"Archaeologists have revealed new X-ray scans of a Viking sword found on Scotland’s Orkney Islands in 2015, reports David Walker for the Scottish Daily Express. The ninth-century weapon was one of several Viking artifacts discovered in a hidden cemetery on the northeast coast of Papa Westray." Source: Smithsonian Magazine.
"Dubbed the Mayback sword after the site where it was found, the artifact is a Pedersen Type D sword—one of the heaviest used by the Vikings, report Ellie Forbes and Jennifer Russell for the Daily Record."
Note: "There are ... many misconceptions about mail armour, leading scholars to disregard its effectiveness on the battlefield: it was heavy and cumbersome; it was highly susceptible to piercing attacks — especially arrows; it was cheap and relatively simple to produce; and mail was superseded by 'superior' plate as soon as it was technically possible. All of the preceding statements are demonstrably false. One should keep in mind that mail saw continuous use in virtually every iron-using culture in the world for the best part of two-thousand years. It is, without a doubt, the most successful and versatile type of armour ever devised." Source: My Armoury
The trouble with chainmail (and armor in general) is that even though it would probably keep you from getting pierced by swords and miscellaneous projectiles, it couldn't do anything to cushion the shock of those weapons. A solid blow in the chest from, say, a mace or war-hammer or whatever would very likely break your ribs, at the very least, and drive the mail into your skin. And chainmail must've been incredibly expensive and time-consuming to produce, putting it out of reach of the ordinary peasant soldier.
"Wrapped in textiles and caked in dirt from where it was found southwest Scotland, the object didn’t look like much at first. Years of careful cleaning, however, have finally revealed a stunning rock crystal jar wrapped in gold, reports Dayla Alberge of the Guardian. In addition, researchers have discovered a Latin inscription on it that refers to a previously unknown bishop." Source: Smithsonian Magazine (Dec. 2021).
The artifact, first discovered in 2014, is one of several items comprising the Galloway Hoard, a collection of rare Viking-age objects found in Britain or Ireland, dated to around the tenth century."
This hoard has been described as "the richest collection of rare and unique Viking-age objects ever found in Britain or Ireland."
"Buried around AD900, the Galloway Hoard brings together a stunning variety of materials and treasures from Ireland, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and as far away as Asia. The Hoard transports us back to a critical moment in history: the formation of the political entities we now know as Scotland, England and Ireland, in a time of viking raids." Source: National Museums Scotland.
"Thousands of people, mostly women and girls, who were accused of witchcraft in Scotland hundreds of years ago are set to be pardoned following a two-year long campaign by the Witches of Scotland activist group." Source: RT (Dec. 2021).
"The women’s alleged crimes were reportedly as varied as causing hangovers to meeting with the Devil — and more than half of those accused under the Witchcraft Act between 1563 and 1736 were executed. According to estimates cited by the Sunday Times, some 85% of the victims were female."
"Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s administration has reportedly backed a bill proposed in parliament which calls on the government to posthumously clear the victims’ names. The likely pardon comes after a two-year long campaign led by a group named ‘Witches of Scotland’."
"One afternoon in May 1573, a 19-year-old man named Frantz Schmidt stood in the backyard of his father's house in the German state of Bavaria, preparing to behead a stray dog with a sword. He'd recently graduated from 'decapitating' inanimate pumpkins to practicing on live animals. If he passed this final stage, Schmidt would be considered ready to start his job, as an executioner of people." Source: Live Science (2019).
"We know the details of this morbid scene because Schmidt meticulously chronicled his life as an executioner, writing a series of diaries that painted a rich picture of this profession during the sixteenth century. His words provided a rare glimpse of the humanity behind the violence, revealing a man who took his work seriously and often felt empathy for his victims. But what's more, Schmidt wasn't necessarily all that unusual; historical anecdotes reveal that the prevailing stereotype of the hooded, blood-spattered, brutish executioner falls far short of the truth."
I'm not sure how accurate all of this is.
Curiously, Schmidt also worked as a healer on the side. According to Slate (2013), he eventually became a "locally established and respected figure," but an executioner's social position back then was ambiguous, to put it mildly:
"Legally empowered to torture, maim, and kill suspected or convicted criminals, the professional executioner is one of the more evocative and charged symbols of pre-modern Europe's otherness [Note: "other" in this sense is a critical-theory buzzword]. An ubiquitous and integral part of the European social fabric well into the modern era, these human 'weapons of justice' were simultaneously viewed with suspicion and disdain by the very communities they served, formally marginalized as members of the 'dishonourable trades', a delimited menagerie that included slaughterhouse workers and gravediggers. And yet 'Meister Franz', as he was popularly, endearingly known, remained a revered member of the local establishment, widely respected for his piety and steadfastness." (Wikipedia)
Schmidt was chopping heads off during the late medieval period. Next video briefly describes the executioner's job under the Tudors. I'm not sure how accurate this is.
"Archaeologists in Scotland have revealed the ornate hilt of a Viking sword after scanning it with X-rays. The sword is highly corroded and covered in dirt, but the new images show the weapon in a new light and reveal its striking design." Source: Live Science.
"The sword is part of a hoard of Viking treasures unearthed in 2015 at a burial site on Papa Westray, one of the Orkney Islands located north of mainland Scotland. Archaeologists found the sword laid atop human remains. The burial also contained a buckle, arrows and a shield boss — the metal, central part of a shield. The site likely dates back to the first-generation Norwegian settlers, who came to the Orkney Islands during the 10th century, according to Historic Environment Scotland."
Next video (2014) shows a Viking site on the island of Westray, which is around 2 km away from Papa Westray.
"French authorities have approved a proposal to revamp the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral despite opposition from 100 cultural figures and criticisms saying the changes would 'Disneyify' the historic landmark." Source: Art Net News.
"The French National Heritage and Architecture Commission offered a favorable opinion to the proposal following a meeting on Thursday, December 9, giving the plan a green light to proceed.
"The proposals submitted by the diocese of Paris, which is responsible for the cathedral, would install contemporary artworks and mood lighting to give the 850-year-old gothic structure a new look when it is scheduled to reopen in 2024, just in time for the Paris Olympics."
Comment: This isn't just an abomination; it makes no sense. For instance, why does a Gothic cathedral with its fantastic open spaces, stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings need "mood lighting?" Weren't these buildings designed to use natural light? And if the morons behind this renovation are determined to put up new pieces of art, wouldn't it be more appropriate to select, I don't know, something traditional with religious themes instead of "modern art" atrocities by painters like Anselm Kiefer and Louise Bourgeois, two of the "artists" being considered? Keifer produces dark, ugly Pollock-style paint splatters and sculptures that look like carbonized pieces of junk, and Bourgeois made giant spider sculptures and a lot of weird, sadomasochistic stuff that can only be described as psychotic.
The trendy, pretentious jackasses in the diocese of Paris apparently think that they need to include modern artists in order to make the cathedral "more accessible to contemporary audiences." They want to "appear modern" and so on, but they're basically turning Notre Dame into a kind of theme park which "completely distorts the decor and the liturgical space" of this beautiful old cathedral, according to critics. And why does the cathedral need a "new look" at all? What was wrong with the old look? Wasn't that it's main attraction in this first place? And what kind of religion has to update its message and image in order to appeal to the masses and keep up with the changing trends of the secular world? This is, after all, a church, right? Or is it? If the cathedral is primarily a tourist attraction these days, maybe they could install a McDonald's in the main sanctuary. That would make it "more accessible to modern audiences."
"The Vikings are remembered as fierce fighters, but even these mighty warriors were no match for climate change. Scientists recently found that ice sheet growth and sea level rise led to massive coastal flooding that inundated Norse farms and ultimately drove the Vikings out of Greenland in the 15th century." Source: Live Science.
Note: The theory here is that advancing glaciers during the so-called Little Ice Age (16th - 19th centuries AD, maybe) and "the increased gravitational attraction between the expanding ice sheet and large masses of sea ice" led to coastal flooding in the area of the Viking settlements in Greenland. Other factors such as social unrest, resource depletion and increased storm activity may have contributed as well, leading the Vikings to abandon their settlement rather than moving it farther inland. Scenarios like this aren't exactly new, however. The next video, for example, is from 2011 (closed captions helpful).
"Although helminth infections -- including tapeworms and roundworms -- are among the world's top neglected diseases, they are no longer endemic in Europe. However, researchers report that these infections were common in Medieval Europe, according to grave samples analyzed from across the continent." Source: Science Daily (Aug. 27, 2020).
Note: There are all sorts of helminths - roundworms, tapeworms, blood flukes, etc. etc. -- and they cause all sorts of different diseases:
"In 2014–15, the WHO estimated that approximately 2 billion people were infected with soil-transmitted helminthiases, 249 million with schistosomiasis, 56 million people with food-borne trematodiasis, 120 million with lymphatic filariasis, 37 million people with onchocerciasis, and 1 million people with echinococcosis. Another source estimated a much higher figure of 3.5 billion infected with one or more soil-transmitted helminths." (Wikipedia)
Medieval knights were professional killers who had more in common with Tony Soprano than the mythical Knights of the Round Table. And the romanticized Code of Chivalry, with its vows to respect the honor of women and protect the weak and innocent, was basically just a code of conduct designed to bind knights to their lords and restrain their more violent impulses. In other words, Chivalry was a system for keeping a class of fighting men under control in the interests of discipline and public order.
Kings needed the knights to fight their enemies, but controlling these violent thugs was easier said than done and they had a tendency to run amok, especially in peacetime when there was little opportunity for "legitimate" plunder in the name of the monarch. Tournaments were one way for the knights to blow off steam and gain some glory, but managing them was a constant problem, both for the kings and for the church, which was anxious to keep them from raiding its property.
In the Song of Roland, knights are told to "fear God and his church." Translated, this means: "don't steal from the church and slaughter its monks and lay people." In other words, the church, having no other means to resist armed force, had to rely on the power of superstition to keep the knights docile and direct their energy elsewhere. The knights were also instructed to "serve the liege Lord in valor and faith," which is just another way of saying "don't rebel and chop the king's head off or hold him for ransom and slaughter his subjects for your own amusement."
Knights were valuable for their fighting skills, but those same skills made them difficult to control. One of the reasons behind the first crusades was to keep the knights busy and to provide them with a means to enrich themselves at a safe distance. If the knights weren't satisfied, if they couldn't achieve their ambitions, they would turn against their liege Lord and find another one who would better serve their interests by providing opportunities for plunder. It was safer, more politic, to direct their violence against a foreign enemy thousands of miles away.
The knights and crusader armies were never completely under control, however. They committed all sorts of mayhem during their travels: slaughtering Jews along the way, laying siege to Constantinople and so on. Their liege Lords weren't any different. For example, King Richard the Lion-Hearted slaughtered thousands of enemy prisoners at the Massacre of Ayyadieh in 1191 [next video]. The massacre probably included the women and children who accompanied the enemy soldiers, but they were infidels and, conveniently, weren't protected by the Code of Chivalry.
The Code of Chivalry protected the knights from other knights, and it served to protect their Lords and the church from the murderous rampages of their soldiers, at least to a certain extent. Politics was force back then, just as it is now, but politics is also a system for controlling and directing that force in order to exploit the natural resources of a territory. That's what the State is: The monopoly on violence over a given territory. The trouble is that rulers have a difficult time controlling that violence. The Roman emperors had endless problems with the legions and Praetorian Guard, and medieval kings had the same kind of trouble dealing with the real-life versions of Sir Galahad.
Note: The medieval melee is still a form of combat sport. This stuff is a lot more interesting than, say, football, and the only kneeling these re-enactors do is when one of their opponents pounds them into the ground.
The Professional Killers Of The Middle Ages (Updated)
Medieval knights were professional killers who had more in common with Tony Soprano than the mythical Knights of the Round Table. And the romanticized Code of Chivalry, with its vows to respect the honor of women and protect the weak and innocent, was basically just a code of conduct designed to bind knights to their lords and restrain their more violent impulses. In other words, Chivalry was a system for keeping a class of fighting men under control in the interests of discipline and public order.
Kings needed the knights to fight their enemies, but controlling these violent thugs was easier said than done and they had a tendency to run amok, especially in peacetime when there was little opportunity for "legitimate" plunder in the name of the monarch. Tournaments were one way for the knights to blow off steam and gain some glory, but managing them was a constant problem, both for the kings and for the church, which was anxious to keep them from raiding its property.
In the Song of Roland, knights are told to "fear God and his church." Translated, this means: "don't steal from the church and slaughter its monks and lay people." In other words, the church, having no other means to resist armed force, had to rely on the power of superstition to keep the knights docile and direct their energy elsewhere. The knights were also instructed to "serve the liege Lord in valor and faith," which is just another way of saying "don't rebel and chop the king's head off or hold him for ransom and slaughter his subjects for your own amusement."
Knights were valuable for their fighting skills, but those same skills made them difficult to control. One of the reasons behind the first crusades was to keep the knights busy and to provide them with a means to enrich themselves at a safe distance. If the knights weren't satisfied, if they couldn't achieve their ambitions, they would turn against their liege Lord and find another one who would better serve their interests by providing opportunities for plunder. It was safer, more politic, to direct their violence against a foreign enemy thousands of miles away.
The knights and crusader armies were never completely under control, however. They committed all sorts of mayhem during their travels: slaughtering Jews along the way, laying siege to Constantinople and so on. Their liege Lords weren't any different. For example, King Richard the Lion-Hearted slaughtered thousands of enemy prisoners at the Massacre of Ayyadieh in 1191 [next video]. The massacre probably included the women and children who accompanied the enemy soldiers, but they were infidels and, conveniently, weren't protected by the Code of Chivalry.
The Code of Chivalry protected the knights from other knights, and it served to protect their Lords and the church from the murderous rampages of their soldiers, at least to a certain extent. Politics was force back then, just as it is now, but politics is also a system for controlling and directing that force in order to exploit the natural resources of a territory. That's what the State is: The monopoly on violence over a given territory. The trouble is that rulers have a difficult time controlling that violence. The Roman emperors had endless problems with the legions and Praetorian Guard, and medieval kings had the same kind of trouble dealing with the real-life versions of Sir Galahad.
Note: The medieval melee is still a form of combat sport. This stuff is a lot more interesting than, say, football, and the only kneeling these re-enactors do is when one of their opponents pounds them into the ground.
Related: Feudalism and Knights in Medieval Europe
Posted at 07:00 AM in Commentary, Culture, Europe, Medieval, Videos, Warfare | Permalink