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Readership 1164 Issue 22, October 2010 The Battle of Mortimer‘s Cross, Sept 1010 Picture by: Pat Patrick
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The Re-Enactor
Issue 22, October 2010
The Battle of Mortimer‘s Cross, Sept 1010
Picture by: Pat Patrick
Readership 1164
Just Pictures by Pat Patrick of Mortimers Cross
Event September 2010
Features This Month
1: Using Chaucer to Recreate the medieval
medic by Kevin Goodman
2: Competitions
3: Gaius Petronis Merva (1st Chapter)
4: Michael Arnold interview (Author)
5: The Wars of The Roses, Triumphs and
Defeats (new book)
6: The Common Man in The Field
7: Event Listings
Greetings All
Welcome to issue 22 of the Re-Enactor, It is
turning out to be a superb season, with only
a few more events here in the UK before the
winter sets in, so I am busy organizing my
last couple of shows!
Thank you to everyone for supporting the
ezine and it continues to grow month on
month-just over 1150 recipients now in 29
countries worldwide with even more groups
and traders being advertised.
Congratulations to Gemila, Andrew and
Arno for winning one of the competitions in
last month‘s issue. There are 3 brand new
competitions in this month‘s issue asnd still
a couple of weeks to go to get your entry in
for the Michael Arnold competition
Thank you to everyone who ―asked a
question‖ of Ian Mortimer-I will be sending
the questions to him shortly and will
publish the answers in a future issue.
As always, I am still on the lookout for
more groups, traders, event details, stories,
articles and reports. Please contact me at the
normal email address with details!
Competitions:
All competitions are free to enter
Winners will be selected at random on the 15th
of
each month for the relevant competition.
Winners will be notified via email shortly after
the draw takes place.
No correspondence will be entered into.
The editor’s decision is final.
The views and opinions expressed in the articles in
this ezine are those of the individual authors
themselves and not those of the Editor
Using Chaucer to recreate the Medieval Medic.
By
Kevin Goodman
(AKA ―Owain Leech‖, Physician, Surgeon and Barber Surgeon)
http://bowsbladesandbattles.tripod.com
Following a performance at a medieval festival other re-enactors frequently ask me how to go
about re-enacting a physician, surgeon or barber surgeon. I always warn them that in some
respects – in my opinion - it is possibly one of, if not, the most difficult roles to portray in re-
enactment. While this is often met with a look of disbelief, this is not said, or meant, lightly.
The simple reason is the amount of information the re-enactor has to be familiar with and
aware of.
While Hugh Petrie has written an excellent introduction to medieval medicine in his
―Medicine 600 AD to 1500 AD: From Leach law and magic to Classical humour therapy and
Christian medical beliefs” In my opinion someone who wants to recreate the Medieval
Physician, should consult Geoffrey Chaucer‘s description of the Doctor in his ―Prologue‖ of
his ―Canterbury Tales‖ (c.1390), which provides an excellent introduction to the knowledge
which was required, and in some respects, is required by the re-enactor:
―With us there was a doctor of physic;
In all this world was none like him to pick
For talk of medicine and surgery;
For he was grounded in astronomy.
He often kept a patient from the pall
By horoscopes and magic natural.
Well could he tell the fortune ascendent
Within the houses for his sick patient.
He knew the cause of every malady,
Were it of hot or cold, of moist or dry,
And where engendered, and of what humour;
He was a very good practitioner.
The cause being known, down to the deepest root,
Anon he gave to the sick man his boot.
Ready he was, with his apothecaries,
To send him drugs and all electuaries;
By mutual aid much gold they'd always won-
Their friendship was a thing not new begun.
Well read was he in Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and in Rufus,
Hippocrates, and Hali, and Galen,
Serapion, Rhazes, and Avicen,
Averrhoes, Gilbert, and Constantine,
Bernard and Gatisden, and John Damascene.
Thus, a familiarity with the following is required:
i) The four humours, (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile) and the factors which affect
them:
―He knew the cause of every malady,
Were it of hot or cold, of moist or dry,
And where engendered, and of what humour;‖
ii) Medieval astrology:
“For he was grounded in astronomy.
He often kept a patient from the pall
By horoscopes and magic natural.
Well could he tell the fortune ascendent
Within the houses for his sick patient‖
iii) Medicines:
―Ready he was, with his apothecaries,
To send him drugs and all electuaries‖;
Herbs and other healing materials. An electurary is a Medicine made with honey to make it
more palatable.
iv) The Works of other Physicians:
Knowledge and learning does not and did not exist in a vacuum. A well-trained physician
and/or surgeon was well aware of the work of his predecessors, even those from antiquity.
Chaucer mentions a number of physicians:
―Well read was he in Esculapius,
And Deiscorides, and in Rufus,
Hippocrates, and Hali, and Galen,
Serapion, Rhazes, and Avicen,
Averrhoes, Gilbert, and Constantine,
Bernard and Gatisden, and John Damascene.‖
"Esculapius" refers to Asclepios the Ancient Greek God of healing, (his Roman name was
Aesculapius. His most famous Temples (―Asclepieia‖) were at Epidarus in the Northeastern
Pelopennese and on the Island of Kos. At these temples snakes were used in healing rituals
which also involved Ritual purification. They would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to
the Gods. Asculapius had a number of children including Hygieia, the goddess of health
(from whose name comes the word "hygiene") and Panaceia, the godess of healing (from
whose name comes the word "panacea" for a universal remedy).
―Descorides‖: Dioscorides (c.40-90 BC). A Greek physician and pharmacologist who
compiled in the 1st century AD, the ―De materia medica libri quinque” (―Concerning
medical matters in five volumes‖) This covered approximately 500 plants along with
therapeutically useful animals and minerals and was still used up until the 17th
Century.
"Rufus": Rufus of Ephesus a Greek physician of the 1st century AD who composed over 60
Greek medical treatises, however, most of them have been lost.
Hippocrates (460-370 BC). The most famous Greek Doctor. He attempted to banish
superstition in medicine, believing that illness was not sent by the Gods or spirits, but had a
physical basis. Hippocrates turned medicine into a science. It is also believed he originated
the theory of the humours.
Galen (129-216 BC). Studied anatomy and based on animal experiments, described cranial
nerves and heart valves and showed that arteries carry blood, not air. He performed many
operations — including brain and eye surgeries — that were not tried again for almost two
millennia. He developed bandaging methods which were used for centuries; worked out a
theory about how blood moved through the lungs and carried out experiments on the nervous
system. He also further developed the theory of the four humours.
Hali: ―Ali ibn Abbas al-Majusi‖. 10th
Century Islamic physician and psychologist. Most
famous for the ―Kitab al-Maliki” or ―Complete Book of the Medical Art”, (c. 980) a textbook
on medicine and psychology.
Serapion: May refer to one of three physicians: Serapion of Alexandria, a physician
who lived in the 3rd century BC, none of his works now exist; Yahya ibn Sarafyun (9th
century) a Syrian physician who wrote Aphorismi Magni Momenti de Medicina Practica and
al-Kunnash or Ibn Sarabi; 12th century Arab christian who wrote ―The Book of Simple
Medicine―(Latin: De Simplicibus Medicamentis)
Rhazes: Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (860–932) Islamic clinician who was chief physician
at the Baghdad hospital. ) wrote the Comprehensive Book of Medicine, in which he recorded
clinical cases of his own experience and of various diseases. He formulated the first known
description of smallpox.
"Avicen": Avicenna: Abū Alī Sīnā: (c. 980 - 1037) Islamic physician,author of The Canon of
Medicine (1025) and The Book of Healing, (1027). The Canon of Medicine was used as a
text-book in the universities of Europe up until the 18th
Century. He highlighted the
contagious nature of infectious diseases and introduced quarantine to limit the spread of
contagious diseases.
"Averrhoes": Ibn Roshd: 12th Century author of a seven-volume medical
encyclopedia entitled Kitābu’l Kulliyāt fī al-Tibb (General Rules of Medicine),which dealt
with Anatomy, Health, Diseases, Symptoms, Drugs and Foods, Regimen and Treatment of
Disease;
Gilbert :"Gilbertus Anglicus", (C1180-c1250), English physician known for his
encyclopaedic work the Compendium of Medicine, written between 1230 and 1250;
"Constantine": Constantinus Africanus (c.1020-c.1087) medieval medical scholar who
initiated the translation of Arabic medical works into Latin;
"Bernard": Bernard of Gordon (c.1258-c.1320), master of the medical school at
Montpellier. Author of Lilium medicinae (―Lily of Medicine‖), (1305). It was cited for three
centuries, as an authoritative text on ailments ranging from headache to gout, from epilepsy
to leprosy, and from insanity to impotence.
"Gatisden": John of Gaddesden, (1280-1360) author of the medical treatise 'Rosa Medicinae'
(1314) which became the first printed medical book in the English language in 1492;
“John Damascene”: Johannes Damascenus, (died c. 1015). A Christian, he studied in
Baghdad and lived in Egypt. His work, Liber Mesui (―The Book of Mesue”), which survives
only in Latin, was very popular during the medieval period.
While I am not suggesting that the re-enactor runs out and learns all of these works off by
heart, I do believe that the good re-enactor/historical interpreter should become familiar with
the physicians and medical writings which informed the period(s) (s)he is portraying. If one
is delivering a presentation upon plate armour, then surely the knowledge of how armour has
evolved and developed is required. In this way, not only is our own knowledge expanded,
but also, the appreciation of the public for the work done by our ancestors can be enhanced.
Competition One
Michael Arnold‘s new book ―Traitors Blood‖ has just been released (Aug 18th
) and I have a
copy to give away in this new competition. Michael very kindly consented to take part in an
interview, which you can read over the next few pages.
To be in with a chance of winning a copy of the book, read the interview and answer this
simple question:
Q: As a child Michael loved the idea of dashing……. What?
Send your answers along with your full postal address to the normal email address:
The competition closes on October 15th
Competition Two
To be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of this book just answer this simple
question: What is the correct name for the ―balloon‖ shown on the front cover?
Send your answers along with your full postal address to the normal email address:
The competition closes on November 15th
Berlin. 1931.
The year that Germany was lost to the Nazis.
Storm Troopers and Communists fight in the
streets. Wealthy Jews and intellectuals think
of fleeing. Desperate sexual and social
outcasts cram Berlin‘s famous nightclubs to
wring out one last dance.Hannah Vogel lives
alone and works as a crime reporter.On a
routine assignment, she sees a picture of her
brother‘s body in the Hall of the Unnamed
Dead. But since she loaned their identity
papers to escaping Jewish friends, she cannot
identify him and demand an investigation.
So she tracks the killer herself.
Competition Three
A new book by George Saqqal, ―THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GAIUS PETRONIUS
MERVA Soldier of Rome‖ is up for grabs this month. George has kindly allowed me to print
the 1st chapter. Read the chapter and answer this question:
Q: Who was Tribune of the 50th Augustan Legion?
Send your answers along with your full postal address to the normal email address:
The competition closes on November 15th
For more details about the book or to order a copy check out the website:
http://www.3mpub.com/saqqal/
Competition Four
The Invasion Of The Dream catchers By E Hunt Reville
Meet Crimson, Jake, Chloe, Alex, Mai and Leroy, six extraordinary students from Pemrock
Pool Boarding College.
They go on a train journey where they meet a nasty train guard, Nathan Soleman who
protects the evil ones and enter a cold, icy climate. One of the characters is lifted from her
sleep and travels with one of the evil dream catchers.
The five remaining characters are on the night train with their history teacher, Mrs.
Blackwood, and developments occur when the other dream catchers creep in. The night train
takes them to a place where no-one exists and where wolves protect the dream catcher,s
domain. There is danger on the way with Mrs. Blackwood being targarted first. The trees of
angels keep an eye on the teenagers, but underground another evil character‘s waits for the
humans, rising from the pit and scaring them with the dark force. They end up scanning the
dream catchers 'Ice Palace', where thousands of children have been abducted from their
homes across the world are placed in a glass coffin bed with their dreams snatched by the
dream catchers. Finally, the five characters release their friend from the ice palace and the
snow and ice collapses all around them. Will they survive? Was it a dream? Will the dream
catchers track them down in the real world?
To be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of this book just answer this simple
question: What is the name of the teenagers history teacher?
Send your answers along with your full postal address to the normal email address:
The competition closes on November 15th
Gaius Petronis Merva
I was born in the second year of the reign of the emperor,
Elagabalus. According to the custom of my ancestors, I was
taken to the Temple of The Sun God, Sol Invictus on the ninth
day following my birth and presented to him and acknowledged by
my parents as an official member of my family. I was then given my
name: Gaius Petronius Merva. Merva was the name of my father‘s
family and Petronius was the name of the founder of that huge,
boisterous clan my father‘s family traced its origins to many, many
years ago. Gaius was my given name and forever afterwards I was
known as Gaius Petronius Merva.
Until quite recently I was a soldier.
The army was the only life I ever knew or really enjoyed and
yet as I look back to the time when it all started it hardly seems
possible that over 60 years have passed since that day when I stood
before the Altar of Peace on the Field of Mars in Rome and uttered
the Sacramentum, the soldier‘s oath, that would bind me to the
soldier‘s life, a life of honor and accomplishment, sorrow and
hardship. Reader, I tell you this because I want to give you a sense
of who I am, from whence I sprang and an idea of the forces that
shaped me and my world. This is my way of trying to understand it
all and to separate the fact from the fancy before the fancy replaces
the fact and it is too late to understand what I did and its meaning to
those who will come after me in this world.
The road that led me to Rome began in Antioch, the shining
pride of Roman Syria. My father‘s family had come to Syria as part
of a colony planted there by the emperor, Augustus. As the years
passed they prospered and eventually rose to positions of power and
influence in their adopted city. My father was one of the province‘s
two chief magistrates or duoviri the year I was born. Since, by law,
he could hold that office for only one year, he left public life at the
end of his term and retired to the family farm on the banks of the
Orontes River to tend his crops, write his history of Roman Syria
and take personal charge of the preparation of his only son for a life
of service to the empire he loved so dearly.
And so, from my earliest years I was subjected to an endless
succession of tutors. It seemed that there was in Antioch a tutor for
every conceivable human pursuit. Greeks, Persians, Syrians,
Armenians, Jews, Africans, Britons and Spaniards came and taught
me their languages. Greeks and Jews taught me the laws and
principles of commerce; Persians taught me astronomy and Arabs
taught me the mysteries of chemistry. Mathematics I learned from
an Egyptian, rhetoric and a smattering of medicine I absorbed from
the Greeks. Attempts to teach me countless other subjects were
made, but failed. I took these diabolical intrusions into my freedom
with good grace, but increasingly all I wanted to do was to be alone
to swim the mighty Orontes or roam the delightful groves of the
Daphne. I managed to escape regularly and enjoy the lush
countryside where I would roam free as a bird and pluck the
flowering bounty of the fruit groves or hunt the abundant game with
bow and javelin. I explored my small portion of the world
relentlessly and even managed once to ride the great river all the
way to Seleucia Pieria and the sea.
The older I grew the more rebellious I became, and the more
exasperated my father became with his headstrong son whose
rebellion he could not understand. He insisted that I become more of
a Roman and less of a lazy, pleasure-loving Syrian. To placate him I
would agree countless times only to fall back on my sybaritic ways
with discouraging predictability. Antioch was a very old city and
civilized even before the Romans came to civilize it. Actually,
Antioch civilized the Romans, most of whom came and stayed and
became hopelessly assimilated. It boasted all the trappings of
civilization: university, medical school, school of rhetoric and
philosophy and some of the greatest architects and engineers in the
world. It sat astride a bustling commercial network of roads and its
bankers and brokers were amongst the most astute in the world not
to mention the richest. But despite all its commercial success it was
a city dedicated to the celebration of the human spirit and its
citizens were past masters at the exercise of every practice designed
to heighten pleasure and the celebration of life.
The Autobiography of Gaius Petronius Merva
Seleucus, Alexander the Great‘s general had built the city on a
sloping plain between Mount Silpius and the Orontes about 500
years before. The great river flowed through the town and acted as
the highway along which Syria‘s goods flowed to Rome and the
western colonies of Rome. Juvenal had once quipped that the
Orontes had flowed into the Tiber when he stopped to consider the
amount of goods that flowed out of Syria into Rome.
One beautiful day in the summer of my seventeenth year I set
into motion a chain of events that… well, let me describe them. I
was in the garden listening to the monotonous droning of yet
another tutor. This one an old and evil-smelling rhetoritician would
constantly lean over and exhale a cloud of rich-smelling garlic in
my face every time he made a point. After about an hour of this
incredible discourtesy I rose, picked the old man up by his tattered
elbows and dumped him into the pool. I ran to the stables and
saddled my horse, relieved at the prospect of a free afternoon by
myself. When I returned at nightfall the overseer of the farm ran up
to me at the gate and took my horse‘s bridle. His name was Dorma
and he was a wizened old Syrian who had served my family for
untold years. With tears streaming from his leathery face he told me
my father wanted to see me immediately. I went to his study to find
him sitting behind the table he worked at. A single oil lamp was the
only source of light in the room.
My father sat there in stony silence for some time and when he
finally spoke his words were harsh and unforgiving. They brought
an immediate rush of blood to my face and a knot to my stomach.
He ticked off my shortcomings like an accounting clerk listing the
inventory of a warehouse. We stood there looking at each other like
two gladiators in the arena each aware that the next word could
easily result in bloodshed. Finally, he searched among his papers
and finding what he was looking for, a folded sheet of papyrus,
threw it at me. It bounced off my chest and fell to the floor at my
feet. I picked it up and stood there waiting for his next move. He
told me to get some sleep as I would be needing it. Puzzled, I turned
away and went to my room. I was filled with foreboding. Under
Roman law a father exercised complete control over the members of
his family including married sons and their families. He could
punish any member of his family in any manner he saw fit and that
included killing the offender, selling him into slavery or banishing him from the family hearth. And the law permitted him this wide
course of action without resort to the courts. I knew something
horrible was about to befall me, but I did not know what. I had
deeply offended my father‘s sense of propriety and had been a cause
of constant disappointment to him because of my headstrong
behavior. But death? Banishment? Too ludicrous to imagine. The
words he hurled at me that night stayed with me for many years. I
tossed and turned all night not knowing what the morning would
bring yet confident that whatever punishment he chose to visit upon
me would be fair…and yet I still worried. I had never seen him like
this.
Finally I slept only to be awoken moments later it seemed, by
the crowing of the cocks in the barnyard. I ran to the kitchen to get
an early breakfast for I felt that one could face any adversity on a
full stomach. He was there waiting for me. He asked me if I had
read the letter and I said no.
With a smile he asked me to bring the letter to him. I did. He
sat down to eat his breakfast and motioned me to join him. He
seemed like a different man from the antagonist I faced last night.
He had the look of a man who had just resolved a terrible problem
and was now relaxed and confident in the outcome. He poured a
pitcher of fresh milk and set a dish of fresh figs and bread before
me. He was even smiling. I was in deep trouble.
―Gaius, please be good enough to read the letter I gave you
last night.‖ I unfolded the papyrus breaking the waxen seals and
began to read to myself.
―Aloud if you please.‖ The servants had all stopped and were
listening.
Even now I can recite that letter word for word. It cut through
like a sword thrust and the words chilled my blood. It was a short
letter and it carried in its brevity the course that I was to take for the
rest of my life. Listen.
―To Junius Strabo Cella, Tribune of the 50th Augustan
Legion, Greetings. I send you my only son Gaius a headstrong
youth of seventeen years educated in all the useful arts and sciences
except discipline, the most important. I trust that the discipline in
the army will teach him its usefulness. Make a man of him or keep
what remains. Farewell, dear brother. I pray for your health.
An interview with Michael Arnold.
To start with a brief history of you:
I‘m 30 years old, married to Rebecca, and we have a 2 year old son named Josh.
We live in Petersfield, which is a little market town in East Hampshire (just north of
Portsmouth) and I‘ve pretty much lived here all my life.
I did not do any formal study beyond A-Levels, so I have no academic qualifications specific
to the Civil War period, only a long-held fascination with the subject.
Questions:
1. Is this your first book?
Yes. I had a go at writing a novel about ten years ago. It didn‘t attract an agent, and,
when I look back, I can see why! But Traitor‘s Blood is what I‘d call my first ‗proper‘
book.
2. How long has it taken to write the book?
The actual writing took about ten months. I did, however, begin thinking about this
book back in 2001, when I first visited the site of the Battle of Edgehill, and I‘ve been
researching on and off since then.
3. A lot of research has been done, Was that something you enjoyed? What did the
research involve?
I do enjoy the research element of writing. In my case, it involves walking battlefields
and wading through plenty of non-fiction books to understand politics, tactics,
weaponry etc. I‘ve visited many Sealed Knot and English Civil War Society re-
enactments in recent years, to try and get a feel for the period, and will also be at the
grand re-opening of Basing House at the end of August. Those kinds of events are
always my most favourite parts of the research.
4. Who/what are your influences?
In general terms, my main influences are my wife and son. My entire writing schedule
revolves around them! But in terms of what influenced me to write about the Civil
War, I think it was all those holidays visiting castles and battlefields. So the
credit/blame must go to my parents… my Dad particularly.
The old adage is ‗write what you know‘ but I think when it comes to historical fiction,
you invariably write what you‘d like to read. For instance, I‘ve been a fan of Bernard
Cornwell since I was a kid, and his books gave me my love of reading, the ambition
to be a writer myself, and a fascination with history. Though I probably couldn‘t give
a specific example, I‘m aware that his work has been a huge inspiration and influence
to me. I would also say that (in terms of pace and style) I‘m influenced by the likes of
Conn Iggulden, Simon Scarrow and Julian Stockwin.
5. Why did you choose Civil War England as the back drop?
I‘ve always been fascinated in the Civil War. It‘s easy to cite the social, military,
religious and political complexities of the time as reason enough to write about it, but,
in truth, I first fell in love with the era because, as a youngster, I thought the idea of
Roundheads and Cavaliers battering each other was fantastic! In history lessons, the
Civil War engaged and enthralled me far more than the usual stuff (Industrial
Revolution, Treaty of Versailles, Cold War etc.) so it was quite a natural progression
for me to want to visit it in fiction.
6. Did you find the politics of the period tricky to follow?
Absolutely! But I think you begin to get your head round it once you‘ve been
immersed in the research for a reasonable length of time. Having said that, I
deliberately kept a lot of the political stuff in the background of Traitor‘s Blood,
because I was well aware that I would risk bogging down the plot. While I completely
accept that people often enjoy historical fiction specifically for the factual backdrop,
one has to be careful to strike the right fact/fiction balance in a book such as this.
7. Stryker fights for the Royalists cause, Do you have more sympathy for this side?
Now that I understand the issues of the time, I must admit that I see both sides of the
argument pretty evenly, and I‘ve tried to be as even-handed as possible in the book.
But as a kid I always loved the idea of dashing Cavaliers, so when I came to write
Traitor‘s Blood, my hero was always going to be a Royalist!
8. How did you come up with the character of Stryker?
He evolved as I wrote the first chapter. I came to the first bits of description, and
thought ‗what colour hair should I give him?‘ so I picked black there and then. I
wanted him to be a veteran of the Thirty Years War, so it seemed reasonable that he‘d
have had a fairly lean build and that he‘d have some substantial war-wounds. One of
those I decided would be the eye, because I thought it would be good to have
something very distinctive and (unlike a simple scar) potentially disabling. As for the
name, I really can‘t say how I chose it. Stryker just popped into my head!
9. Is Stryker based on anyone you know?
No, he‘s purely a figment of my imagination. Many of the other characters, however,
are based on various people I‘ve met over the years, and several of the names are
taken directly from my friends… Andrew Burton, for instance, is my brother-in-law!
10. What are the future plans for Stryker?
I plan to take him and his ‗team‘ through all three phases of the Civil War and into the
Commonwealth period. So there‘s plenty more to come!
11. You’ve recently had the book launch, What was that like?
It was fantastic! We had the launch at the legendary Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court
(near Leicester Square) and the turnout was great. Quite a proud moment, I must
admit.
12. What are your future plans?
My future plans are to continue with Stryker. I‘m currently writing book 2 in the
series, provisionally entitled Captain‘s Blood. It‘ll be out next summer, and will see
Stryker become embroiled in the storming of Cirencester, the first siege of Lichfield,
and the Battle of Hopton Heath.
For more information on Michael and his book check out his website
www.michael-arnold.net
The Wars of the Roses: Triumphs and Defeats
The Richard III Foundation, Inc. is proud to announce its latest
publication entitled ―Wars of the Roses: Triumphs and Defeats‖.
This publication is in honor of the Foundation‘s patron, Robert
Hardy, OBE.
At the conference, the Foundation will take time to honor Mr.
Hardy for his many contributions in film, theatre and history. Joe
Ann Ricca, CEO/President recently stated in an interview ―His
unfailing qualities of professionalism, wit, compassion and
gentility make him a true star in whatever he sets his mind to do.
We can never repay him for what he has given us, but we can
show him by action as the Foundation honors its esteemed
patron.‖
The booklet includes lectures from some of the speakers at the conference including Russell
Butcher and Randall Moffett, two fine historians, who have spoken at the Foundation‘s
conference in the past, and whose talk fits the theme of the conference.
The booklet includes the following articles:
Preface
The Art of War in the Fifteenth Century - John Sadler
The Medieval Soldier - Michael D. Miller
The Search for Bosworth Field - Richard Knox
Richard, Duke of York - Richard Duke of Gloucester:
Like Father Like Son? - Russell Butcher
The Urban Military Organization of York in the Second
Half of the Fifteenth Century - Randall P. Moffett
Birthday Tributes
The cost of the publication in the UK is £16, and in the US, its $23 (this includes shipping
and handling.
To order your copy, please make your cheque payable to:
The Richard III Foundation, Inc. and submit to The Richard III Foundation, Inc.
9043 Vintage Wine Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada 89148
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The Common Man in the Field a look at agriculture in the Viking Age
By F. L. Watkins
Unlike the image put in most people‘s mind by over two centuries of romantic popular
culture, the most common person of the Middle Ages was a farmer. Even the dread Vikings
were primarily farmers who went out raiding and trading after they sowed their crops and
before they were harvested. Our branch of Regia Anglorum--Micel Folcland--we have tried
to stress the non-martial, common everyday life of the period. Because of this we have built
copies of common farm implements of the time, goping from those recovered by the York
Archaeological Trust, and we try to stress the agricultural process of the time.
During the Early Middle Ages, probably 80–90 percent of all people were farmers, intricately
and permanently connected to the soil. You might say that the Middle Ages was defined by
agriculture, and even those people with part-time jobs—trader or raider or even king—were
connected inextricably with farming and the soil. Even those who did no manual farm labor
still probably oversaw farming on his lands. A common saying in our group is that we try to
portray the "Common Anglo-Scandinavian on the Cowpath," but in this case we say we are
trying to portray the "Common Anglo-Scandinavian in the Field."
The land was carefully managed within the limits of their experience and knowledge. The
continued survival of everyone depended on the continued productivity of the land, the
culture at large depended on agriculture. It was the land—and the storage of as much surplus
as possible, including seed to be planted in the next year—that stood as a thin line between
civilization and disaster. There were no organized assistance programs beyond the most
rudimentary, and certainly any offer of help from neighbors depended on their own
prosperity. Forcing the land to produce even a subsistent living was difficult. The farming
process was never an easy process, and even if good years, the return was small, only about
four times the amount of seed planted, and this remained true until the eighteenth century,
where horticulturists such as Jethro Tull were able to experiment and to take chances,
increasing the gain to about ten times the original seed. By the end of the twentieth century,
this gain had become over twenty times.
[Plough Front--A mouldboard plough.]
In the eleventh-century, we are told that the tools most needed for farmwork were an axe, a
billhook, a mattock, shears, a coulter (the blade of a plough), a sickle, a spade, s shovel, a
flail and a ladder. Many of these tools have not significantly changed between then and
today! Because of the expense of metal then, many were wood, sometimes tipped with metal
in order to increase their efficiency while maintaining a low cost.
When survival was on the line, there was little experimentation. Even so, there were several
experimental innovations during the Early Middle Ages that made agriculture more efficient.
Most of the innovations were slow to be widely adopted because the farmers did not want to
fool with success.
One was the change from two to three-field division. For millennia, there were two fields on
a farm, one planted with wheat or other cereals that leached out the nutrients. The other was
fallow, used as pasture or to plant vegetables and replenish the nutrients. Toward the eighth
century, the farms were divided into three fields. Two were planted with cereal, while th third
was fallow. This simple changed effectively doubled the return on seed. The local men were
given land in long strips—commonly called furlongs—since their ploughs were difficult to
turn. Each plot was about a half an acre. It was recommended that a farmer have about 25
acres, but only a quarter of the farmers owned that much. The set-up of these fields continued
well into the eighteenth century, and some fields in England are the same even today.
[Plough Back--Plough pebbles, small rocks put on the sides of wooden ploughs to cut down
on the abrasion against the wood]
Another big innovation was the development of a mouldboard plough. For millennia, the
plough—the ard—had been a fairly light affair that merely scratched the surface and was
good for the lighter soil of the Mediterranean world. The soil of northern Europe was denser
and muddier, and a plough was developed that not only had a metal coulter that cut into the
earth but that also had a mouldboard, a wooden innovation that moved the broken soil aside
and made a deeper, wider furrow. Later, some ploughs had wheels, which made their use
easier.
[Vo-Ag Tools of the Viking Age--Wet rake, mattock, two-blade shovel, spade]
Ploughing was a process that required a team of workers. At least one man guided the
plough as it was drawn by four oxen. The oxen would be goaded on and handled by another
man. The metal plough shear cut into the soil, and the mould board entered this cut, turning
aside the earth into a more distinct furrow Another person followed, with seed in a sack,
scattering the seed into the furrow by hand. Small children were employed while the seed
grew, harassing and dispersing crows and other predators who might try to steal the seed or
the vegetation. The crops, when mature, would be cut by hand, using scythes and sickles,
then tied into shocks and dried. The stalks of the dried cereal would then be beaten with
flails to separate the seed from the chaff, and the seed would be stored, to be ground as
needed in personal quern stones or larger commercial mills operated by water or by oxen
which came into common appearance by the end of the Anglo-Saxon England. The
Domesday Book of 1086 counted over 5,600 watermills, about one for every community
throughout the land. Work on the harvest seems to have involved the whole community, and
after the hard work, there would be plenty of food for festivities. These were commonly
known as harvest home or thanks-giving, and the modern US Thanksgiving descends almost
unchanged from these earlier festivities, even if they usually do not celebrate the finish of a
successful harvest.
© 2010 Folump Enterprises
Event Listings
October
2nd
& 3rd
Fete Medievale des Vendages, Pierrevert (04860) France
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106808456027168
2nd
& 3rd
Fin de semana cidiano, Burgos
http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#!/event.php?eid=110128319023254
16th kamelot classic http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=155957807765960
16th
& 17th
The Norfolk Living History Fayre, Mannington Hall, Norfolk, UK http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=343838790024
17th
MSS Autumn Clout Shoot, Bodium Castle, Sussex, UK
For information: http://www.medieval-seige-society.co.uk
22nd
– 24th
Tournament of The Pheonix 2010, PVRA, 14336 Tierra Bonita Road, Poway CA 92065 USA
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129008113807424
29th
-31st The Living History Fair, Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, UK
http://www.livinghistoryfairs.com/
30th
& 31st Medieval Fair & Market, Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, UK
Contact: [email protected]
November
27th
& 28th
Ludlow Castle Medieval Christmas fair, Ludlow, Shropshire, UK
Craft fair, medieval traders, combat, have a go archery
http://www.ludlowcastle.com/
December
12th
MSS Christmas Clout Shoot at Bodium Castle, Sussex, UK
For information: http://www.medieval-seige-society.co.uk
2011
June 11th
& 12th
, Chester Roman Festival
Contact: [email protected]
July 3rd
& 4th
fête médiévale de briançon
http://www.facebook.com/?page=1&sk=messages&tid=1574642256880#!/group.php?gid=148203611869332
July 12th
– 17th
Viking Market in Gudvangen
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45100027297
