Once again, my hair has been trimmed to a more socially acceptable size. Last time I visited my Belgian hairdresser was last October, and by last Monday my hair was regularly obscuring my vision and was well down to my shoulders. A visit there is always good, and this one was no exception. We talked about Belgian politics, city planning and infrastructure, Brugge, tourists, etc. Luckily there was lots of hair to be cut, so our conversation wasn't cut short prematurely (har har, pun!).
Spring has also arrived, so my shorter hair fits the season. The people of this locality have not realised what Spring is about, though, and despite the warm and sunny days we had early in the week the majority of them still wore their coats with (mostly fake) fur collars. Eejits.
And with Spring the annual festivity that is the Boekenfestijn has also come to the MECC in Maastricht. Basically, it's a massive sale of older or damaged book editions for very fine prices. The assortment this year seemed a little less interesting when it came to history than last year, but the three books I bought ("Deser landen crijchsvolk" by Olaf van Nimwegen, "The English Civil War" by Tristram Hunt, and the Decameron by Boccaccio) are all very good, and particularly the first was a complete and happy surprise; the book sells for 49,95€ in normal bookstores, yet I bought it for 24€.
There were small creases on the bottom of most of the editions, and so they had probably been set aside due to damage, with the top of the book's pages been marked with a black line to indicate that they were not for normal sale. I was more than lucky, however: a critical examination of the pile of books revealed a copy which not only lacked the black line on top, but also showed no significant creases - ie a perfect quality book. Go me!
The book studies the Dutch army between 1588 and 1688 in great detail - the only quality book I know of that attempted this. It's quite unique in that aspect, and I know the writer (he also wrote a book about the Austrian War of Succession): it should be a good read. Van Nimwegen is a bit overkeen on the idea of military revolution, however - a theory I cannot support. But this does not prevent him from delivering excellent and thorough studies.
"The English Civil War" by Tristram Hunt has as sub-title "At first hand", and the book interests me for two reasons: firstly, I haven't read a proper study about the war yet, and could do with a decent introduction; secondly, the book centres on accounts by eyewitnesses. The psychology of the soldier has always been one of my main interests in warfare, and it should prove interesting even if for that reason alone. It seems, though, that Hunt, from the little I read, fits in the tradition of English story-telling historians and delivers not just a good study but also a good book.
As to the Decameron, well, it's a classic, and as I try to be at least a little familiar with the great medieval literature, I couldn't leave it there. I have yet to see how easily I'll get through it, though, but any work of literature that studies actual society rather than ideal society is useful in one way or another.
30.3.07
21.3.07
And again...
This is the third time in as many posts that I have something to say concerning urban archery guilds in the middle ages. I discovered that the archery guilds in Amsterdam were also called after sint Joris (crossbow) and sint Sebastiaan (normal bow), similar to Maastricht and Brugge. Coincidence? I think not. Apparently sint Joris (George) is patron of all soldiers, and also of farmers and tourists; I think crossbowmen can be added to the list, though they fall under soldiers, anyway. In a moment of great irony, Richard the Lionheart proclaimed him the protector of all crusaders. Saint George, however, did not take this task too seriously - the great crusader Richard died of a crossbow quarrel.
Saint Sebastian is, like his dragon-slaying brother in Christ, counted as a protector of soldiery, and in particular archers. Probably because having been executed by them made him feel all warm and fuzzy towards them. He is also the patron saint of the dying, which seems like a rather pointless and excessively frustrating job.
I have also brought my film roll with photographs from Brugge to be developed. Yes, I still have an old-fashioned, non-digital camera! The photographs should be developed by Friday and are only showing architecture.
Saint Sebastian is, like his dragon-slaying brother in Christ, counted as a protector of soldiery, and in particular archers. Probably because having been executed by them made him feel all warm and fuzzy towards them. He is also the patron saint of the dying, which seems like a rather pointless and excessively frustrating job.
I have also brought my film roll with photographs from Brugge to be developed. Yes, I still have an old-fashioned, non-digital camera! The photographs should be developed by Friday and are only showing architecture.
18.3.07
Brugge (again)
Yesterday I visited Brugge for the second time in... ooh, a month? This was not something I had been looking forward to, as the last time I went there it was with Ulrike and so there were now a lot of memories lurking there, ready to chase me around.
We were with a group of 24 students, and took the train to Liège just after eight in the morning, so we would arrive in Brugge at eleven. I was pretty tired as I had an awful night with perhaps as few as four hours sleep, due to my state of mind and noisy housemates. I wished John of Bavaria were nearby, as I would tell him they were haidroits and he'd deal with them properly, for example by chucking them off a bridge. Anyway, I had brought a thermosflask with tea, which helped me wake up.
The train from Liège to Brugge was crammed, and so I sat on my own and read in Catch-22. This was no problem for me, as I was less keen on talking as I was on making the trip altogether. I sat in a four-seat space with a German-speaking family consisting of a young girl, who was still learning to read, a father who was constantly handing out sweets, and a giggly mother. It was okay. They had a bit of an accent going on and I wondered if they were Belgo-Germans, but probably not, as they talked about Belgium in a distanced way; they did however have above average familiarity with the country, and I think the man had worked in or nearby Bruxelles for a while. They were going to Oostende to take the ferry to Great Britain.
Brugge was... okay. There were a lot of tourists about and still more coaches than cars traversing the city centre. The old buildings were still standing, and the weather was almost as good as a month ago, except far windier. I went out of my way (literally) to see things I hadn't seen before, and this included walking almost the entire perimetre of the wider city centre. I saw all the city gates there, two towers, and some windmills. Strangely enough no walls were left, only the gates.
I also passed by the two archery guilds in the city, that of Sint Joris (George) and Sint Sebastiaan (guess who?); the former was for the practice of the crossbow/arbalest, the latter for the normal bow. Interestingly enough the guilds had the same practice and name in Maastricht. The buildings for the guilds were, however, disappointing. One was a neo-gothic monstrosity and the other a dull English country house imitation. Both had large grounds for practice.
From the other things I visited, the basilica of the holy blood (brought back by a crusading count to Brugge), an age-old and authentic romanesque church inside the gothic town hall, and the church of our lady leap to mind first of all. The latter had a beautiful exposition about Philip the Fair, grandson of Charles the Bold, which included many rare contemporary items, including primitive pianos and drums. Apart from the exposition items there was also a great collection of "standard" pieces, such as 13th and 14th century decorated coffins and the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary (mother of Philip). And Philip's heart was also there (his body having been taken to Spain, where he was king), encased in a tiny metal case.
The tombs of the once duke and duchess of Burgundy were decorated with the coats of arms of all their territories, and even the county of Zutphen was accounted for, as well as Friesland - which was not technically their possession (apart from the cowardly Dokkumers, who had apparently pledged allegiance to the Burgundians at first instigation). But who wants to be lord of Dokkum?
In any case, Brugge² was better than I expected.
We were with a group of 24 students, and took the train to Liège just after eight in the morning, so we would arrive in Brugge at eleven. I was pretty tired as I had an awful night with perhaps as few as four hours sleep, due to my state of mind and noisy housemates. I wished John of Bavaria were nearby, as I would tell him they were haidroits and he'd deal with them properly, for example by chucking them off a bridge. Anyway, I had brought a thermosflask with tea, which helped me wake up.
The train from Liège to Brugge was crammed, and so I sat on my own and read in Catch-22. This was no problem for me, as I was less keen on talking as I was on making the trip altogether. I sat in a four-seat space with a German-speaking family consisting of a young girl, who was still learning to read, a father who was constantly handing out sweets, and a giggly mother. It was okay. They had a bit of an accent going on and I wondered if they were Belgo-Germans, but probably not, as they talked about Belgium in a distanced way; they did however have above average familiarity with the country, and I think the man had worked in or nearby Bruxelles for a while. They were going to Oostende to take the ferry to Great Britain.
Brugge was... okay. There were a lot of tourists about and still more coaches than cars traversing the city centre. The old buildings were still standing, and the weather was almost as good as a month ago, except far windier. I went out of my way (literally) to see things I hadn't seen before, and this included walking almost the entire perimetre of the wider city centre. I saw all the city gates there, two towers, and some windmills. Strangely enough no walls were left, only the gates.
I also passed by the two archery guilds in the city, that of Sint Joris (George) and Sint Sebastiaan (guess who?); the former was for the practice of the crossbow/arbalest, the latter for the normal bow. Interestingly enough the guilds had the same practice and name in Maastricht. The buildings for the guilds were, however, disappointing. One was a neo-gothic monstrosity and the other a dull English country house imitation. Both had large grounds for practice.
From the other things I visited, the basilica of the holy blood (brought back by a crusading count to Brugge), an age-old and authentic romanesque church inside the gothic town hall, and the church of our lady leap to mind first of all. The latter had a beautiful exposition about Philip the Fair, grandson of Charles the Bold, which included many rare contemporary items, including primitive pianos and drums. Apart from the exposition items there was also a great collection of "standard" pieces, such as 13th and 14th century decorated coffins and the tombs of Charles the Bold and his daughter Mary (mother of Philip). And Philip's heart was also there (his body having been taken to Spain, where he was king), encased in a tiny metal case.
The tombs of the once duke and duchess of Burgundy were decorated with the coats of arms of all their territories, and even the county of Zutphen was accounted for, as well as Friesland - which was not technically their possession (apart from the cowardly Dokkumers, who had apparently pledged allegiance to the Burgundians at first instigation). But who wants to be lord of Dokkum?
In any case, Brugge² was better than I expected.
15.3.07
Blast from the past
After the previous, somewhat cryptic entry (although cryptic only to the poor sods who didn't see Shaun of the Dead, an error they must immediately rectify), I felt it was time to write something here again.
In the past week I spent a lot of time at the municipal library researching the details of the sieges of Maastricht in 1407 and 1408. On Tuesday I borrowed two books there concerning the military history of Liège, which had to be called up from storage. I could only borrow them for three weeks, however (normal borrowing length six weeks) because no doubt they just love gathering dust. The books are both in French and make up lessons three and four of my DIY French course.
Anyway, I gathered a considerable amount of data, and now know that, for example, the citizen-soldiers in the militia (schutterij) of sint Joris in Maastricht had to wear yellow leather trousers (probably hoses), a cloth, long-sleeved shirt, a leather tunic over it (as body armour) and a leather or metal helmet. All in all, that's not terribly good protection and I can only pity these poor men - however, as they had to pay for the equipment themselves it was probably best for their purses that expensive iron armour was lacking.
I also browsed through a list with all the mayors of Maastricht (they used to change annually and there would be two each year, one representing Liège and the other representing Brabant), and apparently one of the mayors was called God. Although perhaps the scribe just shortened his name from Godaard or something. In any case, he must have made some impression. At least with me.
I also discovered that in 1407 the ridge from the castle Lichtenberg to the Maas was not yet steep, which means that there'll be no abseiling done after all. Sorry lads.
In the past week I spent a lot of time at the municipal library researching the details of the sieges of Maastricht in 1407 and 1408. On Tuesday I borrowed two books there concerning the military history of Liège, which had to be called up from storage. I could only borrow them for three weeks, however (normal borrowing length six weeks) because no doubt they just love gathering dust. The books are both in French and make up lessons three and four of my DIY French course.
Anyway, I gathered a considerable amount of data, and now know that, for example, the citizen-soldiers in the militia (schutterij) of sint Joris in Maastricht had to wear yellow leather trousers (probably hoses), a cloth, long-sleeved shirt, a leather tunic over it (as body armour) and a leather or metal helmet. All in all, that's not terribly good protection and I can only pity these poor men - however, as they had to pay for the equipment themselves it was probably best for their purses that expensive iron armour was lacking.
I also browsed through a list with all the mayors of Maastricht (they used to change annually and there would be two each year, one representing Liège and the other representing Brabant), and apparently one of the mayors was called God. Although perhaps the scribe just shortened his name from Godaard or something. In any case, he must have made some impression. At least with me.
I also discovered that in 1407 the ridge from the castle Lichtenberg to the Maas was not yet steep, which means that there'll be no abseiling done after all. Sorry lads.
4.3.07
Who the hell put this on?
Oi, look at me.
Can I just say one thing?
I'm not gonna say there's plenty more fish in the sea,
I'm not gonna say if you love her let her go
and I'm not gonna bombard you with clichés
but what I will say is this...
It's not the end of the world.
Can I just say one thing?
I'm not gonna say there's plenty more fish in the sea,
I'm not gonna say if you love her let her go
and I'm not gonna bombard you with clichés
but what I will say is this...
It's not the end of the world.
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