Medieval at Heart

🏰 part 1.

For some people, thinking back to the medieval times is hard. They think it rough and horrible. Well, I'm different. I love it!!
I love it the way some people love the 60's or the way some people I know love researching about the world wars. I don't know... It's just my "thing".
I can remember being very young and going to the medieval faire with my family, or when my school in 6th grade offered us the chance every year to return to the Medieval Times Dinner Theatre, as long as you wrote an essay first. It was the only time in school I loved writing an essay. School though, only taught me so much about my favorite time period, and in being so interested I knew I needed more. So I began my own research as a late teenager.
I was interested in EVERYTHING!! Clothes, food, Kings, Queens, peasants. Basically anything and everything. I ended up learning a lot. As an adult I've continued my research. I'm still constantly learning. Reading book after book. I'm currently reading one right now called "Summer of Blood" about the peasants revolt. Written by the amazing historian, Dan Jones.
You might know him from the t.v. Show "Secrets of the Great British Castles". Great show. I highly recommend it. For us in the U.S. It's on Netflix.
I was drawn to the show for one reason...castles!! If I could live in one tomorrow, I would. I learned a lot from that show and I'm grateful to have had the honor of writing Dan a couple of times via Twitter. It's just wonderful to know that there's other people out there that love or are interested in something you are. Someone to talk to. Not many people I know share that same thing for this particular period in history.
I'm not the typical sort of woman who's interested in what the woman aspects of that time were. I mean I am but let's just say my pleasures ly elsewhere.
Id be more likely to want to dress up in a Knights suit of armor than a medieval woman's dress. I'm more interested in learning about the armor how it's made, how much it weighed. How they built castles and ran them. The stories of the royals and the hard decisions of war they had to make. Knights and what all it entailed to be one. Did they have mirrors? Utensils? Make up? I'm interested in archery, swords and the many different kinds they had to choose from, and of course my favorite sport jousting!! Was William Shakespeare really the one who wrote all those popular plays and sonnets we all know and love?
So many words and so many things we do today started from that time. It's fascinating to think about. Were times rough? Yes!! Are they still rough but maybe in different ways? Yes!!
Bottom line is people haven't changed that much. You go to school and you learn about all the wars and things from that time. They teach you all the doom and gloom. So that history doesn't repeat itself. So that hopefully we'll learn from those past mistakes.
What school doesn't teach you and can't teach you about are about the humans you'll never know by name. There stories. These were humans just like today, and just like today they laughed, they loved, they had friends, children. Games and music. Good weather and cloudy days. Heartbreak and passion. That's why I love it. I'm not just remembering the wars and all the bad I've learned. I'm remembering, them.