Newsletter

Welcome to the November newsletter. This month is Lions and Lilies homage to the Saints – Nov 1^st being All Saints Day and one of Nov issues of The Rusty Gauntlet was a ‘Pilgrimage Special.’

This is also the time of year we look around and say, ‘where did the year go?’ Not long until Christmas! This month the Facebook posts are going to cover a lot of the articles in Novembers issues of The Rusty Gauntlet Magazines; a week of pilgrimage sites, another of relics, then we switch to the knighting ceremony and chivalry. I was going to make the blog all about the knighting ceremony then I realised I do cover it in full detail in the upcoming Roar of the Lion (Yes, that is still coming! More on that in next month's newsletter). So, instead the blog is about ‘Knights of the Card,’ as in a deck of cards, (but it does include the Kings and Queens also). I hope you enjoy.     Cathy T

This month’s blog is called ‘Knights of the Card’ but it also includes the kings and queens. Did you know that originally the ‘face cards’ or ‘court cards’ in a deck of cards used to represent real people? So which kings and queens have been honoured? And which knaves are represented? Find out in in Lions and Lilies latest blog.

(Click on the picture for the link)

VIEW OUR FAVOURITE PINTEREST BOARD

Since we are celebrating all things ‘pilgrimage’ this month, take a look at the the beautiful Abbey de Flaran where Comte Jean d’Armagnac first met Cecile.

(Click on the pictures)

Abbey de Flaran, France

Denny Abbey, England

SHOUT OUT

This month we’d like to shout out to Pat K. Pat wrote to us after the Sept Newsletter to thank us for sharing the video of Loreena McKennitt’s version of The Lady of Shallot. We are very happy you enjoyed it, Pat. Thank you.

THE RELICS OF SAINT DENIS OF PARIS 

At the famous Sacre Coeur in Paris, if you head to the crypt you can learn about the patron saint of Paris — St. Denis — who was beheaded by druids on this very hilltop. That alone is enough to make him a martyr, but ever the over-achiever, St. Denis picked up his severed head and gave a sermon as he walked all the way to the site of the royal necropolis that now bears his name. If you take a trip up to St. Denis’ Basilica, you can see all kinds of different images of the decapitated saint as well as the remainder of his relics and his tomb.

                            West facade of the basilica               Choir of Saint Denis

St. Denis’ Cathedral was actually begun by the patroness of Paris, St. Genevieve, who purchased the land and had a shrine built over Denis’ tomb. However, her relics weren’t as lucky when the torch-happy revolutionaries paid her a visit. The majority of her relics were burnt at the Place de Grève, (where the first of all the beheadings took place - now the Hôtel de Ville). But you can still see a tiny fragment of her bone and the rock her coffin rested on at St. Étienne-du-Mont.

The rock where St. Genevieve’s tomb once rested preserved as its own relic.

LINK TO GIVEAWAY

This month’s link to some free historical fiction. Be sure to grab a copy of ‘The Lily and the Lion’ if you have not already done so! (Click on picture)

ABOUT US   

https://lionsandlilies.com/about-the-authors/

Catherine A Wilson co-writes with Catherine T Wilson (no relation). Their first book, The Lily and the Lion, was based upon their true-life accidental meeting and resulting friendship. All four books in their ‘Lions and Lilies’ series have won first place prizes in the Chatelaine/Chaucer Awards in the US and IN 2018, The Traitor’s Noose won the Grand Prize Chaucer Award.

We hope you enjoy the latest edition of our newsletter! 

See you next month!