This is what happens when the person who actually saw something is not the same person who has the art supplies to illustrate it. They probably never even met, so what you end up with is somewhat akin to the Telephone Game. There are more examples at Buzzfeed. Some drawings may be technically NSFW. Link

Did your teenage child go to a party without your permission? Send her to her room ... to fetch the armor, then make her fight you with a wooden sword as her (medieval) punishment!

That's what one Seattle, Washington, father did:

According to police, the teen was forced her to dress in armor and fight Fremon Seay with a wooden sword for two hours. Police also said Seay punched and beat his stepdaughter with a tree branch prior to the duel. Investigators said she collapsed from exhaustion.

The couple told officers they punished the teen for going to a party without their permission.

Investigators learned the couple is part of a group of Renaissance enthusiasts, who recreate fights from the medieval era.

Officers said the parents told them it was their right to discipline their child however they see fit.

Child abuse or effective use of medieval-style punishment for today's rebellious youth?

Link

Sure enough, the researchers found, armor was exhausting. The men used 2.3 times as much energy to walk while wearing the armor than without it, and 1.9 times as much to run. Being outfitted for battle turned out to be even more tiring than hauling around a backpack of the same weight would’ve been. As it turns out, covering your legs with enormous, heavy metal plates makes moving around a lot harder.

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Brabant is a province of Belgium. The Brabant Chronicle is a 14th-century manuscript by Jan Van Boendale. The chronicle was published in several updated versions and covers events of the area from around the year 600 to 1350, and is composed of 16,000 rhyming lines and illustrations. The volumes are owned by the Royal Library of Belgium, but 15 marvelous illustrations are posted at BibliOdyssey. Link

Bishop’s Castle is Jim Bishop’s 160-foot high labor of love. His family lives in the castle he built in the San Isabel National Forest, near Pueblo, Colorado, but it is open to visitors in case you are in the area. The castle has wrought iron bridges and stairs, stained glass, turrets, and even a dragon’s head watching over everything. And it’s still under construction! See more pictures at Kuriositas. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user LePhotography)

That’s the "Scold’s Bridle," a gruesome mask used as punishment for "rude, clamorous woman," who are considered to be spending too much gossiping or quarreling in the Medieval times. It came complete with a bell on top, no less:

Time spent in the bridle was normally allocated as a punishment by a local magistrate. The custom developed in Britain in the 1500s, and spread to some other European countries, including Germany. When wearing the mask it was impossible to speak. This example has a bell on top to draw even more attention to the wearer, increasing their humiliation. It was used until the early 1800s as a punishment in workhouses.

From Science Museum’s Brought to Life: Exploring the History of Medicine: Link

The question then becomes, I guess, why were medieval books the size they were? And the answer to that is simple: medieval books were the size they were because medieval sheep were the size they were. Remember, paper wasn’t the original medium for page-creation. Medieval books were constructed of parchment, which is a fancy word for sheep or goat skin (and primarily sheep skin, because there were a lot more of them around).

The whole sheepskin, flattened out and folded in half, is one common size. Fold it again, and it’s another size. All of these sizes and dimensions are still being used by printing houses in the 21st century. The Kindle, for example, is the size of a sheepskin folded over three times. Pyrdum provides further examples and concludes:

Next time you’re squinting at your mass-market copy of Dan Brown’s latest wishing the pages were just a smidge roomier, blame the medievals for not having bigger sheep.

Link via Wired | Photo by Flickr user David Masters used under Creative Commons license

Castle restorer Michel Guyot (previously at Neatorama) is heading a project to build a medieval fortress in … Arkansas!

Thirty masons, carpenters and stone carvers authentically dressed, will work all year round for twenty years, the time required to build a fortress in the Middle Ages. Imagine a place where you leave behind our technically advanced society to hear the clang of hammers on chisels as stones are being carved, and to hear snorting cart-horses pulling heavy stones on creaking wooden wagons. The blacksmith, the rope maker, the woodcutter will work right in front of you as they practise medieval techniques of construction.

The Ozark Medieval Fortress is now open for tours. Groups rates are available. Link -via Metafilter

For all the foodies – the John Rylands Library (U.K.) has now digitalized and published The Forme of Cury, a cookbook dating back to about 1420. Compiled by master cooks to Richard II, this book contains hundreds of recipes, and includes exotic dishes featuring porpoise and blancmange.

The recipe begins “For to make blanc mange” and goes on to say “put rice in water all night and in the morrow, wash it clean”.

“It’s not a like a modern cookery book so it doesn’t give you exact quantities and times,” said Mr Hodgson.

“The complete book – all 100 pages – is now available online so that anybody who is interested in cookery, well, you could actually make some of the recipes now.”

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by dradell.

Just because they wear colorful, puffy pants, it didn’t mean that these medieval martial artists weren’t deadly. Paul Hector Mair documented the various gruesome weapons used by fighters during medieval times in his manuscript De Arte Athletica.

You can browse the entire manuscript online (it’s 600 pages long), but if you’re short on time, BibilOdyssey has some choice illustrations: Link