There are many lesser known and obscure bits of history that range from the surprising, to the bizzare, to the just plain silly. I thought it might be interesting to post some of this trivia. So if you know about something or happen to come accross something in reasearch, please share it with us.
I'll start out by telling about JOHN DAMIAN (also known as: Abbot of Tungland).
In the reign of James IV of Scotland, John Damian was the royal alchemist and quite a favorite at James' court. While in residence at Sterling Castle, James' alchemist had still not produced any gold even though he had an extensive laboratory which contained many bubbling cauldrons, whizzing and hissing apparatti, etc.. James had been quite patient with this John Damian but enough was enough. James had supported and encouraged John for long enough and now he became demanding of some results.
John, knowing that his days at court were numbered, took a calculated risk. When James next confronted him, John declared that he would make actual, functioning wings and fly away to France!
He made quite an elaborate pair of wings which were covered in chicken feathers.
James IV and his whole court followed John Damian up to the ramparts of Sterling Castle. There, John strapped on his wings, bid fairwell to the crowd and lept off.......he may have hung in the air for a few seconds before gliding like a rock to the ground below!
His luck was amazing as he managed to fall through some trees (which helped break his fall) and into a nice soft "refuse" pile. He ended up with only a broken leg. His statement as to what went wrong was ingenious...he should not have used chicken feathers as chickens do not fly, but that he needed to use royal hawk feathers the next time. (there wasn't a next time)
The year of this event was 1507 and marks one of the earliest, documented attempts of manned flight.
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