If anybody ever wondered how much were the people of older periods aware of the technological progress happening through times, here is one amazing piece of art which gives us a glimpse into this aspect of early modern mind.

The work is a collection of prints called New Inventions of Modern Times or originally Nova Reperta and was made by Jan van der Straet in around 1590-1600. It depicts what he thought of where the most important inventions and discoveries up to his time, and does so in a stunning and beautiful way. The artwork is additionally engaging as it also shows us various everyday (and some not so everyday) situations, processes, surroundings (but there are some inaccuracies). Here it is:

New Inventions of Modern Times [Nova Reperta]

The title image which shows listing 9 of the inventions.

Aand here are the individual images, each dealing with particular "discovery":

1. The Discovery of America
2. The Invention of the Compass
3. The Invention of Gunpowder
4. The Invention of Book Printing
5. The Invention of the Clockwork
6. The Discovery of Guaicum as a Cure for Veneral Infection
7. The Invention of Distillation
8. The Production of Silk
9. The Invention of Stirrups
10. The Invention of the Watermill
11. The Invention of the Wind Mill
12. The Invention of the Olive Oil Press
13. The Invention of Sugar Refinery
14. The Invention of Oil Painting
15. The Invention of Eyeglasses
16. The Discovery of the Establishment of the Longitudes
17. The Invention of the Polishing of Armor
18. Amerigo Vespucci Discovering the Southern Cross with an Astrolabium
19. The Invention of Copper Engraving

Here is also an archive.org version of the collected print (but images 4,12,19 are missing)

It happens like clockwork every year: the birds are singing, the trees are in bloom, and I'm reading about the time Henry V got shot in the face. From S.J. Lang's "John Bradmore and His Book Philomena"

And yt ys to undyrstond that in the yer of owr lorde m1 cccc° and iij (the pacyent) In the iiijtc yer of kynge [herry in margin] the iiijtc on mary mawdlen Evyn at the batell of Schrewesbery yt happyn soo that herry the worthy prynce and eyr of the sayd herry kynge was smetyn in the face be syd the nose on the lefte syd with an arow the wyche sayd arow entryd overwharte and after the schafte wase takyn owt and the hede ther of a bod styll in the hyndyr parte of a bone of the hede after the mesur of vj ynche and than was John bradmore surgen to the kynge and helyd hym in the castell of kelyngworth to the sayd castell come that tyme dyverse of wyse lechys sayand that thei wold draw owt the arrowe hed with drynkys and odyr curis but thei myght note and at the laste the sayd John bradmor entyrmetynge of the sayd cur and had owt the arow hede wyth swyche an Instrument the wyche Instrument [illustration] was mad in the maner of tonges and was rownde and holowysche and be the myddes ther of entryd a lytyll wyse with the wyche Instrument was pullyd owt the arrow hed and afterward the wounde was wasched with wyne and clensyd with mundificatyfe onyment of iij parttes of populion and the iiij part of hony so contynewynge the space of vij dayes and afterward the place was helyd with unguentum fuscum cirurgicum.

There's a Latin version of this same text from Bradmore's Philomena (and significantly-more-legible modern English translations out there) but I find myself meditating on all the fun aspects of Middle English, in particular the word "holowysche".

• "Saving Prince Hal: maxillo-facial surgery, 1403", Jo Cummins

• ["The "Philomena" of John Bradmore and its Middle English derivative : a perspective on surgery in Late Medieval England"] (https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/4910), S.J. Lang (this is Lang's PhD thesis and it makes me green with envy)

• "The Management of Maxillofacial Trauma in the Renaissance: A Mini–Case Series"

• "Another Arrow That Changed History?", Kevin Goodman

Having been forced to retire from the Confederate Army in 1862 because of a wound, he took his slaves and went to Texas where he raised cotton until the end of the war, hiding the bales so cleverly that even the carpet-baggers couldn’t find them. Then he hauled them to Jefferson by ox-wagon and sold them at a tidy price — he was the only Southerner I ever heard of who had more money at the close of the Civil War than he had at the beginning. But he earned it, by three years of hard work, constantly threatened on one hand by a revolt of the slaves, and on the other by Indian attack.

• Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, Jan 1935, Collected Letters of Robert E. Howard 3.296

I had occasion to talk with u/freedmenspatrol about this the other day, and mentioned Robert E. Howard's anecdote regarding his great-grandfather "Squire" James Henry. Moving property (especially slaves) south and west during the Civil War, away from the Union armies, was apparently a relatively common practice. Lovecraft himself also famously had a slave-owning ancestor, and cited the fact a few times in his letters (MF1.467, LJVS 251, LFLB 79). Neither man necessarily took pride in the fact that their ancestors were slave-holders, and REH at least tried to assure himself that, regarding the inhumane conditions of slavery and the terrible punishments slaves suffered, "Thank God the slaves on my ancestors' plantations were never so misused." (CL2.76) Wishful thinking, but it helps to give some insight into these men and how their narrative of the past differs from our own.

I'm graduating from college today, I finally finished undergraduate! I mean technically the graduation is on Sunday, but my campus has a "Senior Recognition Program" today so I'm treating it as the day I graduate.

Is there any plausibility to the Spring Heeled Jack story? Such as records of the attacks on the three girls? I’ve always been fascinated by the legend but I don’t know where to start looking for this kind of thing myself.

I've been asked to figure out which DNA testing service to use for my grandfather, and am very confused by the options. Maybe someone here would know what service is likely to be most useful for the family's purpose.

My grandfather's background is, as far as we know, mixed Northern European and Native American, and from both family records and my knowledge of the historical period, his maternal line is (barrring surprises) Native American. We're definitely most interested in his the less documented Native American ancestry, since women on old fur trade records aren't even given names, let alone tribal affiliations.

I personally don't know what a DNA test could show, or how extensive/detailed Native American data sets are in these kits. It's not a search to confirm native ancestry; he's a visibly indigenous person from a historical Metis community, so we already have that knowledge and heritage. But the family certainly is interested in DNA testing, and peering into the genetic past sounds cool to me if nothing else.

I've been watching Hulu's The Looming Tower: I am usually sanguine about keeping the 20-year rule in 2021, but watching this has me pretty worried about needing a 21-year rule.

I am reading "The Silk Roads: A New History of the World" by Peter Frankopan. I am enjoying the book, but I believe that, every so often, he makes claims that I can't find any justification for.

One of the first claims that caught me off-guard is that, in talking about Baghdad during the Abbasid Caliphate, he states that, based on estimates of public bathhouses and other historical data, that the population could have been as high as 100 Million people. I was skeptical about this right away and, from what I can find, estimates were more around 800,000. Is there is truth to this claim?

The second claim of his was his assertion that Al-Biruni established proof for heliocentrism. Again, I can't find any proof that Biruni established proof for anything...only that perhaps he had discussed the theory or may have believed in heliocentrism. What is the deal with this claim?

Overall, what are historian's view on this book? As a layman, I have trouble believing some of his claims and I worry that there are more nuanced takes that he has that, as a layman, I can't spot that might have no historical backing.

A follow-up to a question from last week: has anyone read (or been set as a textbook) a book so bad that it put them off a period of history they were otherwise interested in? (Perhaps temporarily)

I am always glad to see Chris Wickham's books mentioned on here, because there were some very offputting older books about the early middle ages, and it's great someone has managed to make them sound more interesting again.

Has anyone read "The Modern Mercenary" by Sean McFate? Its split about 50/50 historical/modern and uses the lens of medieval mercenary warfare as a way of examine what he sees as a growing trend of non traditional (non-Westphalian) warfare or as he calls it, neomedieval warfare. He makes a compelling argument, and the book itself is fascinating. The guy was apparently a contractor for DynCorp during their (re)building of the Liberian military.

Anyone with more knowledge on medieval mercenaries care to comment on McFate's interpretation?

What was life like for the regular citizens near the end of the roman empire?

I’d really love some help with this :

I’m a 5ft 2inch man, or a woman, and I live in Europe, possibly Africa, or Central America, somewhere between 890BC and 420AD. I am left handed, earn a small wage, and can whistle very well. How might I go about walking to and from the place I live and the place I want to go? What sort of things can I expect to see along the way? Will I encounter any large puddles along the route? And can I make a living from having brown eyes? And what effect might the political and religious climate of the day have on my journey? Thanks in advance.

(Sorry - my Google thingie is on the blink and my Internet provider can’t get an engineer out until Tuesday).