Not only do I have two new bookshelves for the overflow study/guest room, I even have some books to put on them as my long awaited Oxbow Books order arrived this morning. I am in ecstacy. So, What have I been buying?
THE IMAGE OF ARISTOCRACY IN BRITAIN 1000-1300 By David Crouch. Cost an arm and a leg but I've been needing this one for ages.
THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF RABBIT WARRENS by Tom Williamson. Not of this minute vital to my research, but good background reading. Even after 1066 the rabbit didn't run wild in Britain for 100's of years.
MEDIEVAL OBSCENITIES Edited by Nicola McDonald - featuring nuns plucking the ummm...fruits of a penis tree. I suspect this will be an interesting read!
RELIGIOUS LIFE FOR WOMEN C. 1100-C1350 Fontevraud in England by Berenice Kerr. Something a bit more sober than the previous title methinks!
OLD LONDON BRIDGE: LOST AND FOUND By Bruce Watson. A fairly basic book, aimed at the general reader, but published by the Museum of London, so the research should be reasonably sound.
THIRTEENTH CENTURY ENGLAND X: Proceedings of the Durham Conference 2003 edited by Michael Prestwich, Richard Britnell and Robin Frame. Sundry articles. Having read Sharon Kay Penman's Here Be Dragons, I am particularly interested in the one about Joanna, wife of Llewellyn Fawr.
KING STEPHEN By Donald Matthew. Another take on Stephen and since I'm writing about the period, it'll make interesting general reading.
SURVEY OF MEDIEVAL WINCHESTER 2 By Derek Keene. 2 Volumes. Not for reading in the bath. Just under 1,500 pages. I am going to have to continue weight lifting at the gym for a while longer before I can read this one in my hands. John Marshal had a dwelling in Winchester near the castle, which he used when he sat at the exchequer there (have discovered I am writing about a guy who worked for the Inland Revenue - eek!), and I want to find out more about the particular environs.
DIALOGUS DE SCACCARIO/CONSTITUTIO DOMUS REGIS Edited and translated by the late Charles Johnson. Basically Richard FitzNigel's instructions on how the exchequer works and the establishment of the royal household i.e. who did what and how much they got paid. John Marshal was on two shillings a day at a time when an ordinary household knight could expect to receive eight pence. A hornblower on the hunting staff received three pence. Fascinating if you're into that sort of thing!
Anyway, plenty here to keep me out of mischief - except perhaps the obscenities book!
4 comments:
Yum stuff!
My only sadness about the Winchester book is that it doesn't take the data back just a little further. Well, not my only sadness - some of its assumptions are occasionally a bit strained.
I am totally curious about the obscenities book. I am particularly curious to know how much of it is useable in fiction without editor saying "This has to be edited to reach American High Schools."
How did you come upon such interesting titles? Have you read or seen any of these in previous research?
I don't know when I'm going to find the time to read this Gillian, (especially as the bath is one of my usual haunts for perusal and there is NO way such a tome is going to co0operate but I'm working on it. It does look intense and fascinating. I can see why you were so taken with it recently.
KC. One of the deadliest things I can do to myself is go and browse on Oxbow Books - David Brown Books if you're in the USA - http://www.oxbowbooks.com/
It stocks thousands of luscious titles. I mostly select those I know will come in handy over a broad spectrum of novels. I know that anything by David Crouch is worth buying, so his ref works are a given. I also trawl bibliographies and footnotes when doing research reading and make notes of books and articles mentioned. I've long been after the Exchequer and royal household books. So basically, my purchase of reference works is partly a detailed knowing of what I need, partly an awareness of the area required, and partly indulgent browsing!
Hehe, I hope you'll share some interesting tidbits from the obscenities book.
I don't have to edit my stuff to have it fit US high schools, I bet the won't allow the gay sex to begin with. :)
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