Category: History

I Capture the Castle….

Updated on September 17, 2014 by Sandra Schwab

… or at least I hope I will.

And not just any castle, but Castle Sooneck, one of the umpteen (and I mean UMPTEEN!) castles, ruin, and other historic sites along the banks of the river Rhine in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. A cultural heritage organisation of the area as well as a local newspaper were looking for a “castle-blogger,” somebody to move into Castle Sooneck for six months and blog (in German and English) about life on the banks of the Rhine. The deadline for applications was at midnight on Sunday – and of course, I sent in my application. For how cool would it be to live in a castle?!?!

Well…

Let’s just say it probably won’t be all roses and rainbows: Apparently the view from the castle-blogger’s bedroom will be the (active) stone quarry next door. And down in the valley up to 400 trains a day pass by on one of the major transport routes of Europe.

Add to that that castles tend to be drafty places and that those thick walls don’t make for particularly warm rooms. What the colder season (= anything that’s not summer) can be like in a historic building is rather vividly described by the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire in the chapter about “Cold Houses” in her book Home to Roost:

“A new heating system was installed when we moved in[to Chatsworth] and it works pretty well. Even so, the wind can penetrate huge old window frames which don’t fit exactly. In September we go round with rolls of sticky brown paper to stop the gaps. When the front door is open and people with luggage dawdle, all our part of the house feels the blast so we’ve cut out a small door out of the big one and you have to enter at speed. There are zones of intense cold, seldom visited in winter: the Scupture Gallery, State Rooms and attics, where a closed-season search for forgotten furniture can feel colder than being out of doors.”

I would imagine that it’s probably different in a castle (if anything, it would be worse). But hey, that’s what woolen sweaters, thick socks, and the tea kettle were made for, right? Moreover, the scenery of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley would certainly make up for any minor inconvenience: it is one of the most beautiful areas of Germany – and Regency people were mad for it.

Tourism dwindled down during the Napoleonic Wars, but as soon as Napoleon was safely banished to his island, the British came back to the Rhine in huge numbers, undeterred by either customs stations or the German beds, which, apparently, were on the horrid side if Murray’s Hand-Book for Travellers on the Continent: Northern Germany, 1845 is to be believed:

“One of the first complaints of an Englishman on arriving in Germany will be directed against the beds. It is therefore as well to make him aware beforehand of the full extent of misery to which he will be subjected on this score. A German bed is made only for one: it may be compared to an open wooden box, often hardly wide enough to turn in, and rarely long enough for an Englishman of moderate stature to lie down in.”

No, not even the German beds could deter the British tourists. Happily, they all followed in the footsteps of Childe Harold, often dragging a copy of Byron’s work along on their journey to appreciate more fully the

blending of all beauties; streams and dells,
Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, cornfield, mountain, vine,
And chiefless castles breathing stern farewells
From gray but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells.

The ruins and castles still dwell along the Rhine, and it would be a great thrill indeed to explore (and sketch!!!) them all as the castle-blogger of Sooneck. 🙂

~~~

What about you? Would you like to live in a castle for six months? Or would all the stairs put you off?

Posted in History, Regency | Tagged Castles, Rhine | 8 Replies

Water, water everywhere

Updated on September 4, 2014 by Janet Mullany

Something broke in our infrastructure here a couple of days ago and the area where I live is now under a boil water alert. We have to boil any water we intend to use for cooking, handwashing dishes, drinking, or cleaning teeth (I’ve forgotten already a couple of times) for one minute, or use bottled water. It’s an annoyance but not impossible. No ice, though, unless I hunt down some ice trays, which I think I got rid of some time ago.

I can’t even compare it with Georgian London, which was a horrendously dirty city.

If I would drink water, I must quaff the mawkish contents of an open aqueduct, exposed to all manner of defilement, or swallow that which comes from the River Thames, impregnated with all the filth of London and Westminster.
Tobias Smollet, 1771.

After the hasty and inadequate rebuilding of London in the previous century following the Great Fire, the city grew and grew. The water available became undrinkable. The wealthy could afford to buy spring water from street sellers. For everyone else, gin was a cheap substitute that would quench both thirst and misery. It’s said that the widespread availability of tea in the mid nineteenth century saved lives, since water had to be boiled.

Even by the end of the nineteenth century London water was suspect. Here’s a water seller from 1900 in Cheapside.

It’s ironic when you consider that London was once a city of many rivers, some lost, and some like the River Fleet, now completely underground. It went from being a healthy spring, making the suburb of Hampstead something of a spa resort, to an open sewer, to a river that is now almost completely invisible. But this print of the Fleet in the area of St. Pancras in 1825 shows how comparatively rural London was at this time, before the huge expansion of the Victorian age. If you want to know more, there’s a book which promises hours of fun, London’s Lost Rivers by Paul Talling. If you visit his website, londonslostrivers.com, there’s a fascinating slideshow of photographs. More about the Fleet here.

Some other links:

London’s lost rivers: the hidden history of the city’s buried waterways

Secret London: Lost Rivers

In search of London’s lost rivers

and the London rivers action plan to restore the rivers.

There are walking tours of the lost rivers (and of the London sewers should you be so inclined. I wonder if Risky Diane has that on her itinerary?) Yet another thing to do in London. Is there something out of the ordinary you’d like to do or visit in London?

Posted in History, Research | Tagged Fleet, London, lost rivers | Leave a reply

Figures that dress and undress

Updated on August 21, 2014 by Janet Mullany

Other than your hero/heroine, that is…

Today I’m talking about paper dolls of the Regency period, but not the fashion figures that originated in France and were adopted by dressmakers and their clients, and their clients’ children in the 1790s. Paper dolls specifically for children were created and published by Samuel and Joseph Fuller in a series of paper doll booklets–figures that dress and undress–and sold at their shop The Temple of Fancy on Rathbone Place in London. Attracting an upperclass clientele, the shop also sold prints and painting materials and supplies.

In mediocre rhyme, the books told an improving story with a hand-colored paper doll, outfits only, with a moveable head at the end of the book. Hours of fun and instruction! Here’s an overview of The History of Little Fanny: Exemplified in a Series of Figures (1810) and you can play online paper dolls with Fanny here.

I have seen a reproduction copy of Little Fanny and the storyline is depressingly moral. Little Fanny is far too interested in clothes and learns the virtues of plain living and hard work. Another title, Ellen, or, The Naughty Girl Reclaimed, pretty much speaks for itself.

But the boys. Oh, did the boys have fun. How about Frank Feignwell’s Attempts to Amuse His Friends on Twelfth-Night. You can dress and undress flamboyant young Frank here.

And then there’s The History and Adventures of Little Henry.

Just by looking at this you can see that Henry has a whale of a time, and you can view the book online here. First, he’s stolen by gypsies (moral lesson on inattentive nursemaid included) and becomes a beggar, then a chimney sweep, a drummer boy, and a sailor, rising through the ranks to return to England with fame and fortune. Huzzah!

So, yes. Boys can dress up and seek material success in life, but not girls. “The textual morals against love of clothing are gendered in problematic ways, with female characters mortiﬁed for this ﬂaw more readily than male characters.” (A Story, Exempliﬁed in a Series of Figures: Paper Doll versus Moral Tale in the Nineteenth Century by Hannah Field. More) And there’s also a great deal of self-satisfaction, one suspects, on the part of the well-heeled patrons of the Fullers’ shop, buying these idealized, smug stories for their own children.

For more online fun, Williamsburg has an online paper doll game and you can find downloadable Regency paper dolls, designed by a historian, at PaperThinPersonas.com.

Did you enjoy paper dolls as a child and/or with your own children?

Posted in History, Research | Tagged children, paper dolls | 3 Replies

Beach Romance?

Updated on August 19, 2014 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

First of all–winners! The winner of my own Betrayed By His Kiss is…Laurel Hawkes. The winner of Linda Carroll-Bradd’s Capturing the Marshal’s Heart is…Louisa Cornell. And the winner of one of Alicia’s dean’s titles is…Janine Gallant! If you could all email me your info at amccabe7551 AT yahoo, I will get them sent to you asap….

I am finally starting to get back into the work-home routine, after all the excitement of getting (yay!) married and being on vacation. (And many, many thanks to everyone for the congrats and good wishes! It is so wonderful). First order of business–starting my next book for Harlequin Historicals, which I am actually loving–it’s a Regency set in Brazil! So there are tropical sunsets, beaches (though not too many–Rio was actually not very near a beach then, and it was very hard to reach), but with lovely muslin gowns and Neoclassical art. Fun!!!

This story was inspired when I happened to come across the book Empire Adrift: The Portugese Court in Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1821 by Patrick Wilcken, the story of the Braganzas, the royal family of Brazil, and a court of overv 15,000 people fleeing to Brazil ahead of invading Napoleonic forces. I knew very little about this aspect of the wars, but found it amazing in so many ways. A family that was the very definition of “dysfunctional” (the Prince Regent John VI ruled for his insane mother Queen Maria; as children, he had married his Spanish cousin Carlota, and they had many children together but hated each other, and Carlota spent her life plotting against him. Sound familiar??), plopping their aristocratic Iberian ways into the middle of a tropical colony, with political skullduggery swirling all around them. A great backdrop for an exciting story, I thought.

My characters are English–the hero is a Naval officer who is part of the convoy assigned to escort the Portugese to Brazil in November 1808 (they departed on November 29, in a scene of immense chaos, but didn’t arrive at their ultimate destination in Rio until March 7, 1809. They didn’t return to Portugal until 1821). My heroine is the daughter of an English diplomat, who has been serving as his hostess for many years. But our hero and heroine have a secret past together! Can they keep it hidden under the warm skies of Rio???

I’m sure I will be sharing many more historical tidbits and images as I make my way through this story, but this is just the beginning. What’s your favorite “unusual” setting for a story? Where would you like to see more titles set in the future???

Posted in History, Winners announced | Leave a reply

Guest Blogger Linda Carroll-Bradd!

Updated on August 4, 2014 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Amanda will be back with her regularly scheduled Tuesday post next week, because this week she is busy being on her honeymoon! Wedding pics will surely be shared then. This week, we’re visiting the Wild, Wild West with guest author Linda Carroll-Bradd. Comment for a chance to win a copy of her latest title….

Stagecoach Travel in Texas– Only The Hardy need Apply

In the mid-1800s, people needed determination and patience to travel from one side of Texas to the other. Early in the Civil War, the government banished the Butterfield Overland route that had been an established route from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco through the southern states. Subsequent to the war, shorter routes were established between population centers. Stagecoaches ran on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule. A trip from St Louis to San Francisco involved about 25 days of travel. The coaches were drawn by six horses and stops were made every 12 miles for fresh teams. Depending on the terrain, coaches covered between 5 and 12 miles per day—running day and night. Passengers were grateful to get hot coffee, biscuits and jerky at these stops; on rare occasions, hot meals were available.

The suggested items to travel with would have filled a large satchel or three. In addition to their clothing, passengers were admonished to pack 6 pair of thick socks, woolen underdrawers, blankets—one in summer and two in winter, 3-4 towels, heavy overcoat, light coat, hat and their choice of pistol or knife for personal protection. A lady such as Jessamay Morgan from San Antonio reading that list and traveling in summer would probably not worry about the woolens or blankets.

Once Jessamay got inside the stagecoach, she would have had her choice of window or middle position (approximately 15” in width) on either a forward or backward-facing bench seat. She would not have wanted to be the last to board because that would leave her on the middle bench with no backrest. As she set out on her journey, she could read the rules about men forgoing swearing and smoking in a lady’s presence, but tobacco chewing was allowed, as long as the chewer spat downwind. I would hope so. Or if the person (presumed to be a male) couldn’t refrain from drinking alcohol, then he must pass the bottle around. Yum. Snoring loudly or using another passenger’s shoulder as a pillow was frowned upon. Improper advances toward a woman could get the male kicked off the stagecoach in the middle of nowhere. Nothing about a woman making a pass was mentioned. Forbidden topics of conversation were stagecoach robberies and Indian uprisings. Sounds like a smart rule. Passengers were encouraged not to jump from the stage in case of runaway horses so as not to be left victim to the weather, hostile Indians or hungry coyotes. Ouch.

Jessamay had a purpose and she looked at all these strictures as part of her great adventure. She was done with the life at Miss Veronica’s Pleasure Palace and wanted to see mountains—at least until she set her gaze on a handsome stage passenger, Slade Thomas. But nothing every goes as planned. The “excitement” of her first trip is interrupted by a holdup, and she and Slade fight the clock to outwit the bandits.