Basiliscoe Mercury 261

The Basiliscoe Mercury 261


TheInternet newsletter for the arms and armour community


As usual, only one Bazzy in December and it's the annual Christmas edition. Robert the Bruce makes a late run-in in the dead kings contest, a 17th century Dutch wreck gets a name check with Poldark, and a reminder of some of our best books. All this plus lady jousters and the Bazzy Christmas stocking. Back in 2017.


Arms and armour in the news


Beasts of assorted varieties…


Ice Age hunters in a spot of deforestation

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161201092823.htm


Sexing stone age artists

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/201...e-determined-forensic-analysis/9051481639455/


Nomadic Mongolia, past and present

https://www.theguardian.com/science...s-light-on-mongolias-uncertain-nomadic-future


Hoard of early medieval horsebits found in Russia

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/2016/12/...se-bits-russian-archaeological/#axzz4SXOsvpn9


And a horse-shoe from Cork

https://www.irishexaminer.com/irela...artifacts-found-under-cork-street-434599.html


Short article on falconry

http://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarah...the-ancient-history-of-falconry/#66f74e5161c1


Wolves…

http://www.medievalists.net/2016/12/poetics-wolves-mapping-metaphor-world-literature/


Grave stories


Is this the face that launched 1000 schiltrums? Robert the Bruce

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-38242781

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...e-bruce-scottish-kings-face-gets-3d-treatment


Tycho Brache, truly Renaissance science’s golden boy…

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...chemist-tycho-brahe-died-full-gold-180961447/


Toenail reveals the truth about the Franklin expedition

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/lasers+toenail+clipping+reveal+franklin+expedition+diet+cauhttp://westerndigs.org/new-evidence-reveals-violent-final-days-at-arizonas-montezuma-castle/


Iconic view of Nonsuch Palace saved for the Nation

http://www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/art565864-Henry-VIIIs-lost-palace-of-Nonsuch


Miscellany


Yew trees and archery

http://montrealgazette.com/opinion/...istry-the-yew-tree-has-been-a-valuable-weapon


Henry VIII and a treatise on warfare- nice pictures!

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/03/one-that-got-away.html


Tales of the development of the Low Gatebeck Gunpowder Works

http://www.nwemail.co.uk/Risks-of-l...-mill-d8876bcb-2391-4153-b197-4b8092d19e98-ds


Visit to a Greek gunpowder works at Dimitsana, Arcadia

https://hellenicnews.com/road-greec...herine-tsounis-special-hellenic-news-america/


Sad news indeed- closure of London’s Whitechapel Bell foundry

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2016/12/02/so-long-whitechapel-bell-foundry/


Cannons to the left, cannon to the right


Restoring Bahawalpur's Mughal cannon and its history http://tribune.com.pk/story/1254465/old-times-mughal-era-cannon-vintage-treasure-bahawalpur-city/


Fort Sumner’sParrot conserved

http://www.guns.com/2016/12/08/fort-sumter-cannon-saved-by-anonymous-donor/


Spanish war cannon restored

http://marblehead.wickedlocal.com/news/20161201/historic-cannon-finds-temporary-home

http://www.itemlive.com/news/marblehead-sticks-to-its-gun/


Cannon balls found in Savannah

http://wsav.com/2016/12/01/cannonball-discovery-reveals-long-history-of-forts-in-savannah/


New Zealand cannon restored

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/...-unit-revel-in-restoration-of-century-old-gun


Rochester’s WI trophy –lost and found

http://www.irondequoitpost.com/news/20161208/case-of-missing-world-war-i-cannon-solved


1909 postcard of cannon from Fort Massachusetts –lovely picture! http://www.sunherald.com/living/article119923763.html


Asian round-up


Updates on the Terracotta warriors (and friends)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2016-11/28/c_135863600.htm

http://www.livescience.com/25510-terracotta-warriors.html


And they’re coming to the UK in 2018

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/museums/china-s-terracotta-warriors-march-back-into-the-uk/


Early fortifications in Japan

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201611290062.html


Living in the past


Sydney schoolteacher moves to Muscat to improve her jousting

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/a...ey-school-teacher-moves-Oman-Middle-East.html


Ladies with poleaxes

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/87733364/new-plymouth-woman-is-the-best-in-the-world-with-a-poleaxe


Austerlitz refought (spoiler alert- same result)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-38199738


Xmas menu in Café Basiliscoe (sadly, mainly alcoholic…)


Beef soup from China…

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/culture/2016-12/16/content_27689915.htm


Washed down with British beer through history

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20161130-why-the-stone-age-could-be-when-brits-first-brewed-beer


Or cider…

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-origins-apple-cider-180960662/


Or punch

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...eenth-century-punch-recipe-found-in-yorkshire


And an ancient kitchen to cook it all in

http://www.archaeology.org/news/5140-161215-turkey-anatolia-kitchens


Into the 20th century


Japanese navy veteran recalls PearlHarbor 75 years on http://artdaily.com/news/92242/Japanese-navy-veteran-recalls-Pearl-Harbor-75-years-on#.WEvljDF759A


US guns at Pearl Harbor

https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2016/12/7/remember-pearl-harbor-the-men-and-the-guns/


Middle-east updates


War memorial for the UEA

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/news/british-artist-idris-khan-creates-uae-s-first-war-memorial/


France takes on war cultural role

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/new...y-to-protect-cultural-heritage-in-war-zones-/

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/news/france-promise-30m-to-global-fund-for-culture-in-danger-/


Nautical news


France puts in claim to shipwreck linked to lost colony of Fort Caroline

http://jacksonville.com/florida/201...ts-shipwreck-linked-lost-colony-fort-caroline

http://www.newhistorian.com/shipwreck-changed-history-found-off-florida-coast/7730/


17th century wreck of the Schiedam rediscovered

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/new..._at_Gunwalloe_where_Poldark_wreck_was_filmed/


Interesting article about 18th century ships on rocks in South Africa: https://www.hakaimagazine.com/article-short/south-africa-colonialism-was-written-stone


James Matthew’s shipwreck off Perth coast, 1841, mapped using 3D modelling

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-...ur-james-matthews-shipwreck-off-perth/8107678


Update on the Franklin ships

https://www.whttp://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stori...to_london_ottawa_for_future_franklin_exhibit/


Exploring U-Boat victims off Canada

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/bell-island-shipwreck-study-1.3899921


Australia’s concerns for war grave wrecks off Indonesia

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/12/19/11/36/war-veteran-fears-for-shipwreck-and-war-graves



Museum news and exhibitions


News


How should school children behave in French museums

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/new...school-group-during-a-visit-to-the-paris-mus/


New museums


New medieval galleries at Worcester, Massachusetts

http://www.telegram.com/entertainme...ys-and-opening-of-revamped-medieval-galleries


Mathematics gallery in the Science Museum

http://artdaily.com/news/92261/Math...designed-by-architect-Zaha-Hadid#.WEvkDDF759A


Garda Museum opens in Dublin Castle

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/garda-museum-opens-in-dublin-castle-35289408.html


Conservation corner


Iron Age bloomeries found in Poland

http://scienceinpoland.pap.pl/en/ne...2-thousand-years-ago-discovered-in-kanie.html


And Stuart Sutherland

http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index...mery-iron-working-in-late-medieval-sutherland


Update on the Viking tool box found in Denmark

http://www.livescience.com/57063-viking-tools-found-at-mysterious-fortress.html


Austria's race against time to save anti-Nazi film,City Without Our Jews

http://artdaily.com/news/92108/Austria-s-race-against-time-to-save-anti-Nazi-film#.WEFEhttp://www.lep.co.uk/news/ex-worden-hall-body-armour-to-be-sold-off-1-8276121

https://www.antiquestradegazette.co...r-bought-by-the-va-at-thomas-del-mar-auction/


Belgian revolver that nearly killed poet Rimbaud fetches 435,000 euros http://artdaily.com/news/92085/Gun-...et-Rimbaud-fetches-435-000-euros#.WD_mTzF759A


Nordenfelt machine gun top seller at Bonhams http://artdaily.com/news/92217/Pion...dalus-Collection-sale-at-Bonhams#.WEvoOTF759A


Gun adverts from Christmas past

http://www.guns.com/2016/12/14/serving-up-a-heaping-helping-of-those-old-gun-ads-photos/


Exhibitions


For the 2018 diary- Charles I’s lost art collection

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/new...les-i-s-art-for-blockbuster-anniversary-show/


Medieval sculpture in Madrid

http://artdaily.com/news/92128/Mono...-Mateo-opens-at-the-Prado-Museum#.WEKX4zF759A


Pearl Harbor in Massachusetts

http://theartnewspaper.com/news/mus...tion-commemorates-75th-anniversary-of-attack/



Books


This looks like a good bet for Christmas:


Trevor Rowley: An Archaeological Study of the Bayeux Tapestry

http://archeurope.org/@pdf/Bayeux Tapestry Leaflet.pdf



David Silverman: Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America

http://www.capitalcityweekly.com/stories/120716/ae_1271707348.shtml


Some of the goodies from 2016:


Islamic Arms and Armor in The Metropolitan Museum of Art

http://store.metmuseum.org/art-hist...s+and+armor+in+the+metropolitan+museum+of+art


A. V. B. Norman and Ian Eaves: Arms & Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen; Volume I: European Armour

http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/A/bo24173694.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arms-Armour-Collection-Majesty-The-Queen/dp/190568648X


Thom Richardson: The Tower Armoury in the Fourteenth Century

https://shop.royalarmouries.org/boo...he-fourteenth-century-by-thom-richardson.html



Online Book


Online Australian edition of IJNA

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-9270.1973.tb00517.x/epdf


Virtual books at the BL

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/virtualbooks/index.html#


All the reports from the Ho Group on medieval gunpowder in one place

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ims/fieldsofconflict/Hogroup.html


Popular culture


The Great Wall

http://www.thegreatwallmovie.com/


New film on Dunkirk

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...irk-first-full-trailer-tom-hardy-mark-rylance


And Journey’s End

https://www.theguardian.com/film/20...m-that-women-want-rc-sherriff-conflict-trauma


The Eagle Huntress

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/18/the-eagle-huntress-review-documentary-mongolia


Anna Stothard: The Museum of Cathy

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/dec/16/the-museum-of-cathy-by-anna-stothard-review



Websites and downloads


1066 etcCourtly love

http://www.medievalists.net/2016/12...tokens-love-wolfram-von-eschenbachs-parzival/


Finally - the Bazzy Christmas stocking


Gun adverts from Christmas past

http://www.guns.com/2016/12/14/serving-up-a-heaping-helping-of-those-old-gun-ads-photos/


Disney Castle’s medieval origins

http://www.countrylife.co.uk/culture/designed-disneys-castle-144071


Gaming for historians

http://www.medievalists.net/2016/12/gaming-history-computer-video-games-historical-scholarship/


Graphic novel take on a secret mission to the US and Canada in WW2

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z3b77hv


Game about trebuchets and castles

http://www.gamesgames.com/game/castle-clout


A few Magazines to leaf through- all the ICOMAM MAGAZINES online in one place

http://network.icom.museum/icomam/publications/the-magazine/


Christmas in Medieval York

http://www.medievalists.net/2016/11/think-todays-christmas-stressful-try-organizing-medieval-one/


This fortnight we tweeted the longest cannons we have seen- 5 metres & counting…

https://twitter.com/Basiliscoe


Merry Christmas!


Compiled by Ruth Rhynas Brown –20 December 2016


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The piece on gun adverts is a pass to the past! I remember those.............