#valency stirling
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Barney meeting Valency’s Family
You know he had this moment
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But honestly, Valency Stirling just wanting her own little dust pile really freaking spoke to me. And it made me feel in ways that I was not even aware I could be made to feel. Like that's all anybody really wants. Just their own thing. Whether it's a career, or a degree, or a family, or a partner, or just a freaking house in the woods where no one will bother you.
Human beings ultimately just want something to call their own. That's just for them. Big or small it doesn't matter. Whether you are a nerdy little nobody or an A-list celebrity.
At the end of the day, you want your dustpile. You need your dustpile. Because it's yours.
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May 10 1307 saw The Battle of Loudon Hill, near Darvel.
Ask any bairn, or even adult, what Robert the Bruce’s most important military victory was, and they will, of course, answer the Battle of Bannockburn. This battle was his most impressive and one of the most significant battles in that it finally drove the English from Scotland and opened the north of England to Scottish raids which would eventually culminate, in 1328, to England accepting Scottish sovereignty. However, Bruce’s most important victory, arguably, was at the Battle of Loudoun Hill in Ayrshire. This was the Bruce’s first major victory and the turning point in his fortunes, it is by no coincidence that David Mackenzie chos Loudon Hill for the main battle and climax in last years, Outlaw King. Bruce’s army, mainly on foot, were outnumbered perhaps by as much as six to one, by a force mainly consisting of cavalry.
In 1306, Robert the Bruce began to make moves against Edward. He murdered John ‘the Red’ Comyn , his main rival for the crown of Scotland within sacred ground in the Greyfriars Kirk, Dumfries. He immediately moved to have himself inaugurated as King of Scots at Scone in March 1306. An enraged Edward declared that no quarter would be given to Bruce or to those who supported him and dispatched Sir Aymer de Valence, the Earl of Pembroke with an army to deal with Bruce’s rebellion.
Aymer de Valence had experience against the Scots, but mixed fortunes, beaten soundly at what has been described as a skirmish at Blackearnside in Fife, against Wallace, he returned to fight The Bruce in 1306 at Methven and was victorious, so must have been super confident coming up against the Scottish King, the English King labelled an Outlaw. He was also the brother in law of the murdered John Comyn, so it was a wee bit personal.
Bruce also lost a battle shortly after Methven against fellow Scots, The MacDougalls, who were also related to Comyn, after this he retreated to lick his wounds, and supposedly watch a spider refuse to give up when having trouble spinning a web, giving him the inspiration and the story behind the phrase, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Bruce returned to the fray in early 1307 at Turnberry. He now switched to using guerrilla tactics; they had worked for William Wallace before the disaster at Falkirk, the first action was ambushing the English at Glentrool in April before meeting the enemy in pitched battle at Loudoun Hill.
Bruce had learned his lesson from his defeat at Methven. There he had been unprepared and ambushed after taking Valence at his word. Bruce had been prepared to observe the gentlemanly conventions of feudal warfare and invited Valence to leave the walls of Perth and join Bruce in battle. Valence declined and the king, perhaps naively believing that the refusal was a sign of weakness, retired only a few miles, to nearby Methven where he made camp for the night. Before dawn on 19th June 1306, Bruce’s army was taken by surprise and almost destroyed.
The lesson had been learned. Chivalry was dead.
Nearly one year later, Robert the Bruce and Aymer de Valence would again face one another. The outcome would be very different. Valence challenged Bruce to fight after the Scot’s success at Glen Trool. Bruce accepted the challenge and the battle was fought on the plains under Loudoun Hill on 10th May 1307.
Bruce took the opportunity of the challenge to prepare his ground, cutting three ditches inward from the edge of the bogs, leaving 90 metre gaps in the centre which were to be guarded by dismounted pikemen, while soil embankments with ditches protected the flanks. This forced the English to approach through the narrow front created by their opponents, restricting their movements and deployment capabilities effectively neutralising their numerical advantage. It was reminiscent of William Wallace’s great victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, with the same filtering effect at work.
King Robert gathered his small force of 500 to 600 men and awaited the approach of Valence’s 3,000 strong army. The English force was split into two squadrons as they advanced on the smaller army. The Scots used their spears to great effect against both men and horses, leaving many dead and wounded. The English assault began to collapse. The Scots seeing their enemy begin to falter, charged their opponents who broke and fled the field. However, the Scottish army would have been unable to chase down their routing opponents for long due to them being on foot and not horseback.
None of the sources for the battle provide any indication of the losses suffered by either force, but we can safely assume that the number of casualties would have been lower than other medieval battlefields due to the lack of any meaningful pursuit of the routed English army. Wiki merely says Scots losses were low, and English “in the hundreds” The numbers are unimportant, it drew a line in the sand Scotland and King Robert was ready to take on the might of their English neighbours.
Edward decided to head North himself and sort out “those troublesome Scots” but at 68 he was an old man by medieval standards, and a bout of dysentery that a younger man may have fought and won put an end to him, he died within sight of Scotland at Burgh-by-Sands, near Carlisle. The invasion fizzled out.
The Bruce spent the next 7 years taking castle after castle and laying them to waste so they could no longer garrison enemy troops, until by 1314 all that was left was Stirling Castle, and then there was the battle I spoke about at the start of the post, our greatest victory against The English perhaps, but really the Battle of Loudon Hill showed the Auld Enemy “Nemo me impune lacessit” ‘Wha daur meddle wi’ me"
The photos are my own from the Commemorations I have attended there, the structure you see is called Spirit of Scotland and actually represents William Wallace, the 5 meter high frame with Sir William cut out in the middle. The event is hosted every year by The Society of William Wallace.
#scotland#scottish#the first war of scottish independence#robert the bruce#battle#medieval warfare#medieval history#history
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Valency Stirling being highly relatable for 38 pages
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Some random venting re: Chapter 3 of The Blue Castle
“Doss will be sure to ketch them,” she foreboded.
“Doss must not go where she is likely to catch mumps,” said Mrs. Frederick shortly.
“Doss” is sitting right there with you at the table; why are you talking about her like she isn’t here?!
“I think,” said Mrs. Frederick, “that if a person makes up her mind not to have colds she will not have colds.”
Sure... The power of wishful thinking - just make up your mind not to get Tetanus and grab that rusty nail for me, won’t you?!
“Mother,” she said timidly, “would you mind calling me Valancy after this? Doss seems so—so—I don’t like it.” [...]
“What is the matter with Doss?”
“It—seems so childish,” faltered Valancy.
“Oh!” Mrs. Frederick had been a Wansbarra and the Wansbarra smile was not an asset. “I see. Well, it should suit you then. You are childish enough in all conscience, my dear child.”
“I am twenty-nine,” said the dear child desperately.
“I wouldn’t proclaim it from the house-tops if I were you, dear,” said Mrs. Frederick. “Twenty-nine! I had been married nine years when I was twenty-nine.”
Oh my gosh, just call your daughter by her name if she prefers it, geez! Also, pick a lane - either 29 is “old” or childlike, it can’t be both!
Valancy wondered pitifully what it would be like to be wanted by some one—needed by some one. No one in the whole world needed her, or would miss anything from life if she dropped suddenly out of it. She was a disappointment to her mother. No one loved her. She had never so much as had a girl friend.
“I haven’t even a gift for friendship,” she had once admitted to herself pitifully.
My heart!😭 Poor Valancy! As soon as I figure out how to travel into the pages of a book I’m gonna grab Valancy and remove her from her awful family
Idleness was a cardinal sin in the Stirling household. When Valancy had been a child she had been made to write down every night, in a small, hated, black notebook, all the minutes she had spent in idleness that day. On Sundays her mother made her tot them up and pray over them.
Wth?! This controlling and shaming Valency for showing agency and doing what she wants to do started early, I see... It’s a shame that “being an enormous prick” is not considered a cardinal sin in this household...
“I want to get a book from the library.”
“You got a book from the library only last week.”
“No, it was four weeks.”
“Four weeks. Nonsense!”
“Really it was, Mother.”
“You are mistaken. It cannot possibly have been more than two weeks. I dislike contradiction. And I do not see what you want to get a book for, anyhow. You waste too much time reading.”
Yeah, well, and I dislike people talking out of their ass, but alas... we can’t always get what we want...
#(Seriously reading about these people makes me aggressive... they are lucky that this book isn’t a different genre#in which Valancy turns into an axe murderer...)#the blue castle#blue castle book club#also since I've gotta make every Jane Austen-ish: Valancy is giving me major Anne Elliot + Catherine Morland vibes
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Another Casper High student of your choosing, I love the Casper High kids so much
Oh geez lemme think. I don't think anyone said Dash so I'll pick him.
Lyrics- Punk Tactics by Joey Valence and Brae
Song
Instrumental- Crystalize by Lindsey Stirling
Cause why not 😭
Song
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Riciclo, Itelyum compra aziende in Francia e Germania
Itelyum, gruppo di Lodi per la
gestione e il riciclo dei rifiuti industriali, si amplia
acquisendo due società in Francia e in Germania: Safechem Europe
GmbH, con sede a Düsseldorf (Germania), e Soledi Sas, con sede a
Beaumont-les-Valence (Francia), per un fatturato complessivo di
circa 40 milioni di euro.
Itelyum è controllata da Stirling Square Capital Partners
Lllp, con la partecipazione…
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Q: When did the English start being Imperialist assholes? A: 14th Century
1300 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward I of England, to continue to attempt the conquest from the 1298 invasion and in reaction to the Scots recapture of Stirling Castle in 1299.
1301 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward I of England, aiming to conquer Scotland in a two-pronged attack along the eastern and western coasts.
1303 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward I of England after the failure of the 1301 invasion, another two-pronged attack along the eastern and western coasts to conquer Scotland.
1304 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward I of England who remained at war there for two years with battles across the entire land.
1306 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by an English army under the command of Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke in retaliation of the murder of John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch and the crowning of King Robert I of Scotland; remaining in Scotland for the summer and autumn.
1307 - Proposed English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward I that, however, did not proceed after Edward I died while on his way north.
1310 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward II of England where he remained refurbishing English-held castles until midsummer 1311.
1314 - English invasion of Scotland which ended in English defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn.
1319 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward II of England who laid siege to Berwick but withdrew in response to a Scottish incursion into England.
1322 - English invasion of Scotland that turned back in response to Scottish incursion into England.
1333 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward III of England as part of the Second War of Scottish Independence.
1338 - English invasion of Scotland under William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury.
1356 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Edward III of England and known as Burnt Candlemas.
1385 - English invasion of Scotland, undertaken by King Richard II of England.
#scotland#england#imperialism#war#scottish history#english history#14th century#found on wiki#edwards#kings
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Songs that make you feel like you're outside in the city at night looking up at a sky full of emptiness and stars
Ignite by Alan Walker (instrumental)
Fade by Alan Walker
Infinite by Valence
Silk by Veorra
The River by Alex Johansson
Left Behind by Ahrix
Nova by Ahrix
Heroes Tonight by Janji
Sleepwalking by Lindsey Stirling
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Barney and Valency wedding photo
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The Blue Castle
Valency Stirling has lived a life of submission. Controlled by a domineering mother and an over-opinionated family, she awakens on her 29th birthday resigned to dull existence. Her only escape – the Blue Castle of her imagination.
But when an unexpected letter changes everything, Valency breaks the bonds of fear and finds purpose in a whole new life – a life that turns the Blue Castle of her…
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My first thought when Barney’s name comes up
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The Blue Castle Chapter 1 Analysis
This is sooo late, but I didn’t have time till now!
Here are my chapter by chapter analysis/thoughts of The Blue Castle (separate post per chaper)
SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK
Chapter 1
Valency’s life is so empty that rain, the most mundane of all weathers in fiction, made an impact and brought change. Her life is so boring that her heart problems don’t scare her, but annoys her.
Valency also wakes up to dullness “Valency wakened early, in the lifeless, hopeless hour just preceding dwan”. There is no moment of happiness where her eyes are open. And her entire life, 29 years amounts to one sentence “One does not sleep well, sometimes, when one is twenty-nine on the morrow, and unmarried, in a community and connection where the unmarried are simply those who have failed to get a man”.
Despite her drab existence, Montgomery still shows the tiny bit of resistance she displays. Valency hopes for romance. For her era, women desiring love and romance was frowned upon. How dare you express emotions that border carnal sins. Romance and love were expected to thrust itself upon women. But Valency desires it, and eventually seeks it.
Montgomery also shows Valency’s resistance in her failure to be in her family’s good grace. Her lack of confidence in herself is built by those who see her has a failure. But the only reason Valency sees herself as such is because she isn’t interested in being the type of person her family expects.
Let’s talk about Valency’s room. It’s described to have e a yellow painted floor and a rug with a grinning dog on it. There is red paper on the ceiling and a lambrequin with purple roses. This room looks to be an aged child’s room. Valency, despite being almost 30, is stuck in a child’s room that both she and time have outgrown. Her room captures how her family also treats her. As a woman who is but a child because she is not married. Montgomery really highlights the importance of marriage for women during her time. It’s not that women want a happily every after, it’s that women want to be able to grow up and make decisions (as best they could for their society). Her room is also surrounded by family pictures. She cannot escape them, for they are physically there in photo frame context. They suffocate her even in the one place she runs to escape them. They even attempt to invade her physically space like a parent sharing the bed of a young sick child or spanking a child.
I love this line “Valency never persisted”. It’s a clever play on words for to persist can also mean to go on, to endure, dare I say, to exists despite all. Another play on words is with “She did not want anyone to know about her heart”. There is the physical heart with it’s anomalies and then, there her metaphorical heart with its blue castle and desires.
Valency’s family is also presented as no less interesting then her. So boring and drab, that their names and personalities blend into one another. Can you tell me you know each Stirling and their quirks by heart?
There is a line in chapter 1 that reveals the sharp contrast between Valency and Barney. Montgomery mentions Valency “had been poor all her life and knew the falling bitterness of it. So she endured [Uncle Benjamin’s] riddles and even smiled tortured little smiles over him”. Poverty plays a huge role why Valency’s mother insists on Valency catering to her relatives. Since her father is dead, Valency has no man in her life to provide any security, and so she cannot really be herself because she’s dependent on an inheritance. This is a sharp contrast to Barney who is open about being socially outcasted. Montgomery kind of hints in the first chapter that characters with bad characters, have little to loose. It also explains why Valency and Barney are different yet similar in kind. Barney probably would have been like Valency if he was poor. Another example is with Dr. Trent. Valency thinks of going to Dr. Trent. A doctor is someone well off, compared to Valency, and again, Montgomery shows us the ability to be impertinent and its relation to power and wealth. Dr. Trent told Cousin Glady’s that her neuritis was made up
Valency compares disloyalty to her clan as the devil, yet the irony is that her clan pushed her to the devil.
#the blue castle#valency stirling#lucy maud montgomery#the blue castle book club#blue castle spoilers
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Valency telling Barney she wants to marry him
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Valency’s Mother at any time
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I don’t know where we are at with the book club but I just finished the book
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