ruth-t

[ruth-t]

may I ask how maids would have been hired (if you needed a job for the royal family) back in the day?

Writing Notes: The Royal Household

The Medieval Royal Household

Very early in English history the royal household can be seen falling into 3 main divisions:

the chapel with its staff of clerks,

the hall where the daily life of the household was passed, and

the chamber where the king could retire for sleeping and privacy and where his clothes, jewels, and muniments were stored.

A similar threefold division can be seen in all the royal households of Europe and in the households of great magnates in every land.

The King’s Hall. Was under the care of 2 officers of equal rank:

the seneschal (steward) and

the master butler,

Their two parallel departments provided food and drink through a series of officers carefully graded as to pay and allowances down to the man who counted the loaves and the slaughterers who had no pay but “customary food” only.

After the hall came the chamber under the master chamberlain, but beside him stood

the treasurer, each of these officers receiving the same pay and allowances as the seneschal and master butler. Below them were less well-paid chamberlains:

the man who looked after the king’s bed with a man and a packhorse for its transport,

the king’s tailor, and

his bath attendant.

The appearance here of the treasurer—as the head of the new financial department, the exchequer—shows that in origin the treasury was regarded as a household department. This does not mean that the treasure always traveled with the king. At Winchester a strong place had long been established for the receipt and custody of the king’s treasure, but it was staffed by household officers and was essentially a department of the household.

The Constitutio concludes with the 2 departments which between them cared for:

the safety, peace, order, and comfort of the household and

for the king’s sport.

Ladies-in-Waiting

Lady-in-Waiting - a woman of noble birth who serves a female monarch as a member of the royal household (in European history).

Any noble woman performing personal service for a queen is often referred to as a lady-in-waiting, although exact titles differ depending on a woman’s particular office or marital status, as well as the language being used.

Similar posts exist outside Europe, perhaps most notably in Asia.

The office of lady-in-waiting originated during the Middle Ages as a consequence of the growth and proliferation of queenly households.

Queens who spent extended periods separate from the king needed to maintain a discrete household of servants and retainers.

Some of these servants were required to assist the queen with:

dressing,

personal hygiene,

and other intimate tasks

and thus needed to be female.

How Ladies-in-Waiting were Selected

Ladies-in-waiting have traditionally been chosen from noble and aristocratic families, and were selected based on:

their social standing,

education, and

suitability for the role.

Initially, such posts were held by paid servants.

However, this changed amid the growing medieval association between a temporal monarch and the sanction of divinity.

This belief meant that only those of elevated status should engage in physical contact and close relationships with a monarch.

Thus, ladies-in-waiting became women of noble birth.

In addition, they were required to be married.

The office of maid-of-honour also emerged during this time, and it was held by unmarried women.

The composition of the group of ladies-in-waiting attending to the queen varied based on politics and individual monarchs, including both the queen and the king. Records show that some queens had more than 100 ladies-in-waiting, but most had significantly smaller households.

Duties of Ladies-in-Waiting

The duties of ladies-in-waiting varied across Europe but were generally similar in the medieval and early modern periods.

Ladies-in-waiting performed intimate duties such as putting on and removing the queen’s clothing and bathing her.

They were expected to put her needs above those of their own husbands and children.

They spent most of the day with the queen and provided her with companionship and entertainment in her private chambers. To that end many ladies-in-waiting could sing, play musical instruments, and dance.

In addition, they maintained a prominent role in the court’s public life, attending to the queen and participating in such events as ambassadorial receptions and masques. For this reason, preparation to become a lady-in-waiting included gaining proficiency in several languages.

Ladies-in-waiting were universally expected to maintain high moral standards, avoiding scandal and often staying disengaged from politics.

In the past, typical responsibilities included:

providing companionship,

assisting with bathing and dressing,

managing the wardrobe and jewelry,

helping to navigate social situations,

writing correspondence,

overseeing servants, and

running errands.

However, the political influence of ladies-in-waiting in European courts is well documented.

It was sometimes the subject of gossip and ridicule, for smearing the reputation of a lady-in-waiting was an effective political tool against a monarch.

Such was the case of Catherine de’ Medici’s female household, many of whom were accused of using seduction for political gain in 16th-century France.

Exercising political power in the medieval and early modern patronage systems of royal courts was in fact a key element of the lives of ladies-in-waiting and often the reason that they sought such offices.

A lady-in-waiting had direct access to the queen, who wielded varying degrees of influence over the king and his court.

This allowed ladies-in-waiting to advance the petitions and career interests of their families and others.

Many ladies-in-waiting received no official compensation for their work and were understood to have taken the office solely to gain social and political capital.

In turn, many queens required their ladies-in-waiting to pass along intelligence about their families and members of the court.

Ladies-in-waiting were particularly powerful in the courts of female monarchs who ruled independently, as they had direct access to and influence with the highest power in the land.

Other Rules

While there were many rules and expectations for royal ladies-in-waiting, here are a few of their more surprising responsibilities.

They were expected to dedicate their lives to their mistress

They slept in the queen’s bedchamber. Historically, a lady-in-waiting had many duties and was expected to fulfill her responsibilities around the clock, even while her mistress was sleeping. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for one or more court ladies to share a sleeping space with a royal woman.

They kept their mistress entertained. It wasn’t all work and no play for royal companions. In their free time, ladies-in-waiting enjoyed a variety of hobbies, including reading and embroidery.

They had to navigate catching the eye of the king. Being a queen’s lady-in-waiting often meant learning how to diplomatically, and discreetly, deal with a king. Sometimes, the relationship between a court lady and the king became scandalously intimate.

They traveled, and moved, with their mistress. Along with attending their mistresses in their royal households, ladies-in-waiting also traveled alongside them as chaperones and companions. If their mistress moved to a new country for marriage or education, they often went with her.

They had to do the queen’s bidding or risk banishment. History is filled with stories of court ladies paying the price for their illicit activities, with punishments ranging from banishment to imprisonment to execution.

In Britain

In Britain, ladies-in-waiting are titled noblewomen who serve not only the queen, but also high-ranking women in the royal household.

Although they do not live at Buckingham Palace, they sometimes stay there or in royal apartments in London should their duties require it.

They are close, often childhood friends of the monarch, and come from titled families whose lineages stretch back alongside royalty.

They act as personal assistants to the queen, assisting in day-to-day activities such as running errands, delivering messages and organising correspondence, as well as attending to personal matters, and accompanying her on royal tours and visits.

Different Titles. A lady-in-waiting attending to the queen is usually called:

Lady of the Bedchamber and they are ranked between

First Lady of the Bedchamber and the

Women of the Bedchamber, each carrying out various duties.

The Mistress of the Robes is almost always a duchess and the senior woman in the royal household. She is responsible for the regent’s clothes and jewellery, arranging the rota of attendance of the ladies-in-waiting and other duties at state ceremonies.

As a Character Trope

Lady-in-Waiting - a personal assistant to a queen, princess, or noblewoman at court.

She is often of noble birth herself but is usually from a lower social rank than the woman she is attending to.

Her duties can vary greatly, as can her relationship with her mistress.

A lady-in-waiting will often:

serve her food,

help her get dressed, and

prepare her for bed, while also

accompanying her during courtly activities like dancing lessons or horse riding.

Depending on how much the mistress trusts her lady-in-waiting, she could be her confidante:

pass on secret messages for her, or

spy on other members of the court.

Ladies-in-waiting can be either viewed as friends by the mistress or as simple tools to use however she sees fit.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: Writing References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

I assumed you were referring to ladies-in-waiting rather than just maids/servants within the royal household, who were usually not in direct contact with the monarchs. In which case, their selection/hiring was not as complex as that of ladies-in-waiting. Hope this helps with your writing!

[ruth-t]

A List of "Poetic" Words

to include in your next poem (pt. 2 because there are a lot of them)

Abyssopelagic: The deep regions of the ocean (or the “abyss”), as in, the “abyssopelagic zone.”

Acersecomicke: One whose hair was never cut.

Agathokakological: Composed of both good and evil.

Bêtise: An act of foolishness or stupidity.

Cachinnate: To laugh loudly or immoderately

Cacography: Bad handwriting.

Deipnosophist: A person skilled in table talk

Diaphanous: Sheer and light; almost transparent; or delicately hazy.

Incendiary: Flammable; something that incites agitation or sedition.

Jentacular: Pertaining to breakfast.

Lagniappe: A gift, usually monetary like a tip, and you might still hear it in areas of southern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

Languor: Lack of energy or vitality, or, more concisely, sluggishness or laziness.

Limerence: An old-fashioned way to describe intense feelings of obsession or infatuation with another person.

Matutinal: Of, relating to, or occurring in the morning.

Noctivagant: Going about in the night; night-wandering.

Opsimath: A person who begins to learn late in life.

Patrizate: To imitate one's father or forebears.

Peccability: Capability of sinning.

Pot-valiant: Bold or courageous under the influence of alcoholic drink.

Quadrivium: The intersection of four roads. The word was adapted in medieval times to refer to the teaching of four essential subjects (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music).

Recogitate: To think over again.

Redame: To love in return.

Scripturient: Having a strong urge to write.

Sibilance: The distinctive hiss-like sound made by the letter S, or comparable sounds like a soft C.

Solivagant: Rambling alone, marked by solitary wandering.

If any of these words make it into your poem/story, please tag me or leave me a link in the replies. I'd love to read them!

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[ruth-t]

i'm not the best at singing. but i'm gonna sing anyway dude. i'm not the best at painting. but i'm still going to paint. my dancing will never see a stage. but it's perfect for early mornings in my bedroom and late nights with people i love. so what does this mean? it means that people are designed to do. not to be the best. just to do. if you're doing what you enjoy, then you don't have to be the best. you just have to enjoy it. you have to live.

[ruth-t]

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

[ruth-t]

A List of "Poetic" Words

to include in your next poem

Ambrosian: Anything particularly delightful to taste or smell.

Amort: Spiritless; lifeless.

Apollonian: Harmonious, measured, ordered or balanced in character.

Ariose: Characterized by melody; songlike.

Aureate: Golden, gilded, brilliant or splendid.

Caliginous: Misty, dim, murky, obscure or dark.

Gossamer: Something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate.

Halcyon: Calm, quiet, peaceful or undisturbed (usually accompanied by ‘days’).

Inveigle: To entice, lure, or ensnare by flattery or artful talk or inducements.

Mawkish: Sentimental in an exaggerated or false way.

Motley: Being of different colors combined.

Nebulous: Cloudy or cloudlike.

Panacea: A remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.

Pellucid: Allowing the maximum passage of light, as glass; translucent.

Penumbra: A half-shadow, or the edge of a shadow.

Puerile: Of or pertaining to a child or to childhood.

Quiddity: The quality that makes a thing what it is; the essential nature of a thing.

Quintessential: The purest, most typical or refined example of its kind.

Scurrilous: Something coarse or indecent in the language it uses; or, as the early lexicographer Samuel Johnson put it: ‘using such language as only the licence of a buffoon can warrant’.

Seraphic: Blissfully serene; rapt.

Serendipity: When a happy and unexpected discovery occurs by accident.

Slattern: A woman or girl untidy or slovenly in person, habits and surroundings.

Sylphlike: A slender, graceful woman or girl. One of a race of supernatural beings supposed to inhabit the air.

Vellichor: Refers to the appealing mystique of an old bookshop.

Sanguinolency: Something bloody or something related to blood.

If any of these words make it into your next poem/s or stories, please tag me or leave a link in the replies. I would love to read them!

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[ruth-t]

a list of "beautiful" words for april

to try to include in your next poem/story

Anfractuous - full of windings and intricate turnings; tortuous

Baldachin - a rich embroidered fabric of silk and gold

Casuistry - specious argument; rationalization

Dépaysé - situated in unfamiliar surroundings; astray

Éboulement - landslide

Edulcorate - make pleasant

Gramarye - necromancy, magic, enchantment

Intercolline - situated between hills

Katabasis - a going or marching down or back; retreat

Mortiferous - deadly, fatal

Mythopoeia - a giving rise to myths

Nephelococcygia - the act of seeking and finding shapes in clouds

Oblivescence - an act or the process of forgetting

Prairillon - a small prairie

Quassia - a drug from the heartwood and bark of various tropical trees of the ailanthus family used especially as a bitter tonic and remedy for roundworms in children and as an insecticide

Redivivus - brought back to life; reborn—used postpositively

Stelliferous - having star-shaped markings

Tonitruous - thundering, fulminating

Upaithric - hypaethral (i.e., having a roofless central space; open to the sky)

Vorago - an engulfing chasm; abyss

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[ruth-t]

A List of "Beautiful" Words: Black

for your next poem/story

Atramentous - black as ink

Darksomeness - dark

Duskiness - somewhat dark in color

Ebony - black, dark

Melanism - an increased amount of black or nearly black pigmentation (as of skin, feathers, or hair) of an individual or kind of organism

Melanotic - having or characterized by black pigmentation

Midnight - deep or extended darkness

Niello - any of several black enamel-like alloys usually of sulfur with silver, copper, and lead

Obsidian - a dark natural glass formed by the cooling of molten lava

Raven - shiny and black like a raven's feathers

Sable - the color black

Sloe - the small dark globose astringent fruit of the blackthorn

Swarthiness - of a dark color, complexion, or cast

Swartness - swarthy

Tar - a dark brown or black bituminous usually odorous viscous liquid obtained by destructive distillation of organic material (such as wood, coal, or peat)

More: Lists of Beautiful Words ⚜ Word Lists ⚜ Dark

[ruth-t]

How can I become a writer?

Write.

But I don't know where to start.

Write.

But I'm worried.

WRITE.

What if nobody likes it?

W R I T E

What if it's not very good?

Write. Write. WRITE. WRITE.

W

R

I

T

E

Write

Write. Write. Write. Write. Write. Write.

Write.

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

W R I T E

Write write write

Write

Write

[ruth-t]

Writing References: Plot

Basics: Plot Structure & Narrative Arcs

Basics: Plot & Other Elements of Creative Writing

Plot Methods: Save the Cat! ⚜ The Story Circle

Plot Development: The Transformation Test

Plot-Driven Story ⚜ Plotting a Novel ⚜ Plot-Planning Worksheet

Plot Twists ⚜ Types of Plot Twists ⚜ Subplots

Ten Story Genres ⚜ Elements of the 10 Story Genres

The 3-Act Structure: History & Elements ⚜ A Guide

The Shape of Story ⚜ The Shapes of Stories by Kurt Vonnegut

Tips

From Margaret Atwood ⚜ From Rick Riordan

Before Writing your Novel ⚜ Burying Information

How to Get "Unstuck" when Writing your Novel

Editing

Chapter Maps ⚜ Editing your Own Novel

Plot Holes & Other Structural Issues ⚜ Structural Edit

Self-Editing ⚜ Novel Editing

For Inspiration

Archetypal Narrative Arcs ⚜ Character & Literary Tropes

Snowflake Method ⚜ Ways to Generate an Idea

More References: Character Development ⚜ World-building

Writing Resources PDFs

[ruth-t]

People who collect typewriters are my kind of people. I have you written down in my heart, the ink cannot be erased.

[ruth-t]

[ruth-t]

“Why me?” he said.

The girl replied, “Things don’t always fall into place when we want them. Maybe we get those we love later, maybe we don’t, and we meet someone who we will love even more.”

[ruth-t]

You can be the artist, the muse, and the masterpiece. All in one.

[ruth-t]

[ruth-t]

So I finally chose myself first after having chosen everyone around me.

[ruth-t]

You ignited a fire in my soul, yet I found myself apologizing for the flames.

[ruth-t]

I pretend to persist and I persist to pretend, for in pretense of persistence, I persist through pretense.