The Language of Sex in Renaissance Humour
The Theory and Practice of Euphemism in Courtly, Medical, and Theatrical Texts from France and England (c.1512-1659)
Anna Blaen
A major academic study of how the language of sex, euphemism, and the body is used in Renaissance texts from France and England (c.1512-1659). Three main types of comedic texts are explored in depth: from the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and French courts, medical treatises, and theatre from contemporaries of Shakespeare. Surprising findings are revealed regarding how the taboo was approached across nations and genres, drawing upon ancient, early modern, and modern theory. Original French extracts are included alongside English translations. Scholars and students will find insight into gender, sexuality, humour, linguistics, medicine, drama, power, and social status. The Renaissance period is brought to life through its attitude to speaking the unspeakable.
West Country Folklore, Friends & Fiction:
Thomas Hardy, Eden Phillpotts, Henry Williamson, Arthur Quiller-Couch, John Cowper & T.F. Powys
Angela Blaen, Tom Blaen & Anna Blaen
This book analyses major areas of folklore found in the writings of six West Country authors: Eden Phillpotts, Thomas Hardy, John Cowper Powys, T. F. Powys, Arthur Quiller-Couch and Henry Williamson. While they were all successful writers in their own time, this group also considered themselves as folklorists, recording and documenting for posterity the ebbing rural world around them in their literary art. Aside from Hardy, most of these authors have been sadly neglected and as a consequence their record of South West English culture and custom has been forgotten, a situation this book rectifies.
The Lives of Two Offas: Vitae Offarum Duorum
Introduced, Translated and Edited by Michael Swanton
The forgotten life of the king who built Offa’s Dyke, invented English currency, overcame disability, saved his kingdom, faced down an Emperor and became the first king of England – an England centred on the Midlands.
This work not only provides, for the first time, a parallel translation from the Latin manuscript, but a in-depth introduction to both the text and the background to its setting, as well as appendices of parallel translations of relevant early medieval texts.
Crediton: The Crossing of the Lines
Angela Blaen
The first edition of Crediton: The Crossing of the Lines by local Devon author Dr Angela Blaen was first written in 1995. It covered the history of Crediton from a refreshingly different angle, involving not only St. Boniface, the Saxon cathedral and medieval church but also their links to the nearby henge at Bow and the Michael and Mary lines which cross at Crediton Church.
Due to the book’s popularity this new edition has been produced with updated text, pictures and a new afterword taking into account the recent archaeological work at the site.
Medical Jewels, Magical Gems: Precious Stones in Early Modern Britain
Tom Blaen
A major work exploring the changing beliefs that surrounded precious stones in the past. This book focuses on how the uses of gemstones in magic, medicine, religion and science changed from the classical and medieval ideas into something quite different in sixteenth and seventeenth century Britain, and in doing so demonstrates how our modern attitude towards the natural vs the supernatural emerged.
