The Crown of St Wenceslas

Today is the feast day of St Wenceslas, the tenth century murdered Duke of Bohemia who subsequently became the patron of Bohemia and of the Bohemian monarchy, and gaining posthumous promotion to the status of King of that realm.

Six hundred years ago following the death of his father, the blind King John from the house of Luxembourg who had acquired the title by marriage his son, who later became the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV had a new crown made for his coronation as King of Bohemia. 

In 2020 I wrote about the Emperor’s devotion to St Wenceslas in St Wenceslas and the Emperor Charles IV

 

 

The Emperor Charles IV

In this painting he is depicted wearing the Imperial Crown 

Image: Wikipedia 

This crown he bequeathed to the kingdom as the Crown of St Wenceslas. It is now held in the custody of the cathedral of St Vitus in Prague, where it is held in a secret chamber off the Chapel of St Wenceslas in the south transept. It is only displayed publicly on significant national occasions.

The Crown of St Wenceslas 

Image: ferrebeekeeper

  

In a way similar to the Holy Crown of St Stephen in Hungary the crown became more than a symbol but rather the enduring embodiment of sovereignty and legitimacy. The Lands of the Crown of St Wenceslas became synonymous as a phrase with the territorial integrity of the realm.

The Kings of Bohemia were traditionally crowned with it in Prague Cathedral until the earlier nineteenth century. Sometimes these liturgies occurred during the lifetime of the new monarch’s father so as to ensure hereditary succession in a traditionally elective monarchy. The last Bohemian coronation took place in 1836 when the Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria was crowned as King Ferdinand V, following the death of his father the previous year.

The Coronation of King Ferdinand V in 1836 in Prague Cathedral 

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Following the 1867 Ausgleich creating the Dual Monarchy there was the possibility in 1871 of crowning the Emperor Francis Joseph as King of Bohemia, but the ideas was abandoned. This appears to have been due fears that this would lead to moves to create a Bohemian state separate from Austria in the lines of what had happened in Hungary, and rather like Irish Home Rule and the religious divide, led to fears amongst the German speaking communities of finding themselves under Czech rule.

Unfortunately the tradition was not revived by iris quite conceivable that had the Habsburg Empire had the opportunity to evolve along confederal lines there could have been the coronations of King Karel III, King Otto  I,  and now King Karel IV.

Wikipedia has a relatively short account and description of the crown at Crown of Saint Wenceslas

I have two older posts about the crown from 2010 and 2011 respectively which give more information, particularly about how the crown was originally displayed. The argument is that it was on a bust of St Wenceslas - a companion piece to that of Charlemagne now at Aachen which has the crown of the King of the Romans.

These can be accessed at The Crown of St Wenceslas and at The Crown of St Wenceslas

 

There is another, well illustrated account of the Crown at The Crown of Saint Wenceslas

May St Wenceslas pray for Bohemia and the lands of his Crown, and for us all

Rabbiting on

 

Recently I came upon a video about the medieval, and later, husbandry of rabbits for food and fur. These methods included the creation not just of warrens but actually creating suitably dry and cosy accommodation in artificial burrows, which still remain in those areas where they were necessary such as south west England and the Pennines. 
 

By contrast the sandy soils of the East Anglian Breckland were ideal for the rabbits to burrowing, and this area appears to have been very much the leading centre of the business right down to the 1940s.

A medieval rabbit warren

Image:St Neots Museum

The video, from Medieval Way, brings out the value of the trade in rabbits and its scale, and can be seen here

There is another, quite short, online account from Medievalists.net of the way the rabbit was so important in daily life at Medieval Rabbit Farming

The pillow mounds are also described by Amusing Planet at Medieval Rabbit Warrens

By the by I recall reading many years ago when the apparently tedious and sentimental Watership Down, which its author said was not about a Nuclear Winter or other apocalyptic event, but “It’s about Rabbits”,was all the rage, of a southern English butcher who put a notice in his shop window  as follows - You Read the Book, You Saw the Film, Now Eat the Rabbit.

Good advice.

The Battle of Stamford Bridge 960

Today is the 960th anniversary of the battle of Stamford  Bridge in 1066, and the defeat by King Harold II and his army of the Norwegian force led by King Harald Hardrada - King Harald III by modern reckoning - and the death of the Norwegian monarch in the fighting.

 

Wikipedia has an account of the battle at Battle of Stamford Bridge

 

It has a biography of the much travelled Norwegian king at Harald Hardrada

There is another recent online account of King Harald Hardrada from Ed West on Substack at The greatest Norwegian

King Harold Hardrada

Image Wikipedia 

King Harald’s body was eventually returned to Norway. The church in which he was buried in Trondheim was destroyed in the reformation era and  site is now a public park. Following the recovery of the remains of King Richard III there was some talk of  

undertaking a similar project in Trondheim, but that appears to have been abandoned.

King Harold II 

Image: English monarchs.co.uk

King Harold II and his use of the English fleet has recently been explored in an article which I cannot find at present but which argued the case that after the battle King Harold II sent his troops south by sea to conserve their strength for the impending conflict with Duke William. On this basis the English troops sailed from York or the Humber to the Thames estuary to save time and energy.

Stamford Bridge is not featured in the Bayeux Tapestry but it is, of course, there in the historical background to the events depicted.

Two fifteenth century rings from a field in North Yorkshire

Medievalists.net reported in the discovery of two 
fifteenth century rings from a field at West Harlsey in the central part of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

The two rings from West Harlsey

The one on the left has enamel decoration showing the Blood of Christ. The one on the right shade St Margaret and remains of white enamel on the shoulder

Image: Medievalists.net

What makes these two gold rings interesting is that they both have remnants of the original enamel decoration which had been applied to them.    

   

Gold rings from this period quite often survive in museum collections but I am not aware of examples with enamel decoration. If this was the case it might explain the rather angular nature of the patron saints on these rings, which might have relied on the enameller to add more subtlety. Burial the the earth may have destroyed the enamnel more often than not.

The account of the discovery and of the rings can be viewed at Medieval ‘Blood of Christ’ and St Margaret Rings Discovered in England

The remains of the fifteenth century castle in West Harlsey of the Strangeways family are described and illustrated by Wikipedia at Harlsey Castle

A fourteenth century ring from Suffolk

The ITV News website recently reported about an early to mid-fourteenth century seal ring that had been found by a metal detector in Suffolk. 

The ring which appears to have belonged to Countess Maud

Image: PA, ITV

The ring, with a griffin inscribed gemstone was suggested to have belonged to Maud, or Matilda, of Lancaster, the sister of Henry of Grosmont, first  Duke of Lancaster, and a great granddaughter of King Henry III. Born about 1310 she lived until 1377.

Maud married first the Earl of Ulster, and, after his murder, Sir Robert Ufford, from a prominent Suffolk family, and an important English administrator in the Lordship of Ireland. After his death she returned to England and entered the house of Augustinian Canonesses at Campsey in eastern Suffolk, which was the Ufford family monastery. Subsequently she became a Poor Clare at Bruisyard Abbey, which she was instrumental in establishing. 

Her daughter from her first marriage, Elizabeth de Burgh, married Lionel of Antwerp, son of King Edward III, and the first Duke of Clarence.

Wikipedia has a quite detailed biography of Maud at Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster .

It also has an exceptionally detailed account of Campsey at Campsey Priory, and a shorter one of the Poor Clares’ foundation at Bruisyard which can be seen at Bruisyard Abbey

The ITV report can be seen at Medieval gold ring found in field could fetch £12,000    

The Belfast Telegraph  also reported on the discovery, doubtless be cause of the Countess’ links to the medieval Ulster earldom, at Medieval gold ring discovered on April Fool’s Day to be sold at auction

The Tallinn Cog

The website of The Daily Galaxy recently had an article about the later fourteenth century ship which was discovered during construction work in the Estonian capital, Tallinn. I think I have written before about this discovery, but this new article is a more comprehensive account than those previously available.

 

The timber from which the vessel was constructed was felled in two stages, in 1370-72, and in 1373-74. The article does not refer to any time for the wood to season. The sizeable ship, a cog, appears to have foundered quite early in its career in the harbour area of Tallinn, with tge discovery of personal effects suggesting that the crew abandoning ship in haste.

The illustrated article can be seen at Construction Workers Digging for a New Building Found a 24.5-Meter Medieval Ship Buried Beneath the Street for 650 Years

There is more about the dry compass in an article from a 2023 article from the magazine LBV which can be seen at Archaeologists Discover Oldest Dry Compass in Europe from Wreck of Medieval Ship in Estonia

 Tallinn 

The walled city has preserved much of its architectural heritage from the medieval period 

Image: traveler.ee

“Little gentlemen in black velvet” aiding Belgian archaeologists

Archeonews recently reported on an unusual source of assistance in an investigation of the area around Damme in West Flanders. In the medieval centuries the area had supported a number of substantial fortified houses which have completely disappeared above ground. Modern technology can indicate potential sites but this information can only go so far without excavating, which poses its own difficulties.

This where the “little gentlemen” come into the research. As they tunnel away they, of course, create mole hills.  Much beloved by gardeners wanting soil of a fine tilth, such field supplies can also, on sites such as this in Belgium, yield archaeological material which when analysed can indicate building materials and evidence of human occupation.

 

Mole doing his spring cleaning from

The Wind in the Willows

 

Image: cassus-vas.blogspot.com

 The article can be seen at 800-Year-Old Medieval Structure Discovered in Belgium with Help from Moles

For the uninitiated the version usually known today refers to a mole, the subject of the Jacobite toast to “the little gentleman in black velvet”, but other sources give “the little gentleman in the back velvet waistcoat” whose molehill caused the horse of King William III to stumble, the King to fall, break his collar bone, develop pneumonia, and die, in 1702.

 

Gives you paws, or claws, for thought.

He died with his boots on

I came upon an online post from X which linked to an article from Archaeo - Histories. The subject matter is about a skeleton discovered during the excavation of the Thames Tideway Tunnel. It probably dates from the late fifteenth century and is that of a man, probably in his early thirties, who met with what appears to have been an accidental death on the Thames foreshore. 

The remarkable thing is that significant portions of the long leather boots the man was wearing have survived in the mud. 

Modern anatomical archaeology reveals much about the man, his health, and his life. Further research in his remains should reveal where he grew up and other aspects of his life. It is not clear if he was a mariner or a landlubber, but his seemingly hard life is still revealed to a surprising extent, and that enriches our knowledge of life at the time. 

The post can be seen at Archaeo - Histories (@archeohistories)

 

The Thames below the Tower of London in the sixteenth century.

This was the probable area in which the man spent much of his life. A nineteenth century engraving based on Antony van de Wyngaerde’s drawing of London in the 1540s

Image: Wikisource