Around a million medieval documents have no date making their historical significance difficult to quantify. But automated computer techniques look set to revolutionise the work for historians.

 An important aspect of any society is the way it keeps records of property and land transactions so that ownership can be properly established and disputes resolved. In medieval Britain, this process was largely carried out by religious or royal institutions which recorded transactions in documents, written in Latin, called charters.

 Today, more than a million charters survive either as originals or more often as ancient copies. They provide a remarkable insight into the pressures at work in medieval politics, economics and society between the tenth and fourteenth centuries in England.

 For example, historians can use these documents to study the rise and fall of military and religious organisations. A good example is the Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, a religious and military organisation set up after the western conquest of Jerusalem in the 11th century (the First Crusade). Historians say the charters clearly show how the organisation became militarised in response to the call for a Second Crusade in 1145, triggered by Muslim forces recapturing various towns in the region. Clearly, these documents have huge historical value but there is a problem: most charters are not dated, particularly during the period of Norman rule between 1066 and 1307.

Click here to read this article from the MIT Technology Review

Click here to read the article Dating medieval English charters

This morning, I searched for an article about autism on JSTOR, the online database of academic journals. I have a child on the autistic spectrum, and I like to be aware of the latest research on the topic. I could not access any of the first 200 articles that contained the word "autism." That's because, for the most part, only individuals with a college ID card can read academic journal articles. Everyone else, including journalists, non-affiliated scholars, think tanks and curious individuals, must pay a substantial fee per article, if the articles are available at all.

 I later found one article that was available for $38. I'm not sure why one twelve page article costs $38. It takes me about eight minutes to scan a twelve page article. The researcher receives no royalties. Why does it cost so much to read one article?

 The answer lies in the antiquated system of academic publishing.

Click here to read this article from The Atlantic 

A team of researchers from Poland and the Netherlands have developed a system that is able to answer what the hair and eye colour is from individuals who lived over 800 years ago.  The HIrisPlex DNA analysis system was recently recreated for modern forensic research, but the researchers have now shown that this system is sufficiently robust to successfully work on older and more degraded samplesMedievalists.nethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09551383426787566659noreply@blogger.comhttp://medievalnews.blogspot.com/2013/01/new-dna-test-can-determine-eye-and-hair.html

I just wanted to appologize and let you know we are working on getting the Sir Vitus interview back up for you soon. For now, please go here and buy a 14th Century Mafia T-shirt as they are... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

*UPDATE* I just noticed that theres some corruption in the file I uploaded. I will reload the file. Sorry for the delay. -Kith 09-26-06 *UPDATE* Looks like this one is better. Sorry everyone for the... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

We rehash Pennsic 35 from Wednesday to Friday of War week with our newest guest, Captain Kope of the Midrealm.  It is a riotious and fun little review of how things went.  Hope you like it... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

This is just a short cast when Richard was at Pennsic right after the Unbelted battles. Enjoy! Kith Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

This is just a short cast when Richard was at Pennsic right after the Unbelted battles.Enjoy!Kith

This is the Pain Bank's first music podcast and I hope you like it. Three songs were recorded at Pennsic 35 by Tyerrie de DesTroit (one by Sir Bryce de Byrum and one by Sir Bran), one Midrealm song... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

This is the Pain Bank's first music podcast and I hope you like it. Three songs were recorded at Pennsic 35 by Tyerrie de DesTroit (one by Sir Bryce de Byrum and one by Sir Bran), one Midrealm song by Gabe of Kriegsturm and a song by the Brobdingnagian Bards.   You can find information about Tyerrie and Sir Bran here: Outremerwith the lyrics to Sir Bryce's song lycrics (linked from the site).andGabe of Kriegsturm Here.andBrobdingnagian Bards Here   Hope you enjoy it, so please leave us some feedback on our website so we may know if you want more of these.   

Sorry for the delay folks.  We did record a report from Pennsic, but we are having some issues getting it edited and posted up.  We have recorded the other half of the report and we should... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

Sorry for the delay folks.  We did record a report from Pennsic, but we are having some issues getting it edited and posted up.  We have recorded the other half of the report and we should have it all up by next week, but for now, here is a training video that the Legion used to train the folks located in the Barony of Roaring Wastes this past year.

Our Guest, Captain Gunnar, Kith and I discuss the upcoming Pennsic 35 and what is Gunnar Funk!  Pennsic 35 is finally here, hell some folks are already on site.  Kith and I will be there... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

Our Guest, Captain Gunnar, Kith and I discuss the upcoming Pennsic 35 and what is Gunnar Funk!  Pennsic 35 is finally here, hell some folks are already on site.  Kith and I will be there for the middle weekend and will be podcasting from on site, so check back daily.  We have something in the works for working with The Pennsic Independent  and hopefully we can get the word out.  I am hoping to have T-shirts on site as well, so come find me.  $12 for listeners and more if you find them at a merchent.  We had some technical difficulty and lost our recorded episode with HRM Felix and HRM Brion.  We are implementing some hardware fixes for this software pain and future recordings will be much better.  I expect to have an Advertiser page up by Pennsic as well for those, who may wish to advertise to our audience on The Pain Bank!Insured by the FDIC - Fighting Dukes In Charge

Yet another Interview, this time with the Felix Rex, current King of the Midrealm, also known as Felix of Ramsey.  We talk about his transition from Boxing to heavy weapons and how has worked... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

Yet another Interview, this time with the Felix Rex, current King of the Midrealm, also known as Felix of Ramsey.  We talk about his transition from Boxing to heavy weapons and how has worked out for him.  Emporer Ming and Kith the Slacker get into it about practicing and ability.  HRM Felix is a big fan of the show, so I hope you enjoy it!

With the help of our Guest Lady Malla, we discuss the recent Midrealm Rose Tournament held in the Incipient Shire of al Ja'far on 6-4-2006.  We talk briefly about Lady Malla and her... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

With the help of our Guest Lady Malla, we discuss the recent Midrealm Rose Tournament held in the Incipient Shire of al Ja'far on 6-4-2006.  We talk briefly about Lady Malla and her participation at the event as well as what the Rose Tourney is about and what goes on a bit behind the scenes to make the event happen.  About 50 minutes in length. Recorded on 6-22-2006

Well, this was an amazing event - somewhat unique due to the genius of Nissan Maxima, leader of House Clovenshield - a group of mercs. He set forth a call to all mercenary households to gather at... Contact us now by email at richard-at-companyofoutremer.com or by voicemail at 206-202-0097

Well, this was an amazing event - somewhat unique due to the genius of Nissan Maxima, leader of House Clovenshield - a group of mercs. He set forth a call to all mercenary households to gather at this event and take away the lands from the King of Aethelmarc. Therefore all King's men from various kingdoms did gather and it turns out there were a LOT of Knights, Counts and Dukes in attendance as well as 4 currently reigning Kings! WOW, it was definitely fun and most likely not to be repeated like this any time soon.