Our New Website!
Great news: the website about Edward II, run jointly by Lady D and myself, is now up online! Yay! It's called Everything Edward II, and you can find it here; the address is everythingedward2.com. Lady D did all the technical stuff for the site which I'm useless at, so many, many, thanks to her for all her hard work. (Please go over to her blog and tell her how brilliant she is.)
One of my favourite parts of the site is the Mythbusters page, where we take stories about Edward II which are demonstrably untrue or at the very least grossly exaggerated but are repeated online and in books over and over (and over and over and over and bloody well over, to the point where I start to scream and cry and tear my hair out) as certain fact - and proceed to demolish them. It's great fun. There are only a few on there at the moment, but it's an ongoing project, of course, and I have tons more planned. The red-hot poker thingy really needs a page, too.
The new site is where we finally throw off the veils of our pseudonyms and reveal our true names and identities - so if you're interested in who we really are, check out the About page.
Finally, to fill this post up and to look as though I've actually put some thought into it, here are some searches which have hit the blog over the last few days.
hug le despenser Let's hold a Hug Hugh Le Despenser Day. That would certainly make Lady D happy!
sexy pirate custumes
gay engleterre
William said that Edward .... to make him his heir (i.e. to be the next king)
vereson.sex.com and verray verray.sex.com Weirdly, those two hit my article about Edward II's coronation, which says "Thomas de Vere, son of the earl of Oxford..." and the one about Henry of Grosmont, the verray parfait gentil knyght. Not quite what the searchers were after, I imagine.
historical person that fought against unfair hours
murder king homophobia medieval poker castle
form of address for children when mailing letter
facts about king Edward II death for children
mark smeaton sex
was george boleyn bisexuall
true incent taboo seducing stories
sex wife amatory
free edward greeting cart Card?
strange facts about edwar vi Sadly I don't know any, but being called 'Edwar' is pretty strange, I'd have thought.funny tumbstones
atrocities committed by edward the second to scotland
what are the common things between eleanor & joan middle ages
who are the Despensers during Edward II
how much would a french feast cost in 1320
why is john norton important Because he was one of the men trying to free Edward II in 1327, of course! Which certainly makes him very important to me.
burghersh family scandalous
if someone killed a deer in the 14th century
did isabella of france have any sufferings Decide for yourself.
why people behave unfair to other people I like to think I can answer pretty well any question about Edward II anyone throws at me, but philosophical questions are beyond me, I'm afraid.
the king who had a red hot poker up his bum
which english royal prince was killed by an iron poker Number of people who have hit my blog by searching for 'red-hot poker' or similar: I've never counted, but it must be reaching infinity.
Roger Mortimer, the one who helped finish off Edward II at Berkeley Castle, the one with the red-hot poker
Which blogger is a klutz who trips over the most bizarre situations in LOVE HAPPENS
queen Isabella as the director of Edward ii
childish behavior of edward ii
Sometimes, blog readers who are not native speakers of English use Google's automatic translator to translate my posts into their own language. I was amused to see that the title of my post 'The Amatory Adventures of John de Warenne' was turned into Italian as La Adventures Amatory di John de Warenne, the title I'd orginally planned for the post, 'Marital Discord in the Reign of Edward II', came out as Marital Discord nel Reign of Edward II, 'Edward II's brother-in-law Gilbert 'the Red' de Clare' as Fratello Edward II's-in-law Gilbert 'il Red' de Clare, and 'serious marital issues' as serious issues marital. Hmmm, somehow I'd always thought Italian was a different language, not English words written in a different order with a few 'la's and 'il's thrown in for good measure.
Enjoy the website! Remember, it's a work in progress, and we'd love your opinions and feedback about anything you'd like to see on the site - so do feel free to get in touch with us any time, here or here.
19 comments:
*Raises champagne* At last! I'm excited, happy, nervous and relieved all at once!
And as for hug le Despenser - I do that every day lol! Great searches - I haven't had any funny ones at all of late!
Big hugs and here's to the site!
Great news!
*clinks glasses*
And I guess I will officially proclaim today as "Hug Le Despenser" day.
Looks great! Congratulations!
Very nice! I'm looking forward to checking it out.
Great site.
Gods, those Italian translations are hilarious. Babblefish Italy doesn't know many words, it seems ;)
Congratulations on your website!
I shall certainly be a regular visitor, as I hope will many of my blog readers.
I am so pleased for you both.
I am anxious to read your discoveries and view your ideas. I am an 18th great granddaughter of Edward II through Edward III~John of Gaunt/Beauforts.
It would be nice to think of him other than one of the worse disappointments in English history.
Nearly sent tea out of my nose reading all those funny searches.
Right I am off to the new website!
Cheers is right - go girls!
PS. My word verification is farklist. My goodness me - more tea just spewed forth....!
Thanks so much for your kind words, everyone! Your support means a great deal, and I hope you enjoy the site.
What a hoot, guys! Off to look at the new site now. nad remember when in doubt, about Italian vocab or anything else, just hugga de spensa.
Cheers! (hic) Congratulations ladies!
Thanks, Satima and Anerje!
Rather mysteriously I posted a comment asking if you had any original sources showing that Isabel MacDuff actually was released from her imprisonment at Berwick-on-Tweed. I've never found such a source, but may well have missed one. I've only seen later comments that this was the case, which doesn't prove anything as I'm sure you'll agree. I'm frankly skeptical, but willing to be proven wrong that she did not survive that imprisonment.
Rather mysteriously my comment seemed to end up on a page where I wasn't posting--no idea how that happened. Anyway, if you have any good sources on this, I'd very much appreciate sharing.
Thanks.
Thanks for posting an answer to my question. I deleted my original response upon realizing I had misread something you said.
That information is very helpful and was something I had a lot of difficulty finding.
I do think it is quite certain she must have died prior to the exchange of prisoners after the Battle of Bannockburn or she would be mentioned in that. You're quite right that she is never once mentioned although all the other Scottish women were returned at that time.
Thank you so much for your help.
You're welcome, Jeanne - glad to be of help! Isabel is a fascinating character, and I really wish we knew what happened to her and when she died. You're absolutely right that she'd be mentioned after Bannockburn if she'd still been alive - as a countess, she was far too important not to be. I also wish that Ed II had released her much earlier than he did - it reflects very badly on him that he didn't.
It's great that you're writing about her though - good luck with the novel!
Well, to clarify she is an important secondary character. I am actually writing about the Black Douglas, a fascinating character in his own right. (Many people don't realize that at the time of Robert Bruce's coronation, Douglas was all of about eighteen years old.) But the fate of Isabel MacDuff is essential to the tale.
That is because if you read Johne Barbour carefully and note a comment in I. M. Davis' essential biography, you realize it is likely that James Douglas was romantically involved with one of the women who fled through the highlands with them that year. (Besides I AM writing fiction. *smile*) Since all of the other women were with a spouse except for Marjorie Bruce who was about ten years old, Christian Bruce whose husband had just been executed and Isabel MacDuff--it's a short list of possibilities.
And finding the possibilities is the fun of writing historical fiction.
Thanks again.
By the way, someone asked in one of your posts if people know that the terms of address are frequently wrong. You bet some of us do. It's frustrating since if you do it correctly you'll be accused by the ignorant that YOU have it wrong. How many times have I been hold that kings should be "your majesty" when even the English kings of the time didn't claim such a form of address? *sigh*
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