A Soldiers Diary

[Zigg]

I wrote a Diary for a Garadinian Soldier, Addry, during 500-518 YW. It is incomplete so far.


Hieringar 5th, 501 YW
Dear Diary,
The Good King Garard has decided to attack the Orcs at Galcadar, by the Ford of Abez. The march should be about 2 Days. In the Early Morning,I said my farewells to my Beautiful Wife, Yana, and Two Children, Addoyen and Ya'sar. Then i headed towards the Garrison, Exited, Sad, Scared and Curious to who else would be in the Army. I was amazed by the size of the Army! We are camping in a Large Field for the Night.

Hieringar 6th, 501 YW
Dear Diary,
The Army has Robbed! I'm stunned! What were the Lookouts doing?! Food, Armor, Weapons, Clothes... We'll have to get more at Tath, and some rest. I don't see the point in Marching. It takes more energy than Walking, and is slower! The Weather has been terrible today. It was pouring with Rain so we covered up all of our equipment in Bags. And we've got to sleep in the mud! There are lots of Lookouts tonight, most volunteers.

Hieringar 7th, 501 YW
Dear Diary,
We stopped at Tath for Lunch (Gryphon Sandwich and Water, followed by Wolf Pie - Splendid!) and to get those stolen supplies replaced. We got sackloads of Supplies, mostly Weapons and Armor! So much of it Stolen i was Amazed again. We are waiting until Morning until we attack. I feel Terrified. Galcadar is a major Orcish Position, and Prince Eldred looks traitorous.

Hieringar 8th, 501 YW
Dear Diary,
I now know why Prince Eldred looked Traitorous. King Garard (may he rest in peace) split the Army in half. He commanded one half, Prince Eldred the other. I was with the Good King. In the heat of Battle, Prince Eldred's Forces turned on us and ripped us apart. I nearly died of Fright and Shock! Only a handful of us escaped alive! I've thanked my lucky stars.

[Turuk]

Watch your capitalization, you often capitalize words without reason.

[melinath]

Interesting idea. Have you read actual soldiers' diaries? I haven't, but I wonder if there are typical things about them.
The only problem I have in this case is that I doubt a common soldier would be able to write, let alone have enough money to buy paper.
If you want to continue this, I'd suggest finding an explanation for those two things. For example, perhaps make him belong to the lesser nobility, or maybe it's the diary of a mage. Give him/her a name. Give the family names. Even if we never find them out, you should know them.

On the capitalization: I don't see that as a problem. Capitalization probably isn't standardized in Wesnoth, so you would capitalize the most important words in the sentence. But you could only do this if you knew how to write in the first place!

[Hatter_Madigan]

It feels kind of pointless to me. It sounds like it is just basically restating history. We want detail into what this soldier is feeling at the moment. The thoughts going through his head about all of this. Otherwise, it's just a history lesson. We already know what went on, but what is significant about this soldier that you wrote a diary for him?

[Turuk]

The only problem I have in this case is that I doubt a common soldier would be able to write, let alone have enough money to buy paper.

The ability to read and write was indeed probably rare, but if the soldier did know how to, paper is not an impediment to writing. Various writing materials were used throughout the ages, and such an army would probably have animals along with them for food. Those animals have hides, and hides can be written on as well.

[thespaceinvader]

Spelling 'Garard' correctly would be a start...

[Zigg]

I'll make some edits.

[Thanatos]

Interesting idea. Have you read actual soldiers' diaries? I haven't, but I wonder if there are typical things about them.

Fear of Death, dread, missing home and family...

I've only read diaries from the first and second World War so far, but I expect these topics to be included in all diaries of the normal soldier. Problem is that it's hard to create a typology of soldier's diaries through the ages due to lack of literacy. The normal soldier couldn't write for a long while. If you go for officers then it would maybe be easier. But then also the topics would be different, I presume.

[melinath]

The ability to read and write was indeed probably rare, but if the soldier did know how to, paper is not an impediment to writing. Various writing materials were used throughout the ages, and such an army would probably have animals along with them for food. Those animals have hides, and hides can be written on as well.

The ability to read and write was very rare. Extremely rare. In Medieval Germany (~1200), if you could read, you were basically either a monk or a noblewoman - monks because it was a holy duty to transcribe holy texts, and noblewomen because they didn't have much else to do. Occasionally, nobles sent their male children to cloisters to learn a bit, or to a university, but this was not common. That's among the nobility, mind you. Peasants or common soldiers knowing how to read and write? Not a chance. If you did know how to write, you probably would also have access to paper - either you would have enough money to buy it yourself, or you would have a patron who bought it for you. Paper was very expensive.
You can write on other things. Runesticks are a great example. But you can't really keep a diary very well. A diary implies a long time, something that continues. When a modern person writes a diary, it takes up at least a whole book. To keep a diary on hide would mean:
1. having access to the hides of the dead animals.
2. preparing the hide while on the march.
3. having the necessary education and implements to write.
4. toting around the dried hides that you've written on.
This is all on a background of extremely difficult marching conditions.
It doesn't really work. Kings did eventually have courts that followed them around with archives, but those were kept on paper by clerks or monks and still took a massive amount of maintenance.

A nobleman keeping a private diary on paper would be rare but within plausibility. Chances are he would not write "Dear Diary". That's very modern.

[Turuk]

All true, and I'm well aware of all of it. It's a field that I worked in for a while.

Wesnoth is not completely in line with actual Medieval history so that everything is paralleled between the two, and literacy was actually more widespread than your analysis shows if you look beyond just Germany. The establishment of universities in major European cities around the 11th century meant that literacy became more readily available.

However, note that I do not mean the baker and the butcher were suddenly writing letters to each other. It was still incredibly limited to those with money or influence, but it made it possible for rich merchants to send their offspring to learn their letters, particularly given they might need to communicate in some fashion with their trading houses in other cities.

The point of this is that if a disaffected son was to run off to join the military, he might have enough time as a junior officer to write a bit here and there on parchments, sheepskin, who knows. I agree that it would not be in a dear diary format, and would most like just start with whatever he was thinking. It was also probably not dated, as few would be aware of the exact time beyond the month.

[thespaceinvader]

I wouldn't like to see Wesnoth have the same literacy standards as medieval europe, to be honest - one reason (and i'm not looking to start a flame war here, so don't shout about it) for the lack thereof was religion - writing among the lower classes was (as I understand it) not only not taught, but actively suppressed, because reading and writing were seen as the domain of the clergy. This problem is not present in Wesnoth. And it makes sense for the soldiery to be taught to write, since they could then prepare reports, fill out requisition requests, read their orders etc etc etc. In fact, it makes sense to me that soldiers would be among the earliest taught at least basic writing.

[melinath]

All true, and I'm well aware of all of it. It's a field that I worked in for a while.

Wesnoth is not completely in line with actual Medieval history so that everything is paralleled between the two, and literacy was actually more widespread than your analysis shows if you look beyond just Germany.

I'm glad to hear that you know about this area! My knowledge is limited to Germany, which is why I keep coming back to it.

I wouldn't like to see Wesnoth have the same literacy standards as medieval europe, to be honest - one reason (and i'm not looking to start a flame war here, so don't shout about it) for the lack thereof was religion - writing among the lower classes was (as I understand it) not only not taught, but actively suppressed, because reading and writing were seen as the domain of the clergy. This problem is not present in Wesnoth. And it makes sense for the soldiery to be taught to write, since they could then prepare reports, fill out requisition requests, read their orders etc etc etc. In fact, it makes sense to me that soldiers would be among the earliest taught at least basic writing.

Don't worry, I'm not going to shout. However, there are a few points I would like to make. The most important concerns literacy among nobles. As I mentioned before, there was not much literacy among nobles. This wasn't because it was the domain of the church - it was because the nobles didn't see it as something worth learning. Instead, they learned noble skills like hunting. It was just not a literacy-oriented culture. You can't suppress something that the people themselves aren't trying to learn.

Take the sending of messages. This was a big deal. You didn't usually send letters, because there was no postal system, because you couldn't write, and because the guy you were sending the letter to couldn't read. If you had a monk or cleric or clerk in your court, you could dictate the letter and then have someone at the other end read it. But before reading the letter, the other king would have your messenger tell him what was in it and perhaps give a short commentary on the content.

As to soldiers writing reports - again, maybe officers. Maybe. But armies were not always organized the way they are now.

I would like to see Wesnoth have the same literacy standards as Medieval Europe. It would make sense to me. Especially since writing among humans was originally learned in connection with magic.