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EthicallyChallenged β Staircase Trouble
Published: 2014-04-10 14:14:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 20674; Favourites: 438; Downloads: 278
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Description
When riding a lift (elevator) or an escalator, many of you must have wondered: "how was this done in the olden days?". Let us examine how our technologically challenged ancestors solved the problems of vertical travel.The answer is, they did not, or only did so partially. In order to move to a higher floor of a building, most people were forced to use stairs, also known as steps, a crude construction resembling a non-moving escalator. Most historians agree, that both upward and downward movement had to be accomplished by using muscle power. Records and archaeological research indicate that primitive lifts were also used, however those also had to be powered by actual physical activity. Needless to say they were extremely uncommon.
This technological and logistical nightmare often led to awkward situations. Depicted here, three Aragonese knights trying to descent a tower in Adrianopole in 1305, having collided with Byzantine infantrymen trying to go up, proceed to kill an extraordinary number of soldiers. It took a special decree of the city's ruler, prince Michael, to stop the killing. Sadly, the incident did not provoke any changes to the status quo.
Painted for Desperta Ferro Magazine
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Comments: 33
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I love it !!!!
I'm used to visit a lot of those old buildings, and every time I'm imagining the fight in the staircase.
Every one talks about the need to orientate in the direction that helps the defender, but I'd never seen it illlustrated, until today !!
Thank you !!
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I like how you made the orientation of the stairs historically accurate. they'd be set up so that the defender had the wall to their left, and the offender had the wall to their right, so as most people are right handed, the wall would get in the way of the offenders, but not the defenders.
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dude descending should switch to his left hand
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mega.nz/#!rxAiBZiLΒ ;
decryption key: !C56vMGKaGEMIgq7JMq4MHPHhm6ewXhUlH6e3ND1hcMA
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The above link shows the staircase flipped the proper way, although now with the rare unfortunate coincidence that the guy above is left handed, as is the one below.Β
Also, signature is flipped, but the title says 'by ethically challenged' so I hope proper credit is due.
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This staircase is incorrect - spiral stairs in medieval times typically wound in a clockwise direction (from the ascenderβs point of view),to place attacking swordsmen (who were most often right-handed) at a disadvantage. This asymmetry forces the right-handed swordsman to engage the central pike and degrade his mobility compared with the defender who is facing down the stairs.
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Right, it'd only go the other way if they wanted the tower to be easy to capture.
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The rotation of the ladder is not correct. Defenders (above) have less space to use the sword, and the opponents (below) has more. The invader has the advantage
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noble de verde: -hijo de una camionada de putas! ‘‘DEVUΓLVEME MI YELMO!!-
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I love how you described stairs. Considering some of the things kids are oblivious of these days, such an explanation may actually be necessary in a few years O_O
I don't know if you did this on purpose or not, but the stairs are going the wrong way. Well, at least from what I've heard, they usually went counter-clockwise going down, and the reason being is clear from this picture. The invader (coming up) has an advantage, as his body can remain mostly concealed by the center post as he fights, while the defenders have to expose their entire bodies in order to use their weapons.
Then again, it's unlikely that ALL castles EVERYWHERE had that same feature installed at the time of construction.
Or maybe I'm just completely wrong. Just an observation.
Though if you had some insight on the matter, I'd be glad to hear it.
Regardless of stair-direction, it is an awesome picture!
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You're absolutely right. Sadly, I didn't know this interesting fact at the time I painted this. I've been told there are some exceptions to this rule, but very few.
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Maybe the exceptions were when there wasn't a spiral staircase?Β It'd be weird to have an architect overlook the design flaw of it being easier to capture because defenders couldn't reach an opponent climbing up.Β 0.o
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Yay! My obscure knowledge of medieval warfare & architecture has finally paid off! Now I get to feel validated and intelligent for ten minutes!
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Hahah, I see people have already mentioned the "staircase" issue, so I won't annoy you with that; but let me just say: WOW. Great job with the perspective! I've wanted to do a staircase scene like this for a long time but dang, that perspective is a hard thing to get right. You nailed it. 
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Those physical-effort-using heathens!!! D:< We fat blobs are obviously superior.
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For someone who tries to be historically accurate, I'm shocked that you didn't consider the rotation of the stairs in this. In castles, stairs go up CLOCKWISE, because the invading enemies going up have less room to swing their blades, while the defenders have much more room to move theirs. You probably realized how cramped up it was in such stairs while painting. It should have occured to you that the defenders would have built the stairs the other way around.
Sorry if I put it harshly, it is not my intention to lower your merit in this painting. Just flip it horizontally for historical accuracy. Great job nonetheless.
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You are right. Meteorskies; castles always favoured the defenders - unsurprisingly - in having a rotation to suit the right handed swordsman....
But; an excellent painting, none the less.
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That was the first thing I thought of too!
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I was just about to point this out, thank you.
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Thank you for pointing that out, I must confess I had no idea! Flipping won't help, the characters will all be left-handed... I'll keep that in mind If I ever have another one to paint.
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You're welcome.
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It would be a good idea for the invading enemies to choose their lefthand soldiers to fight on the stairs. So if you flip the picture, the man with the golden helmed would love to be a left-handed.
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Well, unfortunately it's not that easy. KnightsΒ were trained from their early age to use their right hand, and common soldiers also. Even if people were naturaly left-handed, they were forced to use the other arm. I even read somewhere that using your left hand was considered a sin in middle ages, and as recently as the beginning of the 20th century, left-handedness was still seen as something bad (and still is in some societies). So there was no such thing as a left-handed knight 
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Yep, my father was still forced to learn writing with the right hand though he's left-handed.
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How common were staircases turning in this direction? I had heard somewhere that it was preferable to build them clockwise up, so defenders on top could protect the left sides of their bodies.
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Yep, I learned something new today...
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Yup, I was actually about to comment on it. They build them clockwise up, so you could have a clear, free swing of the right sword arm.
I thought I was special, it's kinda geeky to know (hah!). But I see a lot of people pointed it out.
However I really like the way you cut the scene out and how you chose to light it. Looks really good.
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Loved the description xD
I love how you managed to show such crammed space so well with all the soldiers .. the stairs seem really steep, they have to have been half crazy, if not completely, to go and have a fight in such space.. Β x.x
and also.. simply beautifully drawn, colors, anatomy, equipment..
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Thank you so much! Yep, showing the tight space while adhering to the editor's directions was challenging. The cutaway view proved to be the only possible way I could solve that.
As to the situation, the tight staircase and steep stairs were the advantage the three knights needed to be able to survive and defend themselves while being vastly outnumbered. They were caught in the tower and surrounded...or so the mainstream historians believe, for the actual account, please consult the "artist's comments" section above
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np, I've always had a bit of a problem trying to do cutaway views, but you did it wonderfully!
and yeah I read the artist's comments, I more of meant the attackers, to go and attack the tower knowing how hard it would be..but I guess they had no choice, ...also the fear of falling down those stairs!
also noticed someone pointed out the direction of the stairs, I totally missed that too until they pointed it out
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