Marguerite’s life is full, during the summer she and her husband usually wake with the sun, during the winter they wake when one of the servants revives the fire in their room (usually before dawn). They go downstairs and join the household to break their fast, after which they attend mass in their chapel. While Bjorn usually leaves to spend his days outside, Marguerite assigns duties to the household staff.
Her days are rarely the same, some days she spends over her household accounts, planning meals with the head cook; she also meets with the men in charge of the horse breeding. (having grown up at Pantyceffyl; Marguerite is an avid horsewoman and took over the breeding program from her grandfather). Bjorn, on the other hand has taken on all of the responsibility for the cattle breeding, (he views the horses as a combination transportation system and income source). She keeps note of the food inventory (including the spices and herbs), as well as the rest of the household inventory (linens, fabrics, cups, plate, pots etc). Marguerite also oversees the proper education of the children she takes in to foster (she doesn’t necessarily teach them herself, but makes certain that they receive the appropriate lessons: religion, reading, writing and arithmetic from their priest, sewing, spinning, weaving, etc for the girls and archery, horsemanship and arms for the boys)
Marguerite tries to get as many of her duties done in the morning as she can so that after dinner, whenever the weather and her other obligations allow, she escapes from the house to ride on rounds about the land, looking in on the progress of the crops and livestock as well as making certain the families are well and have sufficient supplies stored for the winter. She also manages to get some hunting in along the way - a nice way to relax and put extra meat on the table. When the weather is poor she dedicates her afternoons to sewing, weaving, or making physicks in the still room.
After supper the family and those retainers living in the manor gather in the great room to chat, play games, sing, dance and tell stories. Marguerite and Bjorn retire to bed around sunset in the summer, after dark in the winter.
As breyr of a maenol, Marguerite and Bjorn are obligated to host their Prince whenever he is on progress (since his court is less than a day’s ride this seldom happens), they do however host he and his men when they are hunting and occasionally host the young men he fosters. They also send him foodstuffs as part of their gwestfa (food-rent)[i] (J. a.-J. Rhys 218).
At least once a year they travel to London (normally in the fall during the main cattle and horse drive to Smoothfield) and frequently pay their taxes to the king’s exchequery from the proceeds of the sales (this saves them from having to transport the silver pennies from London and risk losing them to robbery).
Marguerite attends Henri II’s Easter and Christmas courts whenever they are held within reasonable travelling distance, to represent her father’s holdings and to present gifts of palfreys, hunters, hunting dogs and falcons to the crown. She also attends the courts of Einion Clud, prince of Elfael to represent her own holdings.
Bibliography:
Alfonso X, King of Spain. Book of Games. 1321. 24 September 2010 <http://www.u.arizona.edu/~smusser/ljtranslation.html,>.
Almond, Richard. Daughter of Artemis: The Huntress in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. D.S. Brewer, 2009.
—. Medieval Hunting. Thrupp-Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2003.
Association Maitre Chiquart. Capitulary of Charlemagne. 2009. 14 08 2012 <http;//www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cpitulary_charlemange>.
Bagley, John J. Life in Medieval England. London: Batsford, 1961.
Barber, Richard. Pilgrimages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1991.
Bartlett, Robert. England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Brooke, Christopher. A History of England. Vols. From Alfred to Henry III, 871-1272, Volume II. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1961. V vols.
Carpenter, David A. The Stuggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
Carr, Anthony D. Medieval Wales. Houndmills, Basinstoke, Hampshire: MacMillan Press, 1995.
Clutton-Brock, Juliet. Horsepower: A History of the Horse and Donkey in Human Societies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Cummins, John. The Art of Medieval Hunting: The Hound and the Hawk. Booksales, 2003.
Di Estera, Leah. "The Troubadours." Complete Anachronist #44 (n.d.).
Edward, 2nd Duke of York. The Master of Game. 2010 <http://books.google.com/books?id=dwM2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+Master+of+Game%22&source=bl&ots=XNQwohH5bM&sig=h0NB294zokSS5ZH4ynymFt48kRA&hl=en&ei=w3qyS6XLF4nMsgPBg5nKAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=fa>.
Fordham University. Medieval Sourcebook: Manorial Management & Organization, c. 1275. 16 February 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1275manors1.html>.
Gerald of Wales, (Giraldus Cambrensis). A Journey Through Wales (1188). Trans. L. Thorpe. Penguin Books, 1978.
—. The Description of Wales (1188). Trans. L. Thorpe. Penguin Books, 1978.
Halsall, Paul. "Asnapium: An Inventory of One of Charlemagne's Estates, c.800." 1998. Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University. 18 August 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/800Asnapium.html>.
—. "Descrpition of Manor House at Chinngford, Essex, 1265." 1993. Medival Sourcebook, Fordham University. 18 August 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chingford.html>.
Hindle, Brian paul. Medieval Roads and Tracks. Princes Risborough: Shire, 2002.
Holmes, Urban Tigner. Daily Living in the Twelfth Century. University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.
Hyland, Ann. The Horse in the Middle Ages. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 1999.
Hywel. The Law of Hywell Dda: Texts from Medieval Wales, Trans. D. Jenkins. Gomer Press, 2004.
Kerr, Nigel and Mary. A Guide to Medieval Sites in Britain. London: Paladin-Grafton Books, 1989.
Koch, John T in collaboration with John Carey, ed. The Celtic heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. Malden, Mass: Celtic Studies Publications, 1995.
Linnard, William. "The Nine Huntings: A Re-examination of Y Naw Helwiaeth." The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies XXXI (1984).
Lloyd, John Edward, M.A. A History of Wales, from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.
Loyn, H.R. The Making of the English Nation: From the Anglo-Saxons to Edward I. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
MacGreggor, Arthur. Finds from a Roman Sewer System and an Adjacent Building in Church Street. York: Council for British Archaeology, 1976.
Mainman, A.J. and N.S.H. Rogers. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: The Small Finds from Anglo-Scandinavian York. Ed. P.V. Addyman. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2000.
Metres, Kate. The English Noble Household, 1250-1600: Good Governance and Politic Rule. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1988.
Mould, Quinta, Ian Carlisle and Esther Cameron. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York. Ed. R. A. Hall. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2003.
Murray, H. J. R. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess. New York: Clarendon Press/Hacker Art Books, 1952/1978.
Neznanich, Nodar Baron OPel. Bocce. 2008. 2 Sept 2010 <http://www.modaruniversity.org/Bocce.htm>.
Ohler, Norbert. The Medieval Traveller. Trans. Caroline Hillier. Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2010.
Ottaway, Patrick and Nicola Rogers. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Finds from Medieval York. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2002.
Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. New York: Oxford University Press, inc, 1999.
"Peniarth Manuscript 28 - The Laws of Hywel Dda." National Library of Wales - Aberystwyth. 19 August 2008 <www.llgc.org.uk>.
Rhys, John and David Brynmor-Jones. The Welsh People; Chapters on thier Origin, History, Laws, Language, Literature and Characteristics. New York, New York: Haskell House, 1969.
Rhys, John, Sir. Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. Oxford & New York, New York: Clarednon Press & Johnson Reprint Corp, 1901 & 1971.
Richardson, Julie. Horse Tack. New York: William Morrow Co., Inc, 1981.
Round, John Horace. Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. London: Allen & Uwin, 1964.
Rowley, Trevor. The Norman Heritage, 1055-1200. London: Rourledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.
Ruby, Jennifer. Medieval Times. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1989.
Tomkeieff, Olive G. Life in Norman England. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1966.
Turberville, George. "Noble Arte of Venerie or Hunting." 1576. Google Books. Clarendon Press. 30 March 2010 <http://books.google.com/books?id=QQgbAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hunting&lr=&as_brr=4&cd=23#v=onepage&q=&f=false>.
Twiti, William. The Art of Hunting. Trans. Bror Danielsson. Stokholm: Almqvist & Wiskell International, 1327.
United States Bocce Federation. Bocce: An Historical Look. 2 September 2010 <http://www.bocce.com/aboutbocce/historical/>.
University of Leicester. "Hemington, Leicestershire." 26 February 2007. University of Leicester Archaeological Services. 18 June 2009 <http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/projects/hemington.html>.
Vernam, Glenn R. Man on Horseback: The Story of the Mounted Man from the Scythians to the American Cowby. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England, from the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen. Trans. J.A., D.C.L. Giles. London: Henry G Bohn, 1947.
Williams, Gwyn A. When Was Wales?: A History of the Welsh. London: Black Raven Press, 1985.
World Bocce League. A Beif History of Bocce. 7 April 2007. 2 September 2010 <http://www.worldbocce.org/htm/about.htm>.
Her days are rarely the same, some days she spends over her household accounts, planning meals with the head cook; she also meets with the men in charge of the horse breeding. (having grown up at Pantyceffyl; Marguerite is an avid horsewoman and took over the breeding program from her grandfather). Bjorn, on the other hand has taken on all of the responsibility for the cattle breeding, (he views the horses as a combination transportation system and income source). She keeps note of the food inventory (including the spices and herbs), as well as the rest of the household inventory (linens, fabrics, cups, plate, pots etc). Marguerite also oversees the proper education of the children she takes in to foster (she doesn’t necessarily teach them herself, but makes certain that they receive the appropriate lessons: religion, reading, writing and arithmetic from their priest, sewing, spinning, weaving, etc for the girls and archery, horsemanship and arms for the boys)
Marguerite tries to get as many of her duties done in the morning as she can so that after dinner, whenever the weather and her other obligations allow, she escapes from the house to ride on rounds about the land, looking in on the progress of the crops and livestock as well as making certain the families are well and have sufficient supplies stored for the winter. She also manages to get some hunting in along the way - a nice way to relax and put extra meat on the table. When the weather is poor she dedicates her afternoons to sewing, weaving, or making physicks in the still room.
After supper the family and those retainers living in the manor gather in the great room to chat, play games, sing, dance and tell stories. Marguerite and Bjorn retire to bed around sunset in the summer, after dark in the winter.
As breyr of a maenol, Marguerite and Bjorn are obligated to host their Prince whenever he is on progress (since his court is less than a day’s ride this seldom happens), they do however host he and his men when they are hunting and occasionally host the young men he fosters. They also send him foodstuffs as part of their gwestfa (food-rent)[i] (J. a.-J. Rhys 218).
At least once a year they travel to London (normally in the fall during the main cattle and horse drive to Smoothfield) and frequently pay their taxes to the king’s exchequery from the proceeds of the sales (this saves them from having to transport the silver pennies from London and risk losing them to robbery).
Marguerite attends Henri II’s Easter and Christmas courts whenever they are held within reasonable travelling distance, to represent her father’s holdings and to present gifts of palfreys, hunters, hunting dogs and falcons to the crown. She also attends the courts of Einion Clud, prince of Elfael to represent her own holdings.
Bibliography:
Alfonso X, King of Spain. Book of Games. 1321. 24 September 2010 <http://www.u.arizona.edu/~smusser/ljtranslation.html,>.
Almond, Richard. Daughter of Artemis: The Huntress in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. D.S. Brewer, 2009.
—. Medieval Hunting. Thrupp-Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2003.
Association Maitre Chiquart. Capitulary of Charlemagne. 2009. 14 08 2012 <http;//www.oldcook.com/en/medieval-cpitulary_charlemange>.
Bagley, John J. Life in Medieval England. London: Batsford, 1961.
Barber, Richard. Pilgrimages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1991.
Bartlett, Robert. England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings, 1075-1225. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Brooke, Christopher. A History of England. Vols. From Alfred to Henry III, 871-1272, Volume II. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1961. V vols.
Carpenter, David A. The Stuggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284. London: Penguin Books, 2004.
Carr, Anthony D. Medieval Wales. Houndmills, Basinstoke, Hampshire: MacMillan Press, 1995.
Clutton-Brock, Juliet. Horsepower: A History of the Horse and Donkey in Human Societies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992.
Cummins, John. The Art of Medieval Hunting: The Hound and the Hawk. Booksales, 2003.
Di Estera, Leah. "The Troubadours." Complete Anachronist #44 (n.d.).
Edward, 2nd Duke of York. The Master of Game. 2010 <http://books.google.com/books?id=dwM2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22The+Master+of+Game%22&source=bl&ots=XNQwohH5bM&sig=h0NB294zokSS5ZH4ynymFt48kRA&hl=en&ei=w3qyS6XLF4nMsgPBg5nKAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=&f=fa>.
Fordham University. Medieval Sourcebook: Manorial Management & Organization, c. 1275. 16 February 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1275manors1.html>.
Gerald of Wales, (Giraldus Cambrensis). A Journey Through Wales (1188). Trans. L. Thorpe. Penguin Books, 1978.
—. The Description of Wales (1188). Trans. L. Thorpe. Penguin Books, 1978.
Halsall, Paul. "Asnapium: An Inventory of One of Charlemagne's Estates, c.800." 1998. Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University. 18 August 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/800Asnapium.html>.
—. "Descrpition of Manor House at Chinngford, Essex, 1265." 1993. Medival Sourcebook, Fordham University. 18 August 2010 <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chingford.html>.
Hindle, Brian paul. Medieval Roads and Tracks. Princes Risborough: Shire, 2002.
Holmes, Urban Tigner. Daily Living in the Twelfth Century. University of Wisconsin Press, 1966.
Hyland, Ann. The Horse in the Middle Ages. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 1999.
Hywel. The Law of Hywell Dda: Texts from Medieval Wales, Trans. D. Jenkins. Gomer Press, 2004.
Kerr, Nigel and Mary. A Guide to Medieval Sites in Britain. London: Paladin-Grafton Books, 1989.
Koch, John T in collaboration with John Carey, ed. The Celtic heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales. Malden, Mass: Celtic Studies Publications, 1995.
Linnard, William. "The Nine Huntings: A Re-examination of Y Naw Helwiaeth." The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies XXXI (1984).
Lloyd, John Edward, M.A. A History of Wales, from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest. Vol. 1. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1912.
Loyn, H.R. The Making of the English Nation: From the Anglo-Saxons to Edward I. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
MacGreggor, Arthur. Finds from a Roman Sewer System and an Adjacent Building in Church Street. York: Council for British Archaeology, 1976.
Mainman, A.J. and N.S.H. Rogers. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: The Small Finds from Anglo-Scandinavian York. Ed. P.V. Addyman. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2000.
Metres, Kate. The English Noble Household, 1250-1600: Good Governance and Politic Rule. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1988.
Mould, Quinta, Ian Carlisle and Esther Cameron. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Leather and Leatherworking in Anglo-Scandinavian and Medieval York. Ed. R. A. Hall. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2003.
Murray, H. J. R. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess. New York: Clarendon Press/Hacker Art Books, 1952/1978.
Neznanich, Nodar Baron OPel. Bocce. 2008. 2 Sept 2010 <http://www.modaruniversity.org/Bocce.htm>.
Ohler, Norbert. The Medieval Traveller. Trans. Caroline Hillier. Rochester: The Boydell Press, 2010.
Ottaway, Patrick and Nicola Rogers. Craft, Industry and Everyday Life: Finds from Medieval York. York: Council for British Archaeology, 2002.
Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. New York: Oxford University Press, inc, 1999.
"Peniarth Manuscript 28 - The Laws of Hywel Dda." National Library of Wales - Aberystwyth. 19 August 2008 <www.llgc.org.uk>.
Rhys, John and David Brynmor-Jones. The Welsh People; Chapters on thier Origin, History, Laws, Language, Literature and Characteristics. New York, New York: Haskell House, 1969.
Rhys, John, Sir. Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. Oxford & New York, New York: Clarednon Press & Johnson Reprint Corp, 1901 & 1971.
Richardson, Julie. Horse Tack. New York: William Morrow Co., Inc, 1981.
Round, John Horace. Feudal England: Historical Studies on the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. London: Allen & Uwin, 1964.
Rowley, Trevor. The Norman Heritage, 1055-1200. London: Rourledge & Kegan Paul, 1983.
Ruby, Jennifer. Medieval Times. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1989.
Tomkeieff, Olive G. Life in Norman England. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1966.
Turberville, George. "Noble Arte of Venerie or Hunting." 1576. Google Books. Clarendon Press. 30 March 2010 <http://books.google.com/books?id=QQgbAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=hunting&lr=&as_brr=4&cd=23#v=onepage&q=&f=false>.
Twiti, William. The Art of Hunting. Trans. Bror Danielsson. Stokholm: Almqvist & Wiskell International, 1327.
United States Bocce Federation. Bocce: An Historical Look. 2 September 2010 <http://www.bocce.com/aboutbocce/historical/>.
University of Leicester. "Hemington, Leicestershire." 26 February 2007. University of Leicester Archaeological Services. 18 June 2009 <http://www.le.ac.uk/ulas/projects/hemington.html>.
Vernam, Glenn R. Man on Horseback: The Story of the Mounted Man from the Scythians to the American Cowby. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
William of Malmesbury. Chronicle of the Kings of England, from the earliest period to the reign of King Stephen. Trans. J.A., D.C.L. Giles. London: Henry G Bohn, 1947.
Williams, Gwyn A. When Was Wales?: A History of the Welsh. London: Black Raven Press, 1985.
World Bocce League. A Beif History of Bocce. 7 April 2007. 2 September 2010 <http://www.worldbocce.org/htm/about.htm>.