Pilgrim Reindeer in Pisa, 1348 a free multimedia novel by Thomas A. DuBois, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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 Part II. The Hansa Lands and France. 36. Skis and a Gieres [November 20, 1347]

I found it fun to imagine medieval clerics learning to ski. Of course, they do so in the manner of wealthy Europeans and Americans from the late nineteenth century on: skiing becomes for them not a pragmatic means of transport, but a leisure activity, and they retire from skiing frequently for commodious accommodations and hearty dinners.

I also had a lot of fun discovering through my research this group of clerics that all knew each other or were related to each other--Bishop Foulques, Guillaume, Pierre Roger the elder, Pierre Roger the younger. It was easy to insinuate Canon Girard into that coterie, and for Bávlos to come into contact as well. Of course I was overjoyed that Pierre removes the issue of how to keep Nieiddash for Italy when she has been promised to the pope in Avignon--thanks Pierre! I wonder if Bávlos and Pierre will ever meet again--Pierre did, after all, study in Italy, and then he travelled there as pope just before his death in 1378. By that time, Bávlos would be about forty-eight or fifty, a ripe old age for his era.