Ridley Scott presents "Robin Hood"

"He doesn't have the old Robin Hood tights," says producer Brian Grazer. "He's got armor. He's very medieval. He looks, if anything, more like he did in Gladiator than anything we're used to seeing with Robin Hood."

From: USA Today.com

'Negative' attitude to Robin Hood

A Scottish expert has uncovered a medieval document suggesting negative attitudes towards Robin Hood.

The story of how Robin and his men stole from the rich to give to the poor has long been part of English folklore.

However, Julian Luxford of St Andrews University found a dissenting voice in a Latin inscription from about 1460 in a manuscript owned by Eton College.

The previously unknown chronicle entry says Robin "infested" parts of England with "continuous robberies".

Dr Luxford, an expert in medieval manuscript studies, said: "Rather than depicting the traditionally well-liked hero, the article suggests that Robin Hood and his merry men may not actually have been 'loved by the good'.

"The new find contains a uniquely negative assessment of the outlaw, and provides rare evidence for monastic attitudes towards him."

The pre-Reformation article is the only English chronicle entry to have been discovered which mentions Robin Hood.

Three Scottish medieval authors are also thought to have set Robin in a chronological context.
Partners-in crime

Dr Luxford said: "The new find places Robin Hood in Edward I's reign, thus supporting the belief that his legend is of 13th Century origin."

A translation of the short inscription, which contains only 23 words in Latin, reads: "Around this time, according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood, with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas of England with continuous robberies."

Dr Luxford said, "While Little John is not mentioned here, Robin is assigned partners-in crime.

"And the inscription's author does at least acknowledge that these men were active elsewhere in England.

"By mentioning Sherwood it buttresses the hitherto rather thin evidence for a medieval connection between Robin and the Nottinghamshire forest with which he has become so closely associated."

An article on the discovery will be published later this month in the Journal of Medieval History.

From: BBC News.co.uk

St Valentine

The first thing you need to know about the real St. Valentine is that not much is known about him. Including whether there was one, two or three St. Valentines, or one guy with more than one name, or whether he existed at all.

Even the Vatican can't make up its mind on that one.

But other than that, there are lots of good stories that play nicely into our modern sense of what Feb. 14 is about. Which, for scholar Giulio Silano, is all the more reason to be skeptical.

"As far as I can tell, the stories have nothing to do with the saint," says Silano, a professor of medieval studies at the University of Toronto's St. Michael's College.

Silano is convinced that St. Valentine is largely a medieval invention. In fact, you can pretty much blame poet Geoffrey Chaucer for the whole thing.

"There's no evidence of Valentine before Chaucer," Silano says.

In 1381, Chaucer composed The Parliament of Fowls to honour the engagement of teenaged King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. Silano says it was customary at the time to associate such occasions with a saint's feast day, but there were fewer saints to choose from in the 14th century.

So Chaucer picked Valentine.

"For this was on St. Valentine's Day," Chaucer wrote, "when every fowl cometh there to choose his mate."

Coincidentally, Richard is believed to have died on Feb. 14, 1400, in the Tower of London.
To modern Canadian sensibilities, the idea of picking mates and declaring young love on a spring-like day in February seems odd, at best, but made some sense in the 14th century, Silano says.

England is a more temperate place, for one thing, and the weather on Feb. 14 in Chaucer's time was more like today's late February or early March. The calendar was changed in the 16th century.

Spring, says Silano, is a poetically perfect time to declare young love. Flowers bloom in spring, but it's impossible to tell which ones will make it to summer. The same, he says, can be said of a new love.

"The love you declare in spring is different from the one you declare in summer. It's more fragile, more uncertain of how well it will survive."

Which makes it all the more romantic, he says.

As well, for centuries a pagan festival had been held in mid-February called Lupercalia that, among other things, celebrated fertility. Silano agrees with other scholars that, like other Christian holidays, St. Valentine's Day came to supplant earlier pagan traditions.

At any rate, Silano says, Chaucer had a rich tradition to draw on when he began to write about love and Valentine in the middle of February. There are, after all, three who share Feb. 14 as their feast day: St. Valentine of Rome, St. Valentine of Terni and a saint who was martyred in Africa.

Some scholars have argued that Rome's and Terni's were the same man. All that is known about the third is where he died: somewhere in Africa.

The Valentine of Rome is believed to have been a priest during the reign of Claudius II. The emperor, worried that young men with families would not want to leave Rome for extended periods to fight his wars, banned marriage.

Valentine responded by marrying couples in secret. Very romantic, but it got him arrested.
One legend says that, while awaiting his execution, Valentine restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter, with whom he had fallen in love.

Another legend has it that on the eve of his execution, he penned a farewell note to the daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine."

Making it, of course, the first Valentine.

This Valentine was martyred around 269 (1,100 years before Chaucer wrote about him) in Rome and was buried on the Flaminian Way, just outside the city.

Valentine of Terni was a bishop and also lived during the reign of Claudius II. This, and the fact that he was also buried on the Flaminian Way after his martyrdom, have led to speculation that he and the Roman Valentine might be the same man.

The Terni Valentine is linked to love because he is believed to have performed the first marriage between a pagan and a Christian.

Before the name Valentine was removed from the official list of saints' feast days in 1969 (for lack of evidence he ever existed), he was the patron saint of engaged couples, bee keepers, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, travellers and young people and was also invoked to help with epilepsy, fainting and plague.

In the middle of a discussion about whether Valentine existed, or did any of the things associated with him, Silano pulls out a heavy volume from a top shelf behind his desk and starts leafing though it.

It's the 1962 edition of the Catholic Missal, outlining the prayers to be used during Mass, and, he says, it shows what the church thought of Valentine.

"There is no mention of love here. He was a saint who saved us from evil. It's a very generic prayer to be made on the feast of the saint."

Today, Valentine's Day has largely lost its religious significance and, in many ways, has morphed into a children's holiday filled with school-made hearts for mom and dad, and Disney-themed cards for classmates.

"That's probably fine," Silano says.

"It was never a real holiday, anyway."

From: TheStar.com

James Purefoy goes medieval

He’ll star in action thriller Ironclad

Now that film has found its financing James Purefoy can star in 13th century-set thriller Ironclad.

He’ll play a Knight Templar who, along with his heroic band of seven warriors, defends Rochester Castle against the tyrannical King John. Paul Giamatti has signed on to play the king, and the cast now includes Bob Hoskins, Richard Attenborough, Pete Postlethwaite, Colm Meany, Angus McFadyen and Narnia’s William Moseley. The film had been gearing up to shoot late last year when the money to make it fell through.

But now, with rights company ContentFilm International pushing at the Berlinale market, the movie is back on track for a summer start. Our concern is that the frenzy for swords ‘n’ sandals action epics has been past for a while – even Ridley Scott couldn't make Kingdom Of Heaven (above) win at the box office.

Can Ironclad succeed?

From: Total Film.com

Medieval prince overtakes Stalin as greatest Russian

The medieval prince Alexander Nevsky has been named the Greatest Russian of all times in a nationwide poll, leaving behind early 20th century reformer Pyotr Stolipin and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Prince Nevsky, canonised by the Orthodox Church as saint in 1574, had a winning score of 524,575 votes, overtaking the early 20th century reformer Imperial Premier Pyotr Stolipin with 523,766 nominations trailed by Stalin with 519,071 votes.

The voters had more than six months to choose from among 500 names before the winner was announced last night.

The voting in the poll was suspended in August after Stalin clearly had a majority of the ballots cast the previous month.

The organisers 'zeroed' in the vote, claiming that spammers had attacked the site in order to give Stalin the victory.

This time viewers had a choice of voting method. They could use the phone, text message or the internet. Technically, however, each voter was not limited to one vote casting doubt on the fairness of the poll, conducted for the first time in the history of the country.

The organiser of the Greatest Ever Russian contest, Alexander Lyubimov, said Nevsky's victory in the poll "demonstrates that Russians are dedicated to their ancient history, starting 1,000 years ago."

A Russian prince from Novgorod, Alexander got the nickname "Nevsky" after his victory over an army of Swedes in a battle near the Neva river (in present day St Petersburg) in 1240.

One of the arguments for voting Nevsky was that he took the help of the Golden Horde to fight the West making Russia's choice for a Eurasian identity for the ages to come.

Organiser Alexander Lyubimov said there was awareness in modern Russia that the nation's ancestors "created a multi-ethnic community within the Russian State."

From: The Hindu News Update Service.com

Treasure hunter finds ancient coins

A hoard of medieval silver coins has been found buried in ground at Wellow, it was revealed this week.

The 16 silver pennies were found by an amateur treasure- hunter, using a metal detector, and are being examined by experts at the British Museum.

They have been pronounced treasure-trove, and are in the process of being acquired by the Roman Baths Museum.

They could later be mounted in a display at Radstock Museum.

Roman Baths and Pump Room manager Stephen Clews said that they dated from the 13th century.

They are Short Cross English coins with the exception of one Scottish coin.

Mr Clews said: "They were found with a metal detector used with the authority of the landowner, and were buried in the ground.

"They have been through the treasure-trove process, with expert opinion from the British Museum: the process is that the British Museum takes it if it wishes to, or offers it to an appropriate local museum.

"It will go to the Roman Baths Museum with a display mounted there.

"We are also talking to Radstock Museum about the prospect of putting on a display."

The coins' face falue was 12-and-a-half old pennies each, and the modern equivalent would be between £10 and £20 each.

"But they are an interesting find," said Mr Clews.

The exact location of the find is not being revealed.

From: This Is Bath.co.uk

V&A to begin work on £30m medieval and Renaissance galleries project

The Victoria and Albert Museum is to put its entire collection of medieval and Renaissance art into one continuous display for the first time, thanks to a £30 million project to improve its galleries.

One of the 10 new galleries will feature translucent onyx window screens, so the light falling on the religious artefacts shown will be just like that in medieval churches.

The galleries project is the biggest at the museum since 2001, when it launched a £31 million initiative to transform the British Galleries.

Over the next 12 months builders will get to work putting the plans by architects MUMA into practice.

The idea has been to utilise dead space on the South Kensington site and illuminate the vast collection with natural light where possible.

More than 1,800 objects, covering the period from 300 to 1,600, will be re-displayed.

Highlights from across the ages will include the Symmachi Panel, described by the V&A as "one of the finest surviving ivories from the Late Antique Period in Rome" dating from around 400AD; to "the largest and most splendid of the enamel caskets dedicated to St Thomas Becket", dating from about 1180; to the Boar and Bear Hunt tapestry, one of the only "great hunting tapestries to have survived from the 15th century."

There will also be an entire gallery dedicated to the work of the 15th century Italian sculptor, Donatello.

The Heritage Lottery Fund provided £9.75 million funding, while private donors funded much of the remainder.

Mark Jones, director of the V&A, said: "We hope that the new displays, featuring some of the most beautiful and historic objects from our collections, will inspire all our visitors."

From: Telegraph.co.uk

Ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in York turned into a digital canvas

The ruins of St Mary’s Abbey are to be lit up with giant medieval faces and echo with music and sound effects as the highlight of York digital arts festival.

Ross Ashton, whose light installation Accendo will also be projected on to the Yorkshire Museum, said that he was exploring “the relationship between science and religion, both of which try to make sense of the world. I took my inspiration from the parallels between York’s iconic buildings and the historic principles of science and religion.”

Ashton has previously projected his light installations on to Buckingham Palace.

The festival, which begins today, showcases several artists and hopes to encourage people to look at the city at night in a different way.

From: TimesOnline.co.uk

Historic, Medieval Castle's Date With Auctioneer Approaches

The last act in a family’s long-running ownership dispute over a magnificent, 800-year-old Belgian castle will play out in an auctioneer’s house in Brussels on September 22, 2008. On that date, the third and final session for the public sale of the historic castle, Corroy-le-Château, will occur.

The castle, situated just south of Brussels, is surrounded by a moat and borders a 12-hectare, protected park. With walls and seven massive original towers dating to the 13th century, the property’s pristine condition makes it one of Europe’s only remaining perfectly-preserved castles.

Inhabited today by the same family descended from the original owners, the castle has undergone continuous transformation over the centuries and has been maintained in immaculate condition, preserving both its mythical quality and modern comfort throughout its 5,000 square meters of habitable space.

The castle’s status as a historic landmark provides the additional benefit of eligibility for government subsidies for any major work. Its majestically decorated parlors, beautiful corridors, bright interiors and sweeping staircases continue to attract touring groups and cultural performers, offering the possibility of dual use as both a residence and commercial endeavor.

A family dispute between the existing owners over the use of the castle culminated in a court decision which led eventually to the castle’s sale by public auction. The first two rounds of bidding yielded a current offer of €2.1 million ($3.1 million), an astonishingly low price in view of current European real estate values (see August 28 International Herald Tribune article, “In Brussels, French elite find favorable real estate values”

From: 1888 Press Release.com

Medieval manuscript stays in UK

An 13th Century manuscript, thought to be the earliest surviving English roll of arms, is to stay in the UK.

The British Library paid £194,184 for the Dering Roll, which depicts the coats of arms of medieval knights from Kent and Sussex.

It was auctioned in December 2007 but culture Minister Margaret Hodge placed an export bar on the item.

The British Library said the document was a vital record for the study of knighthood in medieval England.

The painted roll of arms, which is about 2.6m (8.7ft) long, is thought to have been produced in Dover in the last quarter of the 13th Century. '

It contains 324 coats-of-arms beginning with two of King John's illegitimate children, Richard Fitz Roy and William de Say.

Above each shield is written the knight's name.

The 17th Century politician and Lieutenant of Dover Castle, Sir Edward Dering, erased a coat-of-arms on the roll and replaced it with one that bore the name of a fictional ancestor, Richard fitz Dering, in an attempt to forge his family history.

Claire Breay, of British Library, said: "The Dering Roll was identified as a priority acquisition for the British Library, and we are very pleased that we were able to secure the funding required to purchase the Roll and keep it in the UK.

"The acquisition of the Dering Roll provides an extremely rare chance to add a manuscript of enormous local and national significance which will greatly strengthen and complement its existing collection."

'Appealing work'

The British Library received a £100,000 National Heritage Memorial Fund grant, £40,000 from The Art Fund and £10,000 each from the Friends of the National Libraries and Friends of the British Library to help buy the item.

David Barrie, director of The Art Fund, said: "This is the oldest English heraldic manuscript known, and offers a fascinating insight into courtly life in the reign of Edward I.

"It is also a very appealing work of art which probably arose from one man's attempt to prove the noble ancestry of his own family."

The manuscript is currently on display in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library.

From: BBC News.co.uk

Knights Templar heirs in legal battle with the Pope

The heirs of the Knights Templar have launched a legal battle in Spain to force the Pope to restore the reputation of the disgraced order which was accused of heresy and dissolved seven centuries ago.

The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, whose members claim to be descended from the legendary crusaders, have filed a lawsuit against Benedict XVI calling for him to recognise the seizure of assets worth 100 billion euros (£79 billion).

They claim that when the order was dissolved by his predecessor Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties as well as countless pastures, mills and other commercial ventures belonging to the knights were appropriated by the church.

But their motive is not to reclaim damages only to restore the "good name" of the Knights Templar.

"We are not trying to cause the economic collapse of the Roman Catholic Church, but to illustrate to the court the magnitude of the plot against our Order," said a statement issued by the self-proclaimed modern day knights.

The Templars was a powerful secretive group of warrior monks founded by French knight Hugues de Payens after the First Crusade of 1099 to protect pilgrims en route to Jerusalem.

They amassed enormous wealth and helped to finance wars waged by European monarchs, but spectacularly fell from grace after the Muslims reconquered the Holy Land in 1244 and rumours surfaced of their heretic practices.

The Knights were accused of denying Jesus, worshipping icons of the devil in secret initiation ceremonies, and practising sodomy.

Many Templars confessed to their crimes under torture and some, including the Grand Master Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake.

The legal move by the Spanish group comes follows the unprecedented step by the Vatican towards the rehabilitation of the group when last October it released copies of parchments recording the trials of the Knights between 1307 and 1312.

The papers lay hidden for more than three centuries having been "misfiled" within papal archives until they were discovered by an academic in 2001.

The Chinon parchment revealed that, contrary to historic belief, Clement V had declared the Templars were not heretics but disbanded the order anyway to maintain peace with their accuser, King Philip IV of France.

Over the centuries, various groups have claimed to be descended from the Templars and legend abounds over hidden treasures, secret rituals, and their rumoured guardianship of the Holy Grail.

Most recently the knights have fascinated the modern generation after being featured in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code.

From: Telegraph.co.uk

Solar-Powered Nanotech-Purified Air In Medieval Churches

Tiny gold particles found in medieval gold paint reacted with sunlight to destroy air-borne pollutants, one researcher found

The glaziers who created gold-painted stained glass windows for medieval churches in Europe inadvertently developed a solar-powered nanotech air-purification system.

According to Zhu Huai Yong, an associate professor at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, the gold paint used in medieval-era stained glass windows purified the air when heated by sunlight.

"For centuries people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colors, but little did they realize that these works of art are also, in modern language, photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst," said Zhu in a statement.

Zhu said that tiny gold particles found in medieval gold paint react with sunlight to destroy air-borne pollutants like volatile organic chemicals/compounds (VOCs), which are emitted from paints, lacquers, and glues, among other things.

"These VOCs create that 'new' smell as they are slowly released from walls and furniture, but they, along with methanol and carbon monoxide, are not good for your health, even in small amounts," Zhu said.

When interacting with gold particles, sunlight creates an electromagnetic field that reacts with the oscillating electrons in the gold. This field resonates and breaks apart pollutants in the air, according to Zhu. The byproduct is small amounts of carbon dioxide, which is better than carbon monoxide in terms of human health.

Zhou expects his research will help make the production of chemicals at room temperature more cost effective and environmentally friendly.

From: Informationweek.com

Medieval hall that spent 400 years as a barn brought back to life

A medieval great hall that was used as a barn for more than 400 years has won a new restoration award after being converted into a family library.

Playwright Ian Curteis and his wife Lady Deirdre Curteis spent more than £100,000 turning the 13th century hall back into the heart of their moated Yorkshire home, Markenfield Hall. Their efforts have won them the £5,000 award, jointly run by the Historic Houses Association (HHA) and auction house Sotheby's.

Mr Curteis admitted part of the motivation was to house his collection. But he said the over-riding reason was to "breath life" back into the room for the first time since 1570.

That year Markenfield Hall was confiscated from Sir Thomas Markenfield, a Catholic, by Elizabeth I after he backed a revolt against the queen. Mr Curteis said: "He was forced into exile and died in poverty."

Elizabeth I handed the house to Sir Thomas Edgerton who turned it into a farm. Only now has it been returned to its former glory, thanks to Mr Curteis and his wife, who is descended from the Markenfield line.

Markenfield Hall beat some 40 contenders to win the competition. Three runners-up –Harewood House in Yorkshire, Paxton House in Scotland and Wilton House in Wiltshire – were also highly commended.

From: Telegraph.co.uk

Nine medieval ships found in Oslo mud

The largest collection of antique shipwrecks ever found in Norway has been discovered under mud at the building site for a new highway tunnel in Oslo, the project's lead archaeologist said Friday.

The archaeologist, Jostein Gundersen, said at least nine wooden boats, the largest of them 17 meters, or 56 feet, long, were found well preserved nearly 400 years after they sank at Bjoervika, an Oslo inlet near the new national opera house.

"For us, this is a sensation," he said. "There has never been a find of so many boats and in such good condition at one site in Norway."

The wrecks were remarkably well preserved because they had been covered in mud and fresh water, where river waters reach the sea, he said.

"We have a fantastic opportunity to learn more about old shipbuilding techniques and the old harbors," said Gundersen of the Norwegian Maritime Museum in Oslo.

He said the wrecks were believed to have sunk sometime after a fire swept the wooden buildings of old Oslo in 1624. After that disaster, the Danish-Norwegian king, Kristian IV, ordered the city center moved before reconstruction started.

The discovered boats were moored at the old port, which became a remote area after the city was moved. He said the boats might have been 30 or 40 years old when they sank.

"There is nothing to indicate that the ships were deliberately scuttled," Gundersen said. "They could have sunk one by one, because of sloppy mooring or poor maintenance, or maybe sank in a storm."

He said the wreckage would be charted and removed as quickly as possible, so construction of the undersea tunnel could continue. It will then take years, he said, to examine all the ship's remnants back at the museum.

Gundersen said the find will help fill gaps in knowledge of vessels between Norwegian Viking ships of about 1,000 years ago and more modern vessels.

From: The International Herald Tribune.com

Monks' network of medieval canals discovered in aerial photos

An extensive network of medieval canals which were used by monks in punts have been discovered in the Lincolnshire fens, researchers revealed.

Around 56 miles of waterways, which are now blocked by silt and hidden in the fen landscape, were found using aerial photographs, the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference was told.

It is thought the canals, which would have been 20ft to 40ft wide, were built by the monasteries in the area after 9th century raids by Vikings who destroyed many monastic sites.

Civil engineer and archaeologist Martin Redding said the schemes were unlikely to have been created for drainage alone because of the huge costs involved.

Instead they would have been used first to ferry locally-quarried stone to rebuild the monastic sites, which belonged to orders including the Benedictines and Cistercians.

They would then have been used to carry the rich resources of the fens to market in "fen lighters", which are shallow, flat-bottomed boats.

The cargo could have included cranberries, as research on a now extinct acidic peat bog in the Lincolnshire Fens has confirmed it would have been an ideal area for growing the fruit.

Mr Redding, a member of the Witham Valley Archaeology Research Committee, said it is likely each monastery had its own network of canals connecting parts of its estate including its farms.

Mr Redding said the canals showed "breathtaking engineering projects" were being undertaken in the fens 800 to 1,000 years ago.

He added the canals would have lasted until around the 14th century when rising sea levels would have made their operation increasingly difficult, while the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century probably finally ended the system.

From: Telegraph.co.uk

Lifting the lid on Roman secrets

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have lifted the lid on a second coffin discovered at a dig site in Newcastle.

Two Roman stone sarcophagi were uncovered on land earmarked for development.

The 1,800-year-old sandstone coffins are the first such find – and arguably the most impressive – in the area for more than 100 years.

They are thought to have been used to bury members of a rich and powerful family from the nearby fort of Pons Aelius.

One tomb contained the poorly-preserved skeleton of a child and the second sarcophagus held the remains of a female.

They have been removed from the site by experts from Durham University.

Other discoveries in Forth Street include cremation urns, a cobbled Roman road and a medieval well, the remains of the foundations of Roman shops and workers' homes, and the remains of flint tools from Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

All the finds from the site will eventually go to the new Great North Museum in Newcastle, where the sarcophagi will be preserved for the public to see.

From: Shieldsgazette.com

Church unveils icon

A Herefordshire church has installed an icon of its namesake who became a saint.

The Rev Michael Cluett, of St Lawrence Church in Canon Pyon, commissioned the painting of St Lawrence, who was martyred in Rome in AD 258.

Mr Cluett said: “The church is dedicated to St Lawrence but we had nothing in the church of him.

“We thought it would be good to make an icon of him and after seeing the new icons of Ethelbert in Hereford Cathedral, we got in touch with the artist.”

Artist Peter Murphy used traditional medieval techniques and materials such as gold leaf to create the authentic icon.

The cost has been met through fundraising and, this weekend, the church is holding its annual flower festival, from 10am until 6pm.

From: Herefordtimes.com

£10,000 lead theft at church

A churchwarden has hit out after lead was stripped from a roof.

Thieves stole lead worth between £5,000 and £10,000 from St John the Baptist Church in North Luffenham last Monday night. Lead was taken from 10 of the church's 26 bays along the north transept of the building. Church warden Janet Whittaker discovered the theft last Tuesday.

She said: "We are all frustrated and disappointed but it's a sign of the times we live in. It's just sad that someone feels they can do this to a medieval building with so much history."

Volunteers patched up the roof with tarpaulin last week to stop the rain getting into the church and workmen were called out to make it more secure, but the proper repairs might not be done until Christmas.

The church committee expect it to take that long to sort out the insurance and will be reviewing its security over the next few months.

From: Stamfordmercury.co.uk

Archaeologists find 600-year-old chess piece in northwest Russia

Archaeologists in northwest Russia have discovered a chess piece dating back to the late 14th century, a spokesman for local archaeologists said on Friday.

"The king, around several centimeters tall, is made of solid wood, possibly of juniper," the spokesman said.

The excavations are being carried out at the site of the Palace of Facets, in the Novgorod Kremlin in Veliky Novgorod. The palace is believed to be the oldest in Russia.

According to the city chronicles, chess as a competitive game emerged in Veliky Novgorod, the foremost historic city in northwest Russia, in the 13th century, but was banned in 1286 by the church.

However, besides the king, archeologists in the region have found a total of 82 chess pieces dating back to at least the 14th century, showing that the game remained popular among the local population despite the church ban.

In late May, archaeologists in the ancient city uncovered a number of medieval baby bottles. Medieval Slavs made feeding bottles by attaching leather bags to the wider part of a cow's horn. The babies drank milk from holes made in the tip of the horns.

The first historical mention of Veliky Novgorod was in 859 AD. City chronicles say that by 862 AD it was already a stop on the trading route between the Baltics and Byzantium.
The city will celebrate its 1150th anniversary in 2009.

From: Russian News and Information Agency.ru

Medieval churches face threat of closure

Several medieval churches in one of the most beautiful corners of Britain are under threat of closure due to a lack of funding for repairs.

Tucked in and around Snowdonia, in north-west Wales, the churches all commemorate significant points in Welsh history and culture, but need hundreds of thousands of pounds for restoration work.

The Venerable Wyn Rowlands, the archdeacon of Meirionnydd, said: "We just don't know what the future holds. It is very important to keep them open."

Around 8,000 people, including Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, have pledged support for The Sunday Telegraph's campaign aimed at keeping churches at the heart of community life.

Among the buildings under threat are: St Cadfarch, in Penegoes, home to a monument to the landscape artist Richard Wilson, one of the founders of the Royal Academy; St Tydecho, in Mallwyd, which dates back to the 14th century and houses a memorial to the renaissance scholar Dr John Davies, who was responsible for a 1620 revised translation of the Bible into Welsh; and St Ust & Dyfrig in Llanwrin, which has some of the best medieval stained glass from the late 15th ­century.



From: Telegraph.co.uk