The Bubonic Plague

Most people have heard the children’s song “Ring Around the Rosy.” Little children sing it merrily, holding hands and turning about in a circle. When they reach the end of the song, the kids let go of each other and sit (or fall) down. However, most people don’t know that this song is actually about the Black Death. (Morbid little kindergarteners.) (Cantor 6)

“Ring around the rosy,
[refers to the rosy-red (or purple-ish) round rash marks on the skin —one of the first signs a person had the plague]
A pocket full of posies;
[one of the superstitious ways used by people in the Middle Ages to try and fend off the plague was to stuff their pockets with posies (flowers)]
Atischoo, atischoo,
[sneezing was also an early sign of the plague if it was a pneumonic plague; however, not all types of plague involved sneezing]
or, Ashes, ashes
[the dead were often cremated]
We all fall down.
[most of the people stricken with the plague died]” (source)

“The plague came to Europe in the fall of 1347. By 1350 it had largely passed out of western Europe. In the space of two years, one out of every three people was dead. Nothing like that has happened before or since. These general numbers disguise the uneven nature of the epidemic. Some areas suffered little, others suffered far more. Here are some examples. Between 45% and 75% of Florence died in a single year. One-third died in the first six months. Its entire economic system collapsed for a time. In Venice, which kept excellent records, 60% died over the course of 18 months: five hundred to six hundred a day at the height.” (source)



“Medical professionals calculated that dead bodies, poor ventilation, and the close quarters so common in medieval towns brought plague [besides the main cause of fleas on rats.] This led to government regulations, in particular, the decision to bury cadavers outside the town walls. Priests were told to keep sermons short and disperse congregations early.” (Gottfried 69) The people would burn the corpses, clothes, and bedding, then spray the bedroom with incense. Good smells were believed to help fight off disease.

“The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often ‘ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise.’” (source) “Symptoms [of the plague] include high fever, chills, headache, exhaustion, a skin rash and the namesake "buboes" — hideously enlarged and swollen lymph nodes.” (source)

“The Bubonic Plague continued to affect cities from time to time for hundreds of years. It still exists and is common among rodents. We have a cure for the disease, but occasionally people in isolated places still die from the Bubonic Plague.” (source)

Works Cited

Cantor, Norman. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & the World it Made. New York: The Free Press. 2001.

Gottfried, Robert S. The Black Death: Natural and Human Disaster in Medieval Europe. New York: The Free Press. 1983.

What was the Tudor Dynasty?

“The Tudor dynasty ruled England from 1485 to 1603.” (source)

“The founder of the Tudor Dynasty was Henry VII, who emerged triumphant after the brutal Wars of the Roses which split England between the houses of Lancaster and York. This period of civil war is named for the symbols of the warring houses; Lancaster was represented by a red rose, while York was represented by a white rose. Henry VII, a relative of the House of Lancaster, managed to secure the throne in 1485, establishing the Tudor Dynasty, and he rapidly set about consolidating power in the hands of the monarch, stripping the nobility of many of their powers in the interest of avoiding future revolts and civil wars. Henry VII wisely married Elizabeth York, uniting the feuding houses, and he created a distinct symbol for the Tudor Dynasty: the Tudor Rose, which has both red and white petals, symbolizing unity.” (source)



In 1509 his son, Henry VIII, came to the throne. He married Catherine of Aragon on June 11, 1509. They had some children, but most died young. He went to war against France, and met with a little success. (source) (Elton 8)

His son, Edward VI, was his heir to the throne and became king in 1547. He was 18 at this time. “He was more ambitious than his father and spent money on warships and guns, making the English fighting fleet the best in Europe.” (source) When he wanted to divorce his first wife to marry his second, the pope refused. The king was so angry that “he broke with Rome and declared himself ‘Supreme Head of the Church.’” (source) King Edward VI married and then divorced 4 times before finally settling with his 5th wife. (Weir 26)

Next in the Tudor Dynasty came Edward VI’s cousin, Lady Jane Grey, in 1553. She was deposed only 9 days later, and then executed in 1554. After Lady Jane Grey in 1553 came Queen Mary I, daughter of Catherine of Aragon. “In December a law was passed that allowed bishops of the Church of England to sentence heretics to death by burning. Almost 300 people were burned alive during Mary’s reign with Mary’s full approval, earning her the nickname “Bloody Mary.” (source)

Her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth I, was the last of this dynasty, ruling from 1558-1603. After she died without naming an heir, the House of Stuart took over.

Works Cited

Elton, G. R. England Under the Tudors. New York: Routledge. 1992.

Weir, Alison. The Children of Henry VIII. New York: Ballantine Books. 1996.

The True Story of St. Nick

“Nicholas was born to wealthy parents in a tiny village in the country we today call Turkey. Though Nicholas was a child of privilege, he was raised a Christian and at a very young age was devoted to the faith. Nicholas' parents died while he was yet a boy. And not knowing what to do with himself or the fortune he inherited, he turned to his Bible and read the words of admonishment that Christ gave to a wealthy man: 'Sell all thou hath and give it to the poor and follow me.'" (source)

“Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.” (source)

“He is almost always seen [in paintings of him] with three bags or balls as well, symbolizing the three bags of gold he tossed through the chimney of the home of a poor man in his village for the daughters' dowry, so they would not be sold as slaves. Thus he is also seen as the ‘gift-giver.’” (source) It is said that some of these gold balls fell into the stockings that were hung up to dry. In remembrance of this, today many people put oranges in the toes of Christmas stockings. (source)

St. Nicholas died on December 6, 352 A.D. He was put into a sarcophagus at Myra. Now December 6 is celebrated by many around the world as St. Nicholas Day. (Seal 2)

So how did a kind and slender bishop become a portly man in a red suit? There are 4 steps. First, in Washington Irving’s book Knickerbocker’s History of New York, he falsely describes the man as a large, smoking Dutchman. Second, a poem called “The Children’s Friend” is published. This contained an engraving portraying St. Nick “with a thick coat, tall fur hat, and copious beard.” (Walsh 8) Third, Troy Sentinel published “A Visit from St. Nicholas” which portrays him as a fat, short, “jolly old elf.” Fourth, Thomas Nast drew multiple illustrations of the new Santa. He drew Santa wearing the clothes that we see in all Santa’s pictures today. This is how St. Nicholas became the “Santa” of modern times, and such a famous figure. (source, Walsh 8)

Works Cited

Seal, Jeremy. Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2005.

Walsh, Joseph. J. Were They Wise Men or Kings?: The Book of Christmas Questions. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. 2001.

The Siege of Aleppo

*It was very hard for me to find information about the siege of Aleppo. The information that I found all conflicted, also. By the time I realized that I should switch topics, I had already done too much research. >:-( >:( :( . So here’s what I understand to be the case with Aleppo:*

Modern day Aleppo

“Aleppo is a city and province in northern Syria…It is one of the oldest cities in the region, known to antiquity as Khalpe, to the Greeks as Beroea, and to the Turks as Halep, and it occupies a strategic trading point midway between the sea and the Euphrates; initially, it was built on a small group of hills in a wide fertile valley on both sides of the river Quweiq. The province or governate extends around the city for over 16,000 km and has around 3.7 million inhabitants.” (source) Today it is the second largest city in the country, with a population of about 1.7 million, followed by Damascus. (Rabbo 2)

“The main role of the city was as a trading place, as it sat at the crossroads of two trade routes and mediated the trade from India, the Tigris and Euphrates regions and the route coming from Damascus in the South, which traced the base of the mountains rather than the rugged seacoast.” (source) However, because of political reasons, they usually tried to direct the trading away from the capital some. (Meriwether 3)

“Here at Aleppo the various governors and generals of the Mamluk realm gathered with their armies and met to discuss how they might best oppose the onrushing storm [of northern invaders;] and they drew up various plans…The highways and approaches were blockaded, and guards were set on all the roads. The main body of the army was drawn up before the gates to await the conqueror's arrival.” (source)

“Timur advanced cautiously from the north, knowing through his spies that word had been sent to the Arabs, Kurds, and Turkomans to attack him from the rear; this threat never materialized. In November of 1400 (the ninth day of the first month Rabia, by the Arab chronicler's reckoning) he arrived at the outer defensive lines. The first two days of the battle were spent in minor skirmishing; Timur probed the defenses with small detachments, which were torn to pieces by the Syrian horsemen. On the third day of battle, the two armies faced off across the plain of the city; on one side the Mamluk knights of Syria and Egypt, supplemented by the citizens of Aleppo (for even the women and children went out to meet the foe); on the other the hordes of Timur, with captured war elephants from India leading the center. Both sides raised their warcry: ‘Allahu Akbar!’, ‘God is great!’” (source)

“The battle did not last one hour. Timur had sent the wings of his horde to encircle the Syrians under the cover of the previous night, and they now broke over the assembled army like a wave, shattering the orderly ranks and throwing the field into confusion. When the cowardly and treacherous Tamardash (commanding the right wing) fled the plain of battle, the Syrians broke and ran for the gates of Aleppo. Timur had prepared a tuman (ten thousand) of his finest cavalry for just such an event, and he unleashed them in pursuit. Arabshah describes the advance of the Tatar's horde:” (source)

“‘Then he went over them like a razor over hair and ran like locusts over a green crop.’ The city was overrun. The streets ran with blood; the piled dead reached the top of the walls, forming a ramp for the invaders; the many slaves of the city broke down the gates in their mad headlong flight; all the accumulated treasure of generations was carried off by the victorious men of the steppe; the Jews of the city were herded into their synagogues and slaughtered to the last man.” (source)

Timur had no mercy, so he executed all those he could capture. The siege of Aleppo was a success. After this, he stayed in the city for about a month, then went on to Damascus, leaving the ruined Aleppo behind him.

Works Cited

Meriwether, Margaret L. The Kin Who Count: Family and Society in Ottoman Aleppo, 1770-1840. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. 1999.

Rabbo, Anika. A Shop of One’s Own: Independence and Reputation among Traders in Aleppo (Culture and Society in Western and Central Asia.) New York City: I.B. Taurus & Co Ltd. 2005.


Timur

The Reign of Justinian

Justinian’s uncle adopted him and also ensured his education. “Justinian was superbly well educated in jurisprudence, theology and Roman history. His military career featured rapid advancement, and a great future opened up for him when, in 518, Justin became emperor. Justinian was appointed consul in 521, and later as commander of the army of the east. He was functioning as virtual regent long before Justin made him associate emperor on April 1, 527. Four months later, Justinian became the sole sovereign upon Justin I's death.” (source) He then made his wife, Theodora, joint ruler of the empire. This proved to be a good decision because she was clever, strong-willed and a good leader. (Millard 92, source)

“The reign of Justinian was an extremely significant period. It marked the final end of the Roman empire; the establishment of the new, Byzantine empire; the beginning of Western Europe's unique position within the civilizations of the Old World; and made possible the spread of Islam and the rise of the Franks…The empire was united under the Eastern emperor in theory; Justinian tried to make it so in fact. His armies invaded the Vandal, Ostrogothic, and Visigothic kingdoms in turn, and, in a series of bitter wars (540-554), re-conquered much of the Mediterranean lands of the West.” (source) “He was the last emperor to attempt to restore the Roman Empire to the territories it enjoyed under Theodosius I.” (source)

Justinian had some architectural achievements as well. The first Hagia Sophia that was built in Constantinople burned down, and he wanted to rebuild it. “Now the Emperor Justinian wanted to rebuild the church in a style that far exceeded the capabilities of any architect of his time. He had the good sense to turn to someone who was not trained as an architect but who was a scholar, knowledgeable in mathematics, statics and dynamics. This person was Anthemius of Tralles, but in Anthemius, the emperor employed someone who was not only a skilled mathematician, but also someone with an artistic genius. Mathematical skills, the ability to teach the builders to accomplish the required tasks, the daring of an innovator, and the vision of an artistic genius combined in Anthemius to produce one of the most beautiful buildings the world has seen.” (source) (Rosen 93)

Although his reign is often called the Golden Age of the Roman Empire, the end of Justinian’s rule was disastrous. A plague hit the people and they were dying quickly. “Procopius gives us a good account of the plague, modeled on Thucydides. This was clearly bubonic rather than the more deadly pulmonary plague, for Procopius indicates that people who cared for the ill did not necessarily contract the plague themselves, and pulmonary plague is directly communicable to another person whereas the bubonic variety is carried by fleas, which live on rodents, particularly the black rat. Nonetheless, bubonic plague is deadly enough: without modern treatment it can result in death in 40 to 70 per cent of its victims.
The plague moved from city to city in the empire. In 558 it returned to Constantinople for a new crop of victims.” (source)

“In fact, the number of natural disasters which befell the empire in Justinian's reign is remarkable: earthquakes, floods and plague… The plague brought a period of economic growth to an end. One estimate suggests that the population of the empire in 600 was only 60 per cent of what it was in 500. The loss of so many taxpayers hurt the treasury, though Justinian does not seem to have greatly curtailed his building program to take declining revenues into consideration. Recruits for the army became harder to find and Justinian had to rely more on barbarian troops.” (source)

Theodora died of cancer in 548, but Justinian lived some years longer, dying in 565. He was not a humble man, (thinking of himself as wiser than Solomon,) but he was smart and a good leader. Even though the plague was a huge tragedy that occurred during his reign, his reign is still thought of as the Golden Age of the Roman Empire. (Now that’s something to be proud of.) (source)

Works Cited

Millard, Dr. Anne and Patricia Vanags. The Usborne Book of World History. London, England: Usborne Publishing Ltd. 1985.

Rosen, William. Justinian’s Flea: The First Great Plague and the End of the Roman Empire. U.S.A.: The Penguin Group. 2007.

The Magna Carta

On July 27, 1214, King John of England lost an important battle at Bouvines to King Philip II of France. Because of this, he lost any hopes he had of regaining the French lands he had inherited. When he returned, he demanded that the barons who had not joined to help him in the battle pay a fee. These barons protested and condemned his policies, and families began to take sides. King John’s opposition intensified, and he could not refuse the demands of the barons any longer. On June 15, 1215, he agreed to put his seal upon the document that confirmed their liberties. (source, source)

“The document conceded by John and set with his seal in 1215, however, was not what we know today as 'Magna Carta,' but rather a set of baronial stipulations, now lost, known as the ‘Articles of the Barons.’ After John and his barons agreed on the final provisions and additional wording changes, they issued a formal version on June 19, and it is this document that came to be known as 'Magna Carta.' Of great significance to future generations was a minor wording change, the replacement of the term ‘any baron’ with ‘any freeman,’ in stipulating to whom the provisions applied. Over time, it would help justify the application of the Charter's provisions to a greater part of the population. While freemen were a minority in 13th-century England, the term would eventually include all English, just as ‘We the People’ would come to apply to all Americans in this century.” (source)

The document also contained “63 clauses promising all freemen access to courts and a fair trial, eliminating unfair fines and punishments, giving power to the Catholic Church in England, and addressing many lesser issues.” (source) These lesser issues included settling conflicts “between church and monarchy, between individual and the state, between husband and wife, between Jew and Christian, between king and baron, between merchant and consumer, [and] between commoner and privatizer…. Its chapter 39 has grown to embody fundamental principles, habeas corpus, trial by jury, [and] prohibition of torture.” (Linebaugh 45)

The last few sections of the charter “deal with how the Magna Carta would be enforced in England. Twenty-five barons were given the responsibility of making sure the king carried out what was stated in the Magna Carta - the document clearly states that they could use force if they felt it was necessary. [Again,] to give the Magna Carta an impact, the royal seal of King John was put on it to show people that it had his royal support.” (source)

The Magna Carta has been a great influence to Americans, too. “Before penning the Declaration of Independence--the first of the American charters of freedom--in 1776, the Founding Fathers searched for a historical precedent for asserting their rightful liberties from King George III and the English Parliament. They found it in a gathering that took place 561 years earlier on the plains of Runnymede, not far from where Windsor Castle stands today…[the] Magna Carta--a momentous achievement for the English barons and, nearly six centuries later, an inspiration for angry American colonists.” (source) The common American people have looked to this agreement for help, too. A man named Roger B. Taney cited the Magna Carta in an American court 16 times! (Linebaugh 172, 173)

Indeed, the Magna Carta served as a reference point of law for the people of England to go back to if they thought the king was being unfair. This is what America’s Founding Fathers did when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. The charter can be compared to the Constitution, too, in some ways, in that it spelled out the rights of the people. All in all, the Magna Carta, (Latin for “Great Charter,”) was an outstanding document that changed the world and the way it thought about freedom. (Howard 25)

Works Cited

Howard, A. E. Dick. Magna Carta: Text and Commentary. U.S.A.: The University Press of Virginia. 1964.

Linebaugh, Peter. The Magna Carta Manifesto: Liberties and Commons for All. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press. 2008.







The Magna Carta




The Declaration of Independence





The Constitution

Princess Olga of Kiev

Princess Olga was born around 890. Her “origins are not known with certainty, but she may have come from Pskov, [Russia.] She was probably of Varangian (Scandinavian) heritage. Olga married Prince Igor I of Kiev in about 903. Igor was the son of Rurik, who is considered the founder of Russia. Igor became the ruler of Kiev, a state which included parts of what is now Russia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Poland.” (source) However, Igor got greedy. He raised taxes on his subjects by triple! The Derevlians revolted and murdered Igor. (Early)

Looking to gain more power, the Derevlians’ prince Mal asked Olga to come and marry him. Olga was furious, but she concealed it so as not to spoil her plan of revenge. “Olga made this reply, ‘Your proposal is pleasing to me; indeed my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people.’ Olga pretended to show them great honor by having her men carry the Drevlians' boats from the river Dniepr towards the Prince's residence... and straight into a huge pit. She then commanded that they should be buried there alive, and they were thus buried.” (source)

“Olga then sent messages to the Derevlians to the effect that, if they really required her presence, they should send after her their distinguished men, so that she might go to their Prince with due honor, for otherwise her people in Kiev would not let her go. When the Derevlians heard this message, they gathered together the best men who governed the land of Dereva, and sent them to her. When the Derevlians arrived, Olga commanded that a bath should be made ready, and invited them to appear before her after they had bathed. The bathhouse was then heated, and the Derevlians entered in to bathe. Olga's men closed up the bathhouse behind them, and she gave orders to set it on fire from the doors, so that the Derevlians were all burned to death.” (source)

However, Princess Olga was still angry. “Olga sent another message to Prince Mal, saying she was coming at last. But she wanted to mourn at Igor's gravesite and give him a proper memorial with the traditional banquet. She asked Mal and his favored men to be her guests, and to bring plenty of mead. Once finding Igor's grave, Olga's men got busy building a proper burial mound while she wept like a dutiful wife. When the funeral rites were complete, she went with Mal to the hall for the feast. Mal inquired about the escorts that he had sent her, and Olga told him that they were on the way accompanied by her personal bodyguards. Olga and her people hosted the Drevlians and kept the mead flowing. Prince Mal and his men were so happy that everything seemed to be going their way that they never noticed how little drink was being consumed by Olga and her companions. When the Drevlians were finally incapacitated by mead, Olga's men went about with swords and killed every single Drevlian in the hall. It is estimated by historians that several hundred men were killed that night alone.” (source)

Nevertheless, the princess was still unsatisfied and as infuriated as ever. It seemed that no amount of Drevlian deaths could avenge the death of her one husband. She asked the Drevlians to give her three pigeons and three sparrows from each house as a tribute. They gladly agreed. “Now Olga gave to each soldier in her army a pigeon or a sparrow, and ordered them to attach by thread to each pigeon and sparrow a piece of sulfur bound with small pieces of cloth. When night fell, Olga bade her soldiers release the pigeons and the sparrows. So the birds flew to their nests, the pigeons to the cotes, and the sparrows under the eaves…[and set the houses on fire.] There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames, because all the houses caught on fire at once. The people fled from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them. Thus she took the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the other captives she killed, while some she gave to others as slaves to her followers.” (source) She made the rest pay a heavy tribute. Finally, Olga settled down to rule as regent until her son, Svyatoslav, was of age in 964. (source)

“In 957, she visited Emperor Constantine VII in Constantinople. He admired her looks and intelligence, noting to her that 'You are fit to reign in this city with us.'…[Later, she became a Christian and agreed to be baptized.] Before her baptism, Constantine asked her hand in marriage, but Olga deferred, claiming that she wanted to be baptised an Orthodox Christian first. Again, after the baptism, Constantine requested her hand in marriage, but the quick-thinking Olga tricked him (since he was her godfather in baptism), noting that he called her his daughter in baptism and so such a union is forbidden under Christian law.” (source)

“After Princess Olga returned to Kiev, she was unsuccessful in converting her son or very many others. Her example, however, may have helped to influence her grandson, Vladimir I, who was the third son of Svyatoslav” (source) and was in line for the crown. “The city of Kiev became the political and religious center of Russia.” (Hicks 333)

“Princess Olga died, probably on July 11, 969. She is considered the first saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. Her relics were lost in the 18th century,” (source)but monuments of her still remain.

Works Cited

“Early Russia & the Fall of Constantinople” Movie. (The one where the guy dresses up.)

Hicks, Laurel Elizabeth. Old World History & Geography in Christian Perspective. U.S.A., A Beka Book. 1999.