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Is this the first appearance of that iconic quarterstaff bout, or was it present in the early ballads? The book's publication happens to coincide with something of a fad in all kinds of martial arts in England, including quarterstaff fencing:  Illustrated London News, 26th March, 1870 Stick fencing of all kinds was advertised as a thoroughly and historically English pastime that makes men out of boys. It had staying power too – The Boy Scouts had a merit badge for it sometime in the 1910s.
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Aug 1, 2020 11:25
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 18:17 |
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:The specific ballad Pyle is drawing on here is Childe Ballad 125, "Robin Hood and Little John.", which is estimated to date from 1680's to the early 1700's, and Pyle follows it pretty closely. Pyle didn't really *invent* much in this book, but almost all later writers have relied on his synthesis to some extent or other. Most people don't go rooting through Child's Ballads. I'm far from a real medievalist but I'm like 90% sure these clothes are all over the place and I love it.  The pilgrim on the left is wearing all kinds of pilgrim chic, including a slouchy hat with a scallop shell, indicating he's been to Santiago de Compostela. Got a staff and a rosary and everything. David's wearing what looks like a capotain or a sugarloaf hat, which dates to late 16th or early 17th century. His short jacket (or jerkin shows a distinct peascod belly, placing it pretty squarely in that era. He's not wearing any kind of collar which is probably for the better, since the ruffled collar of the late 16th century would look incredibly out of place in Sherwood. The sleeves on his doublet are amazing, and I have no idea if big wide sleeves like those have ever been a feature of menswear in England. His hose are kind of like 15th century joined hose but way too big for his butt, and I'm extremely disappointed he's not wearing a codpiece.  Finally, he's wearing quite an iconic pair of pointed shoes entirely appropriate for the Middle Ages.It's a glorious mish-mash of reasonably historical clothing and I sincerely think it's miles and miles above anything Hollywood's done lately. Siivola fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Aug 7, 2020 |
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Aug 7, 2020 21:30
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Dareon posted:Makes sense, I'd forgotten that beer was rather more like a vaguely-alcoholic soup that you drank for preference because water generally wasn't safe. You'd even give it to kids. At least in the 15th century. After 1400 or so beer had settled in to the combo of water, yeast, malt and, increasingly but not always, hops that we still drink today. 
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Aug 8, 2020 07:25
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anilEhilated posted:I find it kind of interesting how most of the encounters between the Merry Men and anyone else go: "Ho there, stout fellow! I like the cut of your jib, let's try to bash each other's skulls with quarterstaffs!" Conversely, if you whip the Robin Hood's rear end with a staff you must be a tough, brave lad and everyone wants to be friends with you.
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Aug 10, 2020 15:14
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Come on man you didn't even include the illustration for this part! It's so good! If you're wondering why they hold their left hands up like that, that's how foil fencers stood in 1883. It doesn't make any sense for a story set in 1100 because the fencing lunge won't get invented for 400 years, but who cares it looks like a rad swordfight scene. You can tell Pyle knew how fencing is supposed to look like. Compare Little John's parry above to this dude in some kind of military fencing exhibition from 1873: 
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Aug 12, 2020 07:24
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"Tuck" is the English word for the French estoc, which was a thrusting sword used throughout the ballad era. Therefore, in order to maintain the allusion to his proficiency with the sword, I move to rename this character "Abbot Stabbot".
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Aug 17, 2020 18:09
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 18:17 |
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Birdlime is a glue used to trap birds: Just spread on a branch and wait. This is still practiced in Southern Europe, despite the EU's best efforts.
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Aug 27, 2020 20:38
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