Wednesday, September 17, 2008

In The Distracted by Shiny Objects Department

I came upon this clever quiz via Shaken & Stirred (via Sarah W--is that enough vias? are vias infinite?).

Your result for The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test...

The Lady

You scored 37% Cardinal, 46% Monk, 59% Lady, and 35% Knight!



Chaste and pure, you are a good person. You try to help others and do your duty to your family. However, this duty involves you being sold off to a local noble house in order to cement relations between your families. But you know it's for a greater good, and besides you will retain all the comforts and glamour of your position regardless of if you're your father's or you husband's property.

Take The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test at HelloQuizzy



I came out to be an unusual kind of mix--not exactly all Lady. The Lady makes me sound like a pragmatist, don't you think? I don't know about the chaste and pure part....

I'm very fond of the Rennaisance (though I wouldn't want to particularly live in that time--dentistry is important to me!) and it got me thinking of books written about the period that I like. Both have been around for a while, but are in print. The first is Wordly Goods by Lisa Jardine--an excellent overview. The other is Elizabeth and Mary, Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn. I'm a sucker for English history, and it's a gossipy but excellent antidote to all those lovely but historically vapid films about Elizabeth.

And to go back to the Middle Ages a bit, you can't do much better than Philip Ziegler's comprehensive history of The Black Death. (I must have picked up this copy in England back in 1994.) Here's a US paperback copy, but the hardcover has some nice color plates.

And in the Totally Unrelated Shiny Objects Department, what has happened to Annette Bening's face?! She's the one on the far left. She's so lovely, but I fear she and Warren have been under the knife one too many times.


P.S. Thanks for yesterday's lovely comments. Risk = Fun!

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