much and show us the power of the written word. Here I offer you a little appetizer to whet your appetite:

I’ll start by briefly mentioning my own personal favorite of 2020, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I wrote about this back in June, and haven’t read or listened to anything since that I’ve found to be so surprising, immersive and thought-provoking. I’m not alone, it’s also a best of the year pick from Nancy and Laurie, as well as a New York Times Bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and long listed for the National Book Award.

A close second in the fiction category, for me, is Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, which both Nancy and Caitlin also loved. At first glance it’s a difficult sell since the story revolves around the illness and death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, from the plague. The subject matter gave me a little hesitation before starting, but once I did I was so glad I picked it up. The first thing I noticed was the exquisite writing. Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to create a fully realized environment is phenomenal. A writer with this gift grounds me in the story to the degree that I can see and feel the places they are describing. The fact that I listened to the audio book only deepened this experience. The second thing that drew me in was the psychological awareness of her characters. With a non-linear narrative, we move in and out from the progression of the illness over the course of a few days, to the meeting, courtship, and marriage of Shakespeare (never named in the narrative as such) and Agnes. The ending is perfection. Give this to the historical fiction lovers in your life.

Nancy says: “Beautifully written, this creative reimagining of Shakespeare’s family and their home life, and the searing loss of a child is engrossing and moving. Five stars!!”

Both Nancy and Caitlin chose A Burning by Megha Majumdar. A debut novel, Read With Jenna Book Club Pick, and long listed for the National Book Award, this is a deeply personal and of-the-moment story from the Indian-born Majumdar, who was concerned with shining a light on the rise of right-wing nationalism in India.

Nancy says: “A tour de force from a new author, A Burning reads like a wry thriller while dissecting the realities of modern India and our human frailty when confronted with survival and moral choices. Told from three perspectives - Jivan, a plucky Muslim clerk from the slums who becomes a convenient scapegoat for a terrorist attack, and two who could help her - PT Sir, a gym teacher with political aspirations and Lovely, an intersex actress with Bollywood dreams - Majumdar’s characters have incredible original voices. I loved the writing and I couldn’t put it down!”

For a nonfiction pick, Caitlin highly recommends World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. She says, “I read World of Wonders early on in the pandemic. Whenever I needed a lift I treated myself to an essay. An engaging and beautifully illustrated collection of essays about nature and finding a place to call your own. One of my favorite books of 2020.” This sounds like the perfect book to keep on your nightstand and dip into before bed.

For those of you who have younger readers in your life (or just like reading from the YA, Middle Grade and picture book sections like I do), our children’s specialist, Lillian, has already created “piles” of the best of 2020 for all the different categories of readers in the children’s area. You can preview some on our website.  YA readers, you’ll see lots of my favorites from this year, including Legendborn by Tracy Deonn!

This is only a taste of a few fiction and nonfiction titles that will make up our Island Books Best of 2020 list - the full list will be out at the beginning of December!

— Lori

[stacksofpaperbacks]

Hamnet’s World - A peak...

Year: 1596

You were a very religious person, secretly Catholic or pagan as the Church of England was a mix of Protestant / Puritan. Your secrets stayed with you or risk was torture and then death by burning at the cross. If you consented to becoming Protestant, your death would be swift and painless by beheading. ( A real bargain I know ... ) . The royal family did nothing to the common folk and really cared less about peasants as long as taxes were paid to support war.

Enemies: Anyone from Spain - Anyone Catholic - Anyone who was a witch or female for that matter - Anyone Scottish 

In power: Queen Elizabeth l - World powers were Spain, France, Holland, Portugal, and Italy. 

The heroes included Sir Frances Drake, as well as many other English pirates that raided Spanish ships for gold and goods. 

Daily life: no running water or plumbing, zero sanitation efforts, most peasant could not read or write, only noble women and girls could read and write, books are very rare and cost a lot, printing is very limited as spies constantly look for anything treasonous or anti-Protestant in nature. Most homes are small, the largest room being the common room where everyone ate, talked, etc. Food was cooked over a fireplace and brick made ovens attached to fireplace. Bread was made each day. Stews being the common fare which contained some meat ( gamebird, beef, pork, mutton, or rabbit ) , vegetables ( parsnips, turnip, peas, lentils, garden greens like kale and chard, onions ) and maybe some type of grain ( millet, barley, farro ) depending on the family’s social class. Beer and wine were drank over any water; most water was very toxic with raw sewage and trash. If possible, every home had a garden. When not in a city, goods were bought from traveling merchants and faires. All clothing and even shoes were handmade, handknitted and handsewn. Fabrics were not cheap. Nothing was wasted - food scraps, fabric scraps, - all was used in one way or another. Country living was kinder, city living rough but better chances for success. Churches had large herb gardens and kept honeybees. Many clergy men were tutors for noble children. In most cases, only boys went to school. Both men and women had a large list of daily chores. Prayers were practiced by the entire family around meal times. Markets were a place to hear the latest gossip and news. You got to places by walking, riding on a wagon, horse or donkey back, and boat. So yes, travel to lots of time. 

Marriage: Girls married as early as age 12, boys, age 17. Birth control methods were near none, sometimes healers had wild carrot seeds or teas for abortive measures, but these could prove deadly. A divorce was only attained from the Church of England. Women had few rights; rape was common but rarely punished, and abuse was widespread. Laws were not kind and very unjust at this time. 

World scene: A New World! Yep, the Americas were the new sensation and so far, England had not put their hat in the race yet, but Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, were all charting this land and reaping the spoils. New foods were being chatted about at Royal courts - tomato, maize, chocolate, potato, beans, sunflowers, squash, cranberry, Wild Turkey, the pineapple, etc. New tribal groups with odd languages and dress - Native Americans and First Nations - some had been brought to court to be shown off. Question was how do we convert them to ‘The Right Way’ ? Also: The Islamic world is a growing power and it’s art and culture is becoming noticed. Many new territories are being conquered. 

Health: yes, the medieval days are ending and life is pretty harsh and depressing. Life is very unfair too. Mental health is eh. The Black Death is baaacccckkk! Many are dying. Again. Epidemic to England: measles, smallpox (big one here ) , chicken pox, typhus, influenza, cowpox, and the common cold. Babies die often, as do toddlers. They are very fragile in a world that is full of deadly diseases and no medications but herbal remedies. Midwives deliver most babies, tooth problems and bone settings are taken care of by local butchers in most cases. Healers were common despite the danger of the Church and it’s witchhunts. They were much cheaper than a physician and could be paid in favor or goods if no coin was found. Only two items can be used for real pain management in surgery and severe wounds: alcohol and opium. Many patients died before surgery was over because the pain was too great. If they survived, wounds risked infection/sephis. Very few cared for their teeth. Very few bathed regularly. Only noble families had real soap. Peasants and common folk used flower essences and oils instead. Oh and hand washing: NEVER. 

Fun: What would you do with free time? Hunting and fishing were popular, as were needlework and weaving. Children had their games and songs. Children were never looked over, most ran wild and younger ones were watched over by older siblings. Toys included fabric dolls, wood spinning tops, toy swords. Puppet shows and plays were common in the town square for both adults and children. Gambling, chess and cards popular with the men at taverns. Country towns had annual dances and festivals, many with pagan backgrounds. Playing music was a joy - the harp was very common. 

Sorry, Noble people only stuff: gold spun thread, glass windows, rich dyed colored clothing, silk fabric, bookshelves with books, seal rings, endless supply of parchment - or paper - and Bibles with gold gilded pages, tasty spices - nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, saffron, and vanilla. Sugar was very costly, most used honey to sweeten dishes. Imported oils for skin and hair. Glass mirrors. 

Hope you liked reading this, it’s not a complete list, but just a little something. :)