Colonies… Christopher Columbus established the first Failed Colony in the New World 11 Oct 2019 In January 1493, Christopher Columbus established the first Spanish colony in the New World and named it La Navidad. The colony failed in less than two years. La Navidad was…
Columbus… Christopher Columbus Encountered Mermaids 11 Oct 2019 Christopher Columbus encountered three mermaids on January 8, 1493 somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Unfortunately, Columbus' Log, his daily account of his seven-month first voyage to the New World, is…
Art… The Mermaid of St. John’s Bay, Newfoundland 7 Oct 2019October 7, 2019 In 1610, Richard Whitbourne saw a mermaid swimming in St. John's Bay, Newfoundland. The mermaid's face, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, neck, and forehead resembled that of a woman, coupled…
Documents… Spices, textiles, and medicine included in Cargo from Jakarta and Surat to England, October 1625. 24 Sep 2019September 24, 2019 In October 1625, the English ships Moon, Discovery, Ruby, Blessings, and William arrived in England after long voyages to and from the Indian Ocean. The ships stopped in Jakarta (a Dutch…
Maps… The First Map of Roanoke Island 17 Mar 2019March 25, 2019 John White produced the first English map of Roanoke Island as a rough sketch entitled "a description of the land of Virginia." It was the first English map of America…
Documents… Unicorns on Pierre Desceliers’ Mappemonde (1546) 11 Jan 2019January 11, 2019 In an earlier post, I discussed why a unicorn appeared on the mappemonde created by Pierre Desceliers. Since then, I reexamined a digital copy of the map and found another…
Primary Sources… The Horn of Windsor 16 Nov 2018November 19, 2018 The Horn of Windsor was a unicorn horn (alicorn) owned by Elizabeth I. The corpus of material surrounding both the Martin Frobisher voyages and unicorns links the Horn of Windsor…
Ancient World… Pliny the Elder on the Unicorn 10 Oct 2018October 10, 2018 Pliny the Elder described the unicorn in his Natural History (77-79 CE). Pliny collected knowledge from the ancient world, covering diverse topics across science, math, and art. Pliny called the unicorn…
Ancient World… The Unicorn in Liber Animalium (1595) 9 Oct 2018 This wonderful pen-and-ink drawing of a unicorn appeared in the Liber Animalium, a handwritten book containing 245 drawings and descriptions of animals and mythical creatures. An unknown person completed the work around 1595.…
Material Culture… Unicorn Horns at St. Mary’s Church, Utrecht 4 Oct 2018 Religious authorities displayed what they believed were unicorn horns on the high altar in St. Mary’s church (consecrated 1099 CE) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Priests used them as candlesticks to represent…
Civil Rights… Pictures from a few hours after Silent Sam was torn down 29 Sep 2018September 29, 2018 Shortly after midnight, I visited the site where just hours before protesters toppled the Silent Sam statue on August 20th, 2018. I gathered with a small crowd and we watched…
Sound… What Unicorns Sound Like 10 Jul 2018September 29, 2018 We now know what unicorns sound like. Narwhal tusks were often viewed as being unicorn horns (alicorn) during the medieval and early modern periods, in part because they are long…
Documents… James Madison and Gun Control 7 Jun 2018September 29, 2018 The issue of gun control has been part of American politics before the nation was founded. Debates centered around hunting, military defense, and the question if slaves and freedmen were…
Bioprospecting… What is Guaiacum and how was it connected to Syphilis? 1 May 2018September 29, 2018 In a previous post, I discussed how syphilis got its name from a poem written in 1530. The shepherd Syphilis was struck down with the venereal disease for overturning the altars dedicated…
Easter… Eating Rabbits to Win WWII! 1 Apr 2018March 22, 2019 In 1943, the Fish and Wildlife Service, a branch of the Department of the Interior, published a cookbook entitled Recipes for Cooking Domestic Rabbit Meat. The introduction remarked that "the growing…
Documents… How Syphilis got its Name 9 Mar 2018September 29, 2018 Compared to today, syphilis was a different disease in early-modern Europe. It was more ferocious, fast acting, and destructive. Symptoms included painful and often deadly rashes and ulcers on the…
Documents… “The Man who did not Believe in Unicorns” 14 Nov 2017September 29, 2018 In previous posts I discussed the belief in the existence of unicorns and the medicinal virtues of their horns, however, there were some people in the early-modern period who did…
Civil Rights… Confederate Memorials Should be Moved to Statue Parks 15 Aug 2017September 29, 2018 Knowing that folks will only read the first 50 words of an internet article before moving on, let me be clear: Confederate monuments should be removed from public grounds like…
Documents… Unicorns in Java 27 Jul 2017September 29, 2018 In 1613, Samuel Purchas published Purchas his pilgrimage. Or Relations of the vvorld and the religions obserued in all ages and places discouered, from the Creation vnto this present In…
Documents… Monardes and Gerard 18 Jul 2017September 29, 2018 In a previous post, I described how Nicolas Monardes’ description of sassafras laid the foundation for future authors to understand the physical and medicinal properties of the sassafras and its…
Documents… How were the English Introduced to Sassafras? 11 Jul 2017October 2, 2018 The introduction of sassafras to the English imagination took a circuitous route. Printed knowledge of the tree probably first appeared in English through the publishing of Joyfull Newes out of…
Documents… The day I faked being an “ink expert” to see The Declaration of Independence 4 Jul 2017September 29, 2018 I spent the early months of 2013 in London, England doing research for my doctoral dissertation. The bulk of my time was at the National Archives in Kew plowing through…
Documents… Indentures and Indentured Servants 13 May 2017September 30, 2018 Why were indentured servants called indentured servants? Before the term "indenture" came about, medieval Europeans used legal documents called chirographs. Sometime before the year 1000, legal transactions involving multiple parties…
Greenland… More questions about Vikings in Greenland, the Bishop of Gardar’s Crosier,and Unicorn Horns. 20 Mar 2017September 30, 2018 A recent Smithsonian Magazine article explores the decline and disappearance of Viking settlements on Greenland. Previous scholarship argued that the Viking disappearance was caused by a combination of factors including…
Art… The Unicorn in Raleigh, NC 21 Feb 2017October 2, 2018 The North Carolina Museum of Art houses The Triumph of Chastity (ca. 1450-1460), a painting produced by the workshop of Apollonio di Giovanni di Tommaso. The painting was probably presented…
Art… The Virgin Bride and the Unicorn 11 Jan 2017October 4, 2018 Around 1494, to celebrate either the engagement or marriage of Matteo di Sebastiano di Bernardino Goazzadini to Ginevra d'Antonio Lupari Goazzadini, artist Maestro delle Storie del Pane painted the portraits of…
Documents… Five Questions about the First Thanksgiving 23 Nov 2016September 29, 2018 How do we know about the first Thanksgiving? The first known written description of the Pilgrims’ first “Thanksgiving” is a letter written by Edward Winslow months after the event. The…
Indians… Indian uses of Sassafrass 17 Nov 2016September 29, 2018 Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) is a small deciduous tree native to eastern North America with green apetalous flowers and dimorphous leaves. It grows to roughly 20 feet tall and its wood…
Documents… The Unicorn in Fabyn’s Cronycle 11 Nov 2016October 2, 2018 Robert Fabyan (1455? – 1512) was a draper, sheriff, and author of Fabyans cronycle. The Cronycle recounted English and French history covering the time period from the legendary first king…
Documents… Unicorns in Shakespeare 20 Oct 2016September 29, 2018 William Shakespeare mentioned unicorns three times in his plays: Julius Caesar (1599), Timon of Athens (1605), and The Tempest (1610). In Julius Caesar, Decius described how a unicorn could be caught by a…
