Olde English Gingerbread

Posted by kitperriman on July 15, 2022

This traditional recipe has been a great favorite since medieval times!

Ingredients

1lb honey

1lb fine white dried breadcrumbs

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper

pinch of salt

butter for greasing pan

Method

Lightly grease a 1″ thick shallow baking pan.
Boil the honey over a medium heat and skim off the scum.
Lower the heat and add the spices.
Slowly add the breadcrumbs and stir well until you have an evenly-coated thick mixture.
Turn the gingerbread mix into the pan. Spread evenly. Push well into the corners. Leave to cool.
Turn out onto parchment paper and tap the base to release from the pan.
Turn the gingerbread face up and cut into squares.
Place a small clove in each piece.
Decorate the plate with clean, dry leaves – or candy shapes.
The cooled mixture can be molded like marzipan for special events!

(Photo: Public Domain)

Kit’s Crit: The Witch of Eye (Mari Griffith)

Posted by kitperriman on July 14, 2022

The Witch of Eye

Mari Griffith

Set in the mid-Fifteenth Century, The Witch of Eye is a historical fiction based on the true story of Margery Jourdemayne, a wise woman from Eye Next Westminster who eventually burned at the stake. The infamous Witch of Eye acts on behalf of the Duchess of Gloucester, Eleanor Cobham, who is desperate to give Duke Humphrey a son. Into these known facts Mari Griffith skillfully weaves an invented love story between a dairymaid called Jenna Harding, and Margery Jourdemayne’s yeoman farmer husband, William.

Griffith draws a convincing scene of life in medieval England and her attention to detail is very impressive. She portrays that ambiguous time when people of all ranks looked to supernatural forces to help them achieve their desires, sometimes even assisted by members of the clergy. Jenna Harding is the most modern – and appealing – character who is drawn into dangerous circumstances over which she has little control. Fortunately, things work out well for her in the end.

I enjoyed this well-paced book. Highly recommended if you like a touch of romance in your historical fiction!

Advent

Posted by kitperriman on July 13, 2022

The sky is crying rain drips

through the lashes of the tree

and in an instant splish-splash

summer’s gone

and we feel It coming.

(Kit Perriman)

(Photo: Kit Perriman)

Witch Dance

Posted by kitperriman on July 12, 2022

Mary Wigman’s interpretation of the witch:

(Drawing of Wigman: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner)

Countess Dracula: In League With Witches?

Posted by kitperriman on July 11, 2022

As long as there have been stories, tales of female vampires have captured the popular imagination. Hebrew scriptures claim Lilith and her daughters lived on the blood of babies, and in the Greco-Roman mythology the followers of Hecate were also said to feast on children. But the Guinness World Record for a woman serial killer is held by a documented historical figure – the wealthy Hungarian noble, Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614). She is said to have tortured and killed around 600 peasant girls in order to bathe in their virgin blood, believing this was the fountain of youth that would keep her beautiful. The maidens were lured to her castle with promises of well-paid work, only to be beaten, burned, mutilated, frozen, starved, or stabbed to death.

Bathory is also known as Countess Dracula, partly because her atrocities are often compared with Vlad the Impaler’s reign of terror – a fellow Transylvanian murderer. Bram Stoker used Bathory’s royal Hungarian connection for his Count, and made Dracula appear younger each time he feasted on human blood.

According to some sources Bathory, betrothed at age 10, married a lesser nobleman when she reached 15 years old. In the meantime, however, she was impregnated by a castle servant and secretly gave birth to a daughter. The child was never heard of again – and the lover was castrated before being fed to a pack of dogs. She was married for 29 years, and during that time had several other children.

Bathory is thought to have suffered from violent seizures in early childhood, which may have aroused the first suspicions that she was “possessed by demons.” Her husband spent a lot of time at war. During his absence a manservant called Thorko apparently introduced her to the occult, and several of her companions were rumored to be witches, sorcerers, seers, wizards, and cunning folk. Four of these people were accomplices in her bloody crimes and when she was finally brought to justice, two were burned at the stake, one was beheaded and burned, and the last was imprisoned. Because of her royal status Bathory could not be executed, so she was incarcerated in her castle for the remaining few years of her life.

Legend has likely embellished the horrors of Countess Dracula. And whether she was dangerously vain, mentally unstable, or killed maidens simply for sadistic pleasure, we will never know. But this was the era of witch-hunting — and Bathory was a rich, powerful widow who triggered a lot of political envy and resentment — so she was a natural target for the ambitious men around her. We cannot deny the fact that royal ladies have been known to torture and kill. But when one of the charges against this noblewoman claims she cast a magic spell to summon ninety cats to torment her enemies . . . perhaps she was not quite as guilty as we have been led to believe!

(Painting: Public Domain)