In the early 11th century, long before the Wright brothers dreamed of flight, a Benedictine monk named Elmer of Malmesbury dared to challenge gravity with one of the first ever attempts at human flight.
Inspired by the Greek myth of Daedalus, Elmer fashioned wings for his hands and feet, climbed the tower at Malmesbury Abbey in South West England, and launched himself into the air!
According to historian William of Malmesbury, Elmer glided over 200 yards before a violent descent left him with two broken legs and lame for life. Reflecting on his crash, Elmer lamented that he had forgotten to include a tail to stabilize his flight.
Elmer’s remarkable feat was recorded in Gesta Regum Anglorum by William, a fellow monk at Malmesbury Abbey. This account, written around 1125, remains the primary source of Elmer’s daring attempt. William described him as “a man learned for those times,” recounting that in his youth, Elmer “hazarded a deed of remarkable boldness.”
The monk’s attempt at flight wasn’t just an act of curiosity. It reflected the Catholic medieval fascination with heavenly ascension and the workings of the natural world. The same abbey walls where Eimer prayed also has housed intellectual discussions on astrology and the soul’s journey to the divine since the 7th century.
Scholars later speculated that Elmer’s daring nature may have been sparked by Halley’s Comet, which he reportedly saw in 1066. Viewing it decades earlier as a child, he believed it foretold a great upheaval, tying celestial phenomena to earthly events.
Today, historians and engineers study Elmer’s flight as an early experiment in aerodynamics. Though his attempt was far from modern aviation, Elmer’s wings symbolized humanity’s earliest steps toward flight!
Photo credit: Radicalrobbo, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
