Kay Adelin > Recent Status Updates

Unpopular Opinion: Books/Authors/Movies people I know love that I probably will never read/watch:
- Harry Potter (books and movies)
- Howl’s Moving Castle (book and movie)
- Brandon Sanderson
- The Giver
- The Great Gatsby
- Lord of the Rings (Movies)
(There are probably more, just can’t think of them rn xD)

Feel free to share your unpopular opinions on books/movies you’ll probably never read/watch below xD

If you like Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer + Rise of the Vicious Princess by C. J. Redwine, + The Knight Captain is the New Princess to Be by Yasuko Yamaru, you’ll enjoy my clean YA Romantasy novel, which I’ll be calling on beta readers for starting February 3rd! Keep an eye out for the link!

Highlights: Occupations/Classes

Thegn - Saxon nobility
Free men
Knights
Clerks - churchmen of some type
Priests
Falconer
Burges - townsman
Earl
Countess
King
Villan - upper class peasant
Cottar - unknown class peasant
Border - lower class peasant
Slave - are these the same as “slaves” we think of?

Highlights:
The biggest difference between Kent and Sussex seems to be the value of land from TRE and the current day. Kent’s properties seemed to have increased in value from TRE, whereas Sussex’s seemed to decrease or remain the same. Perhaps because of the battles fought there?
(Of course there were exceptions to both rules, but this is the pattern I’ve noted for the majority.)

Highlights:
More mentions of women holding/who held land. Even some mentions of women leasing the land to men, so basically being their landlord. Countess Gode and Queen Edith are the best examples; both Saxon. There are current ladies holding land, though it doesn’t seem as common as in Saxon run England.

Highlights:
Got distracted looking up names… seriously, if anyone wants unique names for their characters/kids, just read a few pages of this. Scattered amid the Roberts, Williams, and Ralphs, you’ll find some really unique ones!

Highlight: FINISHED KENT’S SECTION!

“…a certain woman holds of Hugh 1 virgate…”
“Sidgar held it of Queen Edith…”
Both of these are interesting incites into women’s rights, and I think they show that, although far from equality, medieval women DID have more rights than first thought. Both these women held land, clearly in their own rights, and presumably they weren’t widows (as widows have been mentioned elsewhere)

Highlights:
“Turstin Tinel and his wife hold…” *gasp* Doth I see a WOMAN holding LAND?? Thus far I have not seen this. This is quite enlightening.

Reading the same names made me wonder how hard council meetings were… “Robert, what do you think of this?”
*10 Roberts stand up*
Then I realized it shows exactly how they fixed the problem:
Hugh de Montfort… Hugh, nephew of Herbert. (Imagine being known by THAT!)

Highlights: Medieval Names!

Adam
Adelold
Alfred
Alvred
Alweard
Alwine
Ansfrid
Ansgot
Ansketil
Ælfric
Æthelnoth
Baldric
Bernard
Dudemann
Edith
Edward
Edwin
Esbiorn
Eudo
Fulbert
Geoffrey
Godric
Godwine
Gothild
Hamo
Herbert
Hugh
Karli
Leofgifu
Leofnoth
Leofwine
Northmann
Odo
Osbern
Osweard
Ralph
Ranulph
Richard
Robert
Sigeræd
Stigand
Thorgisl
Toli
Turstin
Vitalis
Walter
Wesman
William
Wulfgeat
Wulfric
Wulfsige
Wulfwine

Rereading! This book inspired one of my WIPs so I felt it was a good time for a refresher!

Highlights:

Richard of Tonbridge holds a lot… I need to find out who this guy is.

“…2 brothers, Godwine and Alweard, held this land of the king as 2 manors.” Always love to see brotherly pairs, even in a non-fiction census!

“Hugh, nephew of Herbert…” I’m glad to know he’s Herbert’s nephew, but WHO’S HERBERT??

Highlights:
“Of the king’s woodland, Wadard…holds half a dene…and Æthelnoth Cild took 2 parts [of a dene] away from a certain villan by force.”
Okay WHAT HAPPENED?? I wanna know how this guy took away this dene “by force” like, did he kill the poor villan?
Also…
“Of this manor, William the steward holds… Geoffrey holds… Farman holds… a certain FrEnCHMaN holds…”
Like, can we get the guy’s name?? FRENCHMAN?? XD XD

My favorite except thus far is the curse of a Dutch monk who awoke to find a cat used his manuscript as a litter box xD I quote as follows:

“Cursed be the pesky cat who urinated over this book during the night. And beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come.”

Haha, this is going to take me at least a year, probably more to get through, but hey, every little bit counts. It’s also helpful to learn some old medieval terminology, which is interesting, and amounts of money paid and certain fine amounts.

Starting on Kent!

Some interesting terminology thus far:
TRE - time of King Edward (the Confessor)
By Tale - payments made by counting coins, not weighing them.

Interesting to note that the stereotype of Warwick being nothing but a selfish, ambitious person who just wanted to control Edward IV may’ve been propaganda in order to suppress his support of the common people speaking out and getting involved in politics. (Even if he did use that to his advantage—he was one of the few political elites who stood up for the people in that way, at least.)

The Calais chapter! This one was quite interesting, from challenging the perspective of Warwick’s attacks in the channel being piracy, to wondering what game Lord Wenlock was playing in 1370/71. And of course, I enjoyed hearing about Exeter being too frightened to attack Warwick in the channel in 1360 due to his naval reputation.

It seems like Warwick’s real downfall was the fact that he became so powerful and influential, that he just couldn’t handle it anymore. Not on a personal level, but on a business and professional one—he couldn’t keep an eye on everything going on, relying on retainers, and when the loyalty of those retainers could be turned, it created huge issues.

Also the conflicts of interest make for great story ideas 👀