**”For this was on Seynt Valentynes day Whan every foul cometh there to chese his make, Of every kynde that men thynke may…” -Chaucer, Parliament of Fowles To go into this nice swirl of chocolate and Valentine’s Day, I think we have to go down memory lane a bit. There’s some history and some …
The following post is cross posted on the From the Catbird Seat: Poetry & Literature blog. Magna Carta is coming to the Library of Congress in November 2014! This document is regarded as being one of the foundations of representative government and at the same time marked a defeat of the king by his barons. But long before 1215, …
During a recent blog team meeting, one of my colleagues mentioned restrictions during the early modern era concerning who could consume that newly discovered drink–chocolate. Having studied medieval history in college, I was reminded that during the Middle Ages there had also been efforts to pass laws regulating many aspects of daily life, with the …