fajrdrako: ([Heroes] - Peter)
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I spent most of the afternoon doing research in the National Library of Canada. I've been there before, but not for many years. I used to go when I was an undergraduate at Carleton University, and I remember they made me jump through hoops to get the authorization to go in. I was left thinking it was an elitist place that probably wouldn't let me in.

But, encouraged yesterday by [livejournal.com profile] maaseru and John, I went today and got a card without much hassle, using my passport as identification. I then spent time reading a book that has always fascinated me, L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchal. I have read it before, but really don't remember as much as I might; the only printed version, a three-volume set from 1891, is difficult to find, and is fragile. It is more than 19,000 lines of Anglo-Norman verse, and so is difficult to read quickly.

I knew the National Library had a copy, because I'd got it once on Interlibrary Loan through the Public Library. (But they wouldn't let me take it home. The nerve.) When I asked for it this morning the library expressed doubt. "We don't usually handle that kind of material," she said. "We're mandated to carry Canadian history, you know." I couldn't tell whether she was dissing my unpatriotic study of European history, or apologizing for the library's insufficiencies. I refrained from saying, "How chauvinistic of you." They did, of course, have the book.

Because it is fragile, I had to read it in room 25, wearing white gloves (which they provided), and use of pens is not allowed. Luckily, I'd put a good pencil into my bag this morning, somewhat by accident rather than good planning.

I luxuriated in the place. I'm used to the Ottawa Public Library - a good place, don't get me wrong, but it's crowded with books and people and the air conditioning seldom seems quite right and the librarians are always busy. In the National Library, there is a hush. The air conditioning is perfect - and that's important, since it was ([livejournal.com profile] maaseru tells me) 40-something degrees Celsius outdoors today, or 106o Fahrenheit. But in this cool, not-too-bright, not-to-dim room with its high ceilings and a view of the Ottawa River through its floor-to-ceilng windows with vertical blinds, I felt as if I was in an ivory tower. The table I was working at was maybe 10' by 15', and I had it all to myself. There was a space of about 10' between each table and the next, and no more than three or four people working in the whole huge room at any one time. Everything seemed fresh and clean and spacious and artistic.

I loved it. I worked until my eyes started to blur and my brain balked at understanding Anglo-Norman and the muscles of my pencil-wielding hand started to ache.

The good part? My card is valid for a whole year.

Makes me feel, if only temporarily, like the real scholar I want to be.

I took some pictures when I was leaving, just for the fun of it.

First,

The statue outside the National Library. It is called "The Secret Bench of Knowledge", and is by Toronto artist Lea Vivot.
Besides being a lovely statue, it has a delightful history.


~ ~ ~



A fountain in the garden to the left of the main doors.


~ ~ ~



"The Secret Bench of Knowledge" as seen from the garden,
with the entrance to the National Library to the left of the picture.
The person sitting on the bench is real, not part of the sculpture -
she was waiting for someone to pick her up.



Date: 2007-08-04 03:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
The only reliable mediæval method I know was called 'going on crusade'!

LOL!

Another possibility is that some of the marriage contracts were made when the brides were children.

Yes, that makes sense, too. Married at 8 or so - it would make sense for child-bearing not to begin for a decade or more. Thank you, that's a very plausible explanation: it also means, quite sensibly, that if they were married in, say, 1120, they weren't necessarily 20 years old and therefore weren't still bearing children late in their 40s (which looks odd); they could have been a good decade younger.

Moreover, given the uncertainties and warfares of their time, early marriage or betrothal makes good sense too, for military, political, and familiar alliances. I was just reading the perfect example of this in Guillaume le Marechale where a dispute was settled when Earl Patrick's sister Sibile (another Sybilla!) married William's father as part of the political settlement. He age of course is not mentioned, but it's hardly relevant: the families were, as the writer assures us, on good terms from then on.

Obviously this can backfire - we both know a bunch of bad marriages where the situation was either worsened or just not helped by the husband's treatment of the bride. (I'm thinking here of the example of Baldwin I and Adelaide of Sicily, which left the Sicilians resentful for numerous reasons. There are of course other examples.)

Date: 2007-08-04 04:34 pm (UTC)
ext_120533: Deseine's terracotta bust of Max Robespierre (Default)
From: [identity profile] silverwhistle.livejournal.com
LOL!

I can't help but think that the Second Crusade (the 'big family excursion') was organised by all the women getting their heads together so they could have some respite from child-bearing.

Yes, that makes sense, too. Married at 8 or so - it would make sense for child-bearing not to begin for a decade or more. Thank you, that's a very plausible explanation: it also means, quite sensibly, that if they were married in, say, 1120, they weren't necessarily 20 years old and therefore weren't still bearing children late in their 40s (which looks odd); they could have been a good decade younger.

Although a lot of them clearly were bearing children well into their late 40s (as were some of my 19C ancestresses: my youngest great-grand-uncle was born when his Mum was about 46, in the early 1830s). Conrad's parents were both younger children of his grandmothers' second marriages: Gisela and Jutte must have been well over 40 at the time.

I'm thinking here of the example of Baldwin I and Adelaide of Sicily, which left the Sicilians resentful for numerous reasons.

Adelaide was dowager Queen of Sicily. By birth she was Adelaide of Savona/del Vasto, another branch of the Aleramici. She's some sort of cousin of the Montferrats.

Date: 2007-08-04 05:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fajrdrako.livejournal.com
the Second Crusade ... was organised by all the women getting their heads together so they could have some respite from child-bearing.

Not to mention getting the men out from underfoot all the time. Running the households must have been somewhat easier without the menfolk interfering.

a lot of them clearly were bearing children well into their late 40s

Yes, but I was puzzling over the demographics and things make more sense when you postulate early marriages for at least some of them. If only we had more birth dates of women.

She's some sort of cousin of the Montferrats.

I'm tempted to say, "Wasn't everyone?" Very cool!

Date: 2007-08-04 06:06 pm (UTC)
ext_120533: Deseine's terracotta bust of Max Robespierre (Default)
From: [identity profile] silverwhistle.livejournal.com
Yes, but I was puzzling over the demographics and things make more sense when you postulate early marriages for at least some of them. If only we had more birth dates of women.

Jutta von Babenberg was probably born c. 1118 (when her mother was about 45), so was certainly in her teens by 1133, when she first appears as William's wife, in a donation to the Abbey of Locez (Lucedio). Her youngest children, Renier and Azalais, were born in the early 1160s.

I'm tempted to say, "Wasn't everyone?" Very cool!

There are several branches of the Aleramici in NW Italy. Some of them intermarried. They share a common ancestor, Aleramo, in the mid-10C. (I've visited his tomb at Grassan (Grazzano Badoglio).)

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