The BBC announced over the weekend that a new website is coming online with details about medieval battle plans, payments, knightings, and medical records:The detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.
The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.
The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.
Thomas, Lord Despenser is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.
Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem.
From BBC online.
I checked out the website and it's still in the early stages, but it looks like this could be a fun resource for anyone writing a battle. It can add authenticity to fantasy works and anyone writing sci-fi battles can look at it with an eye to collecting tactical information.
Not to mention all the fabulous story ideas!
Wednesday Workout:
Get your resources lined up.What are you using for references? Where did you find information? Do you need to cite sources in text?
It's far better to have all these details saved and ready when an agent or editor asks than go scrambling to prove a fact or to prove you aren't plagiarizing anyone.
That sounds like a great site. Thanks for posting that.
ReplyDeleteThat could be a really interesting site. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDelete