They who still enjoy fairy tales

Silver chalice, Byzantine, 527-565 AD

brienne, the maid of tarth

just line art and colours under cut because i like how it looks too!:

Art Deco bookends featuring Medieval ladies reading. 1920

via @fortunate-hal

her getting knighted by such an infamous knight who is largely despised and viewed as a complete failure at knighthood by his society is something that i do actually like, and think works with this:

THREE OF SWORDS

For example, if another knight decided they wanted to knight Brienne, and did so publicly, is that end of story? Brienne is a knight much to the chagrin of her haters?

Yes and no.

Officially, yes. Any knight can make a knight. So when the local lord anoints his failson with rhe seven oils, yes, he's a knight and afforded all the privileges thereof. Same goes with Brienne.

Unofficially, Brienne's knighthood only extends as far as people are willing to accept it. She's be shut out and denied from those privileges unless she forces the issue. Games masters would find technicalities to deny her participation in melees, lords would refuse to swear her to service, and so on and so forth. Social stigma is a powerful thing, and exclusive castes try to do everything they can to maintain exclusivity - lest the allure wear off their exclusive caste. One of the most advantageous assets of an exclusive caste is the right to deny it to those who are considered unworthy. So I would imagine that knights would fight against Brienne with every unofficial trick and technique to deny her until she is dead or discredited enough to annul the knighthood.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

Medieval book transport

You are looking at two ‘wraps’ (top), the outside and inside of a box (middle), and a leather satchel (bottom). What they share is not just their old age (they are all medieval), but also the purpose for which they were made: to transport a book from A to B. The actual reason for transporting books in these objects varied considerably. The wraps are late-medieval girdle books, which were hanged from the owner’s belt by the knot. The text inside - which was often of legal or religious nature - could be consulted quickly and easily: just unwrap it and read. The box (and the ninth-century book inside) had a more exotic use: the package functioned as a charm for good luck on the battlefield, where it was carried in front of the troops by a monk. The satchel, which also dates from the ninth century, was just a bag to transport a book while on the go - it was popular among monks. Read more about these fascinating devices in my blog post “Medieval Books on the Go” (here).  

Gold earring, Byzantine, 6th-7th century AD