Wisbech and March: Why They Hate Each Other
Oh, great goddess of the knitting blog ring, do not throw me out! I have knitting content!
Here it is:
I have been knitting.
Ok, now on to other things:
A cheery happy day today, cause I got a lot of exercise, walking from Wisbech to Leverington, which is not that far -- it's only about 2 miles away -- still, if one does that AND walks about the town in a regular fashion, one racks up lots more than the 10,000 steps per day suggested by the Surgeon General, and also one is cheery and happy.
Especially if one spent yesterday afternoon eating toffee in bed.
So I went to Leverington, and a lovely walk it was. Leverington regularly paid well for players coming through town in the 16th century -- mostly from towns near Boston -- so I've got a soft spot for Leverington. The guild hall's long gone, though.
Then I went around Wisbech to see the sights, but they were all closed, because it was Monday, so people had to rest from having rested on Sunday, which I guess wore them out.
But then I sat in the hotel courtyard, as promised, and drank not one but TWO cappuccinos -- really I was cheerful before then; it's not the caffeine -- and wrote and wrote and was just enormously well behaved.
There is nothing that cheers me up as much as being well-behaved. (By which you can gather that it's not the normal state of affairs.) Long walk AND work on the manuscript? If I died right now I'd go to heaven. Therefore. Cheerful.
Also. I bought Wisbech souvenirs. Since several of them are meant to be given away I can't tell you about them, but I CAN tell you about the wonderful local history book I bought concerning the traditional rivalry between Wisbech, Capital of the Fens, and March, Capital of the Fens. The book's author refuses to take sides; according to him, they both deserve the title, sort of.
This book excited me because in the course of searching the Ely diocesan church court records for evidence of players and musicians, I came across a Very Bad Incident in the late 16th century concerning the citizens of Wisbech and March, which made it very clear that they hated each other with a deep and abiding passion, and had done so for a long time.
So I was interested to see if this book would discuss the problem. It does. Wisbech and March shared some common ground -- recipe for disaster if I ever heard one -- and they kept encroaching on each other's territory, and letting sheep and cattle graze on each other's land, and at some point it got so heated that one day the Wisbech men went to the common land and found their sheep dead. They blamed the March men, probably justifiably -- it's not like there were roving bands of sheep killers in the area -- and took the fight to the bishop, who had a temper fit over the whole thing and told the March men to behave.
I find it interesting that the book I've got describes the dead sheep as "deliberately maimed sheep, some with throats cut." Well. That's not quite how I'd put it. It sounds almost genteel. Those sheep were not just maimed -- they had been tortured. It was so horrifying that I read the entire account, even though I was looking for entertainers and no entertainers were involved -- it wasn't like that roasted cat, which was questionable. The tortured sheep are not in my bailiwick. Anyway. The sheep made a big impression on me. Bothered the bishop, too.
So I have a nice little book about Wisbech and March: Why They Hate Each Other (has to do with economics, just like everything else in the history of the humans), and also I have a lovely collection of Cambridgeshire photographs. Also I believe I bought some other books at some point -
yep. did.
Apparently the cunning and baffling plan I had for lightening the suitcase has been foiled, by me.
Must mail more things home, I think.
Tomorrow! Maybe I'll tell you all about the Wisbech and Fenland Museum Day! (Really! It'll be great! I'll be reading manuscripts in a basement room, with no light. Don't you wish that you read medieval Latin and Elizabethan secretary hand, too? Then maybe you could have a Life Like Mine!)
Please. Everyone calm down. There's enough excitement here for everybody. We can share.
And then, there's always sheep; saw some on the way to Leverington...
Here it is:
I have been knitting.
Ok, now on to other things:
A cheery happy day today, cause I got a lot of exercise, walking from Wisbech to Leverington, which is not that far -- it's only about 2 miles away -- still, if one does that AND walks about the town in a regular fashion, one racks up lots more than the 10,000 steps per day suggested by the Surgeon General, and also one is cheery and happy.
Especially if one spent yesterday afternoon eating toffee in bed.
So I went to Leverington, and a lovely walk it was. Leverington regularly paid well for players coming through town in the 16th century -- mostly from towns near Boston -- so I've got a soft spot for Leverington. The guild hall's long gone, though.
Then I went around Wisbech to see the sights, but they were all closed, because it was Monday, so people had to rest from having rested on Sunday, which I guess wore them out.
But then I sat in the hotel courtyard, as promised, and drank not one but TWO cappuccinos -- really I was cheerful before then; it's not the caffeine -- and wrote and wrote and was just enormously well behaved.
There is nothing that cheers me up as much as being well-behaved. (By which you can gather that it's not the normal state of affairs.) Long walk AND work on the manuscript? If I died right now I'd go to heaven. Therefore. Cheerful.
Also. I bought Wisbech souvenirs. Since several of them are meant to be given away I can't tell you about them, but I CAN tell you about the wonderful local history book I bought concerning the traditional rivalry between Wisbech, Capital of the Fens, and March, Capital of the Fens. The book's author refuses to take sides; according to him, they both deserve the title, sort of.
This book excited me because in the course of searching the Ely diocesan church court records for evidence of players and musicians, I came across a Very Bad Incident in the late 16th century concerning the citizens of Wisbech and March, which made it very clear that they hated each other with a deep and abiding passion, and had done so for a long time.
So I was interested to see if this book would discuss the problem. It does. Wisbech and March shared some common ground -- recipe for disaster if I ever heard one -- and they kept encroaching on each other's territory, and letting sheep and cattle graze on each other's land, and at some point it got so heated that one day the Wisbech men went to the common land and found their sheep dead. They blamed the March men, probably justifiably -- it's not like there were roving bands of sheep killers in the area -- and took the fight to the bishop, who had a temper fit over the whole thing and told the March men to behave.
I find it interesting that the book I've got describes the dead sheep as "deliberately maimed sheep, some with throats cut." Well. That's not quite how I'd put it. It sounds almost genteel. Those sheep were not just maimed -- they had been tortured. It was so horrifying that I read the entire account, even though I was looking for entertainers and no entertainers were involved -- it wasn't like that roasted cat, which was questionable. The tortured sheep are not in my bailiwick. Anyway. The sheep made a big impression on me. Bothered the bishop, too.
So I have a nice little book about Wisbech and March: Why They Hate Each Other (has to do with economics, just like everything else in the history of the humans), and also I have a lovely collection of Cambridgeshire photographs. Also I believe I bought some other books at some point -
yep. did.
Apparently the cunning and baffling plan I had for lightening the suitcase has been foiled, by me.
Must mail more things home, I think.
Tomorrow! Maybe I'll tell you all about the Wisbech and Fenland Museum Day! (Really! It'll be great! I'll be reading manuscripts in a basement room, with no light. Don't you wish that you read medieval Latin and Elizabethan secretary hand, too? Then maybe you could have a Life Like Mine!)
Please. Everyone calm down. There's enough excitement here for everybody. We can share.
And then, there's always sheep; saw some on the way to Leverington...
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