Koert Broekemafinance and history blog

Zichtbaar vanuit je raam

looking south in Roosendaal 21 november 2011 from sunset to sunrise

circumpolar constellations

The constellations

When looking straight at the Sun one needs good sunglasses and even then it is dangerous for your eyes. Fortunately software can dim the light of the Sun down to a very low value making it possible to see the fixed stars behind the Sun on its yearly move through the constellations of the Zodiac. One can also see Venus and Mercurius moving irregular around the Sun. This irregularity is an optical effect caused by the fact that the Earth itself also moves around the sun during the year although for an observer on the Earth it looks as if he stands fixed in the center.

Melkweg normaal

Melkweg Turbo

Pleiaden Onder

Het sterrenbeeld Stier

Weegschaal Op

De klauwen van de schorpioen

De Leeuw recht boven je hoofd (in het Zenith)

In Bagdad, september 26 of the year 554 BC, there was a partial eclipse of the moon which was visible in the early morning just before sunrise. It was taken as an urgent signal from the moon God: he demanded a high-priestess. This function had been vacant since a long time. Nabonidus, who was just made king a few years earlier, lost no time and appointed his eldest doughter. Never mind this suited Nabonidus politically. He knew darned well there would be an eclipse of the moon and what was written about this omen in the goal-year texts. Astronomy was very advanced in his days. We live in wonderful times. For less than $70 on can buy a piece of software, Starry Night, that simulates this sacred moment.

This post is based on two subsequent articles about early medieval cogs in the monthly magazin for classic ships: “Spiegel der Zeilvaart” november and december 2007. The author is Luit van der Tuuk and the illustrations are from Arne Zuidhoek.

There are no remains found from cog ships before 1200 when it became the standard ship of the Hanseatic league. However, the name cog is much older and was used for a vessel along the Friesian coast during the eight and ninth century. Eight centruy Friesland was much bigger than the present Dutch province with that name, it was roughly the coast from Antwerp to Bremen. It is likely that the bulky Hanseatic cogship developed out of this, much smaller, Friesian vessel. The earliest record of Friesian cogs are from ninth century coins found in Haitabu, Danemark. They show a sailing vessel with a flat bottom and straight stem and stern making the side view box-like. Continue reading →

At last I got my www.koertbroekema.com back. This site has been out of the air for about five months for no other reason than a failed transition of the site name to my current provider. I now know that you need an Epp code for this. The provider was so kind to mail this code to an adres I never use. Once the expiration date is passed one cannot claim the site back even with such a code. The name is placed into quarantine for many months. No one knows why. What a shame! But all is fine now.

I have been busy making an Astrolabe. I have also researched medieval gardens and herbal medicine.

In the coming weeks I will publish several post about these subjects.