Thursday, December 31, 2015

Christmas and New Year's in Italy/Sicily

When Bill and I were in Sicily over the holidays, we saw a lot of wonderful things that we don't do here in the States.  One was an incredible million course meal every night of the 12 days of Christmas.  Yowza.  How did I lose 20 pounds there?  And some interesting travel snafus as well.


For example, we decided to spend New Year's Eve in Siracusa with our friend Bruno.  We had a wonderful time, then hopped on the hydrofoil to Malta and spent a few days there.  When we returned to Sicily, we went to the train station, expecting to be able to hop a train or even a bus back to Palermo.  No way.  The date was January 6.  Ring a bell?


I was pretty puzzled.  Why would all transportation stop because of my oldest sister's birthday?  Which brings me back to the first paragraph - they really celebrate the 12 days of Christmas in Sicily and Epiphany is January 6.  As a defunct Methodist, that was news to me.  So to make a long story endless, we ended up calling a friend who took us to an obscure corner we never would have found to catch the bus to Palermo as no trains ran that day.  Not only were we grateful for his kindness, it turned out that we had to switch buses in Modica, but that bus would have left 10 minutes before we got there.  Our bus driver called Modica, talked to that bus driver, who said absolutely he would not wait as his buses were always on time (wait, this is Italy - who is he kidding?!).  But he got a surly "okay" and when our bus pulled into Modica, there was a busful of people for Palermo patiently waiting for us.  Bill flew off to buy tickets and I tried to thank the entire busload in my lame Italian - they were so gracious and laughed and clapped. 


I love the Sicilians.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Peace of Caltabellotta

31 August, 1302, was the date on which the War of the Sicilian Vespers, begun in 1282, can be said to have ended. The Peace of Caltabellotta was the formal treaty ending the struggle between the Houses of Anjou and Barcelona for the control of Sicily and the Mezzogiorno (the southern portion of Italy's mainland). The treaty separated the island of Sicily from the mainland, which came to be known as the Kingdom of Naples, still under the rule of Charles of Anjou. Frederick III was ruling Sicily. He was the third son of Peter of Aragon and succeeded his brother James on the throne. In effect, this treaty formalized an uneasy status quo. The treaty stipulated that Sicily, now called the Kingdom of Trinacria, would pass to the Angevins upon Frederick's death. Charles was obligated to pay tribute of 100,000 ounces of gold to Frederick, unless Pope Boniface VIII allowed Frederick to conquer either Sardinia or Cyprus. Frederick released Charles's son Phillip, Prince of Taranto, from imprisonment, and  he married Charles's daughter Eleanor. Five hundred years later in 1816 the Kingdom of Sicily merged with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Not until 1861 did Sicily become part of the Kingdom of Italy.
     Wishing the world, and all of you peace in 2016.

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Admiral of the Seas

Roger de Lauria (born in southern Italy c. 1245, d. 17 January 1305), Sicilian commander of the fleet for Peter III of Aragon in the War of the Vespers and the Aragonese Crusade, the most successful and talented naval tactician in the medieval period. As the Angevins took over Sicily, Roger's family fled to Barcelona. His mother was a nurse to Queen Constance. He was named admiral of the fleet in 1282 and went on to win six major naval battles from 1283 to 1300, defeating the Angevins in Sicily and the French in the Aragonese Crusade. He retained his admiralty during the reigns of two of Peter's successors, James II and Frederick III.
     After winning against the Angevins near Naples in 1287, Roger made a truce with the Neapolitans without authorization from his king. This may have deprived the Aragonese of victory on the mainland of Italy.
     Frederick III rewarded Roger with a castle and lands in Aci, but Roger's affections for the Angevins soured their friendship. Frederick besieged Roger's castles and arrested him. However, Roger escaped and fled into the service of Edward I of England to fight the French. He soon left the English and returned to Italy where, in 1299, he defeated the Sicilians, capturing 18 enemy galleys. In 1300 he defeated and captured King Frederick himself, but ultimately submitted to Frederick after the Peace of Caltabellotta. Frederick pardoned him. Roger then retired to Valencia where he died in 1305.
     So was Roger a patriot or greedy mercenary?
Roger's statue in Barcelona

   



Monday, December 21, 2015

true crime stories

http://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/2015/12/guest-post-jeanne-recommends-some.html


Some of us who like murder mysteries really gravitate towards true crime stories.


Above the a link for those of us who do - two of my personal favorites are on this list - Devil in the White City, which takes place during the Chicago Exposition of 1893 and Leopold and Loeb:  Crime of the Century.  Aside from the fact that they both take place in my favorite place after my Rocky Mountain paradise - Chicago - they're just eye-popping reads.  You won't put them down.


What are your favorite true crime books?

Monday, December 14, 2015

Aragonese Crusade

Ah, yes, all those saints! And the Church had to make the world safe for sainthood, so they set about to slay their enemies. Peter III of Aragon (yes, our King Peter in Sicily) was declared one of those enemies by Pope Martin IV. As part of the extension of the war after the Sicilian Vespers, Martin excommunicated Peter and deposed him as king of Aragon, all over a little island in the Mediterranean. You see, Peter's father (PeterII) had ceded Sicily to the Holy See. Martin then gave Sicily to Charles of Valois (the French/Angevin), Martin was unhappy when the Sicilians invited Peter to take over again.

Then, to complicate matters, Peter's brother King James II of Majorca joined the French, thus creating a civil war. James also held the county of Rousillon on the mainland, and it stood between the dominions of the French and Aragonese monarchs. James welcomed the French army into Rousillon in 1284, but the populace rose up against them under the command of the Bastard of Rousillon. The French eventually won, burning the church and massacring the people. The French also took Girona the following year, but their fortunes were soon reversed by the intercession of Peter's Admiral, Roger de Lauria (yes, he's in the book too). A celebrated and feared naval commander, Roger defeated the French fleet at the Battle of Les Formigues. Following a camp epidemic of dysentery, the French army on land was then defeated at the Battle of the Col de Panissars. Historian HJ Chaytor said the Aragonese Crusade was "perhaps the most unjust, unnecessary and calamitous enterprise ever undertaken by the Capetian monarchy." It was to have far-reaching consequences for the history of Europe.

Friday, December 11, 2015

December Saints Days, Coffee and Chocolate

So I'm going through my usual morning routine - the cats (which they had in the 13th century) jump on my head, I get up and make coffee (which Sicily did not have in the 13th century) and I contemplate my espresso beans - a gift from my sweet friend Meredith - covered in chocolate (which they did not have in Sicily in the 13th century.  My, those 13th century Sicilians were deprived!  Well, they had cats.  And lemons.  And cane sugar.  And leather.  It's a start ...


And because one of my friends mentioned the Feast of the Immaculate Conception the other day (December 8) I thought I'd peruse the Book of Saints to see how many December saints there are.  Holy Smokes!  Check out the list below - there's a virtual plethora of them!   Happy Feast Days!  (it always comes back to food doesn't it?)


St. Francis Xavier
St. John Damascene
St. Nicholas (
Santa Claus)
St. Ambrose
Mary's Immaculate Conception
St. Damasus
Our Lady of Guadalupe
St. Jane Frances de Chantal
St. John of the Cross
St. Peter Canisius
St. Lucy (Santa Lucia - my personal favorite)
St. John of Kanti
St. Stephen
St. John the Apostle
Holy Innocents
St. Thomas Becket
St. Sylvester


Now, as a defunct Methodist, most of these saints are not familiar to me.  But Santa Lucia, not only a popular saint in Sicily/Italy, I met at a Lutheran Church in Chicago.  I attended a Santa Lucia Day ceremony, with young girls coming down the aisle wearing tiaras with lighted candles on their heads.  Very impressive.  Santa Lucia is also Siracusa's patron saint and they have a beautiful procession, with Santa Lucia cakes.


And who doesn't know the story of Thomas Becket?  "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest" in the famous words of Henry II.  Arrivaderci, Thomas.


And that's my December saints blog!

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Muslim expulsion from Sicily

Reading about Republican proposals to ban Muslims from immigrating to America recalls the various efforts in the Middle Ages to do the same thing in other lands. For over 400 years in the Early Middle Ages, Muslims controlled the Middle East, Jerusalem and Constantinople, destroying Christian shrines and temples and murdering pilgrims. Conflict reigned between the religious groups for centuries. In the 1090's the Seljuk Turks overran Arab Constantinople and in 1098, the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt conquered the Turks. By 1099, Pope Urban II was calling for the first Crusade to return the Holy Land to Christian control, and to unite the eastern and western branches of the church. In a series of 7 major Crusades over the next 200 years, Europeans streamed into the Holy Land to kill the "infidels", and in the process, be absolved of their sins and have a chance to acquire wealth and position. Crusaders breached the walls of Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, killing the residents indiscriminately. Contemporary sources said the streets of the city ran with "blood up to the ankles".

Against the background of the Great Schism, the Pope sanctioned the Norman conquest of the Muslim Emirate of Sicily in 1066. For about 100 years thereafter, contrary to other kingdoms, Muslims were accepted on the island. Mulsims served in government posts and the army. However, vilification of Muslims gradually took hold in Sicily as well as in other parts of Europe, and their royal protection ended with the death of William the Good in 1189. Frederick II then enacted many repressive measures against the Muslims to please the Pope. Eventually there was a failed Muslim rebellion on the island, leading to formal expulsion in 1224 of 15-20,000 Muslims to Lucera, a town on the southern end of the mainland. There the Muslim population could be isolated and controlled, but also taxed. King Charles (the Angevin ruler in our mysteries) finally decimated the colony of Muslims in 1300 before his final defeat by Peter of Aragon.Those Muslims that weren't killed in his pogrom were exiled. Estimates are that about 10,000 of them were sold into slavery.

...And the beat goes on...

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Greek temples, Hannibal, Segesta, Agrigento

I keep being dragged back to the impact the Greeks, and other ancient civilizations, had on Sicily, when I look at pictures of ancient Greek temples.  Anyone remotely interested in that subject knows that the best extant examples are in Sicily - Segesta, Agrigento, around Siracusa.


On my trip this April with my friend Alison, we were lucky to be driving through Segesta and Agrigento and seeing these massive (and they are massive) buildings from the autostrada is incredible.


And since I just got back from soaking in a neighboring hot spring, I was also interested to learn that Segesta was famous as a medicinal soaking place.  Its hot springs were sulphurous, its founders were reputed by Thucydides to be Trojans and Phocians, who pre-date the Greeks on the island.  This is an old, old place.


Segesta kept changing alliances between the Carthaginians and the Athenians, not to her benefit.  Eventually she became subject to Carthage, then came under a brutal attack by the Athenian Agathocles, who came to Sicily to war against the Carthaginians.  Segesta welcomed him, but for some reason he turned against them and hurled men from catapults, or bound them in brass beds with recesses for their arms and legs, then roasted them alive.  What happened to diplomacy?


And I always wondered what happened to Hannibal of Carthage.  I always imagined he was trampled by one of his elephants, but of course that wasn't the case.  He actually died in Sicily, besieging Agrigento somewhere around 414 B.C.  For eight months the siege dragged on but when Agrigento's mercenaries deserted and the Carthaginians poured into the city, the prominent men of Agrigento sealed themselves into the Temple of Athena and set fire to it, preferring death by burning to capture by Carthaginians.


A reflection on war, torture and its ongoing, seemingly never-ending, appearances.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Great Schism and Sicily

The pilgrims featured in Murder at the Leopard are given a tour of some of the churches of Palermo as Sophia makes various offerings to God to assure her soon-to-be delivered infant is a boy. Two of those churches, La Matorana and San Cataldo, both built in the mid 12th century, lie across the courtyard from one another. In fact, these two churches were built for different communities within what we know as "the Church". La Matorana was a Greek Orthodox church completed in 1151, but San Cataldo was a Roman Orthodox church completed in 1160. As we look at Sicilian history, The Great Schism of 1054 (Pope Nicholas II) which separated the church into Roman and Greek branches, underlies the conquest of Sicily by the Normans.
        The Great Schism was a result of centuries of conflict and divisions between the East and the West, ultimately being traced back to the division of the Roman Empire into its Eastern and Western rulers. Sicily, long a prize for any ruling power, was controlled by the Arabs before the Norman invasion. Normans, and many other groups, had been present in Sicily as crusaders, merchants, and adventurers for years. But Pope Nicholas wanted the island to be under the rule of the Roman church rather than the Greek church, and he wanted the Arabs pushed out due to their friendly relations with Byzantium. Essentially, he made it known that the Normans could take as much of Sicily as they wanted if they wrested it from the Arabs and promised to affiliate with the Roman branch of the church. The stage was thus set for the Norman wars of conquest in Sicily, Roger de Hauteville conquered Messina in 1061 and finally gained Palermo in 1071. Although the golden age of Sicily under the Normans was a tolerant, multicultural society, the island and other parts of Europe gradually became more Latinized, and the Greek Orthodox churches were subsumed by the Roman Orthodoxy.


Monday, November 23, 2015

Austrian undies

A 2008 discovery in an Austria’s Castle Lengberg has revealed dozens of new textile artifacts including a bra from the 15th century. A room in the castle was sealed off in the late 15th-century, and its dry conditions helped preserve organic material. Hundreds of textiles were discovered. Among them were four nearly complete linen bras and fragments of corselettes, some rather coarsely made others more elaborately decorated with plaited borders and sprang worked parts. Also found was underwear that looks remarkably like a string bikini. Radio-carbon dating has confirmed the age of the find.“All other textiles from this find, like fragments of dresses, shirts, trousers, laces etc., fit well to the 15th century. In addition, the shoes being found together with the textiles in the same layer are all of types in fashion from the end of the 14th to the first half of the 15th century.” FROM JULY 17, 2012 BY MEDIEVALISTS.NET

Now the heroines of The Vespers Series lived in a very different climate about 200 years earlier than the dates of this clothing discovery, but it really makes you wonder if they also had something similar. 

Monday, November 16, 2015

Using the term "medieval" in politics

As political races heat up in the US, we hear repeated references to one group or another being "medieval" in attitude or behavior, but is that accurate? Here are some comments from David M. Perry at The Guardian.

No, Carly Fiorina, a degree in medieval history doesn't qualify you to fight Isis.

"Carly Fiorina received a BA from Stanford in medieval history and philosophy almost 40 years ago. The Republican presidential candidate claims that her degree prepared her to fight Isis, “because what Isis wants to do is drive us back to the Middle Ages”. While the Middle Ages do shape contemporary events, Fiorina almost always gets the lessons of history wrong. When we use the word “medieval” to characterize something we don’t like, we are trying to impose chronological distance between ourselves and things we find unpleasant. Thinking of these distasteful or evil aspects of the modern world as belonging to the past makes it harder, not easier, to understand their root causes and fight them. That hasn’t stopped Fiorina from incorporating her quip about Isis driving us back to the Middle Ages as a standard part of her stump speech. Moreover, touting her “medieval” credentials is a way for her to play to culture warriors who believe Christianity is under attack.

As a medievalist, I believe we need to study the past in order to respond to the present, but we must learn the right things. Isis is inspired by medieval and pre-medieval Islamic ideas about power, purity and what they believe to be the “true nature of Islam.” Medieval Islam, like all religions, contained many different ideas and practices. Some were comparatively tolerant and open to innovation and differences; others were more restrictive. Looking into the history of any religion finds examples of both the best and worst of humanity within it.

It’s vital to recognize, though, as John Terry writes in Slate, that the viciousness of Isis emerges from its modernity, not its artificial links to the past. “Isis is nostalgic for a make-believe past, and those among them who know plenty about Islam’s first decades have conveniently revised medieval history to fit modern ideological needs.” Isis depends on modernity. Their growth was made possible by modern wars – from the division of the Middle East post-World War I to the most recent wars in Iraq and Syria. It’s only in this ultra-modern context that a group like Isis could grow and flourish. If Fiorina really wants to draw on the Middle Ages for inspiration, Perry  suggests: 1) support universities, scholars, writers and artists, as their contributions outlive us all; 2) peasants, oppressed for too long, always rebel; 3) don’t go to war in the Middle East without a good exit plan."

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Writing fiction, writing groups and finding your market

I don't think we could have written, much less finished, the first two books in the Vespers Trilogy without a writing group.  Both my co-author and me agree that we need those extra eyes, not just for grammar, but for continuity, sense, anachronisms, all of that. 


What I've learned from writing historical fiction is that I may have the story in my head, but that doesn't necessarily flow effortlessly and gracefully onto the paper.  I still don't know why that doesn't happen but it doesn't for me.  I need objective input, which I may or may not take, but talking about my latest pages and pondering about them motivates me to do better.  It also motivates me to write, period.


My new writing group also discussed finding their markets last week.  This has always proven to be a difficult and nebulous audience to find.  It's obvious that people go to local bookstores to check out the newest and the latest, or peruse something like USA Today's Bestseller list.  But what happens when you are self-published and your book(s) have been out for awhile?  Then where's your market?


Any suggestions, opinions, comments are all appreciate and answered.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Siracusa, ancient Greeks, Plutarch, Santa Lucia, travel

I was just going through some pictures and reminiscing about the trips I've taken to Siracusa, and isn't it interesting how you think you know a place and then you either re-visit or read something and you think, wow, I never saw that!  Like the Edificio Termale in eastern Achradina, a Roman bathhouse where an emperor was supposedy assassinated in 668 AD by a servant who clobbered him with a soapdish.  Gee, and I love to soak ... just keep an eye on where all the soapdishes are.


We all know that Siracusa was founded by the ancient Greeks and the famous spring, Fonte Aretusa, which supposed turned red with blood when a sacrifice was made at the sanctuary of Olympia in Greece.  Also that if a cup was thrown into the river in Olympia, it would rise in Ortygia.  I personally never saw any cups floating around, but I did walk all over Ortygia and it was beautiful.  They say Plutarch wept when the beautiful city of Siracusa fell to the Romans.


And of course Cicero, the famous orator, was impressed with Siracusa as well (who wasn't?) and talks about the extravagant decorations of ivory and gold on the outside of the Greek temple where the Duomo is now.  And Cicero went on to prosecute Verres, the nasty Roman governor who plundered many of Sicily's treasures with impunity.


Last but not least, I'm always fascinated with Santa Lucia.  I first met this saint in a Lutheran church in Chicago, where Santa Lucia Day is celebrated as a festival of light on the shortest day of the year.  Girls came down the aisle with tiaras of real candles in their hair (yikes, I'd be scared to do that) and there were special cakes and food.  Imagine my surprise when years later I go to Sicily and again meet Santa Lucia, who is the patron saint of Siracusa, and famous throughout the island.


Anyway who has knowledge or stories about Santa Lucia, please cough them up, I'd love to hear them.


And the last thing I want to say about Siracusa, is the fabulous food I have always had there - octopi, sea bass, gelato - you name it, we ate it and it was all wonderful.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Ambassadors of Peace

Knowledge from the Malian manuscripts (see last week's post) has been passed down from one generation to the next for centuries. If your parents (I would guess father) were scholars, you were expected to be a scholar. For almost a thousand years, Islamic scholars who reached the pinnacle of learning as "Ambassadors of Peace" sat daily before sunrise in an assembly called the "Circle of Knowledge," instructing devotees with lessons and insights derived from these ancient manuscripts. The path to "Ambassadorship" is incomprehensibly demanding. Before reaching the age of five, each student must become an apprentice and pledge to study under the tutelage of the same teacher. The apprenticeship is a process lasting thirty-five years. By the age of ten, students must be able to converse in several languages and must be able to recite the Koran from memory. Prior to turning forty, every apprentice must have mastered Islamic jurisprudence in addition to his own chosen field of study. At that point, each candidate goes out into the streets as a beggar, to instill humility. Then, if they demonstrate that they are totally devoted to God, they become " Ambassadors of Peace. "
Trade routes through Timbuktu
The remarkable story of the Malian manuscripts began with an insurgency led by jihadists that overthrew the relatively stable government of Mali in 2012. Various groups within the rebels fought each other to gain control. One group, the Ansar Dine, bulldozed World Heritage Sites in Timbuktu, including the grave sites of Sufi saints. Timbuktu is known as the City of 333 Saints, for the Sufi Saints buried there. Sufism is a branch of Islam noted for its commitment to peaceful resolution of conflict. 
Eventually, France ordered the Foreign Legion to enter Mali and restore order. In retaliation for France's intervention, Ansar Dine destroyed 4,000 of Mali's ancient manuscripts in a blaze of fire.  The wanton destruction of these irreplaceable documents was a devastating blow.
Approximately 80,000 ancient manuscripts were reportedly housed in Timbuktu's official libraries, of which 20,000 had been catalogued. Many manuscripts are in private collections or have not yet been discovered, Abdel Kader Haidara, a  librarian featured in the film "333," devised a plan to save Timbuktu's remaining manuscripts mand raised roughly $1 million from the Ford Foundation, the German and Dutch governments, and an Islamic center in Dubai to collect and preserve them. Haidara bribed the insurgents, and with donkeys, boats and human haulers, smuggled as many as three-hundred-fifty-thousand manuscripts out of Timbuktu and into Bamako, the capital of Mali. But since then, Bamako's humidity has done more damage to these precious tomes than the Sahara's scorching sun had wreaked over the last 800 years.
Nearly 500,000 Malians were displaced from their homeland during the civil war. However, the Malians followed the ancient teachings set out in their historic manuscripts and applied Mali's centuries-old tradition of peacefully resolving conflict through dialogue to end the fighting. On Saturday, June 20, 2015, the various parties gathered at last, to sign a peace accord to end the years of fighting between them. A poignant example that Islam can be a religion of peace and understanding and not just one of violent jihad.
To see Sabatier Film Group's fascinating " 333 " trailer about the manuscripts and "Ambassadors of Peace", visit: http://www.SabatierFilmGroup.com.
Mali Manuscripts - Huffington Post

Friday, October 30, 2015

Bread history in Sicily, impanata and scaccie

I just happened to be re-reading Mary Simeti's wonderful book on Sicily and Sicilian cooking, Pomp and Sustenance, 25 Centuries of Sicilian Cooking, and I became intrigued with her chapter on bread.


Now, whoever said that man cannot live by bread alone is clearly an idiot.  I can.  Although if there's peanut butter around, that's a definite plus.


I was looking at the various fillings for impanata or bread pie.  Page 123 for those who are interested.  Filling #1 is raw Swiss chard, tomatoes, crushed red pepper, salt and olive oil.  I don't know about you, but it would never enter my mind to stuff bread with raw Swiss chard, but hey, I'm the peanut butter girl, remember?  Tomatoes, clearly a recipe after the 17th century as tomatoes are a New World addition to the Italian cuisine.
Filling #2 includes cauliflower or broccoli, raw fresh Sicilian sausage, ground pork, fennel seeds, and cheese - either tuma, primosale or mozzarella - and of course black pepper and olive oil.  This sounds yummy.
Filling #3 sounds pretty good too - chopped fresh raw spinach, black pepper and olive oil and caciocavallo or parmesan cheese.   Grrrrr.


Is there anything such as too much cheese?


Scaccie are stuffed bread rolls and obviously those fillings are varied.  Her filling #1 includes eggplant fried in olive oil (and nowhere in the world is there fried eggplant as delicious as in Sicily - many have tried and all have failed), tomatoes, basil, caciocavallo or parmesan cheese and surprise!  Black pepper and olive oil.  I don't know, I think I could eat about 20 of these ... 
Filling #2 is fresh ricotta, scallions, either of the above cheeses, eggs and black pepper.


All I know is, while I rarely try to cook from her book, I love reading about all these delicious foods.  it brings back all the months Bill and I wandered through Palermo and parts of Sicily and just ate what people gave us.  Ummm, what great memories.

Monday, October 26, 2015

Manuscripts found in Mali

Books were precious in medieval times. Stories and songs were transmitted orally. Paper or parchment was scarce, and books were hand copied. Read below of a great find.  (From the Huffington Post)
King Musa of Mali
For centuries, Timbuktu provided rest alongside the Niger River for travelers journeying across Africa. From the 12th - 16th Centuries, Mali was an intellectual haven for Islamic scholars. Manuscripts produced during that time have survived centuries of unprotected storage in Timbuktu, and only recently came to the attention of the world.  Michael Covitt was one of the first to recognize the value of these documents, not only as historical artifacts, but also as true Islamic manuscripts professing peaceful resolution of conflict and a world of tolerance, understanding and the dignity of mankind.
He increased awareness of the documents around the world, digitizing the manuscripts for scholars to study, and preserving the original documents in a proper, climate controlled environment. His documentary film, '333,' is a superb film about the region, the manuscripts, and the message of peace. 
"In a time when the teachings of Islam are being perverted and conflict appears to be the preferred action for many extremists, the Malian Manuscripts provide a better solution for mankind."-- Gen. Carlton W. Fulford, Jr., retired USMC. See more about the project to save the Malian Documents at: http://www.malianmanuscriptfoundation.org/
Mansa Musa, a legendary African monarch with incomparable wealth, was King of Mali when Mali was the world's wealtiest nation, controlling two-thirds of the earth's gold supply. In 1324, King Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca, attended by sixty-thousand men including twelve thousand slaves, each carrying four-pound gold bars. They also boasted heralds dressed in silks, brandishing gold staffs four meters long, countless horses, plus eighty camels, each carrying between fifty and three hundred pounds of gold dust. The King donated so much gold to the needy that the Mediterranean gold market collapsed. His primary objective was to worship at the most sacred shrine of Islam, the Kaaba, and then to bring home as many religious scholars as possible to create a new center for Islamic scholarship in Timbuktu. He established one of the world's most prestigious universities of the time. A total of one-hundred-eighty different Koranic schools were organized under the authority of the University of Sankoré. 
From the 12th - 16th centuries, twenty-five-thousand students annually attended this distinguished university. Having received the best education available, many scholars settled in Mali, contributing their own manuscripts to the vast library taking form. Nearly one million manuscripts in all, covering every imaginable topic, would eventually find a home there.  
More to come about these incredible documents

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Dolci, pignolata, Carnival cakes, honey, white meringue, chocolate

Not that I'm thinking about birthday cakes or anything like that, but I just happened to be reading about pignolata last night, which Bill and I ate in Palermo.  The word "pigna" is Italian for cone and they are cone-shaped little cakes made from leftover doughs of the Carnival cakes.  Then they're fried and drizzled in honey- YUMMMMMMM - and nowadays they put chocolate on top or white meringue.


Another dessert we had occasionally at the Rosa Nero in Palermo, our favorite trattoria in the Kalsa, was arancine al cioccolato.  Arancine are usually rice and/or meat filled fried balls, delicious finger food and very satisfying to walk around and eat.  The Rosa Nero made arancine with part of the inside rice ball removed and stuffed with vanilla and chocolate bits.  Then fried.  I thought I died and went to heaven!

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Cefalu and wonderful ceramics

Gee, I got so wrapped up in food I almost forgot!  Cinzia and Antonio also have a small shop in town where their beautiful ceramics are displayed.  I brought home incredible red ancient Greek patterns that Antonio told me were patterned after Etna and it's lava fireworks display and lava flows.


Of course the Greeks had a profound influence on Sicily - read Thucydides if you don't believe me.

Cefalu, cooking class in Sicily, Roger II and wonderful ceramics

So my friend, Mary Calhoun, is back in Cefalu again!  Lucky her.   Alison and I met her when we did our 12 day tour of Sicily this year.  Where did we meet?  At a fabulous cooking class, Sicilian Food Lovers -Antonio was the chef and his wife Cinzia were absolutely wonderful.  We made pasta (good grief, who would have thought?), the filling for cannoli and had we ate outside by the olive and orange trees on a beautiful 17th century estate.  Can it get much better?  We had a terrific time and boy did I eat a lot.


Cefalu is a beautiful seaside resort between Palermo and Messina.  Most people go to see Roger II's cathedral, which we did go into.  Unbeknownst to Roger, someone put in modern, abstract art windows in his medieval cathedral!  For some reason though, I liked them.


We also walked along the lungomare, the usual promenade by the sea that most Sicilian towns have and we ate our share of octopus, sea bass and dolci.


For us history lovers, Cefalu dates back to the Carthaginians, Phoenicians, and all the usual suspects who found their way to Sicily.  Cicero is said to have stopped there and pronounced it one of the most beautiful places in Sicily. 

Monday, October 12, 2015

Darn! I missed it! Just as we have Renaissance festivals around the US, there is a medieval festival every August in Geraci, a community just southeast of Palermo. Settimana Medievale during the first week of August is dedicated to the Giostra dei Ventimiglia. The historical re-enactment is part of a cultural tourism project. Through a series of cultural, social and economic initiatives, the project aims to promote and recuperate the historical memory of all of those communes (around 30) that used to be part of the prestigious Contea di Geraci (Contea means "county"), a genuine state within a state during the period of the Kingdom of Sicily. The "county" was a large land grant to a noble family by the Normans and became associated with the Ventimiglia family through marriage.

The re-enactment involves a procession in XIV century dress, jousting, displays of dressage and falconry, medieval cuisine, music and plays, cultural events and the ressurection of the old money of the Ventimiglia Earldom. Its success hinges on the rediscovery of the medievalness of these town centres, still to be found in their architecture and lay-out, on the reconstruction of the environment and the display of typical produce in medieval tents. The festival probably focuses on a period of time a little later than the Vespers period, but undoubtedly includes many traditions that had been in existence for centuries. From Sicilianexperience.com

Friday, October 9, 2015

Hot springs, essential oils, aromatherapy

I just got back from Orvis Hot Springs, soaking in natural hot springs for two days.  One of the other pleasures besides soaking was I had a terrific massage (ask for Priscilla if you go - she's fabulous!) who used a very pampering massage oil she called rose quartz.  One of its ingredients was something I had never heard of (and I have had a LOT of massages) - ylang ylang.  So I looked it up and therefore became curious as to what I thought might be available to Ysabella and Company in Sicily around the time of the Vespers.


So - ylang ylang originates from Madagascar and the flower looks like a yellow or pink tiger lily, although it's a tree.  It is supposed to help with high blood pressure, nervousness and the like.  But it's the smell that's heavenly.  And so unusual I had to ask about it.  So below are some of the oils that might have been available to Ysabella in Sicily.
As with all oils, it seems every one I investigated, according to The Bulk Apothecary, instructs pregnant women to avoid using them.  Sorry ladies!  Afterwards!  All properties and descriptions are from The Bulk Apothecary online.
Fennel.  There's actually a fennel essential oil.  I use fennel in salads and was introduced to doing that in Sicily.  It's supposed to be invigorating, stimulating and warming, aside from that anise smell that I really like.
Myrtle.  Another surprise.  While doing my dissertation, I found dozens of references to "myrtle skutching".  Apparently medieval Sicilians used myrtle in huge tubs (think grapes and winemaking) where slaves would mash it for its tannin in the famed leather tanning and industry of Sicily.  The oil may be used as an astringent, antiseptic, and decongestant and is used in aromatherapy as a remedy for sore throats and coughs.
Blood orange.  Bill and I both drank gallons of blood orange juice in Sicily.  It's red and wonderful and tasty and tangy.  Even better than regular orange juice.  I really missed it when I came back to the U.S.  And what a shock!  There's an essential oil for it too!  It's used as an antiseptic, anti-depressant and an aphrodisiac.  Hmmm.  That explains some things.  Anyway, the scent is described, like all citruses to me, light and uplifting.


And that's my medieval essential oils report for the day!

Monday, October 5, 2015

More on Findlen's view of feminism

Macchiavelli aggressively made up [biographies of] medieval women and supplied the evidence that was missing for them." Presented as facts, these fables forged the medieval origins of Bologna's female intelligentsia.
While people later recognized that Macchiavelli was a forger, he brought critical attention to women's lives. In a sense, He also contributed to the beginnings of the discipline of medieval history. When he forged a document, he did so based on extensive knowledge of the archives and a fine understanding of historical method. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, people began to identify and select the documents that matter for defining the Middle Ages.
Between the 15th and 18th centuries, Findlen said, representations of medieval women enhanced a city's reputation. Scholars in Bologna wanted to learn about its presumed tradition of learned women. They craved information about medieval women who could provide historical precedents for someone like Laura Bassi, the first woman who can be documented as receiving a degree and professorship from the University of Bologna in 1732. Having precedents made her seem like a reinvention of the old rather than someone threateningly new.

Findlen first turned to Christine de Pizan (c. 1364-1430), the daughter of a University of Bologna graduate and professor. She is perhaps best known for her writings praising women. In her Book of the City of Ladies (1405), a catalog of illustrious women, Christine contemplated her Italian roots. This longing for her past inspired Christine to imagine "what the ingredients were of this world that made her, and other women like her," Findlen said. Although inspired by some kernels of truth, Christine's writings invented evidence to fill out her narratives, Findlen said. In this way, Christine provides a starting point for Bologna's interest in women's history that will unfold over the next four centuries.
Findlen's project rethinks our compulsion to write about the past. "Some of the stuff we take for granted is legend, not fact," she said, "but the unreliability of the past is also part of the evidence that we have to account for." 
Envisioning the wider impact of her work, Findlen said: "I would like this project to offer a window into the invention of history, taking Italy as a case study, to understand why people were so passionate about the Middle Ages. During the Renaissance, people are increasingly concerned with documenting the history that was.They're interested in the history that might have been. And then they're also interested in the history that should have been. And those are three different approaches to history."

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Women, sfinci di san Giuseppe and Sichelgaita

Just some rambling thoughts about women and food in Sicily and Southern Italy.  The author of Sweet Sicily, when talking about Sfinci di San Giuseppe, compares this wonderful dessert (which I had at the Rosa Nero trattoria in Palermo) with a woman - soft, round and delicious in every way.


Sfinci di san Giuseppe is a sweet fried dough ball filled with cream of ricotta, sugar and chocolate chips.  Sometimes it's decorated with orange zest and candied cherries.  The origin of the name is uncertain, but the author thinks it might be from the Greek spoggos or Arabic isfang, both words meaning sponge, the texture of this sweet dessert.  It's made usually for St. Joseph's tables on March 19 but I found it all over Palermo.


And speaking about feminism and women in the Middle Ages, my all time favorite is Sichelgaita, second wife of Robert Guiscard, a landless knight who had 10 brothers, all of whom came to southern Italy to fight originally as mercenaries for Lombard and Greek overlords.  Naturally, when you're the muscle, why fight for someone if you can take it for yourself?  Robert Guiscard, immortalized by that peerless author of Sicily and the South, John Julius Norwich, originally married a Norman noblewoman around the Troina area, but later moved on to bigger and better things.  Sichelgaita was the sister of the Prince of Salerno, she was almost six feet tall, loved wearing armor and fighting.  Legend has it that she turned the tide of the Battle of Durazzo when all the Normans fled from the Byzantine army, she raced to the front, whirling her weapon and screaming at her husband's army to act like men.  She plunged into the enemy line hacking away and Robert's army was so embarrassed that they turned and fought like demons.  They won that battle, by the way.  Anna Comnena, the Byzantine princess who writes about the Normans (among other things) at the time, said that Sichelgaita was "a fearsome sight."  I'll bet!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Feminism in medieval times

Today, feminism is often associated with political protests of the 1960s or the women's suffrage movement, but Stanford historian Paula Findlen's research reveals that the impetus to champion women started in the late Middle Ages. A scholar of the Italian Renaissance, Findlen collects biographies of medieval women, written in Italy from the 15th to 18th centuries, several centuries after the women lived. These early modern writers were so passionate about medieval women that they sometimes fabricated stories about them.
As Findlen carefully tracked down the claims in these stories, she found they varied from factual to somewhat factual to entirely false.These invented women were often mentioned in regional histories, with imaginary connections to important institutions. They were described as having law degrees or professorships, claims that turned out to be fictitious. Findlen argues that these embellished tales represent what could be described as the origins of a certain kind of feminism.
"Early modern forgers used stories of women to create precedents in support of things they wanted to see in their own time but needed to justify by invoking the past," Findlen said. "While debating the existence of these medieval women, the writers also contributed to the science of history as we know it." Findlen described her foray into conjectural history as "a project about how early modern medievalists invented the Middle Ages, claiming and defining this past. Making up history is a way of ensuring that you get the past you want."
In her forthcoming publication titled "Inventing Medieval Women: History, Memory and Forgery in Early Modern Italy," Findlen pays particular attention to Alessandro Macchiavelli, an 18th-century lawyer from a Bolognese family. Macchiavelli was passionate about finding evidence to support Bologna's reputation as a "paradise for women." He created stories and footnotes about learned medieval women from the region, including writer Christine de Pizan. According to Findlen, "He aggressively made up [biographies of] medieval women and supplied the evidence that was missing for them." More to come....

Sunday, September 27, 2015

The Baroness and the real Caltagirone

In Book #2 of the Vespers Trilogy, Malice Stalks the Leopard, one of the major characters is The Baroness, an old love of Ferdinand de Lerida.  She is presented in the book as the widow of the Count of Caltagirone.  Naturally, she's a fictitious person who was fun to write, but the real family who ruled this region was powerful and always part of the king's counsel.  The city is also one of the oldest in Sicily, dating back to before 1000 B.C.


Today, Caltagirone is known for its ceramics, the beauty of which date back to Arab times in Sicily - 9th and 10th century - because the Arabs brought the greens, blues and yellows to the industry.  They also brought a sophistication to the ceramics with geometric designs and graceful  depictions of animals and plants.  This is typical of Sicilian ceramics today and what this area is famous for.


And of course, the name itself is said to be of Moorish derivation - the name Caltagirone means Castle or Fortress of Vases.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Midwives Part 3

Midwives worked at their chosen profession with little interference from men throughout most of the medieval era. This may have had to do with various taboos surrounding the "secret" parts of female anatomy. However, as the professionalization of medical practitioners began to advance, the women's role as midwife was ultimately pushed aside. Generally, midwives learned their trade from other women and from personal experiences with childbearing. Men were not allowed to view childbearing. Laws aimed at regulating the professions were eventually imposed from the outside by municipal or ecclesiastical authorities to ensure that infants were not delivered by "charlatans". Given the religious tasks of the midwife described by Sam Thomas, particularly baptism, you can bet these so-called charlatans were non-believers or heretics. The church managed to impose itself on everyone's lives. Brussels, Belgium, was the first town to enact regulations on the functions of midwives in 1424. These restrictions contributed to a reduction in the staus and role of the midwife and a more general degradation of attitudes toward women, particularly those with knowledge and power, at the end of the Middle Ages.

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Edith Pargeter

I finished the Ellis Peters novel about Cadfael and was eager to know a little more about the author, Ellis Peters is a pen name for Edith Pargeter (1913 to 1995) who wrote many novels and non-fiction volumes up until just a few years before her death. Born in Horsehay, Shropshire, she was fascinated by the history of Wales, especially medieval history. She is especially known for the Cadfael mysteries, the Brothers of Gwynedd quartet, and The Heaven Tree trilogy, all about medieval Wales. She also wrote 13 George Felse mysteries, but I haven't explored those yet. Interestingly, Gwynedd is a town that is mentioned in Monk's Hood, the mystery I just finished, as well as having the quartet named after it. I was lucky enough to find the Heaven Tree trilogy at my local used book sale, which benefits the public library. Many communities have such sales and they are great for collectors, book lovers, and explorers. Just the place to try out a new author for very little investment.
Ellis Peters -Wikipedia image

Monday, September 7, 2015

Aconitum, also known as monkshood, wolf's bane, Queen of all Poisons and several other names, is a genus of over 250 species of perennial flowering plants native to the mountains of the northern hemisphere. It is extremely poisonous. Several cultures use one or another of the species as arrow poisons, including the Minaro, Ainu, Chinese and Aleuts. Cleopatra used aconite to kill her brother Ptolemy XIV, so she could put her son on his throne. It has been used in multiple real and fictional murders. One of the most recognizable is Monk’s Hood by Ellis Peters (1980), which I have just been reading.  It also features prominently in wolfman and vampire stories.
Monks' Hood photo by Bernd Haynold
.

Marked symptoms appear within one hour with ingestion of the poison. Death may occur instantaneously with large doses or within two to six hours in lower doses (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal) The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen.  In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. Cardiovascular features include hypotension, bradycardia, and arrhythmia. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.


Poisoning may also occur by picking the leaves without wearing gloves, as the toxin is absorbed easily through the skin. In this event, there will be no gastrointestinal effects. Tingling will start at the point of absorption and extend up the arm to the shoulder, after which the heart will start to be affected. 

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Midwife Detective

I recently finished reading The Midwife's Tale by Sam Thomas, and it was a good story. I thought his descriptions of the midwife's activities might be insightful since lovely Renata in book 3 of our series will be apprenticed to a midwife. The time periods and the cultural background between the two differ, but the job, I believe, remains pretty much the same. What was most curious to me was the multiple roles played by a licensed midwife. First, she was helper, healer and educator to the pregnant woman. She not only delivered the baby but also provided pre-natal care and then taught the mother how to nurse and care for the child during the first few months. Second, the midwife, had a role in the baptism of the child. The mother, being confined to her home for 40 days after birth, could not attend the child's baptism, so the midwife carried the child to the church and told the priest what it's name would be. Of course, she likely consulted with the family about that. Thirdly, the midwife was an agent of the crown, at least in 1600's England, because it was her job to drag the name of the father out of an unwed mother. In fact, she may have refused her services until the name was revealed. Then the government could make the father pay child support so the burden of another mouth to feed did not fall upon the very limited social resources of the time. So midwife as private detective.... Too many cases in which she could not get the father's name and she may have had her license revoked.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Medieval beekeeping

Anyone interested in honey or bees should check out medieval beekeeping.  Just google that and the images that come up are incredible. 


The source I read tonight was a 10th century Byzantine agricultural work, the Geoponika.  In Sicily and the Roman world, Virgil's widely read work on agriculture would have been the source for any beekeeper, provided, of course, he or she could read Latin.


The Byzantine work indicates that beechwood, fig or Valonia (where is that?!) oak should be used for the hive and rubbed with ash and cow dung.  Ash - okay, cow dung - I just don't know about that ...


Basins of wine mixed with honey should be put out to feed young bees and the beekeeper should be sure to put leaves (the source says of savory, but I imagine any leaves will do) in the bowl so that the bees have something to crawl on and won't drown.


Honey should be harvested three times a year - in early May, summertime, and finally around October.  Of course, some honey needs to be left in the hive.


To avoid being stung, smoke was used.  The medieval images also show masks and protective clothing and also smearing oneself with the juice of the male wild mallow.  Do not ask me where that would grow or how to recognize male from female!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Palio, contrade, medieval and modern mutual aid society and social club, Siena

Everyone knows about Siena's famous 90 second horse race, the Palio.  Who has been to Siena?  Who has seen the Palio raced?  There are 17 contrade or districts in Siena, and all of them have their own flags, symbols, saints, churches and organizations.  Like in the Vespers Trilogy, where the de Rogerios live in the Porta Patitellorum, one of Palermo's five districts, the Palio encompasses a fierce rivalry between the districts every August.


For the best source on this wild race, check out www.thepalio.com


As in medieval times, each contrade has its own organization.  It reminds me very much of my hometown, Chicago, whose wards and districts were under the supervision of an alderman.  The alderman knew every household, every street, and everything that went on in his district.  Italian contrade and Chicago wards function in exactly the same way - mutual aid society and social club.  Each contrade has its own church - all wards and districts have their own churches in Chicago.  When my mother was growing up, she would give directions by saying, go to such and such a parish.  If you were Methodist or Baptist, you were bewildered and SOL!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Reviews on Amazon, Death of the Leopard

Speaking of reviews, I'd like to ask a huge favor and ask anyone who has read Murder at the Leopard and Malice Stalks the Leopard, to post a review on either Amazon, Book Bub, Library Thing, or whatever else you peruse for books.   It would be most helpful to us!  Book #3, Death of the Leopard, is racing to its climax right now and we plan to have it out in October - so plan for Christmas presents!

Trade reviews, peer reviews, Amazon reviews

As all our friends know, Rhonda and I just returned from the Historical Novel Society conference in Denver.  We plunked down some bucks and asked our IT guy, Jim, to upload Murder at the Leopard to Chanticleer Reviews.


Chanticleer does trade reviews as opposed to peer reviews and Amazon reviews.  My understanding is that this reaches an audience that is more prone to buy books - movie people, librarians, publishers, booksellers, and the like.


Have any writers out there had a trade review of their book and if so, what were the results??

Friday, July 10, 2015

Listen to radio interview

This Sunday, July 12, I will be interviewed by Roscoe Ill on our local public radio station, KRZA, 88.7 on the FM dial. It's scheduled for 5 pm Mountain time and should last 45 minutes or more. KRZA has a live streaming link on its website.  I will be talking about the Vespers Series, the history behind it, our motivations for writing, the plot, the characters, etc.  I may even read an exciting scene or two from Book 3.

Speaking of Book 3, we are hoping to have the next volume out before Christmas. Mary and I are writing away, especially noting all the wonderful feedback we received at the HNS conference. It seems there were more medieval period books and authors represented at the conference this year, so check out their website and newsletter.

Friday, July 3, 2015

midwifery in medieval times

Another exciting contact we made at the HNS conference was with Lisa J. Yarde, a historian and novelist who writes about the period of the Moors in Spain. Lisa, Kim Rendfeld, Judith Starkson, and Sam Thomas explained midwife practices from the ancient Hittites to the 15th century. Check out Lisa's blog at http://thebrooklynscribbler.blogspot.com/

Did you know that midwives were rarely accused of witchcraft? Their importance and status in the community discouraged such allegations. Instead, a midwife was brought in to check the female body for the witch's mark, an unusual discoloration, skin tag, or other anomaly that indicated the place where the witch's familiar drank blood from her body.  Now which of us doesn't have a spot that could be labeled a witch's mark?

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Lisa Yarde - medieval author

Like I said, I've just returned from the Historical Novel Society conference in Denver and I bought a book from a woman who also writes about the 13th century!   Do you think we have anything in common?


I bought her book, Sultana, set in Granada in 13th century Moorish Spain.    As you know, the Vespers series is set during the War of the Vespers, when Aragon battles Charles of Anjou for control of Sicily.  The whole Iberian peninsula is fascinating, especially in that time period.


So go to Lisa's site - it's at:  www.lisajyarde.com and check out all her books, and, well, check out her!  She was terrific to talk to and who can go wrong writing about the 13th century?  Right?

Holidays - modern and medieval

I don't know about you, but I'm gearing up for cooking out with my friends over the 4th of July weekend.  There's nothing so satisfying as a well-grilled burger with chips and good coleslaw and fabulous baked beans.  Not to mention all the tasty desserts people manage to come up with (I'm an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie girl myself).


So it always makes me think - what did medieval people do?  For sure not grilling burgers, especially in Sicily, although the classic movie shot of Henry VIII (was it Charles Laughton?) who was gnawing on a huge animal bone and throwing it over his shoulder ...


But Ysabella and Family weren't doing that, I don't think, although they may have been roasting bits of fried meat as snackies, they certainly had veggies galore and salad stuff (do you think they made honey mustard dressing?  probably not ...) and had lots of desserts made - at least in Sicily - from almonds, pistachios, sugar (yes, they grew sugar there) some of them called Chancellor's Buttocks and Virgin's Breasts.  I leave it to your research ingenuity to find those ...

Sailfish steaks in the market

Vegetable market in Sicily

Peasant dance in medieval times, with aprons

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Sicilian carts at Grant's Farm

Hey, I just got back from the Historical Novel Society conference in Denver and ran into my old friend, Sandy, whose blog you need to visit.  Check out the colorful Sicilian carts at Grant's Farm that she talks about - great pictures too - here's the link - www.theitaliansouth.com and see Sicily in Missouri.


And speaking of the Historical Novel Society and Sicily, you might want to check out Dan Armstrong's book called The Siege of Syracuse, featuring Archimede's slave, Timon Leonidas.  Great read!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

sardines, anchovies, mullet and other fish stories in Sicily

Since Alison and I returned from Sicily, I can't stop thinking about the fabulous "polpe" or octopus we had in Siracusa.  And that brought back memories of a wonderful meal our friend Pietro cooked for us which included stuffed sardines alla Palermo which we shopped for in Palermo's incredible, medieval fish market, the Vucciria. 


Other friends made us mullet, swordfish and tunny and I never ate so well as I did that 8 months in Palermo.  Fresh, wonderful fish, straight from the Mediterranean.


And in Trapani, the medieval salt pans with their lazily turning windmills - beautiful scenery around Castellemare and Cefalu's beauty.  I don't know why anyone goes to mainland Italy! 


And let's remember Paolo's restaurant in Siracusa, thank you Bruno and Lucia for taking us there, it was incredible.  So was Basirico's - fabulous octopus and sea bass.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Historical Novel Society conference in Denver

This weekend my co-author and I are traveling up to Denver for the Historical Novel Society conference.  Not only do I get to rub shoulders with my fellow authors, but there are always fabulous giveaways we get to take home and we get to meet with editors, agents, and see what's new and happenin' in our world of the historical novel.


Writing fiction has come late in life to me, and what a great way to share all the research I've done and the trips we've made, including when Bill and I lived in Sicily for all those months.  For everyone who has dreamed of living in other worlds and time, check out the Historical Novel Society.  There's something for everyone!

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Yes, the Mediterranean really is that color!
Trapani Salt works
Trapani windmill in disrepair. Mounds of salt in front
Norman architecture
Medieval baths in Cefalu
I was totally envious that my writing partner got to go back to Sicily, and when she brought home the picture, my oh my, I'm sure I turned green.  She and her friends must have had a wonderful time. I got a postcard, not a T-shirt.  But with the postcard and the pictures from Trapani, I just might design a windmill quilt for her. Here are some of the wonderful places she visited.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Eating in Cefalu and Siracusa - octopus, sea bass and other yummies

Having recently returned from our trip to Sicily and Budapest, I wanted to let our readers know about a wonderful restaurant in Siracusa.  It's called Basirico's and it is in Ortigia, specializing in seafood.  My friend and I ate there twice and had octopus (my personal favorite and something you don't eat in the Rocky Mountains) and sea bass.


My Neapolitan friend just came up for a visit to the cool, refreshing mountains from Florida and has the cookbooks we love to read - the Sicilian Food Lovers cookbook (she wants to take that cooking class in Cefalu from Cinzia and Antonio!), plus Eating in Sicily and a few others.  So I don't have my normal cookbooks around me.


But octopus - goodness!  What a treat!  When I first had calamari (which is squid and not the same, correct???) in Chicago it tasted like my Jeep tires.  I decided calamari and octopi were not for me!


In Siracusa and Sicily in general, it's a whole different ball game.  I don't know what they do, but it's tender, perfect and exquisite.  Olive oil, parsley, salt, pepper and garlic with breadcrumbs is what I Sapori di Sicilia recommends for baking small squid in the oven.  (p. 178)


While I don't think I can buy any calamari or octopus (polpa or polpette as I saw it referred to in Siracusa) in a store here that even vaguely compares to fresh product in Sicily, the memory will linger for a long, long time.

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

The 4 humors of Medieval medicine

Ideas about the origin and cure of disease in the middle ages were not purely secular, but included factors such as destiny, sin, and astral influences. The efficacy of cures was similarly bound in the beliefs of patient and doctor more than in empirical evidence, so that physical remedies were often subordinate to spiritual intervention. The theory of the four humours (bodily fluids of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) arose out of Greek philosophy in an attempt to relate all things to universal laws. And so we have parallels drawn between particular aspects of the surrounding world. The humors were oftentimes attributed to appropriate seasons, properties such as hot, cold, dry, and wet, signs of Zodiac in groups of three, four ages of mankind - infancy, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, and even sometimes to the four Evangelists - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the compass directions. (Even now, we still use words "choleric", "sanguine", "phlegmatic" and "melancholy" to describe personalities.) Such balance and classification of the world was of utmost importance, hence the balance of humors within a human body was necessary for health. The physician evaluated the patient's home climate, their normal diet, and astrological charts during consultation. The heavens influenced every person in different ways by influencing elements connected to certain humors, important information in reaching a diagnosis. The physician could determine which humor was unbalanced in the patient and prescribe a new diet to restore that balance. Diet not only included food to eat or avoid but also an exercise regiment, medication, and blood-letting.