You've probably been wondering: "How many eels is a cottage worth in 14th C. England?" #Eels#Medieval#history
This is a reasonable question. I get it. And happily, I'm here to help! I included a chart showing this kind of equivalence in an article I wrote a while ago. Here’s an excerpt!
To learn more about how much individual eels were worth, see my website!
A friend shared this with me the other day and I can't stop returning to it - the Ebstorf mappa mundi c.1320, discovered in a convent in Lower Saxony.
30 goatskins stitched together - about about 12ft by 12ft - "1,500 text entries, 534 cities, 500 buildings, 160 bodies of water, 60 islands & mountains, 45 people & mythical creatures, & around 60 animals." (from the German wiki page)
Somehow feels similar to a Tibetan mandala - a sacred kind of geometry.
> A project mapping medieval England's known murder cases has now added Oxford and York to its street plan of London's 14th century slayings, and found that Oxford's student population was by far the most lethally violent of all social or professional groups in any of the three cities.
Meanwhile, for the first time in Penguin Classics !!! Where it ought to have been decades ago... The Secret History of the Mongols. 13th century epic/history. Can we hope it becomes as well-known now in English as an Icelandic saga?
So you've got a fishpond, & you love eels. Should you put eels in your fishpond?
The Fleta, a 13th C. book on English common law, says NO. They'll eat the other fish, then eat each other. Then the remaining ones will just leave overland for a better home.
A marvellous early #medieval sachet-shaped fibula (a decorative pin to fasten garments / a brooch), found in Fridingen, dating 7th century AD. Made of gold inlaid with garnets and glass.
Mind maps are not a recent invention. The insightful book Lines of Thought by Even-Ezra shows how medieval authors used mind maps in the marginalia of their books to help them understand what they read. #medieval#mindmap
Fun cat: The curly braces { } were derived from this habit. They are not parenthesis but branches of a mind map.
596 years ago today, Hanseatic cities of Northern Germany retained the services of the privateer captain Bartholomeus Voet, his nine ships and 300 men. With dire consequences for my hometown, Bergen - but also to great annoyance for themselves.
A thread:
The Hansa and the Nordic countries were the best of frenemies at this time. The Hansa traded extensively with the Nordics and often waged war as well, typically allying with one Nordic country against another...
Two early #medieval bone combs, found in a grave in Dittigheim, dating early 6th century AD. To protect their delicate tines, the combs were kept in a case. Elaborate combs such as this are found in graves of men and of women.
On display at Landesmuseum Württemberg.
we are slowly reaching the end of our stock of medieval cat pictures. There is no reason to be sad about this. When we started the project, the goal was to be able to do a one-year-run with 365 pictures. #thoughtsofanadmin#medievalcat#medieval@medievodons
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