Church of our Lady

The Church of our Lady started construction in 1199 by Count Baldwin IX for a simple place of worship. It was added on to the very castle built in Kortrijk (Courtrai), which was completely fortified and had walls surrounding it. The church had been added onto up until the end of the 13th century. 

After the Battle of the Gold Spurs in 1302, the Flemish collected treasures from the slain French soldiers. It mostly consisted of the golden spurs that the cavalry wore, the Flemish then hung them up on the ceiling of the church in honor of their win. There were around 500 spurs in total that were up in the church.

The spurs are a little hard to see, but these are the replicas hung on the ceiling today.

In 1382 another battle ensued, the Battle of Westrozebeke, after the battle French mercenaries took down the spurs and the church was set on fire. The church was then restored in the 15th century but the castle was not. Replicas of the golden spurs were made and hung back up in the church after restoration. 

The church contains quite a few treasured pieces of art and can still be visited and walked through today.

Citations:

http://www.toerismekortrijk.be/en/node/180

http://www.belgiumview.com/belgiumview/tl1/view0001708.php4

(Picture) http://files1.structurae.de/files/photos/963/courtraind2.jpg

(Picture) http://images2.travbuddy.com/8832_12111316497943.jpg

What is a Knight Without His Noble Steed?

Horses have been used in warfare since ancient times, and the knights of the Middle Ages stand at the forefront of a long history of mounted warriors. Warhorses, or destriers, were horses bred specially for knight to be ridden in tournaments and battles. A destrier was a larger than average horse who was a solid color. These horses were specifically trained for knights and were very rare and expensive. Because of this destriers were not only tools and partners to knights, they were also status symbols.

Armor like this would have been worn by a knight and his horse

During the middle ages only the upper class could afford to own a horse, thus it was truly a sign of a knight's upper status, and it gave him a distinct advantage over the peasants that became foot soldiers. Horses are heavily featured in Medieval works about chivalry, such as The Song of Roland in which the knight's horses are mentioned by name. Horses are also featured heavily in the Bayeaux Tapestry.

Knights and their horses in the Bayeaux Tapestry

 After the introduction of the domestic horse in Medieval Europe breeders quickly spread all over, and among them it was the monks who were considered to breed the best horses. Though the destrier was bred for battle knights often did not travel on them. Instead they traveled on smaller horses, called palfreys, which were smaller and easier to ride. This also helped to ensure that their destrier did not become fatigued or injured.

Sources:

http://www.scientiareview.org/pdfs/26.pdf 

http://www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-knights/knight-on-horse.htm

Fruit in the Middle Ages

When thinking about food in the middle ages, one often thinks about meats, cheeses, and breads. This is because a good deal of modern media (be it books, films, or television shows) depicts the diet of the average medieval person as fairly bland and meat based. The fact of the matter is that fruit was a common foodstuff where it could be grown, and made a significant part of many European diets when fruit was in season.

One of the most common misconceptions is that medieval Europeans were afraid of fruits, which is far from the truth. In fact, medieval Europeans would consume a good deal of fruit, be it either fresh from the orchard or preserved and dried. This applied to all medieval Europeans where fruit could grow. Some of the more common fruits were apples, grapes, and quinces, though the richer Europeans could afford more exotic fruit like dates.

Yummy, yummy quinces

One of the more interesting facts about fruit in the middle ages comes from the late middle ages, which is the introduction of the coconut to Europe by explorers. As early as 1498 famed Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama brought coconuts to Europe, where they quickly became popular. Not only did Europeans enjoy the taste of the new tropical fruit, but they valued the shells of the fruit and would use them to make cups and chalices. Below is one such example, the St. Nicolas Chalice from about 1500, which is located in Reykjavik at the Iceland National Museum.

Wonder if they got it from some swallows

Picture Sources: 

http://medliciousfoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/quince-pear.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzZugmJfrDijXyGgFitlTPWIAsa70117UkI3fQULCFR4_3FcA3BrNDuGGdAzZ8KJDyk8PYshfY1WSsZQtxeYqVThIGE-eMIChe2gv0YtM9QIn70TyXe1e4AaQk2HyPwQJFZaG1lapeAdQp/s1600/IMG_9954_2.jpg

Information sources:

Paul Newman's Daily Life in the Middle Ages

http://khkeeler.blogspot.com/2014/07/wandering-plants-coconuts-of-medieval.html

My Visit to the Royal Armoury, Leeds, England

Sometimes it's hard to get medieval in Springfield, MO. One of the perks of attending an international conference is the ability to get medieval in these European towns. While presenting a paper at the Leeds Medieval Congress in July 2015, I was able to tour the Royal Armoury in Leeds, England. Leeds is a city from the industrial age-with shipping canals and shopping districts--but inside the armoury there was a chance to really get to know the arms, armor and weaponry from the Middle Ages.

The Leeds armory had several curators who brought out weapons from the Middle Ages for us to touch (notice the gloves in the photo below). Those few medievalists there got quite giddy--which is an interesting phenomenon. Did the sense of danger fuel the metabolism and energy of medieval knights too? As a surprise we were treated to a lecture on a leather saddle, one of the earliest surviving saddles from the Middle Ages (see below). We also watched a live poleax demonstration with plenty of tips for your next poleax event. You can watch what I viewed at the Medieval Congress here,  Poleax Demonstration   (Small note: at the International Medieval Congress, scholars present academic papers--we don't just sit around and watch poleax demonstrations!). I presented on monasteries in twelfth-century Germany, and Dr. Blunk presented on tournaments in French literature.

 So how can you see  medieval artifacts? I recommend a visit to the Kansas City Art Museum for the great knight on horseback on display (also on a poster in my office, so stop by) or the St. Louis Art Museum,  for the arms and armor special collection. But Cleveland, OH, has the best arms museum in the US. Take a look at the back of Newman to see what museums in the United States offer good medieval artifacts for your next travel adventure.

Click here for the arms collection:  http://www.slam.org/collections/armsandarmor.php

For the  KC knight: http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g44535-d104332-i60400869-Nelson_Atkins_Museum_of_Art-Kansas_City_Missouri.html

Drs Shelley Wolbrink and Cathy Blunk represent Drury by holding a halberd and bayonet
with the famous oil painting of the meeting of King Henry VIII and the King of France.
Such lavish displays of wealth by these kings impersonating medieval knights would have bunched up
Bernard of Clairvaux's monastic garb.
Above the halberd still used by the Swiss Guard in Rome today. 

An amazing helmet--stylistic! But from the 1500s. A true gem.
Love those spectacles and ram's horns.

Full plate armor from the Late Middle Ages at museum. Look at those gauntlets (hand sleeves).
Think about how Newman talks about knights like military soldiers today--the armor is heavy,
 but you are a professional who was trained to wear  this. 

Dr. Wolbrink pondering a horse saddle from the fourteenth century that went on display
in the museum the next day after years of restoration.

"The Book of Chivalry" by Geoffroi de Charny

When Dr. Wolbrink mentioned today how detailed and thorough the code of chivalry could be to a knight's conduct, I think that we may have been underselling just how intense being a chivalric knight could be, and how thought-out its doctrines were. When we talk about chivalry, we tend to talk about vague notions of "honor," "courage," "fidelity," etc., with a few mentions of specific rules, but beyond that the discussion tends to end.

Here we bring in The Book of Chivalry by Geoffroi de Charny, a French knight living in the 1300s who was well-known as the "quintessential knight of the age" (3). This book, essentially written for the sake of young knights to be a sort of guide through the expectations and rituals of the chivalric life, is by far one of the best documented sources we have when it comes to the specifics of the tradition of chivalry (35).

For instance, he talks about the distinction between the glory of those who distinguish their "prowess" in tournaments, small-scale political wars, and those who distinguish their prowess in large-scale wars (such as the 100 Years War between France and England), with "deeds of arms in war" being "the most honorable" (85-90). However, true to what Dr. Wolbrink mentioned, we start to see the idea by this point that knights become a quasi-religious order in his mentioning that while prowess in battle is glorious, the highest glory for a knight is to "undertake distant journeys and pilgrimages" to the holy sites of the Christian faith (91).

However, chivalry is not only about combat, for he also gives "advice on conduct toward friends and enemies," who must be treated with humility in the case of the former, and proudness and boldness in the case of the latter (129). There is lots of very specific advice here, ranging from "Do not put too much faith in people who have risen rapidly above others by good fortune" to "Refrain from remonstrating with fools, for you will be wasting your time, and they will hate you for it" (131).

These are just a few examples of this incredibly detailed text on how chivalry was presented ideally in the 1300s, but they illustrate sufficiently the kind of knight Geoffroi de Charny wanted more of in his world: kind, noble, wise, pious, and of much prowess.

Geoffroi de Charney. The Book of Chivalry. Translated by Richard W. Kaeuper and Elspeth Kennedy. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.

A Forgotten Treasure: The Story of the Lincoln Magna Carta

Lincoln Magna Carta

In Dr. Russo's lecture "How England Gave Rise to the Manga Carta," he presented the broad historical background of the region and how those aspects directly affected the creation and the significance of the Magna Carta. Although he presented a surplus of great information, my favorite part of the lecture was about the copy of the Magna Carta that he has spent part of his career studying. As of today, there are only four surviving copies of the Magna Carta, but when it was printed, it was distributed to all the bishops in the region. Dr. Russo has studied arguably the best preserved copy of the Magna Carta, and that copy was sent to the Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England. This is the copy that will actually be on display at Missouri State later this month. The Lincoln copy of the Magna Carta has had an interesting past. The document was found folded in a drawer in the cathedral several decades after its creation. It was then framed and placed on the wall outside the library of the church, and it wasn't until the 20th Century, when historical preservation artists were going through the castles in England did the Lincoln Cathedral remember that they had the Magna Carta. Despite the fact that it was forgotten about, it has been influential for 800 years. Its influence though, has only been documented in one other 13th century piece of literature and the was in the Chronicle of Melrose Abbey. In here, the Magna Carta was referred to in a poem that outlines the purpose of the document and says, "the body wishes to rule the head, and the people wish to rule the king." This discussion on the Magna Carta was really interesting and I can't wait to see it later this month.