Marital and parental discipline

One of the beta readers for Weave Me a Rope questioned the beatings administered by the two fathers. She didn’t think they would be allowed. And they certainly should not have been. In Regency England, however, while it was illegal to maim or kill a wife, child, or servant, anything else was considered to be the perogative of the male head of the household.

fathers could and did beat their children bloody. Their wives, too. English law is based on Roman law, which gave the pater familias, the father of the family, power of life and death over his household. By the modern era in Great Britain, that power no longer included the right to deliberately kill a wife, offspring, or servant, but:

“the Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Matthew Hale (1709 -1676) wrote that the common law permitted the physical discipline of wives and that husbands had immunity from prosecution if they raped their wives (Historia Placitorum Coronae, Hale, 1736  @ pp 472-474 ). He also said wives, servants, apprentices and children could be subject to ‘moderate correction’ even if such discipline caused death.” (https://womenshistorynetwork.org/history-law-violence-for-women-children-17th-century-notions-are-inexcusable/0

The same views were still in vogue one hundred and fifty years later. ‘Moderate correction’ was open to interpretation, of course, and various people tried to codify it. The phrase ‘rule of thumb’ comes from one such attempt, which held that a man could beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.

There seems to have been a general agreement that causing permanent injury went beyond moderate correction. Indeed, in extreme cases, wives could go to the courts and seek legal protection. If they won their case, the court might make an order restraining the husband from immoderate correction.

The mind boggles. Under what circumstances would it be a good idea to take such a case then go home with a man who been embarrassed in front of his neighbors but still had the right to administer as many beatings as he liked, as long as he used a thinner stick? One can only imagine how bad things must have been for those who actually did apply to the courts for help.

As for wives, even more so for children, in a culture in which beatings were supposed to maintain the harmony of a home—for the head of the household.

To be fair to the time, corporal punishment was the norm. Schoolboys were beaten. Soldiers and sailors were beaten. Whipping and scourging were punishments for criminal behavior. However, from the middle of the nineteenth century, this would change, and the change had already begun in the home.

Already, by the Regency period, it was widely considered unbecoming for a gentleman to hurt someone weaker than himself, particularly someone completely dependent on him for food and board. Which, of course, made life better for those in the households of men who wanted to live up to this standard.

However, since no one wanted to interfere in what was seen as a private matter, abusers could safely the new idea of marital and child abuse as a social wrong. They had nothing to fear from public censure nor the law.

It would be a very long time before that changed.

Choosing period appropriate language in historical fiction

A guest post from Rue Allyn

Today I want to talk about the difficulties period appropriate language can cause authors and readers alike. It isn’t that some words common in a given period may be unfamiliar to 21st century readers. The problem is much deeper. One key aspect of using period appropriate language is that meanings and connotations change.

The words used today to discuss the history of people of color in the United States are very different than those used in the past. Mostly this is so because the words used during the period while people of color were enslaved in the US of A have come to be regarded as offensive.

I ran into this problem when I decided to write The Creole Duchess. This novel is about A duke in disguise, a creole miss determined to get her own way, a curse, and the battle of New Orleans.

I sent my duke on a secret mission to try to halt the coming battle. While he was in New Orleans he fell in love with Miss Celestine St. Cyr Duval. That Miss Duval was American, and technically an enemy, was bad enough but she wasn’t just an American or just a Louisiana creole (a person whose family descends from one of the original settlers of that territory), she was also a quadroon.

Today, ‘quadroon’ is a highly offensive word, and with good reason. But in the United States in 1815, quadroon was one of a number of terms used both in everyday language and in legal documents to describe a person of color whose ancestry was composed of only one quarter color. The other 75 percent being white. Very often people with this sort of background exhibit extraordinary physical beauty and rarely are they obviously ‘black’ or ‘white.’

The definition of the term is credited to Thomas Jefferson, himself an owner of enslaved people of color. In a letter to a Mr. Francis C. Gray, Jefferson defined quadroon in purely mathematical terms. Proving, although no doubt without intention, how owners de-personalized enslaved people of color.

“let the 2d crossing be of h. and B. the blood of the issue will be h/2 + B/2, or substituting for h/2 it’s equivalent, it will be a/4 + A/4 + B/2. call it q (quarteroon) being ¼ negro blood …” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/03-08-02-0245

Such was how the term was used in 1815.

However, I was writing a novel about human people. People who, regardless of what they might be called had hopes, dreams, working lives and families. How do I resolve this difficulty created by the changing meanings and connotations of words throughout history.

The easiest way might have been to simply avoid the problem and write a different story. But my research into the term and the people it described fascinated me. Celestine was a quadroon in the setting of the story, and she deserved in my opinion to have her story told. Yet, if I use those words throughout the story that offend modern readers, readers whom I pray will continue to purchase and read my books, I risk losing that audience. What to do?

I used a twofold approach. You will notice that the title of the book is The Creole Duchess. Celie was both Creole and quadroon. Why limit her to one descriptive term? So, I used the term ‘quadroon’ where absolutely necessary in the way early 19th century people would have understood it. However, I took great care to balance that descriptor with other terms that would show the range of Miss Duval’s personality and history. Quadroon. Daughter. Wife. Free woman of color. Creole. Freedom runner, for she did in the story assist a number of enslave people of color to escape their bondage. And eventually, Duchess.

Language is not the only area in fiction writing where history and modern sensibilities are at odds. My strong belief is that we owe it to ourselves, our readers and to history to represent that history with accurate plausibility no matter how unpalatable to 21st century readers.

About The Creole Duchess:

A duke in disguise, a creole miss determined to get her own way, a curse, and two nations at war, is love even possible?

New Orleans Creole, Miss Celestine St. Cyr-Duval refuses to live under the thumb of some man chosen by her parents. Celie will do everything to keep freedom of choice for herself and others. But fate interferes in the form of a duke disguised as British businessman, Caleb Elmond. A relationship with Caleb would find approval with her mother, but both Celie and Caleb have secrets that put them on opposite sides of a great conflict and could destroy them both.

With the Battle of New Orleans looming, can these two strangers from warring countries compromise and protect each other, or will fear and betrayal end both their lives?

The Creole Duchess, Duchess Series Book Three is expected to launch in late 2023. The pre-order price of $0.99 for this long-awaited conclusion to the Duchess Series ends on release day, Oct. 30, 2023

Buy Links: Amazon   Other Retailers

About Rue Allyn:

Author of historical and contemporary romances, Rue Allyn fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. (She claims she was a precocious little brat who read at the age of two but could hear much earlier than that.) She studied literature for far too many years before discovering that writing stories was much more fun than writing about them. One of her greatest pleasures as an author is being able to read the story before anyone else. Rue is happily married to her sweetheart of many, many years. Insatiably curious, an avid reader and traveler, she loves to hear from readers about their favorite books and real-life adventures. Crazy Cat stories are especially welcome. You can contact her at Rue@RueAllyn.com. She can’t wait to hear from you.

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The Dream of Macsen Wledig

Welcome to Fil Reid, guest author of today’s Footnotes on Friday. Thanks for being with us today, Fil.

Several times in my books I’ve had characters refer to The Dream of Macsen Wledig. This is a story that’s survived to today as one of the tales in The Mabinogion, stories compiled from earlier oral traditions in the 12th and 13th centuries. I thought it would be nice to infer that these were stories being recounted around the fireside in kings’ great halls only a hundred years after Prince Macsen’s own time.

Although he’s classed as a Celtic ‘hero’ he’s based on a real person – a Roman general born in Spain called Magnus Maximus, who served in Britain where he acquitted himself heroically and briefly became the Western Roman Emperor in AD383. Unfortunately, he led a lot of the forces defending Britain, including native British warriors, away to fight in Europe and was himself killed on the 8th of August AD388.

Those are the facts about him, but for some reason, the British tribes took him to heart and he became one of ‘theirs’ rather than a member of the occupying force. This was helped by his defeat of the rampaging Picts and Scots (the Irish) in the North in AD381. In a time when the British themselves were not able to defend themselves against invaders, Magnus Maximus did it for them, and they loved him for it.

And of course, he went off and had a tragic end that the bards could transpose into being both romantic and heroic. Thus was born The Dream of Macsen Wledig, which is how they came to refer to the man they thought of as Prince Macsen.

The content of the dream is as follows – the emperor of Rome (Macsen – already emperor unlike in reality) dreams one night of a lovely maiden in a faraway land and sends his men off to search for her. Eventually, they find her in a splendid castle in Wales, the daughter of a chieftain based at Segontium (Caernarvon) and lead the emperor to her. Everything is just as in his dream. The maiden is Elen and he marries her and, as she is a virgin, makes her father king of all Britain.

However, in Macsen’s absence, a new emperor seizes power and warns him not to return, and that Rome is his now. Macsen, being a hero etc, takes an army (in the dream strictly a Celtic army) and marches on Rome. He gets himself killed, and Elen receives the news on the road and promptly lies down and dies as every romantic heroine should on hearing of her loved one’s demise.

What’s interesting about Macsen is his presence in so many genealogies as a founding father: he crops up in the lists of the Fifteen Tribes of Wales, has a prominent place in the Welsh Triads, and he’s given as an ancestor of a Welsh king on a monument – the Pillar of Eliseg – 500 years after his own death. Luckily this inscription was recorded in 1696 by Edward Lluyd as nowadays it’s illegible. But it’s interesting not just for its mention of Maximus (in that spelling) but also for its mention of Britu, son of Guarthigirn (Vortigern) and Sevira (described as a daughter of Maximus presumably by Elen) having been blessed by Germanus (a saint who we know visited British shores in Rome’s fight against Pelagianism).

Of course, none of this is really relevant to how I use Maximus in my stories, but in the current book, Excalibur turns out to have belonged at one point to Maximus, and to have been returned to Britain after his final battle, when he knew he was about to die, and hidden until his true successor could discover it. That might be a small spoiler, but you’ll have to read the book to find out the complicated ins and outs of how it ends in Arthur’s hands.

Excerpt  (Merlin shows Gwen where the sword has come from)

The younger man reached for the sword with reluctance, his stubbly cheeks tear-stained, eyes anguished. Filthy fingers closed around the hilt. “My Lord, I will not rest until this sword lies in the hands of your wife.” His head bowed in supplication.

The dragon ring winked at me in the raw daylight, as the Emperor laid a hand on the young soldier’s bare, short-cropped head in benediction. Withdrawing his hand, the Emperor fumbled at the ring with awkward, bandaged fingers as the young man rose wearily to his feet, and slid the sword into the scabbard by his side.

The Emperor, his own cheeks wet with tears, held out the ring, gripped between finger and thumb. “Take this as well. It was my wife’s.”

It fell into the soldier’s open hand, and the young man turned it over, so the dragon rested uppermost on the filthy palm.

An overwhelming urge to reach out and snatch it washed over me, but the vision vanished. My eyes flicked open.

I was back on the wall-walk again, with Merlin still holding my hands and the dragon ring on my finger glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

My breath came hard and fast. “Was that sword Excalibur?”

“I don’t know, but I think so. This is the clearest I’ve seen him. All I can tell you is that every time I look, I see this sword gripped in that hand. That hand with that ring. This ring.” He indicated the ring on my hand. “And I believe that what I’m seeing, what I’ve just shown you, is Macsen’s defeat by the Emperor Theodosius. I think he knew execution awaited him and wanted to send his sword back to Britain. Perhaps it was a British-made sword – even linked to the Princess Elen, his wife.”

The Quest for Excalibur

Book Five of the award-winning historical romance series based on Arthurian legend.

Twelve years ago, 21st-century librarian Gwen decided to remain in the Dark Ages with the man she loves above all else – a man around whom endless well-known tales of legend and magic have been spun. King Arthur. Over the years, she’s carved a life for herself by her husband’s side, gently steering him in the direction she wants him to go, but always with an awareness that he’s a Dark Age king with a Dark Age view of the world.

Equipped with her prior knowledge of Arthurian legend, Gwen’s sole aim has long been to save her husband from the legendary fate she dreads hangs over him. But always, at the back of her mind, is the nagging doubt that whatever she does is already set in stone, and nothing she can do will change his future which is already her past.

Now, in book five of the Guinevere series, she’s all too aware that time is marching on, and that this fate might well be drawing closer to the man she gave up everything for.

Danger lurks in the most unexpected places, and long-hidden secrets threaten to rise to the surface. After a long, cold winter in their hilltop fortress, Gwen’s pleased to welcome traveling players to Din Cadan. But these players are hiding secrets of their own, and one of them has come with black deeds in mind. Gwen will have to fight harder than she’s ever done to save herself and thus her husband. And all evidence points to the hand of Morgana, Arthur’s wicked sister, manipulating everything from afar.

Throughout all of this, simmering in the background, is young Medraut, Arthur’s nephew. Unnoticed, despite still being only a boy, he’s been exerting his malignant influence over those around him, in particular, Gwen and Arthur’s son and heir. The wedge he succeeds in driving between Arthur and his son will carry forward into the cataclysmic events of the final book, The Road To Avalon.

But even Morgana can’t prevent Gwen discovering the truth behind the story of Excalibur and setting the legendary sword in her husband’s hands.

Read Free in Kindle Unlimited! https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Excalibur-Guinevere-Book-ebook/dp/B0CF6RN38F/

 

Corn Dollies: a guest post from Alina K. Field

In researching British harvest festivals for Under the Harvest Moon, we came across the tradition of weaving corn dollies.

Corn, for American readers, refers to cereal grains such as wheat or barley, and though spirits are involved, the dolly is not a human-shaped creation like a voodoo doll!

When the harvest was almost finished, the last of the sheaves were taken and made into a corn dolly. Corn dollies are created by weaving stalks of grain, often into hollow spirals, a place where the Corn Spirit, perhaps the goddess Ceres, could stay during the winter months.

When ploughing started, a farmer would place the dolly hosting the Corn Spirit into the first furrow to be ploughed back into the earth to ensure a good growing season.

In the fictional Cheshire town of Reabridge, the harvest festival includes a corn doll contest. I can only imagine the beautiful woven designs that adorned the town’s homes and hearths!

Link to a video about making traditional corn dolls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYpcfzd4ov0

Also, Wikipedia has a good article on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_dolly

Under the Harvest Moon, A Bluestocking Belles with Friends Collection

By Caroline Warfield, Jude Knight, Sherry Ewing, Cerise DeLand, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Collette Cameron, Mary Lancaster, Alina K. Field, and Rue Allyn

As the village of Reabridge in Cheshire prepares for the first Harvest Festival following Waterloo, families are overjoyed to welcome back their loved ones from the war.

But excitement quickly turns to mystery when mere weeks before the festival, an orphaned child turns up in the town—a toddler born near Toulouse to an English mother who left clues that tie her to Reabridge.

With two prominent families feuding for generations and the central event of the Harvest Moon festival looming, tensions rise, and secrets begin to surface.

Nine award winning and bestselling authors have combined their talents to create this engaging and enchanting collection of interrelated tales. Under the Harvest Moon promises an unforgettable read for fans of Regency romance.

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/UnderHarvestMoon

Under the Champagne Moon by Alina K Field

Orphaned by the French Revolution and rescued by a British family, Fleur Hardouin was a solemn and often sullen child. She didn’t—or wouldn’t—speak, until the jolly young Gareth Ardleigh crossed her path one summer and saved her from bullies.

Fifteen years later, Fleur’s life takes another twist when she and the beloved lady she serves lose their home and return to the town of Reabridge. Determined to rescue them both through an advantageous marriage, Fleur tries to brush off the attention she receives from Captain Gareth Ardleigh, who’s home from the wars and as handsome as ever. Her heart longs for him, but her head knows he can’t provide the security she needs.

Gareth’s excuse for visiting Reabridge is to deliver the personal effects of his best friend who perished at Quatre Bras. But his real purpose is finding the little French girl he met years ago, for marriage—not to him, but to the Frenchman who helped save his life. Little does Fleur know that she’s heir to a wealthy French vintner who’s demanded Gareth’s help finding Fleur as repayment of his rescue from Napoleon’s army.

Astonished to find that Fleur has grown into a beautiful—and still intriguing—young woman, it soon becomes clear he must choose between honoring a promise or trying to win the hand of the woman he loves.

Author Biography:

USA Today bestselling author Alina K. Field earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and German literature but prefers the happier world of romance fiction. Her roots are in the Midwestern U.S., but after six very, very, very cold years in Chicago, she moved to Southern California where she shares a midcentury home with a golden-eyed terrier and a feisty chihuahua and only occasionally misses snow.

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Ending a marriage in Regency England

In Georgian and Regency England, it was difficult to end a marriage. Basically, the options were an informal separation, a legal separation, or a divorce. In fact, in some ways, it would be fair to say that the three were stages in a process—with the couple probably no longer living together by the time one of them (usually the man) went before the Ecclesiastical Courts for a separation, and a separation being one of the requirements for a divorce.

Annulment is not one of the three for the simple reason that an annulment is a finding that the marriage was void at its beginning; that is, that the marriage ceremony was not valid, and therefore the couple were never married.

Divorce was difficult to obtain, expensive, and seldom allowed the parties to marry again. The first step was to apply to the Ecclesiastical Court. But the Court could only rule that the couple be permitted to separate (a divorce a menso et thoro, a separation from bed and board). They no longer lived together, and the husband was no longer responsible for providing a home for the wife (although he was still responsible for her debts.

A man could be granted such a ruling when adultery was proven against a wife. A woman had to also prove that the adultery was aggravated by life-threatening cruelty, bigamy, or incest.

If she obtained such a ruling, the woman had no right to access to her children.

A husband could also sue his wife’s lover under civil law for ‘wounding another man’s property’ and for depriving him of her services as household manager. Women had no such right.

The next step, if one of the parties wanted to remarry, was to take a private bill to Parliament for ‘relief’. The proceeding were expensive, long, messy, and public. It was very rare for the divorce finding to include a clause that permitted the ‘at fault’ party to remarry.

“Between 1670 and 1857, 379 Parliamentary divorces were requested and 324 were granted. Of those 379 requests, eight were by wives, and only four of those were granted.” (Wright, 2004)

https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/bailey/

https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2017/01/divorce-regency-style.html

Folk tales in human history

In most places and for most of history, folk tales have not been written down. They have instead been passed from story teller to story teller down through the generations, changing over time as the current teller of the tale adds or changes a detail.

In the book Clever Maids, the author Valerie Paradiz tells the true history of the women who collected the stories that were edited and published by the Brothers Grimm. Folk tales, she tells us, were women’s stories—the tales that women told over the laundry or the baking, or entertained children with during a long winter’s evening, or when putting them to bed. They were servant’s stories—the stories of the folk, the ordinary people.

We can see these origins in the stories themselves. In folk tales, if not in the high literature of the cultures of the world, the weak and helpless win out over the malice of the powerful. Notably, many of the protagonists of folk tale are women—women who are essential to the story, which isn’t over until they get their happy ending.

Today, romance literature is predominately a women’s literature: written predominantly for women and by women, and not over until the female protagonist gets her happy ending. It seemed to me that romance was the right place to retell folk tales, and A Twist Upon a Regency Tale is the result.