Eilmer of Malmesbury (also known as Oliver due to a scribe's miscopying, or Elmer, or Æthelmær) was an
11th-century English
Benedictine monk
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as OSB), are a Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), religious order of the Catholic Church following the Rule of Saint Benedic ...
best known for his early attempt at a gliding flight using wings.
Life
Eilmer was a monk of
Malmesbury Abbey who wrote on
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...
.
All that is known of him is from the ''Gesta regum Anglorum'' (Deeds of the English Kings), written by the eminent medieval historian
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
in about 1125.
Being a fellow monk of the same abbey, William almost certainly obtained his account directly from people who knew Eilmer when he was an old man.
Later scholars, such as the American historian of technology
Lynn White
Lynn Townsend White Jr. (April 29, 1907 – March 30, 1987) was an American historian. He was a professor of medieval history at Princeton from 1933 to 1937, and at Stanford from 1937 to 1943. He was president of Mills College, Oakland, from 1943 ...
, have attempted to estimate Eilmer's date of birth based on a quotation in William's ''Deeds'' about
Halley's Comet
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the on ...
, which appeared in 1066. However, William recorded Eilmer's quotation not to establish his age, but to show that a prophecy was fulfilled when the
Normans
The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...
invaded England.
If Eilmer had seen Halley's Comet 76 years earlier in 989, he could have been born about 984, making him about five or six years old when he first saw the comet, and therefore old enough to remember it. However the periodicity of comets was probably unknown in Eilmer's time, and so his remark "It is long since I saw you" could have referred to a different, later comet. Since it is known that Eilmer was an "old man" in 1066, and that he had made the flight attempt "in his youth", the event is placed some time during the early 11th century, perhaps in its first decade.
Beyond those based on William's account, there are no other known sources documenting Eilmer's life.
[ Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", ''Technology and Culture'' 2 (2), pp. 97–111 01/ref>
]
The flight
William records that, in Eilmer's youth, he had read and believed the Greek myth
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of d ...
of Daedalus
In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, a ...
. Thus, Eilmer fixed wings to his hands and feet and launched himself from the top of a tower at Malmesbury Abbey:
Given the geography of the abbey, his landing site, and the account of his flight, to travel for "more than a furlong" (220 yards, 201 metres) he would have had to have been airborne for about 15 seconds. His exact flightpath is not known, nor how long he was in the air, because today's abbey is not the abbey of the 11th century, when it was probably smaller, although the tower was probably close to the present height.[Woosnam (1986)] "Olivers Lane", off the present-day High Street and about from the abbey, is reputed locally to be the site where Eilmer landed.[ That would have taken him over many buildings. Maxwell Woosnam's study concluded that he is more likely to have descended the steep hill off to the southwest of the abbey, rather than the town centre to the south.][
Eilmer used a bird-like apparatus to glide downwards against the breeze. However, being unable to balance himself forward and backwards, as does a bird by slight movements of its wings, head and legs, he would have needed a large tail to maintain equilibrium. Eilmer could not have achieved true soaring flight, but he might have glided down safely with a tail. Eilmer said he had "forgotten to provide himself with a tail."][
]
Historical traditions and influence
Other than William's account of the flight, nothing has survived of Eilmer's lifetime work as a monk, although his astrological treatises apparently still circulated as late as the 16th century.
Based on William's account, the story of Eilmer's flight has been retold many times through the centuries by scholars, encyclopaedists, and proponents of man-powered flight, keeping the idea of human flight alive. These include over the years: Helinand of Froidmont (before 1229), Alberic of Trois-Fontaines
Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (french: Aubri or ''Aubry de Trois-Fontaines''; la, Albericus Trium Fontium) (died 1252) was a medieval Cistercian chronicler who wrote in Latin. He was a monk of Trois-Fontaines Abbey in the diocese of Châlons-su ...
(before 1241), Vincent of Beauvais
Vincent of Beauvais ( la, Vincentius Bellovacensis or ''Vincentius Burgundus''; c. 1264) was a Dominican friar at the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont Abbey, France. He is known mostly for his ''Speculum Maius'' (''Great mirror''), a major work ...
(1250s), Roger Bacon (c. 1260), Ranulf Higden (before 1352, and the first to misname him "Oliver") and the English translators of his work: Henry Knighton (before 1367), John Nauclerus of Tübingen (c. 1500), John Wilkins (1648), John Milton (1670), and John Wise (1850).
More recently, Maxwell Woosnam in 1986 examined in more detail the technical aspects such as materials, glider angles, and wind effects.[
Contemporaries had developed small drawstring toy helicopters, windmills, and sails for boats while church artists increasingly showed angels with more accurate bird-like wings, detailing the camber (curvature) that would help develop lift for heavier-than-air flight. Air was accepted as something that could be "worked", and some people believed that humans could fly with physical effort and the right equipment.]
Legacy
The School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has developed a Computational Fluid Dynamics simulation code named Eilmer4.
In popular culture
The short film "Eilmer the Flying Monk" recounts Eilmer's attempt to emulate Icarus.["Eilmer the Flying Monk"]
"British Films Directory"
of the British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
See also
* List of firsts in aviation
Notes
References
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External links
Eilmer of Malmesbury
from the Malmesbury Abbey website.
{{Authority control
English Benedictines
Aviation pioneers
Gliding in England
11th-century English people
People from Malmesbury
English people with disabilities
Malmesbury Abbey
Year of birth unknown
Place of birth unknown
10th-century births
Artificial wings
British glider pilots