Medieval graffitti

[charlie_cochrane]

Our local 13th hunting lodge (and how the British blase attitude to history is illustrated in that sentence) was having a Dickensian event today, as part of Romsey's Dickensian doo-dah. I've been trying for ages to find a nice picture (or any picture at all) of the extensive medieval graffitti on the walls there, but now we have our own. Alas, couldn't get one of the man's head compete with bristles on chin and what might be horns (and who just might be someone like Henry ii) but the shields are nice:



and whatever this equivalent of " we woz ere" might be.

Comments

[marasmine.livejournal.com]

Isn't it amazing how a few hundred years turn graffitti into something fascinating? And it does show that yobness isn't a post-WW2 invention like my mother insisted. Maybe I shouldn't have resisted scratching something on the church pew during those interminable services when I wasn't tall enough to see over the top. Twidling coat buttons until they fell off doesn't have the same historical impact, does it? (Coat buttons were too big to fit between the gaps in the parquet flooring...)

[jessie-lansdel.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mentioned someone who may be Henry 11. I wonder if that is the same illustration I have in one of my history books of a 'graffiti' head that looks very much like Bart Simpson. Interesting. ☺ or would that be Henry V. Hmmm!

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

If you could scan it in, I'd tell you. Henry II name comes with a caveat as somebody said he'd "heard it was a king, maybe Henry...)

Henry V didn't have many portraits done as he had a horrendous injury on the right of his face (arrow up his nose).

[jessie-lansdel.livejournal.com]

I'm not at home right now, Charlie. But I'm having a snout round the Internet. One way or another I'll send you an image of the Medieval Bart. 😙

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Ta, love.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Eww--Cringe.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Yobiness goes back centuries (as does thinking that the past was better - in one of Jerome K Jerome's books he talks about his dad complaining that things aren't as good as when he was a boy).

You can imagine these nights, half cut, carving the stuff with their daggers.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

My tame historian describes various Important Medieval Persons as thugs.

[aglarien1.livejournal.com]

Those are awesome!

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Aren't they. I wish i could find some pictures of them online but I can't. Will post more at some point.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I find something so moving about graffiti. And it is funny too. Silly men, I am pretty sure it was men that did those shields.

If I ever ever get to come to England, will you show me this wall? I will keep my hands behind my back, and not touch. (I once got in trouble at an art museum, I nearly had my nose on a traveling Giotto, I just wanted to see the brush-strokes up close!)

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would have been men.

I will take you to see the wall and we'll have tea in a Tudor house and we can go to the Abbey (1000 years old) and put our fingers in the Civil War musket ball holes. And I'll also take you to where you can walk on real Roman pavement. Cos that's the wild sort of gal I am... :)

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

You are the best!

[oceankitty1.livejournal.com]

LOL! Our medieval cathedral has graffiti in Latin stating that " Linus is a butt boy." Linus was probably one of the monks or novices. There's more than 500 etchings on the walls of the cathedral, most of them from around the 12th century.

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's hilarious. Are there any pictures of those etchings?

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Wonder if Linus had a blanket?

[oceankitty1.livejournal.com]

There must be, but I haven't found any on the net. I'll give it another try...

[oceankitty1.livejournal.com]

Been searching and all I find is a reference to some historical archive owned by the state that preserves all the "graffiti" around the country. They must have pictures though. I found one picture of a stonemason's mark and one other that I don't know what is:(look at the two last pictures on this page)

http://www.ngu.no/en-gb/Aktuelt/I-fokus2/Naturstein-i-byen/Nidarosdomen/

I've seen the Linus one with my own eyes. It's in a secluded spot (of course) outside on the east side of the church. Oh, and I went a little overboard with my zeros. It's supposed to be fifty, not five hundred. ( I thought the number was a bit high....)These pictures shows one of the more messy parts, where people have been scratching the wall over several centuries. The church was "born" all the way back in 1030, after the death of King Olav the Holy. It burned down several times but always rose from the ashes. Parts of the outer walls have survived all the fires, so they are the ones with the most graffiti.

http://static.flickr.com/74/228390127_5572882809.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/balsamia/2471711714/

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

Those are wonderful. Thank you!