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It's episode 20 of The Cartoon Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses, and the brown stuff has hit the fan for the older Lords Appellant... Read the full comic for free at warsoftherosescomic.com

Yesterday marked the 611th anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt, fought on October 25, 1415.

I recently finished painting this 54mm mounted figure of Waleran de Raineval, Count of Fauquembergues, who fought on the French side at Agincourt.

I particularly like the striking black and gold heraldry on his shield and horse caparison.

A small tribute to the French knights of the Hundred Years' War.

I have a mid-14th to early 15th century civilian/levy kit in progress, missed two key details which were the hosen and shoes, while I'm currently making the hosen and bought the material for the shoes, I couldn't figure out what type of stitching should I use for the soles. The tutorials I found on making turnshoes don't mention the name of the stitch used.

After my post about Nuremberg's executioner, I went down the rabbit hole on plague doctors, and the medieval reality is very different from the image most of us have:

🎬 I also animated this one, told from the doctor's point of view: Life as a Plague Doctor in 1348. The written version is below if you'd rather read.

• They were a new job created by the Black Death. With so many physicians dead or gone (Venice was reportedly down to one of its eighteen), cities began hiring doctors specifically for the plague. Orvieto hired Matteo Angelo in 1348 at 50 florins a year, a premium salary.
• They worked under contracts (many survive in archives) that set pay, housing, sometimes citizenship, and length of service. The catch: they could treat plague patients only, and had to isolate after visits.
• Their main job was counting. Recording who fell ill and who died, for the city's records. They also wrote down patients' last wills.
• Treatment followed the four humours: bloodletting, and leeches or even frogs on the swellings. Few were cured.
• Quarantine came out of the same crisis. Ragusa (Dubrovnik) made arrivals wait 30 days in 1377; Venice made it 40, the "quarantena" that gives us the word.
• The famous bird mask isn't medieval. There's no evidence it was worn during the Black Death. The costume first appears in 1619 (attributed to Charles de Lorme in Paris), the herb-filled beak is first described in Rome in 1656, and only two real masks survive.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Plague doctor", "Black Death" and "Quarantine"; Royal College of Physicians, "The beak doctors"; National Geographic, "Why plague doctors wore those strange beaked masks".

🎬 Prefer watching? I made an animated version, told from the doctor's point of view: Life as a Plague Doctor in 1348

(Full disclosure: it's my own channel. Hand-drawn style art, AI narration.) Corrections very welcome.

I've been wondering about the connection between Roman law and medieval serfdom. Roman laws placed certain restrictions on agricultural workers called coloni, including restrictions on leaving the land in some circumstances.

But did medieval serfdom actually develop out of this Roman system, or are we connecting two institutions that only look similar on the surface?

How much of medieval serfdom was inherited from Roman law, and how much emerged later because of changing landownership and the growing power of landlords after the Western Roman Empire declined?

I'd be interested in what historians think about this, especially any good books or sources that discuss the connection.

So I know the Hanseatic League was basically a confederation of German merchants that wielded a lot of political and economic power. And they kept the roads and seas safe from bandits and pirates. But what I don't know is what their military and navy? Did they have an organized army and fleet or did they hire out mercenaries and privateers to protect their routes and interests?

succeeded Alfred the Great

I've been reading about Frantz Schmidt and his story is wilder than I expected:

🎬 I also animated his story, told from his point of view: The Executioner Who Healed 15,000 People. The written version is below if you'd rather read.

• He was born into the job. In 1553 his father Heinrich, a woodsman in Hof, was picked out of a crowd by Margrave Albrecht and forced to hang three men. That one act left the family "dishonoured", and the only trade left open to him was executioner.
• He was literate and kept a journal of every execution and punishment for 45 years: date, place, name, method. Over time the entries got longer and started explaining the crimes.
• He was well paid but socially excluded. His salary was on par with Nuremberg's wealthiest jurists, but executioners typically had a separate pew in church and lived apart. His house was built into a tower over the river, reached by a covered bridge.
• He pushed the city to end drowning as the punishment for infanticide, replacing it with the sword, and wrote about it with some pride.
• He was also a healer. By his own estimate he had around 15,000 consultations, far more people than he ever executed.
• After retiring, he successfully petitioned Emperor Ferdinand II to have his honour restored. His journal was lost, survived in copies, and was first printed in 1801.

Sources: Joel F. Harrington, The Faithful Executioner (2013); Schmidt's journal (A Hangman's Diary); Wikipedia); The Appendix, "A Short History of the Executioner".

🎬 Prefer watching? I made an animated version of his story: The Executioner Who Healed 15,000 People

(Full disclosure: it's my own channel. Hand-drawn style art, AI narration.) Happy to be corrected on anything I got wrong.

I recently finished painting this 54mm white-metal figure representing a knight in the service of the House of Toggenburg.

The Counts of Toggenburg were a noble family from what is now eastern Switzerland. They played an important role in the region during the Middle Ages, particularly in the 13th–15th centuries.

Hope you enjoy the figure!

I’m writing a (fictional) novel about queer & trans people in Medieval England. One of my characters is a trans woman; what would gender affirmation look like for her in this environment? Were there herbs or medicine that affected testosterone and estrogen levels? Did gender-affirming surgeries exist? Would she have been able to delay puberty if she tried?

Novel takes place in medieval England, but any medicine/info is acceptable, even from other parts of the world. Time frame is flexible but between 1100-1400.

Random shot when I paused this video, thought it was funny

I was watching a video showing a demonstration of a Knights plate armour, and it got me thinking. How long did it take roughly for a full set to me made and hiw costly was it?

The first decisive victory since the battle of Otterburn in 1388. The last pitch battle between the two during the Medieval period.

Probably far too niche but, please, does anyone know what happened to the TELMA website?

https://telma.irht.cnrs.fr

It seems to be offline without any guidance as to when it might return. My life would be much better with it online.

Amy guidance gratefully received, thank you.

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In artworks I've seen depicting battles, horses are never shown with any barding other than a chamfron, and even this is rare. More often than not, horses are depicted wearing only a caparison or nothing at all. Were they expected to be only used as transportation? To never be used in battle other than chasing defeated foes?

Either way this clashes with the fact that horses were both very expensive and a sign of status, so how accurate are these artworks? Wouldn't every horse expected to see combat be at least covered with a caparison?

I posted the original version of this last week. My kids had some gold acrylic paint left over from some painting they did the other day so I decided to illuminate the figures with it.

One of the most significant titles in ancient history, particularly during the post-Hellenistic period, was “benefactor” (ευεργέτες) and “founder” (Κτιστης). Local elites, particularly those who rose to prominence in Anatolia, grew considerably more powerful as a result of wars and migrations. These titles, which were primarily used for rulers during the early Hellenistic period, began to be applied to local elites.

Bryonianis Lollianus was also one of these local aristocrats. He has been honored time and again for the aqueduct he had built in Pamphylia and for bringing water to the city. In particular, the military and civil roles he held within the Roman system are frequently cited as integral to his legacy. In addition to being one of many wealthy local philanthropists, it is his wife who has caught my attention the most: Kyreinia Patra.

Κυρεινίαν Πάτραν, τὴν κρα-

τίστην, ∙ γυναῖκα Βρυωνιανοῦ

Λολλιανοῦ, τοῦ κρατ(ίστου) ∙ δουκηνα-

ρίου, ἀπὸ ἐπιτρόπων, πριμιπι-

λαρίου, ∙ κτίστου καὶ φιλοπά-

τριδος καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν εὐεργέτου

τῆς πατρίδος, θυγατέρα καὶ ἐγγό-

νην ὑπατικῶν, ∙ γερουσία τοῦ Με-

γάλου Συνεργίου τὴν φιλόπατριν.

εὐτύχει ❦ Πηγάσι.

“The gerousia of the Great Synergeion [honours] Kyr(e)inia Patra, the most distinguished woman, wife of Bryonianus Lollianus, the most distinguished ducenarius, formerly an epitropos and primipilaris, founder, devoted to her native city, and a benefactor of her native city in every respect; daughter and granddaughter of men of consular rank.

Farewell, Pegasoi!”

Small windows in castle walls, seems hard to use! But why?