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Sunday January 20th 2019Tim
Candler9
No shortage
of Medieval Saints, over the years, following rule
changes a great many of them were demoted by the Pope.
Amongst the Girl Saints of the Medieval Period an
unnatural number were the daughters of kings. Of the Boy
Saints far too many had political ambitions. And when it
comes to thinning the choice of Medieval Saints, I think
it best to get rid of the ones who might still be
recognized by Rome, treat with suspicion the daughters
of kings, and tread warily when it comes to the more
politically minded Boy Saints. As well, and this is
critical, the eight railway bridges yet to be
constructed surround Gormenghast, which is a very long
way from a bastion of the sort of values a loving god
looks for in his creations, indeed Gormenghast is
probably a better reflection of what happens inside the
walls of the Vatican. Finally the charm of Medieval
Saints is their association with place, it gives them an
authenticity, a lasting earthliness and I'll give you
the example of Saint Mildrith of Minister-in-Thanet,
which is in Kent, England, and in Mildrith's time Thanet
used to be an island separated from England by a swampy
channel. It's a story I'm going to have to shorten, and
in the process stick to the basics which invariable
brings out the worst in the more pedantic detailed
orientated characters, but that's just the way life is
in N Scale where because there is no plan interpreting
as you go along is a prime source of divining meaning.
And too, worth bearing in mind it's possible that your
modeler might be having an eccentric reaction to the
absurdity of the current, some might consider medieval,
political circumstances. Or possibly it's a quite
normal, entirely forgivable reaction to the number of
bricks he's been making for walls without apparently
getting anywhere closer to an idea of Gormenghast.
Past
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Following
the death of a landowner a quarrel ensued about who was
to get what. Observing the traditions of the time, two
young boys with a very strong claim to the property
disappeared. No one was fooled but where was the proof,
the boys could not be found. A little while later things
had settled down, the new owner had taken possession,
when a heavenly light revealed what had happened to the
two boys. They'd been killed and buried. It wasn't so
much shocking as it was aggravating and what with the
heavenly light something was very wrong. The decision
was taken to impose a fine of something like fifty Deer
hides on the possessor of the property. Thing is, one of
the higher born young ladies, a youngster called
Mildrith, had a pet Deer and following a difficult
discourse it was agreed that instead of bumping off a
whole bunch of Deer to pay the fine, much better to pay
the fine in property which is how Mildrith's pet Deer
was given the important work of deciding how much
property. Blood oaths were taken, it was a pet Deer
after all, probably wouldn't do much more than scamper
around a little, the agreement was publically made and
Mildrith's pet Deer was allowed to run a course. That
course was pretty much a majority of the disputed
property. It was like a heavenly thing, a dictate from
above and in appreciation of the temporal nature of
earthly meaning the new possessor agreed to build an
abbey. Young Mildrith saw her chance and became the
Abbess of the new Abbey. Much more to the point, when
years later the Abbey fell into disrepair because of
pillage by Vikings, Saint Mildrith's relics were removed
by church authorities, some sent to God's regional
headquarters in Canterbury, which is also in Kent,
others sent to Holland which is the country of Holland.
The locals of Thanet were heart broken, they felt robbed
of a most precious part of their time on earth. Then in
the 19th Century, over a thousand years later, Thanet
managed to get some of Mildred's relics back and they
are now kept in a Priory in Thanet cared for by
Benedictine Nuns.
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