Daniel,

Thanks for that information. It is a shame it has not been translated into English or really any other language for that matter. Was it written in german originally then? Where is it housed?

Look forward to future illustrations and excepts.

RPM

Thanks for sharing those pics. :)

I've always found the period from 1500 to 1510 to be a bit mysterious where European armour is concerned, this should fill in those gaps.

Its a wonderful time..;)

The guy in the middle of the front row on the right has a horned helmet, or am I just seeing things?

Lawrence

FYI - Part of my master's thesis (History) is translating Dolstein's diary into English. I am hoping to have a working copy within a couple of months. There are issues with deciphering his handwriting.

Danielle

That's wonderful! If you can secure reproduction rights for the images I think it's a guaranteed publication--popular press or academic. Does your university automatically upload theses and dissertations?

Actually this year they just started digitizing all theses/dissertations, so yes, my thesis will be available online.

I have long wondered why there is so little in English on this fantastic little sketchbook. It's such an exciting work. Glad you are interested!

You should pitch it to Osprey Publishing. If they want it they'll help you secure reproduction rights. In fact, they've used Dolstein images in at least on of their books, if I remember correctly (Landsknecht Soldier). Osprey splits the difference between popular and academic press. I'm sorry to be so pushy! My excuse is that I and so many others are keen to have this book in our libraries. Read below:

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Wait...if you're who I think you are you don't need any publication advice. :blush:

I assure you I am not who you think I am if you think I need no advice. :-) I am published out there in a couple of places, but the publishing world is brutal, and I'm just a graduate student.

Thanks very much. I will contact Osprey. I have the LK Soldier book by Richards. It's wonderful. :-)

It's great to know that this is in the hands of a published historian. Osprey should be glad to know it, too. :D

Danielle,

I would love to see it as well. I find the artwork amazing in detail. How hard is it to learn Dolstein's dialect of German opposed to modern German? I went with mostly Latin descended medieval languages during my degree but have hopes to get into more languages in the future. I did do Anglo-Saxon which I have heard is similar to German.

They started doing online copies of dissertations at my university the last few months of my PhD as well. Though I am still waiting to see if it will happen as some students decided they wanted to contest the change mid program so it may never happen, or become optional.

Keep us posted,

Randall

Will do, Randall. What are you studying now?

Dolstein's German is wonderful - it reads like news. It's straightforward like most Renaissance Military Memoirs. There is no linguistic imagery, very few metaphors.

His German is quite like Norwegian actually - or Swedish I suppose. If you have Anglo-Saxon and a little familiarity with Scandinavian tongues, you could read Dolstein's German quite nicely.

My Latin is extant but awful. You made the right choice; Latin opens most medieval manuscripts. :-)

Danielle

Danielle,

I am done studying as a full time student and am now teaching at Weber State University, Utah. I studied/study the military organization of English towns during the late medieval period, though I hope to move into the same in France and Germany if I can get Britain taken care of. I also study medieval weapons, armour, artillery and tactics.


I knew I should have taken old Norse but decided on Anglo-Saxon. I still might have to have a look at it though I dare say my A-S is fairly rusty.

RPM

Randall,

How fascinating! Forgive my ignorance, but I am imagining something akin to a compulsory militia, yes, with few professional troops?

I recall hearing or reading somewhere that English archers had misshapen spines from the overdevelopment of one side of their bodies - from the extreme power it took to draw the bow. That boggles my mind.

Did you work with Middle English as well, or was most of your research in Latin?

It is social history that attracts me more than tactical history. I am only just now finding myself with much background in German military social history. It is fascinating and elusive. :) I started studying the Landsknecht in researching my second novel, which has been a work in progress for too many years already. I hope to finish it in the next 3 years. We shall see... Fortunately, my thesis work is relevant.

Danielle

Danielle,

Basically in England by 1300 you have two primary systems in place. The General array which is usually all men 16-60 and the commission of array which is given a quota of men for every city, town and/or county. The commission is usually only asking 100s or thousands of men so lower in terms or actual men armed. That said the general array was more or less just intended for defence of the home county or town while the commissioned men could be sent anywhere, even outside the country for offensive campaigns. For the most part commissioned men get sent inside the country for defensive needs though.

The bigger picture became, as my studies went on, how important towns were to defence- both physically as well as in information gathering and containment. A system existed in which towns had responsibility for their immediate areas for protection. Towns like Southampton on the south coast was a excellent example of this, being on the top target list for France. So towns certainly provided men their biggest contribution was allowing the king, nobles and their armies to go wage war and keep the kingdom defended.

If you are interested I am planning on placing my PhD thesis online as soon as I get my site up and running.

RPM

Randall,

That is fascinating, and it clarifies a general fuzziness. I recently read a work on the problems of recruiting a force - especially for foreign service - and the impact of the loss of those men during campaign but also the impact of their return, especially if it had been a long campaign. I believe it was Hale's War and Society in Renaissance Europe. Wonderful book. I think he's a bit fanciful at times, but when one recognizes that, one can glean so much from his interpretation.

For your topic in particular: that towns were crucial as sources of manpower and as points of national defense (If I may use that word national. ;)) must have been a newish idea. Was it? It seems so precise and important.

I allowed myself to dive into the new Robin Hood movie with my husband and eldest son, and while it's a movie and certainly 'creative' with history, it claims that at least one of England's towns (and one assumes they mean to imply more) was drained of men for foreign wars. Do you know how often this happened - that towns lost the ability to defend themselves because all of their men were away at war?

Did you have to/get to go to England for research?

I went to Germany in 2007 for research for my novel, and while the travel bug is beginning to bite, I don't think I'll need to go back for the thesis. We shall see.

I am fascinated by Danelaw - they have a DNA project at the York/Jorvik Viking Museum now to give a person of English descent an idea whether s/he is descended from Scandis as well. I would imagine so many of us are.

Is Moffett English?

Lots of questions. If you don't have time to answer them, I understand. So good chatting with someone about this sort of thing.

And of course, I would be interested in reading your work! I would probably not get to it until summer, but I would like it very much.

Danielle

Hello All,

I wanted to update this thread for those interested in Dolnstein's diary in English. My thesis is done and will be available online through the library at the University of North Dakota later this month or in June. I hope to turn it into an article or two as well for something more easily accessible.

Dolnstein's sketchbook appears to move the dating of the integration of pike and shot two decades earlier than the current scholarly consensus places it.

Best Regards,
Danielle