‘Home-made medieval war machine goes off with a bang’
ABC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ballista, counterweight trebuchet, crossbow, Hobart, Doug Pattison, performance, Carol Raabus, re-creation, siege, siege engine, Tas, Tasmania, trebuchet, war, website.
<p>This online article by Carol Raabus was posted in 2009 on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Hobart page. It is about local man Doug Pattison and his re-creation of siege engines. He has built a trebuchet, first used in the twelfth century, and a ballista (a large version of a crossbow), which was first used by the classical Greeks and remained popular until replaced by the trebuchet. Doug sometimes gives public performances of the weapons.</p>
<p>For the story, including a clip of the trebuchet in action, see <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2009/04/21/2548797.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/local/videos/2009/04/21/2548797.htm</a></p>
Raabus, Carol
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
April 21, 2009
Carol Raabus; Australian Broadcasting Corporation
hyperlink
‘The Old Squire’, <em>The Bulletin</em>, 28 May 1908
‘As it is in the Days of Now,’ Black Death, conquest, despotism, famine, Henry Lawson (1867-1922), honour, ingratitude, justice, king, knight, knighthood, loyalty, neglect, noble, pestilence, plague, Old Swithin, rescue, service, sickness, siege, Sir William, squire, Swithin, sword, Virland (Old Estonia).
<em>The Bulletin</em>, which was resolutely “anti-imperialist” in its outlook, published a range of verses, ballads and other “poems in which the Middle Ages were represented as despotic and barbaric” (Louise D’Arcens, <em>Old Songs in the Timeless Land: Medievalism in Australian Literature 1840-1910</em>, Turnhout, Brepols, 2011, p.143). While ‘The Old Squire’ doesn’t do this explicitly, it is undeniably a “tale of faithful service unrewarded” (D’Arcens, p.144). Here we again follow the adventures of Sir William, Henry Lawson’s cuckolded knight from ‘As it is in the Days of Now’ (See <a href="http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1020" target="_self">http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1020</a>). Sir William, his squire, the King and the narrator ride into Virland with the intention of conquering the City, only to find the inhabitants suffering in the throes of the Black Death. Sir William is portrayed in the poem as arrogant and thoughtless for failing to appreciate the longstanding and faithful service of his squire, Old Swithin. After dutifully clearing out the dead from the City, Swithin collapses after trying to rescue a child from plague infested quarters. He is portrayed as noble in character but, unjustly, not in name; instead, ‘His heart was ever pained, / because of that old knighthood / that he should once have gained’. When his worth is finally recognised and the King attempts to knight him at the end of the poem, it is too late for he is already dead. While not an outright attack on all authority, this poem “implicitly condemns aristocratic arrogance and the [...] inequity of the feudal system” (D’Arcens, p.144).
Henry Lawson
<em>The Bulletin</em>
<em>The Bulletin</em>
28 May 1908, p.40
Public Domain
<a href="http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1020">http://ausmed.arts.uwa.edu.au/items/show/1020</a>
Journal (Microfilm)
The Second Maquette for the Burghers of Calais
Andrieu d’Andres, attack, army, Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), bronze, burghers, Calais, cast, commemoration, conflict, Eustache de Saint-Pierre, Hundred Years’ War, Jacques de Weissant, Jean d’Aire, Jean de Fiennes, King Edward III of England (1312-1377), King Philip VI of France (1293-1350), maquette, medieval war, model, New South Wales, NSW, Pierre de Weissant, plaster, sculpture, siege, Siege of Calais (1347), surrender, war, warfare
<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">This piece from the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection is one of 12 bronze sculptures cast from a plaster sculpture created by Rodin in 1885. The original ‘Second Maquette for the Burghers of Calais’ from which it was cast is currently housed in the Musée Rodin in Paris. The sculpture features six separate figures ranging in size from 60.5cm to 70 cm. Rodin was commissioned in 1884 to produce a monument commemorating the bravery of six Calais burghers who were prepared to sacrifice themselves to save the city’s other citizens when Calais fell to the English King, Edward III, during the Hundred Years’ War in 1347. The figures are Pierre de Weissant, Jean d’Aire, Eustache de Saint-Pierre, Jacques de Weissant, Andrieu d’Andres and Jean de Fiennes. His first maquette features all of the figures on a shared base, whereas the second consists of six separate figures. For more information, see the accompanying notes on the Gallery of New South Wales website: <a href="http://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/agsa/home/Collection/detail.jsp?ecatKey=4181" target="_blank"> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/349.2001.a-f/</span></a></span>
Rodin, Auguste
Art Gallery of New South Wales: accession number 349.2001.a-f.
Modelled 1885; Cast 1972
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Bronze Sculpture. 6 separate pieces, each measuring between 60.5 and 70 cm.;
Hyperlink
A Medieval Romance
Ó”lfred, Alfred the Great (848/9-899), Anglo-Saxon, “Anglo-Saxon Chronicleâ€, annals, army, Asser, Athelney, battle, book, book review, Chippenham, chronicle, Danelaw, Danes, East Anglia, Edington, Ethandune, Guthrum, historical romance, invasion, Jeffery Farnol, king, “Life of Alfredâ€, novel, recreation, romance, romanticisation, siege, “The King Livethâ€, victory, Vikings, war, Wessex, West Saxon, Wiltshire
In this review of Jeffery Farnol’s historical romance “The King Liveth”, the novel is recommended to readers who appreciate the “picturesque recreation of the England of those far off [Anglo-Saxon] days”. Set in the ninth-century and culminating in the Battle of Ethundane (Edington) in 878, the reviewer claims that this tale of Alfred the Great is based on evidence from chronicles. This most likely refers to the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle”, and perhaps Asser’s “Life of Alfred”, both written during Alfred’s reign. After being forced to flee to the marshes around Athelney following the invasion of the Viking great army led by Guthrum (where the burning of the cakes episode mentioned by the reviewer supposedly happened), Alfred was able to rally an army and defeat the Vikings. The survivors fled to Chippenham but following a two-week siege they asked for a treaty. A peace treaty followed by which Guthrum and his leading supporters were baptised and the following year they settled East Anglia (part of the ‘Danelaw’), where Guthrum reigned until 890.<br /> <br /> For a copy of the book’s cover and the dust jacket summary, see: <a href="http://newportvintagebooks.com/gallery/farnol/pages/Far_KingLiveth_UK.htm" target="_blank">http://newportvintagebooks.com/gallery/farnol/pages/Far_KingLiveth_UK.htm</a>.<br /> <br /> For more on Alfred, see Patrick Wormald, ‘Alfred (848/9–899)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; [<a href="http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/183" target="_blank">http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/183</a>, accessed 15 June 2011].
Anon.
National Library of Australia, <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50339347" target="_blank">http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50339347</a>
The West Australian
4 May 1946, p. 4.
The West Australian
Digitised Newspaper Article
English