The Knightly Newsletter - Medieval History

Medieval History

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Medieval History

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The Knightly Newsletter is no longer in production, but you can now get The Medieval History Newsletter instead. Subscription instructions at the end of this document are no longer valid, so please sign up at our current sign-up page.

Below is an archived copy of The Knightly Newsletter. Known outdated links have been removed, but the text remains. Please keep in mind that the information contained herein is several years old and may no longer apply; some links may lead to features that are no longer active.

The Newsletter for the Medieval History Site at About.com

Vol. III, No. 13
June 26, 2000

•Thumbs Down for Bede
•Another Supper
•Bilking Elizabeth
•Chat Tonight!

The Knightly Newsletter

Coming Soon:

The initial results of our visitor survey will be posted next week. But I didn't want to wait another day to bring you the fresh news stories below. After all, the Middle Ages rarely gets this hot! .

Take the Survey

There will be a drawing every month, and your input is still appreciated! If you haven't yet taken our survey, you still can.

In the News

No Bede statue

The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, made it clear he would veto a movement to put a statue of the Venerable Bede on a vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square. His reasons? "Bede is really the Church's airbrushed version of British history because he ignores our pagan past. The problem with Bede is that he doesn't mention Arthur at all in his body of writings, so he is a bit politically incorrect."

Bede is a treasured source for medievalists, in no small part due to his careful distinctions between hearsay and fact. Why Mr. Livingstone thinks the omission of a legendary figure in a factual chronicle makes Bede "politically incorrect" is unclear.

For more information, see the feature by Tom Baldwin at the Times UK.

Post your opinion in our Bede Poll: Should there be a statue?
Share your thoughts on our forum. Are there good reasons to keep Bede out of Trafalgar, or is Livingstone merely displaying his ignorance?

Be sure to visit Bede in "Who's Who in Medieval History" for more resources about this early English historian.

Cemetery discovered at Sutton Hoo

1,500-year-old burial plots and cremation sites have been discovered near the Sutton Hoo excavations. For more info, visit the article at BBC News.

Sixth-century crosier uncovered

In a bog in County Offaly, Ireland, archaeologists have discovered a broken but otherwise well-preserved bishop's crosier dating to the late sixth century. Get more details at the Irish Times.

Byzantine Aquaculture

A complex network of fish ponds dating to about 1,400 years ago has been excavated at Tel Tanninim, Israel. For more info see the article by Eric Powell at Discover.com.

Tombs discovered in 10th-century Spanish church

Eighteen tombs, many containing well-preserved remains, have been discovered in the ruins of a church in Castellar del Valles, Spain. More information can be found at the Washington Post Online.

Second Last Supper

Da Vinci appears to have painted his masterpiece twice. Another version of The Last Supper has been discovered in the Church of San Rocco at Inzago, northeast of Milan. For more info visit the article by Richard Owen at the Times UK.

Elizabethan fraud

Did Sir Martin Frobisher try to cheat Queen Elizabeth I with a fraudulent mineral find? Get the facts in the article by Norman Hammond at the Times UK.

Solstice at Stonehenge

For the first time in a decade the famous stone circle was open for business on the Summer Solstice. See what happened in the feature by Simon de Bruxelles at the Times UK.

Site Update

Directory Reorganization

The process of breaking some of our longer net link pages into several pages continues. The following subject pages are now multi-page indices:

Battles & Wars

Hagiography

Heresy and the Inquisition

The following indices contain new pages:

Medieval Christianity

Military History

Music

Philosophy & Theology

Women of the Middle Ages

New Net Links

New links have been added to the following pages:

Artists: Be Good or Be Damned (from About.com)

Battles & Conflicts: Seige of Berwick & Battle of Halidon Hill

Byzantine Art and Architecture: Focus on Hagia Sophia (also added to Byzantine Places)

General Arthurian Studies: King Arthur: A Man for the Ages

Topics in Arthurian Studies: Standing Stones and Stone Circles

Clothing & Fabrics: Early English Costume (from About.com)

General Iberian Studies: LIBRO (also added to Online Libraries)

General Medieval Scottish History: The Ruthwell Cross (from About.com)

Wars of the Roses: Bosworth Field Map

New in Who's Who

The following people have been added to our new resource, Who's Who in Medieval History:: Giotto di Bondone; King Henry II Plantagenet; Jan Hus; Martin Luther

Chat Tonight!

Join me in the Solar for a conversation about your favorite medieval topics. Chat times are:

Eastern: Monday, 8-10 pm
UTC: Tuesday, 12-2 am
Eastern Australia: Tuesday, 10 am-12 noon

Elsewhere at About.com

That Fourth of July picnic is just around the corner. Is this a modern invention? Reenactment Guide Lee Mehelis has info on the history of the holiday.

Fireballs and other strange phenomena preceded the deadliest earthquake of the twentieth century. Guide Jennifer Rosenberg has the gripping details of Tangshan.