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Magpies. One for sorrow, two for joy. We all know the nursery rhyme. But what on earth was the backstory? I could find nothing that satisfied me, and so I wrote my own. And naturally I gave it a darker history and a place where the warnings have consequences. The Magpies of Hagley Stile. #Edvane #Folklore LINK IN COMMENTS
In medieval England, an outlaw could be declared caput lupinum — “wolf’s head.”
That meant he had been placed outside the protection of the law and could, in some circumstances, be killed with impunity.
The court did not merely condemn the man.
It first turned him into something legally huntable. #Edvane #Wolfshead
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#vss365 England’s last wolves gathered beneath the oak where the hunters had hanged their cubs. Their oldest had discovered how to take human shape and urged the others to follow him into the village.
“We could live among them,” he said. “Eat at their tables. Sleep beside their fires.”
“And when the full moon makes each of us a #wolf again?” asked his mate.
“By then we shall know which doors are left unlatched.”
#Edvane #DarkFantasy
For centuries, English law treated suicide as a felony. The dead person’s goods could be confiscated, leaving the family punished as well.
Some suicides were buried at crossroads with a stake driven through the body.
Death had ended the life.
The law still wanted a conviction. #Edvane #GrimHistory
The 1624 Infanticide Act presumed murder if an unmarried woman concealed the death of her newborn child.
Unless she could produce a witness to prove the baby had been stillborn, she could face execution.
The law demanded proof from the person least likely to have anyone beside her.
Silence became evidence. #Edvane #GrimHistory
#vss365 A merchant approached Cormoran with a cart of salted beef.
“Why raid the mainland, great giant? I can keep you fed, and the villagers will pay handsomely for their safety.”
The giant considered the bargain, his #ravenous eyes fixed upon the merchant.
“A fine arrangement,” he replied. Then he grabbed the merchant and swallowed him whole. “The villagers are safe tonight.” #Edvane #Folklore
#vss365 Beneath the Cheesewring, Edmund found the legendary silver armour. #Elated, he donned the breastplate, lifted the ancient sword and admired himself in its polished blade.
Behind him, a giant warrior emerged from the darkness.
“At last,” it groaned, removing its spectral helm. “Someone to take my place.” #Edvane #Folklore
A defendant who refused to plead in medieval and early modern England could face peine forte et dure.
That might mean starvation and brutal confinement, or being pressed beneath increasingly heavy weights until they submitted or died.
No plea meant no trial.
So the law tortured the answer out of them. #Edvane #GrimHistory
Fantasy has a small vocabulary for women. There is the warrior in impractical armour, whose fighting ability is introduced in the same paragraph as her sweaty cleavage. There is the ethereal beloved, who exists to be worth saving. There is the scheming queen, whose ambition is presented as a corruption of femininity. And there is the sacrificial figure, whose death or suffering provides the emotional fuel for someone else's story.
In this post, I explain why I avoid these defaults #Edvane #TheDarkHearth LINK IN COMMENTS
Later Anglo-Saxon law could punish an adulterous woman by cutting off her nose and ears.
Mutilation was not seen simply as vengeance. It could be described as punishment of the body while preserving the soul.
The law disfigured the sinner.
Then called it correction. #Edvane #GrimHistory
#vss365 “Enjoy the feast, mortals, but make no sound,” warned the Archfae. “Stay your raptures or be guests of this castle forever.”
They ate and drank in silence until a servant stumbled, spilling wine across their captor's robes. Delighted to see him humiliated, they erupted in #cheering.
The banquet vanished. Doors slammed shut.
Their captor wiped his robes and smiled. “Never fails.” #Edvane #DarkFantasy
Under King Æthelstan, an Anglo-Saxon moneyer caught striking false coin could lose the hand that made it.
The law ordered that the severed hand be displayed at the mint as a warning to others.
Counterfeiting did not just cost a man his livelihood.
It could leave part of him hanging over it. #Edvane #GrimHistory
#vss365 “Master, how did our world #start?”
“We murdered a god, boy. Built our kingdoms upon its bones, filled its wounds with oceans and drew our magic from its dying flesh.”
“Then why does the earth tremble?”
The old wizard stared into the fire. “Because we never taught it how to die.” #Edvane #DarkFantasy
In 1419, Margery Chaloner of Leicester was convicted with two men of killing her husband.
The men were sentenced to hang. Because a wife killing her husband was treated as petty treason, Margery was sentenced to be burned.
Same killing.
Different fire. #Edvane #GrimHistory
#vss365 An imp promised Meredith a shortcut through the wood. “Follow my footprints and #travel true,” he said. “Stray once, and you’ll never leave.”
Meredith obeyed until he reached a clearing. There, the footprints ended.
The imp waited with a shovel. “I lied, mortal. Start digging.” #Edvane #DarkFantasy
Sunday gratitude to all new followers in the past week. Special thanks to everyone who reposted my stuff. Follow them too! @aHEMandias @bottomlight5evr @fizzyfizzytwiz @robbeeio63 @simon_coll87859 @skeptikoi @alienfromheart @waggishauthor @DrNaveedAhamed1 @Latikay001 @PriyambanaP @niasruv @Officeofdarknes @RedRH3000 @Davidcs_AW @Write2Fite @candace_mi54817 #Edvane
In 1722, Bartholomew Roberts, one of the most successful pirates of the age, was struck by grapeshot during battle with HMS Swallow off West Africa.
Roberts had already told his crew what to do if he died. They weighted his body and threw it into the sea before the Royal Navy could seize it.
The navy captured his ship.
It never captured the captain’s corpse. #Edvane #GrimHistory
