Modern History TV, with Jason Kingsley, CBE, explores the unusual land grant made by King Cnut to the monks of Canterbury in 1023. By testing the distance a historical axe can be thrown, the video demonstrates how lack of standardization led to poetic yet imprecise measurements in medieval legal documents.
King Cnut and his strange legal definitions for measurements from medieval documents. Just how far was it? How do we know?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are subject to deletion if they are not germane. I have no problem with a bit of colourful language, but blasphemy or depraved profanity will not be allowed. Attacks on the Catholic Faith will not be tolerated. Comments will be deleted that are republican (Yanks! Note the lower case 'r'!), attacks on the legitimacy of Pope Leo XIV as the Vicar of Christ, the legitimacy of the House of Windsor or of the claims of the Elder Line of the House of France, or attacks on the legitimacy of any of the currently ruling Houses of Europe.