| Whilst
doing some research, I came across the following in an old
book, of how things may have affected those we re-enact from
the wars in Europe in the 17th Century.
1 statute mile = 1760 yards
1 Scots mile = 1984 yards
1 Irish mile = 2240 yards
1 Russian verst = 1168 yards
1 Italian mile = 1467 yards
1 Spanish mile = 5028 yards
As you can see from the above, this
must have caused absolute chaos when planning supply routes
for the opposing armies. For example, if you told an Irish
mercenary to scoute 5 miles in front – this would
be his equivalent to 11,200 yards (6.36 statute miles from
the start). Whereas, if you ask the same of a Spanish mercenary
to scoute 5 miles in front – his equivalent would
be 25140 yards from the start (14.29 statute miles).
However, if a Russian mercenary were
asked to scoute 5 miles (verst) in front, his equivalent
would be 5840 yards (3.32 statute miles from the start)!
Hmmmm
I felt you might find this interesting
when you are reading accounts of battles and campaigns in
other parts of Europe, all may not be as it seems at face
value! Value being the operative word when calculating the
distance of siege lines around cities, for example, a Spanish
account of a siege stated their lines covered a length of
3 miles in total around the city. So, 3 Spanish miles (15084
yards) which is 8.57 statute miles. Now this gives an impression
of how great the siege lines actually were.
As a further point of interest for
any budding apothecaries out there, the following are some
apothecary weights and measures.
20 grains = 1 scruple = 1.296 grams
3 scruples = 1 drachm = 3.888 grams
8 drachms = 1 ounce = 31.1035 grams
12 ounces = 1 pound = 373.2420 grams
Ponder at your leisure!!
Garry
(But it was typed by the intelligent one!)
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