More Medieval Poetry Fun & Games

William the Conqueror (by Chesterman)

William the Conqueror, 1066,
Said to his captains, 'I mean to affix
England to Normandy. Go out and borrow
Some bows and some arrows, we're starting tomorrow.'
So William went conquering hither and thither
'Til Angles and Saxons were all of a dither
He conquered so quickly you couldn't keep count
Of the counties he conquered, I think they amount
To ten, or a doxen, or even a score,
And I haven't a doubt he'd have conquered some more,
But death put an end to the tactics, thank Heaven,
Of William the Conqueror, 1087.

Henry the VIII (by Farjeon)

Bluff King Hal was full of beans
He married half a dozen queens
For three called Kate they cried the banns
And one called Jane, and a couple of Annes.

The first he asked to share his reign
Was Kate of Aragon, straight from Spain
But when his love for her was spent
He got a divorce, and out she went.

Anne Boleyn was his second wife.
He swore to cherish her all his life,
But seeing a third, he wished instead
He chopped off poor Anne Boleyn?s head.

He married the next afternoon
Jane Seymour, which was rather soon,
But after one year as his bride
She crept into her bed and died.

Anne of Cleves was number four.
Her portrait thrilled him to the core,
But when he met her face to face
Another royal divorce took place.

Catherine Howard, number five,
Billed and cooed to keep alive.
But one day Henry felt depressed,
The executioner did the rest.

Sixth and last was Catherine Parr
Sixth and last and luckiest far
For this time it was Henry who
Hopped the twig, and a good job too.

For education-lite breaks, check out these Games and Animations:

Tudor Britain
Elizabethan Spying Game
Re-enact the Battle of Hastings
Odd Man Out Game (What Doesn't Belong?)
Dress King Henry
Build a Medieval Arch Animation

References:
Poetry Library Quotes

Ancient Egypt: Puzzles, Pyramids, and Math Papyri

A French architect thinks he's solved the mystery of how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built. At an elaborate 3D visualization site (Pyramid of Khufu), Jean-Pierre Houdin shows how he thinks the pyramid was built with a combination of an external ramp and a spiraling internal ramp.

"The crucial piece of evidence in support of an internal network of spiral tunnels comes from a microgravity test carried out in 1986, he said. French scientists found a peculiar anomaly - a less-dense structure in the form of a spiral within the pyramid.
"They had it in the drawer for 15 years because it could not be explained. But when we put my drawings over it, there it was," M. Houdin said. "It is strong evidence, but not proof, that the tunnels still exist inside the pyramid and that they were not filled in," he said."

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the only remaining Seven Wonders of the World as listed by the Greek historian Herodotus. Not all of its mysteries have been solved, though. At Who Built the Pyramids and Why?, read more about the mathematical wonders in the detailed design of this pyramid. Excerpt:

"It consists of a line drawn from North to South which is a mere three minutes and six seconds deviant from the celestial meridian which means that the Pyramid was built to face true North. The measurements are staggering. Its base length is 230m 36 cm 4mm. And the circumference is 921m 45cm 6mm. In other words, if we consider a circle with a radius of the Pyramid's height, they will be identical. This speaks to the geniusness of the ancient Afrikans in the B.C. era.

If we multiply the length of the side of the Pyramid by 2 and divide the result by the height, the answer will be 230. 364 multiplied by 2 and divided by 146.599 equals 3.14 which is the modern day Pi, that is, the ratio of the circle's circumference to its diameter contained in the Pyramid. This degree of accuracy proves that the ancient Afrikans- Kemites were well aware of the spherical nature of the earth. They possessed this advanced knowledge of mathematics. They had already calculated the radius and circumference of the earth."

When the Rhind papyrus' hieroglyphics were finally deciphered in 1842, archeologists were surprised discover many math puzzles written on the 18 by 1 foot long papyrus now known as the Rhind papyrus. One puzzle is very similar to the St. Ives puzzle:

"One of these is: Seven houses contain seven cats. Each cat kills seven mice. Each mouse had eaten seven ears of grain. Each ear of grain would have produced seven hekats of wheat. What is the total of all of these?"

The St Ives puzzle: "As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, and every sack had seven cats, every cat had seven kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks, and wives, how many were going to St. Ives?"

The answer to the first is 19,607. The answer to second is 2800 going to St. Ives.

The Nile Valley may have been the birthplace of algebra and trigonometry, but unlike the mathematical abstract philosophers of ancient Greece, the ancient Egyptians had more practical uses for their math in business and building (of course!).

Does your head hurt from all these calculations? Maybe you should take a break by playing this Mummy Maker Game at BBC History.

Here you can Write Your Name in Egyptian Hieroglyphs.


Reference Links:
Fox News: Houdin and the Great Pyramid
Independent: Khufu Pyramid
Inside the Pyramid
PBS: Travel Into the Pyramid
Rhind Papyrus