Exploring Tallinn Old Town

Posted on October 24, 2018 by borysSNORC

We are in Tallinn today, where all of the bollards look like fat lazy pigeons. The weather is pretty dismal, but the rain kept at bay long enough for us to have a really good poke around the Old Town. I visited here last year when doing the Baltic with Mr K, so plenty of the spots we stopped today where places I have seen before. Though not with so few people around! Tallinn in August is very different to Tallinn in October… the narrow medieval cobblestoned Old Town feels deserted and if the cost of that is a few shops are shut for the winter, then that is fine by me! We found a great little cafe for breakfast which wasn’t so easy given that many places were just not open this early – you know, about 0930. It was called Revel and was warm and cosy and served up the best €4.95 brekkie ever – a potato, bacon, onion and mushroom bubble and squeak type deal with an egg on top. I didn’t finish it, but it was a delicious start to the day.

We started off near St John’s church, (Jaani Kirik) which is near Independence Square. Dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist, it was built in the late 1860s. In very typical old meets new Tallinn style of blended city scaping, the church has these large light poles out front that have colour changing strips running up and down them in blue and white (colours of the Estonian flag). It’s a bit jarring to the eye, but thankfully most of the Old Town is UNESCO World Heritage listed, so you don’t see much of this sort of thing. Across the Square, the imposing War of Independence Victory Column is currently under wraps. It is a tall, usually well-lit plinth with an enormous cross on it. Usually, I try to crop the scaffolded buildings and monuments out of my photos, but this one struck me as a bit of a monument in its own right. It was only unveiled about a decade ago and already under scaffold… I think this piece is currently a monument to the: ‘They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To’ field of civic building. On the hill above the Independence Square was the marker for the Baltic Way – commemorating the 2,000,000 people that formed a human chain across the 675kms from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius on 23rd of August 1989. The plaques were bestowed by the city of Vilnius, we will have to find the Riga one when we get there too, I think. The Baltic Way event occurred to commemorate the stunning peaceable act that was to protest against the Molotov-Ribbentrop protocols. I am so totally in love with the autumn colours – we experience nothing like this in subtropical Brisbane. Not far from Independence Square is the Kiek in de Kök – a restored cannon tower from the 15th century that is now a museum. The name, Kiek in de Kök, literally means ‘peek in the kitchen’ in German; the tower got its name from stories about how soldiers in the fortification could peek from the top of the tower into the kitchens of the town below. Nearby is the sturdy 14th century, Maiden’s Tower which is currently a cafe and small museum which oddly focuses on the culinary arts and the art of war – interesting combo. We thought we may double back around on these museums later if it started raining and we needed to take refuge indoors (it didn’t and we didn’t). Up a small hill from the Maiden’s Tower is the decidedly pink Toompea Palace. The Palace/Castle was erected on the foundations of the crumbling eastern wing of the 13th – 14th century fortress that was on this site. The Baroque castle was built in the late 18th century, and is now the Estonia parliament, complete with carpark and (out of frame to the left) be-logo’d scaffolding, which I am now convinced is permanent, as it was here last year and isn’t covering or protecting anything, just being used as a visual divider between the road and the palace. Across the street is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which is Tallinn’s largest and grandest orthodox cupola cathedral and is dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky, and the locals hate it. Apparently, the cathedral was built during the late 19th century as part of the efforts to Russify Estonia. It is so heartily disliked by many Estonians as a symbol of abject oppression, such that Estonia officials had scheduled the cathedral for demolition in 1924,. The only reason the cathedral is still standing is due to lack of money – it was going to be an expensive effort to destroy and remove the massive construction. After Estonia gained their independence, the Estonian parliament again started to discuss plans to demolish Cathedral in the 1990s! Seriously as recently as 30 years ago they wanted to demolish this beautiful building to extend the parking lot for the members of Parliament! I love these street lamps – I wish I could take one home for the front garden… it would only look a little out of place.It was supposed to only get to 7°C today, but with the wind chill, feel more like 2-3°C and a high possibility of rain, so I wore my Fantastic Purple Jacket Of Warmth that I bought last year in Oslo on the end of season bargain shelves for €50 – only problem is as soon as you are indoors, you’re overheating like mad, so it’s on and off, on and off, with the jacket all day. Souvenirs – the more I travel, the more I realise that I like to look at souvenirs and see what sort of things people make/sell to represent their towns and special places, but I don’t actually like to buy souvenirs. 🙂 They just clutter up the house and you do nothing with them. So far this trip, I have bought sweet stuff all other than my lapel pins. Vikings – with horns or course.
I love these heavy felted fun wool hats – I’d love to be able to take half a dozen of them home for friends, but at €45-55 and knowing how little wear they would get in Queensland, it just doesn’t seem a sensible proposition. 🙂 Around the corner is the Toomkirik or St Mary’s Cathedral. Originally dating from the 13th century, the medieval church has a Baroque bell tower and an amazing organ inside that someone was playing this morning. The Toomkirik is the oldest church in Tallinn and mainland Estonia. It is also the only building in the Toompea area that survived a severe fire in the 17th century fire. The interior is rather austere with these enormous high pews that congregants would sit in, probably as a family, quite pointedly separated from the people in front and behind them. yale for scale:I can’t hardly see the altar over the pew… borys for scale: After leaving St Mary’s we walked around to the first of several viewing platforms to see over the city – the Piiskopi viewing platform faces over more modern areas of Tallinn. And there was no one here! Amazing… especially after still feeling swamped by tourists in Prague and Kiev. As you move around the Toompea area, views of the Alexander Nevsky’s onion domes can be seen peeking through the buildings in the narrow streets – I can’t believe they would still want to knock it down!
The only evidence that Tallinn was once a major port for the Hanseatic Guilds are these signs outside of the souvenir shops – the Hanseatic Guild of Souvenir Shop Owners perhaps? They certainly seem organised or even unionised to keep their pricing on par. 🙂 A little further around the town winding through the international embassies that are placed around Toompea near the Parliament buildings is another viewing platform, the Patkuli Viewing Platform. This time facing out over an older section of the city and with a few visitors.

I took some panorama photos here so will have to share those on FB using the 3D thing. Amber, amber everywhere – some of it lovely, some of it hideous. It’s hard to find just nice chunks of amber that you could do your own thing with them, and when you do, they are enormous with price tags to match. I bought some rough amber beads (strings of large chips?) when I was here last year and have done absolutely nothing wtih them, so was determined not to buy more!

We then left the Toompea area and head down hill towards the Old Town Square. Which amazingly had nearly zero visitors. The Raekoja plats or Town Hall has been here since 1322 and the town square next to it has been here ever since then as well. The hall was rebuilt from 1402 to 1404 into its current form. Every year since 1441, the town puts up a large Christmas tree display in the square beside the Town Hall in a tradition that is now over 570 years old. You can visit inside the Town Hall – between the months of June and August. The Square is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops – most of which are fairly empty today. Some of which have signs out saying ‘Thanks for a great summer – see you next year!’. The old jail which is right beside the Town Hall and is now a photography exhibit. By this point we were looking for somewhere to warm up a bit – maybe some mulled wine and a light lunch. We saw this restaurant with the promise of mushroom soup on their chalkboard and were enticed inside. We had no idea what we were walking into – but rolled with it nonetheless.

Turns out it is the most touristy of touristy medieval tavern/cafe/restaurants in town! Complete with garbed waitstaff and a hearty, “Greetings traveller, can we offer you some fare to warm your gullet” type welcome. Oh dear. The entire hall is lit only by candlelight and the menu was really quite interesting. We were unaware, but visitors were even able to dress in medieval clothing to enjoy their medieval lunch. Apparently, this place is a major draw for many visitors to Tallinn. and rates very highly on Trip Advisor –

“In one word- perfect. It’s the only place I know that promises you authentic medieval experience and actually gives it to you. The menu includes some of the most popular and finest medieval foods and beverages and even though some may taste unusual most is still excellent once you get used to it…. The service is also on top. The lady who waited our table stayed in a character… and the decor is also worth a mention. It’s maybe a bit too dark for some but we loved it. The candle-light gives it a cosy feel and lets you relax in a medieval nobility style.”

Having only come in for a cider/mulled wine and some soup – we ended up trying lots of interesting food. Designed as an entree for one, we shared this ‘Neptune’s Platter’ which contained – Salmon eggs, Andalusian fish, smoke-grilled salmon, herring, anchovies, quail eggs, Castle’s fresh cheese, herb-bread with nuts, rye bread with smoked ham. yale ordered the

I ordered the Earl’s Forest Mushroom soup – it was delicious, I love good mushroom soup. Afterwards we had enjoyed the Neptune Platter so well, that we decided to not have a dessert but instead flip back to try the non-seafood version taster plate called the Reval’s Beef and Liver Pate Tasting Plate, which contained: Juniper-flavoured beef, orange tongue jelly, French royal poultry liver paté, olives, breads and caramelized onion jam. Also all very tasty. One thing about eating out with yale – I get to try all the things knowing he will finish them. 🙂

The place was kinda funky – I don’t think I have seen a better medieval recreation tavern, I definitely know I have seen much much worse. I would definitely recommend it to my medieval friends and would love to come here in garb with a handful of friends to try their banquet meals. Lovely space, lovely atmosphere, great staff and a good attempt at medieval style food that suits a modern palate. Good fun all round. They also have a shop attached where they are selling various period style wares. I am not sure what this was about on the website of a different nearby ‘medieval’ tavern… is it lodgings for if you’re drunk and can’t drive home? Or are they offering ‘special services’ upstairs? 😮 Back out on the street we went looking for the Town Hall Pharmacy also known as the Raeapteek which is the oldest pharmacy in Europe that has been in continuous operation in the same premises. … since 1422! It looked a bit weird to see all the modern medicines in the old cabinets – but it is still a working pharmacy so you can go buy your panadol here. There is a small museum of old ‘treatments’… dried toads, bats, hedgehogs?

After this, we went to St Katherine’s Passage to make our way to the old city walls.

Easily one of the most picturesque of Old Town’s lanes, the walkway runs behind St. Catherine’s Church.

The walkway is particularly known for being home to the St. Catherine’s Guild, which is a collection of craft workshops where artists use traditional methods to create glassware, hats, quilts, ceramics, jewellery etc. The workshops are housed in the small, 15th- to 17th-century workrooms in open type studios so you can see artists working and buy their wares. No summer crowds! It was lovely to walk through this space and have it all to ourselves, also to have time to check out some of the art studios that are here – though the woodworker seems to have packed up for the winter.
At the end of the passage, you can climb to the top of the Hellemann Tower to walk along the old castle walls.

The street views are spectacular from up here – and you can see how few people are visiting the town today. The rickety staircase we claimed to come up with the bored octagenarian ticket seller who we just about had to wake up to take our €2.00 for tickets. Finally, it was starting to rain on our parade – we did pretty well considering it was supposed to be raining all day. So we retreated back to the hotel with some caviar and some vodka for a bit of down time and a quiet evening in the warm.

Tudor Cosmo Covers

Posted on January 6, 2014 by borysSNORC

Medieval Goatse, oh my!

Posted on February 24, 2013 by borysSNORC

I’m sitting here asking myself – what was going on in those Medieval monasteries? Seriously? Even though the image seems to err.. complement? the accompanying text (below), how does one reconcile this image with the fact that it was very likely have been produced, and viewed, by persons who had devoted themselves to lives to piety, prayer and scholasticism? At first glimpse I thought it might have something to do with Absolon who did infamously kist Alisoun’s nether yea in The Miller’s Tale, from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. But not so, it seems this moonish illumination derives from a Medieval romance called The Conversations of Solomon and Marcolf.

The concept of monks writing out racy romances feels more than a little absurd… and totally incongruous with our general perceptions of Medieval monks and their life of studious solitude, self deprivation (not to be confused with depravation!), and celibacy!? Makes you wonder, what on earth were they thinking? And also… what really went on, in ye olde monasteries? O_o

From the dialogue of Solomon and Marcolf:

‘The king Salomon discended from hys hors and began to loke into the oven. Marcolphus laye all crokyd, hys vysage from hymwardes, had put downe hys breche into hys hammes that he myght se hys arshole and alle hys othre fowle gere. As the kyng Salomon, that seyng, demawnded what laye there, Marcolph answeryd: I am here. Salomon: Wherefore lyest thou thus? Marcolf: For ye have commaunded me that ye shulde no more se me betwyxt myn yes. Now and ye woll not se me betwyxt myn yes, ye may se me betwene my buttockys in the myddes of myn arsehole.’

Gorleston Psalter, England 14th century (British Library, Additional 49622, fol. 61r)

TIL… lots of cool stuff.

Posted on February 16, 2013 by borysSNORC

Today I learned that that even though we think we are living in an enlightened age of reason, science and technology, there are so many element intrinsic to Western thinking that might as well be purely Medieval. For example, attitudes towards rape and rape victims really havent changed that much over the last 500 years. In Renaissance Italy, the bulk of rape incidents happen by a known perpetrator and often in the victims own home, and usually went unreported as the shame and stain on a woman’s character was detrimental to her future. Women were still frequently considered to have ‘asked for it’, if she has allowed her person to be alone, unguarded, unprotected (fryndlesse) or dressed provocatively. Many rapists felt they have done nothing wrong and are therefore not repentent about their crimes, this was particularly evident in the case in group or gang rapes where the male agressor/s gain acceptance and reinforcement of their overt masculinities from their cohorts. Women of lower/servant classes or disenfranchised minorities were often at very high risk of sexual assault due to the protection afforded to their ‘betters’ or more monied counterparts… any of this sounding familiar? Yep, many of these aspects of rape mentality haven’t gone very far at all, particularly in some of our modern global cultures.

I also learned that eating disorders and anorexia tended to affect the same demographic of young woman in Puritan England that it does now… young women from well to do backgrounds, often with very religious backgrounds whose primarily emotional disturbance is doubt – primarily self doubt. In Puritan England it was their burgeoning sexuality and the subsequent conflict with their piety that caused that self doubt and following self loathing. Prescriptions for such melancholias included fasting… but many young women took the fasting treatment as seriously as they took their religion and then endured long term battles with willing periods of not nourishing their ‘traitorous bodies’ that were full of lust and potential for sin. Modern day women (in the US at any rate, stats for Australia not available due to overzealousness of political correctness) are from the same demographics – tend to be from middle to upper class families with heavy religious backgrounds and similar expectations. Confusion arises in young teens when puberty, adolescent angst and sexual experimentation leads to self and body perception issues. Similar results ensue for many sufferers… years of fighting with a very serious condition that results from emotional dissatisfaction and disconnection from one’s own body.

Today I learned that post-partum depression, while much more widely acknowledge and recognizable in modern society, was just as present in Medieval life as it is today. Perhaps even more so as women had so many children. Margery Kempe was literally driven mad after the birth of her first child and in the absence of medical or psychological treatment turned to friends, family and townspeople for support. Eventually she turned to Christ for salvation and claimed it was only His divine intervention and her continued desire to please Christ that kept her from relapsing through the birth of her next 13 children. But she ended up mad as pants in the end anyway according to her neighbours – which is by way of saying, she became one of those ‘uppity’ women of the Middle Ages who refused to be controlled by the social constraints of the time. And after 14 kids, I think she deserves to be as free and uncontrolled as she wants to be!

I also learned that witches had consensual and emotionally fulfilling, sometimes long term, sexual relations with devils and demons that visited them in the night to ‘suckle at their genitalia’! That presumed witches don’t float for a reason (but that’s a much longer story for another time) and that witch-hunting was a systematised and very lucrative business. 🙂

This conferences has been so full of amazing papers, wonderful people and interesting facts that I can’t wait for the next one – which is at the University of Queensland in 2015.

The Uses of Violence…

Rape and Ritual in Renaussance Italy: The Normalization of Violence?
“What shee hath often seene”: Family Violence in Pre-Modern Ireland

Witchcraft in Translation…

The Witch-Finder General: The Matthew Hopkins Pamphlett.
Sleeping With Devils: The Sexual Witch in the Seventeenth Century England.
Glanvill in Germany: Translating an English Debate on Witchcraft and Spirits.

Medieval and Early Modern Echoes in Healthcare…

Margery Kempe and Postnatal Psychosis: Going ‘owt of hir minde’.
Vesalius Writing on the Body of Medicine: from translation to Direct Observation.
Puberty and Eating Disorders in Puritan England.

Qualities of Kings: The Representation of Medieval English Monarchs…

The Portrait of Henry the Young King in the History of William Marshall.
How to Construct a King: The Correspondence of Edward I and Llwelyn ap Gruffydd
‘Sodenly he was changed into a new man’: The Self-fashioned Masculinity of Henry V

If I’m ever in trouble, I want this guy to defend me.

Posted on February 15, 2013 by borysSNORC

The ANZAMEMS conference has been awesome. I have attended some fantastic papers on lots of interesting topics. It turns out that we are not going to be getting access to the conference papers at the end and they’re not being published anywhere… which is a bit disappointing given it’s impossible to get to all the sessions. I imagine the big conferences like Leeds would be even worse for trying to picking and choosing which panels to attend. Oh well, thems the breaks. I went to panels on –

Thinking Through Animals

Robert Henryson’s fabulous ‘Maner of translatioun”: ‘perfite studie” getting “science”.
Anthropomorphism: Animal versus Human Nature in William Baldwin’s ‘Beware the Cat’ and William Caxton’s ‘The History of Reynard the Fox’
Prosecuting Animals as Criminals in Late Medieval Europe*

Heresy, Witchcraft and Deviance

The Cultural Work of Witchcraft – Salem 1692
The Cultural Translation of Demonic Possession from England to Bermuda: “A True Narrative of the Grevious Afflicition of Roger Sterrop in Somer Islands”
“Arnalda de la Motta: The Ministry of a Female Perfect

Gendered Practices

Til Death Do Us Part – Practice of Divorce during the Merovingian period.
English Cistercian Nuns and their Interactions with Cistercian Commissioners and the Cistercian General Chapter in the 15^th-16^th Centuries.
Grandmothers and Granddaughters: Four Generations of Medici Women at the Grand Ducal Court

I learned lots of cool stuff yesterday including but not limited to the fact that the Christian Church during the Merovingian period would absolutely not tolerate bigamous relations in amy form amongst royal families at the time, however incestuous ones, so long as they were formed before the Church knew anything about them were pretty much in the clear.

The Eleanora of Aragon was a lot tougher and smarter chicky then I knew her to be and she really doesn’t get enough credit for running the entire kingdom while her husband was off gallivanting about at war. Same of the Medici broads, generations of them effected royal houses for centuries and they ranged from being the most forebearing and hard done by, to being powerfully manipulative and sympathy worthy political pawns!

*The most interesting talk I heard though was on ‘Prosecuting Animals as Criminals in Late Medieval Europe. In 1522, in Autun France, the local townspeople sued the town’s rats for having eaten and created great damage to the town’s granaries. The rats were duly given a lawyer, one Bartolome Chaussime (who would later become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Cout in Provence) and the trial was conducted exactly like any other. The day of trail arrives and unfortunately the Defendants failed to appear in court. Chaussime, clever lawyer that he is, claimed his clients refused to attend court due to the prejudicial language in the summons which called them ‘dirty, grey, scoundrelous thieves’. The judge was forced to agree and held the trial date over saying the Claimants would have to moderate the language in the summons in order to reflect the not yet proven guilty status of the Defendants… and a new trial date was set.

On the next trial date, there was once again, a notable absence of Defendants in the courtroom. At this point the townspeople were outraged, but the lawyer for the Defence calmly stated that his clients were confused, that the writ of summons was too vague that among themselves, they did not know which of them needed to appear in court, that they thought others of their community would be in attendance and that the net result is that none attended! The judge agreed and instructed the Claimants to be more specific in identifying their wrong-doers so that a proper summons might be drafted and a new court date set.

The next court date duly arrived (you can really tell the court appointed lawyer is being paid by the hour!) and still there was no Defendants. On this occasion Chaussime argued that his clients being largely illiterate had not been able to read if the summons applied to them as individual rats of the town of Autun and therefore had not been able to understand if they were required. The judge, in his wisdom, agreed that this of course was a conundrum and decreed that the summons should be read from every pulpit in every church throughout the town for two weeks before the next court date could be set. Thus the trial was further delayed.

Finally, yet another court date occurred, and by now it was turning into quite the public spectacle. And yet, on this occasion, again the Defendants failed to appear! Their clever lawyer however said that his Clients, the rats, could not appear in court due to fear for their lives from the cats belonging to the good townspeople of Autun, and it was fear of capture and/or persecution that kept the rats from attending the court. At which time also, the clever Chaussime applied to the court for a guaranteed right of safe passage and a protection order to enable the rats to attend court – this would involve the townspeople restraining, binding or otherwise keeping in their cats for the duration.

Well, this the townspeople thought was ridiculous! (LOL) And they flatly refused to bind their cats in order that the rats might be able to attend court and rightly be brought to justice for their heinous crimes committed in the granary and against the townspeople of Autun… therefore the judge was forced to dismiss the case!

The whole thing is so exquisitely absurd that you couldn’t make it up if you tried. There were also lots of other examples of animal trials in the Medieval period, including a tragic and slightly alarming story about a sow. But there have been awesome little gems of information in every presentation like this… so I am having a ball! If I can find the time I am considering doing some research into animal trials myself and may perhaps do a research collegium at Festival if people are interested. 🙂

Roman d’Alexandre, Tournai, 1338-1344. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodl. 264, fol. 94v)

Couldn’t find a manuscript image of rats in the granary on short notice, so I’ve given you monkeys into the wine instead! 🙂