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Medieval Service Records Now Online

Started by Habbaku, July 20, 2009, 10:22:58 PM

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Habbaku

July 20, 2009, 10:22:58 PM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8160081.stm

QuoteThe detailed service records of 250,000 medieval soldiers - including archers who served with Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt - have gone online.

The database of those who fought in the Hundred Years War reveals salaries, sickness records and who was knighted.  List of catamites to be determined.

The full profiles of soldiers from 1369 to 1453 will allow researchers to piece together details of their lives.

Thomas, Lord Despencer is the youngest soldier on the database, whose career began when he was aged just 12 in 1385.

Elsewhere, the career of Thomas Gloucestre, who fought at Agincourt, can be traced over 43 years and includes campaigns in Prussia and Jerusalem.

'Remarkable survival'

The website is the product of a research project by Professor Anne Curry of the University of Southampton and Dr Adrian Bell of the University of Reading.

Dr Bell said: "The service records survive because the English exchequer had a very modern obsession with wanting to be sure that the government's money was being spent as intended.

"Therefore we have the remarkable survival of indentures for service detailing the forces to be raised, muster rolls showing this service and naming every soldier from duke to archer."

He said accounts from captains showing how funds were spent and entries detailing when the exchequer requested the payments can be found.

The free-to-use website, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, also shows which soldiers rode the furthest.

:)
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.
-J. R. R. Tolkien

jimmy olsen

#1
July 20, 2009, 10:23:59 PM
That's fucking crazy Awesome!
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
--------------------------------------------
1 Karma Chameleon point

Siege

#2
July 21, 2009, 01:31:12 AM
Poor soldiers. Their service records avaliable online.
What happened to the privacy act and identity deft?



"All men are created equal, then some become infantry."

"Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't."

"Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!"

Josquius

#3
July 21, 2009, 07:23:55 AM Last Edit: July 21, 2009, 07:27:45 AM by Tyr
Since the BBC are too lazy: http://www.icmacentre.ac.uk/soldier/database/

Can find none of mine. Lord knows how it was spelt back then though. And the thing doesn't let you do any range searches or anything.
██████
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Razgovory

#4
July 21, 2009, 07:29:59 AM
You made the catamites up!
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Grey Fox

#5
July 21, 2009, 07:33:45 AM
Quote from: Siege on July 21, 2009, 01:31:12 AM
Poor soldiers. Their service records avaliable online.
What happened to the privacy act and identity deft?

Statute of Limitations.
Colonel Caliga is Awesome.

Caliga

#6
July 21, 2009, 08:13:36 AM
This might actually be useful to me if my English ancestors didn't have common names like "Henry" and "Sharp".

A German database would be FAR more useful, since my German ancestors for the most part had unusual names.
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Valmy

#7
July 21, 2009, 08:14:28 AM
Quote from: Caliga on July 21, 2009, 08:13:36 AM
A German database would be FAR more useful, since my German ancestors for the most part had unusual names.

Too bad your more recent ancestors bombed the records of your German ancestors to ashes :(
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Caliga

#8
July 21, 2009, 08:15:43 AM
 :lol:

That's literally true.  My mother's father (who was of English and Scottish origin) was a navigator for the USAAF in WWII and did bombing missions over Germany, at least for a little while before he managed to transfer to the radio signals service or whatever it was called.
0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

Ed Anger

#9
July 21, 2009, 08:55:13 AM
Looked up a couple names. One served with John Beaufort, the Duke of Somerset in 1443, and another was an archer killing Irish in the standing force there.

Maybe my ancestor lynched my wife's ancestors.  :P
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

saskganesh

#10
July 21, 2009, 09:29:52 AM
pretty awesome. but damn. Hawkwood (White Company) was out of service by 1360 so he's not in the list.
humans were created in their own image

Habbaku

#11
July 21, 2009, 10:04:20 AM
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.
-J. R. R. Tolkien
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