Margaret of Scotland

Saint of the Day: Margaret of Scotland. One of my colleagues at SMU wrote her Master's thesis and is now writing her dissertation on Margaret of Scotland, so I feel some affection for her since I know she's well documented. Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about her. I know her father was an exiled English nobleman, so she was raised in Hungary. Her family did return to England, but she herself wound up in Scotland where she married King Malcolm III around 1070. They by nearly all accounts were really in love and had several children.

The most popular story I know about Margaret is that she had a gospel book which was her very favorite, and it somehow fell into a river. Now, medieval books were extremely expensive and were all made by hand. No printing presses, no machines of any kind. Just some monks copying text out by hand and hand-painting illustrations. It could take an entire year to make just one book and cost the equivalent of a fancy car nowadays. So, basically, Margaret's limited edition Ferrari fell in a river. Oops! But, miraculously, the book was recovered with no damage! It is now in the Bodleian Library in London. Here is a lovely picture of two of the pages from the book - the beginning of the Gospel of Mark:



I don't have an outfit today. I've started using the pool finally, so I'm just laying around in a swimsuit coverup. Not so exciting and not that cute, really. But comfortable!

Reading:
Old English: The Wanderer, a very sad poem about a man whose lord has died and now he sails the seas looking for a new lord to serve. It's full of imagery of chains and fetters and being constrained by things. It also mentions how good warriors will shut up their grief inside their "breast-chamber" and not let it show so they can gain more glory. Oh, my gosh. Has this "men can't express their feelings" stuff been around for literally more than 1000 years?

Middle English: finishing up the Towneley plays today with "The Ascension," "The Judgment," "Lazarus," and "Judas." I'm trying to get some extra work done before we go to New Mexico, too, so I think I'm also going to read "Everyman" and "Mankynde" today as well. We'll see if that actually happens.

Contemporary American: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, pp. 100-150

Workout: Yes! 45 mins! I bought seasons 2 and 3 of True Blood, so I'm pretty motivated. Season 4 starts in 3 weeks!

Food:
Breakfast - cheese toast, grapefruit juice, coffee
Lunch - left over oven-fried chicken tender, squash, and snap peas from last night
Dinner - grilled shrimp taco salad
Snacks - cherries and grapes