The Lisk…Don`t just learn it, live it.

The Lisk…Don’t just learn it, live it. History Matters
Volume 1, Issue 1
November 2007
Welcome Note
Hi everyone, welcome to the debut issue of Taunton School’s new history maga‐
zine, History Matters! History Matters aims to promote the study of history and make it fun and accessible for anybody and everybody! (The magazine will not be released on a fixed timeta‐
ble.) Thanks very much to all those who contributed (special thanks to Charlotte Kelham for suggesting the title); your punctuality was very helpful and the variety of the articles is a lovely change from the narrow grind of the school syllabus! If you have given me an arti‐
cle and it is not featured in this issue don’t worry, it will be published in a future is‐ Homosexuality In The Middle Ages
sue. If anyone wishes to contribute in the future do Societies pre‐dating the middle ages, notably the not hesitate to contact me ancient Greeks and Romans, had no qualms with homosexuality, and so for some parts of the Mid‐
at [email protected], dle Ages, homosexuality thrived, in others it was persecuted. the more the merrier! Enjoy… Hannah Plant Inside this issue:
Weird Wizzards
Pg. 2
History of the Bicycle
Pg. 3
Book review
Pg. 4
History of shoelaces
Pg. 6
Origins of Blackberry Picking
Pg. 7
And much more...
From the 6th to 11th Century, homosexuality was generally ignored by the Church. However, other societies had different opinions. Take the Vikings. They had two different words for two aspects of homosexuality: “fuoflogi” literally a man who flees the female sex organ, and “flannfluga” a woman who flees the male sex organ. In Viking society the taboo of homosexuality certainly did not exist. Thius was much like the ancients’ view: there was nothing odd or shameful about male homosexuality. As long as you were the ‘dominant partner’. The other partner was a laughing stock and was mocked. For men over 20 caught in homosexual acts that stopped short of full sex the punish‐
ment for a first offence might be 40 days penance or a fine. For sex between men, the punishment could be penance of seven solid years, a fine, or a forfeit of life! History students of Taunton Prep School will of course not forget the most notable homosexual of the 14th Century, Edward II, following their trip to Berkeley Castle. He married the queen of France Isabella, but kept a stock of male lovers. This aggravated Isabella to such an extent that in 1326 she launched a rebellion with her own male lover (not one of Edward’s) and forced her husband to abdicate to her son Edward III. She then proceeded to have him impris‐
oned at Berkeley Castle and later secretly executed with a particularly ironic method involving a red hot poker. The Church had always been against homosexu‐
Jamie Wilman 5C ality, even if they did not have the influence to enforce their beliefs on society. There were many regulations and laws against male homosexuality. PAGE 2
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Famous Wizards Of History
Throughout history, there have been many people who have called themselves wizards, the earliest dating back thousands of years ago. One early wizard was the Egyptian Se‐Osiris, who was a boy when he defeated the Ba (or spirit) of a wicked Ethiopian sorcerer. The Ethiopian had conjured a serpent, and after Se‐Osiris had turned it into a worm, he banished the darkness the Ethiopian had brought down, and turned back a sheet of flame driving the evil wizard’s spirit away. tiny, and decided to use his powers for the good of the Island of Britain. It was he who decided there should be one king to unify the realm, and that he should be given into Merlin’s care. So Merlin cast a spell so that Igraine of Cornwall would mistake King Uther Pendragon for her own husband, on the condition that the child she bore would be Merlin’s to raise. This child was Arthur. After placing a sword in a stone that only Arthur could draw out, Merlin was able to convince the warring knights of his worthiness. Some claim that the Roman author Virgil was a wizard. He was a great writer, yet only a meddler in the occult sciences – his only notable deed being the creation of a magical leech talisman which protected his hometown from a plague of savage leeches. Once Arthur had grown up to be a wise and knowledgeable king, he needed Merlin’s aid less and less. So Merlin turned to finding and training a true Master Wizard, and after a long time, he finally met the one who some tales call Vivienne, and others Nimue. He admired her greatly – she was the most capable and clever student of Wizardology he had ever taught. Merlin became sure she would be the one to guide Arthur’s son as he had guided Arthur. Yet Arthur and Guinevere had no son, and in time, Vivienne began to scorn human beings and their petty ways. She stayed far away from humans and refused to help them, yet she still had a special place in Merlin’s heart, due to her beauty and intelligence. But Vivienne began to tire of his lectures on the true purpose of a wizard – his continued demands that she use magic to influence human events pushed her over the edge, and while Merlin was sleeping beneath an oak in the Forest of Bro‐
celiande in Brittany, she trapped his spirit in the tree, and with him ended the true line of wizards. Dr. John Dee, the supposed modern wizard, is often thought to be the model for Dr. Faustus, the wizard who made a pact with an evil spirit named Mephistopheles. Dr. Faustus sold his soul for 24 years of earthly power. Although it has been said Dr. Dee has performed many strange experiments using a crystal ball, or shew stone (in which he claims his assistant talks to so‐called Enochian spirits), he is not really a true wiz‐
ard. Paracelsus, a Swiss alchemist, was said to be a wizard, and stories reveal he actually obtained a genuine piece of the Phi‐
losopher’s Stone in Constantinople (for those of you who haven’t read Harry Potter, the fictional stone is thought to remove impurities from base metals and so create gold, and give humans eternal life.) Perhaps the most famous wizard of history is Merlin. Born in Wales sometime around AD 500, he was supposedly the son of a mortal mother and a fairy father, who taught him much magical lore before he returned to his people. When Merlin was older, King Vortigern sought his aid in a matter of two feuding dragons. After helping him, Merlin embraced his des‐
Jokes Corner
Q.Why were the early days of history called the dark ages? A.Because there were so many knights! Teacher: Why did Julius Caesar buy crayons? Pupil: He wanted to Mark Antony! Teacher: How was the Roman Empire cut in half? Pupil: With a pair of Caesars! Teacher: What is a forum? Pupil: Two‐um plus two‐um! Compiled by Lauren Plant 3G Zoe Bush 4C Stogursey Church, Somerset V OLU ME 1 , I SSUE 1
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The History Of The Bicycle
I am sure that most of you who read this article have rid‐
den a bike in your lifetime or ride on a regular basis. But how many know when the bicycle was invented or who invented it? The earliest ideas for the bicycle seem to have arisen dur‐
ing the late 15th century, when Giacomo Caprotti, a pupil of Leonardo da Vinci, drew a rough sketch of a bicycle‐like de‐
vice. Although it was impossible to ride it, it showed the same principles as the modern day bike. However the authen‐
ticity of this sketch is doubted as some historians believe they have enough evidence to believe that this drawing is a fraud. The first definite use of a bicycle‐like device was in 1817, when a German Baron, Karl von Drais, invented a Lauf‐
maschine (German for “running machine”). This had the same concepts as the modern day bike, the only differ‐
ence being that there were no pedals and it was by push‐
ing your feet off the ground that you moved forward. In 1818 von Drais made his design public and it was named the velocipede. It was a commercial success and was manufactured in Germany and France and made almost entirely out of wood. Von Drais said he wished to find an alternative to horses. Its popularity soon faded however, as many city authorities banned its use due to a high num‐
ber of accidents. In 1863 a Frenchman, Pierre Lallement, had the idea of adding a rotary crank and wheels to the front wheel hub, creating the idea of the pedals, propelling the evolution of the bicycle forward. This design was easy to mass‐
produce, and by 1865, the market flooded with them as a fad hit Western Europe. Although Scottish Blacksmith, Kirkpatrick MacMillan, had already developed the idea of connecting the rear wheels hub with a crank set in the middle of the frame in 1839, it required great effort to make this design and strong and light enough metals had sparked the craze. But as the bicycle market starting to grow and improve, it was halted by the Franco‐Prussian war. After the war ended further developments occurred. Eugene Meyer, another Frenchman, developed the high bicycle (the building block for the famous penny‐farthing). James Starley of Coventry made important additions to this design, includ‐
ing rubber tires, ball bearings and hollow section steel frames. As the French were still recovering from the Franco‐
Prussian war, the main market for bicycles was in England where the famous penny‐farthing emerged. The front wheel could be up to 1.5 meters in diameter, making the penny‐
farthing unstable and dangerous. Because of the high number of accidents (mostly cracked skulls), the bicycle became a pastime of daring young men, not a means of transport or fun for all ages. By 1890 however, a new design destroyed the penny‐
farthing’s place in the market. The safety bicycle, as it was known at the time, was arguably the most important change in the history of the bicycle. It had two wheels of equal size, and was driven by the rear wheel hub being connected by a metal chain to a crank set in the middle of the frame, and the front wheel was used for steering. Sound familiar? Yes, this is the design which every bicycle today is based on. This new invention was practical, safe, and easier to ride (due to the gearing) and was easy to mass produce (due to the develop‐
ment of cheap, light and stronger metals). This design created an explosion in the bicycle market, because they were cheaper and could be ridden by all ages. The invention of the pneumatic tire (by an Irish doctor called Dunlop…) boosted the popularity and the flexibility of the bicycle that we have today. Callum Deakin 3C Stogursey Castle, Somerset St Decuman’s, Watchet PAGE 4
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Book Review — Wild Swans
This book traces the journey of three generations of women in the author’s family. This powerful and moving tale is widely con‐
sidered to be one of the best portrayals of the twentieth century history of China. The story begins in 1909 when China was still under the thumb of the Warlord Generals. The first part of this epic novel follows Jung Chang’s grandmother through her struggles of being a War‐
lord’s concubine and her eventual bid for freedom. After the birth of Chang’s mother (De‐hong, meaning ‘Wild Swan’) the two women’s stories run intertwined before Chang takes up the tales of her mother’s teenage years. Similar to her mother, De‐hong finds her own life, by this time ruled by the Communist regime, to be stifling. One example of this would be the ruling that women had to continue doing harsh manual labour even after 9 months of pregnancy. The bulk of the story concentrates on Jung Chang’s own experi‐
ences of the Communist leader’s (Mao) unpredictable and often ridiculous antics. This book is not a light read or bedtime story. It often shows up the brutal side of human nature. The shock we received during the first chapter entitled ‘Three Inch Golden Lilies’ with refer‐
ence to the now obsolete practice of foot‐binding, was nothing compared to the disturbing torture methods and inhumane practices that we would encounter later on. However, this book is a gripping and magnificent read and we would strongly recommend it. Comments from the readers ‘This book is so good it should be framed’ ‘I really couldn’t put it down’ ‘Everything about it is extraordinary’ ‘Five Stars’ Rosie Jackson L6 and Martha McPherson (former pupil) The Life Of Saint Dubricius
Although Christianity spread to Britain in Roman times, the population of Exmoor remained largely pagan. When the Romans left in 410AD, Britain was gradually occupied by Anglo‐Saxon invaders, who were also pagan at first. There are local legends of the British King Arthur defeating the Saxons in the Exmoor area in the early 6th century, how‐
ever, the Dumnonii, the Celtic tribe who inhabited part of the South West, held back the Saxon advance into Somer‐
set for another hundred years. It was during this time that the first Christian missionaries came to Exmoor via other Celtic lands such as Ireland, Wales and Brittany and legends surrounding them later became intertwined with those of King Arthur. The dedications of Exmoor churches to Celtic saints such as Petrock, Beuno, Brendan, Dubricius, Caran‐
toc, Decuman and Salwyn suggest that followers of these saints or the saints themselves came to Exmoor. In their time they were monks and not known as saints St. Dubricius (also known as Dubritius, Dubric, Dyfig, Dyfrig, and Devereux) was born in approximately 465AD in Mad‐
ley, near Hereford. He was the son of the unmarried Prin‐
cess Efrddyl, daughter of King Peibio Clafrog of Ergyng (the Leprous). The King was furious when he discovered his daughter was pregnant, some say because he was the fa‐
ther of her child! The King tried to destroy her by casting her into the River Wye! He failed and Dubricius was born. Legend says that when the baby Dubricius kissed his grand‐
father, he cured him of his leprosy and the King Peibio quickly grew to love him. He gave him the whole area around Madley called Ynys Efrddyl. Dubricius, who is thought to have been brought up a Christian, founded a monastery at Hennllann (Hentland) where he entered the religious life and he became the teacher of many well‐
known Welsh saints, including Teilo and Samson. Dubricius traveled far and wide and made a stop in Somer‐
set on Exmoor. The church at Porlock is dedicated to Du‐
bricius as is a church near Luscombe. He later became Bishop of Ergyng, possibly with his seat at Weston‐under‐
Penyard, and his diocese probably included all of Glamor‐
gan and Gwent, an area that was later known as the dio‐
cese of Llandaff. According to legend, Bishop Dubricius became one of Ar‐
thur's advisors. He appears as a character in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's ‘Idylls of the King’ and Arthurian scholar Norma Lorre Goodrich, in her book ‘Merlin’, controversially claims that Saint Dubricius and Merlin were the same person‐
Many think that Arthur was not a mythical character but a real man who defeated the invading Saxons at the battle of Badon Hill in about 517AD St. Dubricius is said by some to have been present at the battle, and later to have been summoned by Arthur to solemnise his marriage to Guinevere. This legend gives the character of St. Dubricius a mysteri‐
ous quality and we do not know much about him. How‐
ever, we do know that Dubricius was a well known and influential figure and his disciples were active in the expan‐
sion of Christianity to the south west of England. St. Dubri‐
cius is said to have died in approximately 550AD, on Bard‐
sey Island in Wales. Oliver Kelham 3C V OLU ME 1 , I SSUE 1
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Crossword
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(email me with answers for chance of edible prize)
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1 Battle, 1485, Victor‐ Henry VII 1 ‐‐‐‐Hall Putsch, 1923 (4) 3 A medium of divine revelation (6) 2 Composer of Leningrad 5 White ‐‐‐‐ , Personal badge of Richard II (4) Symphony (12) 6 Stalin’s predecessor 4 Fourth wife of Henry 7 A Knight of King Arthur’s court (8) VIII (4, 2 ,7) 8/11 down A protagonist of the Suffragette Movement (8,9) 5 Tudor court artist (7) 10 Third leader of the NKVD under Stalin (5) 9 Medieval saint, shrine 13 Unit, Derived from in Canterbury (6) Old English ‘aecer’ 11 see 8 across 14 Egyptian goddess, mother of Horus (4) 12 British Prime minister 1957‐1963 (9) 15 Empire controlled by Yuan dynasty (6) 16 Boston —‐ Party (3) PAGE 6
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A Whistle Stop Tour Of Shoelaces!
Everyday when you get up and leave the house you quickly put on your shoes tie them up and dash off to wherever it is you have to go, but do you ever stop and think to yourself, ‘I wonder where shoelaces come from?’ Well luckily for you I have the answer. Ever since 3000BC the first shoes were worn by primitive humans made out of a simple hide or covering bound to the foot with either leather thongs, grasses or some form of twine. The bronze‐age Ötzi Iceman have been discovered to have had fairly complex insulated leather shoes bound with "shoelaces" made of lime bark string. The ancient Greeks also wore sandals with rawhide lacing, and the ancient Etruscans had high‐laced shoes with turned‐up toes. Roman soldiers spread the use of shoes to Western Europe, particularly for the use of soldiers within its Em‐
pire. Ancient Britons then adopted these simple Roman shoes with a thong between the large toe and second toe, with rawhide straps securing the sandal to the foot. How‐
ever the upper class shoes were secured with pins rather than laces because both ancient Romans and Greeks dis‐
liked looking careless. Shoes of the Middle Ages are less frequently found in excavations than those of the Romans most likely be‐
cause the sturdy leather of the Roman sandal seems to deteriorate less. It is thought the poor went without shoes. Other shoes were actually breeches of linen that were laced to the leg and down over the foot, leaving the toes exposed. Other shoes were moving toward boots, covering the upper portion of the foot, and strapped together. Later in the Middle Ages, cordwainers (or shoemakers to those reading this who do not posses a university degree in shoe construction) were able to fit boots and shoes of the wealthy more precisely and some of these shoes were se‐
cured with buttons or just a few short laces. Medieval foot‐
wear dating from as far back as the 12th century clearly show the lacing passing through a series of hooks or eyelets down the front or side of the shoe. In the Elizabethan era, shoes were often secured with straps, laces, buckles and pins—both plain and jewelled. Well off American colonists generally secured their coloured leather or fabric shoes with buckles or ribbons, while those with less money wore sturdy, simple leather shoes and boots tied with short rawhide laces. Eyelets for shoelaces, which guided shoelaces as they passed through the shoe, were hand‐sewn of sturdy thread until about the 1840s, when metal aglets were developed. Victorian boots for women were secured in a variety of ways. Button boots were popular, as were ankle‐high boots with metal eyelets for fabric laces. Shoes and laces were mass‐produced in New England, particularly Massachu‐
setts and New Hampshire, around the time of the Civil War. Shoelaces also played an important part in the Sec‐
ond World War. Ghurkha soldiers are said to have crawled along the ground, stroking the feet, or more specifically the laces, of the soldiers they encountered. British soldiers em‐
ployed straight or bar lacing, while Japanese troops em‐
ployed a criss‐cross pattern. Criss‐cross laces could therefore mean the difference between life and death. The importance of correct lacing was therefore emphasized to British troops. We can only speculate as to what the future holds for the exciting and ever changing world of shoe support mechanisms… James Canvin L6 Life In the 1500s
The sixteenth century may have been an excit‐
ing time in some areas of history, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant place for the ordinary working class to live. We grumble today if we are having a shower and the water isn’t just at the right temperature but maybe we should stop and think how things were for our ancestors. Records show that most people got married in June. This is commonly thought to be because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, people were still starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odour, hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Having a bath was not the most pleasant of oc‐
casions. For the common people it consisted of jumping into a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children, last of all the babies. By then the water was cold and also so dirty you could actually lose someone in it! This is where the saying "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water" comes from. The discovery that disease was caused by micro‐
organisms that could be killed by frequent washing was one that did not even cross people’s minds. No‐one washed much, which meant that their skin was often dark and dirty. On top of this, only the rich could afford to eat properly. As a result, a female in Western society was thought to be beauti‐
ful if she had very white skin, and was plump. This implied that she was wealthy enough to afford a lot of good food and she also had the luxury of cleanliness. V OLU ME 1 , I SSUE 1
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What the majority of people classed as a good meal back then is very different from what we would con‐
sider a good meal today. The things they ate and the way they prepared food is also very different. In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fireplace. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. This constantly simmering stew contained mostly vegetables as the lower class did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving the leftovers in the pot to cool overnight.They would then eat these remains for break‐
fast before doing much the same thing that day and the next. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while! would start to dig up old graves. Then they would send the bones dug up to a 'bone house' before reusing the grave. When reopening these coffins, they found one in every twenty five coffins had scratch marks on the inside and they began to realise they had been burying people alive. So they started to tie a piece of string on the wrist of the corpse. This thread would run from the wrist, up through the coffin and onto ground level. They would then tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night and listen out for the bell; this was named the Graveyard shift. If anyone woke up and pulled on their bell they could be rescued. This is where the phrase "saved by the bell" or calling someone a "dead ringer" came from. When meat could be obtained, it was quite often pork, and this was a special occasion. When visi‐
tors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth if a man could “bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat." This more often than not was raw. The chewing of this fat, however, was seen as a great delicacy. As you can see the sixteenth century was not that pleasant if you were a member on Britain’s working class. You were filthy most of the time, and usually hun‐
gry. If you drank slightly too much there was a chance that you would be knocked out and mistaken for dead. If this happened you could be buried alive! And then when you were dead, which was usually at a fairly early age, because the average age for death was between thirty and forty years, you could suffer further indignity by be‐
ing dug up and placed into a bone house! England is an old and also small country, and in the 1500s, it was often difficult to find space to build graveyards. If a town ran out of places to bury people, it Hugh Wilman 3C British Blackberry Picking
As many I’m sure have wondered, What is the origin of our most fa‐
vourite autumn past‐time – Black‐
berry picking?! Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. Blackberries are native to Asia, At first, just one, a glossy purple Europe, North and South America, clot and have escaped cultivation and become naturalized in south eastern Among others, red, green, hard Australia. Blackberries grown in spe‐ as a knot. ( Blackberry Picking by cific regions are largely derived from Seamus Heaney) species indigenous to that region. Blackberries have been used in Superstitions? Europe for over 2000 years, for eat‐
ing, medicinal purposes, and as Superstition in the UK holds that hedges to keep out marauders. blackberries should not be picked after Michaelmas (29 September) as Today there are over 2,000 varieties the devil has claimed them, having found throughout the cooler regions left a mark on the leaves by urinating of the world. Blackberries are more on them (!) There is some value be‐
highly prized as a food in Britain and hind this legend as after this date Northern Europe than anywhere else wetter and cooler weather often al‐
in the world. lows the fruit to become infected by various moulds such as Botryotinia During World War One, children in England were given time off school to which give the fruit an unpleasant flavour and may be toxic. collect blackberries for the produc‐
tion of juice that was sent to soldiers Beccy Gwyne Jones U6 to help maintain health. 6th Formers caught in the act at Sedgemoor