Sunday 8 April 2012

Joan of Arc.

The woman that today is called Joan of Arc was actually born as Jehanne D'arc on January 6th 1412 in the small french town of Domremy, her name was anglicized for the english population. Joans parents were both peasants but the family lived comfortably.

She was the youngest child in her Family she had 3 older brothers and one substantially older sister.

Joan allegedy first heard the voice of god at age 12. When Joan was 16 she left home in order to answer the call of god who informed her that she was to assist the future king in recapturing french territory form its english invaders.

She became a succesful military leader, in fact some historians consider her one of the reasons for the turning point in the hundred years war. She was the youngest person in history to have ever commanded the armies of a nation, she was only 17 years old at the time.

The young lady was the individual who Crowned King Charles VII at his coronation ceremony after being told to by the voice of god she allegedly heard.

During her battles she was wounded twice, once in the chest with an arrow and once in the thigh after being hit by a crossbow. It is said in several contemporary sources that she predicted both of these injuries prior to their happening.

In 1430 Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundian soldiers who later sold her to English officials later that year for ten thousand gold francs. During her time in jail, Joan was tied to a bed in a regular prison. Tradition stated that she was supposed to have been held in a Church prison and be guarded by women but the english refused her this treatment.

In 1431 she was put on trial for heresy by her english captures. Although the Trial was performed by the church it is believed to have been rigged and paid for by the english government. The English supposedly threatened to torture Joan if she did not deny the voices she had been hearing. She eventually abjured and gave in to the wishes of the judge.

On MAy 30th 1431 Joan of arc was burned at the stake for heresy at the old square of Rouen. She was only 19 years old at the time. Witnesses stated that her last word was Jesus.

In 1456 her original trial was overturned. The church declared that Arc had been completely innocent of all crimes and was indeed a martyr. In 1920 the Catholic church cannonized her and made her into Saint. Which was rather ironic because this was the same church that burned her at the stake centuries earlier.


Saturday 7 April 2012

Marie Antoinette

Born as Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna on November 2nd 1755 in Vienna Austria, Marie Antoinette was the fifteenth child in her family. During her childhood she was educated very well, as would have been expected of an aristocratic child.

After the seven years war, Austria and France were both very interested in creating alliances that would prevent war and strengthen military connections. So they arranged that the young heir to the French throne and Marie would marry. This plot was created by their families when the young betrothed were less than 12 years old.

Once the young Queen arrived in France she had difficulty time adjusting to the new culture and various things that were expected of her. The young couple also faced many problems including the fact that in many ways they were opposite of each other. Louis was a very introverted man who enjoyed spending time alone doing solitary activities. While his wife was extravagant and very outgoing.
Initial Fears that the marriage had not been properly consumated were finally relieved when the couple concieved and Antoinette gave birth to their daughter Marie Therese Charlotte.

Due to her outgoing personality and luxurious lifestyle the queen was  a magnet for controversy and scandal. Antoinette spent a great deal of time without her husband and was rumoured to have had an affair with the swedish diplomat Count Axel Von Ferson. Propaganda was spread throughout France stating the queen's extravagant spending and ignorance to the problems of her subjects. One of the most infamous things that antoinette allegedly said when asked how to feed the hungry or France was that they should just eat cake.

When French Workers stormed the Bastille Prison in Paris starting the French revolution, Antoinette took charge by meeting with officials and sending letters while her husband appeared to have been frozen in a state of shock, unable to react accordingly. This action led to the nickname of Madame Veto, because she appeared to have been taking political control in place of the king.

In june 1791 The royal family attempted to escape the chaos that was ensuing but were unfourtunately captured and returned to Paris. In January of 1793 the king was tried and convicted of treason by the revolters and was put to death.

During The Reign of terror, a tiemperiod that was filled with hundreds of deaths Marie Antoinette was charged with several crimes including theft, treason and sexually abusing her son. LIke her husband Antoinette was sentenced to death by guillotine.

Due to the French revolution and its consequences, Antoinette was the last Queen of France. Her reign is subject to both ridicule and admiration, depending upon which source you care to look at it.

Thursday 29 March 2012

Elizabeth I -The Virgin Queen

Elizabeth was the daughter of the infamous King Henry VIII and his second Wife Anne Boleyn. Boleyn was tried and convicted of adultery and incest by her husband and was therefore beheaded. Elizabeth was only 3 years old at the time and was declared as illegitimate.

Elizabeth had 2 other siblings, both of which were in line for the throne before her. She had her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary. When their father died, edward took the throne at the ripe old age od 10 years old, becoming Edward VI of England. After edwards death in 1553, Mary Tudor took the throne and made catholicism the religion of england. For protection and to send a message Mary locked her half-sister in the tower of london for several months.

In 1558, after the death of Queen Mary, Elizabeth finally acended to the throne. She ruled for a total of 45 years, in which time she developed england as a much more stable culture by making religous compromises in order to apease both sides Elizabeth was the 5th and Final ruler of england in the Tudor Dynasty. Her reign is considered by many to be the Golden Age of england.

Her personality fit very well into her tudor heritage, also she generally had a calm demeanor she also had a violent temper that was well known throughout england. Much of this anger was put towards her cousin Mary Queen of scots who was believed to have been plotting against elizabeth and the protestand crown of england. Interestingly enough the two never met face to face, only through long distance correspondance. Elizabeth was well known for her prejudice towards Jewish people and the Catholics.

The period of her reign is often referred to as the elizabethan age, and is considered to be one of the most enlightening times in art, history and philosophy that england has ever seen. She passionate of the arts and had many hobbies including music, painting and writing. In fact she corresponded frequently with famous playwrights and poets of that era.  She was very fond of fashion and would dress up very extravagantly to go out in the public eye.

Although known as the virgin queen because she never married, Elizabeth the first was rumoured to have had  affairs with  several prominent men. This list included Robert Dudley, one of her coutiers and Sir Walter Raliegh, a very influential poet of that period. She used her unmarried status as a political bargaining tool on many occasions. She told the people that she was married to the country first and foremost not to a husband.

During her reign Elizabeth was known by many different names: The virgin quees, Gloriana, The Faerie Queen, and the Good queen Bess

Elizabeth lived until she was approximately 70 years old of bood poisoning. She never had any children and therefore the crown was passed onto another branch of the family tree.

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Martin Luther

No I do not mean Dr. Martin Luther King. The individual I am speaking of today lived several centuries previous to the fight for equality rights in the United states. Martin Luther was one of the most prominent figures in the Lutheran reformation of the fourteenth Century.


Luther was a theologian that studied philosophy at the University of Efurt. In his early life he had dedicated himself to a monastic life as an augustinian Monk. He studied the scriptures in depth and became very familiar with the writings of the bible. During this time he was chosen to make a trip to Rome to represent his church. While on this trip Luther was appalled by the posessions, behaiviour and and ignorance that he observed in the Roman priests.


In 1517 Luther created a document that protested the indulgent practices of the Catholic church. Indulgences were something that nobility could purchase for a fee and in return recieve a complete remission of sins. This document later became known as the 95 Theses. Martin Luther posted his Theses on the door of the Castle Church at wittenberg. Due to its popularity among the laity, this particular document was copied and distributed throughout Europe.


This act of defiance was obviously a very powerful threat to the power and status of the church at that time. At first the pope simply dismissed Luther as " a drunken German" who " when sober will change his mind." However as Luther's ideas spread and gained popularity the church was forced to take more direct and extreme measures to ensure that they could retain their position within society.


In 1520, Pope Leo X threatened Luther with excommunication unless he would publically withdraw much of his work, including the extremely controversial 95 Theses within 60 days. However Luther refused to recant his writings and therefore was excommunicated from the Catholic church in January of 1521.

In May of that year the Edict of Worms was released with proclaimed  Luther  as an outlaw, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. It was also illegal for anyone in Germany to provide Luther with food or water. In addition to prohibiting providing any type of support to Luther, the edict also stated that anyone could kill Luther without having to face legal consequences.

While in exile as a fugitive Luther fled to the Wartburg Castle and lived as if he were a knight named Sir Junkar Jorg

The Peasants war was in many ways a direct response to Luther's writings. Although initially behind the revolt, Luther later publically denounced the rebels and the attrocities that they commited during their rebellion. He published to works against their actions: Against the Murderous  and Theiving Hordes of Peasants. Once they realized that they no longer had the support of Martin Luther many of the revolutionaries withdrew from the rebellion.

Luther is remembered today as one of the most influential church reformers of medieval Europe. His ideas were widespread and continue to be taught to those of the Lutheran faith.

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Tutankhamun- the boy king

For anyone who has read my previous posts I am sure you have picked up on a trend. I have written quite a bit about ancient Egypt. This is because since I was little that area of history has always intrigued me. Something that I have recently become aware of is that starting on May 24th through January of next year, the National Geographic tutankhamun Treasure exhibit is going to be in Seattle. I personally have been waiting to see this particular exihibit for several years now. So therefore This time I chose to do a blog entry on him.

When Tutankhamun was actually born as Tutankhaten, but due to a declining support of the sun disk god aten,  he changed his name to that of the old god Amun. Tut's mother was the infamous Nefertiti, his father was the Heterical king Akhenaten.

He was married only once to his half sister, but unfourtunately that marriage did not produce any living children, only 2 stillborn daughters. Their tiny coffins were found in the tomb with the pharoah.


Although today Tutankhamun is one of the most well known pharoahs of all time, his reign was almost obliterated out of the history shortly after his death. His successor Hor
emheb replaced Tut's name with his own on many monuments.

Tut became king at the age of nine years old, and died at the age of 18. Because he ascended to the throne at such a young age it is very unlikely that he made very many decisions in regards to ruling egypt. These decisions would probably have been made by his top advisors. Due to this very sort life and unexpected death, he was buried hastily in his tomb 70 days after his death.

Although he may not have engaged in many military battles directly, he was trained as a archer. Tut's tomb was filled with some evidence of his hunts. His reign was a very turbulent time in Ancient Egyptian History. It was filled with religious strife against the Aten and towards the more traditional egyptian dieties.

On November 4th 1922, Archaeologist Howard Carter made what is arguably the single most important discovery in the Valley of the Kings at tomb KV62. Tutankhamun's tomb was full of beautiful artifacts that had not been touched in 3000 years.  Around 3000 treasures were found within the tomb including many items that would have been made in order to help the Pharoah in the afterlife. It is believed that many other tombs would have contained similar treasures but were probably sacked by grave robbers. His sarcophagus still remains inside the tomb even today.

There is a Curse that is associated with the tomb. On the incriptions that were found it, it states that anyone that disturbs the king's final resting place would suffer and die. This curse was populaized after several members of the team involved in the initial discovery died prematuraly.

For anybody who has been watching TLC lately, they are currently broadcasting some of the newer finds in the Valley of the Kings. Namely, a tomb approximately 45 meters away from Tut's tomb. There is a potential to find out more about Tutankhamun and the Ancient egyptian customs, beliefs and way of life.

Monday 12 March 2012

Leonardo Da Vinci

Leonardo Da Vinci was the true definition of a renaissance man, his love for knowledge, art and science defined his as a revolutionary thinker who is responsible for some of the inventions that we enjoy today. Da Vinci, is a man that seemed to have been good at everything he did, not only was he a masterful painter, but he also was inolved in numerous things throughout his lifetime.

Da Vinci started out as a painter in the city of Florence, a son born out of wedlock to a poor peasant women.  Which turned out to be beneficial for him, if he had been a ligitimate child he would have gone through with the occupation of his father and never become the artist he did.He spent most of his early years being educated under the painter Verrocchio. At the age of 20 he was given the title as a master in the guild of st. Luke. He was one of the first Italian painters to use oil paints instead of egg tempura.

Although they were both in the same profession, Michalangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci were not close friends as one would expect.They were very bitter rivals. So much so that they often would insult each other in public.

Da Vinci is believed to have been an extreme perfectionist, so much so  that the lips on his most famous painting, the mona lisa, took him approximately 10 years to complete. It is also said that he destroyed many of his works before they could be viewed by anyone else.

But Leonardo's interested spread far beyond just that of painting and art. He was also very interested in science and machinery. In fact Leonardo Da Vinci is responsible for designing  many things including:

  1. The first Machine Gun
  2. The Parachute
  3. Several engineering projects such as bridges and canals.
  4. Gliders
  5. Other flying machines
  6.  cannon 
  7. Armored vehicles 


 "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." - Leonardo Da Vinci

For most of his life Da Vinci was obsessed with birds and the idea of flight, that is probably why many of his sketches involve the idea of man being able to fly. Because paper was so expensive during his lifetime Da Vinci was very careful with how he used his paper and made sure not to waste any by ensuring that all possible space was used before moving on to the next piece. In all of his notebooks Da Vinci used what is called mirror writing, this is believed to have been an attempt to keep his notes secret.

Da Vinci was also very interested in the study of human anatomy and is believed to have dug out several graves in order to further his studies and knowledge of our inner workings. He also studied many animal remains. From this he work he creates sketches like the Vitruvian man.

Some of the personal choices that Da Vinci made during his lifetime also make him distinct from his contemporaries. Da Vinci was a humanitarian and therefore chose to become a vegetarian . This may have in part because of his work studying how the body worked In addition to being a vegetarian da vinci also chose to never marry or have children. Some scholars believe this is because he was gay.

Although many of us don't realize it, Leonardo Da Vinci has had a very big impact on how we live today. His inventions, notes and artwork were revolutionary for the time, and continue to amaze us in the 21st Century.






                      

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Ramses II ( The Great)

Ramses II is remembered today as one of the greatest, if not the greatest builder in all of ancient egypt. His major projects included the town site of Pi Ramses and his extravagant tomb at Abu Simbel. He also enjoyed restoring older complexes. These projects were a way of highlighting his power and to ensure that he would leave a legacy long after he died.

Besides being a sucessful constructor, Ramses is also famed for his numerous military victories.  He
led sucessful campaigns against the Hittites, Libya, and Nubia. Ramses signed the earliest peace treaty that has ever been found. However his reign was plagued with many periods of political unrest.

Ramses is believed to have fathered at least 100 children during his exeptionarily long life.He reigned for an astonishing 66 years, and is believed to have lived to at least his 90th year. During this period the average person lived for approximately 40 years. Because Ramses lived so long his son was sixty years old before he ascended to the throne. His successor was Merneptah, he was Ramses thirteenth son. All of his elder brothers had already died.

Ramses' chief and most famous wife was Nerfertari, who died 54 years before he met his demise. In the custom of egyptian pharoahs, she was not however his only wife. It is believed that he had at least 12 wives. His other prominent wives were Maathorneferure and Isetnofret.

Once Ramses had reigned over egypt for 30 years he was inducted into a special group made up of the kings who had lived the longest in the history of Egypt. During this induction a celebration was held, called the Sed Festival. The festival is linked to the transformation of the king into a god.


It is believed that it is Ramses II that is the pharoah described in the Bible in the story of Moses, but this claim is not subsantiated. Due to his life and reign he left a significant legacy behind him. So much so that at least 9 pharoahs were named after him.

During his long life Ramses is said to have suffered from Arthritis and arterial issues. They may have been the causes of his eventual death. His mummy was not actually found in an elaborate tomb as one would have imagined. It was actually found with a cache of other royal mummies in a cave. The mummy was probably brought there to protect it from the damage that grave robbers would have inflicted upon it.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin has been the centre of many controversies since his publication of the Origin of Species,  which was credited for introducing the theory of evolution to the public.

During his early years, Darwins father, Robert, considered his son to be a failure as a young man. He convinced young charles to enter into medical school, however Darwin showed no interest and was in fact uncomfortable with the sight of blood.

Darwin actually married his first cousin Emma Wedgewood.  They were married for a total of 43 years prior to Darwin's death. They had a total of 10 children. 2 of which unfourtunately died in infancy and one that passed away at the age of 10 years old.

Prior to publishing the Origin of Species Darwin took part in a five year expedition to the Galapagos Islands on the ship Beagle. During this expedition Darwin had the opportunity to study thousands of different species and their particular adaptations.

However, Darwins ideas were not completely new and revolutionary, evolutionary concepts like his were circulating around academia during the late 1850's. In fact  British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace also had come up with a similar theory and had been credited with the discovery jointly with Darwin. Later Darwin was mostly credited with the discovery because he defined evolution and adaptation in more detail than Wallace.

Contrary to what we might think today, the reaction to Darwin's publications was not a dramatic one at all. Moreover The president of the Linnean Society said in May 1859 that there had been no big discoveries in the past year. It was not until later that controversy erupted over the evolutionary theory.

Today especially in western cultures, Darwin is considered the pinnacle of Atheism. A symbol that represents the progress of science and backwardness of religion. By religious sects evolution is seen as a threat to tradition and their children. However, for the majority of his life, Charles Darwin was a convential catholic man. It was his relationship with the church and his fear of their reaction that caused Darwin to hestitate so long before publishing his work. Later on in his life Darwin proclaimed that he was an agnostic.

For the majority of Darwin's adult life he was plagued with several dieases that at times incapacitated him. Some speculate that this was a result of the stress of the theory and worrying about how it

After his death in 1882, Darwin was buried at Westminster Abbey, in the same area as Sir. Isaac Newton. This particular fact was a suprise to me, as I am sure it is to some of you. I had assumed that due to his controversial works and conflict with the church that he would have not been buried in such a sacred place.

NOTE:
 If anyone has any suggestions for future posts please let me know by adding a comment down below.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Cleopatra VIII


The Last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra is a historical figure that is remembered for her life, her love and especially her death. The great Egyptian Queen, Cleopatra is often seen as a symbol of female power in the ancient world, which in some ways she was. She is also remembered for her dramatic death and love affairs with foreign politicians.

Although she became the Pharaoh of Egypt, she and her family were not actually of Egyptian decent. They were really Macedonians who had immigrated to Egypt during the time of Alexander the Great.

 Cleopatra was actually the third Daughter in her Family and therefore there was no expectation that she would ever receive the throne. However after the deaths of her two elder sisters, Cleopatra became pharaoh at the age of 17. Her reign lasted 21 years, between 51 and 30 BCE. Because of how infamous she became it often assumed that she was the one and only Cleopatra, but in fact there were 7 other women of the same name in the Ptolemaic dynasty and therefore she is officially Cleopatra VIII. Her Full name was Cleopatra VIII Thea Philopator.

Cleopatra had 3 different husbands throughout her life, her younger brother Ptolemy XIII, who was only 12 at the time. They were married for approximately 4 years before his premature death (drowning). She also married her other younger brother her other younger brother Ptolemy XIV, and Marc Anthony. However these were not the only love affairs Cleopatra had during her lifetime. Cleopatra also had a widely publicized affair, and possibly marriage with Julius Caesar, which produced a son: Caesarian, who was later strangled.

Cleopatra also had 3 other Children from Mark Anthony. Alexander Helios, Cleopatra Selene II who were twins, in addition to Ptolemy Philadelphus.

Cleopatra was a very intelligent individual, a fact that is often overlooked. She was fluent in at least 9 languages, and was the only individual in the Ptolemaic Dynasty that could speak Egyptian. She was also a very charismatic individual, she had the power to persuade as well as seduce others.

The Queens death is seen by many as a tragic ending to a great love story. Her husband, Mark Anthony committed suicide on the battlefield after being deceived into believing that Cleopatra herself was dead. Once this news came to Cleopatra, she took an asp (an Egyptian cobra) and got it to bite her in the breast. This type of death, by Egyptian beliefs would ensure immortality

However this is not the entire story, what is lacking in this tale is that Octavian was also in the process of invading Egypt. Cleopatra and her children had been taken as prisoners. It is more likely that Cleopatra realized that she had been defeated and did not want to be made an example of by the Romans now that her husband was no longer around to protect her. She was the last Pharaoh of Egypt because following her Suicide Egypt became a Roman territory.

Her love life, charisma, and her political moves ensured that Cleopatra would go down as one of the most famous queens in history. Her story is still celebrated today through movies, books and myth.

Wednesday 8 February 2012

Napoleon Bonaparte

We have all heard of the famous Napoleon Bonaparte, the self crowned emperor of France, and he is no doubt considered a very important historical figure, especially in European
history. He is a central figure in most High- school history classes and therefore is often despised by general public. But there are something’s that are not taught to you in those history classes that I would like to share with you.

Napoleon is often compared to 2 other leaders in history, Alexander the great of Mesopotamia, and Adolf Hitler. At first this might not make sense but the historical record
shows that all three of these individuals attempted to conquer as much land as humanly possible, and each coming precariously close to conquering the known world in their given time. In addition to the amount of territory that Napoleon procured for himself, Napoleon like these other leaders was considered to be both a charismatic leader and a tyrant. Hitler in his time brought Germany out of a depression that was caused by the Treaty of Versailles. Similarly Napoleon helped to create order in France after the revolution.

Something that you have undoubtedly seen or read is that Napoleon was a very short man. Although he is often portrayed in that way today in modern media, he was actually of average height. Something that has not been taken into consideration is that at the time the French foot was 13 inches instead of 12. This mistake has continued to this day, when in fact Napoleon Bonaparte was 5'6.

Bonaparte was not actually French by birth; he was the son of a lower nobleman on the island of Corsica. The only reason he ever came to France was that his father had beenoffered a job on the continent. It was only then that Napoleon's brilliance began to get noticed at the military college that he attended. He graduated at the age of 16(5 years sooner than most of his
contemporaries) it was during this time that his intelligence in the way of battle strategies and charisma shone.

During his reign Napoleon had many successful campaigns throughout Europe and Africa. However he also did had many failures, which he tried to cover up as fast as possible. One of those unsuccessful campaigns took place in modern-day Russia. Like his predecessors and those after him, he attempted to enter the area during the winter. Most of Napoleons men died from either starvation or exposure to the cold. If there is one this to learn in history class, is to stay out of Russia in the winter!

Napoleon's first wife, Josephine, considered by many to be the love of his life, was actually 6 years older than him. At the time of their divorce, they were both having affairs. However this was not the reason for their divorce. Their separation was due to the fact that Josephine could not produce an heir for her husband. Even after the couple had divorced and Napoleon had remarried, he still went to Josephine as a trusted advisor in both his political and personal life. Napoleons second wife Marie-Louise was substantially younger than he and in fact did
produce the heir that Napoleon had been waiting for. Marie-Louise, the archduchess of Austria, was also the Grand-Niece to Marie Antoinette.

Many people have seen portraits that were painted of the emperor, always in the same position: turned slightly to the side and hand placed in the front of his jacket. Some people speculate that this position was customary for those in power, a power stance, if you will. Others on the other hand state that this position was due to Napoleons chronic stomach pain, caused by the stomach ulcer that allegedly eventually took his life.

Something that remained long after Napoleons death was that of his law systems, called the Napoleonic Code. Much of this system still exists today in modern legislation.

A quote that is attributed to Napoloeon is that of " Absolute power corrupts Absolutely." I wonder what Napoleon would have considered his power, did he think himself to be corrupt? Another very well known quote that was spoken by the French emperor was something that many people in our society do not realize. Napoleon was the first peron quoted saying the phrase
"a picture is worth a thousand words."

Napoleon was indeed a brilliant military mastermind who had enough charisma to charm a nation. But there was much more to him that that. It is the small things in someones life that often show us their real character, such as their relationship to their wife, or their background. Napoleon is one of the great historical figures that we study today, hopefully facts like this will make him a bit more interesting to study.