Great Sea Fights 5: A Tudor Battle, 1512 Part III: How to Recreate a Medieval Sea Battle

In this the third and final part of our special mini Great Sea Fights series on the Tudor naval battle of St Mathieu in 1512, one of the Mary Rose's earliest engagements and possibly the first ever naval battle in which guns were fired out of gunports. We explore the problems posed to historians trying to recreate a medieval sea fight. What sources are available? How can you recreate the tides on that day and the wind? How do you make progress with no logs or letters or detailed descriptions of battle? Dr Sam Willis speaks with Dr Dominic Fontana, a historical geographer who has over 35 years involvement in the Mary Rose maritime archaeological project including five years working as part of the archaeological team, and is an expert at recreating ancient tidal systems. Dominic and Sam discuss these problems both in relation to battle of St Mathieu of August 1512 and also the battle of the solent of July 1545 in which the Mary Rose sank. Sam also speaks with Tim Concannon, a naval historian currently working on recreating a chart of the paths of the ships at the battle of St Mathieu.

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