Basiliscoe Mercury 279

The Basiliscoe Mercury 279


TheInternet newsletter for the arms and armour community


There is a good sprinkling of Irish stories this week, from Viking swords to Roger Casement via gunpowder gin & the Spanish Armada. This week’s statue in the news is Kalashnikov, plus human sacrifice in Peru, Teutonic knights in Poland and a bunch of new books.


Arms and armour in the news


Ancient arms


Indian arrow heads from North Carolina

https://www.carolinacountry.com/carolina-stories/stories/indian-arrowheads-of-the-piedmont


Viking knife found in Cork

https://www.rte.ie/news/munster/2017/0926/907642-viking-sword-cork/


Grave stories


Investigating human sacrifices in Peru

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pre-incan-grave-skeletons-1000-year-old-human-sacrifices-found-peru-1640974


Exhibition on skeletons in Leeds

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/museumsandgalleries/Pages/leedscitymuseum/Skeletons.aspx


Miscellany


Why we name our weapons

https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsara...ns-from-excalibur-to-little-boy/#2dd10f2b2547


Adopt an armour, sword or even a dragon in Norwich Castle

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/histori...ign-for-norwich-castle-keep-project-1-5200525


Lost Ruben’s portrait of duke of Buckingham found on a Glasgow wall

https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...s-portrait-james-i-lover-rediscovered-glasgow


Cannons to the left, cannon to the right


Two Carron guns in Prince Edward County rededicated

http://www.countyweeklynews.ca/2017/09/19/historic-cannons-will-be-rededicated


Cannons in Maharashtra forts to be preserved & geotagged – stunning cannon!

http://wwhttp://indianexpress.com/article/ci...orts-in-state-to-be-mapped-preserved-4848485/


History of Mariners Museum’s signal cannons uncovered

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/blog/2017/09/object-secret-even-curators-didnt-know/


Back to the front


Archaeologists find weapons and a seal at Grunewald

http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/ne...ld-teutonic-seal-and-prussian-spearheads.html


Investigating the Battle of Wood Lake, 1862

http://www.wctrib.com/news/region/4334334-archaeological-study-sheds-new-light-battle-wood-lake

seal at Grunewald


Philippineswants its bells back

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/29/1743739/palace-renews-call-us-return-bells


Living in the past


World jousting championship in Sydney

http://www.sportingnews.com/au/othe...ives-medieval-fair/13rtopsahmqre1gcnv7ie66ami


Café Basiliscoe


Dutch food from the Golden age on show

http://artdaily.com/news/98993/Exhi...od-still-lifes-of-the-Golden-Age#.Wcd0HjFe59A


Irish gunpowder gin- what could possibly go wrong?

https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/...ion-butlers-launches-gin-enhanced-chocolates/


This week in statues


Russian sculptor doesn’t know the difference between a Kalashnikov and a StG44

http://artdaily.com/news/98994/Red-...ashnikov-monument-shows-Nazi-gun#.WcYfjTFe59A


Nautical news


HMS Colossus trail 2017





Museum news and exhibitions


News


Arms and armour displays at Fitzwilliam Museum inspires 12 year old boy http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-41318891


Call to bring back London Met’s arts squad

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/bring-back-the-mets-art-and-antiquities-squad/


New museums


Russia plans a new Museum Quarter in Moscow

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/museums-move-into-moscow's-huge-soviet-era-fairground


Funding for palaces and parks in Berlin and Potsdam

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/germany-stumps-up-euro400m-for-prussian-palaces-and-parks


Horniman Museum, London, plans new displays

http://museumcrush.org/how-the-horn...nect-people-with-its-anthropology-collection/


Museum musings


Britain’s best medical collections

http://museumcrush.org/britains-best-places-to-see-medical-collections-and-museums/


Suggestion that Dutch schoolchildren must visit the Night Watch

http://artdaily.com/news/99136/Dutc...it-Rembrandt--parliament--Report#.Wc4BJTFe59A


Conservation corner


D-day landing craft to be conserved

http://museumcrush.org/worlds-last-...ank-to-be-restored-and-displayed-in-southsea/


Iron making in early Norway

https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blog...early-norwegian-iron.html#ze6q1yL2qS6Qj8Sr.97


Objects


New York State Museum acquires collection of 17thcenturycolonial artefacts

https://altamontenterprise.com/0921...ettlers-and-native-peoples-collaborated-1600s


Recently stolen guns in Ontario

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/opp-firearms-antique-guns-rifles-stolen-thames-centre-1.4311559


Exhibitions


Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites in London

https://www.theguardian.com/artandd...d-the-pre-raphaelites-review-not-worth-a-look


Spanish paintings in London

http://www.wallacecollection.org/collections/exhibition/130


Opera in London

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...nd-politics-victoria-and-albert-museum-review


Clontarf in Dublin

http://www.museum.ie/Archaeology/Exhibitions/Current-Exhibitions/Clontarf-1014


Roger Casement in Dublin

http://www.museum.ie/Archaeology/Ex...bitions/Roger-Casement-voice-of-the-voiceless


The Irish in WWI in Dublin

http://www.museum.ie/Decorative-Art...n-the-Mud,-The-Irish-soldier-in-Belgium-in-th


Japanese swords in Stockholm

http://livrustkammaren.se/sv/utstallningar/katanas


Last chance to see animals & war in Paris

http://www.musee-armee.fr/programmation/expositions/detail/animaux-guerres.html


Soldiers’ lives in Paris

http://www.musee-armee.fr/programma...un-soldat-de-la-rome-antique-a-nos-jours.html


Art and power in Paris

http://artdaily.com/news/99106/Exhi...-between-art-and-political-power#.WcywUTFe59A


China and Europe in Berlin

http://artdaily.com/news/99123/Berl...ween-China-and-Europe-1669-1907-#.Wc4CjDFe59A


JP Morgan at the Wadsworth athenaeum

http://artdaily.com/news/98990/More...P--Morgan--at-Wadsworth-Atheneum#.WcYgWzFe59A


16thcent woodcuts in Washington

https://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/...n-sixteenth-century-woodcut-illustration.html


Books


M C Bishop: The Pilum: The Roman Heavy Javelin

https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/review-pilum-roman-heavy-javelin.htm


Hunting Picts: Medieval sculptures at St Vigeans, Angus. Volumes 1 & 2

https://shop.historic-scotland.gov....al-sculptures-at-st-vigeans-angus-volumes-1-2


The War Diaries of the Battalions who Fought the Great War on The Western Front

http://bookshop.nationalarchives.go...ho-Fought-The-Great-War-on-the-Western-Front/


The Spanish Armada Wrecks, Streedagh, Co. Sligo

http://www.independent.ie/regionals...itage-guide-to-wrecks-published-36143214.html


Sam Oakley: The Wreck of the Ten Sail: A true story of Cayman’s past

http://www.caymanreporter.com/2017/09/14/urban-myth-maybe-not/


The Gunpowder People

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2017/09/18/the-gunpowder-people-hodgdons-new-book-dochttps://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/illuminated-manuscripts-9781784422363/


Roger S. Wieck: The Medieval Calendar; Locating Time in the Middle Ages

http://www.scalapublishers.com/title.aspx?category=new-titles&subcategory=&id=3878


Kathleen Walker-Meikle: The Horse Book:Horses of Historical Distinction

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/the-horse-book-9781784422271/



Online book


Gunfounders of Enkhuizen

https://www.yumpu.com/nl/document/view/19947762/schutters-enkhuizen-thijspostmanl



Popular culture


Night in the Front Lineand Other Second World War Stories

https://www.bl.uk/shop/night-in-the-front-line/p-1155


Events


Diary Dates


Events in Canberra

https://www.awm.gov.au/


Events in Ottawa

http://www.warmuseum.ca/


Events in the IWM

http://www.iwm.org.uk/


Conferences


14 October 2017 Hindlip Hall

The Black Powder Ordnance: A conference on safe use

Contact Roger Emmerson for details: emmersonrw@aol.com


15-17 November 2017, Canterbury

Black Prince Conference

https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/whats-on/event/blackprinceconference/



Sales, fairs and auctions


Catalogue for Hermann Historica now online

https://www.hermann-historica.de/en/Auktionen/Laufende



30 September Olympia Arms Fair

http://artdaily.com/news/98709/The-...eptember-at-Pillar-Hall--London-#.WbaFYbpuL4g


25 Oct 2017 Edinburgh

The Sporting Sale

http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24090/



Websites and downloads


Berlin’s military collections

http://www.dhm.de/en/collections-research/sammhttp://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2017/world-of-sports-at-met


1066 etc


Mounted knights & Hobbits,

http://www.medievalists.net/2017/09/east-meets-west-mounted-encounters-early-high-mediaeval-europe/

http://www.medievalists.net/2017/09...en-roots-medieval-heroic-literature-language/


Finally


This fortnight I tweeted medieval German effigies

https://twitter.com/Basiliscoe



Compiled by Ruth Rhynas Brown –30 September 2017


Some people have asked me about making a contribution to the Newsletter – if you would like to support us, you can make a donation here through our Paypal account – see here for details:

http://www.basiliscoe.com/id2.html

 

Thank you Springfield! Some good stuff in there. Particularly enjoyed seeing the Viking's weaver sword!

 

I think was able to finish the story on this/these items in the Mariner's Museum;today I posted several times in the comments section of the blog linked:

http://www.marinersmuseum.org/blog/2017/09/object-secret-even-curators-didnt-know/

 

The museum curator found this. I found the last part of this very interesting. Can anyone give me a more understandable description of her hat? I can picture the short skirt and high boots ok but not the hat:

In “A Princess of Adventure, Marie Caroline, Duchesse de Berry”, H. Noel Williams states that Marie Caroline was “An excellent sailor, much of her time was passed upon the sea, either in a sloop-of-war [Ranger-found this in another publication] which the Admiralty had placed at her disposal, or in the royal yacht, le Triton, the most coquettish little vessel afloat, painted in white and gold, with a gilded triton at the prow, and a tiny chateau on the poop, which comprised three rooms: a salon, a dining-room, and a bedroom, sumptuously upholstered and decorated in crimson and gold. For these marine excursions Madame had had a special toilette designed; a blouse of black silk, a short skirt, high boots, and tall hat of cerecloth adorned with a gold anchor.

 

Ok I see you are having trouble visualizing. From the description this is probably close, save hairdo, shades, and purse. Now please tell me what the hat looked like!

 

There are plenty of portraits online. You have to consider her dress in line with those fashions. A short skirt might have revealed her ankles. Cerecloth is waxed cloth... so think water-resistant and fairly stiff. Could have been molded any way they wanted. She wore some pretty unique hats.

The outfit probably would have parodied male naval attire of the period.

"An excellent sailor" might only mean that she didn't spend a lot of time puking over the rail. I doubt it had anything to do with scaling the rigging.

 

You don't seem to have any trouble visualizing Springfield!!!

 

I think her outfit was intended for wear in sea spray and splashes from waves slapping the low hull of the yacht-she wouldn't want to have to wear wet clothes all day. People wouldn't know she wore high boots unless her skirt was short-I'm thinking maybe knee-length, with boots covering bare legs below that.