Skip Knox submitted a new blog post:
History for Fantasy Writers: Cowboys of Europe
by E.L. Skip Knox
In the south of France, around the mouths of the Rhône River, lies a region known as the Camargue. It is a land of marshes and reeds and waterfowl. Vast quantities of salt are produced in its wide salt pans, salt with a distinctive pink hue.
And there are cowboys.
Les Gardiens
The cattle are black, with curved white horns. They graze more or less wild across the marshes, though they are marked with the brands of their owners.
The ranchers are called gardiens. They ride small, white horses of an Arabian type that are one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe. They carry long spear-like sticks with a small, metal trident on the end. The gardiens have ridden these horses and herded these bulls for centuries, though their way of life steadily declined after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.
Enter the Marquis Folco de Baroncelli-Javon (1869-1943). His family originally came from Florence, settling in Avignon in the 15th century. Enter, too, Buffalo Bill Cody.
In 1889, Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West Show to Paris as part of a larger exhibition. Exhibitions were all the rage in the later 19th century, and Buffalo Bill’s show proved so popular it nearly overshadowed everything else. Which is saying something, because it was...
Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
History for Fantasy Writers: Cowboys of Europe
by E.L. Skip Knox
In the south of France, around the mouths of the Rhône River, lies a region known as the Camargue. It is a land of marshes and reeds and waterfowl. Vast quantities of salt are produced in its wide salt pans, salt with a distinctive pink hue.
And there are cowboys.
Les Gardiens
The cattle are black, with curved white horns. They graze more or less wild across the marshes, though they are marked with the brands of their owners.
The ranchers are called gardiens. They ride small, white horses of an Arabian type that are one of the oldest horse breeds in Europe. They carry long spear-like sticks with a small, metal trident on the end. The gardiens have ridden these horses and herded these bulls for centuries, though their way of life steadily declined after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.
Enter the Marquis Folco de Baroncelli-Javon (1869-1943). His family originally came from Florence, settling in Avignon in the 15th century. Enter, too, Buffalo Bill Cody.
In 1889, Buffalo Bill brought his Wild West Show to Paris as part of a larger exhibition. Exhibitions were all the rage in the later 19th century, and Buffalo Bill’s show proved so popular it nearly overshadowed everything else. Which is saying something, because it was...
Continue reading the Original Blog Post.
Maester
Dreamer
