da Blog lives

Haven't done this in a while. Probably has something to do with not wanting to give away the spoilers.

So. Ultima Thule and Terranova are now rounded out. Not thoroughly, but enough for the time being. And it is back to the Old World for the next few Parts.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading. A recent bibliography:

Enterline, James Robert, Erikson, Eskimos, and Columbus (Johns Hopkins University Press 2002). Kind of disappointing. I had figured that this one would be a scholarly treatment about the way Norse knowledge of Vinland worked its way into the European consciousness. Wrong. Instead it was a very dubious assertion that a lot of the features Medieval European mapmakers included in depictions of Scandinavia actually came from the Americas, including the Alaskan coast. A lot of stretching the available facts there. But it did give me "Hyperborea" and the "Riphean Mountains" to use in the timeline.

Hunt, Murray, A History of Business in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press 1999). A very informative study of the subject. It is going to come in very handy in portraying the commercial development of the New World and its impact upon the European economy. That's where I got Benedetto Zaccaria for Part 27. OTL, his Genoese family firm had a monopoly on mastic from Chios and on the development of Alum mines on Chios. He also had acquired a monopoly on mining alum on Phocaea and Smyrna.

Black, Anthony, Political Thought in Europe 1250-1450 (Cambridge University Press 1992). Very interesting and is going to provide a lot of guidance as to where Europe and its colonies are going over the next couple hundred years.

Oliver and Atmore, Medieval Africa 1250-1800 (Cambridge University Press 2001). Fascinating stuff. I knew absolutely zero, zip, nada about Africa during this period, and this book has been very enlightening. As ATL's New World begins a more sustained contact with Africa, this is going to be very useful.

O'Callaghan, Joseph, A History of Medieval Spain (Cornell University Press 1975). Anyone doing medieval Spanish althist should have this book. Chock full of hard-history facts, names and dates. I am doing my revision of al-Andalus based upon it.

And al-Andalus is going to get some revision. I figure that, since it is a major change from OTL, it needs some more fleshing out. Plus the survival of al-Andalus is and althist favorite. One of those disappeared political units that we keep trying to keep as a going concern.

So the Spain of Empty America is going to be done in a bit of detail, and we are going to see more of England than we have so far: Simon de Montforte's England.

Plus, it doesn't seem fair to have Batu conquer Germany and never even look at what the Holy Roman Empire is under Tatar rule. And we are going to check back in with Constantinople and the Pope and Italy under Venetian domination. And a whole lot more, besides.

cheers,

Doug