I read a lot of primary historical sources for my history degree, and while the majority are fairly boring chronicles (300+ pages that read like the events log in mount and blade aren't fun to read), occasionally you come across stuff that's interesting, laugh-inducing or just weird.
My favorite, off the top of my head, was a guy called Usama Ibn Munqidh, a syrian mercenary-poet who roamed around the middle east during the early crusader period. His book is full of vivid first-hand descriptions of mediaeval combat, but he's best when he describes stuff that happens to him when he ends up in the crusader states. here are a couple of examples:
(frank=christian european)
This one reads like that scene from four lions.
And finally, Here's a first hand description of how difficult it was to pierce chainmail.
For anyone who's interested in the human element of history, do you have any examples of things you've read, like the above?
My favorite, off the top of my head, was a guy called Usama Ibn Munqidh, a syrian mercenary-poet who roamed around the middle east during the early crusader period. His book is full of vivid first-hand descriptions of mediaeval combat, but he's best when he describes stuff that happens to him when he ends up in the crusader states. here are a couple of examples:
(frank=christian european)
The Franks are void of all jealousy. One of them may be walking along with his wife. They meet another man who takes the wife aside to have a private conversation with her, while her husband stands by, waiting for her to conclude the conversation. If she lingers too long for his patience, he might leave her alone with this other man and go on his way.
My father (may Allah's mercy be on his soul!) built a bath keeper there named Salim, who told us this:
"I opened the bathhouse in Ma'arrah. We had a bathhouse and was working there. To the bath came a Frankish knight. Now, the Franks do not like to wear the cloth around their loins while they bathe. So this Frank reached out and pulled the cloth off from around my legs while I was bathing! He threw it away. Then he noticed that I had shaven my pubic hair. He shouted in surprise and told me to come closer, and he touched my private parts. "This is great!" he exclaimed. "Do the same for me!" He lay on his back and had me shave him . The hair was as thick as his beard, but I shaved it off. When I was done, he kept touching it and smiling and shouting, "This is great!" Then he said, "Do the same for my wife!" "He had his servant bring the lady, and she entered the men's bath and lay on her back. When I hesitated, the knight insisted, "Do to Madame what you have done to me!"
So I shaved her hair, too, while her husband was looking on. When I was done, he thanked me, gave me some money, and left."
My father (may Allah's mercy be on his soul!) built a bath keeper there named Salim, who told us this:
"I opened the bathhouse in Ma'arrah. We had a bathhouse and was working there. To the bath came a Frankish knight. Now, the Franks do not like to wear the cloth around their loins while they bathe. So this Frank reached out and pulled the cloth off from around my legs while I was bathing! He threw it away. Then he noticed that I had shaven my pubic hair. He shouted in surprise and told me to come closer, and he touched my private parts. "This is great!" he exclaimed. "Do the same for me!" He lay on his back and had me shave him . The hair was as thick as his beard, but I shaved it off. When I was done, he kept touching it and smiling and shouting, "This is great!" Then he said, "Do the same for my wife!" "He had his servant bring the lady, and she entered the men's bath and lay on her back. When I hesitated, the knight insisted, "Do to Madame what you have done to me!"
So I shaved her hair, too, while her husband was looking on. When I was done, he thanked me, gave me some money, and left."
Here is an illustration which I myself witnessed.
When I used to visit Nablus, I always took lodging with a man named Mu’izz, whose home was a lodging house for Muslims. The house had windows which opened to the road, and there stood opposite to it on the other side of the road a house belonging to a Frank who sold wine for the merchants. He would take some wine in a bottle and go around announcing it by shouting, "So and so, the merchant, has just opened a cask full of this wine. He who wants to buy some of it will find it in such and such a place." The Frank's pay for the announcement made would be the wine in that bottle.
One day this Frank went home and found another man with his wife in the same bed. He asked him, "What could have made you enter into my wife's room?" The man replied, "I was tired, so I went in to rest." "But how," asked he, "did you get into my bed?" The other replied, "Well, I found a bed that was spread, so I slept in it." "But," said he, "my wife was sleeping with you!" The other replied, "Well, the bed is hers. How could I therefore have prevented her from using her own bed?" "By the truth of my religion," said the husband, "if you do this again, you and I might have a quarrel." Such was for the Frank the entire expression of his disapproval and the limit of his jealousy.
When I used to visit Nablus, I always took lodging with a man named Mu’izz, whose home was a lodging house for Muslims. The house had windows which opened to the road, and there stood opposite to it on the other side of the road a house belonging to a Frank who sold wine for the merchants. He would take some wine in a bottle and go around announcing it by shouting, "So and so, the merchant, has just opened a cask full of this wine. He who wants to buy some of it will find it in such and such a place." The Frank's pay for the announcement made would be the wine in that bottle.
One day this Frank went home and found another man with his wife in the same bed. He asked him, "What could have made you enter into my wife's room?" The man replied, "I was tired, so I went in to rest." "But how," asked he, "did you get into my bed?" The other replied, "Well, I found a bed that was spread, so I slept in it." "But," said he, "my wife was sleeping with you!" The other replied, "Well, the bed is hers. How could I therefore have prevented her from using her own bed?" "By the truth of my religion," said the husband, "if you do this again, you and I might have a quarrel." Such was for the Frank the entire expression of his disapproval and the limit of his jealousy.
This one reads like that scene from four lions.
Whenever I visited Jerusalem I always entered the Aqsa Mosque, beside which stood a small mosque which the Franks had converted into a church. When I used to enter the Aqsa Mosque, which was occupied by the Templars, who were my friends, the Templars would evacuate the little adjoining mosque so that I might pray in it. One day, I entered this mosque, repeated the first phrase, "Allah is great," and stood up in the act of praying, upon which one of the Franks rushed on me, got hold of me and turned my face east ward saying, "This is the way you should pray!" A group of Templars hastened to him, seized him, and repelled him from me. I resumed my prayer. The same man, while the others were otherwise busy, rushed once more on me and turned my face eastward, saying, "This is the way you should pray!" The Templars again came in to him and expelled him. They apologized to me, saying, "This is a stranger who has only recently arrived from the land of the Franks and he has never before seen anyone praying except eastward." There upon I said to myself, "...I have had enough prayer." So I went out and have ever been surprised at the conduct of this devil of a man, at the change in the colour of his face, his trembling and his sentiment at the sight of one praying southwards towards Mecca.
And finally, Here's a first hand description of how difficult it was to pierce chainmail.
[...] By this time the vanguard of the Frankish horsemen had reached me, so I retired before them, turning back my lance in their direction and my eyes toward them lest some one of their horse should prove to quick for me and pierce me with his lance.
In front of me were some of our companions, and we were surrounded by gardens with walls as high as a sitting man. My mare hit with it’s breast one of our companions, so I turned it’s head to the left and applied the spurs to it’s sides, whereupon it leaped over the wall. I so regulated my position until I stood on a level with the Franks.
The wall only separated us. One of their horsemen hastened to me, displaying his colors in a green and yellow silk tunic, which I assumed did not have a coat of mail underneath. I therefore let him alone until he passed me. Then I applied my spurs to my mare, which leapt over the wall, and I smote him with the lance. He bent sideways so much that his head reached the stirrup, his shield and lance fell off his hand, and his helmet off his head. By that time we had reached our infantry. He then resumed his position, erect in the saddle. Having had linked mail under his tunic, my lance did not wound him. His companions caught up to him, all returned together, and the footman recovered his shield, lance, and helmet.
In front of me were some of our companions, and we were surrounded by gardens with walls as high as a sitting man. My mare hit with it’s breast one of our companions, so I turned it’s head to the left and applied the spurs to it’s sides, whereupon it leaped over the wall. I so regulated my position until I stood on a level with the Franks.
The wall only separated us. One of their horsemen hastened to me, displaying his colors in a green and yellow silk tunic, which I assumed did not have a coat of mail underneath. I therefore let him alone until he passed me. Then I applied my spurs to my mare, which leapt over the wall, and I smote him with the lance. He bent sideways so much that his head reached the stirrup, his shield and lance fell off his hand, and his helmet off his head. By that time we had reached our infantry. He then resumed his position, erect in the saddle. Having had linked mail under his tunic, my lance did not wound him. His companions caught up to him, all returned together, and the footman recovered his shield, lance, and helmet.
For anyone who's interested in the human element of history, do you have any examples of things you've read, like the above?