Welcome to Litsy!

Christine de Pizan was a feminist before that word even existed. In 1404 she wrote this text, taking all the bad things men say about women (because they still do) and shows them, how and why they're wrong. It's a text based in the Middel Ages, so we find a lot of religious talking and the structure of the book is rooted in the traditions from back then. But I am very impressed by what De Pizan did.

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Random book from our home library:

📖 Six Middle English Romances edited by Maldwyn Mills

Which will win, my distaste for history of science or my love for medieval shit? Medieval shit, it turns out. A concise little summary of how it's wrong to label the medieval era as stagnant, with lots of interesting bits about engineering, astronomy, clockwork, but more importantly their impact on society. That said, Gimpel is VERY based in the mid-1970s and draw some far fetched (we've seen) conclusions about the fate of the western world.

Random book from our home library:

📖 Life in the Castle in Medieval England by John Burke

"... That christianity, by destroying classical animism, brought about a basic change in the attitude towards natural objects and opened the way for their rational and unabashed use for human ends..."

#aprilpoetrychallenge
#nationalpoetrymonth
@wanderinglynn

#green
#sirgawainandthegreenknight

All about the turbulent Merovingian dynasty

I spent 5.5 months working in this. Piers is important historically, both linguistically and politically. When the peasants revolted in 1381, this work, with its commoner plowman religious hero, was cited. It was popular amongst the underclasses (even if they were largely illiterate). Intellectually it‘s interesting in that it‘s inconclusive. Our author never resolves his issues. But, artistically it‘s only ok. It was work. I‘m glad I‘m done.

Random book from our home library:

📖 Warwick Castle [souvenir guide - not in Litsy]

I have lots of souvenir guides to places in the UK that I've never visited. I believe I even have two different editions of this one. Have I mentioned that I'm an Anglophile bibliophile?

p. 271: 'It was better to award a light penance that would one day put someone into purgatory to endure further punishment there, than to assign a heavy one that would not be done and might send the defaulter to hell.'

That's not what I expected from medieval confessors. Unfortunately, Orme doesn't cite his source for this attitude.

On to the section about Holy Week, which is obviously timely.