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The Red Queen

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri July 30th, 2010, 8:43 am

[quote=""Misfit""]OK, face palm moment here and probably the last to realize it, but I've figured out that lacy flowery stuff on the covers - either the White or the Red rose of the two families.[/quote]

LOL! Never mind dear... I got it when I was in scrutinising book covers mode some time during The White Queen's publication.
It's interesting that PG says she is not bound by a contract. I think what she probably means is that she gets the say in who she writes about rather than she hasn't got a book contract for the novels. This series was with a new publisher because she left Harper Collins and joined Simon and Schuster for big bucks.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Miss Moppet
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Post by Miss Moppet » Fri July 30th, 2010, 11:09 am

[quote=""EC2""]LOL! Never mind dear... I got it when I was in scrutinising book covers mode some time during The White Queen's publication.
It's interesting that PG says she is not bound by a contract. I think what she probably means is that she gets the say in who she writes about rather than she hasn't got a book contract for the novels. This series was with a new publisher because she left Harper Collins and joined Simon and Schuster for big bucks.[/quote]

Yes, that was an interesting comment about her contract. I took it to mean she has a JK Rowling type arrangement where she has a lot more leeway because she is powerful.

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Berengaria
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Amazon.ca shipped early

Post by Berengaria » Fri July 30th, 2010, 6:42 pm

Because I live in BC, Amazon.ca sometimes ships early. I was very pleased that the mail was quick! :D
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“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.” ~Lady Montagu

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Vanessa
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Currently reading: The Farm at the Edge of the World by Sarah Vaughan
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Post by Vanessa » Sat July 31st, 2010, 11:49 am

Philippa Gregory was chatting on The Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman on BBC Radio 2 last night. I thought it might be of interest as you can listen to it again.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Berengaria
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Am enjoying Red Queen

Post by Berengaria » Sat July 31st, 2010, 7:00 pm

I'm getting a chuckle at what Margaret considers to be old--her second husband, Stafford, aged 35! I guess 60 year old me would be a medieval miracle! ;) But in those days, life was brutal and most people didn't expect to live too long. I also am sympathetic to "Old" Stafford for not getting all fired up and racing to battle. To me, he symbolises the pragmatic few who didn't see the wars as solving much of anything! Margaret's piety is believable for me and her having a vision with Joan of Arc....this saint would be an inspiration for any lady of the day! :)
Image My 4 girls!


“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.” ~Lady Montagu

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Sat July 31st, 2010, 11:33 pm

[quote=""Berengaria""]I'm getting a chuckle at what Margaret considers to be old--her second husband, Stafford, aged 35! I guess 60 year old me would be a medieval miracle! ;) But in those days, life was brutal and most people didn't expect to live too long. I also am sympathetic to "Old" Stafford for not getting all fired up and racing to battle. To me, he symbolises the pragmatic few who didn't see the wars as solving much of anything! Margaret's piety is believable for me and her having a vision with Joan of Arc....this saint would be an inspiration for any lady of the day! :) [/quote]

Many barons didn't get married until they were well into their 30's. This period of the MA isn't my stamping ground but in the 12th and 13th, many aristocratic men were beyond their 20's when they got around to taking a wife. People did die at a younger age, but those with good immune systems and good fortune, didn't age any differently from us and many made it well past 60 before snuffing it.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Michy
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Post by Michy » Sun August 1st, 2010, 1:26 am

[quote=""EC2""] People did die at a younger age, but those with good immune systems and good fortune, didn't age any differently from us and many made it well past 60 before snuffing it.[/quote]

I've always supposed that most people in past centuries did age faster than we do, primarily due to non-existent dentistry and more physically-strenuous lives -- I name these because these are the two factors that come to mind that could easily make you look older than you really are, regardless of what the actual state of your health might be. And of course, these would apply to the commoners more than the royals, and would be more of a factor the farther back in time you go. So I'm thinking that, in most cases, a 40-year old woman in 1310 probably looked older than most 40-year-old women today (forget cosmetic surgery -- I'm just talking about the effects of medicine and lifestyle on our appearance). Is this the opinion of most historians, or am I mistaken?

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Sun August 1st, 2010, 11:23 am

[quote=""Michy""]I've always supposed that most people in past centuries did age faster than we do, primarily due to non-existent dentistry and more physically-strenuous lives -- I name these because these are the two factors that come to mind that could easily make you look older than you really are, regardless of what the actual state of your health might be. And of course, these would apply to the commoners more than the royals, and would be more of a factor the farther back in time you go. So I'm thinking that, in most cases, a 40-year old woman in 1310 probably looked older than most 40-year-old women today (forget cosmetic surgery -- I'm just talking about the effects of medicine and lifestyle on our appearance). Is this the opinion of most historians, or am I mistaken?[/quote]

I expect sometimes you might look older in a cosmetic sense compared to certain groups of people in some parts of the world today, and their bodies would have reflected their lifestyles and the state of nutrition. (not many obesity related illnesses here. Hasn't it been said that the current generation of young western adults, down to lifestyle, are going to be first not to outlive their parents?). The teeth of the medievals might not have been straight and they might not have have toothpaste, fluoride and toothbrushes, but they also didn't have sugar and processed foods. Their jaws were actually more robust than ours are today. We are turning into chinless wonders because we no longer have to masticate our food. We have medicines to correct blips in our health and keep us alive. My husband would have died at around 40 without modern medicine. My second son would have died at 4 weeks old without it. I'd have been motherless at 7 because my mother would have died in childbirth and my brother with her, unborn. So medicine certainly helps us to achieve longer lifespans. Historians used to trot out the opinion that people aged faster, but the tide has turned away from that as far as I am aware. I couldn't quote you, but the discussion cropped up a while back on an academic medievalist list where I hang out and the opinion was that it was ridiculous to say that a medieval person was old at 35. While diet and social conditions have an effect, (you could expect to live longer and grow taller in the 11th & 12th centuries when the weather was good and people hadn't started crowding into towns) so too does the genetic body clock and that hasn't suddenly changed - although it might given current avenues of research. Putting a 40 year old woman of 1310 beside a western female of a corresponding age from the same social strata, and a woman from say rural Afghanistan, would be interesting. Our notion of what 40 actually looks like is very conditioned by our niche in our own sector of global society.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sun August 1st, 2010, 12:48 pm

Interesting, and the first thing that sprung to my mind on EC's comment was the processed foods, and I'm not just talking sugar. The body really wasn't designed to process that stuff (read the books, I can't explain it well) and too much of it and you end up with a toxic mess begging for diabetes and whatever else the doctors can find. I don't recall the name, but there was a young man who ate nothing but McDonalds for a year (and wrote a book). I understand his body is a complete mess and he'll never be quite the same.
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Berengaria
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Post by Berengaria » Sun August 1st, 2010, 6:37 pm

[QUOTE=EC2;66299 but the discussion cropped up a while back on an academic medievalist list where I hang out and the opinion was that it was ridiculous to say that a medieval person was old at 35. While diet and social conditions have an effect, (you could expect to live longer and grow taller in the 11th & 12th centuries when the weather was good and people hadn't started crowding into towns) so too does the genetic body clock and that hasn't suddenly changed [/QUOTE]

This is very interesting! So I should assume then that Margaret Beaufort was merely saying her husband was old at 35, because she herself was so young.
Thank you for the information!! :)
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“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. She will not want new fashions nor regret the loss of expensive diversions or variety of company if she can be amused with an author in her closet.” ~Lady Montagu

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