Human Affairs
Facial Hair Diplomacy
“The adult men of the land of Gog and Magog are beardless. When a man with a full beard enters their country, the king, who is of the line of Gog and Magog, orders his beard plucked out.” […]
10th Century AD
Violence
The King Turns the Tide
“With this he took up his shield and the sacred lance, and putting himself at the head of the horsemen he turned against the enemy, fulfilling the functions both a very brave soldier and a very great commander.” […]
History
A Perilous Kingship
“When they want to appoint this khaqan, they take this man and strangle him with a piece of silk until he is on the point of death. Then they ask him, “How long to you wish to reign?” He replies, “Such and such a number of years.” If he dies before the time expires, fine; if not, he is executed when he reaches the designated year.” […]
Supernatural
A Blessed Massacre
“On the following day the head of the chieftain was set up in the camp, and around it the decapitated bodies of seven hundred of the captives, and also his chief adviser, with his eyes gouged out and his tongue cut off, was left helpless in the midst of the corpses.” […]
Supernatural
God Put to the Test
“The next morning he ordered a bar of iron of great weight to be heated with fire, and then bade the cleric, in defense of the Catholic faith, to carry the glowing iron.” […]
History
The Revenge of a Doomed Man
“Rightly am I made odious to all men”, replied Iring, “because I have obeyed your treachery, but before I take my departure I will wipe out this guilt of mind by avenging my lord”. […]
History
Saxon Slaughter
“That night was filled with cries, with murder and rapine, until the red dawn arose and declared a bloodless victory.” […]
History
Battle of the German Barbarians
“There arose the cry of men exhorting one another, the clang of arms, the groans of the dying, and with such a scene all that whole day was drawn out.” […]
Britons and Celts
Saxons Take What They Want
“And when the leaders of the Saxon army saw that the land was broad and fertile, and that the hands of the natives were slow to draw the sword, whereas they themselves and the greater part of the Saxons were without secure homes, they sent for an even larger army.” […]
History
A Gloriously Remembered Stab in the Back
“Thinking that the time was ripe for them to obtain control of the whole region, they drew their knives and rushed upon the unarmed and unsuspecting enemy and slew them also that not a single man escaped.” […]