[Mid] Re: Wizards

Here's another slant on period magicians. Some primitive peoples
thought the early explorers (Columbus, Drake, et al) were magicians
because the contemporary technology (guns, medicine, clothing, etc.)
could not be explained any other way. By this same token, I think that
many of the scientifically educated people of the medieval period were
considered a type of magician.

Just look at Leonardo Da Vinci, Villard de Hannecort and Galileo
Gallilei. They were credited (sometimes vilified) with knowledge ahead
of their time. But research has shown they were just very observant
students. In their notebooks they were not necessarily sketching
they're own ideas, but copying the work of others and then building upon
them.

To this end, I insert a portion of my biography:

"In the SCA I'm a 16th century Landsknecht officer. I am familiar with
firearms and siege weaponry (to include trebuchets, bows, catapults, and
cannons), but always keep a rapier at my side. I'm educated in the
sciences. My ability to apply some obscure scientific principal to win
a battle has often been misinterpreted as using magic. Hence I was
given the name of Max the Magician, or in my native German, Maximilian
der Zauberer. During feasts, at festivals and at other lulls in combat
you may also see me dabble in parlor magic."

Max
(Or in the Fools Academy, "Corporate Bob")

From: "Bob Scheltema" <bscheltema@kukausa.com>
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Received on Wed Jan 2 08:53:30 2002