

Feb 28, 2011

Medieval Mondays: Siege Warfare and the Myth of Boiling Oil

As someone who studies the Middle Ages, common mistakes in writing irk me. One of them is the use of boiling oil in siege warfare. We're told that when people attacked a castle the defenders poured boiling oil down on them.

This hardly ever happened. Oil made from animal flesh, olives, or other materials was labor intensive to produce and expensive, far too expensive to literally throw away. In general, defenders of castles poured boiling water down on attacking troops. Every castle had a plentiful supply of water. It was one of the critical elements when choosing where to build a fortification. There are numerous instances of castles surrendering when their water supply dried up or got contaminated by the besieging forces.

I'm not sure where the myth of boiling oil came from. There's a Roman account of using boiling oil, but in the vast majority of cases the much cheaper and more available water was used. In one case in France, however, some men-at-arms poured molten lead on a knight. That must have seriously hurt!

Boiling liquids of whatever kind were poured out of murder holes like the one seen here courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. These holes opened out onto the outsides of walls of gates, or inside barbicans. Rocks and other nasties could also be thrown down. Medieval warfare wasn't pretty!

Feb 24, 2011

I'm interviewed on Midlist Author!

I just did my second interview. Since Roots Run Deep is my first novel, being interviewed is a new thing for me. It's nice that some people are paying attention to such a brand-new name in fantasy fiction.

Fellow archaeologist and adventure travel writer Sean McLachlan interviewed me on his blog Midlist Writer. I talk about what it's like to finally have my first novel published and some of the research and ideas that went into Roots Run Deep. Check it out!

I also have a third interview in the works and some reviews that should be coming out pretty soon. Check back here for more news and for my regular feature, Medieval Mondays!

Feb 21, 2011

Medieval Mondays: Viking Sunstones, magical myth or primative high-tech?

Welcome to Medieval Mondays! As a medievalist I get a lot of questions about the Middle Ages, so every Monday I'll be giving you some interesting facts about my favorite historic period.

Despite a century of research showing the Vikings were an advanced civilization, they still have a reputation as booze-swilling brutes who could barely grunt out a coherent sentence, let alone make any significant inventions. Hopefully a recent study will help dispel this myth.

We all know the Vikings were expert seafarers, generally the only ability granted to them besides being able to kick some serious ass. They were helped in their navigation by a "sundisc", a type of sundial. But when the skies were cloudy as they often are in the North Sea and northern Atlantic, how did they know which way to go?

A tantalizing clue comes in one of the Norse Sagas. In Rauðúlfs þáttr, King Olaf asks the hero Sigurður to point out the Sun while it's snowing. He points it out, even though it's invisible. Then the king had his men "fetch the solar stone and held it up and saw where light radiated from the stone and thus directly verified Sigurður’s prediction.”

What's going on here? Is it only a tall tale, or something more? Some scientists believe the "solar stone" was actually a type of crystal called a double-refracting crystal. Such crystals like cordierite, tourmaline, or calcite are common in Scandinavia. These crystals only allow light through them that's polarized in certain directions and thus appear darker or lighter depending on the polarization of the light behind it. While the Sun may be blocked by clouds, it's still sending out a concentration of polarized light that can be detected by the crystal as it's moved around. For a more technical description of how it works, check out this article.

So we can imagine a Viking standing on the deck of a ship in bad weather, trying to find the way to the nearest Irish monastery for an afternoon of relaxing looting. He pulls out his handy sun stone and moves it around the sky until a flash of light shows him where the Sun is. From that he can determine direction, and his seaman's skills do the rest.

Viking ships are fascinating. The one I'm showing here is called the Gokstad ship and it's at the Kulturhistorisk museum, Oslo. It was found in 1880, and dates to around 890 AD, when it was used as a grave ship for a Viking chieftain. Thanks to James Cridland for this cool photo!

Feb 17, 2011






Tell us a little about Roots Run Deep.






What do you love about writing?

What do you hate about writing?


Feb 16, 2011

Welcome to my blog!

Hello, I'm A.J. Walker, a medievalist by day and writer by night. Double Dragon Publishing has just come out with my first fantasy novel, Roots Run Deep. I also have a couple more books coming up, a thriller/mystery and a collection of fantasy short stories.

Don't worry folks, this blog won't just be for tooting my own horn. I'll also be reviewing books and ebooks, interviewing authors, and hosting guest posts. I'll even throw in regular posts about Medieval history, which is my work and love. That said, I would be remiss not to talk a bit about my first novel. Below is the back cover blurb.




That's all for now folks! See you tomorrow!