October 9, 2012

Secret archives yield fascinating glimpses of Franco-British relationship

A book just released - Dans le secret des archives britanniques - takes a fascinating look at the relationship between France and Britain. The co-authors, who are French and English, delved into the archives at the British Library to unearth little-known historical interactions between the two nations. For instance, Britain’s government during the second world war was convinced that the exiled General Charles de Gaulle was insane. RFI met the book’s British author Kathryn Hadley. (via RFI)

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Filed under: History France Britain Archives MP3 Podcast 
August 5, 2012
Russia: Scary Siberian Bear Hunting Armor From The 1800s The object is being called a Siberian bear-hunting suit, but I suspect it is more likely to be for bear bating than hunting, since I can’t imagine anyone could run around the woods in it. It consists of leather pants and jacket (and an iron helmet) studded all over with 1-inch iron nails about 3/4 in. apart. The nails are held in place by a second layer of leather lining the whole thing and quilted into place between the nails. (via BuzzFeed)

Russia: Scary Siberian Bear Hunting Armor From The 1800s

The object is being called a Siberian bear-hunting suit, but I suspect it is more likely to be for bear bating than hunting, since I can’t imagine anyone could run around the woods in it. It consists of leather pants and jacket (and an iron helmet) studded all over with 1-inch iron nails about 3/4 in. apart. The nails are held in place by a second layer of leather lining the whole thing and quilted into place between the nails. (via BuzzFeed)

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Filed under: Russia Siberia History Artefacts Hunting 
April 19, 2012
Austria: No Fugging chance for name change Austrians considering renaming their village from Fucking to Fugging have been told to think again – because the name is already taken. Villagers at Fucking in Upper Austria voted yesterday to change the name to Fugging. But then came the news that there used to be a second village with the name Fucking in Austria – and residents there had already bagged the name Fugging more than 100 years ago. Fugging mayor Andreas Dockner - 200 miles away in Lower Austria - said: “Nobody alive now remembers why it was changed from Fucking to Fugging, but it was and that is now our name. We think one Fugging in Austria is enough. “The first mention of our village as Fucking was was in 1195 where it was recorded in the records of the local monastery. By 1836 it was Fugging. “I can’t say whether the decision to change the name from Fucking to Fugging was anything to do with embarrassment at its meaning in English but the word Fucking has been around for a long while. We are certainly a lot closer to Vienna which was the centre of the Habsburg Empire at the time, and they probably would have been a lot more English visitors there that might have raised the matter.” Historians confirmed that the first known use of the verb in the context of having sexual intercourse was in 1475, and it has also been found in a dictionary from 1598 - it even turning up in one of Shakespeare’s plays when it is mentioned in Henry V. Fucking mayor Franz Meindl said that apart from the name their tiny village with just over 100 residents would be a rural paradise. He said: “It is beautiful countryside here, it’s otherwise peaceful and we have a good community. It’s only ever the name that causes us troubles.” (via Austrian Times)

Austria: No Fugging chance for name change

Austrians considering renaming their village from Fucking to Fugging have been told to think again – because the name is already taken.

Villagers at Fucking in Upper Austria voted yesterday to change the name to Fugging. But then came the news that there used to be a second village with the name Fucking in Austria – and residents there had already bagged the name Fugging more than 100 years ago.

Fugging mayor Andreas Dockner - 200 miles away in Lower Austria - said: “Nobody alive now remembers why it was changed from Fucking to Fugging, but it was and that is now our name. We think one Fugging in Austria is enough.

“The first mention of our village as Fucking was was in 1195 where it was recorded in the records of the local monastery. By 1836 it was Fugging.

“I can’t say whether the decision to change the name from Fucking to Fugging was anything to do with embarrassment at its meaning in English but the word Fucking has been around for a long while. We are certainly a lot closer to Vienna which was the centre of the Habsburg Empire at the time, and they probably would have been a lot more English visitors there that might have raised the matter.”

Historians confirmed that the first known use of the verb in the context of having sexual intercourse was in 1475, and it has also been found in a dictionary from 1598 - it even turning up in one of Shakespeare’s plays when it is mentioned in Henry V.

Fucking mayor Franz Meindl said that apart from the name their tiny village with just over 100 residents would be a rural paradise. He said: “It is beautiful countryside here, it’s otherwise peaceful and we have a good community. It’s only ever the name that causes us troubles.” (via Austrian Times)

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Filed under: Austria Fucking Fugging Names Name Change History Villages Towns Places 
March 6, 2012
The Terrifying Body Worlds Mummy Heads of 19th-Century Italy A group of forensic anthropologists have completed a meticulous analysis of a set of real human anatomy displays from 19C Italy. Using CT scans and other chemical analysis, the group determined that, some 200 years ago, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini “petrified” the corpses with a mercury and other heavy metals. He injected some tinctures and used others as baths. The eyes are fake. Basically, Rini was modern medicine’s first “Body Worlds” guy. (via Gawker)

The Terrifying Body Worlds Mummy Heads of 19th-Century Italy

A group of forensic anthropologists have completed a meticulous analysis of a set of real human anatomy displays from 19C Italy. Using CT scans and other chemical analysis, the group determined that, some 200 years ago, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini “petrified” the corpses with a mercury and other heavy metals. He injected some tinctures and used others as baths. The eyes are fake. Basically, Rini was modern medicine’s first “Body Worlds” guy. (via Gawker)

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Filed under: Italy History Archaeology Forensic Anthropology Anatomy 19th Century Giovan Battista Rini Mummification Petrification 
March 4, 2012
Greek-Jewish group demands UN recognise Bulgaria’s role in slaughter A Greek-Jewish umbrella group has requested that the United Nations note Bulgaria’s role in slaughtering Greek Jews while also commemorating the country’s rescue of its own Bulgarian Jews during World War 2. “Bulgarians saved their country’s Jews in exchange for the Jews of the other territories under their control,” said a letter sent from the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece to the U.N. Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisations. “In the name of the historical memory of our brothers, victims of the Bulgarian atrocities in our country during the Holocaust, we ask you to include this small and ‘untold’ part of history in your briefing.” Bulgarian occupiers of northeastern Greece handed over about 4000 Greek Jews to the Nazis for extermination. The Bulgarian government of the time, under the leadership of King Boris, did not send any of its Jewish population to the death camps. (via The Sofia Echo)

Greek-Jewish group demands UN recognise Bulgaria’s role in slaughter

A Greek-Jewish umbrella group has requested that the United Nations note Bulgaria’s role in slaughtering Greek Jews while also commemorating the country’s rescue of its own Bulgarian Jews during World War 2.

“Bulgarians saved their country’s Jews in exchange for the Jews of the other territories under their control,” said a letter sent from the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece to the U.N. Department of Public Information/Non-Governmental Organisations. “In the name of the historical memory of our brothers, victims of the Bulgarian atrocities in our country during the Holocaust, we ask you to include this small and ‘untold’ part of history in your briefing.”

Bulgarian occupiers of northeastern Greece handed over about 4000 Greek Jews to the Nazis for extermination.

The Bulgarian government of the time, under the leadership of King Boris, did not send any of its Jewish population to the death camps. (via The Sofia Echo)

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Filed under: Greece Bulgaria History World War Two WWII Jews Holocaust Bulgarian Jews Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece United Nations Recognition 
January 8, 2012
Swedish ships brought slaves to Ottoman Empire Swedish ships took actively part in the slave trade in the Mediterranean during the 18th century. Many of the slaves that were shipped on Swedish vessels were women who risked ending up as sex slaves in Istanbul and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, the daily Dagens Nyheter reports. “It was a brutal trade with human beings and now we know that also Sweden was a link in that chain. The similarities with the trafficking of today is striking,” says Joachim Östlund, researcher at Lund University’s History Department. During his work with a new book on Swedes in North Africa, Joachim Östlund discovered documents showing that Swedish ships at at least during seven occasions carried “negroes” on board, as they left the harbour in Tripoli in today’s Libya. The information was found in old shipping registers which were found at the Swedish consulate in Tripoli. The documents have been kept there for over 250 years. (via Radio Sweden)

Swedish ships brought slaves to Ottoman Empire

Swedish ships took actively part in the slave trade in the Mediterranean during the 18th century. Many of the slaves that were shipped on Swedish vessels were women who risked ending up as sex slaves in Istanbul and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, the daily Dagens Nyheter reports.

“It was a brutal trade with human beings and now we know that also Sweden was a link in that chain. The similarities with the trafficking of today is striking,” says Joachim Östlund, researcher at Lund University’s History Department.

During his work with a new book on Swedes in North Africa, Joachim Östlund discovered documents showing that Swedish ships at at least during seven occasions carried “negroes” on board, as they left the harbour in Tripoli in today’s Libya. The information was found in old shipping registers which were found at the Swedish consulate in Tripoli. The documents have been kept there for over 250 years. (via Radio Sweden)

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Filed under: Sweden History Slaves Slavery Ottoman Empire Slave Ships Lund University Joachim Östlund Slave Trade 
January 7, 2012
France proclaims 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc France will mark the reputed 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc with a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to her birthplace. President Sarkozy will travel to Domremy, the village said to have been her birthplace, where he will unveil a plaque in the home where she is thought to have been born. Mr Sarkozy will also visit Vaucouleurs, also in the Vosges mountains of eastern France, where Joan of Arc began her campaign to push the English out of France and put Charles VII on the throne. Mr Sarkozy and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are battling over the mantle of the French patron saint Joan of Arc, a surprise player in the upcoming presidential election. The two leaders are to stage rival celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the birth of the 15th-century Catholic martyr who has been appropriated by the far-right partly for her booting out of medieval English “immigrants”. The teenage peasant led the French army against the English after experiencing religious visions and was later burned at the stake, but her broad appeal to French of all political colours has ensured her immortality. (via Telegraph)

France proclaims 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc

France will mark the reputed 600th anniversary of Joan of Arc with a visit by President Nicolas Sarkozy to her birthplace.

President Sarkozy will travel to Domremy, the village said to have been her birthplace, where he will unveil a plaque in the home where she is thought to have been born.

Mr Sarkozy will also visit Vaucouleurs, also in the Vosges mountains of eastern France, where Joan of Arc began her campaign to push the English out of France and put Charles VII on the throne.

Mr Sarkozy and far-right leader Marine Le Pen are battling over the mantle of the French patron saint Joan of Arc, a surprise player in the upcoming presidential election.

The two leaders are to stage rival celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the birth of the 15th-century Catholic martyr who has been appropriated by the far-right partly for her booting out of medieval English “immigrants”.

The teenage peasant led the French army against the English after experiencing religious visions and was later burned at the stake, but her broad appeal to French of all political colours has ensured her immortality. (via Telegraph)

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Filed under: France History Anniversaries Joan of Arc Domremy Vaucouleurs Nicolas Sarkozy Marine le Pen 
January 6, 2012
Porn yesterday: Roman brothel tokens and the rise of erotic art One of the oldest pieces of British pornographic art has just been discovered beside the river Thames. At first sight, the bronze disc found near Putney Bridge in London looks like an old coin – until you notice that it depicts a sex scene. This type of bronze token with its erotic imagery was specially made to spend in ancient Roman brothels. The example found near Putney Bridge and given to the Museum of London is evidence that brothels in Roman Londinium were just as busy as they were in ancient Pompeii, where brothels and their lewd wall paintings are among the well-preserved everyday shops of a Roman town. Yet this is not just a hint of life in Roman Britain. It is also a glimpse of a hidden art history. These Roman tokens, with their detailed depictions of sex acts, had a dramatic influence on the birth of modern pornography. While the Putney token has been hailed as a rare discovery from Roman Britain, such artefacts showing similar scenes were actually well known in Renaissance Italy. Scholars in the 16th century didn’t know what they were – maybe something to do with the reputed excesses of the emperor Tiberius? – but they did leap on evidence of ancient Roman erotic art. Anything from antiquity was considered noble in the Renaissance, so these “coins” (as they were misnamed) licensed saucy 16th-century art, including Giulio Romano’s famous series of pornographic illustrations I Modi. It’s easy to see how these classical erotic images by Romano, engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi, emulate the images on tokens like the one from Roman London. In turn I Modi, in its printed form with pornographic poems added, became a bestseller all over Europe and returned to the London of Shakespeare. It set the style for a new erotic art. (via guardian.co.uk)

Porn yesterday: Roman brothel tokens and the rise of erotic art

One of the oldest pieces of British pornographic art has just been discovered beside the river Thames. At first sight, the bronze disc found near Putney Bridge in London looks like an old coin – until you notice that it depicts a sex scene.

This type of bronze token with its erotic imagery was specially made to spend in ancient Roman brothels. The example found near Putney Bridge and given to the Museum of London is evidence that brothels in Roman Londinium were just as busy as they were in ancient Pompeii, where brothels and their lewd wall paintings are among the well-preserved everyday shops of a Roman town.

Yet this is not just a hint of life in Roman Britain. It is also a glimpse of a hidden art history. These Roman tokens, with their detailed depictions of sex acts, had a dramatic influence on the birth of modern pornography. While the Putney token has been hailed as a rare discovery from Roman Britain, such artefacts showing similar scenes were actually well known in Renaissance Italy. Scholars in the 16th century didn’t know what they were – maybe something to do with the reputed excesses of the emperor Tiberius? – but they did leap on evidence of ancient Roman erotic art. Anything from antiquity was considered noble in the Renaissance, so these “coins” (as they were misnamed) licensed saucy 16th-century art, including Giulio Romano’s famous series of pornographic illustrations I Modi.

It’s easy to see how these classical erotic images by Romano, engraved by Marcantonio Raimondi, emulate the images on tokens like the one from Roman London. In turn I Modi, in its printed form with pornographic poems added, became a bestseller all over Europe and returned to the London of Shakespeare. It set the style for a new erotic art. (via guardian.co.uk)

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Filed under: Ancient Rome Antiquities Art Bronze Bronzes Brothel Tokens London Pornography Prostitution Putney Bridge River Thames Roman Britain UK United Kingdom History Archaeology 
December 20, 2011

Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris

I will always reblog this because it’s just such a good song.

(Source: penrose-stairs, via )

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Filed under: Video Tetris History Russia USSR 
December 15, 2011
London, UK Metal detectorist Darren Webster poses for photographs with a Viking arm ring he discovered, estimated to date back to the late 9th, early 10th Century, at the British Museum. The arm ring is part of the Silverdale Viking Hoard discovered by Mr Webster in September in the Silverdale area of north Lancashire, England. (via BBC News)

London, UK

Metal detectorist Darren Webster poses for photographs with a Viking arm ring he discovered, estimated to date back to the late 9th, early 10th Century, at the British Museum. The arm ring is part of the Silverdale Viking Hoard discovered by Mr Webster in September in the Silverdale area of north Lancashire, England. (via BBC News)

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Filed under: UK United Kingdom Silverdale Lancashire London British Museum History Viking Jewellery Viking Jewellery Armband Arm Band Arm Ring Metal Detector Metal Detecting Darren Webster Silverdale Viking Hoard Photography 
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