Comments on: Mary Rose artifacts on display for the first time

By: lydia

lydia — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 20:27:49 +0000

year it sounds it!

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:54:23 +0000

The Normans were more into wine than beer or ale, so they made particular note of the vineyards in Domesday. For the bulk of people, though, beer and ale were the beverage of choice.

There were certainly vineyards in England from Roman times, mainly concentrated in monasteries, but between plague and climate change, British wine making declined drastically after the 13th c. Henry’s hate-on for Catholic institutions didn’t help either.

By: LadyShea

LadyShea — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:22:51 +0000

I always kind of assumed wine was common, due to my maiden name- which is English- and refers to those who lived near the vineyards (the name is concentrated in Wiltshire county). Vineyards are also mentioned in the Domesday Book.

My ancestors came to the US in the 1600′s.

Now I need to do some more research instead of going by my assumptions…thanks

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:53:50 +0000

It sounds it.

By: Clutch

Clutch — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:30:35 +0000

It’s in a huge open building, but with climate control stuff underneath (and presumably inside) it. You can’t quite touch it, but you can get within a couple of metres. In fact you can get right up under the bow, with the enormous bowsprit projecting way out over you.

Of course it’s tiny for a ship nowadays, but the fact that it’s entirely visible, plus the fact that it’s made of great slabs of wood, make it seem vast. A sublime experience.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:32:23 +0000

According to Jared Diamond of Guns, Germs and Steel fame, the first documented outbreak of syphilis was with French sailors at the siege of Naples in 1495. It was pretty much fatal until it European immune systems seemed to have gotten used to it right around the era the Mary Rose sank.

They tried mercury to cure it right away. Mercury was considered the first metal, the one from which all others sprang, so it loomed large in medical/alchemical nostrums.

It even seemed to help in some cases, although it may have just been spontaneous remission.

By: bingley

bingley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:52:10 +0000

Hmm, so when did the use of mercury to treat syphilis start? I’d only come across it before in an 18th or 19th century context. If syphilis was indeed brought back from the New World, it hadn’t been around that long.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:43:39 +0000

Oh man, jealous! The Vasa was kept in a temporary museum for years before it got the sweet new digs too.

From what I can see from the pictures, it’s in an open room. Is it behind glass or anything? How close can you get?

By: Clutch

Clutch — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:34:09 +0000

Day before yesterday I went to the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. Incredibly cool — one of the best museums I’ve ever been to, and mostly because of the presence of the ship itself: huge, ornate, menacing. I hope the Mary Rose gets a venue to do it justice too.

By: livius drusus

livius drusus — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:59:35 +0000

Beer, definitely. Wine was a little more rarified in places like England where vineyards are uncommon.

Very true that all these finds, including the nits, are of major importance. The Mary Rose is considered the “Tudor Pompeii” because it’s such a rich slice of life.