Ancient World Review

Skeleton Find Reveals Lost Saxon Church

"The discovery of a skeleton in the back garden of a home in Wallingford has revealed the location of a lost Saxon church." Source: Oxford Mail.

"...the skeleton proves for the first time the precise location of St Lucian’s, one of the town’s oldest known churches."

Fencing With Five Different Medieval Weapons

Comment: The techniques used here are "either interpretations of historical texts or freely combinated sequences," according to the video description. Imagine two medieval armies of several hundred or thousand men fighting this way for real. Depending on the armor used, these one-on-one contests would have been relatively short and bloody.

"Medieval man-to-man combat is a brutal science.  It uses techniques which are efficient and ruthless.  The goal it to put the opponent down quickly.  A Medieval fight would be brief.  I doubt a combat between individuals would last more than 20 to 30 seconds, and that only if both were equally skilled fighters.  A fight between a trained man and a semi-skilled one would rarely last ten seconds, and likely be over in five. " Source: "Medieval Combat," The Milistriot Quarterly.

There was more to Medieval combat than hand-to-hand fighting, of course. One of the best books I've read on the subject is "Fighting Techniques Of The Medieval World: Equipment, Combat Skills And Tactics, which covers infantry combat, mounted warfare, command and control, siege techniques and naval warfare.

The Sui Dynasty - A Violent Reunification

A Killer Bacterium Expands Its Legacy

"From the sixth through eighth century A.D., a terrifying illness called the Plague of Justinian gripped the Eastern Roman Empire. Like the Black Death pandemic that decimated Europe seven centuries later, this plague often caused death within a matter of days. New work by paleogeneticists at the University of Tübingen in Germany provides empirical evidence for an old historical theory: that the two pandemics were caused by the same pathogen." Source: Archaeology

Comment: Justinian was in the process of trying to reconquer the western half of the Roman Empire when his plans were derailed by the plague. He was infected himself and managed to recover, but he was apparently never the same again. It's interesting to realize that if none of this had happened, Europe as we know it today might never have come into existence. Note: the video below is an excerpt from the highly recommended History Channel documentary The Dark Ages.

Gospel Of Judas Authenticated By Study Of Ancient Inks

"A long-lost gospel that casts Judas as a co-conspirator of Jesus, rather than a betrayer, was ruled most likely authentic in 2006. Now, scientists reveal they couldn't have made the call without a series of far more mundane documents, including Ancient Egyptian marriage licenses and property contracts." Source: Live Science.

Part Of Northampton's Medieval Castle Unearthed

"The remains of a building from Northampton’s Medieval castle have been found on the site of the town’s railway station." Source: Northampton Chronicle & Echo.

"Archaeologists working on the site ahead of the development of a new station, have found three 12th Century walls from a stone building just feet underneath the station’s car park."

Enemies Of Rome - The Franks

Shroud Of Turin Not A Medieval Forgery?

"Experiments conducted by scientists at the University of Padua in northern Italy have dated the shroud to ancient times, a few centuries before and after the life of Christ." Source: The Telegraph.

"Many Catholics believe that the 14ft-long linen cloth, which bears the imprint of the face and body of a bearded man, was used to bury Christ's body when he was lifted down from the cross after being crucified 2,000 years ago."

Comment: Something is definitely wrong somewhere when one study shows that the Shroud dates back to Medieval times and another study shows that it's actually much older, but, frankly, I'm too indifferent to spend any time looking for an explanation.

The bottom line is that it doesn't make the slightest bit of difference how old the Shroud is because there's no way anyone could possibly know that the image on its fabric shows the face of Jesus. After all, how could anyone know what he looked like, assuming he actually existed? There are obviously no photographs of him and as far as I remember the Gospels never describe his appearance.

If the image on the Shroud is authentic, which is extremely doubtful, all anyone can say is that it shows the figure of some man. He could have been an executed criminal or a tax collector or the local butcher for all we know. If you ask me, the whole thing reeks of a Medieval forgery. Holy relics were a valuable commodity back then and the Church is still getting a lot of mileage out of the Shroud of Turin. More information here.

Video shows the new Pope unveiling the shroud on March 30, 2013.

The Mystery Of The Black Death

Note: The History Channel released an excellent documentary in 2007 called The Dark Ages which included a one-hour feature on the Black Death which is well worth watching. 

Also highly recommended: "The Great Mortality: An Intimate History Of The Black Death" by John Kelly. I reviewed the book here and the "Black Death" category on this site contains more information.

Vikings - Episode One (History Channel)