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By Michael Cooper

Castles remind us of a time that was full of adventure and romance. Castles remind us of a time in history in which there was a lack of government and order. Although there was not mass confusion and anarchy, there was less order. Castles were the basis of feudalism. Castles can be seen as a manifestation of feudal society. Feudalism started with the rise of castles and ended with their end. The castle set the tone as the only homestead that nobility would live in during this time. Castles were influenced by and influenced many medieval cathedrals in Europe. Although castles served many purposes, their primary purpose was military. At that time, people were not protected by merely shutting and locking a regular wooden door. They needed the protection of castles and their knights. The lords and constables of castles needed serfs to work the land to make revenue in order to pay rent to the more important nobles. Given the following evidence, it is relatively obvious why castles and castle building played an instrumental role in the development of Western Europe.

Castles are unique to a time in history known as medieval times. The word medieval in our times is an insult to anything as is the word feudal. Through the haze and ruins, one can imagine dungeons, chivalrous knights, and mighty Lords who ruled the land and protected the common peasant from barbarians and other invaders. The rise of castles marked the rise of feudalism. This was all started by the crusades. The majority of the knights and nobles went to liberate the holy land from the Muslims. The Crusades influenced castle builders back in Europe. Ideas were gathered from Muslim and Byzantine fortifications. Because of the lack of protection in Europe, a castle’s strength needed to be increased because of the ever-present threat of a Muslim invasion. The end of Feudalism also marked the end of the middle ages and hence the end of the great castle era.

Castles integrated the combination of residence and fortress. The first castle dates back to King Sargon II of Khorsabad in ancient Egypt. He erected a grand palace for himself to protect him and his subjects. The first recorded references to castles was the Edict of Pistes by Charles the Bald, king of the West Franks. “We will and expressly command that whoever at this time has made castles and fortifications and enclosures without our out permission shall have them demolished by the First of August” (Brown Architecture of Castles 13). Other castle laws were the Norman Institutions handed down by William the Conqueror after he took over England. One law says that no one shall raise castles in Normandy without the Duke’s license.

An ideal castle site was one that had natural obstacles for defense such as steep hillsides and water. Castles that were built on rocks or islands were especially effective. An example of this is Bodiam in Sussex which was the home of Sir Edward Dalyngrigge in 1385. A moat offered good protection, but building on a lake or river offered better protection. The site should not be too remote. It should have water and building material readily available nearby. A site should have a good climate, good pasture, and ample fertile land. If a castle had all these things, it would increase its chances of surviving a siege.

A large majority of early castles followed the motte and bailey design. These designs utilized earth and timber. A motte and bailey design is a design where the keep is on a hill or motte behind the bailey which is the open area of the castle similar to a town square. A bridge usually connected the motte to the bailey. The motte was a great mound of earth or rock. Sometimes it was artificial, but the majority of the time it was authentic. At its base there was a deep trench that resembled a moat. This was used as defense. Surrounding the motte was a wall of timber. The motte also contained the keep which is where the lord of the manor and his family lived. The keep was the innermost part of the castle. It was the last defense against attack. The keep has also been referred to as the donjon. This is where the French got the word dungeon meaning the jail or place to hold prisoners. Surrounding the entire premises was a wooden fence that was at least ten feet in height. These wooden stakes were then implanted in the ground for support. The fence sometimes stood upon posts to allow men to get through. During a siege, the perimeter would be covered with wet animal skins to curb the threat of arson. Most motte and bailey castles were built before William the Conqueror’s conquest in 1066.

Walter the Archdeacon wrote a biography of John, bishop of Therouanne about 1130. In it he describes Merchem Castle near Dixmude: “There was, near the porch of the church, a fortress which we may call a castle… exceedingly high, built after the custom of that land by the lord of the town many years before. For it is the habit of the magnates and nobles of those parts… to raise a mound of earth as high as they can and surround it with a ditch as broad as possible. The top of this mound they completely enclose with a palisade of hewn logs bound close together like a wall, with towers set in its circuit so far as the site permits. In the middle of the space within the palisade they build a residence, or, dominating everything, keep” (Brown Architecture of Castles 21)

Castle designers saw a need for improvement because wood and earth were not strong and were not effective protection against fire. There was also a need for bigger, grander castles because noble visitors did not travel alone so a castle would have to have enough room for the occasional visitor and his or her group. The architects who designed castles were known as master masons. They saw that stone would be a more effective building material. Although it was cold and hard to work with, it provided the much needed protection against fire. These newer castles are called enclosure castles. Like motte and dailey designs, enclosures castles had a wall protecting the perimeter of the manor. However these castles were not built upon hills or mottes. The keep of the castle was incorporated into the wall surrounding the property. These castles still had a bailey. With this new style of castles came a new construction material. Stone became the only material to build one’s castle out of because it made castles much stronger against attack. The tower of London is an example of a masonry castle. The ideal stone for castles was the fine limestone of Caen in Normandy. This limestone was soft when first quarried, but gradually became hard as it was exposed to air. To insulate against the cold stone walls of castles, the women made tapestries for the walls. The tapestries almost always contained a story relating to the castle. One of the most famous tapestries is the Bayeux Tapestry. It depicts the Norman knights before Hastings in 1066. Since they were now using stone, castle builders were able to integrate defenses into the castles.

Castles needed to have defenses. They were not made impregnable. They were made so that it would take an enormous amount of artillery and money to take the castle. They were made so that it would take a large amount of time to take a castle. The castle of Newcastle at Tyne was far from impregnable in 1173, but it was strong enough to make an ill-prepared Scottish King William think twice about a siege: “Well sees the king of Scotland that he will never complete the conquest of Newcastle on Tyne without military engines” (Ibid 80). Some defenses used by castles were machiolations. Machiolations were projecting battlements to protect against arrows and other weapons. They were at the top of the wall surrounding the castle. Arrowslits or arrow loops were slits that were cut into stone to allow sharpshooters a place to shoot. They were angled so that the sharpshooter was protected from oncoming projectiles. Another defense used was Greek fire. This was an incendiary device that was used against wooden attack machines. The ingredients of Greek fire are a mystery. It is thought that it contained some of the following components: crude oil, refined oil, naphtha, pitch, resin, sulfur, quicklime, and bitumen. This deadly mixture was put on an arrow and then shot onto one of the attacking machines and it gave explosive results. Greek fire was probably developed in the seventh century by the Byzantines for naval warfare. Greek fire was a morale builder for the defenders during a siege. The Lord of Joinville described Greek fire as “This Greek fire was suck that seen from the front as it darted towards us it appeared as large as a vessel of verjuice, and the tail of the fire that streamed behind it was as long as the shaft of a great lance. The noise it made in coming was like that of a thunderbolt falling from the skies; it seemed like a dragon flying through the air. The light this huge, flaming mass shed all around it was so bright that you could see right through the camp as clearly as if it were day. Three times that night the enemy slung Greek fire at us from their petraries, and three times they shot it from their arbalestres a tour” (Ibid 88).

Weapons were used against castles during a siege included the trebuchet, mangonel, belfry, ballista, ram, and bore. The trebuchet was a big machine that flung artillery like a catapult. The mangonel was similar to the trebuchet but smaller and more maneuverable. Its strength was based on the tautness of the hemp, rope, or tightly twisted animal sinew. Artillery used by these weapons include rocks, fireballs, and dead animals to spread disease. The belfry was a mobile tower which was built higher than the castle walls in order to scale them during siege. The ballista was essentially a large crossbow that hurled rocks and other large boulders. The ram was a device that did what its name says. It was used to knock the portcullis or gate down. The bore was a device used by the attackers during a tactic known as mining. They mined from their camps to the castle walls. They would set up a support then start a fire to break down the castle walls. The defenders of the castle also used this tactic to counter the attackers siege. They would watch the moat to see the vibrations caused by the attackers shovels. Then they would start a counter mine. This was the most effective tactic used in a siege but it was the most dangerous. It was dark, had contaminated or little air and there was always a threat that the tunnel would cave in or be caved in by the castle’s garrison.

Castles were not just fortresses but also residences of the nobility. It is this balance of military and residential qualities which make a castle so different from other fortifications. Castles had all the best furnishings and colors. They had chapels because Europe was a Christian continent. They occasionally had more than one. On the castle property were things like gardens, parks, vineyards, dovecotes, fishponds, mills, and stables. Castle were not as primitive as we think them to be. They had some of the conveniences that we have today. They had a form of a toilet. It was a toilet made of stone. People who wished to use it had to bring some material to protect themselves from the cold stone. The waste would eventually drain to a river by way of an underground pool. These cesspits would often have to be cleaned out by dung farmers.

Not all castles were extravagant fortresses that housed kings and all his subjects. Many castles were just built for the lord, his family and a few servants. Other castles that were not well protected or had no threat of attack were called fortified manors. The design of a castle was taken very seriously by the lords. There is reference to Aubree, wife of the Count of Bayeux, executing on the spot, Lanfred, her master mason after he completed her castle. She did this because she was so pleased with it that she didn’t want him to build one like it for anyone else.

Castles were the basis of feudalism. They controlled the land and all within it. A castle was a lord’s response to a mounted cavalry charge. Castles were effective centers of military power and territorial lordship whether or not the king or prince was there. Castles are an important part to history. They are phenomenal structures that still influence modern houses today.

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Tag: Medieval Articles

By Aaron Schwartz

The word “renaissance” means rebirth, this period was also called “Age of Discovery and the revival of Learning”. Renaissance means the moving of the European culture and re-discovering of the past Middle Ages.

The term “High Renaissance” applies to a short period of time at the end of 15th century – beginning of the 16th century. One of the main characteristics of this period was that masters used their artistic skills along with intellectual ones. The fact that the “High Renaissance” was so short is explained by impossibility of transferring the genius of the masters to their pupils.

In Italy the Renaissance appeared in the late 14th century. The developments of art and thought managed to transform the culture of Italy and define the course of Western civilization. This movement could not be called an anti-Christian, but instead of continuing focusing on gods and religion, the individuals started to cultivate personal excellence, recognition of person’s achievements and tried to explore their own personalities. The scholars paid much attention to classical learning, but they looked more deeply on the classical texts and valued their meaning. Their goal was to get the lessons about life, civic duties and self-expression from those texts and to study them critically, not just as pieces of never changing wisdom. At the times when the Renaissance appeared in Italy, the country was politically divided. There were wars among Italian states and from 1494 to 1559 – between France and Spain. Early 15th century symbolizes the rise of humanism in Florence. The goal of this civil humanism was to train aristocratic people for public affairs.

The Renaissance was based on distinguishing the human form and natural world. “Alberti and Vasari articulated this break by, respectively, establishing the principles of mathematical perspective and defining the Renaissance as a distinct age, a cultural rebirth after the period of medieval decay” (“Leonardo da Vinci,” 1994 Funk & Wagnall’s Corporation pp.2-5) The characteristic feature of the early Renaissance was, that all the sculptors, painters and architects paid most attention to the human figure and its proportions. Ghiberty and Masaccio used the principles of linear perspective; on the other hand, Donatello was closer to a classical tradition of free-standing sculpture. The painters – Fillipo Lippi, Botticelli, Chirlandaio – used a lot of various techniques such as sensual color, sculptural precision of line and Flemish – influenced realism. In Florentine architecture of this period with the help of art a great emphasis was given to a status of a person in the society, homes of wealthy people were decorated by artists. Private life became the same decorative as public life.

The artists presenting the so called High Renaissance, managed to collect all these innovations and to apply them to style of classical balance, simplicity and harmony. Leonardo da Vinci was the pioneer of new style in painting, he developed circular motion and pyramidal design and arranged figures harmonically. Michelangelo introduced some kind of new degree of emotional and physical tension to sculpture. Raphael managed to bring the pyramidal design to its highest peak in his Madonna-and-Child paintings. The revolutionary was the idea of using oil paints, brought by Venetian style. Music was not transformed a lot, Italian composers still used the sacred and secular music in medieval polyphonic styles.

Overall, the Renaissance changed the medieval thought and world view, the scholars and artists of this period presented the modern outlook. Very important was their idea of progress, i.d. going from bloom to decay and to rebirth.

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Tag: Medieval Articles

By Will Kalif

The Floor Plan for every Medieval Castle was different but there were some rules of thumb that they pretty much all followed. Here are some guidelines to help you draw a castle floor plan that is realistic and attractive.

Whether you are drawing a castle floor plan for a school project, a website, or a board game it can be difficult to find good information on some of the more important points of why and how medieval castles were built.

There are two very important aspects of a castle that you have to consider when drawing out your castle floor plan. The first is the concept of concentric circles and the second is the thought that a castle needed to be self-sufficient for long periods of time.

The Concept of Concentric Circles

This is a very important aspect of castle design. It is the concept of putting lines of defense inside each other. This way an attacking army had to overcome an obstacle and when they did that they still had another obstacle to overcome. This is how a typical castle would be built. Around the castle would be a very large area cleared of all brush and trees. Then there would be a moat, then an outer wall, an inner wall, then finally the keep. All of these obstacles would have to be breached by an attacking army one at a time.

Here is how you draw it:

1) Draw a large circle on your piece of paper. This is the area around the castle that is cleared of all trees and brush.

2) Draw a rectangle in the middle of your clearing. Make it about three quarters the size of the clearing. This is your outer wall. Around this outer wall draw a band about an inch or two thick in blue. This is the moat.

3) Now draw another rectangle inside your outer wall. This is the inner wall and the castle proper. In this area would be many of the rooms and functions of your mini self-sufficient village.

4) Finally, make the top third of the last rectangle you drew into the Keep. This is the last line of defense for your castle. In this rectangle would go some basic rooms like the main hall, living quarters, dining hall and armory.

5) Most of your other rooms and functions would go in the courtyard between the inner wall and the keep. These rooms would be formed along the walls all the way around the inside of the rectangle.

The Concept of Self Sufficiency

A castle had to have everything it needed for the occupants to survive inside without any help from the outside world for a long period of time. This was because a major tool of any attacking army was the siege. This was when they would surround the castle and not allow anyone or anybody in or out. This would starve the occupants of the castle into surrender.

So inside the castle you should add all of the major components of any medieval town. Put these inside the Keep:

* A Main meeting hall
* A Dining Hall
* An Armory for storage of weapons and armor
* A Chapel
* Living quarters for Royalty, Knights, soldiers, servants and peasants
* A Kitchen large enough to feed the castle

And inside the Castle proper hugging up against the inner castle wall put these rooms and functions:

* Multiple storage rooms for foods, grains and meats
* A large garden, the inner courtyard of a castle was often fully used to grow vegetables
* Livestock pens
* Stables
* Bakery and grainery – bread was an important part of the medieval diet. Grain stored well for long periods of time and bread was easily baked
* Dungeon and prison for captured enemies
* Craftsman Shops such as Blacksmith and Carpenter
* A well for drinking water

If you are making a castle floor plan as part of a game you can get very creative with the way the castle is laid out and you can add many functions and rooms not described here. But if you follow the concepts of Concentric circles and Preparedness against siege you will still have a castle that has a feel of authenticity to it no matter how elaborate or imagined your plans are.

To learn more about Medieval Knights visit the authors website at::
knight-medieval.com Everything about the Medieval Knight

To learn how to draw knight and other fantasy and medieval subjects visit his site:
The Fantasy Art School

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Tag: Medieval Articles

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By Brenda Harness

Most of the Western world is familiar with the image of Venus as she rises from the sea on a clamshell in the famous Italian Renaissance painting by Sandro Botticelli. With its lyrical, graceful beauty, the work we know so well is properly named The Birth of Venus and sometimes affectionately known in contemporary culture as “Venus on the Half Shell.” Botticelli’s mythological work continues to inspire contemporary art, literature, film, and a myriad of other things.

Botticelli’s Venus and its sister painting, Primavera, were commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici for his villa in Castello in 1485. More probable though is that the paintings were commissioned by Lorenzo for his teenaged sons, Piero and Giovanni.

After the death of his father, Lorenzo de’ Medici now twenty years old;with his brother Giuliano assumed power in Florence in 1469. Giuliano died in 1478, but Lorenzo went on to become known to posterity as ‘Il Magnifico’ or ‘The Magnificent’ during the twenty-three years that he ruled Florence. Lorenzo’s patronage of Botticelli continued where his father’s left off.

Despite Lorenzo’s magnanimous patronage, however, Botticelli’s bright star was soon to fade. As the High Renaissance was ushered in at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Botticelli had already fallen into disfavor, at times barely surviving on the brink of starvation. Highly successful at the height of his career, Botticelli’s life ended with more of a whimper than a bang, as he died in quite a tragic manner in relative obscurity.

How did the high fall so low? Botticelli fell under the spell of a Dominican monk, a fanatical, religious reformer named Girolamo Savonarola, and one of the primary targets of Savonarola’s sermons was Lorenzo the Magnificent himself. Lorenzo de’ Medici was the de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic, although officially it was ruled by the Signoria, a council comprised of qualified guild members.

Lorenzo was a consummate diplomat and politician who surrounded himself with men of excellence and learning, poets, humanist scholars, and artists like Botticelli and Michelangelo. The lifestyle of Lorenzo the Magnificent with his elite gatherings made him a large target for Savonarola.

Medieval and Early Renaissance authorities in Europe had passed a number of laws designed to curb the ostentatious display of the aristocracy. No where was this more evident than in Italy with its wealthy merchant class. Medicean money and thus patronage stemmed from the family banking business, and Lorenzo, like his predecessors, used his money to enjoy life.

Lorenzo was generous, lavishing money and gifts on both friends and the clergy. He was a man equally at ease writing hymns and licentious poetry. From his artists, he commissioned both altarpieces and pagan-inspired nudes.

It was a time of turmoil, both political and religious, so Lorenzo provided elaborate entertainments for the masses. It has been suggested that such activities were perhaps intended to divert attention from Lorenzo’s own extravagant lifestyle. Pageants and festivals were a favorite Florentine custom, and Lorenzo wrote poems to be sung during the festivities extolling the pursuit of pleasure and encouraging female promiscuity. One such vocal performance penned by Lorenzo was delivered to the people in front of the cathedral during his pageant ‘The Triumph of Bacchus.’

Florence prospered economically under Lorenzo’s rule and his political machinations provided a peaceful interlude from war during his reign for most of the Italian city-states. It appears that Lorenzo was a benevolent tyrant, but there was still the issue of Savonarola with which to deal, a thorn in his side, no doubt, but in truth, one which hindered his lifestyle very little.

Savonarola developed quite a following in Florence preaching fire and brimstone against the immorality of the people, the general corruption of the Catholic Church and wealthy aristocrats, Lorenzo de’ Medici in particular. His sermons played to packed audiences from the pulpit of San Marco itself, a Medici-sponsored church. Botticelli was summoned to Rome in 1481 to work on three Sistine Chapel frescoes for Pope Sixtus IV. When Botticelli returned to Florence in 1485, he attended the sermons of Savonarola. Michelangelo read them as well through the new invention of mass publication with the printing press. Savonarola had a profound affect on both artists as evidenced in the religious content of their art works.

Botticelli turned his mind back to religious themes, but his Medicean patronage dried up with the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492. Surprisingly, it was Savonarola from whom Lorenzo sought absolution for his sins in his final hours. Two years after Lorenzo’s death, the Medici family was expelled from Florence. The Medici palace was sacked and countless valuable items and works of fine art were stolen. Savonarola was summoned to Rome in 1495 by the pope to defend his religious preaching, but he unwisely declined the pope’s invitation. Times were hard for Botticelli at this time, but caught up in his religious fervor, he followed the lead of Savonarola who organized what has come to be known to history as ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities.’ Prior to the festival at the Lenten season in 1497, Savonarola ordered his followers to gather up ‘vanities’ going from house to house.

These vanities were objects Savonarola deemed immoral, such as costumes, masks, wigs, amorous songs, festival paraphernalia, musical instruments, cosmetics, and many others things. On the last day of Carnival, he ordered the ‘vanities’ to be stacked on top of a great pile of incendiary material and set afire. Tossed on the bonfire were also precious manuscripts and works of art. Botticelli willingly participated in the bonfire, consigning many of his own paintings to the flames.

A year later in 1498, Savonarola suffered a fate similar to the vanities he so proudly immolated. He was officially excommunicated, arrested, tortured, hanged, then burned at the stake for heresy, having offended the Florentines and the pope one too many times. Devastated by the loss of his spiritual leader, Botticelli ceased to paint after 1500 and lived in poverty until his death in 1510. Botticelli was sustained in his final years by the charity of the Medici who were then back in Florence waiting to resume the reins of power which happened in 1512.

Botticelli’s final work of 1500 is The Nativity, now in The National Gallery in London. Much to the delight of the art world, an interest in the life and work of Sandro Botticelli was resurrected in the 19th century by the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood. This was a British group of Victorian painters who rejected the High Renaissance, reverting to a hard-edged style evidenced in the works of Early Renaissance artists like Botticelli. If not for their efforts, the works of Botticelli might have forever remained obscure. Because of them, Botticelli and his Venus have once again risen from beneath the waves to the prominent place they so richly deserve in the world of art.

Brenda Harness is an art historian and former university lecturer writing about a variety of topics pertaining to art and art history. She owns Fine Art Touch, a website devoted to the exploration of Italian Renaissance art, featuring articles on works from Renaissance giants such as Michelangelo and Leonardo to lesser-known artists such as Verrocchio and Perugino. The articles include images of the artwork to help the reader better understand the work being discussed.

“I hope that readers will find this website to be educational and inspire them to learn more about the art and artists who have so profoundly influenced our own aesthetic sensibilities,” said Mrs. Harness.

Visit her at Fine Art Touch

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Tag: Medieval Articles

By Lawrence Heller

Although many when many people think of the Middle Ages as “The Dark Ages”, there were actually many brilliant innovations in the arts, politics, and medieval weapons made during this time.

Everyone knows about medieval swords and daggers, and how they were used in everyday life. There were so many other weapons created and perfected during this time period other than the knight sword. New medieval warfare weapons were created to take down bigger and stronger castles.

If a medieval knight found himself in an equine battle (on horse), he looked to his trusted pole arms for defense and attack. Pole arms are essentially weapons on long poles. One of the most popular are axes medieval weapons or the battle axe. They offer excellent leverage in mid range combat, as well as the versatility to be used as a melee weapon–depending on the length of the handle. Other pole arm weapons were spears and halberds. Both were used primarily to try to throw the enemy from his horse, giving the knight an advantage over his enemy.

Medieval knights and warriors required several different types of weapons during a battle, depending on what sort of combat situation they found themselves in. If they were in close combat with the enemy, they would need a melee weapon. These types of medieval weapons are very effective in close combat because they can be used to attack the enemy repeatedly in quick succession. One of the most deadly of all melee weapons is the mace, or morningstar. Flails were also popular among warriors as deadly medieval chain weapons.

The Middle Ages was also a time of invention. Warriors and builders perfected the already existing trebuchet to create monstrous medieval siege weapons. This is how the catapult came about. Trebuchets before this were very primitive in design and worked alright against the enemy, but the medieval catapult could project higher and further than any trebuchet before.

With all of these innovations in medieval armor and weapons, the Middle Ages was an exciting (if deadly) time period. Through all of the battles and bloody victories, the concept of chivalry and the importance of one’s honor stayed prevalent in medieval society.

As with the medieval ages, there was also a time of weapons innovations more recently during the 20th century. Pistols and rifles were around during the time of the Gold Rush and the Old West pistols were slightly more advanced than some. Pistols, rifles, and even swords were around during the Civil War, but they were not improved until the next war. Then, you can see further weapons evolving into sophisticated firearms during WWII.

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Tag: Medieval Articles

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By Jeffrey Hauser

I wrote one of my Master’s thesis on Michelangelo and his relationship to the various Popes he eventually outlived. During that period of writing in my twenties, I gained a fair amount of insight into the artist and the many other contemporaries that made up the geniuses of the Renaissance. That era, by the way, is generally considered as the time from the early fifteenth century to the late seventeenth century, an era encompassing about 200 years. Sure, there were other painters and sculptors like Botticelli, Bernini, Raphael, and Ghiberti, but those were mostly people entrenched in the arts. I’m discussing the true multitalented thinkers such as Da Vinci and the aforementioned Michelangelo. In addition to their obvious expertise, they invented, created buildings, weapons, and developed many innovative techniques in the arts and science. This isn’t to slight the scientists such as Galileo, Copernicus, Descartes, Bacon, Kepler, and finally, Newton, who technically arrived a few decades later. But they were somewhat one-dimensional, compared to the two aforementioned.

It wasn’t until the birth of Benjamin Franklin, that a true Renaissance-like person emerged again. One whom could invent, write, and astound the scientific community with new ideas regarding electricity and heat conduction. Later, in the early twentieth century, Thomas Edison would assume the role of current genius, although he wasn’t grounded in any of the arts. Therefore, the Renaissance moniker wouldn’t justly fit his demeanor or countenance either. So where does one look for a modern-day, Renaissance person and why is it important?

These are two different questions. First, consider what it takes to be considered on the same page as Michelangelo or Da Vinci. They were so far ahead of all others in their field, they cannot be reasonably compared to anyone. So, with their exception, what can we hope to define as Renaissance-like? Obviously, versatility is the first hallmark of such a person.

They should be capable of performing in many of the arts and humanities. At the very least, they should be able to paint, draw, or sculpt to qualify as an artist. It would be important for them to write or author books or articles to express their ideas. They could also be accomplished as musicians, being competent in composing, playing music, or both. Of course, in the finer tradition of science, they should be a great thinker in mathematics, physics, or other discipline. At the very least, they should be an inventor or innovator, and perhaps also an entrepreneur. They must be worldly, therefore being well-traveled and well-read. It wouldn’t hurt if they were an accomplished in the ancillary arts such as cooking or interior designing, decorating, or architecture. The more areas they are proficient in, the closer to the true ideal they become. Having several degrees from recognized universities wouldn’t hurt either.

In general, they should be interested in a variety of areas ranging from the personal and domestic to the abstract and controversial. By reading a diversity of the classics and contemporary writings, they would have formed a foundation for going into many different directions. So, who might qualify in today’s world, you might ask? Did you think of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or even Stephen Hawking? Well, they are brilliant, but not very well-rounded. Actually, the late Walt Disney was closer to the mold. You can see it’s fairly difficult to join this exclusive club, although the member doesn’t have to be famous.

I, for example, qualify in almost all categories. I’m an artist, painter, and sculptor, I’ve authored five novels of seven books and over 150 online articles. I’ve designed several websites and have two degrees, one in marketing. I’ve had my own business and started many more. I have an interest in science and have created several inventions. I’m a musician and play three instruments. I cook, do interior design, and have traveled the world. I’m an avid reader of every type of article and book. So where do I fit in?

It depends. To answer my second question regarding why it’s important, it’s because Renaissance people often make a difference. Also, it would be interesting to get a group of them together and have them share ideas. To that end, nominate someone who you feel meets these qualifications and email them to me in response to this article. If they agree, I’ll post them on my website www.polideoptic.com that will tell the web-world about their achievements and see if they can receive the acknowledgement they deserve. Or nominate yourself, don’t be bashful. I obviously wasn’t.

Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years. He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master’s Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. He has authored 6 books and a novel, “Pursuit of the Phoenix.” His latest book is, “Inside the Yellow Pages” which can be seen at his website, www.poweradbook.com. Currently, he is the Marketing Director for thenurseschoice.com, a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.

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Tag: Medieval Articles

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By Andrew Stephen

With Summer coming to a glorious climax, the gardens of Hidden England are in full bloom. For garden enthusiasts the opportunities are endless.

Explore more than 10 acres of wonderful gardens in the process of restoration at Easton Walled Gardens - with a cottage garden, turf maze and auricular theatre all new for 2006. Relax in the enchanting mix of formal gardens and semi-wild woodland at Grimsthorpe Castle or in the magical Duchess’s Spring Garden at Belvoir Castle where woodland gardens nestle in a natural amphitheatre.

If rare and unusual plants are your interest you can buy them at Barnsdale Gardens, and at the same time explore the fascinating gardens created for television by the late Geoff Hamilton. Or if a more relaxed lakeside walk is your style than visit Belton House or Burghley - and at Burghley you can also explore the 15 acre Sculpture Park created in the previously lost lower garden created by Capability Brown.

For a fascinating insight in how a formal garden is being transformed see the Gardens of Rockingham Castle. At Rockingham series of new radial yew hedges will provide opportunities for vistas and walkways connecting with the 19th Century Rose Garden.

Work in progress at Rockingham on a series of garden ‘rooms’ designed to contain deep borders of stunning herbaceous andshrub planting, with each room being given a different character.

All the houses and gardens of Hidden England are now open for the Summer Season.

For times and admission costs please visit the Hidden England website. We look forward to seeing you. It’s the perfect time to visit the Gardens of Hidden England.

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Tag: Medieval Articles