QUESTION Did the 14th-century French knight Jean Le Maingre publish an exercise regimen?
In medieval warfare, a man-at-arms had to be in excellent physical condition. He had to be able to rise from a fall in full armour, which would be tough in the heat of battle, where he might be stunned, lying on a muddy battlefield among a sea of enemies. Fitness could, therefore, be a matter of life or death.
Jean II Le Maingre knew this. He was a soldier, diplomat and royal councillor to France’s King Charles VI. Born in Touraine in 1366, he was known by the nickname Boucicaut, of unknown origin but thought to derive from boce or bosse in reference to a fishing basket.
Boucicaut acquired such a fearsome reputation as a warrior and jouster that he was appointed a marshal of France in 1391, while still in his 20s.
He commanded the French forces, which suffered a disastrous defeat by the Ottoman Turks at Nicopolis in 1396, led an expedition to support the Byzantine emperor Manuel II in 1399 and served as governor of the city of Genoa (then under French protection) from 1401 to 1409.
Jean II Le Maingre was a soldier, diplomat and royal councillor to France’s King Charles VI
Le Maingre was taken hostage at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 (pictured) where he commanded the French vanguard
During his lifetime, a lively chivalric biography — entitled Le Livre Des Fais Du Bon Messire Jehan le Maingre, Dit Bouciquaut — was published, lauding his achievements and detailing his ‘workout’.
This included wall climbs, vaults and somersaults while wearing full armour: ‘He practised leaping on his warhorse fully armed; sometimes he ran or walked long distances on foot to develop length of breathing and endurance; sometimes he wielded a heavy and long axe or hammer to strengthen himself for his harness and to build up his arms and hands for striking for long periods, and to adapt himself to lifting his arms with agility.’
Le Maingre was taken hostage at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, where he commanded the French vanguard. He was captured by the English and died in 1421 in Yorkshire.
He was buried in the Collegiale Saint-Martin (which is now the location of the Basilica of St Martin), Tours, in his family’s chapel, with the epitaph ‘Grand Constable of the Emperor and of the Empire of Constantinople’.
Nicholas Gunn, Lincoln.
QUESTION Why and when did the concept of ‘heartstrings’ arise?
The phrase is based on late medieval knowledge of anatomy. Heartstrings were literally the tissues and/or vessels that surrounded the heart.
These are now defined as the pericardium and the great vessels (inferior vena cava, superior vena cava, pulmonary arteries, pulmonary veins and root of the aorta), vital for cardiovascular function. ‘Strings’ was used as an alternative term for tendons. It lives on in the word hamstrings.
The phrase is based on late medieval knowledge of anatomy. Heartstrings were literally the tissues and/or vessels that surrounded the heart
The earliest record comes from the early 15th century.
Henry Daniel, an erudite Dominican friar and scientist, used it in his health manual Liber Uricrisiarum.
For time immemorial the heart has been tied to emotion. When you have strong or sudden feelings, stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are released, the heart rate increases quickly and blood pressure rises, hence the link.
It’s not surprising, therefore, that heartstrings took on a figurative use, as in tugging on the heartstrings meaning sympathy.
The earliest recorded use came from Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (1590): ‘Who sighing sore, as if her heart in twaine/Had riven been, and all her heart-strings brast [broken]/With dreary drooping eyne look’d up like one aghast.’
Mrs A. Weiss, Tiverton, Devon.
QUESTION Aside from the Silk Road, what other trade routes from history warranted their own name?
The growth of trade significantly influenced human development, as it allowed the spread of culture between distant communities.
The Silk Road was a network of ancient trade routes that connected East and West, facilitating the exchange of silk, spices, precious metals and ideas between China and the Mediterranean. It played a key role in the spread of technology, art and religion.
The Spice Routes were maritime trails linking East to West. Pepper, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg were all highly desirable in Europe.
But before the 15th century, North African and Arab traders controlled access to the Continent, making such spices more costly than gold.
From the 15th to the 17th century, new navigation technology made sailing long distances from Europe possible. Crews took to the seas to forge trading relationships with Indonesia, China and Japan.
The spice trade fuelled the development of faster ships, encouraged colonisation and fostered diplomatic relationships between East and West.
The Spice Routes were maritime trails linking East to West. Pepper, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg were all highly desirable in Europe
Aside from being a decorative item, amber was highly valued for its medicinal properties. Large deposits of amber are found under the Baltic Sea, formed millions of years ago when forests covered the area.
The Amber Road passed through Eastern Europe and the territories of modern-day Germany, France and the Netherlands.
During the Crusades in the 12th and 13th century, the Baltic became an important source of income for the Teutonic Knights, who were granted control of the amber-producing region and vigorously defended their rights to the Amber Road.
The Tea Horse Road connected the tea-producing regions of China with Tibetan herdsmen. It played a vital role in the economic and cultural ties between the Han Chinese and Tibetan cultures.
The Triangular Trade was a notorious Atlantic trade route. Slave ships travelled across the Atlantic in a triangle between Britain, West Africa and the sugar plantations in the Americas.
Paul Cooper, Salford.
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