Kats, poisonous gas, trebuchets, armored vehicles covered in spikes, and magic--lots of magic; Konrad Kyeser's Bellifortis is an imaginative book that inspired the likes of Hans Talhoffer, and perhaps even Leonardo da Vinci. It's full of recreations of some of history's most obscure innovations, but these oddities weren't left to print, they were brought to life on the Renaissance and Medieval battlefields, and that's what we wanted to explore in this episode of l'Arte Dell Armi. To do so, we sat down with Michael Chidester to learn more about who Konrad Keyser was, and more about his fascinating work, Bellifortis.
Images of Bellifortis: https://www.loc.gov/item/2021668178
To read Michaels work on Bellifortis, there is a free PDF download here: https://www.academia.edu/68328696/The_Bellifortis_of_Konrad_Kyeser_of_Eichst%C3%A4tt
Check out HEMA Bookshelf here: https://www.hemabookshelf.com/
Join Michael's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/michaelchidester
Adendum: The siege where Alexander the Great supposedly used divers with diving bells was the siege of Tyre.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!