Insulting a Viking is comparable to taunting a teenage boy, but with greater consequences. The greatest insult was to suggest that a man was sansorðinn — “used in the position of a female (blauðr) by another man.” The consequence of this could be fullrettirsorð “full penalty,” in which the insulted man could kill Continue Reading
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Vive la Révolution: Victims of The Guillotine
During the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) in the French Revolution it is estimated that up to 40,000 people were executed by Guillotine. Notable victims were: François III Maximilien de la Woestyne, 3rd Marquess of Becelaere Arnaud II de La Porte (23 August 1792) Second political victim of the guillotine Jacques Continue Reading
Roman Remedies – Gladiator Blood
The Roman’s believed that drinking Gladiator’s blood cured many ailments, including infertility and epilepsy. Pliny the Elder notes in his Natural History (Book XXVIII, II) The blood too of gladiators is drunk by epileptics as though it were a draught of life, though we shudder with horror when in the Continue Reading
Sausage Poison
In the early nineteenth century, authorities in the Kingdom of Wurttemberg in Stuttgart, became concerned at the increase in fatal food poisoning cases following a decline in hygiene standards after the devastation caused by the Napoleonic War. Many health officials examined this issue and determined the cause to be the consumption Continue Reading
Why D-Day?
The invasion of France by the Allies on 6 June 1944 was known as D-Day. Why ‘D’ and not ‘F’ (for France) or ‘I’ (for invasion) or any other letter? The simple answer is that ‘D’ stands for Date. The US military regularly used this type of shorthand and H-Hour Continue Reading
Ancient Engine
The first recorded steam engine was designed by Heron of Alexandria in the first century AD and was known as an aeolipile. The Roman author Vitruvius describes one: “Æolipylæ are hollow brazen vessels, which have an opening or mouth of small size, by means of which they can be filled Continue Reading
Mutiny Magnet
After losing the HMS Bounty to the mutiny lead by his former friend Fletcher Christian, in 1789, William Bligh was later (1797) given command of HMS Director which he also lost to mutiny. When he was Governor of New South Wales, Australia (1806-1810), colonists forced Bligh to flee to Tasmania during the Continue Reading