week 10

oh religion, how you make my mind spin.

as the cultures we've been studying have changed, i wondered where the rebellion against the church was going to come.  It made me smile that translating the text of the scriptures was illegal, and when they were translated, it was found that they were ridden with contradictions.  Yet another example of how the past corresponds to the present, authority figures were lying to keep us quiet thousands of years ago.  They still lie to cover their posteriors today.  

I found it strange the the church was irritated by the waldensians missionary procedure, it seems that the church would have wanted people to be attracted to religion.  I guess there will always be people that say, as far as religion goes, that their own beliefs are true and no variation can be accepted.  Obviously the followers of the variations were seen as heretics, but instead of causing trouble, why would the church just, use that method of teaching gospel to their advantage?

Was there ever a ruling party that wasn't in some way propelled by favors or power or greed?  Ever? Anyone?  Reading the Crises in the Medieval Church section, i couldn't help but try to recall a completely honest political party.  There sure isn't one now.

week 9

"Our own generation enjoys the legacy bequeathed to it by that which preceded it. We frequently know more, not because we have moved ahead by our own natural ability,  but because we are supported by the menial strength of others, and possess riches that we have inherited from our forefathers.  Benard of Clairvaux used to compare us to punt dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants.  He pointed out that we see more and farther than our predecessors, not because we have keener vision or greater height, but because we are lifted up and borne aloft on their gigantic stature."

I love that quote.  It sent me on a mental tangent, sometimes i get cocky and I tend to believe I am the FIRST to feel things and the FIRST to have certain thoughts and no one has ever been in the same place or understood the things i do.. but it is only because of the great strides other people have made that i am allowed to progress and form new ideas.  I liked that.  Everything has been done before, and as depressing as that can sound, it also makes me feel slightly safe, humbling to remember...and probably important.

ANYWAY, I was pleased to see that around the 11th century people started thinking less about pillaging and fighting wars, and more about intellect and social organization.  Just a few sections ago we were reading about how men lived to fight in the days of Rome, and here we are reading about how students flocked to attend classes.  Such strides!

"Justice, both secular and divine, became the key to good government, peace, and security."  

It's interesting that secular law, and church were fighting over what was right and what was wrong so many years ago, and we continue to do so.  I also enjoyed reading about the transition of Christianity, from a strictly puritan standpoint, to the more familiar loving god, humanity in Christianity religion we have now.  I'd been waiting for it.

Also the thought that status was more important than wealth.  still true.  

I was also excited to read about the black death.  I've had classes before where it was briefly explained or mentioned, but never in great details.  The two passages were fairly terrible, it would be interesting to know whether they know for sure there were two plagues at work and if they were the same disease fitted to effect different parts of the body, or if it was two seperate diseases that happened to be rampant at the same time. 

Kind of funny how the educated men said that thinking positive thoughts would help drive the plague away.  People are willing to believe all sorts of crazy things.

all in all it was a very interesting section this week.

I like how occasionally, events from hundreds of years ago tie back to present day.  Interesting that Hungary is now a horse-breeding place, that originated from fierce, horse-breeding warriors.  Also, same sort of idea, Normandy, land of Northman.  

I was wondering whether or not we were going to touch on the vikings, It's interesting to find that the name given to the group of raiders isn't quite accurate.  Despite the many raids, without them, culture in France, England, and Russia would've been different.  

I thoroughly enjoyed the "Advances in Agricultural Technology" section.  It's easy to read over the sections detailing the daily lives of peasants, and not even truly think about it, since we're so removed from it.  Looking at how humans have progressed blows my mind.  Between lack of resources, fertilizer, pesticides, it's a wonder they were able to grow anything at all.

Wikipedia-Section 2

I chose to re-visit Charlemagne.  The article i found is very thorough.  It details Charlemagne's life, including alledged illegetimate children and all of his wives.  It also seems to cover just about every battle Charlemagne had to deal with, overall i would say the article is one i would recommend to someone that was interested, but only if they had a decent amount of time to kill, seeing as it's so long.

1.9515

2. I searched Charlemagne

3. Charles the Great, Charlemagne Peralte, Charlemagne Tower,  Manno Charlemagne, Charlemagne the band...it literally goes on and on

4.It says there isn't a talk page for Charlemagne, then offered me the option to start one, which i politely declined.

5.Over 500 revisions, the most recent being October 10th

6. seven

7. 33

8. There are not further reading options.

Carolingian

Well it seems that no matter what time period we read about, there is a lack of good, true leaders.  Thank goodness we live in a time where our leaders are always trustworthy, competent and fair..............

just kidding.

Uh, anyway, i was excited to read about Charlemagne.  It was nice to be able to read at least one section that involved a true leader, living long enough to accomplish something. Why did the Saxons keep rebelling?!  It seems like the brought ruination upon themselves by continuously denying the orders that they were given.  I mean, i don't like to see people defeated, or chieftains murdered, but come on.  Also, if Charlemagne was so intensely worried about the Saxons, why did he keep pestering them?  It seems that no one was ever really interested in peace, only postponing conflict.

I didn't know before reading this, that Charlemagne was a Christian crusader, and i must express confusion at a religion like Christianity forcing beliefs upon people at sword point.  

Again, as history repeats itself, i could not help comparing the people like Roland to the Kamizakes.  Why are people so eager to sacrifice themselves for their leaders?  Maybe it's because i'm not drawn to religion, it just seems strange the lengths that people will go to in order to preserve their beliefs.  

Medieval Europe 1

I would have liked to read more about how the transition from a multi-god loving people turned into a single god loving people, and if that Christianity that was intact then, was the same sort of religion one would expect to see now.  i guess it would be safe to assume probably not, however, the religion has stayed intact so long, it'd be interesting to see how it progressed.

After reading so much about Rome, it saddens me slightly to find that instead of the misleading "Fall of Rome" there was just a steady decline.  It seems that with such a rich history, Rome would be deserving of a rich, dramatic end.  

Ha, well looks like there is a section on religion, sad and strange that a religion was spread through persecutions and what was probably violence to those that opposed it.

Thank god America cannot decree that our families be bound to soil for life, what a horrific way to help stimulate the economy.