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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jul 12

"[They] accused him of being too harsh or too lenient; for doing too much or too little; for grasping at power or reliquishing it too easily; for being both a radical republican and a crypto-royalist; for embracing the Revolution and betraying it."

George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jul 12

Review (★★★★½) Hero of Two Worlds, by Mike Duncan – “The Revolutions of Lafayette”

#History #Lafayette #BookReview #MikeDuncan

Review (★★★★½) Hero of Two Worlds, by Mike Duncan – “The Revolutions of Lafayette”

[They] accused him of being too harsh or too lenient; for doing too much or too little; for grasping at power or reliquishing it too easily; for being both a radical republican and a crypto-royalis…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jun 17

Review (★★★½) The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie – “Expedience”

'We remain stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the cause of the world’s least likely Empress, no offence…’

‘Entirely fair,’ said Alex.

#Fantasy #Books

Review (★★★½) The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie – “Expedience”

‘We remain stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the cause of the world’s least likely Empress, no offence…’ ‘Entirely fair,’ said Alex. ‘…at the behest…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Mar 28

After 3 days, if the wound had healed (or in lenient cases, started to heal), they were deemed innocent.

This fell out of practice in the 13th century after the Pope forbade priests from taking part.
(2/2)

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Mar 28

Trial by jury doesn't work? What about trial by ORDEAL - a common practice in Anglo-Saxon England.

Overseen by a priest, this left the determination of guilt up to God. The accused could be forced to hold hot iron, or place their hand in boiling water. (1/2)

#history #anglosaxons

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Mar 10

Review (★★★★) Howling Dark, by Christopher Ruocchio – “Half-Mortal”

“I imagined it was not space I looked upon, but the pelagic dark of the sea… The abyss stood lifeless, silent, and so screamed.”

#sciencefiction #bookreview

Review (★★★★) Howling Dark, by Christopher Ruocchio – “Half-Mortal”

“I imagined it was not space I looked upon, but the pelagic dark of the sea… The abyss stood lifeless, silent, and so screamed.” Christopher Ruocchio No spoilers, read freely. Had…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Feb 27

Review – Mistborn Era 2 (Wax and Wayne), by Brandon Sanderson – “Shots Fired”

“He became destruction incarnate. For to worship Harmony was not only to worship Preservation- it was also to worship Ruin, with all that implied.”

#Fantasy #BookReview

Review – Mistborn Era 2 (Wax and Wayne), by Brandon Sanderson – “Shots Fired”

“You are like a lion. Most days only partially present with me. Lounging, half asleep. You do what you must, you fulfill the needs of the house, but you don’t thrive. Then the prey appe…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Feb 27

This gradually moved back to 12pm and hence "noon" came to become synonymous with this time. (2/2)

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Feb 27

"Noon" as a word for midday comes from the middle ages when monks split their days into liturgical hours.

Deriving from "nona hora" or ninth hour from when they awoke, noon was a time for prayer originally meaning 3pm. (Monks woke at 6am). (1/2)

#etymology #history

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Feb 3

Review (★★★) The Bone Chests, by Cat Jarman – “Remains to be Seen”

In Winchester Cathedral, there are six mortuary chests containing sets of bones of some amazingly significant people in England’s history...

#History #BookReview #AngloSaxons

Review (★★★) The Bone Chests, by Cat Jarman – “Remains to be Seen”

In Winchester Cathedral, there are six mortuary chests containing sets of bones of some amazingly significant people in England’s history. In this book, archeologist Cat Jarman uses these Bon…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 27

I already thought this, but the visit solidified my view that the Holocaust was the worst thing ever to happen in human history (excluding events from the distant past about which we know little). Nothing else comes close to the sheer scale and systematic nature of it (2/2)

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 27

Seems important to mark the 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz horror camp. 1.1 million people lost their lives there.

I visited last year and it is truly a must-visit, if a difficult one. (1/2)
#AuschwitzMemorial

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 22

Learning about medieval Spanish history is like:
"King Alfonso attempted to expand his realm, at the expense of his cousin Alfonso, and son-in-law King Alfonso."
#history #spain

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 20

Very nice

George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 18

Found this book really promising for the rest of the series. Excited for the rest!

George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 18

Review (★★★★) Empire of Silence, by Christopher Ruocchio – “Humble Beginnings?”

“I know what it is they say about me, what they call me in your history books. The Sun Eater. The Half Mortal. Demon tongued. Regicidal. Genocidal. I have heard it all.”

#scifi #bookreview

Review (★★★★) Empire of Silence, by Christopher Ruocchio – “Humble Beginnings?”

“I know what it is they say about me, what they call me in your history books. The Sun Eater. The Half Mortal. Demon tongued. Regicidal. Genocidal. I have heard it all.” Christopher Ruo…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 14

It later transformed into "favour" via folk etymology, presumably due to the meaning of the idiom.

Folk etymology is when words are altered to a similar sounding word that is more common in everyday use - there's loads of examples in English (2/2)

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 14

To curry favour means to seek favour through flattery, but as a phrase its origin is quite different.

It was originally "curry Fauvel". This seems to come from a French story about a horse called Fauvel who was unruly and so the need to curry, i.e., comb him. (1/2)

#etymology #words

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 12

It's only with hindsight that the Reconquista was contextualised as part of a national founding story for modern Spain.

This being my latest historical interest as I prepare to visit Spain next month 😉

George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 12

The Reconquista is seen as a centuries-long struggle of north Christian kingdoms to push the Muslims out of Spain... As a battle of civilizations. But this is a myth.

Christian states were as likely to fight each other and ally with Muslims to get the upper hand on "fellow" Christians.

#History

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Jan 2

The Stats – My Reading and Writing of 2024

Happy New Year to all fans of years. Here's an update on my reading and writing habits.

#Writing #Reading

The Stats – My Reading and Writing of 2024

Happy New Year to all fans of years. 2025 has a really nice roundness about it – it’s 25 years since the last millennium, a quarter of the way through the century, and for those maths n…

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Dec 31

beginning of the year, leaving behind March as a mildly unimportant month between winter and spring.
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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Dec 31

to bring it back in line.

The Julian calendar began the new year in January, but Christians celebrated the start of the year on 25th March - the trad date for the conception of Jesus.

It was only with the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century that January became widely adopted as the (2/3)

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Dec 31

January marks the beginning of the year... But it hasn't always. It used to begin in March.

The Romans original 10 month lunar calendar was altered later to add in January and February. This was so out of whack with the seasons it needed an extra month of Mercedonius every few years (1/3)

#History

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George William Rolls 🤖🧙🏻 @georgewilliamrolls.bsky.social · Dec 28

Review (★★★) The Mad Emperor, by Harry Sidebottom – “The Decadence of Rome”

"The offence consisted, not of his introducing a foreign god into Rome, or in his exalting him in strange ways, but in his placing him before Jupiter himself." - Cassius Dio.

#History #RomanEmpire

Review (★★★) The Mad Emperor, by Harry Sidebottom – “The Decadence of Rome”

The offence consisted, not of his introducing a foreign god into Rome, or in his exalting him in strange ways, but in his placing him before Jupiter himself. Cassius Dio, Roman historian and senato…

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