Weave a Garland of my Vows: Eeek - I'm a Student Handout

Excerpt

The Garden of the Louvre, Paris - 27th September 1622
~
Letter from Louis to Anne
Madame- out of the affection I bear my cousin, the Duc de Chevreuse, I am very glad his wife should come back
Louis
~

The King, they told her, had vowed never to say her name again. She saw the letter Louis sent to his wife from the battlefield. It made her laugh.
On the day she returned to court she was still Marie de Rohan and everybody, including the absentees, knew that. She repaid all comments in kind and if she saw a mocking smile quickly hidden, she smiled too, knowing that she was watched. For various reasons.
Louise-Marguerite, widowed Princesse de Conti and sister to the man she had just married watched too, with eyes and fingers.
The touch on Marie’s cheek was scented and warm, even in the shade of the terrace.
‘How kindly the skin of the young absorbs life’s little challenges,’ the older woman said. ‘You are completely unmarked. I’m still deciding whether I hate you or not.’
‘You only hate me on cold days when age has stiffened your bones and the young men look to a more pliable body for dreams of carnal recreation.’
She carried her brother’s pale eyes and dark blond hair on a large and flamboyant frame. Those eyes almost disappeared under the rise of fleshy cheeks. Lips, even warmer than the fingers, touched Marie’s mouth.
‘You are right. My love rises with the temperature and today it’s hot enough to melt skin off bone. You said you would return and I love you even more for that. You’ve seen Anne?’
Marie nodded. ‘Last night.’
‘And what do you think?’
They both looked outwards across the garden to a cedar tree. Gay canopies wilted over the heads of several colourful figures. Marie’s eyes stayed with the quiet woman at their centre.
‘Six months and little has changed,’ Marie said. ‘Am I thankful or worried, that’s the question. Has she said anything to you?’
The sister in law leaned her grand figure against the mossy balustrade and studied her shaded companion. Pale blue shrewdness shone out.
‘It’s not like you to dance around with vague questions, Marie. Has your recent adventure scared you into vile diplomacy? What you’re really asking, unless old age has stolen all ability to judge, is... are you replaced, yes?’
Marie shook her head but not in denial. ‘I have been absent for six months and you are my closest link to Anne. I thought she may have spoken to you above anyone else.’
Louise-Marguerite stayed quiet. She gave the garden beyond a quick glance and turned back. ‘I’ve kept you informed of every detail, my young heart. Insecurity does not become you. Like a faithful lover, the Queen of France has stayed true to you throughout.’
Again Marie shook her head, in absolute denial now. ‘Forgive me,’ she said quietly. ‘But I know Anne as I know myself. She needs a wall to lean on and she’s surrounded by them. It’s not insecurity but experience. She may have been faithful in deed but not word. There are earwigs here that, once inside a person’s ear, are very hard to dislodge.’
Louise-Marguerite pushed herself away from the stones, face alight.
‘You’ve heard something.’
‘Who sent Louis that anonymous letter?’
Shoulders slumped, Louise-Marguerite frowned. ‘By definition, no one knows.’ She grinned suddenly. ‘Or do they? Take me to hell in a hand-basket. You do, don’t you?’

Monday 16 February 2009

Eeek - I'm a Student Handout

I found out something totally amazing today!

An article I wrote, called The Smell of the Middle Ages, is being used in Californian schools as a study handout in their Humanities and Science programme. Eeek!

It is also listed as a Medieval study subject for the Moses Lake School, WA in America...

It has been read 842 times on the Society for Creative Anachronism website...

In May 2004 it was voted Site of the Month on The Gode Cookery pages...

And it is currently the second most popular Medieval link on the Legio Draconis: Art of Combat site.

The piece was originally written for Tamara Mazzei the founder of Trivium Publishing whom I was lucky enough to spend the day with in Lincoln and at Bolingbroke Castle in 2002. She kindly posted it on her new publishing website that year and I thought little more about it.

Wow.....

Seven years on and that little piece now has a life of its own. I'm so proud!

Thank you Tamara :o)

Forgive me for tooting my own trumpet but I knew none of this until today.
Woohoo!

Weave a Garland of my Vows