Author: Scott Manning
-
Military historians don’t evoke other battles like they used to
In doing some research on the Battle of Marathon, I was reading the late A. R. Burn’s Persia and the Greeks (1962). He gets into the nitty-gritty of topography, religion, logistics, strategy, and tactics. Over the course of 13 pages describing the lead up to the battle and its aftermath, Burn evoked numerous battles from other…
-
Bodies Piling up at the Battle of Cremera (477 BC)
Inspired by the “Battle of the Bastards” episode from Game of Thrones, we are looking at ancient accounts of bodies piling up during battle. Starting with the oldest account I found—Cremera—the common problem with many of these ancient accounts immediately appears, as almost all of these historians were writing well after the events. For example,…
-
8 Ancient Accounts of Bodies Piling up in Battle
With the airing of Game of Thrones’ “Battle of the Bastards” episode, many historians, myself included, offered commentary on how scenes resembled those found in medieval chronicles. One of the more unusual aspects, at least for Hollywood productions, was the piles of bodies on the battlefield. Numerous articles recounted how the episode’s creators were inspired…
-
War is Hell: A Military History of Hellraiser
The Hellraiser franchise features some of the most unforgettable imagery, even if you haven’t seen a single film. Pinhead is a pop-culture icon who sits comfortably alongside Freddy Kruger and Jason. My parents wisely kept me away from these movies as a child, but in my rebellious 30’s, I have watched them with an initial tongue-in-cheek…
-
Edward Longshanks Sent His Heart and Bones to War?
The deathbed image of English King Edward I (r. 1272-1307) refusing to show mercy to William Wallace is a modern one, but also completely false. Edward had Wallace executed nearly 2 years before he himself died. The king was far from his deathbed at that point. Thanks, Braveheart. Remarkably, this is not the most fantastical…
-
4 Reasons Why Battle of the Bastards was no Cannae
I received some criticism on my Game of Thrones article–Battle of the Bastards is Straight from Medieval Chronicles. In particular, some folks are shocked by the lack of any mention of Cannae (216 BC), the ancient battle where Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca enveloped a numerically-superior Roman army and destroyed it. SPOILER WARNING Despite the notion…
-
Battle of the Bastards is Straight from Medieval Chronicles
The “Battle of the Bastards” episode of Game of Thrones has provided remarkable depictions of warfare that come straight from medieval chroniclers. Here is a look at some of those depictions and their medieval equivalent. SPOILER WARNING The wall of the dead One of the most striking features of the Battle of the Bastards is the…
-
The Hannibal History Channel Doesn’t Want You to Know
A buddy of mine asked what I thought of History Channel’s latest depiction of Hannibal Barca in their docu-drama series Barbarians Rising. First, let’s cover the good stuff. Visually, the show is beautiful. The maps and computerized battles are striking. The depiction of Hannibal’s army slugging it over the Alps during winter is appropriately gruesome. The…
-
Classical Reception: Hannibal in the Music of Killah Priest
Anyone familiar with Brooklyn-based rapper Killah Priest knows his propensity for mixing urban culture with historical topics such as Alexander the Great and the Byzantines. For example, he starts one of his more famous verses by yelling, “It’s the Byzantine king!” The man literally has a lines about watching the History and Discovery channels. One…
-
Patrick Johnston has a point about historians as leaders
Queen’s University vice-chancellor Patrick Johnston wants to create leaders and the historical community has missed this point. Johnston made an offhanded comment in an interview last week and he’s been paying the price since. Society doesn’t need a 21-year-old who is a sixth century historian. It needs a 21-year-old who really understands how to analyse things,…
-
The Heart of Robert the Bruce
The ruins of the Melrose Abbey in the Scottish Borders are as eerie as they are beautiful. Built in the 12th-century, it was used as a monastery and later a church well into the 1800s. While Scotland has plenty of church ruins, these are notable as they purportedly house the heart of Robert the Bruce.…
-
Pope Boniface VIII’s bull against dismembering bodies
If you want to encourage nobles to do more of something, ban it. That’s what Pope Boniface VIII would have learned had he lived to see sustained popularity of dismembering and boiling corpses. His efforts to stop it only ensured it continued with greater vigor, creating a medieval Streisand Effect. From the 9th to the 13th…