Book of Hours. Fifteenth century. Tournai use. MSB7 Special Collections, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, The Johns Hopkins University

GARCHES, France - A team of scientists hopes to crack one of the many layers of mystery surrounding 15th-century French heroine Joan of Arc: Are the rib and other fragments purportedly recovered after she was burned at the stake for heresy really hers?
The woman warrior-turned-saint remains omnipresent in the French imagination, nearly 600 years after her ashes were thought to have been thrown into the Seine River.
A few remains were reportedly recovered from the pyre where the 19-year-old was burned alive. A team of 18 experts now plans a battery of tests to determine whether the remains — including a rib bone and some skin — indeed belonged to her.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11330320

Thought I would go off in left field a little and provide a map of Europe in 980 AD.

This is a wood carving from St. Mary's church, Haverfordwest.
These wood carvings were removed when the church was restored at the end of the 19th century. They probably formed part of the roof decoration, the largest almost certainly being a roof boss. The predominant decorative theme is clearly leafy and floral. The finest piece shows the 'Green Man' or ('Jack in the street'). Originally this was probably the personification of the spirit in the pagan tree-symbol. The Church adopted it and it became a common theme in ecclesiastical carving.

Medieval Leather Flask

I enjoy leatherwork and I think I am about to start work on one of these for myself.

Flask, leather, late medieval"Flask, leather, the body and base formed of two pieces of leather. D-shaped long- and cross-section, oval in outline. The base, slightly concave, is a continuation of the flattened half. The halves are stitched with waxed cord forming an outward facing seam down each side and around the edge of half the base. The seams are externally lined with pitch. Two leather loops, 3-4cm long, are set into slots in the seam on each side, one on the shoulder and one 3.5cm above the base. The body tapers in a short neck to the mouth, which is near- rectangular with rounded corners, and slightly puckered 2-2.5cm below the rim, showing the marks of the now missing lid. There are small incomplete perforations on three corners immediately above the pucker, and a small dent below the rim on one side with wear above it to the rim, possibly indicating a hinged lid.

Late medieval C15th C16th FRNO 547 548 549 H. 35.3; W. max 21.2; D. base 14.4 x 12.0; D. rim ext 4.6 x 3.6, T wall 0.4; Wt. 686.2gDatePeriod: MedievalEarly: 1400Late: 1600Century: 15 16

I found this info on an auction site.

A good English three-quarter Armour composite, C. 1580 - 1610.
BURGONET with two piece skull and high comb, hinged ear guards, riveted peak and neck guard, main borders rolled, "#13" stamped on right ear guard, still retaining it's original burlap liner, (very rare).
Breastplate well formed, and painted "no 15" inside, with strong central ridge, heavy rolled neck and arm cusps, one plate fauld with attached tassets of five lames.
Backplate with rolled and roped edges and armoures mark of four dots, one in each corner.
Arm defenses comprising pauldrons of three lames with rolled and roped edges upper and lower cannons and elbow cops, finger gauntlets with high cuff and five metacarpal lames, fingers and thumb. Gorget front and rear each with three-neck plates rolled and roped edges. Some repair, restoration and replacements.
Breast plate and Helmet deaccessioned from Tower of London, 1972, mounted on a plastic mannequin with a foam head on a turned Mahogany Wooden base.
SOLD $ 17,500 US

Well, I have been slow to update but now hopefully I will be able to start doing it a little more regularly. I am not sure that I like blogging as a way of actually providing useful information that should be in a more static form. For example, there is no way that I can find to put all of the photos in one folder and have them available for view without a person having to search the enitire blog. I may just make my own website instead of continuing to blog this info. Don't get me wrong, I think that blogging is a good way to keep updated with ever changing information and would be useful for a news site or personal journal. Anyway, here is today's new post.

February from the Book of Hours 1490

A map of medieval Amsterdam

This is the January illustration from the 1450 Book of Hours. I've been kinda busy lately, so instead of doing anything fancy, I was lazy and posted this photo.

I thought that a few posts with armor photos might be of interest to some people so here is the first one.
This is a spangenhelm of 6th century Ostrogothic origin made of iron on bronze-gilt approximately 7.5 inches tall. If complete it would also have cheek defenses.

One of the two Viking brooches found at the burial site near Cumwhitton in north Cumbria. The brooches are made from a copper alloy. Also found in the same grave was a wooden box which may contain weaving equipment.

Thought I might shift gears and and give you a detailed photo of some Viking jewelry. This little beauty is not in my collection unfortunately but you can find more details and other photos where I got this one. Pictures like these can be found all over the internet, so I know I am not providing anyone something that they could not get on their own and it is not original research, but hopefully, I can provide people with a spot to jump start their own searches.

http://www.bbc.co.uk

Enjoy!

The December illustration from the Book of Hours.

Thought I would post a couple of photos for anyone interested. These are photos of a Roman bronze ring, size 3 1/2. As exact dating and providence is difficult and expensive to obtain, the only information available on this ring was "Roman and pre 400 AD". Not much for anyone really wanting detailed documentation for research, but should be enough for someone wanting to make a reproduction for their own use. I had this ring in my own collection, but since I moved, I have been unable to find it. Lots of stuff still in moving boxes though so hope springs eternal.

Well in continuing the series, here is a print from the 1450 book of hours that represents September. I think when December rolls around, I will post that one and then go forward instead of backward in order.

This is the October print from the same 1450 book of hours.

This is a print from a 1450 book of hours for the month of November. I think I may start adding some of these photos that I have so that viewers can use them for reference. Let me know what you think.

Well, I know that this is not related to my alternate life, but today, the day before Turkey Day, I decided to surprise my wife by painting the hall and stairway. It has been on my to do list for some time and since I was at home, I figured I would paint it and she would have a nice welcome home from work and so would I... However, and I have no idea how this happened but as I was about halfway through with the paint job, she calls me. She said she had been thinking and wanted my opinion on an idea she had. "What if instead of the blue she had picked out for the hall, we changed to Loganberry?" Now since this had been on my list of things to do for a while, why in the hell would she pick today of all days to be thinking about changing the color?

Remaining calm since she had no idea I would actually be painting today, I asked her what was wrong with the blue. Her answer was that the blue would not look as good with the hardwood flooring she had decided that I needed to install before Christmas! I told her that I am a chemist and I sell real estate, I am not a builder but she said that she was confident I would be able to do it.

Of course, most men reading this might wonder what color loganberry actually is. Well according to a quick Google search "This thornless berryfruit is a cross between the blackberry and the red raspberry". So basically, it is a medium dark red that is somehow much better than the blue would be with the wood that I have never seen. And she wonders why I don't do the honey-do list more often. Of course, I suppose that the argument could be made that if I had painted it when it was assigned to me, that this would never have happened, but I don't believe it for a minute.

Well, this is my first time ever to actually try blogging. I have made many web pages in the past, but never a blog so I will see how it goes. Putting thoughts down on paper (so to speak) is a relatively new experience for me. If I enjoy this activity, I may just have to go back to putting up a web page where I can have basically unlimited content.