Astronuc
Apr9-06, 01:38 PM
I made a comment about a traditional long bow in another thread. That lead me to look at the use of the long bow, which took me to the Hundred Year's War.
It is fascinating and distressing history - fascinating because of the complexities of human interaction, and distressing because of the violence wrought upon humanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War
Early origins: 911–1314
The background to the conflict can be found 400 years earlier, in 911, when Frankish Carolingian ruler Charles the Simple allowed the Vikings of Rollo to settle in a part of his kingdom known afterwards as "Normandy" (after the Norsemen). The Vikings, known as Normans and led by William the Conqueror (the Duke of Normandy), invaded England around 150 years later, in the Norman Conquest of 1066. They defeated the Anglo-Saxon leadership and installed a new Anglo-Norman power structure. William took the English throne as King of England. The Anglo-Normans ruled both Normandy and England for over 150 years. However, in 1216, the Anglo-Normans lost most of their continental possessions to France, leaving a situation in which most of the English nobles in the 14th century were recent descendants of the Anglo-Normans, who still spoke a version of French, and could remember a time when their grandparents had ruled Normandy. The nobles had never fully given up the dream of one day reconquering their homeland in Normandy; it was a very rich land, and England stood to become very wealthy by retaking it. The war was both a "national" desire to re-take a former kingdom, and personal desires on the part of the nobility to gain wealth and increased prestige. from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War#Major_Battles
Mentioned in the background of this era - Salic law or Lex Salica - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salic_Law - from which we apparently get patrilineal descent. (the Wikipedia article needs improvement)
Perhaps better sources on Lex Salica -
http://www29.homepage.villanova.edu/christopher.haas/lex_salica.htm
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/salic.htm
Some earlier history
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~chri2057/z2001rome.htm
For the hardcore historian - a text
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402146337/002-7000967-3136024?v=glance&n=283155
It is fascinating and distressing history - fascinating because of the complexities of human interaction, and distressing because of the violence wrought upon humanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War
Early origins: 911–1314
The background to the conflict can be found 400 years earlier, in 911, when Frankish Carolingian ruler Charles the Simple allowed the Vikings of Rollo to settle in a part of his kingdom known afterwards as "Normandy" (after the Norsemen). The Vikings, known as Normans and led by William the Conqueror (the Duke of Normandy), invaded England around 150 years later, in the Norman Conquest of 1066. They defeated the Anglo-Saxon leadership and installed a new Anglo-Norman power structure. William took the English throne as King of England. The Anglo-Normans ruled both Normandy and England for over 150 years. However, in 1216, the Anglo-Normans lost most of their continental possessions to France, leaving a situation in which most of the English nobles in the 14th century were recent descendants of the Anglo-Normans, who still spoke a version of French, and could remember a time when their grandparents had ruled Normandy. The nobles had never fully given up the dream of one day reconquering their homeland in Normandy; it was a very rich land, and England stood to become very wealthy by retaking it. The war was both a "national" desire to re-take a former kingdom, and personal desires on the part of the nobility to gain wealth and increased prestige. from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Years%27_War#Major_Battles
Mentioned in the background of this era - Salic law or Lex Salica - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salic_Law - from which we apparently get patrilineal descent. (the Wikipedia article needs improvement)
Perhaps better sources on Lex Salica -
http://www29.homepage.villanova.edu/christopher.haas/lex_salica.htm
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/salic.htm
Some earlier history
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~chri2057/z2001rome.htm
For the hardcore historian - a text
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402146337/002-7000967-3136024?v=glance&n=283155