Review of Medieval Website

http://medieval.stormthecastle.com/



This website is all things medieval. The website includes medieval art, castles, games, history, knights, armor, articles, maps, blogs, and project ideas. The reason I chose this website is because it contains a lot of visuals. All of the texts that we have read so far have painted a picture in my mind about what it was like during the Medieval times and these visuals help me see what life was like during this time. I explored this website for a good amount of time and I really enjoyed look at the section called Medieval Art. Not only did this section include different books written during this time, but it also included illustrations from this time period. These art clips included knights, castle posters, sculptures, tapestries, and art books. I think it is important that we study other art forms from this era besides the text we read in class. We all have our own ideas of what the middle ages were about and this website provides a good look into how people lived during this time.

"We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the artists of the late middle ages and the Renaissance. They changed the way we see and think about the world. Many of the techniques, philosophies and theories that they developed are what we follow in today's world". 

Here are a variety of photos from the website that will provide you with an idea of all the Medieval accessories, weapons, and artwork. 
                      

My Reation to The Siege of Jerusalem

When I started reading The Siege of Jerusalem, I figured it would be about someone taking over Jerusalem the introductory text did say it was “gruesomely violent and offensive; I guess I didn’t take that seriously, kind of like T.V. movie ratings (sometimes).  I should have prepared myself a tad bit more for the gore and very aggressive language that was going to be used; an example would be on line 575 “the blood foamed from them into great motionless pools,” and lines 697-700 , with the disgustingly detailed visual imagery given about how they would drag the skinned bodies across a field tied to a horse. The continued next like 6 quatrains emphasized so much hate and torture. I was completely dumbfounded and needed a second.  Another gory line that stuck with me was line 1203, “so that the brain burst out at both nostrils.” So much repulsive detail went into this I just can’t get over it!

 I was not mentally prepared for this. I also think it’s a bunch of bologna how Vespasian wanted to bully the unbelieving and condemning Jews into faith, because that always works well. Not only does he bully them but he is literally torturing them to death and I thought to myself, “How Christian of you, Vespasian.” Lines 1081 through 1097 when reading about the woman (Mary) who eats her own baby and isn’t ashamed about it. That is desperation. Near the end, I couldn’t figure out if Titus was showing real pity on the Jews because after some are put in jail, Titus’ men slaughter the Jews because the florins were worth more than the lives of the Jews! What is that about? I really enjoyed line 1337, “When all was finished and judged, they folded up tents,” who in this entire siege had the right to judge? I could see no side that could say they were not with sin.

 I did have a few wrap up questions though. In the prologue-passus 4, the word red is used to describe blood, wind, flames, stones, dawn, and I’m sure there were a few I didn’t catch, what do you think the significance here is of the color red? Another question I have is what is anyone else’s opinion on why in line 1778, the author refers to Jews as werewolves’, and it is only done in this line? Any ideas would be great to hear!

The Wife of Bisclavret

       I want to briefly talk about the wife of Bisclavret. Ever since discussion in class, I have been thinking about her betrayal. She nags and nags her husband until he relents and tells her his dark secrets and she, supposedly out of fear, takes his clothes. Her betrayal is purely selfish, because they have no children, she does not need to fear he would harm them, but the most telling line is when the wife starts to think, "she did not want to lie beside him any more." This admission that she does not want to have sex or even sleep next to her husband destroys her oath of marriage. But this comes from the same woman that promised to protect Bisclavret's secrets and that too fell flat. Once she realizes what she wants to do, she uses her body as a means to get a certain knight (one she knows would do anything for her) to do her bidding. To get his revenge, Bisclavret uses her vanity against her and bites her nose off her face. This is a wretched act of violence against her, but by taking away a very prominent feature he makes her wear her hideous personality. Her disfigurement is a way of showing that she is something to be avoided. It also says a lot about her replacement husband that stays with her and has children with her. This whole situation is a little disgusting to me and I find it fascinating that this all because she did not want to be with him after learning his secret. There are other ways out of a marriage.

An Overview of English Kings

In thinking about the time periods that we are discussing in this class, I think it's kind of interesting to stop and think about who was on the throne at the time certain texts are being written. The King and what is going on culturally/societally can impact what sort of things are being written - to varying degrees. Like the antisemitism in the readings for today was impacted by the state of Christian religion at this time.

Henry I (1100-1135) - Overall seems to be a pretty decent king. Won/Stole the throne from his older brother, Robert, after their brother William was killed however expanded the government, solidified English laws and formed the Court of the Exchequer to handle England's finances. His son dies and he settles on giving his daughter, Matilda, the throne to at least rule as regent for her son. This is England and of course women cannot have the throne so that leads to...

Stephen (1135-1154) - Henry's nephew steals the throne from Matilda and her son upon her father's death. Completely underestimating Matilda and the power of her and her supporters, this leads to 19 years worth of civil war. The compromise that ended it? Stephen holding title of King until death but Matilda's Henry inheriting the throne that was rightfully his after his death.

Henry II (1154-1189) - Managed to reclaim many rights and powers that belonged to the King that had become lax underneath his predecessor. He also replaced their trial system - which had been trial by ordeal - with a jury of 12 men. He was famous for having a bad temper and that lead his wife to emotionally poisoning them against him.

Richard I (1189-1199) - Son of Henry II, he was an awful king for England. He only spent ten months in the country during his reign but only to raise money for wars.

John (1199-1216) - Son of Henry II, he takes the throne after his brother. He was also not a good king and this lead to the Magna Carta.

Henry III (1216-1272) - Son of John, also a terrible King. He also spent more time abroad and not in England, which made the English feel alienated from him.

Edward I (1272-1307) - Son of Henry, the man who expelled the Jews from England in 1290. Despite our modern opinions on that issue, it cannot be denied that England flourished under him.


(Source: Here and Here)

Clothing: Self Expression or Identity Concealer

When we talked about Marie de France's Bisclavret, we focused a lot of our attention on clothing and the role it played in distinguishing between human and animal. Clothing can be used as a way to express oneself, but it can also be a way of disguising or concealing one's true identity. It is scary to think that your fundamental understanding of a person can be destroyed by the simple stripping away of fabric.

This was a true fear in Medieval England, so much so that laws were created and enforced to control what individuals of the different classes were allowed to wear. These laws were known as the Sumptuary Laws (acts of apparel). Society was broken up into seven categories, the Sumptuary Laws made members of each class easily distinguishable.

Such laws included: only the wealthy were allowed to wear vibrant colors like red and violet, fabrics like silk, satin, and velvet were only to be worn by the wealthy, the poor were restricted by garment length and heel height (the longer the garment the wealthier the individual, the shorter the garment the poorer the individual).

When these restrictive decrees were not followed, punishments (fines and confiscation of garments) were issued. Rewards were given to those who informed sheriffs or magistrates of offenders who were dressing outside of their class.

Why was the regulation of clothing so important? Was it a way to ensure that the lower class did not masquerade as the upper class? To prevent comingling between the classes? What do you, the reader, think?





Doda, Hilary. "Saide Monstrous Hose' Compliance, Transgression, and English Sumptuary Law to 1533." Textile History, 45.2 (2014): 171-191.

Defining a Werewolf

After going over Bisclavret in class, I decided to look up the true definition of a werewolf. Webster defines a werewolf as transformed or was capable of transforming himself at times into a wolf. To me, Marie de France has a much different idea. In his human form, Bisclavret was a knight who was highly praised and conducted himself nobly. However, as a werewolf, it seems to me like Bisclavret was even more accepted and in closer standing with the king. In the text, Marie de France refers to werewolves as beasts which, when possessed by madness, devours men, causes great damage and dwells in vast forests. This makes me wonder if the author wanted her audience to feel a certain way about Bisclavret while reading, before actually going through the storyline and unpacking the character.

As for Bisclavret’s wife, I think she was a character that could never be trusted. She tortured Bisclavret to the point where he tells her his secret and she reacts in a very negative way. At the end, I was happy she got what she deserved.

"A Werewolf Is: Identifying the Werewolf in Marie De France’s Bisclavret."Involuted Speculations. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2016.

The Invention of Love

     A few weeks ago, Lexie made a blog post about her reaction to the Blickling Homilies. After reading it, I was wondering if the Anglo-Saxons had more of a "God fearing" relationship as opposed to the focus of todays Christians who focus on Gods love. I left a comment on her post asking her for her opinion. After asking this question I took the liberty of doing a quick Google search and I ended finding the answer to my question and them some. According Laura Ashe, an associate Professor of English at Worcester College, "A series of church reforms in the 12th century took Christianity from a rather austere view of God the Father to a new focus on Christ's humanity." (Pleming).      This radical change in the Anglo-Saxons perspective of their God led to a lot of changes in their personal lives. Instead of waiting to escape their horrible lives on Earth for eternal life in heaven, Anglo-Saxons began to start thinking that life on Earth might not be so bad and started to enjoy it more. They started to focus on the "pursuit of self-fulfillment" and romantic love was a good avenue for them to find this fulfillment (Pleming). In her blog post titled, "Did love begin in the Middle Ages?" which appears on Oxford Universities arts blog, Clemency Pleming points out that Professor Ashe doesn't believe that romantic love truly started in the Middle Ages, but rather that it was in the Middle Ages that people began to recognize the idea in their literature and it was because of this that  romantic love came into the "mainstream" if you will.       While the Anglo-Saxons weren't the first people to ever experience romantic love, they were the first to dedicate an entire genre of literature to the subject. This dedication to the ideas of love and everything that it entails was revolutionary. As the Anglo-Saxons became the English, these ideas grew more and more.  In todays world everyone is out to find love. Its so common in our modern stories and songs, its almost impossible to fathom a time in which no one thought about "falling in love". However, before the Anglo-Saxons began to love God rather than fear him, no one really thought of romantic love as we do today. So the next time you are jamming to Adele on the radio, thank the Agnlo-Saxons for bringing Romantic literature into the forefront. 

Source:

Pleming, Clemency. "Did love begin in the Middle Ages?". Oxford Arts Blog. University of Oxford. 14 Aug, 2014. 21 Feb, 2016 

http://ak.imgfarm.com/images/fwp/myfuncards/LoveDating/lg/st_loveyou3.jpg

man and beast

In the story and analysis there was talk about how the beast and man were two separate bodies, which makes it seem like the one guy is seeing a world through two different bodies in two different ways that normal people don’t get to see.  The way I see this is that man and beast are the same body just two different perspectives on how he perceives the world that he is living.  Meaning that he is merely showing that people can have two different sides to them one being man who is intelligent and beast who works off of instincts, but together they form one great entity.  When you think about it man is a hunter and a provider which would be the beast side, and man is also full of knowing which would cover the humanistic traits.

The question I have is do you agree with any of this why or why not? Could this be a kind of precursor to what Darwin had to say many years later?

Love of the Middle Ages in Pop Culture: Beowulf

Although we have already gone over Beowulf in class, it will be the main topic of this post; this is not my reaction to it, but how it keeps popping up in our pop culture. Other than being a story in a literature class that most people have to read in high school and college, the story has leaked itself into our pop culture over and over again. It has not only been a movie, but now is being made into a TV show. The movie was made in 2007 and had a very different take than what the actual text had. It added different aspects to the story. The movie poster is shown first down below while the TV series is shown second. The movie was made in CGI while the TV series, which has not come out yet, will be live action. Our society likes to change the way this story is and how it ends. It will be interesting to see what twist the TV series will have on the story and how the people in charge of it will envision it. Beowulf is a classic "hero" story and seems that it will forever live in our minds, society, televisions, and literature books.

I find it extremely interesting how this story that is so old, keeps leaking back into our pop culture and society. This is not the only medieval themed show that has audiences captured. Shows such as Game of Thrones, Rome, Vikings, and Reign still dominate our televisions. Some of these shows have been critically acclaimed and hold millions of viewers. It seems that our society is almost obsessed with the Middle Ages and loves to bring it into our pop culture. If I were to predict, I believe that the Middle Ages will always exist within our society and pop culture .  


Link to the picture: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/Beowolfposter.jpg/220px-Beowolfposter.jpg



Link to picture: http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BNzI4YzlhYTYtOWVlZS00OTMyLTkxMjItN2U1MzYyNThhMDFmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTExNDQ2MTI@._V1_SX640_SY720_.jpg

Who is the real werewolf in Bisclavret?

Bisclavret is a story I have read once before in a different literature class. However while reading it again tonight to refresh my memory I couldn't help but ask myself if Bisclavret being a werewolf was ironic or not. Bisclavret is the definition of a good man in my eyes for a few different reasons. 

First, he is ashamed of the untamed animal side of himself. He tried to hide it from his wife and even said telling her any information about where he goes would put her in danger. He also remains loyal and well behaved when the King takes him in as some kind of guard dog. The last reason I believe he is a decent human is that he was ashamed to change into a human in front of the king. These three examples made me believe that he was pretty tame and almost domestic for someone that was suppose to be this big scary monster. 

I believe that his wife was the true "werewolf" of this story. She was a truly horrible person. First, she went behind her husbands back and plotted against him in order to get rid of him. She took the only thing that kept him human which was his clothes. She also basically prostituted herself out to the knight so that he would do her evil bidding for her. She is just a all around horrible human and has more animal like characteristics than Bisclavret who is in fact a werewolf. I find this whole poem highly ironic since the main character who was supposed to be the bad guy according to the norms was actually the nicest and most humanistic character in this piece. 

What are your thoughts??

I also wanted to add this picture that I found of when Bisclavret met the king. I think this can put into perspective how people viewed werewolves at this time

A Tool for the Toolbox

            We all know how hard it is to find the things that we want to know on the internet. The countless google searches to find the information that you're looking for, its one thing that I'm sure most people hate. I found a good resource for this class in particular, its a website that could be very useful for some of the things that we are reading this semester. It has many different tabs that let you navigate through the site, which it not only has Medieval History it also has other times in history and other subjects to look through as well. The page with all the Medieval History information has many different pictures that get you interested in the topics that the site has about the history.

          While I was looking through the site I found a page about Beowulf, this page had a lot of different information about this work of Medieval Literature. There were a lot of links to other related pages that you could see additional information. This helps to let the readers know that the information is actually reliable unlike other sources that may not give where they actually got the information from. There were links that took you to where you could buy the book that the information came from. There was also a link that would let you contact someone that was said to be a Medieval History Expert, but who needs that when we have Dr. Mann, right? There are also relevant topics that come up with little blurbs and photos of what it is mainly about. 

          I'm sure there is probably a better website out there that is more helpful than this one, because this website is only a .com website. Since it is a .com website it makes it a little less credible even though it has links to other sources and material in the ends of the page. It could be a great starting point for someone to begin a research paper or when looking for a topic to write about for a blog. But it may not be the only source that you would want to have if you put the information from it in a paper. 

Medieval Website

Beowulf Info

Medieval Marriage

In class, we have not yet talked too much about marriage in medieval times. While configuring a topic I came across something I found interesting. Back in the times of medieval if people wanted to get married all they had to do was stand in front of the churchyard gates and confess their undying love for one another. Then boom they were married congrats!  I found this topic interesting mostly because I will be married soon. Also looking at the time period, I only assumed that marriages had to be done in a church. According to this research, I found I was wrong. They are not to be married in a church. They have it in front of the church. Being able to have weddings other places is more like today. We have places not only in churches but pretty much any place as long as we have witnesses and a reverend attending.


 

 http://www.medievalfayre.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=74&Itemid=81

Although many similarities in today’s marriages there are also differences. One major difference from today to the medieval times is that girls did not really have a choice in the person they married. They usually did not even know the person they were marring. It seemed to be more acceptable for the men to be able to pick their brides. I found this interesting because it made me think about gender roles. Why is it alright for the men to be able to pick and choose the person they want to marry? As a person that is engaged this made me think about my life right now and if I could not have a say in the person I would want to marry. Instantly it made me sad. It just shows the true gender separation at this time. It was like girls did not matter as much or were maybe not smart. It made it seem as if girls were only around to make kids and be a mother. Apparently parents arranged marriages for their children. If my parents were arranging my marriage I would only hope they knew me well enough to fulfill my true happiness and future. How many people would like for their parents to pick their partner? I think if people had a close relationship with their parents then that might be easier. I am excited to hear back from you! 

Female Knights

          In our Medieval Literature class we have talked a lot about every person's place. It seems (from the few things we've read) that each person had a very specific place. I want to zone in on women at the time. We do not hear too much about women in Beowulf, or the poetry we've read. The little we did read made me think women were weak housewives. Meant to keep their cups full, and their house full of babies. I think, perhaps women were stronger than we, or the literature we've read, give them credit. After all, toward the end of the Middle Ages women could be Knights (Matthews).
          There were only two ways for a woman to become a Knight (Bundy). The first way was for their Knighted husband to die. At that point they took over all the duties of a Knight but were called "Lady" (Matthews). In France however the woman would be given the same title as her late husband or father. The title "Chevaleresse" was awarded to the wife or daughter of a dead Knight, and the title "ChevaliEre" to a woman who was knighted (Bundy).
           One event repeatedly came up as I was researching the subject. "The Order of the Hatchet". This was all about a group of women who had to defend their home town of Tortosa (Bundy). They were all made Knights by the Count of Barcelona. However, sadly the order died with it's original members (Freudenrich).
          Now-a-days women Knights are called Dames (Freudenrich). It isn't quite as groundbreaking today to be woman and be Knighted. Though it is a really cool picture. 


Work Cited
Abrams, Paul. Female Knight. DeviantArt.com. Deviant Art. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://paulabrams.deviantart.com/art/Female-Knight-413037509>.
Bundy, Randal Mcniall, Sir. "Women Knights in the Middle Ages." Women Knights in the Middle Ages. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. "How Knights Work" 22 January 2008.
HowStuffWorks.com. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/knight.htm> 19 
February 2016

Matthews, Rupert. "Could a Woman Become a Knight in Medieval Times?" History Extra. 4 Jan. 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

Reaction to Beowulf

Reading Beowulf reminded me a lot of high fantasy and video games in my youth. The goal of both Beowulf and the high fantasy was to defeat the enemies and obtain as much treasure as possible. Beowulf, in slaying the many enemies of the kingdom is granted rich rewards in terms of battle armor, weapons, gold, and prestige. He eventually becomes king of the Geats through his actions. Many modern day high fantasy stories and video games promote these actions as well. In many games your character must slay monsters in order to advance and gain treasure. Most times, your character gain a reputation depending on what you slay. You also obtain rare items and money for slaying monsters, much like Beowulf obtained treasure for slaying the dragon. Also, in high fantasy stories and video games, the scenery often changes for each monster fought. In Beowulf, he fights Grendel in the Heorot, a hall, Grendal's mother at the bottom of the swamp, and the Dragon in a cave. The scenery changes allow for a change of pace in the story and to elaborate on the hero's travels.

Another aspect shown in both is the concept of time passing and growing stronger monsters. First, Grendel is slain by Beowulf easily, then Grendel's mother requires a special sword, then the Dragon is not slain by Beowulf himself but by Wiglaf after the Dragon and Beowulf mortally wound each other. In many high fantasy games, the stakes and monster difficulty grow higher the farther the characters advance. The 'final boss' of many stories is much more difficult than the first monster fought. Many bosses also require special equipment to be slain, much like Grendel's mother required a unique sword.

Many stories that pattern themselves after Beowulf (such as the high fantasy stories and video games discussed earlier) often emphasize the hero's journey in terms of places gone, monsters slain, and treasure collected. The Hero's Journey in other stories are often different in that they usually discover something about themselves and accept themselves. Sometimes the Hero has to show mercy and save others in order to truly become the hero. Other times the Journey is an inward one. However, in Beowulf and in stories like it, carnage and violence toward 'monsters' that are different from and destroy people are emphasized as the mark of the hero. The possession of trophies and riches are the sign of the completion of the Hero's Journey. Positions of power and glory are what makes a 'Hero' in these stories.

Reader Discression Advised!

Did you know that sex during the Medieval period was highly restricted and only certain things were allowed!?

It was recorded that a lot of restrictions were placed on sex. For example, only certain positions were allowed, and certain positions were allowed at specific times and for specific purposes! (If you were curious the positions that were frowned upon were basically anything other than missionary!) Even inside a marriage these were frowned upon, also oral sex and the woman being on top were not okay! A husband was not allowed to look at his spouse in such a way lust, like he would at a mistress or anything like that! Crazy!

Another interesting fact is that masturbation was even more frowned upon, and was considered one of the worst things a person could do because sex was not meant to be pleasurable. Sex was only meant for procreation, so if a person was masturbating they were enjoying the act of "sex" and this was really not okay!! Often times this would be considered and treated as a crime like adultery.


Just in case you were curious there are some fun facts!!

The Black Death

This picture I found on google, this is individuals dead on the road from the Black Death.

I decided to venture off and find something about the Middle Ages outside of class. I came up with the black death. The Black Death, also referred as the bubonic plague, this had killed over 20 million people in Europe. This entered Europe in 1347, it was brought over on ships by men who just made a long travel over the Black Sea. Before I had really even read about the Black Death, after seeing that this was caused by traveling over the Black Sea, I thought that the disease was named after the venture over the Sea. Although, this disease was named this because the men dying from the disease had black boils on their body that blood was trickling from the black boils. In the 19th century a scientist, by the name of Alexandre Yersin founded that this plague was caused by a germ, Yersina pestis. This bacteria is seen on bite marks from infected fleas and rats. The plague not only killed 30% of Europe's population, but had also made its way to France, Lyon, and London. As all folks from the Middle Ages are religious, the people believed that this illness was a punishment coming from God for sins they have committed. The only way have God forgive them, they thought, was to get rid of the troublemakers and sinners within their community. This began the elimination of Jews by 1349. The Black Death was a major and detrimental event and was crucial to the life of Middle Ages.

"History.com." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 17 Feb 2016.

Did you know?!

http://www.historyextra.com/feature/medieval/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-middle-ages


Based on the readings we have done in class I have noticed a trend in receiving fame and fortune is by being a famous warrior fighter, but not everyone in the middle ages were great fighters like Beowulf. After 1100 there was no longer this idea of a society having three orders. The population of Europe began to increase and more jobs became available. People were now working as merchants, salesmen, carpenters, butchers, weavers, food sellers, architects, painters, and even jugglers. Based on the stories we have read in class I automatically assumed these people living during this time were either a fighter, King, Queen, a laborer, or a monk. I had no idea that these other jobs were made available to their societies. Many people also owned their own land and were considered free men.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hilarywardle/16-surprising-facts-about-medieval-england-aplm

The link above is another interesting site that shares some interesting facts about the middle ages that I did not know. My favorite is the second one! Apparently Medievil bread could kill you or get you high because the rye to make bread was often infected with ergot, which can give someone LSD like hallucinations!!!!

Anglo Saxon Women

                This may come as a shock to some, but  Anglo-Saxon England was the first place in history where women were allowed to be entered or accepted into sainthood. After accepting Christianity and all of its views, women who went into the convent way of life and took certain vows, (obedience, complete purity, etc.)were praised highly by the important people of the church. They had many responsibilities and much higher authority than ever before!  

                However, when it came to marriage, women of the time had no authority, and were to understand their place as second to or below men.  Divorce was very uncommon and if there were a divorce, it is documented that it was because a woman committed adultery. Seems pretty justifiable. If a woman did leave a marriage and chose to take the children, she was to get half of their property. If there was not a divorce and a woman became a widow in this time era, they couldn't remarry for 12 months after the death of her first husband.

                Something else I found interesting about the women of this time, was the way they would "show signs" of pregnancy . These people were not as uneducated as one may have thought; they were more observant than I believed.  Pregnant women of the time would stop heavy drinking, horseback riding, eating anything to sweet, or too salty and that's how people knew someone was pregnant. A new phenomenon that some archeologists are looking into about the Anglo Saxon time era, are suggestions of a coffin birth. Where the woman pregnant had passed away, body gasses build, and two- three days later would give birth to a deceased baby.  Artifacts can tell us so much about the history of Anglo Saxon women both good and bad.

 

https://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2013/06/25/anglo-saxon-child-birth-and-female-fertility/

 

www.englandandenglishhistory.com

Medical Practice in Medieval times


Ever wonder how sick people were treated in the middle ages without going to a hospital?

Well, taking a look at some of the practices from the Medieval Era, there really is only one conclusion: medieval medical practices are amazingly terrifying! One of the most interesting and horrifying practice was bloodletting. 

    Usually, most doctors would carry around astrological calendars and/or almanacs to use the position of the stars before they would diagnose a patient.  But when the doctors could diagnose the patient, bloodletting was a preferred method of treatment.

Bloodletting started around 1000 B.C.E. in Egypt, but it became truly famous throughout the Middle

Ages with the help of physicians that documented the process. One of the physicians that wrote about the medieval medical practices was Hildegard of Bingen, who worked at the monastery of Disibodenberg. 

    The practice of bloodletting was based on how women's periods worked, "purging the body of bad humors." This stupefies me, because a woman's menstrual cycle and her womb were almost evil to men, yet they want to use the same methodology. Humors not only included blood, but other bodily fluids, such as, black and yellow bile and phlegm. While bloodletting was a dangerous practice, because many people did die from it, one of the benefits that came from the bloodletting was lowering blood pressure. By temporarily lowering the amount of blood in the body, blood pressure would reduce. 

    While the idea of someone cutting my arm to let out the bad stuff, or using leeches to help make me healthy again scares the life out me, people in medieval times really helped make great strides in medicine. By documenting how practices like bloodletting worked, they were able to evolve medical practices. 

*Fun fact: George Washington died from bloodletting in the late 18th century. He had a sore throat, so they drained almost 4 liters out of him.*

Check out the website: 

http://www.bl.uk/the-middle-ages/articles/medicine-diagnosis-and-treatment-in-the-middle-ages

Were the early Anglo-Saxon's more leinient than their descendants?

Early this morning I was writing a post on medieval witchcraft, which looked something like this:

Witchcraft in early Christian England was used for medicinal purposes and often invoked Christian prayer during the brewing of potions or when they were administered. This developed out of the Christian's desire to help the pagan believers who were comfortable with magic to convert to Christianity. If they could keep their old beliefs but still mix it with Jesus, they would be alright. And then some guy comes along and ruins everything. St. Augustine of Hippo theorized that magic was actually the work of the devil and yet neither Satan nor witches could have any real power, the pagans were just making things up. This was in the 5th Century a.d. and things just get worse from there.

The 800's produced a mixed bag of beliefs: the Bishop of Lyon and company stated that witches did have real power. St. Boniface declare do that belief in witches was un-Christian. Charlemagne said that burning witches was a pagan ritual punishable by death. But wait! It still gets worse! Starting from the 7th century, things begin taking a turn for the worse for witches and their craft. The Church comes to re-define the word "maleficium" to malevolent magic instead of wrong doing. The witches get split up into two categories: white witches (good) and black witches (bad).

By the time I had to stop, I kept wondering, "what on earth am I going to do with this?"

And then someone said something in class about Beowulf having a Christian narrator but Pagan characters. I started thinking and was lead to this thought process:

The early Anglo-Saxon's seem like they were willing to work with these pagan ideologies and the people who believed in them to convert them over to Christianity. Kind of like "You can keep your beliefs and stories - you just have to believe in Jesus first before everything else." This makes the early Anglo-Saxon's much more lenient than their later counterparts where they force everyone to believe in their religion and adopt their culture. What they are doing is still not okay, they are still forcing their religion and culture on others but they recognize that if they treat others beliefs as even slightly valid then they might be able to convert them to Christianity.

Granted, the language the text uses still points to what the shift in the witch and witchcraft shift does: it takes their polytheistic religion and makes it out to be evil. We know now that their polytheistic belief system is not evil, just different and goes along with witchcraft. It's not evil - it's different and as they develop their sense of Christianity different becomes evil.

Or were they just in an odd transitionary time where even the most devoutly Christian among them were not yet willing to completely give up their pagan belief's?

(Source: Witches and Witchcraft)

The Black Dinner

On our first day of Medieval Literature we each spoke about certain ideas or concepts in which we associate with the Middle Ages. Power, struggle, oppression, violence, castles, feasts, and intrigue. Well, we were not far off in the accuracy of our associations. In support of this, I will tell you an interesting story about a true event from Scotland's history.

The year is 1440, a 10 year old King James II sits on the throne in Edinburgh Castle ruling over all of Scotland. After the brutal murder of his father, King James I, the boy King was forced into this highest of all positions despite his being completely unprepared to rule a country. Therefore, James II listens to the counsel of his two trusted advisors, William Crichton and Sir Alexander Livingston.

Outside the castle walls, civil strife is running rampant. Clans are fighting other clans and power has become everyone's primary motivator. War is life and life is war.

One such clan is the Clan Douglas. The Clan Douglas is arguably the greatest fighting force among the Scottish clans during this time. They are known for being ambitious and for taking every opportunity to gain power and move up in society. Staying true to character, the Earl of Douglas has decided that he would like James II's throne for himself.

Remember those two trusted advisors? Well, they find out about the plot to dethrone James II. Crichton and Livingston realize that their army is weak and ineffective, if the Douglas Clan were to attack then Edinburgh would certainly fall. The two devise their own plan to deal with the Earl of Douglas.

In November of 1440, the Earl of Douglas who was 16 years old at the time and his younger brother were invited to a formal banquet held in the great hall of Edinburgh Castle. Here they eat course after delicious course, drink after strong drink, spirits are high, and the energy is buzzing. Until silence fills the great hall, and the final course is placed in front of the Earl. The Earl of Douglas is sitting face to face with the severed head of a large black bull (an accusation of treachery and treason).

The signal was given and the Douglas boys were dragged out into the courtyard, given a mock trial, and beheaded. This brutal event, known as The Black Dinner, sent shockwaves throughout Scotland and the rest of Western Europe. How far humanity strays when the hunger for power outweighs the hunger for goodness and justice.

Does The Black Dinner sound familiar to you? It should if you follow the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire or the TV series, The Game of Thrones. Author, George R. R. Martin, was inspired by The Black Dinner and The Glencoe Massacre when he penned the plot of The Red Wedding.

"No matter how much I make up, there's stuff in history, that's just as bad or worse." G. R. R. Martin

Photo and information: Stewartsociety.org
Further Reading: Brown, M. (2000). Vile times: Walter Bower's last book and the minority of James II. Scottish Historical Review, 79, 165.

Nothing New

       It’s easy to take a piece of ancient literature and find things that separate ourselves from earlier civilizations. However, if we look closer at that same piece of literature and take a good hard look at ourselves, we can find a lot of similarities as well. What do you think of when you read these quotes: “the Devil has led this nation too far astray for many years, and there has been little loyalty among men,” “the laws of the people have deteriorated all too much,” “Rather it seems this nation has become thoroughly corrupted through manifold sins and  many misdeeds: through acts of murder and evil, through avarice and greed, through theft and thievery, through slavery and pagan abuses, through treachery and trickery, through the breach of law and order”(Wulfstan)? If you thought of complaints that you have heard about our modern times and country, then you thought of the same things as I did while reading much of Wulfstan’s Sermo Lupi ad Anglos homily.

           
       Wulfstan’s writing in Sermo Lupi ad Anglos was rather dark and depressing. In the very opening line of his homily he states that the world, “draws near its end” and goes on to call for the people to change their ways in order to prevent that from happening. When I look at the news and media in today’s world, or even in conversations I have or overhear, I often pick up a lot of similarities in both tone and language. Who hasn’t heard someone say that, “people have no respect for each other these days” or that our country doesn’t stand for and represent what it once did in its early days? We all know that our country has a dark past in slavery, are well aware of the presence of Capitalistic greed in our country, and know that murder and thievery are issues that are still very much alive. When we tune our ears into the global conversation that is being held on the subject global warming it’s inevitable that we hear people’s fears that the end of the world is near, or that the end of life as we know it is inevitable unless we change our ways, similar to Wulfstan’s tone in his homily.

          
       How are we supposed to feel once we realize that we haven’t overcame issues that were present over 1,000 years ago when Wulfstan wrote this homily? There are many things we can take away from this. Maybe Wulfstan was right all along about the end of the world and it’s all going to be over very soon, he just didn’t have the timing right and its now all boiling down to this. We can look at this text, see the similarities between us and them and think, “the human race is just inherently flawed and we will never fully eradicate the problems we have faced for centuries now”. Or we can look at Wulfstan’s concern and realize that every civilization from the beginning of time has had its fair share of very real problems and that the future of humanity has always been on the brink of a very drastic change. I personally find comfort in the fact that people have always had concerns that the end of the world is near, but the Earth has continued to rotate and the human race has continued to grow and thrive despite these fears. I'm not saying that we don't have issues that we as the human race have to work out, because it’s very obvious that we do. I just think we have to remember that the tides of change are very slow and that many of these problems have a much deeper rooted history than we often remember, therefore we shouldn’t beat ourselves down with too much negativity when we’re looking for the solutions to various problems we face today. 

I chose this picture because it represents the good and evil that exists in our world. 

            

Did we miss the part about the Internet being a visual medium?

Let's get some images up in here, please.


St. Helena finding the True Cross. MS CLXV, Biblioteca Capitolare, Vercelli, a compendium of canon law from Northern Italy, ca. 825. Wikipedia.

Feudalism in the Middle Ages

Before this class, the only thing I ever really knew about the Middle Ages was through scrimmage games my father plays that are based off King Arthur and war. I knew nothing of its society or how things went about in their world. To learn something interesting outside of class, I used Google to search around and find interesting facts and things about the Middle Ages and its society. I happened apon the website, http://discoverthemiddleages.com, and found very interesting facts varying from war and weapons, to society and Feudalism. Today I will be focusing on the the Middle Age society and Feudalism.

Feudalism in the Middle Ages was a key aspect of society. As said in the website of http://discoverthemiddleages.com, "Feudalism was a societal system  where each person traded their goods  or labor for protection- essentially a market for safety. Peasants would trade their goods and labor to a local lord for protection in his castle in case of war." This way of life shaped the way the people lived. I was very unaware of how the people lived and what they had to do for protection. The website goes on to show us that "A portion of their harvest was taxed, and each year they had to help the lord harvest his fields. In return, the lord would keep a small force of men-at-arms who would protect his castle and the people." (http://discoverthemiddleages.com) People in today's society are very entitled to protection. It is scary to think that these people had to do so much to just have people to protect them.

I was very unaware of how large of a part that Feudalism was to the Middle Age society. This is something that will help me understand them as a society more because it will help me understand what they had to live through. I have heard of Feudalism before but I always connected it with being a modern concept. (At least more modern than the Middle Ages.) Altogether, this was an interesting thing I learned about the Middle Ages outside of the classroom environment.

A Riot Over Ale or Class?

While surfing the internet for interesting facts from the medieval times I came across a Buzzfeed article (link below) that caught my attention. Normally when I think about this era I don't consider education being an important part. However, through this article and a few others I found out that scholars were held very high in the eyes of medieval people. The courts and the church put them on a pedestal where they were better than everyone and could do no wrong. This can been proven in a particularly amusing example I found about a fight that happened between scholars from Oxford University and the locals, it is refereed to as The St. Scholastica's Day Riots. In 1355 on St. Scholastica's Day a few Oxford students were celebrating by having a drink at the local tavern. They were not happy with the way their ale tasted and when they told the tavern owner a small fight broke out between them. The tavern owner then rounded up the local townsfolk, who were already against the scholars since they had a history of rowdy behavior with no reprimands from the court. Basically a riot formed between the townsfolk and the scholars and after it was all done an estimated 30 locals and 60 scholars were dead. Once again the court and church backed Oxford and came after the whole town even those not included in the riots. In this example its clear to see that the scholars were favored over the common townsfolk. This would make sense since in order to go to school the student would have had to have money in the first place. This is just another example of fighting between the class system, I had just never realized that it extended into schooling. Its crazy to think how much of an impact money and status had back then, 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hilarywardle/16-surprising-facts-about-medieval-england-aplm#.sxeNjJKND

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2015/02/st-scholastica-day-riots/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Scholastica_Day_riot

Where It All Started

After looking up some things about the Middle Ages I found something that I thought was very interesting. What I found said that the Middle Ages invented experimental science, it all stared with Aristotle. The change did not happen until the later of the middle ages, this is where people began to see an advance in scientific philosophy and an improvement to the scientific method. Although there was a time that was seen as the Dark Ages, there were still things happening at this time. The reason that they called it the Dark Ages was because there was not much of the history written down. Even though things were not written down there were still people pushing for education, with this education would come the growth of the people studying it. Studying these things helped the people of this age pave the way for the later generations of scholars to also understand new things the world would bring. Another fact about the people that were discovering all this information is that they were not all just from one specific society. It said that there were people coming from many different places to translate the things that were being discovered, not only did they want to learn about it they also were testing it out for themselves. I think this is really interesting because I never really think about people discovering new ideas and making a difference in the middle ages. I think about people being stuck in certain classes and not straying to far from that path.

http://www.historyextra.com/feature/medieval/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-middle-ages

https://explorable.com/middle-ages-science

Medieval History Repeating Itself?

From the readings we've had so far on Medieval culture and just how religious they were, I couldn't help but too think about how much their "problems" with mankind are simikar to the problems todays Christians see in the world. Some of the older, more traditional Christians see a very progressive world that scares them, and a lot of the examples the narrator gave in "Blinckling Homily 10" and Wulstans' " Sermo Lupi ad Anglos" about men not having the right mindset, and the stronger religion\civilization will come and take over. America sort of has taken on this terrified mentality of other groups of people comking in and being able to completely take over because they have such a strong tie to their religion, for example ISIS. The Vikings in those stories can be compared to how savage ISIS is, and how they go in and take over anything and everything because they have the strength and resources. Now granted in today's world the technology is so much more advanced, so the to are extremely different in that sense. Behind the idea of the two terrible civilizations are the same threat and the same terror.
Its strange to think that history repeats itself but we see it happening again and again. Maybe a lesson or two can be learned from the Medieval times and history in general. :)

Reaction to Exodus

This is a late blog post, I have been at my dance competition all day so I am sorry. I have also been trying to figure out this whole blog post thing, I have never done this before but it reminds me of how blackboard discussion board posts work. The Exodus reading was interesting to me. This reading made me think about the "Church" or Bible version of Exodus.  

When I started to read Exodus I soon realized it was a lot different than the stories I had grown up with. I have been a member of a Non Denominational Church from the age of 7-21. I have grown up learning about God and the Bible for years. This reading for me was actually hard for me to read. I like many had to re read it to make sure I actually understood it. As we have been discussing the Anglo Saxon culture and after reading Exodus I took notes on what confused me and/or interested me the most.

To begin, I found interesting that in this reading God was a war like God. I find this interesting because growing up I mostly grew up only thinking about the way God is more of a healer and a powerful God that people looked up too. Having him be a war like God made me think about Faith. I do not know why but it made me think about how it was more of a black and white moment where they either have faith or do not. If they did not have faith then basically bad things would happen to them. Does that happen today? Does God punish his followers more than the people that do not follow him? These are some question that went through my head. Let me know what you guys think about those questions.  

Last, the concept of the Anglo Saxon wanting to be the Israelite's made me think about God's chosen people. The Israelite's are Gods chosen people and the Anglo Saxon people were trying to make their own version of Christianity and be whatever they wanted. For example if they killed someone they would say God made them do it so it makes it just.  What about forgiveness? would the Anglo Saxon people be forgiven for their sins like the Israelite's, or would God be like you are not my chosen people so I do not forgive you for those wrongs  you have done? Just some more questions I had but never asked in class. I am excited to read your responses. Have a nice night!    
    

Roman prescence and its possible effect on Medieval culture

Continuing our discussion on colonialism and post colonial observation, it is also important to note that the tribes of the British Isles themselves at this time still probably bore the scars of colonization from the Roman Empire. The most egregious geographical example I could find was Hadrian's Wall, built by the Roman Empire in 122 AD to 'separate the Romans from the barbarians'. This may be the source of the dichotomy references in some of the texts, as the north and south of the British Isles were now geologically separated. Of course, considering the multitude of different tribes through the British Isles before and after Roman colonization, there was probably already some dichotomy to begin with, especially with the mountainous north versus the more forested south.

The Roman Empire also left Latin (Roman scholars spoke Latin) which quickly became a part of English culture and mixed with the current indigenous languages to form a more universal English language, the ones used in our texts.

Christianity also entered the British Isles through the Roman Empire, as Christianity was (after many decades of persecution) welcomed by the Roman Empire very soon after their conquest of the lower half of the British Isles, and most likely spread to the British Isles through them. The Western half (which included the British Isles) was Roman Catholic, so that also led to a more Catholic presence in the British Isles, though Catholicism would not fully form in the British Isles until after the Roman Empire had collapsed.

Sources:

http://aboutscotland.co.uk/hadrian/index.html

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6f.asp

Reaction to Blickling Homilies reading.

Fellow Medievalists,

As I have stated before, I went to a catholic grade school for 9 years, and grew up in the church. I am very familiar with a lot of the religious concepts that we discussed during the Exodus reading and now also the Blickling Homilies. A Homily is a time in the catholic church, in which the priests discusses the reading that was read during mass from the New Testament. The priest will go into great detail explaining the reading and putting it into real world terms. So, before reading, I expected the poem to be about Religious beliefs, mainly Christianity, while connected these beliefs to the real world.

The intro started to explain the reading, "sermons that cover the most important liturgical days" (1). a few of those days include, Easter, Assumption of Mary, Lent, and Palm Sunday. The homilies also include the lives of saints such as Paul, Andrew, John the baptist, and Peter. All though while reading the Blicking Homily I felt as if it was manly about a different topic.

As I started to read I realized that indeed this was like other homilies I have heard before. One thing did bother me, but I will get into that later. Throughout the text I had noticed a lot about the world ending soon and judgement day. As they were talking about the time of the world's destruction, the author stated quite often on how the people need to better themselves in preparation to doomsday. This is what bothered me about this reading. Although bettering yourself and getting forgiven for your sins is not a bad thing, as a good christian, which the Anglo-Saxons claimed to be, should they not of been trying to better themselves from the get go, or most certainly before they are warned of doomsday? I believe that being a good christian should try to be the best person they can be all or most of their lives, not just to impress God on judgement day. My question to my fellow medievalists, is being a good christian do you believe that being a good person should be done earlier in life, rather then when you learn about the world ending soon and judgement day?

I look forward to reading your responses and comments!

Reaction to Exodus Reading

Sorry for the delay Medieval Lynx's I was trying to figure out how to do this whole blogging thing since I have never done it before. I was suppose to blog yesterday so I am a day late and I apologize for that, but I still wanted to get my thoughts out there and tell you about my reaction to the reading of Exodus.

To be honest I had to re-read parts of the poem a few times because it was very repetitive and I was losing track of my thoughts and notice I wasn't comprehending what I was reading. In regards to the Anglo Saxon culture I made numerous connections between what we have been discussing in class and how it relates to this text.

While I was reading the poem I took a few notes comparing this poem to the Anglo Saxon culture that we have been discussing in class the past week. A few connections I made include:

1. A strong emphasis on religion
- The poem contains biblical themes such as;  referring to the heavens above, God, and Moses.
-  This idea of sacrifice when Abraham was going to sacrifice his first born son in return for victory, but then God stopped him because he saw that Abraham was willing and obedient to him. His faith was tested and God gave him protection.
- There is also this idea of that if you don't follow obey God then you were destined to a horrible life filled with plague, panic, and death. But if you did obey him then you will be rewarded with women, jewels, gold, and good fortune.

2. Moses is the heroic character that is worshiped because God works through him.

-Moses appears as the great leader of the Israellites.
- He is portrayed as being a bold and confident army leader who gives war like commands and encourages his men before going into battle.
- This also supports the organized hierarchy that we have discussed in class.Moses states that God works through is hands and in return people follow him because of that. Everyone belongs where they belong, so we get a sense that God is above all, and he works through the hands of Moses and the Israellites follow Moses and believe they will receive good fortune because they are doing what God wants them to by following Moses's commands.

3. Using animals and the wilderness as part of the scenery
- On page 137 the text talks about the wilderness in the form of a burning bush and that the Lord of Hosts was exalted in the wilderness.
- On page 139 the black birds of prey croaked for carrion and the wolves howled a grim evening song eager for prey. Again this depicts how this culture uses animals to represent this idea of soldiers preying on each other on the battlefield.
- The text also mentions the great and mighty Lion on the flag. I instantly thought of pictured this great and powerful army and Moses leading them with a flag that had this huge and powerful lion on it ( and the house of Lanister from Game of Thrones of course :) ) This shows how this culture uses animals to symbolize other meanings such as power.