2016 Reprint of the 1945 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. When it was first published, this was the first work on the subject from the medieval Arab world that had been made available in English. The original manuscript which formed the basis for this translation is contemporary with Ascham's \"Toxophilus\", which is considered the only source of detailed knowledge of English archery. The Arabic manuscript is thorough and authoritative, evidently the work of an expert bowman. A vast amount of information concerning the long-range artillery, by which one eastern empire after another had been won, is here brought forward into full light after having laid hidden for centuries. It can still serve as a textbook on archery to this day.

History of Archery - When did archery start? This question is still debated, yet most evidence points to its emergence in the Upper Paleolithic.

In 1911, Pierpont Morgan purchased fifty-seven leaves of Persian and Mughal miniatures and calligraphy. Orchestrated largely through the efforts of Belle Da Costa Greene, Morgan’s librarian, the acquisition marked a turning point in the history of the Islamic collections at the Morgan. A core set of these leaves once formed part of a magnificent album compiled for Husain Khan Shamlu (r. 1598–1618), governor of Herat (Afghanistan) and one of the most powerful rulers in Persia in the early seventeenth century.

Genealogist Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers runs a great website for genealogists. He suggests ‘Daily Blogging Prompts’ to help inspire bloggers to write genealogical posts. In the spirit of one of his Prompts, Shopping Saturday, my blog today is about shopping (or rather tradesmen) in Tudor Great Dunmow. The list of names for the 1525-6 collection for …

Did the codpiece – highlight of male fashion in the Renaissance – gradually succumb to the ‘peascod’ belly? As a Cambridge conference investigates the subject, follow the pouch’s rise and fall through European portraiture•

Those of you who follow our blog regularly will surely have noticed our deep and abiding love for medieval animals and bestiaries; in the past we’ve done posts about dogs, cats, elephants, hedgehogs, beavers, owls, and more. But today we thought we would have a look at a few of...

The zodiac sign of SAGITTARIUS is associated with the month of November and it is represented by the archer. In some of the standard medieval iconographic compositions, the archer is usually a centaur (half man, half horse) and is always shown in full flight with a bow and arrow about to be shot. Alternatively, the archer is represented by a man with no animal parts. In the modern horoscope the zodiac sign of SAGITTARIUS covers the period from about 22 November until 21 December. Link to the "Zodiac sign of SAGITTARIUS" set Link to the "Zodiac signs" collection Manuscript title: Codex Schürstab Origin: Nürnberg (Germany) Period: 15th century Image source: Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, Ms. C 54: Codex Schürstab (www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/zbz/C0054/22v)

Here are five fun facts about medieval archery which you can use to impress your friends

John Gower: Vox Clamantis. Manuscript: England c1400. MS Hunter 59 (T.2.17): portrait of Gower (folio 6v) Gower used the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 in this long Latin poem to describe the faults of government and the various classes of society. Caused by a complex interaction of social discontents, the Revolt was a brief but horrific episode of anarchic insurrection. The rebels (not all of them peasants) plundered London, massacred a group of Flemings, and murdered the Archbishop of Canterbury. The earlier portion of the Vox Clamantis contains a vivid account of this uprising in the form of an allegory, with a somewhat hysterical portrayal of the rebels as domestic animals reverting to bestiality. Chaucer himself only makes one passing reference to the Revolt in a facetious remark about Jack Straw, one of its main leaders, in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Nonetheless, as a member of the upper class, he probably shared Gower’s view of the rebels as being a lawless rabble. In this copy of the revised version of the Vox Clamantis and Chronica Tripertita, the text is preceded by a full page representation of the author firing his shafts at the world. This globe is composed of the elements of air, earth and water in three compartments. There is a second illustration (found towards the end of the text) of the Gower arms supported by two flying angels, with a cloth-covered bier below. This does not depict Gower's coffin, as the manuscript was actually made before his death in 1408. In fact, the text has been revised and corrected by means of extensive erasure and substitution, possibly under the supervision of Gower himself. There seems originally to have been another illustration on folio 131v, but this has also been erased and only survives as a shadowy palimpsest beneath the text.

This is an illuminated and illustrated incomplete copy of the Shāhnāmah (Book of kings) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdawsī (d. 411 or 416 AH / 1020-5 CE), dating between the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE and the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. The text, written in black nastaʿlīq script with chapter/section headings in red on a gold ground, is illustrated with seventeen paintings. Two of the illustrations (fols. 2b and 269a) are in a clearly recognizable Qajar style and certainly date to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. The others may be late Safavid, repainted in the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. To explore fully digitized manuscripts with a virtual page-turning application, please visit Walters Ex Libris.

Edmund of England: Scene, Martyrdom ñ The hand of God emerges from a cloudy arc of heaven toward Edmund, who is pierced with arrows and tied to tree before six men shooting with bows and arrows. The illustration has a patterned background and decorated frame.Illustration of Abbo of Fleury, Passio Edmundi, chapter 10.