Mama, just killed a man

August 27, 2010 11:08 AM

"In 1500 the first Bohemian Land Ordinance was completed, and within it was an article that forbade anyone from hunting with a firearm. However, only twenty-four years after the 1500 constitution firearms had apparently been involved in so much social violence that a specific firearms Ordinance was promulgated in 1524. Ultimately, the handgun had shifted from a rural nuisance, to a violent, social problem." Between Menace and Utility: Handguns in Early Sixteenth-Century Bohemia [PDF]. (From Bad Behaviour in Medieval and Early Modern Europe)
posted by not_the_water (13 comments total)

Put a gun up to his head, pulled the trigger, now he's dead.
posted by BobbyDigital at 11:26 AM on August 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

I'm sure this thread is going to end well...
posted by schmod at 11:33 AM on August 27, 2010

Gun violence is so pedestrian when you can have defenestrations.

(When defenestration is outlawed, only outlaws will have windows.)
posted by kmz at 11:34 AM on August 27, 2010 [5 favorites]

MetaFilter: between menace and utility
posted by GuyZero at 11:40 AM on August 27, 2010

Guns don't kill people. Early sixteenth-century Bohemians kill people.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:59 AM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm only a few paragraphs in and this is great. I really enjoy reading history, and I am fascinated with how the firearm irrevocably changed the humans relationship with authority and conflict.
posted by Back to you, Jim. at 12:21 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

In my little academic heart I am an early-modern historian.

In my life I live for bad behavior.

This journal is made for me and it fills my heart with joy to see real academics coming together like this.
posted by munchingzombie at 12:39 PM on August 27, 2010

The fact that "Bad Behaviour in Medieval and Early Modern Europe" exists makes me a happy camper.
posted by immlass at 12:39 PM on August 27, 2010

Apropos.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:48 PM on August 27, 2010

I shot the baron, but I did not shoot the viceroy.
posted by thewittyname at 1:16 PM on August 27, 2010 [10 favorites]

I am fascinated with how the firearm irrevocably changed the humans relationship with authority and conflict.

Have you read Pratchett's Men At Arms? Naturally it isn't historical in the least, but it explores this concept in an entertaining way.
posted by jnrussell at 2:47 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hope his footnotes are better than this guy's.

(Actually, I'm looking forward to reading this, and thanks.)
posted by IndigoJones at 4:26 PM on August 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not your ordinary ordnance ordinance.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:48 PM on August 27, 2010 [2 favorites]