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The Wujing Zongyao or 'Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques' is a Chinese military compendium written in 1044 CE, during the Northern Song Dynasty.<br/><br/>

Its authors were the prominent scholars Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du  and Yang Weide, whose writing influenced many later Chinese military writers. The book covered a wide range of subjects, everything from naval warships to different types of catapults.<br/><br/>

Although the English philosopher and friar Roger Bacon was the first Westerner to mention the sole ingredients of gunpowder in 1267 (i.e. strictly saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal) when referring to firecrackers in 'various parts of the world', the Wujing Zongyao was the first book in history to record the written formulas for gunpowder solutions containing saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, along with many added ingredients.<br/><br/>

It also described an early form of the compass (using thermoremanence), and had the oldest illustration of a Chinese Greek Fire flamethrower with a double-acting two-piston cylinder-pump that shot a continuous blast of flame.
The Hermitage of San Baudelio de Berlanga (Ermita de San Baudelio de Berlanga) is an early 11th-century church at Caltojar in the province of Soria, Spain, 80 km south of Berlanga de Duero. It is an example of Mozarabic architecture and was built in the 11th century, in what was then the frontier between Islamic and Christian lands. It is dedicated to Saint Baudilus or Baudel.<br/><br/>

The hermitage housed many fine Romanesque frescoes from about 1125; most of these have been removed, but some have remained. Two sections, transferred to canvas, are now in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, showing the Entry of Christ into Jerusalem and the Wedding at Cana.<br/><br/>

The paintings were done by the Catalan Master of Tahull (Taüll in Catalan), whose best known works are in Sant Climent de Taüll and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, with two other painters.  The frescoes include that of a camel and of a war elephant, which were inspired by Muslim motifs.
The Tacuinum (sometimes Taccuinum) Sanitatis is a medieval handbook on health and wellbeing, based on the Taqwim al‑sihha تقويم الصحة ('Maintenance of Health'), an eleventh-century Arab medical treatise by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad.<br/><br/>

Ibn Butlân was a Christian physician born in Baghdad and who died in 1068. He sets forth the six elements necessary to maintain daily health: food and drink, air and the environment, activity and rest, sleep and wakefulness, secretions and excretions of humours, changes or states of mind (happiness, anger, shame, etc). According to Ibn Butlân, illnesses are the result of changes in the balance of some of these elements, therefore he recommended a life in harmony with nature in order to maintain or recover one’s health.<br/><br/>

Ibn Butlân also teaches us to enjoy each season of the year, the consequences of each type of climate, wind and snow. He points out the importance of spiritual wellbeing and mentions, for example, the benefits of listening to music, dancing or having a pleasant conversation.<br/><br/>

Aimed at a cultured lay audience, the text exists in several variant Latin versions, the manuscripts of which are characteristically profusely illustrated. The short paragraphs of the treatise were freely translated into Latin in mid-thirteenth-century Palermo or Naples, continuing an Italo-Norman tradition as one of the prime sites for peaceable inter-cultural contact between the Islamic and European worlds.<br/><br/>

Four handsomely illustrated complete late fourteenth-century manuscripts of the Taccuinum, all produced in Lombardy, survive, in Vienna, Paris, Liège and Rome, as well as scattered illustrations from others, as well as fifteenth-century codices.
A hand-drawn, hand-coloured watercolour from the late 19th century by an unknown Burmese artist.<br/><br/> 

The name of the ethnic group featured appears near the top of the picture in Shan script (left), Burmese script (Centre) and Khun script  (right). Khun script was formerly used in Kengtung / Kyaingtong in eastern Shan State and in Lan Na or Lanna, northern Thailand.<br/><br/> 

The Wa are an ethnic minority that is indigenous to northern Shan State in Myanmar. Many of the 500,000 Wa are animists, but a small proportion follows a derivative of either Buddhism or Christianity. The Wa were once known as the ‘Wild Wa’ for their ritualistic practice of headhunting.
The Wujing Zongyao (simplified Chinese: 武经总要; traditional Chinese: 武經總要; pinyin: Wǔjīng Zǒngyào; Wade–Giles: Wu Ching Tsung Yao; literally: 'Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques') is a Chinese military compendium written in 1044 CE, during the Northern Song Dynasty.<br/><br/>

Its authors were the prominent scholars Zeng Gongliang (曾公亮), Ding Du (丁度) and Yang Weide (楊惟德), whose writing influenced many later Chinese military writers. The book covered a wide range of subjects, everything from naval warships to different types of catapults.<br/><br/>

Although the English philosopher and friar Roger Bacon was the first Westerner to mention the sole ingredients of gunpowder in 1267 (i.e. strictly saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal) when referring to firecrackers in 'various parts of the world', the Wujing Zongyao was the first book in history to record the written formulas for gunpowder solutions containing saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, along with many added ingredients.<br/><br/>

It also described an early form of the compass (using thermoremanence), and had the oldest illustration of a Chinese Greek Fire flamethrower with a double-acting two-piston cylinder-pump that shot a continuous blast of flame.
The Wujing Zongyao (simplified Chinese: 武经总要; traditional Chinese: 武經總要; pinyin: Wǔjīng Zǒngyào; Wade–Giles: Wu Ching Tsung Yao; literally: 'Collection of the Most Important Military Techniques') is a Chinese military compendium written in 1044 CE, during the Northern Song Dynasty.<br/><br/>

Its authors were the prominent scholars Zeng Gongliang (曾公亮), Ding Du (丁度) and Yang Weide (楊惟德), whose writing influenced many later Chinese military writers. The book covered a wide range of subjects, everything from naval warships to different types of catapults.<br/><br/>

Although the English philosopher and friar Roger Bacon was the first Westerner to mention the sole ingredients of gunpowder in 1267 (i.e. strictly saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal) when referring to firecrackers in 'various parts of the world', the Wujing Zongyao was the first book in history to record the written formulas for gunpowder solutions containing saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, along with many added ingredients.<br/><br/>

It also described an early form of the compass (using thermoremanence), and had the oldest illustration of a Chinese Greek Fire flamethrower with a double-acting two-piston cylinder-pump that shot a continuous blast of flame.