Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

A lot of people are really interested in siege engines, catapults, trebuchets and the like, and yesterday I spent some time doing a litle research and a little bit of drawing. If you are interested in siege engines you might want to take a look at what I did.

Siege Engines are a good example of a very early arms race and they developed from bows into crossbows then into something called the Gastraphetes (belly bow). And of course there is the Mangonel and Onager. Anyhoo, I have outlined this timelne of development showing the major improvements and changes that were made. I also have included drawings I made that show these major types of siege engines. Here is the article: The Development and Evolution of the Catapult

About Drawing Catapults: I also figured that since I have these nice drawings on catapults and various siege engines it would be a great addition for my fantasy art school. So using the artwork I made I did up a lesson on drawing catapults and added it to the art school. If you want to  learn how to draw catapults and siege engines you might want to take a look here: Fantasy Art School Home Page (The Catapult lesson is one of the first ones on the page)

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I was over a friends house and the television show “Eli Stone” happened to be on. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed much of it but I am familiar with the theme that Eli has some kind of a brain disorder and he often hallucinates in ways that are very real. Anyway, I was immediately drawn to the show when, as Eli was walking down a normal street, a dragon appeared out of nowhere and swooped down on him. This was quickly followed by a knight in armor who challenged the dragon and chased it away.

And it made me wonder why the archetypes of the dragon and the knight are so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche? Well, I kind of answered the question by saying “archetype”. and it is interesting how this struggle between knight and dragon has come to represent so much to us. And it is ironic how so much of epic fantasy writing has forgotten that very point!

The archetypical struggle between the knight and the dragon has come to signify the mighty struggles that we as human beings undergo. It represents Eli’s struggle with his brain tumor and with the ethics of his profession. It also represents the struggle we all as human beings face every single day - the struggle with the mystery of living. It is truly a very big dragon. … It’s a shame we don’t get any insights about it in modern fantasy anymore. They have lots of dragons but never point out what the dragon really means. I wonder what the writer of Beowulf would say about this.

Businessman-Knight Fighti…

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You may be familiar with the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Here is a synopsis:

Composed in medieval England by an unknown poet and set in what were (even then) the old days of King Arthur, the tale of Sir Gawain begins when a magical warrior with green skin and green hair interrupts the Christmas party at Camelot with a bizarre challenge: If a person here present, within these premises is big or bold or red blooded enough to strike me one stroke and be struck in return in once year’s time, says the knight, I shall give him as a gift this gigantic cleaver. Pure, loyal Sir Gawain accepts the agreement: the adventures that ensue include a boar hunt, a deer hunt, and an extended flirtation with a noble lady, designed to test Sir Gawain’s bravery, fidelity and chastity, and to explore—with some supernatural help—the true meaning of virtue.

The Gawain-poet, as he is known to scholars, wrote in Middle English though it is slightly harder to read than Chaucer, the grammar is more or less our own. Armitage (The Shout), one of England’s most popular poets, brings an attractive contemporary fluency to the Gawain-poet’s accentual, alliterative verse: We hear the knights of Round Table chatting away charmingly, exchanging views.

There is a new book out with a new translation and it is available on Amazon Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

But the story is also available for free in several different versions from gutenberg Here is a nice HTML version of it You can also search Gutenberg.org for other, more difficult versions.

There is also a book by Tolkien on this legend . It is his translation and he preserves the alliteration of the narrative as only the master philologist can

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