Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday, 9 September 2025

Training the Carolingian army


David Bacharach, the author of the article I linked to in my previous post on benefices has another article on medievalists. net which looks at how Carolinian soldiers and armies were trained. This is based both on chronicle accounts and on a training manual, partially based on Vegetius, and compiled by Rabanus Maurus the Archbishop of Mainz. Useful for a ninth century monarch to have an archbishop writing about how best to kill your opponents on the battlefield…apparently thirsting with a sword is more effective and efficient than slashing. Good to know that.

The illustrated article can be read at How Carolingian Soldiers Learned to Fight



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