Basiliscoe Mercury 348

The Basiliscoe Mercury348


TheInternet newsletter for the arms and armour community


A few interesting stories this week- crossbow bolts in Denmark, gladiators, assorted forts and a new museum in Copenhagen. Also a 16th century gunnery manuscript to peruse, while wearing your new armour-inspired mask, waiting for the next Witcher series to start….



Arms and armour in the news


Ancient arms


Ancient copper-working site found in Israelhttps://www.jpost.com/archaeology/6...heba-sheds-light-on-ancient-technology-644415


Bronze Age horse equipment found in Poland https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/...ers-treasure-trove-of-bronze-artefacts/135792


Short unillustrated feature about Illyrian helmet

https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/47157-archaeological-discovery


Feature on the history of gladiators https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.co...-and-humongous-preparations-for-the-big-game/


Grave of Anglo-Saxon warlord and his weapons discovered near Marlow https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/the-marlow-warlord


Beasts of assorted varieties…


Hunting in the Ice Age http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_814028_en.html


Playing polo in the ancient world

https://phys.org/news/2020-10-central-asian-horse-riders-ball.html


On the run up to Hallowe’en: The Wild Hunt https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/wild-hunts-medieval/


Grave stories


Uncovering the story of an Iron Age massacre in Spain https://www.livescience.com/iron-age-village-massacre.html


Re-uniting Viking kin

https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/viking-family-members-reunited/


Through the arrow-slit . . .


Update on the Norwich Castle works https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/project-norwich-castle/


Crossbow bolts found in Danish Lake https://www.express.co.uk/news/scie...olts-bottom-lake-hammerso-denmark-archaeology


Through the gunloop…


Spanish fort found in Leiden

https://nltimes.nl/2020/10/10/leiden-archaeologists-find-16th-century-spanish-fort-used-80-years-war


Inside Milford Haven fort

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/inside-striking-welsh-fort-people-19094985


Portsmouth defences in danger https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/history/heritage-risk-race-save-plymouths-4606667


Cannons to the left, cannon to the right


Cast-iron cannon found in the sands at Blankenbuerg, Belgium

https://m.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/dmf2020...vwWOHBsB-3Z9xkUss6QoJZ9Aoaez4sDY4G99DJ1TkeSa8


Indian cannons on display

https://www.thehansindia.com/karnataka/mysuru-dasara-age-old-cannon-barrels-offered-puja-649598


Algeria wants its cannon back

https://news.yahoo.com/tale-algerias-stolen-cannon-frances-235016849.html


Miscellany


Interesting piece about the archaeology of clothing in the Middle East http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2020/10/archaeology-of-clothing


Looking after Culloden

https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/conservation-grazing-in-action-at-culloden-battlefield


Peter the Moor in the court of King James IV https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/africans-at-the-court-of-james-iv

Café Basiliscoe


A 2,500 year old kitchen

https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/240...arthed-in-turkeys-ancient-city-of-patara/news


Plymouth Gin- navy proof…

https://www.msn.com/en-in/money/topstories/tippling-point-the-story-of-plymouth-gin/ar-BB19T52j


Into the 20th century


Divers in Poland detonate WW2 bombhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/divers-defuse-tallboy-world-war-ii-earthquake-bomb-poland/


The guns thrown into the rivers – lots of pictures

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...s-theyve-lurking-beneath-Britains-waters.html


Nautical news


Gun carriages on the Gribshunden

http://combatarchaeology.org/guns-a...UVBERALgWe1sNEfUbUrf5v3Aefql5onYLgHwnOjwYxyfY


Secret Irish pirate alliance

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/secret-irish-pirate-republic


Oldest British slave ship found off Lands’ End https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...rlds-oldest-slave-ship-at-risk-of-destruction


Black sailors in the Royal Navy

https://museumcrush.org/celebrating-the-lives-of-black-sailors-at-the-old-royal-naval-college/


Update on the Karlsruhe includes the Amber room mystery….

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ed-treasure-karlsruhe-baltictech-b744534.html



Museum news and exhibitions


News


Everyone gets to win the Museum of the Year award in 2020 https://artdaily.com/news/129133/Winners-of--pound-200-000-Art-Fund-Museum-of-the-Year-2020-unveiled

French museum’s exhibition cancelled because of Chinese interferencehttps://artdaily.com/news/129146/French-museum-halts-Genghis-Khan-show-after-Chinese-pressure


New museums


The Museum of Danish Resistance re-opens

https://en.natmus.dk/museums-and-palaces/the-museum-of-danish-resistance/


Museum developments


Free map from the Brandywine Conservancy: Hiking through History, https://artdaily.com/news/128802/Fr...le--tracing-the-Philadelphia-Campaign-of-1777


Museum musings


Arguments continue over Cook’s shield

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/australia-shield-restitution-british-museum


Dutch museums to return looted objects https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/08/dutch-museums-vow-to-return-art-looted-by-colonialists


British collections?

https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/decolonising-britains-museums-and-galleries


Fake heritage- an enjoyable read!

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/dig-deeper-to-reveal-the-stories-behind-fake-heritage


Conservation corner


Loughborough’s bell-founding history

https://museumcrush.org/archives-and-bells-from-the-loughborough-bellfoundry-museum/


Objects


Very odd story about a sword, a freemason & Warwick Castle https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...tury-spy-wins-court-battle-antique-sword.html


Mexico wants Montezuma’s head-dress back https://artdaily.com/news/129147/Mexico-urges-Austria-to-return-Moctezuma-s-headdress


Patriotic Bulgarian sword identified

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/...f-1863-1864-has-been-found-in-bulgaria/135822


Ancient Iranian swords smuggled out of country

https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/smuggled-ancient-weapons-ornamentations-confiscated/ar-BB19WUdW


Exhibitions


Islamic metalwork in Oxford

https://artdaily.com/news/128928/Ox...ens-with-exhibition-of-rare-Islamic-metalwork

https://www.hsm.ox.ac.uk/

https://museumcrush.org/islamic-metalwork-from-the-courtauld-at-oxford-science-museum/


Books


Tudor Power & Glory: Henry VIII and the Field of Cloth and Gold

https://shop.royalarmouries.org/collections/books-dvds/products/tudor-power-glory


Steven J. Zaloga: The French 75; The 75mm M1897 field gun that revolutionized modern artillery (New Vanguard 288)

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/...ming-books/available-this-month/the-french-75


Les Invalides Bookshop

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Sloane_MS_3651


Online Book


William Bourne on gunnery

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Sloane_MS_3651



Popular Culture


Sir Gawain and the Green knight for beginners

https://www.historyextra.com/period...-story-summary-what-about-who-wrote-bertilak/


New Armour in The Witcheris causing a stir

https://movieweb.com/the-witcher-season-2-photos-henry-cavill-armor/


Well in time for Hallowe’en- armour-inspired facemasks! https://shop.royalarmouries.org/collections/face-coverings


Events

Diary Dates

ICOMAM conference –Toledo, Spain

New dates 17 – 21 May 2021

https://ejercito.defensa.gob.es/eventos/icomam_toledo_2021/

Sales, fairs and auctions

Oct 22-23 Herman Historica

https://www.hermann-historica.de/en/auctions

https://artdaily.com/news/129152/An...in-the-83rd-Auction-of-Hermann-Historica-GmbH



Websites and downloads


Wallace Collections’ latest blog https://www.wallacecollection.org/blog/pursuits/


Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust

https://thisismast.org/


1066 etc: Murder in London & Scottish Chivalry

https://www.medievalists.net/2020/10/murders-medieval-london/

https://www.medievalists.net/2020/09/scottish-chivalry/


Finally


This fortnight I tweeted days out to York and Derbyshire

https://twitter.com/Basiliscoe


Compiled by Ruth Rhynas Brown –16 October 2020


Some people have asked me about making a contribution to the Newsletter – if you would like to support us, you can make a donation here through our Paypal account – see here for details:

http://www.basiliscoe.com/id2.html

 

Thanks Spring! I've been meaning to ask you - what is your connection to the Basiliscoe Mercury newsletter?

 

They send me an email with that attached. I’m a “subscriber” I guess, and I do exchange emails with them on cannonology. (Cited from: https://www.antiquers.com/threads/basiliscoe-mercury-348.54881/)

 

Thanks, Spring!