If you watch the news enough, you might think everything is going digital, never to return to analog. Activities like journaling are supposedly a thing of the past. However, research has shown that writing by hand is better for learning, makes you a better writer, keeps you from being distracted, and keeps your brain sharp as you get older, according to The Week. So maybe it’s not time to scrap those journals just yet. In fact, for some people, it might be a good time to get one in the first place. At Armory Replicas, we have a variety of journals that will not only give you somewhere to pen your reflections, but will also help connect you to history like our Old Fashioned Medieval Wood Grain Hardback Journal.

Medieval travelers wrote journals, documenting their experiences in the world of trading. One of the most noted journals is William of Rubruck’s Journey to the Eastern Parts of the World, which describes the three years he spent traveling through what we now know as the Ukraine and Russia. The University of Washington provides text of his attempts to convert the Mongols to Christianity, including this descriptive passage, “That morning the tips of my toes were frozen, so that I could not thereafter go bare-footed. The cold in these regions is most intense, and from the time it begins freezing it never ceases till May; even in the month of May there was frost every morning, though during the day the sun's rays melted it. But in winter it never thawed, but with every wind it continued to freeze. And if there were wind there in winter as with us, nothing could live; but the atmosphere is always calm till April, then the wind arises. And when we were there, the cold that came on with the wind about Easter killed an infinite number of animals. But little snow fell there during the winter, but about Easter, which was at the end of April, there fell so much that all the streets of Caracarum were full, and they had to carry it off in carts. They brought us from the ordu of the first (wife) sheepskin gowns and breeches and shoes, which my companion and the dragoman took; for my part I did not think I was in need of them, for it seemed to me that the fur gown I had brought with me from Baatu's sufficed me.”

You can both sharpen your writing skills and relive this fascinating period in time with our Old Fashioned Medieval Wood Grain Hardback Journal. Its outside cover is made from 100 percent recycled paper with wooden style looks and it’s held down on a hardback cover. The journal offers 220 pages (counted both sides). These pages are held together by a white string, which offers a strong hold so they don’t come out. They’re also made using the technique used by people in the medieval days so the journal gives you that old fashioned look and feel. If you’re looking for both performance and aesthetics, this is the journal for you.

Whatever historical replica needs you may have, look no further than Armory Replicas!