This is how much of a history geek I am

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I just finished reading a book called Julian’s Cell:The Earthly Story of Julian of Norwich by Ralph Milton. It’s a delightful read for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, and particularly good for those who have an interest in Christian mysticism and/or mystics of the Middle Ages.

The book is an imagined account of the life of Julian of Norwich, the Medieval Christian mystic who was the first woman to ever write a book in English. Her writings are still read, hundreds of years later, though the Medieval language can be difficult to cope with. Happily the same author has also written a book called The Essence of Julian: A Paraphrase of Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, and while I haven’t read it, I fully intend to. This is a very good writer, so I’m sure the book will be as good as Julian’s Cell.

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed Julian’s Cell, I spotted a problem with it. Incredibly minor, but it shows exactly how much of a history geek I am (and how pedantic I am, too).

There is a reference in the book to Joan of Kent, who was, at the the book takes place, the widow of Edward, Prince of Wales (known to history as The Black Prince) and she was the mother of King Richard II. In the book, the author refers to Joan of Kent as “the Queen Mother”. Ack! No! No, Joan of Kent was the Princess of Wales! In fact, she was the very first English Princess of Wales, and furthermore, the title “Queen Mother” was actually invented in the mid-twentieth century by Queen Elizabeth, the mother of HRH Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen Mother, as she became known, had the title of Queen Elizabeth by virtue of being married to the King and her name being Elizabeth. When her daughter, Princess Elizabeth of York, became the queen, her mother didn’t want to be known by the more traditional title of Dowager Queen Elizabeth, so she invented the title Queen Mother and that’s the end of that. There is no way anyone would have thought of Joan of Kent, i.e., the Princess of Wales, as The Queen Mother (which is a slightly ridiculous title, anyway, if you ask me, but nobody has).

Ah HAH!!! You see the useful things history geeks know and can pontificate about?!

Another book that I read long ago (a historical romance set in England in the time of King John, but I can’t remember the name of the book now) had the heroine draw a bath and scent it with eucalyptus oil. Eucalyptus? Like, from eucalyptus trees? Which are native to Australia, which wasn’t settled until the eighteenth century, let alone had anyone in Europe pressing oil from said exotic native trees? Hmmmm…..

As I recall, the author of that book also kept using the word “friar” to indicate monks. Friars and monks are not actually the same thing, and I’m not sure there were ANY friars in England during the time of King John (His reign ended in 1216, and the only group of friars who would have had any opportunity to migrate to England would be the Carmelites, who didn’t arrive in England at all until 1242. The Franciscans, the next oldest order of friars, were founded 1209 in Italy, so it seems pretty darned unlikely they would have had time to move to England in those few years, given how long it took the Carmelites to make it there.)

Yes, I know. White and nerdy, that’s me. And a brain filled up with strange historical trivia, too. Thank goodness I’ve got a blog where I can express these things, eh? Eh?