Of Jumping Off
- A Crazy Little Bird Told Me
- May 18, 2023
- 2 min read
Did you know that the first recorded flight made by man took place in the second half of the 9th century?
Yes, you read correctly, we are talking 850s AD.
This means that while the kingdoms of England and France were in their infancies, while Christianity was busy spreading all around Europe and while the continent was pillaged by Vikings, who also saw fit to head to the Mediterranean under the leadership of Bjorn Ironside and Hastein (yup just like in the TV show Viking), well, a man decided it was a good idea to pretend to be a bird.
I hope you will agree it took vision, commitment, maybe a hint of madness and a fair amount of sheer dumb luck as he did it without dying, so kudos!
The following fact could not be substantiated as there was only one single primary source. But allegedly, a man called Armen Firman, in 852, Córdoba Spain, decided to jump from a tower wearing a large cloak (I don’t know why, but I am picturing a Scottish man using his kilt to fly!). It was recorded that "there was enough air in the folds of his cloak to prevent great injury when he reached the ground”. He is said to have inspired Abbas ibn Firnas (keep reading!), while some believed this was one and the same man. Either way, if he existed, this man jumped off a tower being of sound mind and obviously thought that was a brilliant idea.
Now, let’s get to the first verifiable recorded gliding, which is credited to Abbas Ibn Firnas (809/810 – 887 A.D.). According to the Algerian historian Ahmad al-Maqqari (d. 1632), Firnas covered himself with feathers, attached wings to his body, jumped off a ledge and “flew a considerable distance, as if he had been a bird”. Al-Maqqari refers to a verse from a ninth-century Arab poem written by Mu'min ibn Said, a court poet of Córdoba under Muhammad I (d. 886), amir of the Emirate of Córdoba: "He flew faster than the phoenix in his flight when he dressed his body in the feathers of a vulture”.
To summarise: over a thousand years ago, few men were busy attempting to fly and many followed in their footsteps, such as Eilmer of Malmesbury, an English Benedictine monk of the 11th century. The first design of a parachute, as we think about it today, can be found in a manuscript dated from 1470s, and Leonardo Da Vinci only drew his own design around 1485. The first public recorded parachute jump took place in 1783 and was performed by Louis-Sebastien Lenormand. The same man coined the term parachute in 1785 using French and Italian (Italian para meaning to avert and French chute meaning to fall).
All in all, mind blowing to me. I live in the 21st century and I don’t think I would feel like jumping off a tower to test a theory! Would you?