Cody Keeble > Recent Status Updates

76/88 Simon Scambler: of all the wayward people Shardlake has brought into his circle, finally offering to take him to London (I knew then where we were headed), Simon was probably my favorite. He seemed so pleasantly odd it was heart breaking. That he should have died being taunted and pushed by a group of his peers was only fitting but hauntingly so. For such a minor character I’m heart broken. Awful death

54/88 honestly I had trouble getting in to the beginning. But about halfway through I realized Sansom was making this about a bigger issue- Kett’s rebellion and the gentry v common folk have now taken center stage. Having that front and center at least for this portion of the book has brought me into the fold; much like when the dissolution was happening both at large and on the page in the first book.

In 55 pages we’ve made it through the earliest mentions of the Merovingians all the way through the first split of the kingdom after Clovis’ death in 511. His sons- Theuderic and chlothilds sons by Clovis Chlodomer, Childebert I and Chlothar I have together taken Thuringia (bringing Radegund into the fold with it) Burgundy, the Auvergne and Provence all by 537 creating the eminent successor state after Rome

Using a percent of chapters again since this will be audio. 86 chapters but an epilogue and historical note so 88 total. 1/88 lol

20/55 I thought Barrak would die. Earlier today I vaguely remember reading somewhere that either barrak dies or Matthew ends up with a new assistant in the final book (I’m assuming it will end up being Nicholas). I’ll truly be heartbroken if it’s true and the final mystery is with a new sidekick. I 100% think I could write a medieval mystery. But what period? Hopefully BARRAK doesnt die from poison on the blade

16/55: early prediction- the key was passed from lord Parr to young Cecil who made the key duplicate and had access to the chest. Shardlake has already pointed out his cleverness and made a comment about him being above the rest of men (something to that effect). Plus his connections to the radical movement of Protestants is repeated. Did I solve it a third of the way through?

First two chapters done. First was background on Burgundians, visigoths and Franks who worked for and exploited the decline of the western Roman Empire and after the fall found themselves as barbarians carrying the torch of Roman administration of government. Second was about the continuity of literary tradition from Rome to merov: Sidonius, fortunatus and Gregory of tours; letter writing. Slow start but fun

Right off the bat I know it will be different to Palmers Merovingian Worlds- published ‘94 so 22 years old, plus the approach is simply different. I did enjoy his mention of the book gaining the perspective of women from the delay in writing it (started in the 80 I guess).

Northumbrian Renaissance mentioned, threw me for a loop however looked at Morris’ Anglo-Saxons and found what I read there last year. Fun

Even by switching to the audible audio edition it still lists progress in pages or percent. Last shardlake book I did audio as well and listed chapter in the page section- this time around I’ll find the percent by chapter. Using 55 chapters total (53 actual chapters plus epilogue and historical note) so I’m on chapter 7/55=0.127. Just got to C. Parr and wowza! Askew, missing book very similar to FIREBRAND movie

Chapter 28 out of 54 (with epilogue and historical note counted as one each)

Chapter 28

Looking at what I’ve read since the end of the Merovingian king listing chapters we’ve gotten:
-economics, people and nature
-literacy and culture
-Frankish churches
-religions and the wider world
I just finished the literacy and culture chapter- which was much more interesting than the economics for me. Actually walked away with a list of books, sources and people to look into so yay for a research detour

Getting through the entirety of the Merovingian kings by now and coming up to Carloman with over 100 pages left of the book seems odd. I suppose the rest of the book will be big picture of the world, times, culture and peoples

Ch 24: things got interesting. Starting to think the two cases are more related than they seem.

Chapter 13 was nice getting to meet George leakon again. Finding old characters in odd places is the fun part of long series.

Chapter 9

Tonight’s chapter on Identity really struck me. Mainly the lense of using scholarly models of defining or labeling identity both in terms of how we perceive these or any people, and how they would have identified themselves over the course of their lives. Many notes written down. Only added to my interest in how different regions in France came to be ie aquitaine, burgundy, nuestria etc.

Audiobook: decided to do fiction on audio and non fiction text again. To get back into the swing of things, as I’ve done the last 3 years I jumped in with a shardlake mystery- what will do when I’ve finished them all? Most of the time with a large series I fly through them all consecutively but being able to savor Shardlake by reading one a year is a real treat I’m glad to have yet again. Off to a fun start

Only 40 pages left and as much as i want to finish i know I’ll regret it in the morning. *sigh* so much happened in the last chapter all at once- losing Gregory of Tours and Fortunatus the acclaimed chroniclers as well as Childebert who splits his kingdom into two for his two sons. Once again Francia is split into three Kingdoms, appearing to be ruled by children, actually by the women of their families- loving it

Wanted two note two things from tonight:
“Souviens-too du base de Soissons!”-King Clovis as a cummupance.

Treat of Andelot 11/28/587: earliest surviving medieval treaty; a full third of treaty concerns the affairs of Merovingian women. Not sure if it’s only royal women but they gain explicit right to not be thrown in convent, retain property outside of Salic law. Which is pretty fuckjng cool imo

I was hesitant for this thinking it would be too narrow in scope for what i wanted (a history of the full Merovingian dynasty) but so far I’m content. The king we start with was Clovis’ son, he dies and divides his kingdom into 4 for his 4 sons (just as his father did, leaving the father to conquer and reunite it then split it up Why?) so close to start. It’ll be through the queens’ eyes so that’s fun

Wanted to note the first half of the book quickly paced through the majority of the Capetian kings while the last half has focused whole parts on single kings or father son duos. Lears me to believe the next and final part will focus solely on those last Capetian kings of Accursed Kings fame. Which i believe is the moment leading up to or causing the HYW

The first part of the book seemed slow to me, but I’ve become more interested with Louis VI, Louis VII, Philip II and Louis VIII I’m interested. More detail and I’m more familiar with the Plantagenets of the time so I may be biased. Hearing the other side of the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine was interesting, though i still favor her. John truly was awful.

Nearly through the first ‘part’. Took a minute to get my bearings but i think im getting an image of the politics and families/duchies or counties of the time. Interesting to learn that after the fall of Rome Britain was ‘in the dark ages’ and suffered infighting then the Vikings while France/the continent got Charlemagne. Or even the Merovingians before him. I’ll need to read about both dynasties next