ye olde lifestyles..useful urls

anyone writing medieval historical fiction or nonficton will probably
find these urls of significant use.

the first is a history of england, with significant "colour"
regarding ceremonies and the assorted positions/dignitaries of
peerage, including lords temporal/spiritual and how they came to be.
http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/britdiveng.html#ord1

the second has several links to medieval and renaissance cooking/food.
including recipes/measurements etc.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food.html


also..a blurb from an 1843 newspaper.
THE FIRST JUDGE ON HORSEBACK.

COLLETT says, that JOHN WIDDON, a justice of the King's Bench, in the
first year of QUEEN MARY, was the first of the judges who rode to
Westminster Hall on a horse; for before that time they rode on
mules.

Even WOLSEY rode to Westminster Hall on his mule, "trapped all in
crimson velvet, with a saddle of the same, and gilt stirrups."

and

BACHELORS.

The word bachelor has been commonly derived from bas chevalier, in
opposition to banneret. But this, however, plausible, is unlikely to
be right.

We do not find any authority for the expression bas chevalier, nor
any equivalent in Latin, baccalaureus not suggesting that sense;
and it is strange that the corruption should obliterate every trace
of the original term.

Bachelor is a very old word, and is used in early French poetry for a
young man, as bachelette is for a girl.

So also in CHAUCER; -
" A young squire
A lover, and a lusty bachelor . "

added thought to the above...
bas is low in french
chevalier is knight

and chaucer writes about a squire..

a squire was one who would carry/care for the knight's weapons/arms..
ergo, he would be a "low"ly knight in training...a single man serving
an apprenticeship.

so bas chevalier is very likely the origin of bachelor.

i'm surprised the learned writer in 1843 didn't pick up on that
simplicity..

and bachlette..i certainly like that better than bachelorette...or
spinster.

roslyn