One of the many things we think are weird/gross about the middle ages is the idea of people sharing their homes with animals, especially cattle.
But is this true?
Did they really have cows & sheep walking around their living room?
Let's research.
A thread. I regularly hear this being mentioned as just another bit of evidence of how dirty & backwards medieval people were and that it's no wonder they got all those diseases, were covered in filth all the time, etc.
Especially this image is often used, it's nice but is it accurate?

Yeah google, that's how it's done...
Yeah Musk, decent accuracy...
AHEM.

#vikingsdidnthavehornsontheirhelmets Just in case you need a reminder:

Let's look at an old painting together, see what we can learn from it.
This time a naughty one; a brothel scene from 1537 by the Brunswick Monogrammist, an anonymous Netherlandish painter.
Such an improper subject, so you better not check out this thread, look away now. A bit more about the artist:


We start with the birdcage by the door, the cage symbolises proper love, the bird a woman.
So a woman 'caged' by love is protected but a bird outside the cage is free.
This bird is locked, the door shut. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brunswick…

A few days ago I complained about a Guardian article using a bad photo from a film in an article about Joan Clarke, a Bletchley Park code breaker, but... something much worse might have happened...
I don't think this photo they used is of Joan... @TeaKayB pointed this out to me and I was stunned, surely not, that would be extraordinary sloppy.
So I looked into it, of course.

Game review!

I tried 'Aviators', a short game about the Polish air crews in the RAF during WW2.
A subject I care a lot about and I think deserves more attention.

Oh btw, the game is FREE on steam!
store.steampowered.com/app/2626910/Av…
Here's the trailer:

https://x.com/dev_Chronospace/status/1791064118268481830

Time to look at another photo album in my collection, a tiny one this time with one picture on each page, showing us the adventures of some Dutch girl scouts in the early 1930s. Croenssen ? Winter '32.
No idea what that means.

This Friday the game 'Manor Lord' is coming out, it's a medieval city builder that I've made a modest contribution to as a historical consultant and beta tester for.
I've been very excited about it for a long time and I'm not the only one, it's creating quite a buzz and has ended up on a lot of wishlists.
What I love about it most is that it tries to depict the middle ages in an accurate way, behind the scenes historians, experts & history addicts have been debating the tiniest details.
I think the result is one of the most historically accurate medieval games I've ever played.

#Manorlords So let's have a sneak peek at it shall we?

First, here's an official video:

Sigh.
An account with half a million followers just tweeted that long debunked 'life in the 1500s' nonsense, 2.2 million people have seen it.
So here we go again...

These phrases are much more recent:
wordorigins.org/big-list-entri…
Facts she says.

Thread of some of the countless fun illustrations in this amazing medieval copy of 'Romance of Alexander'.
Full book here:


We start with this naked chap with nuns in a wheelbarrow.
Don't ask me what it means. digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/ae9f6c…
Nuns & monks playing baseball?
Put everyone in a habit, that would make sports more interesting to watch.

Recently I spotted a little holiday photo album for sale, usually I'm not interested in them because such photos are generally a bit boring, but I spotted a tiny detail that told me the album was very interesting.
Yes, that V sign.
Let's check the album out together.

Photo 🧵! The album starts in Dresden, April 10th 1941.
Less then 4 years after the photo was taken this church would be a ruin.


The Dresden Zwinger, a palatial complex with gardens.
Also a ruin just a few years later.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_C…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwinger_%…

NEW MEDIEVAL LEGO SET!!
But is it historically accurate?
Let's take a closer look and be annoying about details, shall we? At fight sight it looks awesome and I want it and I want to play with it and feel 8 again.
Shuttup, I can do what I want, you're not my mum.

I love the buildings and the way they created thatch roofs.

But... what is that I see there in the corner?

I love old wallpaper sample books, they're quite the treasure trove for set designers, researchers, historians, etc.
So let's look at a few I recently bought, Belgian, 1930s.
It starts nice and calm but then... Nothing shocking here.
But yes, the first book is all textured paper, you can stroke it and it's lovely.

Well, I've seen 'Napoleon' and here's my review.
It's going to be a long one full of complaining about details and of course with tons of spoilers.
You've been warned.

🧵 As usual, I start with the trailer:

Portraits of French resistance fighters during the 2nd World War.
Taken by Izis Bidermanas, a Jewish photographer who had been tortured by the Nazis but set free by the resistance who he then joined.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izis_Bide…

Su Nuraxi (Barumini) in winter.
A late Bronze Age Italian settlement with fortifications and a Nuraghe.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Nuraxi…
Some details:

Here it finally is, my review of 'Kingdom Come Deliverance', some of you have been asking me to review this game for ages!

For some background, here is the wikipedia page;
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_C…
And here's the trailer;

I've found this gem, the 1938 presentation of the steam ship Nieuw Amsterdam.
Lots of delicious pictures of what the then brand new and super modern ship looked like and all the art it had on board.
It's gorgeous, check out this thread.
No drooling. Bronze panels on the walls depicting the four seasons and views of New York, paintings for Deck A.

The Citroën 2CV, or as we called it the ugly duckling.
My parents had a couple of them over the years.
I have fond memories of flying all over the back seat (no seatbelts), flapping the window open, being squished between smoking hippies.
Good times.

This was one of our cars: Very early prototype:

So what did Vikings really look like?
TV/movies tell us they looked like dollar-store biker gangs, wearing black leather, covered in dirt and allergic to colours... but in reality... they looked like 1970s pop singers.

Seriously, thread time.🧵

Photo: Roberto Fortuna It's tricky finding out what Vikings really looked like, few images and even fewer original items of their clothing & fabric have survived and if they do, they've faded, are discoloured, etc.

Photo: Roberto Fortuna, National Museum of Denmark

A lot of people have asked me about this, so here we go.
It is sort of true but also not.
Let me explain.
First things first, the source here is this German fencing manual created by Hans Talhoffer in 1459: wiktenauer.com/wiki/Talhoffer…
Here are all the images related to women & men doing a bit of combat I found in that book.
And just in case you're wondering, yes this is how I settle disputes as well ;)

Soul crushing story, one I'll never forget and that still gets to me.

Poland, September 1939.
Kazimiera Mika (12) mourns the death of her older sister Anna (14) who was killed in a field in Warsaw during a German air raid.

Warning: heartbreak & horrible photos ahead.
🧵 The photographer who took some of these photos was the American Julien Bryan, who wrote the following about this tragedy:

"As we drove by a small field at the edge of town we were just a few minutes too late to witness a tragic event, the most incredible of all.