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Blog: Blog2

larabyrne

Dec 7, 20215 min

The making of an unlikely leader. Matilde of Tuscany's childhood

Not much is known about Matilde/a of Tuscany's birth. The year was 1046, but the day and place are uncertain. Mantova, Lucca, Canossa,...

larabyrne

Sep 24, 20213 min

Hamletic Lotharingia - The parallel lives of Hamlet and King Henry IV of Germany

Whilst I was not consciously aware of it as I was working on his character, I realise a posteriori that my version of Heinrich IV owes...

larabyrne

Sep 3, 20213 min

The books that inspired Lotharingia - Thoughts on Pope Joan

This is my first post in a while. I have spent the summer dreaming of holidays I could not take, and sharing visuals of the settings of...

larabyrne

Jun 10, 20212 min

What's in a name - The Lotharingian connection

A few people have asked how I have come up with the title and what Lotharingia means. Matilde, my heroine, is known as Matilda of...

larabyrne

Dec 4, 20202 min

Why I decided to write a novel on Matilde of Tuscany

In many ways, Countess Matilde of Tuscany was the most remarkable woman of the XI century. She must have made quite an impression on...

larabyrne

Dec 2, 20203 min

Medieval Women in Power - Matilda of Tuscany and her precursors

Medieval Europe did not really have historians in the modern (or ancient Greek) sense of the word. It had chroniclers and propagandists....

larabyrne

May 20, 20201 min

Medieval manuscripts

Sadly, a lot of medieval castles today are very different from the way they looked in their hey day. Re-modelling and change of use, as...

larabyrne

Apr 10, 20201 min

Read between the lines - Imperial seals for the margravines

How else can one try and recover the traces of the historical actions of medieval women? Apart from a few exceptions, writing was the...