medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Re: [M-R] Oil
Abbo of St-Germain has an interesting
reference to the issue in his account of the Viking siege of Paris
in the 880s.
He writes of the attackers trying to undermine the walls:
"Some of them wanted
to undermine the foot of the wall with iron picks, but he [the leader
of the defense] drove them back with hot oil, wax, and fish.
This mixture, liquefied in a blazing furnace, burned the hair of the
Danes and stuck to their heads.
" (Sorry I don't have the original Latin; I
translated the account years ago for class use.)
How much to trust monastic accounts of medieval military ventures
is another question. But Abbo was apparently in Paris at the
time of the siege.
Phyllis
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions
of medieval religion and culture
Hi
I've been an interested observer here for a while and this is one of
the few questions I can contribute to. The short answer is that
are no medieval references to boiling oil being used in castle sieges
and like many medieval 'facts' this one appears to be a Victorian
invention. As others have pointed out both oil and fuel are far
too valuable to waste.
Machicolations are projecting stone parapets on the outside of a
castle walls, the name derives from the old French 'mache-col' or
broken neck and it is generally assumed they were used to drop stones
on attackers to achieve the desired 'mache-col' effect. Prior to
the adoption of machicolations, wooden hoardings were built
overhanging the outer castle walls and these fulfilled a similar, if
more temporary, purpose.
Above gate passages one often finds murder holes, sometimes also
called machicolations in error. These were also used for
depositing stones, crossbow quarrels and spears on any attackers
foolish or brave enough to be in the gate passage. If any liquid
was going to be poured through these holes it would more likely be
plain, cold water.
The safest way to attack a castle gatehouse is to set fire to anything
wooden such as the gates, drawbridge etc and then retire to a safe
distance while the fire does its job. The best way to prevent
this is simply to pour water on it and it is probably this practice
which gave rise to all the boiling oil, water and sand stories.
Hope this helps
Mike
----- Original Message ----- From: "Diana Wright"
<[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2007 7:40 PM
Subject: [M-R] Oil
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions
of medieval religion and culture
This is not a very religious question, but perhaps you can tell me
anyway.
Can anyone provide me with one medieval source for pouring boiling oil
[or water] from a castle on attackers?
I have just read, for about the 400th time, the statement that
defenders of X, Y or Z could pour boiling etc. down on attackers &
I realized I don't know a single source for that.
DW
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR
NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write
to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
--
Dr. Phyllis G. Jestice
Associate Professor & Chair
Department of History
University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Dr. #5047
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html