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.
:)
That's fucking crazy Awesome!
Poor soldiers. Their service records avaliable online.
What happened to the privacy act and identity deft?
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.
You made the catamites up!
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.
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.
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 :(
: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.
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
pretty awesome. but damn. Hawkwood (White Company) was out of service by 1360 so he's not in the list.