Women's sport

FALCONRY WAS THE TITLE XI OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

From The Medievalists.net 3/30/16

Medieval sports were, for the most part, chances for men to practice their martial skills in less dangerous ways and largely relegated women to the role of cheerleaders. There was one sport, however, that welcomed both men and women to the field: falconry. Rooted in the ancient world, falconry was used for necessary hunting in the Middle Ages – such as finding food and killing vermin – but it was also an extremely popular sport for the nobility. Falcons and hawks were usually trained to hunt small prey, like rabbits and other birds, as they do in the natural world, but their training was sometimes expanded to include attacking larger prey, like deer, in order to weaken and distract the animals so that hunters and their dogs could finish them off.  Unlike boar and stag hunting, falconry did not involve a face-to-face encounter with a dangerous animal, so it was a safer sport for respectable medieval ladies: less physically demanding, less rushed, and less bloody.

There was a wide range of birds to train and use to hunt, including the gyrfalcon, goshawk, and sparrowhawk. A common bird for ladies was the peregrine falcon. Peregrines were often chosen by ladies because they are relatively small, lighter to hold on the fist, and especially graceful in the air. Peregrines attack their prey by closing their talons into fists and diving, breaking the bones of other birds and knocking them out of the sky. In order to accomplish this backbreaking feat, peregrines execute spectacular dives in excess of 300 kmph – they are the fastest creatures on the planet. 

Because falconry allowed for women and men to spend the day riding out into nature and having picnic lunches in full view of chaperons, it was the perfect opportunity for them to flirt and get to know each other. Soon enough, falconry became inextricably linked to romance. Medieval writers could not resist bringing love and falconry together. In one version of Tristan and Isolde, Isolde is compared to a falcon on the hunt with darting eyes (Clason, p.48); in Chaucer’s Parliament of Fowles, the raptors are arguing over mates (Clason, p.47); and in the Middle English Sir Orfeo (ll.303-308), it is an otherworldly party of women hunting with falcons that leads Orfeo to his lost lady-love. Marie de France takes the hawking and love theme one step further in Yonec, a lai in which a knight actually shapeshifts into the body of a hawk to visit his lady for romantic liaisons, imprisoned, as she is, in a tower. The beautiful illustrations in the fourteenth-century Codex Manesse feature lots of falconry and romance, and I especially love the famous page 69r, which features two snuggling lovers and a woman with a grey bird (perhaps a peregrine) on her fist. Outside of the realm of books, archaeologists have also found ladies hunting with falcons on both mirrors – often a lover’s gift – and on the carved hilt of a knife (Gilchrist, p.110, 127).

If you’d like to read an authentic medieval manual on falconry (minus the romance), you can check out a thirteenth-century book, De Arte Venandi cum Avibus , written by the Holy Roman Emperor himself, Frederick II. For a much more modern and personal account, I’d recommend the award-winning H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald. For a deliciously cheesy ‘80’s movie about love, birds, and lovebirds, check out Ladyhawke.

Palmyra saved?

The news this morning announced that Palmyra, the great archaeological treasure in Syria was retaken by the Syrian army from ISIS. If true, this is something to be celebrated. Some authorities speculate that the site could be restored in 5 years, but with continuing warfare and a massive refugee problem, that is probably not the top item on Syria's list. Still, as a history buff fascinated with this particular locale, I hope it remains safe from further destruction by fanatics of any stripe and can be opened again to the public.

Monastic orders

Here is a very quick guide to medieval monastic orders:Early Christian monasticism – this practice started emerging in Egypt and Syria around the third century, where men began to seek out solitary existences devoted to prayer and meditation. St Anthony of Egypt (d.356) is considered to be the father of monasticism, having spent 80 years living as a hermit. Soon these individuals started to congregate into small communities for prayer and instruction. The idea of monastic settlements would find acceptance into the Christian world and slowly spread to Byzantium and Western Europe. Saint Basil the Great (c. 330 – 379) created monastic rules that were generally followed within the Byzantine Empire.
Celtic monasticism – as Christianity spread into Ireland and parts of Great Britain during the late 4th and 5th centuries, monastic communities emerged in places such as Iona, Lindisfarne and Kildare. Several early Irish monks were noted for being missionaries, traveling into Great Britain and continental Europe to convert non-Chrisitians.
Benedictines – members of an order founded by St. Benedict in the sixth century, they were perhaps the most common type of monastic community during the Middle Ages. Known as the Black Monks because of their style of clothing, and were noted for their commitment to writing. Several medieval Popes were originally Benedictine monks.
Cluniacs – a reformed component within the Benedictines, this order was centred around the monastery of Cluny in France. Founded in 910, they believed that monastic rules had grown lax and too involved in secular affairs. These monks would follow stricter practices and spend more time in prayer. This movement spread out to other parts of Europe, so by the 12th century one could find about 300 houses, all of which were subordinate to the abbot of Cluny.
Cistercians – starting with a French abbey founded at Citeaux in 1098, they valued manual labour, self-sufficiency and a return to a more literal adoption of the Benedictine rules. Called the White Monks for wearing white cloaks, their most famous member was Bernard of Clairvaux (d.1153), a well known preacher who was frequently involved in ecclesiastical and political issues. By the 15th century, one could find over 750 Cistercian houses across Europe.Cistercians at work in a detail from the Life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, illustrated by Jörg Breu the Elder (1500)Carthusians – an order founded in Germany in 1084, they were noted for their austerity, where members lived in their own cells and spent several hours a day in prayer and meditation. By the end of the Middle Ages, one could find about 200 houses spread across Europe.
Premonstratensians – Founded in France in 1120 by St Norbet of Xanten, this order combined a contemplative life with an active role of teaching and preaching. Also called the White Canons, this order was involved with converting pagan peoples in Eastern Europe.
Trinitarians – an order based in Iberia, their main function was to help ransom Christian captives from Muslim lands.
Beguines – a lay order for women that began around the 12th century, they were most popular in the Netherlands and Germany. Focused on charity and prayer, some of the women involved were known for their mysticism and for getting in trouble with ecclesiastical authorities for their views.
Beghards – a male lay order that emerged from the Beguines, it was centred around the Low Countries and France. Like the Beguines, men involved here did not take formal monastic vows but were committed to prayer and social work.

Umberto Eco

Let us join the world in paying tribute to Umberto Eco, medieval scholar and novelist, who died recently. He was 84.

Born in Alessandria, Italy, Eco studied medieval philosophy and literature at the University of Turin, In 2008, he was asked about his interest in the Middle Ages: "I would say that it’s because the period is exactly the opposite of the way people imagine it. To me, they were not the Dark Ages. They were a luminous time, the fertile soil out of which would spring the Renaissance. A period of chaotic and effervescent transition—the birth of the modern city, of the banking system, of the university, of our modern idea of Europe, with its languages, nations, and cultures."

Eco continued his academic career in Italy, and in 1959 published Sviluppo dell’estetica medievale (translated into English in 1985 as Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages), which summarized his views on medieval aesthetic ideas. His academic career flourished as he took on numerous other subjects, including media studies, semiotics and anthropology. He also taught at Columbia University and Harvard University, before retiring as professor emeritus at the University of Bologna in 2008.

Eco once said, “I think of myself as a serious professor who, during the weekend, writes novels.” His novels, however, gained him worldwide fame, beginning with The Name of the Rose, which was first published in Italian in 1980. Soon translated into other languages, the work sold more than 14 million copies and was made into a Hollywood film. Set in in Italian abbey during the year 1327, it follows a monk named William of Baskerville as he tries to deal with both heresy and murder at the monastery.  As one reviewer commented, “although the work stands on its own as a murder mystery, it is more accurately seen as a questioning of ‘truth’ from theological, philosophical, scholarly, and historical perspectives.”

Rosemary final

Here are the final 9 things that were found in a medieval manuscript as the uses for rosemary.

15. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary, and boil it, and wash your head, and great weakness from rage, or other causes, will fall away from you, and you will be well.

16. Likewise, take rosemary and plant it in the earth at the head of your vineyard, and it will be better than before.

17. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary, and boil it with holy water and dilute some white wine with this water, and make a sop, and it will restore your appetite for eating.

18. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary and boil it in strong vinegar and, while it is still hot, put it on your body and know that it will draw diarrhea from your body.

19. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary and boil it in water and when it has cooled to lukewarm, wash your feet with it and then take a cloth and wrap your legs, and all inflammation of gout and other maladies will go from you, and it will heal.

20. Likewise, take great quantities of rosemary leaves and boil them in water, and bathe the man who has become mad from illness, and he will be restored to sanity.

21. Likewise, take rosemary and make a fire of it and direct smoke into a hole where you know there is a snake, and it will quickly come out.

22. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary and boil it, and when it cools drink it. It will quickly chase away all thirst and you will be restored.

23. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary and put it your trunk where you keep your cloth, or your books, and you will not need fear the worms that can destroy them.

Rosemary 2

Continuing with the uses of Rosemary listed in the 14th century...

8. Likewise, take the leaves of the rosemary and put it in your bed, and you will not have nightmares.

9. Likewise, take the rosemary and make a vapor from it, and it will prolong your youth and strengthen your limbs.

10. Likewise, take the leaf of the rosemary and grind it up and put it on a crab, and it will cause it to die immediately.

11. Likewise, take rosemary and its leaves and grind them up and make 6 spoonfuls of sauce, and eat it with whatever you please, and it will make it good and wholesome.

12. Likewise, take rosemary and keep it in your house, and you will have nothing to fear from serpents or scorpions.

13. Likewise, take a leaf of rosemary and put it in wine, and it will give it a good, firm bouquet and a good flavor, and it will be clean and clear.

14. Likewise, take the wood of the rosemary, and put it into a barrel, or cask, and drink the wine from it. It is good for every illness, and will drive away boils of the breast.

city life

Right now I'm working on a new book set in 1896 New York city and some of my research begins with Lyndsey Faye's fabulous book, The Gods of Gotham   I definitely recommend you read this fascinating historical novel beginning in 1845 when New York's first police force appears
It struck me that while trains existed, even an elevated, most of the characters got around like our Vespers characters did - either on foot or carriage or horseback.  Mostly on foot
Also the picture drawn of sanitation, jobs, tenement living and the like were basically squalid
No beautiful public baths so prevalent in medieval Mediterranean cities and not much municipal clean-up like 13th Palermo had.  In fact one of our characters, Raynaldus Dr Rogerio, was a magistrate in his quarter of Palermo and one of his responsibilities was daily street clean-up, not to mention organizing the night watch.

Just an interesting comparison ...

Versatile Plant

23 Medieval Uses for Rosemary

In the Middle Ages, Rosemary was considered a wonder plant, which could be used to treat many illnesses and keep you healthy. One 14th century writer found 23 uses for it, including keeping your hair beautiful and preventing nightmares! This beautiful plant with its blue flowers is native to the Mediterranean region and has a long history dating back to mythological stories. The Greek goddess Aphrodite was said to be wrapped in rosemary when she first emerged from the sea, while the name comes from a story that the Virgin Mary had once spread a blue cloak over a white-blossomed bush, which turned its flowers blue. Writers dating back to ancient times praised the plant for its medical uses, and medieval brides would wear a rosemary wreath.

A list of its uses can be found in the Zibaldone da Canal, an early fourteenth-century book by a Venetian merchant. Although he says that there 25 uses for rosemary, the text only includes 23, but they offer a fascinating look at what medieval people believed were the beneficial aspects of plant.

These are the virtues of rosemary, which is very good for all illnesses; rosemary has 25 powers, and all are good. 

1. The first, take the flower of the rosemary and bind it in a linen cloth, and boil it in water until only half as much water remains, and use it against all illnesses within the body, and drink this water.

2. Likewise, boil the leaf of the rosemary in good unadulterated white wine, and wash your face in it, and it will make your face white and beautiful, and the hair beautiful.

3. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary and make a powder of it and bind on your arm, and it will be quick.

4. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary and make a paste of it and moisten a green cloth, and brush your teeth, and it will kill worms, and protect you from all ills.

5. Likewise, take the root of the rosemary and put it on hot coals, and breathe the smoke through your nose, and it will cause all rheum to go away.

6. Likewise, take the root of the rosemary and boil it in strong vinegar and wash your feet in it, and it will make them firm and strong.

7. Likewise, take the flower of the rosemary in the morning and eat it with honey and rye bread, and no blisters will rise on you.

To be continued...

Above the salt

In the Vespers series, lovely Renata is the daughter of a salt merchant from Trapani. See what our friends at Medievalists.net have to say about salt.

Using Salt in the Middle Ages By Danièle Cybulski

Salt was an integral part of medieval life: not only is some salt a necessary part of a human diet, but it’s also essential for preserving food such as meat, seafood, and dairy products in the absence of refrigeration. Though salt wasn’t always cheap or easy for everyone to get their hands on, it was ever present in the medieval world. The amount of salt needed varied from place to place, and from purpose to purpose. Naturally, salting food for long-term storage took more salt than that used for everyday cooking. In Food and Feast in Medieval England, P.W. Hammond writes, “In the thirteenth century the Bishop of Winchester kept 160 quarters (1,310 liters) at one of his manors.”

For an island nation like Sicily, salt wasn’t too hard to come by. Salt pans in Trapani and other coastal cities were valuable and attracted the attention of the wealthiest landowners. Given the large quantities of salt needed for curing and eating, salt production would have been lucrative, indeed. Medieval salt was collected from the evaporation of natural salty springs or seawater. None of it was mined. Since this process would involve getting some dirt in the salt, it was frequently purified by merchants before sale, or by households before use, by redissolving, filtering and evaporating it again. Naturally, the closer to the table, the better the salt: no one wanted dirt in the salt dish, but a little dirt in a pickle barrel wasn’t as big a deal. Unethical salt merchants could – and did – add bulk to their product by deliberately mixing in sand. Because not everyone found salt easy to come by, it was used as a marker of social status. Important people sat “above the salt”, with easy access to the salt cellar at feasts, while unimportant people sat below the salt.

Raynaldus as mathematician

The Hindu-Arabic number system was invented in India around the year 500 AD, and during the Early Middle Ages spread throughout Arabic-speaking world. It reached into Western Europe by the end of the 10th century, and started getting more use in the 13th century. In his article “Old-Fashioned versus Newfangled: Reading and Writing Numbers, 1200-1500,” math historian John Crossley (Monash University, Australia, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, Third Series, Volume 10 2013) explains that even by the end of the Middle Ages many writers had difficulty understanding how numbers worked, and preferred using Roman numerals. With Roman numerals they would know that the various characters had a fixed amount. If they saw a V it would be five, X would be ten, and M that would mean one thousand.

“With minor exceptions, Roman numerals do not change their meanings when they change their place, but Hindu-Arabic numerals do.. When we encounter 3 in 437 or in 3,145,872, it means two different things. The distinctive feature of Hindu-Arabic numbers is their place notation, independent of the form of the numerals 0,1,…9.

The concept of place notation, along with new forms/symbols for numbers, proved difficult for medieval Europeans to understand, so changing over to the new system was slow. Crossley examined manuscripts from 1200 to 1500 to determine use of the Hindu-Arabic numerals, and found that in the 13th century, only 7% of manuscripts had the new numbers, rising to 17% for the 14th century and 47% for the 15th century. The impetus for changing to the Hindu-Arabic numbers in medieval Europe seems to have come from businessmen. Progressive and successful merchants such as those in our novels would have had to learn a major new approach to numbers

“Roman numerals were used in universities that taught about abstract properties ( square numbers, triangular numbers, etc.) and Hindu-Arabic numerals were used for commerce. They were taught in so-called abacus schools where merchants were taught the new Hindu-Arabic numerals. Such schools were prevalent in Italy. Since they were sometimes involved with quite complicated calculations, the commercial used ultimately led to the development of algebra. It was not until the 16th century that time academia embraced the study of methods of calculation, in particular algebra, while retaining its theoretical concern with abstract properties of numbers.”

Christian medicine

The influence of Christianity on medicine from Graeco-Roman times up to the Renaissance

By Francois Retief and Louise P. Cilliers

Acta Theologica, Vol.26:2 (2006)

In this overview of the effect of early Christianity on empirical medicine in Graeco-Roman times, it is shown that the first two centuries represented peaceful cooperation, since the Christians saw secular medicine as a legitimate form of supernatural cure and not as magic. Christianity brought caring communities with indiscriminate personalised care for the ill and aged. This ultimately led to the creation of hospitals as we know them today. Monastic institutions appeared which often had hospitals, and provided a degree of medical scholarship.

When Christianity became the state religion in the 4th century, the Church Fathers became increasingly authoritarian regarding the practice of medicine which was to be based on their interpretation of Galen. Progressive stagnation of scientific development and medicine specifically, set in. However, during the 5th century Nestorian Christians, fleeing from persecution by the Church, settled in Persia where they initiated a blossoming of medical science during the Golden Age of Islam (8th to 13th centuries), coexisting with the Dark Ages of Medieval Europe.

After this period Jewish and Christian doctors reintroduced Arabic versions of the works of the Greek masters from the teaching hospitals of Islam to the young European medical schools at Palermo and Montpellier. The Church which had in the mean time persisted with antiquated dogmas, resented the new teachings from heathen Islam, and responded with reactionary measures against supposed heretics, inter alia by instituting the Inquisition. But after the Reformation and Henry VIII of England’s break with the Vatican, the hegemony of the Church had come apart and Christianity and medicine gradually became realigned according to the realities of the Age of Enlightenment.

Treaty of Benevento

 After the Normans conquered Sicily, they had a hard time holding on to it. In 1155, Byzantine Emperor Manuel Comnenus reconquered parts of the southern Italian mainland. For Pope Adrian IV (the only English pope to date), having the Byzantines on its southern border was preferable to the troublesome Normans. In an alliance with Manuel, Adrian undertook to raise a body of mercenary troops to war against the Normans. But just as the war seemed decided in the allies' favor, things started to go wrong. The Greek commander, Michael Palaeologus, was recalled to Constantinople. He was a brilliant general in the field, and his loss was a major blow to the allied campaign. The turning point was the battle for Brindisi, where the Sicilians launched a major counterattack by both land and sea. At the approach of the enemy, the mercenaries deserted. Soon Adrian's Byzantine allies were left hopelessly outnumbered. William and his army landed on the peninsula and destroyed the Greek fleet (4 ships) and army at Brindisi on May 28, 1156. The Sicilian army approached Benevento where the pope was in residence, and the pope was forced to make terms, signing the Treaty of Benevento confirming William as king on June 18, 1156.

The kingship of William I of Sicily (William the Bad, 4^th son of Roger II) was recognized over all Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, as well as Capua, the coastal cities of Amalfi, Naples, and Gaeta, and the newly conquered territories of Marche and the Abruzzi. The pope had to resign much claimed authority over the island. In the church of S. Marciano, William was invested by the pope with first Sicily, then Apulia, and finally Capua. In return, William paid tribute to the pope of 1000 schifati (similar to the Byzantine gold solidus).

New Year's Eve in the medieval world

http://www.medievalists.net/2015/12/31/celebrating-the-new-year-medieval-style/


Check out the new years celebrations in the medieval world at the above link.  The New Year wasn't always January 1.  In fact, in my notarial documents in Sicily, the official beginning of the year was March 1.  There were also other kinds of dating, especially regnal years when kings began their reigns, which were put in notarial records as well.


In Book #3 - The Leopard Triumphant, we talk about people drinking watered wine, which theoretically prevented people from being too drunk as the wine was usually drunk within the first year.  It was only in the next century that medieval people figured out how to age wine.


It's good to live in the 21st century, yes?!!

February 4, 1169

This date was the end for 15,000 to 25,000 people as a result of the earthquake in eastern Sicily and Calabria on the eve of the Feast of St. Agatha. Measuring 6.4 to 7.3 on various earthquake scales, this major temblor completely destroyed Catania, Lentini, and Modica, and was felt from Messina to Syracuse in Sicily and on the Calabrian peninsula. The quake triggered a tsunami on Sicily's eastern shore that moved large boulders and furthered the destruction. This large earthquake followed a period of increased seismic activity along the junction of the African plate and Eurasian plate. Fatefully, Sicily sits atop this junction. Some say the quake cause Mt. Etna to erupt, but more recent scholars say it didn't. Notably, the Cathedral in Catania collapsed, killing Bishop John of Ajello (Aiello) and 44 monks who had gathered for the feast day along with almost the entire population of the city. In the aftermath of the quake, officials feared that the exiled Tancred of Lecce and the Byzantines might capitalize on the situation with an invasion. Tancred, however, was allowed to return to Sicily and no invasion occurred. He went on to become king from 1189 to 1194. The poet Peter of Blois described the earthquake as Sicily's punishment from God for replacing his brother William of Blois as bishop of Aiello with John. John assumed the see in 1167 and died in the collapse of the cathedral.