Medieval lovers

Lover's Tryst by Richard Borrmeister February is a special month on Historical Romance Review as it's the month in which we celebrate love and Valentine's Day (as well as Pirate, Privateer & Love on the High Seas romances). So I thought to begin with an interesting tidbit from history. What did the Georgians and Victorians mean by "making love"? Research on this issue was the project of Dr. Clelia Duel Mosher, a hygiene academic who, between 1892 and 1920, persuaded 45 women to fill out…

Lovers in the Garden, Manesse manuscript ca. 1300 Red lead was a favorite pigment of Byzantine and Persian illuminators and commonly used in European manuscripts and paintings. Latin name: Minium for red lead & vermilion. Minium comes from river Minius located in north west Spain. From the word minium came the Latin verb miniare and then the English miniate and miniature to describe the image. Chemical name: Lead(II,IV)-oxide

The subject is taken from a medieval Danish ballad translated by Burton’s friend Whitley Stokes in 1855, which tells the story of Hellelil, who fell in love with her personal guard Hildebrand, Prince of Engelland. Her father disapproved of the relationship and ordered her seven brothers to kill the young prince.