Time to battle! In the 1950s archeologists made a great discovery near the city of Novgorod, Russia: they dug up hundreds of pieces of birch bark with all sorts of texts written on them. Including pieces from children.
In the 13th century, young schoolboys learning to write filled these scraps with alphabets and short texts. Bark was ideal material for writing down things with such a short half-life. Then the pupils got bored and started to doodle, as kids do: crude drawings of individuals with big hands, as well as a figure with a raised sword standing next to a defeated beast (lower image). The second one was drawn by a 6-7 year old, Onfim, who put his name next to the victorious warrior. From:
http://erikkwakkel.tumblr.com/post/67681966023/medieval-kids-doodles-on-birch-bark-heres
I cannot get enough. Onfim has indulged me, diagrams from his other works.
right: children playing – one hides behind the tree.
From: The Art of Onfim: Medieval Novgorod Through the Eyes of a Child
By Paul Wickenden of Thanet
http://www.goldschp.net/SIG/onfim/onfim.html
Fantastic medieval manuscript images with some info:
I highly recommend that you see his posts. Illuminated manuscripts galore.
Erik Kwakkel – Medieval book historian at Leiden University, The Netherlands. “I post images of medieval books and share with you what’s special about them.” Directing project on 12th century.
Absolutely love coming across things like this. Some things never change, as Onfim’s work wouldn’t appear out of place today.
Exactly what I thought too. So refreshing.