Getting a Handle on Religious Belief in the Medieval Mindset

In a secular age it can be difficult to comprehend the extent to which religious belief once informed every aspect of life. Yet it’s a vital consideration when writing about the medieval era. In England and in Europe the Catholic Church was all-powerful. It influenced everything from baptismal names to what food could be eaten when and even the days on which one could and could not have sex. Faith was embedded in the culture and in the daily lives of the people. It was also, largely, unquestioned. Common people were illiterate and superstitious. Indeed, many noblemen could barely write their own names. Heaven and hell were not abstract concepts but real places. What one did in life would be weighed in the balance after death and there would be a reckoning. Sin was everywhere. The Devil set traps for the unwary. Miracles were seen to happen.

To create credible heroes and heroines in medieval romance it’s essential to address this. Otherwise the result is little more than a cast of contemporary characters in fancy dress. Achieving character credibility is easier said than done. We’re hundreds of years away from the truth. Besides which, education and opportunity have changed lives in ways that would have been unimaginable to our medieval counterparts. For the writer, getting into the medieval mindset and understanding the significance of religion on individual motivation is a continual exercise of the imagination, backed up by careful research. Visiting historic sites can offer real insights too.

Carcassonne, Languedoc

One of the most memorable for me came while on a recent trip to France. I was visiting Languedoc to undertake some research for a new series of stories. Quite apart from being scenically stunning the whole region is steeped in history: it was the centre of Catharism, an alternative religious view regarded as a heresy by the Catholic Church. When the Church attempted to quash this idea, the region erupted in open rebellion. This clash of religious ideologies resulted in one the bloodiest and most brutal religious repressions of the age.

In order to start my research I based myself in Carcassonne, truly a medieval novelist’s dream offering numerous insights into the past. It’s also an ideal location from which to travel further afield and visit other Cathar fortresses such as Lastours, Puilaurens, Peyreperteuse, Montségur and Quéribus.  Even by today’s standards they are remote. Existing roads are narrow and winding. Directions are not always of the best. However, when you do eventually arrive it’s hard not be impressed. These places are spectacular, standing like great stone eyries on impossible pinnacles of rock. The ascent is often perilous and requires stamina, a head for heights and considerable determination, but the end is worth the effort involved.

Quéribus.

Standing on the ramparts at Quéribus is like standing on the top of the world. The views are stunning. A stronger defensive position would be hard to imagine. The time and effort required to build such a structure is mind-boggling. There were no roads as we know them today so transporting men and materials and supplies overland would have been a logistical nightmare. Even bringing everything round by sea and then by land would have been a massive challenge. Nevertheless, the fortress was built anyway. That begs the question, why? What threat was so great as to require such a degree of protection? Virtually the same problems would have existed for an invader. Who in their right mind would even contemplate attacking such a place? Why would they? How would they? After all, it would take years, cost a fortune and exact a heavy toll in lives.

Lastours

Answering those questions starts to provide a handle on the strength of religious conviction and the extent of religious intolerance in late 12^th and early 13^thCentury France. Time, cost and human lives were no obstacle to the Church in its determination to crush the Cathar heresy that challenged its power. The sheer magnitude of the task was no deterrent. Nor was it hard to recruit soldiers to the cause. All across Northern France noblemen and commoners flocked to the papal banner. The thought of loot would undoubtedly have been an added draw for some, but uppermost in mind was the need to defend the true faith and root out the evil of heresy. It was accomplished with ruthless efficiency and a degree of political cynicism that was remarkable even by the standard of the time. Prior to the sack of Béziers in 1209, the Abbot of Citeaux was asked how the soldiers were to distinguish between the innocent Catholic population of the town and the heretic Cathars. The Abbot allegedly replied, “Kill them all. God will know his own.” The population, estimated to have been between 10,000 – 14,000 people, was duly massacred. Few, if any, of those who carried out the deed doubted that they were doing God’s work and would earn a place in heaven.

This is the mindset that the novelist must get to grips with and which must inform the characters’ motivations. It also has to appear natural and effortless. As I said, it’s no easy feat.

Joanna Fulford

www.joannafulford.co.uk

Medieval Romance and Paranormal Suspense - by JoAnn Smith Ainsworth

When I carried wood as a pre-teen so my Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, I wasn't thinking, "I could use this in a novel someday." Yet almost 60 years later, the skills I learned from my horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for my historical romance novels. Growing up with paternal grandparents born in the 1890's made creating historical novels a logical choice.

MIDDLE AGES HOMES AND GRANDPARENTS’ 1880’S HOMES HAD A LOT IN COMMON

When I carried wood as a pre-teen so my Great Aunt Martha could stoke up the iron stove to prepare dinner, I wasn’t thinking, “I could use this in a novel someday.” Yet, the skills I learned from my horse-and-buggy ancestors translate into backdrops for my medieval romantic suspense novels. Until doing research, I didn't realize how many cooking and household tools and utensils were still in use at the turn of the 20th century which were similar to those in use in the Middle Ages.

• The biggest surprise was the grinding wheel. My grandfather had one in the garage to sharpen knives. I found the only modern difference was that my grandfather’s wheel had a section of rubber tire to hold water to wet the stone.

• My great aunt used wooden spoons for cooking and pewter platters for serving. She dried her long hair in the sun or in front of the fire. Chamber pots were under the bed and the outhouse was down the path.

• Ceramic basins in bedrooms were filled from pitchers of warmed water brought upstairs from the kitchen. A washcloth and sudsy water in a basin were used for daily bathing. The Saturday night bath was in the metal washtub and set up in the kitchen to be close to the water boiled on the cooking stove and the only source of running water inside the house. (My great aunt had a hand pump outside.) The kitchen location for the washtub also made it easier to drain the water afterward.

• My great aunt had a root cellar dug into the ground which kept her stored foods at a cool temperature. Berries and nuts were gathered from the woods and canned or dried to eat during the winter. Throw rugs were draped over the clothesline and the dirt beat out of them periodically with a wire carpet beater.

• She made her own starch and the lye soap for doing the laundry. A metal iron was heated on the wood-burning stove before ironing her clothes.

• The local farmers brought to the door, freshly slaughtered meat or harvested fruits and vegetables. Life was at a much slower pace.

Those days are gone and that's fine by me. Hanging heavy, soaking, dripping wash on the clothesline in the cold of winter with my fingers freezing to the clothespins was not my cup of tea. The backbreaking work tending a vegetable garden and farm animals was also not for me. A well-stocked grocery store suits me just fine.

What I got from those times spent with my grandparents’ generation and was a sense of their daily lives before technology. No plastic, no vacuum cleaners, no wash machines and dryers, no t.v., no phones, no box stores, no cars, no jet planes, no Internet.

I transfer those intimate details into my manuscripts. By doing so, I create for you the experience of medieval times just by reading MATILDA'S SONG and OUT OF THE DARK.

Enjoy.

JoAnn Ainsworth (www.joannsmithainsworth.com

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Duty requires sacrifice…but the heart will not be denied

At the time, pretending marriage to her middle-aged widower cousin seemed like the best way to escape a politically motivated betrothal to a brutal knight. Now, her journey toward a new life has landed her in hot water—she’s been waylaid by a local Norman baron who’s mistaken her for a real bride. And he demands First Night rights.

Hot water turns to steam in a scalding night of passion…passion she has never known. And now must live without.

Lord Geoffrey is entranced at first sight of the Anglo-Saxon beauty and finds that one night in her arms is not nearly enough. But all he can offer the low-born Matilda is a life in the shadows—as his mistress.

http://www.amazon.com/Matildas-Song-Joann-Smith-Ainsworth/dp/1605043230/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/joann-smith-ainsworth?store=book

Back Cover Blurb OUT OF THE DARK ISBN: 978-1-60504-277-0

Blinded—she by nature, he by loyalty.

As a blind woman seen as a flawed commodity, Lady Lynnet is used to the idea that she's unlovable. But her parents' plan to force her into a loveless marriage is too much. Wandering, upset and lost in the cellars of the king's castle, the darkness doesn't frighten her, but the murder plot she overhears chills her to the bone. Worse, no one believes her, and the only one she can turn to is a Norman sheriff whose voice sounds disturbingly like one of the conspirators.

Basil, Sheriff of London, is battle-hardened, fiercely loyal—and torn apart. He's falling in love with the Saxon beauty, and he longs to show her she is worthy of love despite her physical limitation.

But the very corruption she is helping him root out may implicate his own half brother. How can he turn his back on family—for an Anglo-Saxon woman?

http://www.amazon.com/Out-Dark-Joann-Smith-Ainsworth/dp/1605042773

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-the-dark-joann-smith-ainsworth/1100392416?ean=9781605042770&tabname=custreview&

Check out JoAnn’s website. http://joannsmithainsworth.com/novels.shtml

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