Latest Posts by pfm019 - Page 8

Labjer

Match my freak or match my equal in combat good sir knight

"Mirror" by Rita Dove

An incredibly fascinating thing to learn about medieval knightly tournaments is that the Christian church actually hated them and they were on at least two separate occasions banned by the Pope or the King of England, the latter possibly viewing them as sources of dissent and disorder.

EWAN MITCHELL in house of the dragon (x6)

source: nucleorecreation

(Photos from Pinterest)

turning off reblogs instead of just deleting the post is a coward’s move sorry. anyway

Bodiam Castle Robertsbridge, England Built in the 14th century

© Carlos

Page from a book of hours with a Virgin and Child illuminated by the Master of Cardinal Bourbon (French, about 1480 - 1500), France, about 1500.

Getty Museum

Bodiam Castle, East Sussex, England

Sept. 2012

Explore:

Wandering Jana

Around Great Britain in 30 Days: Day 2, Southeast England

The adventure continues. From an impressive castle to a game changing battle, explore the southeast coast of Britain.

Kaos Historical Media

part of what makes tragedies tragic is the story being preventable from the outside but unpreventable from the inside

celebrating my 5 year top surgery anniversary today, so I wanted to draw something that reflects the bliss of feeling your chest for the first time. happy pride 🏳️‍⚧️⚧️💙🩷🤍

[Video - Dequitem]

‘Bone biographies’ reveal what life was like for medieval commoners | CNN

CNN

‘Bone biographies’ reveal what life was like for Cambridge’s Black Death survivors | CNN

Researchers spent five years studying bones from medieval Cambridge, England, to see what life was like for a cross section of the city’s su

Decorated page from a Book of Hours, France, about 1415-20.

Getty Museum

to the fat trans men who feel like nobody will find them attractive because they're fat: i felt this way too at first but trust me when i say this that there are TONS of folks who love fat trans guys, myself included. while i love all trans guys, i love fat dudes. i love fat men. i love big hairy guys. big arms, big chests, big hips, big bellies, big legs... i want it all. when i was growing up and realizing that i was attracted to men, i always wondered why i was never very attracted to men with low body fat and high muscle content. it's because fat guys are hot as hell.

nobody is inherently unattractive because they're fat. for every person who claims to dislike the way fat people look, there are at least 10 others who will violently disagree. ignore EVERYONE who tells you that no one will find you attractive because you're fat. those people are the devil and they speak nothing but lies. fat trans men deserve to feel confident in how they look. fat trans men deserve to feel sexy if they want to. fat trans men deserve so much more than the world gives to us.

Another small writing pet peeve:

Up until quite recently in history, sharing a bed was VERY common. Most people, unless very rich, could not afford multiple beds, let alone bedrooms.

I love sexual tension as much as the next person, but 'there was only one room left at the inn, and it only had one bed' only works in modern times (or the future, who knows).

A medieval inn is not like a hotel. Most inns would have shared, dorm-style rooms, The cheapest option was literally just a room where you could sleep on the floor, maybe it held some pallets, and it had a roof and maybe a fireplace and however many people could fit, would fit.

Even if the inn has private rooms; family, friends, aquiantances and even business partners would share beds and/or other sleeping accomodations. Servants would be four to a room, or even a bed. Ladies shared beds with their ladies' maids etc.

I'm on a bit of a Witcher kick at the moment, so; I can kinda see them forking over the expense of a private room (witchers probably don't sleep next to strangers), but the moment Geralt trusted Jaskier, they absolutely shared a bed. Two private rooms is absolute insanity, and if the room had two beds, it would be for four people minimum (so probaly a bit less expensive, but still very dear).

But then, consider this: the couple has been travelling and sleeping together, and suddenly *sexual tension*! And they're in a shared dorm room with a family of five a three travelling salesmen.

Or, person A is incredibly privileged and has always had their own space (their personal servant sleeps in their dressing room) and person B, the warrior type, has never once that they can remember slept without another person's sounds and warmth.

So interesting! I would really love to try one of these double recorders one day, but it's completely above my budget unfortunately 🥲

trust between two people who could easily kill one another (especially when it would be the more sensible option in the scenario) drives me insane. you could kill me. you SHOULD kill me. but you won’t. and i won’t. and i’m going to go a step further and trust you to hold my life in your hands. as i hold yours. wild sick twisted etc

Emil Melmoth

Writing Notes: Hooking your Readers

Hook—The first line, lines, or paragraph meant to grab the reader’s attention

For most people, a night out at the movies includes sitting through the coming attractions. We watch these short bursts of scenes that scare us, intrigue us, make us laugh, and sometimes nearly bring us to tears. No matter the preview, though, if it looks good, we want to go see the movie. An effective “hook” in your story works the same way. You want to grab your reader right away and compel them to continue reading.

Some common strategies for creating a hook & examples:

Anecdote: My hands shook and beads of sweat rolled down my face. I double-checked the directions before assembling my tools and turning up the heat. Making lasagna shouldn’t have been this stressful, but in my grandmother’s kitchen, the stakes were a little higher. 

Direct quote: “Be open and use the world around you.” Toni Morrison gives this advice about the craft of writing, but I find that it applies to most areas of my life.

General statement or truth: Every child, no matter how sheltered or well-adjusted, will experience fear. Whether they are scared of the monster under the bed or the neighbor’s barking dog, children experience fear as a normal and healthy part of childhood.

History: On Wednesday, August 28, 1963, thousands traveled to Washington D.C. by road, rail, and air. There were demonstrators of all races, creeds, and genders. Unafraid of the intimidation and violence they faced, they demonstrated for the rights of all. Known as The Great March on Washington, this day marked an important turning point in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

Metaphor: Stretched out in a sunbeam, my cat may seem timid, but really, she’s a lion. She will stealthily stalk her prey, attack without mercy, and leave a trail of blood and guts in her wake. Afterward, as she grooms her luxurious mane, she shows no remorse.

Scene or illustration: Shadows stretch across the pavement as jack-o-lanterns flicker in windows. Little trick-or-treaters scamper from porch to porch, filling their bags with various forms of sugar. It is the day dentists dread most: Halloween.

Sensory description: The stale smell of cigarettes engulfed me as I stepped into the dim, silent apartment. The heat had been turned off, so I could see my breath fog in front of me as I carefully stepped over the old pizza boxes, overturned cups, and random pieces of paper strewn across the floor.

Startling statistic or statement: Teenage drivers crash their cars at nearly ten times the rate of older drivers.

Jošt z Einsiedlu a na Týřově

do you have any academic papers or work in mind if I wanted to read further on medieval displays of masculine emotion?

*vibrates* I absolutely do. Since it sounds as though you're interested in this at any time and in any place during the Middle Ages, the below will be an assortment.

Will Cerbone, “Real Men of the Viking Age,” in: Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past, 243-55 (2019) [Designed for a student audience, deliberately contrasts Viking ideals with those of, e.g., MCU Thor]

Jo Ann McNamara, “The Herrenfrage: The Restructuring of the Gender System, 1050 to 1150," in: Medieval Masculinities, ed. Clare A. Lees (1994) [This is a classic for a reason, and I think does a really interesting/useful job of talking about how class and vocation mattered to the expression/understanding of masculinity]

James A. Schultz, Courtly Love, the Love of Courtliness, and the History of Sexuality (2006) [I hope I'm remembering the emotional history content of this one correctly]

Jim Casey, "Feeling It Like a Man: Masculine Grief in Medieval and Early Modern Texts," in: Grief, Gender, and Identity in the Middle Ages (2021) [Starts off with Butler and Bourdieu, to give you a feel for it]

Also, while I haven't personally read it, I'm just so glad that Robin Morris has written an essay called "Sad Men in Beowulf."

Also also, a couple of good books about medieval emotion more generally, not focused on masculinity specifically:

Barbara Rosenwein, Emotional Communities in the Early Middle Ages (2006)

Paul R. Hyams, Rancor and Reconciliation in Medieval England (2003)

will you please give us examples of resources to look at if we want to learn more about the concept of gender and maybe even transness in Medieval Europe? thanks!

whooooo boy right, there's a lot! I wanna start this by saying that I am very much not an expert, and I only have access to stuff I can find for free and the handful of books I can afford to buy second hand. Most of my research has been around gender as it relates to transness and GNC people. I am absolutely missing stuff, or have forgotten stuff, or simply lack the know-how to find stuff.

There's a few bits I've got on a TBR but haven't read yet - some I've included and some I haven't, depending on the source and how established it is.

Also: this is medieval Europe. The way pronouns are used to describe people don't really align with modern views of sex and gender. Also be aware of old-fashioned language use (for example, some texts talk about "hermaphrodites"). Remember that the way we talk about gender and trans identities is far different to how we even spoke about it 20 years ago.

So with that out of the way... I am chucking this under a read more, because it's long:

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GENDER

Medieval ideas around gender were different to how we now think about it. The Hippocratic view of gender saw gender as a sort of wet/dry, cold/hot spectrum upon which men were at one end and women the other (and in the middle were intersex people). The male body was seen as hot and dry, and the female as cold and wet. The cold, wetness is what made women try to seek out heat from guys. A lot comes down to humors rather than genitals - if you're hot and dry, that innately means you grow a penis, because the heat sorta forces it out. So the marker is that penis = man, but you only have that penis in the first place because of your hot, dry humor.

Some people believed the vagina was an inverted penis - as in, the penis turned outside in. Some schools of thought believed that both men and women produced "seed", and that both were needed for conception. These thoughts and ideas shifted around a lot.

The Hippocratic view shifted towards Aristotelian ideas around the 12th Century, where the male/female divide was a lot stronger. There were also surgeons throughout all these periods who sought to "correct" intersex genitalia with surgery (how little things change).

This podcast (I've linked to a transcript, because I have more time to read than listen to things) with Dr Eleanor Janega is super interesting. In fact, I'd recommend reading her whole blog, which is fascinating. She also has a book out (but I've not read it so I can't give a yay or nay on that one)

The Meanings of Sex Difference in the Middle Ages by Joan Cadden seems to be a good source on this, but I've not read it so I can't vouch for it 100%.

I've listed below some real people who could fit into our modern interpretation of transness, and the fact that all of these people were only "outed" when arrested or at their death makes me think that there were probably a lot more people at the time who would also fit into this category. It does feel (to me, a layman) that you could rock up in a new town and go "hello I'm Jeff the Man" and people would just accept that.

It's also important to note that the majority of sources I've found are about people we could define as trans men (FTM). I've only found one person who could be described as a trans woman. If anyone out there has more sources for trans women, I'd love to hear them - specifically in medieval Europe/England.

There's also a big discussion to be had around the idea of women dressing as men to achieve a goal. People love getting into arguments about it. My general rule is that if someone lived as X gender, and was forcibly outed against their will or at death, then I feel we can more safely assume that their experience maps more closely onto a trans narrative than it does one of a woman taking on the "disguise" of a man.

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TRANS & GNC ACADEMIA

Here's some of the sources I've been using that examine medievalism through a trans or trans-adjacent lens.

Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography, Alicia Spencer-Hall & Blake Gutt - a deep dive/collection of essays about medieval religious figures/saints through a trans lens, specifically about cross-dressing figures. Really fascinating, and available on open access.

How to be a Man, Though Female: Changing Sex in Medieval Romance, Angela Jane Weisl - goes into detail about medieval texts in which characters change their sex.

Transgender Genealogy in Tristan de Nanteuil, Blake Gutt - trans theory in the story Tristan de Nanteuil.

Trans Historical: Gender Plurality before the Modern, edited by Greta LaFleur, Masha Raskolnikov & Anna Kłosowska - A great big examination into trans history/gender. I desperately want this book.

Clothes Make the Man, Female Cross Dressing in Medieval Europe, Valerie R. Hotchkiss (book, no online source available) - Another look into women dressing as men and gender inversion.

The Shape of Sex, Leah DeVun (book) - A history of nonbinary sex, 200 - 1400BC. Not read this one yet but it's on my TBR.

In fact, I'd recommend all of Leah DeVun's work, which I'm currently making my way through. I'm currently reading Mapping the Borders of Sex.

The Third Gender and Aelfric's Lives of Saints, Rhonda L. McDaniel - An examination into the idea of a "third gender" in monastic life based around chastity and spiritualism

Erecting Sex: Hermaphrodites and the Medieval Science of Surgery, Leah DeVun - an essay about "corrective" surgery on intersex individuals in the 13th/14th centuries. (I've not fully read this one yet but the topic is relevant)

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TRANS FIGURES

Joseph/Hildegund (died 1188) - A monk who, upon his death, was discovered to have a vagina/breasts.

Eleanor Rykener (1394) - A (likely) trans sex worker arrested in 1394 (and another source that isn't wiki)

Katherina Hetzeldorfer (killed 1477) - An early record of a "woman" being executed for female sodomy. Katherina dressed and presented as a man, and some scholars read them as a trans man.

Marinos/Marina the Monk (5th Cent) - A monk who was born a woman and lived as a man in a monastery. Marinos was accused of getting a local innkeeper's daughter pregnant. Their "true sex" was discovered upon their death.

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ROMANCES* & GENDER

If you're interested in the idea of gender presentation and trans-adjacent stories, I very much recommend taking a look at some contemporary sources. I've tried to take a sort of neutral approach to pronouns for these descriptions, but it's hard to marry the medieval and modern ideas of sex and gender! The titles are all links.

*Romances here means Chivalric Romances: prose/verse narratives about chivalry, often with fantastic elements. Not, like, falling in love Romances.

Le Roman de Silence (13th Cent) - in order to ensure inheritance, a couple raise their daughter as a boy. The baby is called Silence/Silentius/Silentia. The poem features the forces of Nature and Nurture, who argue about Silence's "true" gender - Nature claims they're a girl, and Nurture claims they're a boy. Silence has a variety of adventures, largely referred to in the text as a man with he/him pronouns, and at the end their "true gender" is discovered and, as a woman, they marry the king.

Yde et Olive (15th Cent) - to avoid being married to their own father, Yde, a woman, disguises themselves as a man and becomes a knight. They end up in Rome, where the king marries them to their daughter, Olive. After a couple of weeks, Yde tells Olive about their "true gender", but the conversation is overheard. The King demands Yde bathe with him to prove they are a man. An angel intervenes and transforms Yde's body into that of a man.

Iphis and Ianthe (Greek/Roman myth, but also in Ovid's Metamorphois, which first came to England in the 15th Cent) - Telethusa is due to give birth, but her husband tells her that if the baby is a girl he'll have it killed. When she gives birth to a girl, she disguises the baby as a boy. Eventually, Iphis is engaged to Ianthe. (Incidentally, this is also a really early example of same-sex romance, as Iphis struggles with their love for Ianthe "as a woman"). Before the wedding, Iphis and Telethusa pray at the temple of Isis, who transforms Iphis into a man.

Tristan de Nanteuil (11th/12th Cent) - from the Chanson de geste, after his alleged death, Tristan's wife, Blanchandin/e, disguises themselves as a Knight. Clarinde, a sultan's daughter, falls in love with them. Blanchandin manages to hide their "true sex", but when Clarinde demands they bathe with her to prove they are a man they flee into the woods. There, they meet an angel who asks if they want to be transformed into a man. Blanchandin accepts and he is turned into a man for the rest of the poem. (Incidentally the angel gives him a giant cock. Yes, the text specifies this).

Le Livre de la mutation de fortune (1403) - written in the first person by Christine de Pizan, the poem describes how the narrator is transformed by Fortune into a man after the death of their husband during a storm at sea. They maintain that 13 years after the event, they are still living as a man. (They also mention Tiresias, a Greek mythological figure who was a man transformed into a woman for seven years).

Okay, for now - that's about all I can think of. Happy reading!

Different Ways to Describe Eye Colors

↳ a masterpost for writing prompts that describe eye colors

If you like what I do and want to support me, please consider buying me a coffee! I also offer editing services and other writing advice on my Ko-fi! Become a member to receive exclusive content, early access, and prioritized writing prompt requests.

I also have a Patreon! Become a member to gain access to a Member's Only Community where you can chat and message other members and myself. Also gain access to my personal writing, which includes completed short stories, chapters from novels in progress, as well as completed scenes.

Natural Eye Colors:

Brown Eyes

Blue Eyes

Green Eyes

Hazel Eyes

Hazel Green Eyes

Gray Eyes

Black Eyes

Heterochromia Eyes

Unnatural Eye Colors:

White Eyes

White/Silver Eyes pt 2

Red Eyes

Reddish-Brown Eyes

Pink/Magenta Eyes

Gold/Yellow Eyes

Unusual Eyes (Silver, White, Purple, Pink, Red, Orange, Yellow)

Seasonal Eyes

How to show emotions

Part IV

How to show bitterness

tightness around their eyes

pinched mouth

sour expression on their face

crossed arms

snorting angrily

turning their eyes upward

shaking their head

How to show hysteria

fast breathing

chest heaving

trembling of their hands

weak knees, giving in

tears flowing down their face uncontrollably

laughing while crying

not being able to stand still

How to show awe

tension leaving their body

shoulders dropping

standing still

opening mouth

slack jaw

not being able to speak correctly

slowed down breathing

wide eyes open

softening their gaze

staring unabashingly

How to show shame

vacant stare

looking down

turning their head away

cannot look at another person

putting their head into their hands

shaking their head

How to show being flustered

blushing

looking down

nervous smile

sharp intake of breath

quickening of breath

blinking rapidly

breaking eye contact

trying to busy their hands

playing with their hair

fidgeting with their fingers

opening mouth without speaking

Part I + Part II + Part III

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! And check out my Instagram! 🥰

How to show emotions

Part IV

How to show bitterness

tightness around their eyes

pinched mouth

sour expression on their face

crossed arms

snorting angrily

turning their eyes upward

shaking their head

How to show hysteria

fast breathing

chest heaving

trembling of their hands

weak knees, giving in

tears flowing down their face uncontrollably

laughing while crying

not being able to stand still

How to show awe

tension leaving their body

shoulders dropping

standing still

opening mouth

slack jaw

not being able to speak correctly

slowed down breathing

wide eyes open

softening their gaze

staring unabashingly

How to show shame

vacant stare

looking down

turning their head away

cannot look at another person

putting their head into their hands

shaking their head

How to show being flustered

blushing

looking down

nervous smile

sharp intake of breath

quickening of breath

blinking rapidly

breaking eye contact

trying to busy their hands

playing with their hair

fidgeting with their fingers

opening mouth without speaking

Part I + Part II + Part III

If you like my blog and want to support me, you can buy me a coffee or become a member! And check out my Instagram! 🥰