A Cool Place
With the heat wave we're going to get those next days (up to 35°C, ouch), this place looks rather tempting. The cool if slightly wet cavern can be found under Pembroke Castle in Wales.

Wogan Cave under Pembroke Castle; the watergate
The rock promontory on which the castle is situated is surrounded on three sides by the tidal river Cleddau, also known as Haven Waterway. The cave formed naturally in the limestone rock. It's a large, circular shaped cavern of 80x60 feet with a high vault. The cave must have been occupied by Paleolithic people 12,000 years ago; they left behind some flint tools.

Back of the cavern (no flash used)
Wogan Cave is situated under the Northern Halls and can be reached from the Great Hall by a staircase built into the natural rock with a turret on the outer side (see photo 1, left). The opening has been partly walled in, with a sally port and some windows, and thus became part of the castle's defenses.

Watergate and window in the Norman wall
The cave was connected with the river by a canal that could be used by small ships which then could be unloaded safely from disgruntled Welshmen or Irish pirates. The cave supposedly served as storage room and perhaps as boathouse, too.

The dome
The first Norman castle on the site, built of timber and earth by Roger de Montgomery, dates back to 1090, but the integration of the cave seems to be from the time of William Marshal (owner of Pembroke since 1189) who transformed Pembroke Castle into one of the major Norman stone fortifications in Wales.  
¶ June 28, 2010 7 comments

  More Birds of Prey, and Some Mortal Combat
Just a picture post today. Here are some more photos from the Siegfriedspektakel in Xanten..

Damn that wind
One of the falcons of the bird show, balancing on its stake. The birds were kept under a tent roof - seems they didn't like getting rained on that much, either.

Leave me alone
In between performances, the birds needed rest and you couldn't get too close. That's where the zoom comes in.

The king, shaking out his cape
Or rather, the eagle ruffling its feathers. He (she?) was a somewhat difficult star. Though I can't blame the bird for being a bit ruffled after several hours of getting its picture taken and people chatting close by.

Hugo
Another photo of me with Hugo, the cute owl. Jeri met the same falconer at another renfair and took some photos as well.

I'll get you, unworthy knave
There was a combat group that gave a rather funny performance of (not so) knightly fights.

Ouww
As you can see above, they didn't always fight fairly, either.

Hah villein, I'm not out of this yet
More hacking and slashing - and laughing - ensued until one of the brave combattants went down.

Got you!
And the other sat on him. Rather, he let himself drop onto the poor guy with the full weight of body and armour. 
¶ June 22, 2010 10 comments

  Bathing Habits
After the arrival of the Romans, some Germans no longer liked their bathrooms.

I'm cold. -- Don't be so sensitive.
I'm going to marry a Roman, then I'll go to the public baths every morning.
Well, you can't really blame her if you look at the baths in Colonia Ulpia Traiana, today known as Xanten.

The baths in Colonia Traiana, seen from the second floor of the museum
The remains of the baths are covered with a metal and glass structure that represents the original size of the building. It's an amazing mix of old stones and modern design that works pretty well. There will be a post dedicated to those baths, with more pics.

The baths in Colonia Traiana, outside view
Baths that size could only be found in Roman towns; a good example are the Imperial Baths in Trier. In Rome, public baths often were gifts from emperors (for example Caracalla), in the provincial towns they were usually paid for by rich citizens.

But those times weren't to last.

A bath house at the Siegfriedspektakel in Xanten
I've mentioned the Mediaeval renfair that took place in Xanten while I was there. Among the many fun things was a bath house.

At least the water in those tubs was warm, but it's still a far cry from Roman baths, even the smaller ones like the reconstructed baths of the inn in Colonia Ulpia Traiana.

One of the rooms in the baths of the inn, reconstruction in the AP Xanten
That one reminds a bit of the baths in Segedunum; a bath of smaller scale you'd find the in the Roman border forts. But those were still larger than the Middle Age tubs - not to mention the latter were lacking the ingenious hypocaust construction for heating the rooms.

Another photo of the Mediaeval bath house
You could take a bath in those tubs but I prefered the shower in my hotel. Though for the renactors who lived in tents for four days it was an option, esp. considering the cold weather. 
¶ June 16, 2010 2 comments

  Roman Weapons - The pilum
The pilum (plural pila) is one of the weapons most typical for the Roman army. Everyone can have spears and javelins, but only the Romans had javelins that would bend on purpose.

Iron pilum shanks, LWL Museum Haltern
A pilum consisted of an iron shank about 60 cm in length that ended in a pyramidal head. The shank was attached to a wooden shaft either by a flat tang and clamp or a socket and rivets, bringing the entire length of the pilum up to 2 metres. It weighed between two and five kilograms - the versions during the Empire were usually the lighter ones, and it also seems the legionaries carried only one, not two as in the late Republic.

The point was hardened iron, but the shank was left unhardened which led to the following result.

(I had imagined fighting the Romans to be quite different.)

The pilum would be thrown in salvas from a distance of 15-30 metres. The energy of the impact concentrated in the pyramidal point of the weapon. Not only would opponents be wounded, but the pila went through the shields where they got stuck. Since the shank was not hardened, the pilum bent and was almost impossible to jank out of the targe during battle. The only way was to drop the usueless shield. That was particularly effective against people who did not have much in the way of body armour but relied on targes, like the Germans.

There seems to have been a version where one of the rivets was made of wood which would cause the shaft to twist even if the impact was not strong enoug to bend the iron shank. The invention is ascribed to the late Republican consul Gaius Marius (which would make sense because he was the first who had to deal with large numbers of raw recruits he had to train in a hurry). Another advantage of the pilum construction is that it could not be thrown back by the enemy; moreover, the iron parts could be collected after battle and reforged.

Another fine display of pila from the APX Museum in Xanten, going by the title 'Crooked Lances'. Well, not so much lances as javelins, but crooked they were.

The pieces in the middle are original finds, framed by two reconstruced versions. The one to the left has a wooden shaft shaped in a way it would give the hold better leverage (you can see it in the background drawing as well). Another method was to wrap the shaft with leather or linen straps to prevent the hand from slipping on the wood.

There is pictorial evidence that some versions of the pilum were weighted by a lead ball at the end of the shaft, but so far no such balls have been found.


The second photo above was taken in the APX Museum in Xanten as well. 
¶ June 12, 2010 10 comments

  Sometimes I Want a Stylus and Wax Tablets
Because Microsoft programs don't make any sense, dammit. I've spent several hours trying to get a PowerPoint presentation up, and I'm still swearing at Word 2007 on occasion.

Roman writing utensils, Haltern
Slightly corroded styli and a scraper to smoothen the wax surface.

I'll be back with a longer post as soon as I got the bunch of monkeys that keep me occupied off my back.  
¶ June 07, 2010 15 comments

  5 Years of Blogging
I almost missed this anniversary. I started my blog back in May 2005, so that makes it five years of blogging, and a number of photos I didn't even count. I've met online friends through this blog (some I even met in real life), and photographing - something I always liked doing - is even more fun when I know I can share the pictures with my readers.

I hope I'll be around for the next five years with more interesting posts about the Romans, Mediaeval emperors, old castles, and beautiful cathedrals. And I hope you'll stay with me, because readers are the ones who bring a blog to life. Thank you for that.

Pshaw
Found this particularly haughty looking lion outside the Romanesque church in Boppard. I don't know how old the statue is, but he really amused me.

A note about Followers: I don't use the widget showing the followers that many bloggers display in the sidebar because it doesn't work under Classic templates. But I can see who's following my blog on the dashboard. I for my part follow (= read regularly) all the blogs I've listed on my sidebar.  
¶ May 29, 2010 17 comments

  A Rainy Rhine Cruise
The Rhine between Koblenz (the ancient Confluentes, where the Moselle confluences into the Rhine) and Mainz (where the Main river joins up with his big brother) is considered the most scenic. Because of the mountains, the river could not be straightened like it was done in other places to make naval transport easier; only some of the riffs and sandbanks that made travel on this part of the Rhine dangerous in Roman and Medieaval times have been eliminated, albeit the sandbanks are an ongoing problem that has to be dealt with regularly.

One of the cruise ships
There are a number of cruise ships that travel this part of the Rhine. I picked one from Boppard somewhat upriver of Koblenz to Bingen near Mainz; a trip that took four hours (it's some 25 minutes by train). The fleet is called Köln-Düsseldorfer which is a bit of a joke, because the towns of Köln and Düsseldorf (both further north) are old rivals. There were not many people onboard due to the bad weather.

Leaving Boppard
Boppard is a pretty little town like so many along that part of the river - there's no space to develop into big, ugly cities. Most of them have a long history dating back to Medieaval or Roman times and some, like Boppard, are even older.

There's a bit of sunshine, but you can see the dark clouds ominously gathering over the mountains.

Dark waters and dark sky
It didn't take long for the rain to pour down, and it more or less stalked us - I suppose bad weather uses river valleys as highways. Photographing became a challenge because of the light, or lack thereof, and the rain that made the pics blurry. It can be a veil indeed. The few tourists on the upper deck vanished downstairs, but I ordered a hot tea and held out until St.Goar to take photos. But it was too cold to stay outside the entire 4 hours, so during the later part of the journey I only went up for special sights.

A meandering river
In former times, the Rhine meandered like that from its origins in Switzerland to the North Sea; it's the Rhine the Romans knew. Today it has been straightened where possible, leaving old bends as lakes in some places (the Altrheinarme), while they were filled up in others. Part of the flood problems is caused by those changes.

A cargo vessel
The Rhine is an important shipping route and the transport ships are long, unwieldy things with houses at one end where the shipper and his family live. Complete with curtains and potted plants in the windows, and a car parking on the upper deck.

Amnis viridissime ripas
When the sky lit up a bit one could see how green those mountains are, covered with woods and vineyards. A 'river of the greenest shores' indeed, even though Ausonius said that about the Moselle. I remembered his poem I came to know when I visited Trier at the Moselle back in 2006.

I wonder if any Roman ever waxed poetic about the Rhine. It was mostly a frontier for them, and an unruly one at that.

Shoals and currents
I mentioned that the most dangerous rocks have been blasted and currents diverted, like the (in)famous Binger Loch, but there are still a few left outside the fairway. I would not recommend to cross the Rhine by swimming, and not only because of all the ships. There are whirls that can suck you in and you'll find yourself on the ground, playing with the Daughters of the Rhine to Wagner's music.

A glimpse of sunshine
That's how the tour may look on sunny days. Though there's a flip side to it; I'm sure the ship would have been full of tourists.

The mountains along the Rhine are littered with castles; some genuinely old ones, but most of them have been altered in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a few even built only then. They look more like Victorian (now with Extra! turrets and oriels) versions than Medieaval German castles. But I took a series of photos from the ship, so there will be a castle post.

Lorelei
The bend in the river here was one of the dangerous spots of old. And not only that; there sat a beautiful maid on the top of that mountain, combing her long, blond hair and singing enticing songs, so the sailors would only look up to her and not care about the right course, and they'd end up in the currents and whorls and drown together with their boats. The maid is called Lorelei and can still be spotted sometimes today. Though obviously not during bad weather. There's a song about the legend that was played on the ship as it passed. Safely.

A paddle steamer
Most of the ships of the fleets that offer Rhine cruises are modern, but there are also more nostalgic ones around, like this paddle steamer. Not quite the Mississippi tour, but still nice. Some of the larger ships offer cabins for a longer journey, including a luxury variant with lots of gold, mahoganny, and velvet.

Another transport barge
I didn't catch the entire barge, there are some metres missing at the bow. Except for the cabin part, they are very low profile though sometimes the cargo is higher than the railing, with the covers remaining open.

Another cruise ship
Another of the cruise ships going downstream. In the background is one of the many castles along the Rhine, Ehrenfels, framed by vineyards. There's even a bit of blue sky. In a way, it's the archetypical Rhine picture. 
¶ May 26, 2010 9 comments

  Back, With a Bunch of Photos and a Cold
Suitcases have been unpacked, dinner eaten, and I took a look at my photo collection. An impressive number again, but a lot of photos I took inside dark cathedrals and museums, and I bet there'll be a bunch that will end up deleted. A few teaser pics are in the post below.

Isn't that chap a cutie? His name is Hugo, and he's quite a star in front of the camera. He and some fellow birds (falcons, and an eagle who didn't feel like posing for pictures when I was there) were one of the attractions at the Siegfriedspektakel, a medieaval market, or renfair as it's called in the US, taking place in Xanten while I was there. Lucky coincidence, because it turned out the largest and most fun I ever attended. Since there was also a small Roman reenactment group camping in the Archaeological Park, I was a happy camper myself.

BTW, my hair style is called Wind Blown Witch. *grin*

The weather was less fun. Horizontal rain is no longer a monopoly of the UK; Germany can do that quite well, too, thank you very much. Well, some days were at least dry-er, but still rather cold. There was basically one nice and sunny day in a week. Sigh. No wonder I managed to catch a cold in that weather. But I enjoyed most of the tour nevertheless.

I changed one point of my plan and didn't visit Rheinfels Castle. When the cruise ship passed it before stopping at St.Goar, I thought it looked too ugly and 17-18th century to be worth the hassle, and instead took the ship all the way down to Bingen which gave me a number of beautiful views of the most spectacular part of the Rhine valley.

The Rhine had been the border between the Roman Empire and 'free' Germania until the empire collapsed in the 5th century (I'll leave out the Limes intermezzo at this point), and Roman remains on the western, or left, shore of the river are plenty. I hunted down a few fine examples of Roman architecture, plus some Romanesque churches.

And now I'll take something for that cough and go to bed.  
¶ May 20, 2010 11 comments

  Some Things I Found on the Way
Here's the usual teaser post with some first impressions from my Rhine tour. The sky is grey on most of them because the weather tried its best to fulfill all clichés the Romans had about Germany - wet, cold, dark, and full of trees (yes, the latter belong to the weather because they throw branches at Romans, *grin*).

-- Reconstructed Roman buildings

Harbour Temple, Archaeological Park Xanten
The Archaeological Park Xanten (APX), with a number of completely or partly reconstructed buildings of the Roman town Colonia Ulpia Traiana is definitely worth a visit. Judging from some photos I had seen I suspected it might be a bit like a Roman Disneyland, but it's not like that at all, but a genuine glimpse into a Roman town with spotlights onto some chosen buildings.

-- Remains of Roman buildings:

Römersteine, Mainz
The Römersteine (Roman Stones) are the real thing: remains of a row of pillars that once supported the aquaeduct delivering fresh water to the town of Moguntiacum. The outer layer of smothely hewn stones has found its way into other buildings centuries ago, but the inner part made of opus cementitium, the Roman concrete mixed with stones or sometimes pottery shards, has survived until today. Something you can't say about most modern concrete.

-- Bling:

Golden horse figure, 5-6th century, APX Museum Xanten
There's a new museum in the APX (opened last year, in time for the Varus Battle Anniversary) which has an interestingly presented display of all things Roman. Besides the Roman bling (and other Roman finds) I also discovered some Celtic and Merovingian shinies in other museums.

-- Churches and cathedrals:

St.Martin Cathedral, Mainz
The Rineland has a good number of old churches. Often the later Romans introduced Christianity into the area and built the first churches. Larger places like Xanten or Mainz would soon develop into religious centres and erect churches to match their importance. Most of them have been rebuilt on the foundations of older chapels, enlarged and altered over time, but you can still find some genuine Romansque and Gothic cathedrals. And even smaller towns often have pretty, old churches.

-- Rain at the Rhine:

Cruise ship on the Rhine
Rain showers at the Rhine can compete with the Scottish ones any day. I stayed on the upper deck nevertheless - fortunately part of it had a roof though no protections on the sides. I suspect it was that day that gave me the nasty cold, and I could blame my readers and their greed for photos, but I'll be honest and blame myself for not bringing the warmer jacket. When the sun came out - which she surprisingly did a few times - it was quite warm, though. 
¶ May 20, 2010 4 comments

  Spring in the Hardenberg Castle Gardens
Spring took its time this year, but now it's making up. All that pretty green comes out faster than you can look. Too bad the birch pollen come out faster than you can sneeze as well.

Hardenberg Castle Gardens
But that blasted allergy isn't going to keep me inside, not on a warm and sunny day. So I took a walk in the gardens of Hardenberg Castle last Sunday. I've mentioned in an older post that the family eventually left the castle on the mountain and built a Renaissance style palace in the valley, surrounded by a park. Part of it is open to the public.

View from one of the high paths
It's an English style landscape park where the plants are allowed to grow more or less naturally, and since the grounds reach from the valley up a slope, there are several levels of paths, opening to new views.

A carpet of blue flowers
Spring is the time where the sunrays still reach the ground, and the flowers are making good use of it. Soon the foliage will be too dense to let much sunshine through, but right now the light effects of a late afternoon sun can be amazing.

Closeup of a blue flower
I don't know what those blue flowers are called, but they are pretty. Anyone got an idea what those are? I'm not sure if it's a wild flower or maybe some domesticated sort that has run out of control and reconquered the forest ground.

A carpet of white flowers
More spring flowers, this time in white. Birds where everywhere, too, but they are too fast for my camera. There were not many visitors around, so everything was quiet (except for the birds, but I don't mind their 'look ate me; look at that pretty nest I built' chirping) and peaceful.

Garden art
The Hardenberg family also has a distillery plus shop, and a restaurant on the castle grounds, so my father and I had a nice dinner on local venison. And I got me a bottle of a special Hardenberg herbal liquor which is very yummy.

Garden art, a different angle
The distillery can be seen in the background of this photo. The Castle Gardens are sometimes used for art exhibitions, and there's a Mediaeval tournament in summer, riding competitions on the grounds outside the park, concerts, and other events.  
¶ April 22, 2010 11 comments

  The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion
The Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen may be somewhat less well known than the Book of Kells, but it's more expensive. And very pretty, too. The book is kept in a safe in the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel (near Braunschweig) and is only shown to the public on rare occasions. But facsimiles are displayed in several places connected with Heinrich and/or the manuscript, fe. in the cathedral in Braunschweig and the parish church in Helmarshausen. Thus I've collected some photos last year.

Double page displayed in the cathedral in Braunschweig
The Gospels with their 50 miniatures had been commissioned by Duke Heinrich as donation for the St.Blasius Cathedral in Braunschweig, in particular the altar dedicated to Virgin Mary. The book was crafted in the Benedictine Abbey of Helmarshausen, one of the rich Mediaeval abbeys along the Weser (I've mentioned the abbeys of Bursfelde and Lippoldsberg in several posts, but not much remains of the buildings in Helmarshausen). Construction of the cathedral in Braunschweig started in 1173, the altar of Virgin Mary was consecrated in 1188. Thus, and because historians never agree on something, we get two possible dates for the Gospels: 1173-75 or 1188.

St.Blasius Cathedral in Braunschweig; the crypt,
with my father standing in the glow of the illuminated Gospels facsimile
The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion became a private possession of the Welfen family in 1866, who transfered the manuscript to Austria where it disappeared during the world wars. It popped up again as an anonymous delivery to Sotheby's in London in 1983. After it had been confirmed to be genuine, the German government, the counties of Lower Saxony and Bavaria (once Heinrich's dukedoms), the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, and a number of private donators threw together a truckload of money and bought the book at an auction for 32.5 million D-Mark (£ 8,140,000, more worth in 1985 than today). Only Bill Gates spent more on a manuscript when he bought Leonardo da Vinci's so called Codex Hammer in 1994.

The Creation
The facsimiles are quite expensive as well and kept under glass which makes photographing a bit tricky, but I managed some unblurred shots.

When I saw the original I was amazed how well preserved the mansucript is. The facsimile versions don't tamper with the colours; all that gold, silver, purple and indigo is so bright and clear - in fact, the gold is somewhat duller in the facsimile version. A few letters have faded, but that's about it.

The Gospels of Heinrich the Lion contain 266 pages with the text of the four gospels, decorated with 50 full page miniatures, and further embellished with some 1500 smaller and 84 larger initials laid out in purple, gold and silver ink. It is one of the finest examples of Mediaeval manuscripts and counts as one of the most important works of Romanesque book illumination. The book was displayed in an exhibition in Braunschweig in 1986, so I had the rare chance to see the original.

The Coronation, closeup (cfr. first picture, lower left)
One of the most famous illuminations is the Coronation. It shows Heinrich the Lion kneeling in the centre, behind him stand his father Heinrich the Proud, his mother Gertrude, and her parents, Emperor Lothar of Süpplingenburg and Richenza of Northeim. Mathilde is accompanied by her father, King Henry II of England and his mother Maud (Mathilde). There is another 'unidentified person' on her side, but Henry didn't bring the rest of his dysfunctional family along which I find quite telling. Both Heinrich and Mathilde are richly dressed and hold golden crucifixes. The crowns which Jesus presents to them are probably to be interpreted as crowns of eternal life, not of some worldly rule, which is confirmed by the text in the banners.

Another double page, displayed in the parish church of Helmarshausen
Heinrich was never crowned, but one may wonder if there is not a political subtext to the picture, a claim to the position of emperor - Heinrich's claim was as good as Friedrich Barbarossa's in whose favour he had stepped down (in exchange for Saxony and Bavaria). If we assume the earlier date for the manuscript, it would fall into the time when Heinrich's conflict with Emperor Barbarossa started, while the latter date would be after Heinrich's first exile, thus in a time when he had lost most of his power and was less likely to have any ambitions towards a crown. Though Barbarossa never trusted Heinrich; when he went on crusade (where he died), he sent Heinrich back to England. The omission of Eleanor and any of King Henry's sons points to a time when that family had broken apart for good.

The Burial of Jesus
We can't say for sure, and a double meaning may well have been intended. The Gospels stand in a tradition of religious foundations to gain bonus points towards a place in Heaven, and it's clearly stated in the Dedication picture and text that Heinrich and Mathilde dedicated this 'gold-gleaming book' to Christus in hope of eternal life.

Mathilde's love for books extended to the vernacular - she comissioned the German translation of the Chanson de Roland. In that she was a worthy daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Christ's Ascension
The codex stands in a tradition of book illumination that had its first peak at the time of Charlemagne. But also the Ottonian emperors comissioned some beautiful manuscripts (pity that photographing wasn't allowed in the Magdeburg exhibition I visited some years ago).

Another interesting aspect is the fact that we know the name of the artist: a monk Heriman who names himself at the end of the Dedication poem. Abbot Konrad II had ordered him, Heriman, to create that codex which was comissioned by Duke Heinrich. It is very unusual for that time for an artist to identify himself. There were a few writers who added their name, beginning with the mysterious Turold who wrote the Chanson de Roland, to Jehan Bodel, Chretien de Troyes and others, but it was even less common for artists like manuscript illuminators. Though one can't blame Heriman for being proud of his creation.

Helmarshausen, seen from Krukenburg Castle
Helmarshausen is now part of the larger town of Bad Karlshafen. Landgrave Carl of Hessia wanted to establish an efficient and competitive textile industry and in 1685 invited Huguenot refugees from France to settle in Helmarshausen to help him in the endeavour. They built what later was to become Karlshafen (Carl's Harbour), a well structured town centered around a harbour. You can still see that the town was planned at the drawing board and didn't grow out of older settlements like many other places.

Karlshafen, Old Harbour
The harbour that gave the town access to the Weser river and the North Sea, was one of Landgrave Carl's favouite ideas because it offered him a chance to avoid the tolls of Münden, a town belonging to the House of Brunswick-Hannover. The harbour, built in 1713, is no longer in use but still graces the town with a nice water scenery.  
¶ April 17, 2010 14 comments