Author Archives: Ruth

Other Medieval Wild Animals

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Ruth

In the Middle Ages, the European bison, or wisent, was still wandering about in herds, but it was quickly becoming extinct like its relative, the aurochs. There seem to have been small herds still in the deepest forests in France … Continue reading →

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Medieval Deer

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Ruth

The Anglo-Saxon word “deer” meant all wild animals in general, but it came to mean, in modern English, the one large wild animal that survived best in shrinking forest: the cud-chewing, horn-growing hoofed one. The red deer is the one … Continue reading →

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Medieval Wild Pigs

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Ruth

Wild pigs also roamed Europe in large herds. Boars had large, sharp tusks, but even without tusks, sows could be just as deadly. As omnivores, pigs could live anywhere. In the forest, they lived on acorns, while near towns, they … Continue reading →

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Medieval Bears

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Ruth

The Eurasian brown bear, Ursus arctos, ranged over every part of Europe in the early Middle Ages. Its diet was mainly mean, since small animals were also plentiful. Two different bear populations met in Europe, one coming from the Pyrenees … Continue reading →

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Medieval Wolves

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Ruth

The “medieval” period stretches from the rise of Islam, about 650 AD, to the full establishment of the Ottoman Empire in about 1500. In the Late Classical Period of 400-500 AD, just before the Early Medieval, Europe was heavily forested … Continue reading →

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Medieval Animals

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Ruth

Animals haven’t changed a lot in the last thousand years, but human use of them has shifted, and thus they too have changed somewhat. We can divided animals into six useful categories: wild animals, farm animals, horses, pets, exotic (zoo) … Continue reading →

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The Map of Piri Reis, 1513 and 1929

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Ruth

In 1929, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and the new nation of Turkey was going through painful rapid social changes under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Most importantly, they were changing their writing system from Arabic script to Latin. … Continue reading →

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Gunpowder Empires, 1501-1524

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Ruth

We’ve traced the messy patchwork of changing power alliances in the sweep of Asian land between Turkey and China. In 1500, the patchwork was as shifting as ever, although the Ottoman piece grew larger and larger. On its eastern border, … Continue reading →

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The End of Mamluk Rule in Egypt, 1492-1517

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Ruth

1492 was a very bad year in Egypt. It was a particularly bad plague visitation year, in a place with a large aging elite class. The only thing worse than thousands of geezers who still control everything and have all … Continue reading →

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Christian Egypt under Mamluk Rule, 1382-1517

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Ruth

In earlier entries, you read about how the Mamluks, slaves raised to fight, became a ruling class with a complete bureaucracy as well as attempts to normalize into a hereditary monarchy. The Kipchak Turk Mamluks had their “Mafia” structure in … Continue reading →

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