Merlon
[mur-luhn]
Etymology: French, from Italian merlone, augmentative of merlo battlement, from Medieval Latin merulus, from Latin, merle
1) Part of a battlement, the square “sawtooth” between crenels.
(Gies, Joseph and Francis. Life in a Medieval Castle, 226)
2) Solid part of embattled parapet between embrasures, sometimes pierced with slit.
(Wood, Margaret. The English Medieval […]
Filed under: Castles, Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on August 27th, 2010 | No Comments »
The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (December 29, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1439112894
Product Description:
The past is a foreign country. This is your guidebook. Imagine you could get into a time machine and travel back to the fourteenth century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where […]
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History on August 26th, 2010 | No Comments »
Over at Medievalists.Net, the author has put together a list of “medievalists” who often post on Twitter about the Middle Ages. The list was helpful for me as I’m always looking for the latest news on the subject. Just wanted to pass it along to everyone else who had not seen it already.
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History on August 19th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A special thanks to William Short, author of Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques, for his time in graciously agreeing to answer a few questions:
1) How did you become interested in “Viking” history?
I don’t know. My educational and professional background had a heavy emphasis on technical topics and was very light on history and literature. […]
Filed under: Vikings, Author Interviews, Middle Ages History, Medieval History on August 17th, 2010 | No Comments »
My review of Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques has been published in the latest issue of The Heroic Age.
The Heroic Age is a fully peer-reviewed academic journal, focusing on Northwestern Europe during the early medieval period (from the early 4th through 13th centuries). The journal’s mission is to foster dialogue between all scholars of this […]
Filed under: Vikings, Middle Ages History, Medieval History, Book Reviews on August 16th, 2010 | 6 Comments »
Sergeant or Serjeant
Etymology: Middle English, servant, attendant, sergeant, from Anglo-French sergant, serjant, from Latin servient-, serviens, present participle of servire to serve
1) A servant who accompanies his lord to battle, or a horseman of lower status used as light cavalry. Also means a type of tenure in service of a nonknightly character is owed a […]
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on August 13th, 2010 | 15 Comments »
From the BBC News:
Norman names such as William, Henry and Alice have been popular for 1,000 years. Why did the English copy their invaders?
The date 1066. William the Conqueror. King Harold with the arrow in his eye. Soldiers in those nose-protector helmets.
But many people will struggle to come up with more than these sketchy facts […]
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History on August 6th, 2010 | No Comments »
From the Medieval Academy of America, North America’s first organization of medievalists:
The National Endowment for the Humanities, Division of Research Programs, has awarded the Academy $120,000 to support “Retrospective Digital Editions of Print Editions Published by The Medieval Academy of America, 1925–2001.” The two-year grant will make it possible for the Academy to digitize thirty-eight editions […]
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History on July 28th, 2010 | 2 Comments »
A classic retelling of Marie de France’s medieval romance, “Bisclavret (The Werewolf)” by Mark Lord is set in France during the 14th century. The story is a first-person narrative, told by the daughter of the late lord of Trigoff. Interestingly enough, Mark uses a woman as the main character to tell the story, and he […]
Filed under: Short Stories, Short Fiction, Middle Ages History, Medieval History, Fantasy on July 26th, 2010 | No Comments »
SHEPPERTON, England (AP) — With a flurry of flapping wings and a cacophony of confused squeaking, the swan and her downy young cygnets were plucked from the River Thames and passed from boat to shore.
But the men hadn’t come to harm the regal birds. Clad in red-and-white outfits emblazoned with the royal livery, on Monday […]
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval History on July 23rd, 2010 | No Comments »
