twelvethirtytwo

Sometimes, intentions do not get translated into reality, and keeping this blog up to date and relevant is just one example of that.

I have had a really busy phase of my life, both in a professional and personal context, but this doesn't mean I have forgotten about this site, or what is needed here.

One of the things I have been doing is researching the life of Ela, 3rd Countess of Salisbury for work. She is the person that actually founded Lacock Abbey in 1232 and as a result, I think I now have a far better understanding of her and her place in 13th century society. It appears that she was far more important than I realised. I knew that she the child of a Norman noble family and that she married William Longespée, the half-brother of King Richard I and King John, who were all sons of King Henry II. The only problem was that I didn't have a sense of context to comfortably slot Ela into. I have now.

As a result of this, I will be re-working a fair amount of the site to reflect the new information that I have discovered about what was clearly one of the most important and influential people of the 12th/13th centuries. The only problem from a historical perspective was the fact that Ela was female and thus practically invisible to contemporary historians/chroniclers. She was only mentioned in passing, where others were being discussed and as a result, I have had to read dozens of books about others, to even get the slightest nugget of information. A frustrating, but ultimately rewarding process, which I now intend to share with you over the coming months.