13.6.07
Moved!
This weblog has relocated to another blogging service. Follow my exciting adventures over at http://korbosch.wordpress.com/
9.6.07
Speaking of which,
Johann von Heinsberg is cool. Doing further research on him now, and apart from varying genealogical elements (placing his birth between 1360-1384, realistically at about 1370 seeing as he married at about 1390) I came across a site belonging to the archery guild of Heinsberg, who have been in existence for over 600 years. They were founded by no less than good ol' Johann, and are named after saints Gangolfus and John of Nepomuk (the latter obviously picked in honour of the lord of Heinsberg). Readers of this blog will now, no doubt, be surprised as this is the first medieval archery guild I have mentioned thus far not named after either saint Sebastian or saint George! Apparently there were no laws against not naming your archery guild after these two saints after all.
Ironically, five months after the citizens of Heinsberg had been granted their guild, complete with special rewards such as material for making clothes for winter and summer, they were already called upon to serve their lord in battle. They fought, and many died, at the battle of Monschau (1400) against the abbot of Stavelot.
Apart from that, information is varied. For example, Heinsberg is listed as lord of many territories, which, apart from Heinsberg, obviously, include Millen (in Brabant), Loon (part of Liège), Jülich (a separate duchy which he certainly did not control, but had rights to, which the duke of Guelders/Jülich bought off at a date unknown to me) and a host of smaller territories. I don't think any of these lands, apart from Heinsberg, were actually in his possession at any time, and were merely claims, possibly temporary loans or stewardships. In any case, every source confirms that he was poor and had to make a living by making war.
Update: Heinsberg received Millen as hereditary land from the duke of Brabant in 1420.
What can I say, I like the man. He is also the only important historical character in my story who actually has his character rooted in history, rather than just his name.
Also, made me laugh:
Ironically, five months after the citizens of Heinsberg had been granted their guild, complete with special rewards such as material for making clothes for winter and summer, they were already called upon to serve their lord in battle. They fought, and many died, at the battle of Monschau (1400) against the abbot of Stavelot.
Apart from that, information is varied. For example, Heinsberg is listed as lord of many territories, which, apart from Heinsberg, obviously, include Millen (in Brabant), Loon (part of Liège), Jülich (a separate duchy which he certainly did not control, but had rights to, which the duke of Guelders/Jülich bought off at a date unknown to me) and a host of smaller territories. I don't think any of these lands, apart from Heinsberg, were actually in his possession at any time, and were merely claims, possibly temporary loans or stewardships. In any case, every source confirms that he was poor and had to make a living by making war.
Update: Heinsberg received Millen as hereditary land from the duke of Brabant in 1420.
What can I say, I like the man. He is also the only important historical character in my story who actually has his character rooted in history, rather than just his name.
Also, made me laugh:
The Key To Love für Heinsberg - Dating im Internet - Übersicht ...Die männliche Linie der Herren von Heinsberg starb mit Johann IV. im Jahr 1448 aus.Apparently an internet dating site has lifted wikipedia information to give its site some more background info - but perhaps a subconscious message is hidden in the knowledge of the Heinsberg family dying out in 1448...
Daffodils are shiny when polished: in search of new titles for blog posts
The frequent visitor and attentive observor may have noticed the addition of a few links to the my articles section, namely one listing every battle fought in the Low Countries between 1200-1500 I could find information on, and another in-depth article on the battle of Othée, concluding the related article on the siege of Maastricht in 1407-1408.
The first I wrote because I was annoyed no proper compilation of all these combats was available, so I scoured every book I had on the middle ages and the Low Countries, as well as doing some wiki searching. Sadly the Frisian Schieringer-Vetkoper civil war battles appear not to have been the subject of any study yet, and so I can't find anything in-depth on them, which is a shame as the period reveals some great generals, like Focko Ukena, who won three battles (a great achievement for anyone in the middle ages).
The article on Othée (and the one on Maastricht) were written because I'm working on a novel dealing with the siege, and wished to compile some of the information I had gathered. I have a lot more where that came from, but these mostly are rather uninspired genealogical data concerning the major families living in Maastricht at the time, and a few interesting anecdotes.
For example, Rutten Clencke (a peculiar name, even in Dutch) did some damage to the village of Wolder during a raid. This village was occupied by the Liegois, and so it seemed justified, but he also damaged property belonging to the lord of Mérode, who was one of the knightly lords fighting for John of Bavaria against the Liegois. Rutten Clencke was fined for his behaviour.
Obviously this fellow also makes an appearance in my novel, though I'll have to revisit the library to try and find out when he did this and how much he was fined for; I sadly forgot to note this down initially.
Another interesting turn of events was that the Liegois invaded the land of Heinsberg. Heinsberg was the principal mercenary captain in John of Bavaria's service, and the rebels tried to strike at him by laying waste his country, thus forcing him to abandon Maastricht. However, he had apparently expected this, and after doing some pillaging the Liegois were defeated by the militia of Heinsberg and knights left behind by their lord. Interestingly, the psychological effect of this action on the lord of Heinsberg becomes clear afterwards: he struck out very harshly against the rebels, and burned down many villages. Whether this was his strategy all along or partly inspired by a lust for vengeance I don't know - it was a common strategy after all - but I'd like to consider emotion played a part here.
The first I wrote because I was annoyed no proper compilation of all these combats was available, so I scoured every book I had on the middle ages and the Low Countries, as well as doing some wiki searching. Sadly the Frisian Schieringer-Vetkoper civil war battles appear not to have been the subject of any study yet, and so I can't find anything in-depth on them, which is a shame as the period reveals some great generals, like Focko Ukena, who won three battles (a great achievement for anyone in the middle ages).
The article on Othée (and the one on Maastricht) were written because I'm working on a novel dealing with the siege, and wished to compile some of the information I had gathered. I have a lot more where that came from, but these mostly are rather uninspired genealogical data concerning the major families living in Maastricht at the time, and a few interesting anecdotes.
For example, Rutten Clencke (a peculiar name, even in Dutch) did some damage to the village of Wolder during a raid. This village was occupied by the Liegois, and so it seemed justified, but he also damaged property belonging to the lord of Mérode, who was one of the knightly lords fighting for John of Bavaria against the Liegois. Rutten Clencke was fined for his behaviour.
Obviously this fellow also makes an appearance in my novel, though I'll have to revisit the library to try and find out when he did this and how much he was fined for; I sadly forgot to note this down initially.
Another interesting turn of events was that the Liegois invaded the land of Heinsberg. Heinsberg was the principal mercenary captain in John of Bavaria's service, and the rebels tried to strike at him by laying waste his country, thus forcing him to abandon Maastricht. However, he had apparently expected this, and after doing some pillaging the Liegois were defeated by the militia of Heinsberg and knights left behind by their lord. Interestingly, the psychological effect of this action on the lord of Heinsberg becomes clear afterwards: he struck out very harshly against the rebels, and burned down many villages. Whether this was his strategy all along or partly inspired by a lust for vengeance I don't know - it was a common strategy after all - but I'd like to consider emotion played a part here.
8.6.07
Pictures from Brugge
I've scanned in some of the pictures taken on my trip to Brugge, which took place ages ago. Enjoy!
Two of the city gates, beautifully constructed.
Two old houses, age unknown. One is clearly in Gothic style but may be newer (the door is clearly non-Gothic, doesn't even have a decorated frame). The other is a marked world heritage monument (the blue/white triangles thingy).
The palace of the lords of Gruuthuse. Neerlandicists theorise that the family emblem of a cannonball (middle Dutch lode) leaving (wijc) the cannon implies the name of the lord who had this palace built: Lodewijc. This would mean that these men could speak Dutch as well as French.
The Our Lady's Church, supposedly the tallest brick-only tower in the world, nay, the universe! Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy are buried inside, and it also houses the coats of arms of the knights of the Golden Fleece in the 1460's.
Two of the city gates, beautifully constructed.
Two old houses, age unknown. One is clearly in Gothic style but may be newer (the door is clearly non-Gothic, doesn't even have a decorated frame). The other is a marked world heritage monument (the blue/white triangles thingy).
The palace of the lords of Gruuthuse. Neerlandicists theorise that the family emblem of a cannonball (middle Dutch lode) leaving (wijc) the cannon implies the name of the lord who had this palace built: Lodewijc. This would mean that these men could speak Dutch as well as French.
The Our Lady's Church, supposedly the tallest brick-only tower in the world, nay, the universe! Charles the Bold and Mary of Burgundy are buried inside, and it also houses the coats of arms of the knights of the Golden Fleece in the 1460's.
6.6.07
Dutch exam
Had my Dutch exam on Monday, which was a breeze. The exam consisted of two parts, reading and writing. For writing we had to write a two page letter to a uni paper concerning Global Warming, making a point. I went all David Attenborough on their arse, disapproving of the current CO2-centred changes being proposed, claiming that for a healthy environment we also require better protection of nature's fragile food chain, including better planning, fishing quotas, labels to prevent illegally caught fishes from appearing in the supermarket, etc. It's good enough, I'm sure, and will make for a more varied point than just "Global Warming takes place do something!" or "Global Warming is crap let's pollute pollute pollute!"
Reading was even easier. We had a massive two hours to condense a four-page article into 150 words. Seeing as the article was on a historical subject (depictions of natives in the publications of travel journals in the 16th century), I had no difficulty understanding the point it tried to make, and sifting out the important and unimportant bits. High marks, I'm sure.
Also, I collected a lot of information and compiled a list of all battles that took place in the Low Countries from 1200-1500. Linked on the right. It's lengthy - there was lots of fighting - but worth my time; I've never actually encountered a similar list before. Not even the "Kalendarium van de Nederlandse Geschiedenis", which attempts to list all major events in the Low Countries, has them all.
Reading was even easier. We had a massive two hours to condense a four-page article into 150 words. Seeing as the article was on a historical subject (depictions of natives in the publications of travel journals in the 16th century), I had no difficulty understanding the point it tried to make, and sifting out the important and unimportant bits. High marks, I'm sure.
Also, I collected a lot of information and compiled a list of all battles that took place in the Low Countries from 1200-1500. Linked on the right. It's lengthy - there was lots of fighting - but worth my time; I've never actually encountered a similar list before. Not even the "Kalendarium van de Nederlandse Geschiedenis", which attempts to list all major events in the Low Countries, has them all.
3.6.07
Man rides horse
Being on a camping holiday with friends is an interesting experience in planning. Depending on the taste of your friends and/or known associates, you may be subjected to either fun stuff or never ending hell. Nevetheless, mine have decent taste, and so we ended up riding horseys on Saturday afternoon - the non metal variety. Obviously this had to be passed first by the assembled collective, and as I always was curious what riding a horse is like, I answered the question "but would the blokes not have a problem with it?" with a resounding "nah".
Because I knew that riding horseys is an incredibly manly thing, and has been throughout the centuries, as showcased by the following examples:
Well, apart from the 17th century. Then it was clearly something done by ponces with angels hovering above their heads.
Now, having established that horses are not always pink and fluffy, I can recount a variety of interesting things having to do with them.
The horse I was given was fairly big. In fact, I rode the tallest horse of my group, an impressive black mare who liked eating branches and being at the head of the column, which, I suppose, put me in general command. Huzzah! All the horses were properly trained to find the way back, using the same tracks over and over again, so little steering was involved (apart from steering the horse's head away from the branches, that cheeky devil!), allowing me to survey the area at my leisure.
Which bring me to another massive advantage horses have: they're very tall, and when you're on top of them, you're tall as well. This made it terribly easy for me to spot any animals, and I saw, consequently, two pheasants, a partridge, four squirrels, an army of rabbits, and a castle. Only the castle I'm sure I would've seen otherwise; the simple truth is that being on a horse gives you a great overview of your surroundings, and I found this to be helpful not just in the field but also, surprisingly, in the forest. Very cool.
Now, a little more on riding. Supposedly there's a technique for, you know, bobbing up and down from your saddle while the horse is in a canter or faster. The woman from the stable tried to explain how to do this and seemed dissatisfied with my inelegant custom of bouncing up and down the horse's back like a kangaroo on steroids; nevertheless, I could not find a better way to deal with this. No doubt this takes some time getting used to.
Also, when a horse craps while riding along you really don't notice a thing. Seriously. I heard from people behind me that my horse had left a few "I was here" marks around the place, but I never noticed; and I was reliably informed that another horse had the peculiar habit of farting very very loudly.
Because I knew that riding horseys is an incredibly manly thing, and has been throughout the centuries, as showcased by the following examples:
Well, apart from the 17th century. Then it was clearly something done by ponces with angels hovering above their heads.
Now, having established that horses are not always pink and fluffy, I can recount a variety of interesting things having to do with them.
The horse I was given was fairly big. In fact, I rode the tallest horse of my group, an impressive black mare who liked eating branches and being at the head of the column, which, I suppose, put me in general command. Huzzah! All the horses were properly trained to find the way back, using the same tracks over and over again, so little steering was involved (apart from steering the horse's head away from the branches, that cheeky devil!), allowing me to survey the area at my leisure.
Which bring me to another massive advantage horses have: they're very tall, and when you're on top of them, you're tall as well. This made it terribly easy for me to spot any animals, and I saw, consequently, two pheasants, a partridge, four squirrels, an army of rabbits, and a castle. Only the castle I'm sure I would've seen otherwise; the simple truth is that being on a horse gives you a great overview of your surroundings, and I found this to be helpful not just in the field but also, surprisingly, in the forest. Very cool.
Now, a little more on riding. Supposedly there's a technique for, you know, bobbing up and down from your saddle while the horse is in a canter or faster. The woman from the stable tried to explain how to do this and seemed dissatisfied with my inelegant custom of bouncing up and down the horse's back like a kangaroo on steroids; nevertheless, I could not find a better way to deal with this. No doubt this takes some time getting used to.
Also, when a horse craps while riding along you really don't notice a thing. Seriously. I heard from people behind me that my horse had left a few "I was here" marks around the place, but I never noticed; and I was reliably informed that another horse had the peculiar habit of farting very very loudly.
29.5.07
Hilarity
This is why EuroGamer is so bloody good.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Also, apparently some Hollywood eejits have bought the rights to The Sims and are turning it into a film. This has to be the most retarded idea ever, as The Sims is basically a game where people can play their lives on their pc, except a little faster and with less chance of being rejected when they try to start up a relationship (that chance must be considerable seeing how they're sad enough to have to resort to a fecking computer game, ffs!) and, of course, the possibility of killing off their character by putting him in the shower and then removing the doors. Apparently the movie is legitimised by nonsensical claptrap:
How do you deal with it? Control+alt+del should do the trick. Sadly that won't be possible when watching a film (unless you watch it on your pc, of course).
While the idea is pathetic, the simple idea behind The Sims and Second Life was little better, and those concepts are hardly unsuccessful, so who knows - it might rake in a lot of money. I am, however, sceptical. What made The Sims and Second Life such successes is the simple fact that they're interactive. It may look worse than life, but it appears to the player that the influence is greater; re-decorating doesn't take ages, anyway. A film completely lacks that interaction, and seeing as that would make this either the film of a normal life or the film of the life of some loser who sucks so much that he has to resort to a pc game to have any achievements, sensible people may just stay away and wait for the film of their own life to roll on, a market Hollywood can never reach.
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
Also, apparently some Hollywood eejits have bought the rights to The Sims and are turning it into a film. This has to be the most retarded idea ever, as The Sims is basically a game where people can play their lives on their pc, except a little faster and with less chance of being rejected when they try to start up a relationship (that chance must be considerable seeing how they're sad enough to have to resort to a fecking computer game, ffs!) and, of course, the possibility of killing off their character by putting him in the shower and then removing the doors. Apparently the movie is legitimised by nonsensical claptrap:
The Sims has done an interactive version of an old story, which is what it's like to have infinite power and how do you deal with it. Given that that's an old story, you can imagine how easily that would translate to traditional storytelling.
How do you deal with it? Control+alt+del should do the trick. Sadly that won't be possible when watching a film (unless you watch it on your pc, of course).
While the idea is pathetic, the simple idea behind The Sims and Second Life was little better, and those concepts are hardly unsuccessful, so who knows - it might rake in a lot of money. I am, however, sceptical. What made The Sims and Second Life such successes is the simple fact that they're interactive. It may look worse than life, but it appears to the player that the influence is greater; re-decorating doesn't take ages, anyway. A film completely lacks that interaction, and seeing as that would make this either the film of a normal life or the film of the life of some loser who sucks so much that he has to resort to a pc game to have any achievements, sensible people may just stay away and wait for the film of their own life to roll on, a market Hollywood can never reach.
26.5.07
The Day after TOMORROW
Today, in effect.
Yesterday I had my exam and it went pretty well. I don't know if I made it or not, as it was fairly tough, and I'll have to wait until 16 June before I'll hear whether I passed it or not. I'll have to prepare for a possible resit, in any case.
The exam was in Utrecht and it had been a while since I last went there - visiting the city, I mean, not just passing through - and it was nice. Utrecht is quite a charming city with a lot of everything, and probably the Dutch city most closely resembling Venice. Obviously the first thing to do in a city when you're free to do what you want is visit the local bookstores, which I did. I think I spent at least half an hour rummaging through Broese's excellent collection of medieval history books: they have about ten shelves of medieval and early modern history, four shelves of Dutch medieval and early modern history, and then some extra books on those periods classified under their respective countries. Very nice to see such dedication, though I came away without any purchases, as most of their books were either too expensive, not really my subject, or both. I then went on to visit the wonderful De Slegte bookstore, but as I was just ascending the stairs to the second-hand history books I was shoved out as they were closing. I didn't even get to see their assortment.
Also, on Tuesday I went to The Hague to the presentation of the Gruuthuse manuscript at the Royal Library (link on the right, the manuscript is displayed on the Dutch section of the site). This is a valuable 14th century middle Dutch manuscript which was in private hands until now, and boasts 147 middle-Dutch songs complete with musical notation. The songs are artistic in nature, not popular, and most are delivered only through this manuscript, making it one of the most important middle-Dutch manuscripts around - even in the Middle Ages, the Dutch were not known for composing songs in their own language, so this collection is very rare. It also has international importance, as these are among the very few, if not only medieval poetical texts displaying cyclical patterns: for example, many poems start and end with the same verse, and many poems have every verse end with the same line, creating a primitive refrain of sorts. There's also repetitive use of acrostics - one charming poem (Melancolie dwinct mi de zinne) deals with the love of the poet, every verse hiding an acrostic of the person of his affection: Marie.
It was very cool not just to see the old book (opened on the page with its most famous poem, Egidius waer bestu bleuen), but also to hear the experts - including Frits van Oostrom and Frank Willaert - talk about it, and finally to listen to a small group of musicians perform some of the songs, which can best be described as a combination of gregorian and polyfonic music with almost renaissance texts, dealing with love, money, etc.
At the Royal Library they also host a permanent collection displaying some of the prize-pieces belonging to the Library and the National Archive, including the original constitution, the treaty of Münster (ending the conflict between Spain and the Republic), the death certificates of Anne Frank, illuminated manuscripts, etc. Very nice.
After the presentation I walked through The Hague a bit, which was nice, visiting De Slegte, where I was kicked out because they wanted to close (notice a trend?).
Yesterday I had my exam and it went pretty well. I don't know if I made it or not, as it was fairly tough, and I'll have to wait until 16 June before I'll hear whether I passed it or not. I'll have to prepare for a possible resit, in any case.
The exam was in Utrecht and it had been a while since I last went there - visiting the city, I mean, not just passing through - and it was nice. Utrecht is quite a charming city with a lot of everything, and probably the Dutch city most closely resembling Venice. Obviously the first thing to do in a city when you're free to do what you want is visit the local bookstores, which I did. I think I spent at least half an hour rummaging through Broese's excellent collection of medieval history books: they have about ten shelves of medieval and early modern history, four shelves of Dutch medieval and early modern history, and then some extra books on those periods classified under their respective countries. Very nice to see such dedication, though I came away without any purchases, as most of their books were either too expensive, not really my subject, or both. I then went on to visit the wonderful De Slegte bookstore, but as I was just ascending the stairs to the second-hand history books I was shoved out as they were closing. I didn't even get to see their assortment.
Also, on Tuesday I went to The Hague to the presentation of the Gruuthuse manuscript at the Royal Library (link on the right, the manuscript is displayed on the Dutch section of the site). This is a valuable 14th century middle Dutch manuscript which was in private hands until now, and boasts 147 middle-Dutch songs complete with musical notation. The songs are artistic in nature, not popular, and most are delivered only through this manuscript, making it one of the most important middle-Dutch manuscripts around - even in the Middle Ages, the Dutch were not known for composing songs in their own language, so this collection is very rare. It also has international importance, as these are among the very few, if not only medieval poetical texts displaying cyclical patterns: for example, many poems start and end with the same verse, and many poems have every verse end with the same line, creating a primitive refrain of sorts. There's also repetitive use of acrostics - one charming poem (Melancolie dwinct mi de zinne) deals with the love of the poet, every verse hiding an acrostic of the person of his affection: Marie.
It was very cool not just to see the old book (opened on the page with its most famous poem, Egidius waer bestu bleuen), but also to hear the experts - including Frits van Oostrom and Frank Willaert - talk about it, and finally to listen to a small group of musicians perform some of the songs, which can best be described as a combination of gregorian and polyfonic music with almost renaissance texts, dealing with love, money, etc.
At the Royal Library they also host a permanent collection displaying some of the prize-pieces belonging to the Library and the National Archive, including the original constitution, the treaty of Münster (ending the conflict between Spain and the Republic), the death certificates of Anne Frank, illuminated manuscripts, etc. Very nice.
After the presentation I walked through The Hague a bit, which was nice, visiting De Slegte, where I was kicked out because they wanted to close (notice a trend?).
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