Researchers in military history now have a tremendous new source of original materials on line. It's the Medieval Soldier Database containing the service records of over 250,000 English soldiers enrolled between 1369 and 1453.
Years ago in college, I read a fascinating little book by H.S. Bennett entitled, Six Medieval Men and Women (1955). Only one of Bennett's subjects was what we would call an ordinary person in everyday life. This new database contains the records of thousands of common soldiers. Although it's unlikely that an author could build an essay on one person from the database alone, composite profiles are likely to reveal new details about common people in medieval England. Yes, it's a very small window for a equally small group of researchers, but the database illustrates the power of information technology to both organize, distribute and enliven source materials that would otherwise rest quietly in some obscure archive.
Check out the BBC News article here. Your direct link to the database is here. My source: The Corner.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment