tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68894841801797415102024-03-18T20:54:25.956-06:00History I learned todayAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-38256583776501608782013-12-28T16:27:00.000-07:002013-12-28T16:27:04.023-07:00MEDIEVAL MYTHBUSTING: Were chamber pots present at Anglo-Saxon feasts?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/assets/0708/0000/0345/file0052b_mid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="113" src="http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/assets/0708/0000/0345/file0052b_mid.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scene from 11th c. English calendar<br />
Courtesy National Education Network, UK<br />
Note no chamber pots on the floor.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
A couple of weeks ago my <a href="http://forgefire.blogspot.com/">husband </a>asked me about some
medieval trivia he’d found online while researching Anglo-Saxon feasts. The essay he found claimed that amongst the
Anglo-Saxons it was an insult to a lord to leave a feast early, and therefore chamber-pots
were kept under the tables for the guests’ use.
My husband asked if I’d ever run across such a thing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>No</i>, I replied, <i>and I’ve read quite a few primary
sources. Did the essay have any
references for this?</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>None at all</i>, he
said<i>.
It doesn’t make any sense to me.
I can’t imagine a lord being ok with the idea of the guy sitting next to
him using a chamber pot while the lord is eating. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It didn’t make any sense to me, either, and so we both
dismissed it as nonsense. As I thought
about it over the next few days, though, it bothered me that I couldn’t back up
my belief that it was nonsense. It isn’t
much better to dismiss an idea offhand than it is to accept the idea
offhand. So I decided to check into the
myth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seemed to me that the myth had two parts: first, that a guest could not leave a feast
early without offending the host, and second, the presence of chamber
pots. To investigate both parts, I
re-read feast scenes from three Old English sources. I read the account of Caedmon from Bede’s <i>Ecclesiastical History</i>, the beginning of
the poem <i>Judith</i>, and the feast scenes
from the epic <i>Beowulf.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From Bede’s retelling of Caedmon (Book IV chapter XXIV) I
learned that there was probably not any stigma attached to leaving a feast
early. Caedmon could neither sing nor
play an instrument, so he routinely went home when the guests brought out the
harp and started passing it around. Caedmon
had left one such feast on the night an angel appeared to him and granted him
the ability to compose and perform hymns.
Had there existed a taboo against leaving a feast in progress, I think
Caedmon would not have been able to take off early.</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Bayeux_Tapestry_scene43_banquet_Odo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Bayeux_Tapestry_scene43_banquet_Odo.jpg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Banquet scene from the Bayeux tapestry<br />
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons<br />
Again, no chamber pots in the picture.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From the feast scene in <i>Judith</i>
(sections IX and X) I learned little, unfortunately. The only information I gathered was that the
Anglo-Saxons consumed copious amounts of drink. The poem described how Holofernes and his
thanes drank until the men started to pass out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, <i>Beowulf</i>
contained three feast scenes. The first,
found in lines 491-661, contained depictions of boasting and the queen acting
as cupbearer. The second, celebrating
Grendel’s death (lines 990-1237), also contained a description of preparing for
the feast by repairing the hall and hanging tapestries. The victory celebration after Beowulf slew
Grendel’s mother was found in lines 1785-1790.
In all three accounts, the feasting lasted just one evening, ending when
King Hrothgar retired for bed. No
account referred to anyone leaving early or to the presence of chamber pots. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So where does this bring me?
Well, the fact that Caedmon habitually skipped out early disproves the
first part of the myth, that lords were offended and insulted if anyone left
before the feast officially ended. The
second question is harder to answer. I
found no mention of chamber pots, though it’s possible they were present in
actual feasts, just not in the accounts I read.
Personally, though, I would assume that if nobody would question Caedmon
going out to check on the cattle or go to bed, nobody would question someone going out to use the privy, either.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
STATUS: Busted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sources cited:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15879/15879-h/15879-h.htm#part2IX">Judith at Project Gutenberg</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.heorot.dk/bede-caedmon.html#bede-oe">Bede's Story of Caedmon from Benjamin Cade's website</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Verse-Translation-Bilingual-Edition/dp/0393320979/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1387503506&sr=8-9&keywords=seamus+heaney">Heaney, Seamus. <u>Beowulf: A new verse translation</u>. (New York, 2000).</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-62666049029978788402013-10-21T18:57:00.000-06:002013-10-21T18:57:52.686-06:00Playing with blocks to learn gothic art & archetectureI love it when, while teaching, I don't need to tell the students the information because they figure it out themselves. That is what happened last week during my third grade art history lesson. The topic was Gothic architecture and I had given groups of students toy building sets (Tinkertoys, alphabet blocks, etc.) I told each group to build a church as tall as they could without the walls falling over. At first, a couple of the buildings collapsed. Pretty quickly, however, the kids figured out ways to add height while strengthening the walls, and without any prompting from me I saw buildings constructed with nine-year-olds' block versions of pointed arches, ribbed vaulting, and buttresses. It was perfect.<br />
<br />
Before we started playing with the blocks, the class discussed some historical context. I introduced the high middle ages by explaining that the culture at this time was kind of like what people imagine when they think of fairy tales. The students told me what they thought it would be like to live in a fairy tale, and I had some pictures from manuscripts and museums that illustrated a few of their ideas (e.g. they said, "princesses wore fancy dresses and hats" and I showed them a manuscript image of noblewomen).<br />
<br />
Next, we discussed the Black Death. I didn't go into much detail, because the point of the discussion wasn't to explain the illness itself, but to give one reason why religious imagery was so prevalent in Gothic art and architecture. I used the Black Death as a tool to explore the emotions of medieval people during the Gothic period. We thought about how the students would feel if they lost up to 30% of their loved ones in a short period of time, then proposed that medieval people may have felt similarly. I pointed out that, during times of fear and sorrow, people sometimes turn to God as a way to deal with their emotions.<br />
<br />
I realize that the plague was certainly not the only factor influencing the religious nature of high medieval culture and Gothic architecture. I chose not to mention others due to time constraints. I had only about an hour available: simply not enough time to delve into the political environment or international relations of the age. The most important part of the lesson was to let the children play with the building sets, so I wanted to get the lecture out of the way.<br />
<br />
When playtime was over, we discussed the churches built by the students. <br />
<br />
Me: How did you build your church?<br />
Group 1: We made it with arches.<br />
Me: Good! How might you change the shape of your arch to make your church taller?<br />
(Group 1 wasn't sure)<br />
Group 2: They could make a pointy roof like we did!<br />
Me: That's exactly how the people 800 years ago made their churches taller. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/StDenis_Chorumgang.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/StDenis_Chorumgang.JPG" width="127" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ambulatory of the Church of St.-Denis<br />
Generally recognized as the earliest Gothic church built 1135-<br />
From Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Me: What made you (Group 2) decide to make a roof that pointed in middle, like an X?<br />
Group 2: At first we didn't, but then our building kept collapsing and we thought that if we could have some of the Tinkertoys going diagonally then the walls would be stronger. <br />
Me: And now your building stays up. People in the high middle ages figured this out, too. It's called ribbed vaulting.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Reims_Cathedral,_interior_(4).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Reims_Cathedral,_interior_(4).jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A ribbed vault in Reims Cathedral, probably 13th cent.<br />
Photo from Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Me: What about the group that used the Lego blocks? You built one really tall wall. How did you keep it from falling over?<br />
Group 3: We built a small wall on each side of the tall one to hold the tall one up.<br />
Me: Wow, you built buttresses! Here's a picture of flying buttresses outside a cathedral. Do you see how they're holding the other wall up?<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Arcs_boutants_notre_dame_paris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="137" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Arcs_boutants_notre_dame_paris.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying buttresses outside Notre Dame de Paris, 1160-1345<br />
From Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Me: Group 4 used alphabet blocks. If you wanted to put big windows in your building, how would you do it?<br />
(Group 4 didn't know)<br />
Me: People in the high middle ages didn't know how to do it, either. They could only make small panes of glass. Let me show you a picture of the solution they came up with.<br />
Group 4: Hey! We could put a ton of little windows together to make one great big window!<br />
Me: That's exactly what medieval people did.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Cathedral_of_Toledo,_Spain_-_interior_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Cathedral_of_Toledo,_Spain_-_interior_2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windows of Toledo Cathedral, 13th cent.<br />
From Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By the end of the lesson the students could look at pictures of Romanesque and Gothic style churches and name four characteristics of Gothic churches not present in the Romanesque style: pointed arches, ribbed vaults, flying buttresses, and tracery supported windows. I was very impressed with the students.<br />
<br />
<i>Adapting for younger students.</i> A couple of days later I taught the same lesson to a class of first-graders. The first grade teacher gave me less time to teach; I needed to reduce my lesson accordingly. Therefore, I skipped the discussion on the plague entirely, simply saying, "during this time there were a lot of churches," and the young kids accepted this information at face value. I also altered the way I taught with the building sets. Instead, I brought just one box of Tinkertoys to the classroom and called on individual students to help me build a church while the others watched. I showed the students how the initial wobbly church we built became more stable as the children added pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and buttresses. I then showed them the pictures. I am much less satisfied with this technique, but fortunately the art history curriculum repeats itself every three years so I will hopefully be able to teach the better lesson to these children when they reach fourth grade.<br />
<br />
<i>Adapting for older students.</i> The sixth grade class I taught was able to handle deeper information. I supplemented what I taught the third grade class with the story of Abbot Sugar introducing the Gothic style as he rebuilt the abbey church of Saint-Denis about 1140. I also told the class about the construction, collapse, and rebuilding of Beauvais Cathedral as the 13th century architects pushed the boundaries of Gothic architecture to their limits.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-85416196377185626132013-08-04T19:24:00.001-06:002013-08-04T19:24:40.660-06:00He seemed to kindle with fervor: A window into the Second Great Awakening via Washington Irving<div class="MsoNormal">
I teach <a href="http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/relief-society">Relief Society</a>.
It’s fun. More fun than teaching
<a href="http://www.lds.org/topics/primary?lang=eng">Primary</a>, anyway. Grown-ups don’t test
the limits by trying to jump out the window or build forts out of chairs during
the lesson.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Teaching from the <i>Teachings
of Presidents of the Church</i> series
<sup>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6889484180179741510#footnote1" id="ref1">1 </a>
</sup>
led me to research a time period I knew almost
nothing about: the time period often called Jacksonian America (roughly 1815-1848). The
lesson manual contains only direct quotes from President Lorenzo Snow. This is enough to tell me what President Snow
thought about, for example, grace. If I
want to know why he believed what he thought about grace, or even why he was
concerned about grace to begin with, it helps to understand what Americans in
general thought about grace at the time President Snow lived. I’ve come to a deeper understanding about my
church’s theology as I have studied how it fits into the bigger picture of
American Christianity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Camp_meeting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="222" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Camp_meeting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lithograph by H. Bridport, ca. 1830<br />From Wikimedia Commons<br />Note the women overcome by the Spirit upon conversion</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Which brings me to America's Second Great Awakening. The
First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited establishment of religion, but
this applied only to the federal, not the state governments. In the early 1800s, many states
disestablished churches, resulting in more of an open marketplace of religious
ideas. People began comparing churches,
looking for one they believed taught true Christian doctrine. This increase in religious fervor is called
the Second Great Awakening. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing I find
really interesting about the Second Great Awakening was the expected <i>conversion experience. </i>Churches at this time typically
proselyted to religious seekers using revivals.
People attended revival meetings hoping to have a conversion experience,
in which they would be called by Jesus Christ and saved by his grace. Rather than looking for a church that
answered specific theological questions or a church that makes them feel
welcome, as many who look for truth do today,
<sup>
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6889484180179741510#footnote2" id="ref2">2</a>
</sup>
seekers then were looking for a sudden,
overwhelming supernatural manifestation of God’s love and forgiveness. And they expected to get it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Washington_Irving_and_his_Literary_Friends_at_Sunnyside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Washington_Irving_and_his_Literary_Friends_at_Sunnyside.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Washington Irving and his Literary Friends at Sunnyside<br />1864 Painting by Cristian Schussele (from Wikimedia Commons)<br />Irving is seated, center, facing the viewer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I learned more about Jacksonian America, I wanted to get
a feel for what the Americans who lived then were concerned about. I decided to read some of the things they
read. In the middle of a collection of
short stories written by Washington Irving (originally published between 1819 and 1855), I ran across
a description of a character’s conversion experience. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share
it:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
The carnival passed away; the time
of Lent succeeded; passion-week arrived; we attended one evening a solemn
service in one of the churches, in the course of which a grand piece of vocal
and instrumental music was performed relating to the death of our Saviour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
I had remarked that he was always
powerfully affected by music; on this occasion he was so in an extraordinary
degree. As the pealing notes swelled
through the lofty aisles, he seemed to kindle with fervor; his eyes rolled
upwards, until nothing but the whites were visible; his hands were clasped
together, until the fingers were deeply imprinted in the flesh. When the music expressed the dying agony, his
face gradually sank upon his knees; and at the touching words resounding
through the church, “<i>Jesu mori</i>,” sobs
burst from him uncontrolled—I had never seen him weep before. His had always been agony rather than
sorrow. I augered well from the
circumstance, and let him weep on uninterrupted. When the service was ended we left the
church. He hung on my arm as we walked
homewards with something of a softer and more subdued manner, instead of that
nervous agitation I had been accustomed to witness. He alluded to the service we had heard. “Music,” said he, “is indeed the voice of
heaven; never before have I felt more impressed by the story of the atonement
of our Saviour.—Yes, my friend,” said he, clasping his hands with a kind of
transport, “I know that my Redeemer liveth!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: right;">
From <i>Adventure of the Mysterious Stranger<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-align: right;">
Published
1824, in <i>Tales of a Traveler</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<hr />
<sup id="footnote1">
1. Ebooks of the series can be found <a href="http://www.lds.org/manual/epub?lang=eng">here </a>(scroll down).
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6889484180179741510#ref1" title="jump back to footnote 1 in the text">↩</a>
</sup>
<br />
<sup id="footnote2">
2. See CNN opinion piece <a href="http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/07/27/why-millennials-are-leaving-the-church/">here
</a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6889484180179741510#ref2" title="jump back to footnote 2 in the text">↩</a></sup>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-80739842468705943362013-06-05T17:29:00.000-06:002013-06-05T17:29:26.598-06:00Teaching elementary students about early medieval art<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A week after introducing
elementary school students to the early middle ages I returned to the school to
lead the students in an art project inspired by the time period. The curriculum recommended teaching the
students to make a mosaic inspired by those found in Byzantium. I disliked the idea for two reasons: first, I thought that supervising 30 kids
with cement was, frankly, frightening; and second, there was once again a
mismatch between the era covered during the history portion of the unit and the
era covered during the art portion of the unit (<a href="http://best-abbott.blogspot.com/2013_04_01_archive.html">this entry</a> covers more detail
on this, and also gives two possible reasons for the shortcomings in elementary
level art-history curriculums). The
history portion of the Dark Ages unit had emphasized the history of England
during the Anglo-Saxon period (see <a href="http://best-abbott.blogspot.com/2013/05/teaching-elementary-school-students.html">here</a>here for my lesson plan), but mosaics were
unknown anywhere in either northern or western Europe during this time
period. Mosaics existed in Byzantium at
this time, but the cultures of Germanic Europe and the Byzantine Empire were
completely different. When planning the
lesson, I needed to either ignore the discrepancy or to choose which lesson to
throw out and rewrite. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Flickr_-_portableantiquities_-_Hilt_Fitting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Flickr_-_portableantiquities_-_Hilt_Fitting.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An example of Anglo-Saxon cloisonne<br />Hilt fitting from the Staffordshire Hoard<br />Source: Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Resolving these two issues ended
up being easier than I had feared. While
looking at pictures of early medieval Germanic art I realized that the
Anglo-Saxon cloisonné actually looked quite a bit like mosaic, set in gold
rather than cement. I also found the
website of an artist who routinely teaches mosaic-making in classrooms, and she
mentioned that aquarium gravel will stick to heavy paper with mod podge. These discoveries gave me the basis of a
plan. I ditched the mosaic patterns
based on Byzantine art, substituting my own (very basic) pattern of a Germanic
brooch. Then, instead of mixing cement
or plaster of paris for the kids to use with their colored aquarium gravel, I
supplied the kids with enough mod podge to decorate their brooches however they
wanted. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>What went well.</b> The older
students (fifth graders), particularly, appreciated the creativity of being
able to decorate the brooches however they wanted. The aquarium gravel did stick to the
construction paper just fine as long as the students applied the mod podge
liberally, and since I also had them glue the construction paper to a paper
plate, the finished art project was not so heavy as to bend the paper
(cardstock or cardboard would be a good alternative).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>What didn’t go so well.</b> The
younger students (second graders) did an easier version of the project, using
scraps of paper and school glue instead of gravel and mod podge. Even so, they needed more structure than I
initially gave them. Next time I will
give them a more detailed pattern that they will simply fill in rather than
expecting them to choose how to decorate the brooches themselves. I will also bring fewer examples and fewer
paper colors, because the younger students found the number of choices
overwhelming. Finally, following the
curriculum, I taught the students about the color wheel and high- and
low-contrast colors. Both sets of
students grasped the concept quickly, but neither group understood how to apply
their new knowledge to the art project they made, even with my examples. I’m not sure how to fix this problem short of
giving the kids the specific instruction, “use high-contrast colors in your
project.” I don’t like this approach,
though, because while the kids would make better art, they still won’t have
learned why their art was better.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Final thoughts.</b> After the
fun of teaching the history portion, teaching this portion was much more
humbling. I should have been more
prepared for the second grade class, and anticipated their need for
structure. First graders (six- and seven-year-olds),
I have learned, are very creative and need almost no structure at all. I’ve also noticed that about the time a child
turns eight, they become very aware of rules and are afraid to break them, so a
third-grade class needs a lot of structure.
A Second-grade class is difficult to teach because some of the students
have made the transition to an eight-year-old mindset, but the younger students
still want the freedom of a first grader.
Since I taught this lesson in May, however, I should have realized that nearly
all the class would want rules and I should have planned my lesson
accordingly. I will remember this the
next time I teach this age group.<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-73972293314902921342013-05-20T15:17:00.000-06:002013-10-16T16:08:06.942-06:00Teaching elementary school students about early Medieval culture<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Martianus_Capella_grammaire_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Martianus_Capella_grammaire_2.jpg" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lady Grammatica teaches Latin on a 10th c. Carolingian manuscript<br />
Image Source: wikimedia commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
During April 2013 I taught art history to fifth- and second-grade
classrooms. The unit was the Dark
Ages. What follows is the lesson plan I
created and used to teach the history/culture of the time period. A later post will contain the lesson plan I created
and used to teach the art of the time period.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Teacher: I ask you all, why are you so eager to learn?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Students: Because we would not be foolish, as cattle,
knowing nothing but grass and water.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Teacher: And what would you be instead?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Students: We would be wise.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Taken from OE version
of Aelfric’s Colloquy; translation mine.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Objective: </b>To introduce elementary school students
to the culture of Early Medieval Europe, specifically that of Anglo-Saxon
England.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Preparation: </b>Before class begins, divide the class
into 3 groups by placing one of 3 colored sticky notes underneath each
desk/chair. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Attention activity:</b> Introduce the time period with a quiz. For the younger grades, use<a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/worksheets/anglo-saxons/anglo_saxon_not_in_my_day.pdf"> this worksheet</a>
from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/anglo_saxons/who_were_the_anglo-saxons/teachers_resources.shtml">BBC Primary History</a>. For the older grades, use a true/false/trick question quiz:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">During the middle ages, people ate rotten meat
because they had no refrigeration.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">They
heavily spiced their food to hide the rotten flavor.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(False)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">During the middle ages, both boys and girls
could learn to read and write. (True)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">During the early middle ages, houses did not
have fireplaces or chimneys.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Instead,
they had a hearth in the middle of the room and a hole in the roof for smoke to
escape.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(True)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Before Columbus, Europeans believed the world
was flat and if a ship sailed too far it would fall off the edge.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(False)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">5.</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Roman Empire fell ca. 500 AD.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">(Trick question:</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Only the Western half of the Roman Empire
fell then.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">The Eastern Roman Empire
continued intact until the fall of Constantinople in 1453)</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Discussion: </b>Northern Europe experienced a power
vacuum with the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Ask: if the government of your hometown was
suddenly gone, and you could set up any kind of society you wanted, how
would you do it? Introduce King Aelfred. He described the Anglo-Saxon
society as made up of 3 groups: Those
who fight, those who pray, and those who work.
Tell the students to find their sticky note to learn which group they
are in today.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4wmgVlTAYVaj7ovdHRffR7slrAqYVfxacTE_J-SxmZFs4knEY_XxFL72wRTSgGGNhA8PvkZOJysl0mCkS_USfFFD4ZzFRl8VtXQKebIKWqjsqTDRHRv17rzJiYtbb7PPZ0c14438KD9t/s1600/IMG_3713.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4wmgVlTAYVaj7ovdHRffR7slrAqYVfxacTE_J-SxmZFs4knEY_XxFL72wRTSgGGNhA8PvkZOJysl0mCkS_USfFFD4ZzFRl8VtXQKebIKWqjsqTDRHRv17rzJiYtbb7PPZ0c14438KD9t/s320/IMG_3713.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My second grader as aetheling.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Those who fight. </b>Ask one group of kids to stand up. They represent the thanes, or the
nobility. When the king dies, the thanes
elected a new king. Pick one student
from the group to be the tribe’s king (the “thanes” in the older grades can do
this themselves). Give the “king” the
mail shirt. The job of the king was to
protect the people. The thanes gave
fealty to the king, which meant they promised to fight for him and, if he were
killed in battle, they promised that they would die alongside their king. In exchange, the king gave the thanes land,
food, and arm rings. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwKNBxwX9xRFdmhksKkE9sp4IULPH5XPp1jnZkgGc-krLZptmHn1XPnD74j42LoXX34oQF980yKJmXLnsODKI35st_hEyH4OezkAo2e0FIpe3wHUfneK8TjOlDoWUtcbfSifFGl_s_0At/s1600/IMG_3716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzwKNBxwX9xRFdmhksKkE9sp4IULPH5XPp1jnZkgGc-krLZptmHn1XPnD74j42LoXX34oQF980yKJmXLnsODKI35st_hEyH4OezkAo2e0FIpe3wHUfneK8TjOlDoWUtcbfSifFGl_s_0At/s320/IMG_3716.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My fifth grade daughter posing as abbess.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Those who pray.</b> Tell the students in this group that they
belong to a double monastery (this means both men and women lived there), and
Anglo-Saxon double monasteries were always ruled by an abbess, elected by the
monks and nuns. Choose a girl to be the
abbess (again, the older kids can do this themselves). Dress the “abbess” in a cloak and
hood. Explain to the students in this
group that their job is to pray, sing hymns, and perform masses on behalf of
their tribe. This way, the tribe will be
in God’s favor.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Teacher: Wise man, which craft among these seems to be
the greatest?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Wise man: It seems to me God’s service is sovereign of
these crafts, just as one reads in the Gospel,
“First seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things
will be added to you.”<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Teacher: Which seems to you sovereign of the worldly
crafts?<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Wise man: Farming, for the plowman feeds us all.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Taken from the OE
version of Aelfric’s Colloquy; translation mine.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Those who work. </b>Tell the third group of students that
they represent everybody else. Some are
slaves, some freemen. Choose one of
the students to wear a peplos style overdress.
Use Aelfric’s colloquy to introduce Anglo-Saxon occupations. <o:p></o:p><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIeUgD5_qqb220LMqeIcpLqG9EG0hwUXlsPUhPwE97RM9SUFWjheyzFGGjHarb6js1cek7vgR7mPVR5FREANNinuEb28YIdaRSec-T8636rpKlGP7747kXWcbyUt-f0uj8oNZTRJKOePq4/s1600/IMG_3718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIeUgD5_qqb220LMqeIcpLqG9EG0hwUXlsPUhPwE97RM9SUFWjheyzFGGjHarb6js1cek7vgR7mPVR5FREANNinuEb28YIdaRSec-T8636rpKlGP7747kXWcbyUt-f0uj8oNZTRJKOePq4/s320/IMG_3718.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My fifth grader, again, this time modeling an overdress.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Aelfric’s
Colloquy. </i>Aelfric was a monk who
taught Latin classes about the year 1000.
He wrote his <i>Colloquy</i> in Latin
to help his students practice, and also wrote a vernacular (Old English)
translation. The Colloquy presents life
in an Anglo-Saxon village at Aelfric’s time.
The various parts of the Colloquy, presumably assigned to various
students in his class, represent villagers who perform occupations that
Aelfric’s students would have been familiar with. A modern English translation of the Latin
version can be found <a href="http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/016.pdf">here</a>. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(An aside: As
written, the entire <i>Colloquy</i> takes
about 30 minutes to read, far too long for most elementary age kids’ attention
spans, so I recommend abridging it. I
cut more out of the version I read to the second graders, and I also reworded
some of the passages. For the fifth
graders, I cut out only the redundant passages, and assigned parts like Aelfric
probably did, so the fifth graders presented a readers’ theater with me reading
the teacher’s parts. During the
presentation in both classes I showed pictures from an Anglo-Saxon calendar illustrating
many of the occupations. The pictures helped keep smaller attention spans from wandering too much. The calendar is
in the collections of the British Library, and images can be viewed at the National Education Network, <a href="http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/"> gallery.nen.gov.uk</a>. Search for "Anglo-Saxon labours of the month." )</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>What I learned/what I
would do differently: </b>I meant the
quiz at the beginning of the lesson to be merely an introduction to the subject
as well as a fun activity to catch the kids’ attention. It ended
up being essential to my teaching, because I used it to gauge how much
the students already knew about the time period. Answer:
practically nothing, and what they thought they knew was wrong. This showed me quickly that I could assume no
prior knowledge and had to keep the entire presentation basic. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was surprised at how well the costumes worked as a
teaching tool. Even the older kids
enjoyed dressing up, and the students who didn't get to dress up still wanted to check out the costumes.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next time I will change the way I teach the <i>Colloquy</i> to the younger students. The fifth graders had a good time with the
readers’ theater, but the eight-year-olds do not yet have the reading skills
necessary for that, so I presented the entire <i>Colloquy</i> myself. Even heavily abridged, it was too much
lecture. I need to find a way to include
more participation. Perhaps I will just show
the pictures from the calendar and ask questions about them: What do you think this person is doing? What could the farmer be growing?
What other animals might the hunter want to catch? Etc. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Final thoughts. </b>I really enjoy this time period. Vikings, knights, Beowulf—what’s not to
enjoy? For me, the most difficult part
of preparing the lesson was narrowing down what I wanted to teach. Six hundred years is tough to cram into sixty
minutes, let alone six hundred years covering the withdrawal of Rome to the
Germanic tribes’ invasions to the birth of England to the Norman Conquest, as
well as the changes in national and religious identity that accompanied the
political changes. Complicating this is
the fact that the modern view of the middle ages, a la <i>Dungeons and Dragons</i>, is fun but anachronistic. I finally decided that the kids weren’t going
to remember much of the history I taught them anyway, and so I concentrated on
the culture. I’m rather pleased with the
way it turned out. I got the students to
think about different ways of setting up governments. The older students even discussed, on their
own, the ethics of a king expecting thanes to die for him. And eight-year-olds in too-big chain mail
shirts are <i>dang cute. </i><o:p></o:p><br />
<i><br /></i>
<b>Update (6/5/13):</b> A week after this
lesson I taught the classes again, leading the students in an art project
inspired by early medieval art (see <a href="http://best-abbott.blogspot.com/2013/06/teaching-elementary-students-about.html">here</a> for more information). I was afraid that the second graders would
finish early, so I had an additional activity for them to do before we began
the art project.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is what we did: I
set on the floor enough sheets of construction paper for each child to be able
to turn one over. About half of the
papers had a picture of an Anglo-Saxon artifact paper-clipped to the back of the
construction paper; the others had a blank white sheet paper-clipped to the
back. I showed the students an Indiana Jones hat and told the students that they were archaeologists and they were going to dig
for objects by turning over pieces of construction paper. One at a time, the students came to the front
of the room, put on the hat, and chose a
place to “dig” by turning over a piece of paper. If they found an artifact, the class guessed
what the object might be. The kids
really got into it. They called each
other “Indiana (name)” and whenever a piece of paper was blank underneath they
exclaimed, “Oh, no, you found a booby trap!” instead of being disappointed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
As it turned out, the students didn’t have enough time to
finish their art, so next time I won’t add the activity to the second
week. However, the students had such a
good time, and since the Colloquy didn’t work well for the younger kids, I
think I would substitute this for reading the Colloquy in the younger classes. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-1857792415254411202013-04-24T22:31:00.000-06:002013-04-27T16:45:43.517-06:00Why my kids' art history curriculum is so poor: Maybe I was wrong<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/LindisfarneFol27rIncipitMatt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/LindisfarneFol27rIncipitMatt.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm teaching early medieval art this month.<br />
Here's a famous example from the Book of Kells.<br />
Source: Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As I've mentioned here before, I love teaching the art history classes at my kids' elementary school. I enjoy learning about periods of time I know nothing about; I like to notice connections between art movements and the time period when the art was made; and it flatters my ego because the kids are always happy to see me teach (<i>Art through the ages is today! What are we going to do?). </i>The downside to teaching is the curriculum. I hate, hate, <span style="font-size: x-small;">HATE </span>it. The history is poorly researched: facts are frequently wrong, and the examples of art I am given to show the kids often don't match the time period of the history being covered. I've been assuming that the problem lies with the author, that she really wasn't qualified to write an art history curriculum, or perhaps with the PTA, which didn't know enough about art history to choose a decent text. I read a couple of essays this week, though, which suggest that my assumptions may be incorrect.<br />
<br />
Before I explain, let me give some background. My university degrees are not in history; they are in political science (BA) and public administration (MPA). All of the history I have learned I picked up while learning about political science (let's face it, one can't learn about government without also learning about the history of that government) or from research that I've done on my own. Research is where I have a bit of an edge over other amateur historians: the emphasis I chose to study while obtaining my MPA was research analysis, and I've worked as a research assistant. What this means is that I can read nonfiction, such as an art history curriculum, and notice where the information doesn't seem quite right, and I know how to quickly do the research to figure out if the information is correct or not. Then, if it isn't, (and it usually isn't correct if it caught my attention) I can quickly find out what the author should have written instead. I'm good enough at this that I'm beginning to irritate the other art history volunteers who hadn't noticed that the curriculum was poorly written.<br />
<br />
Back to the essays. They were written by two people who, like me, teach art history in elementary schools, rotating to different classrooms. Unlike me, I think they are paid by their school districts and, also unlike me, they have university degrees in history and art history. From these two essays, I learned that <i>elementary school curriculums used to teach art history are notoriously badly written.</i> There were two reasons given for this: first, bad source material, and second, teacher bias against history.<br />
<br />
<i>Bad source material.</i> There are two parts to most elementary school art history programs: the history half, and the art project half. In my school, I teach each unit once during the month, but the unit is broken up across two days, so I teach the history the first day and I lead the students in the art project on the second day. According to the essays I read, the information given in the history portion of the elementary school curriculums is generally inadequate. It makes sense, then, that the curriculum I've been given would also be inadequate--after all, elementary school textbooks are usually not written from primary source material, but by rewriting or updating previously written schoolbooks. I had assumed that the author of my curriculum was foolish, at best, because she couldn't find accurate information. It may be, however, that she was given bad source material to begin with.<br />
<br />
<i>Teacher bias against history.</i> I have never encountered this myself, but according to the essays' authors, some elementary school teachers do not like art history taught in their classrooms. Learning history requires students are faced with tough topics like war, religion, slavery, etc. Some teachers feel that these topics ought not to be discussed in a classroom of elementary age students. These teachers have a particular distrust of certain time periods with a bad reputation, such as the middle ages (crusades, inquisition) , antebellum America (slavery, racism), and the age of imperialism (colonialism). Sure enough, in the curriculum I was given to work with, these units are more watered-down and inaccurate than other units. Again, author ignorance may not be as large a factor as I had assumed.<br />
<br />
This begs the question, however, what is the frustrated art history teacher to do? If the essays I read are any indication, most art history teachers do what I have been doing: reading the curriculum, keeping what is accurate while throwing out the rest, and writing their own lesson plans. Check out the entry I wrote about teaching the <a href="http://best-abbott.blogspot.com/2013/02/qin-dynasty-my-introduction-to-history.html">Q'in Dynasty</a>, and notice that I did my own research instead of depending on the curriculum. Similarly, this month I'm teaching the unit on the Early Middle Ages, and find that I am rewriting most of the lessons. OK, all of the lessons, as Byzantine mosaics have <span style="font-size: x-small;">NOTHING TO DO</span> with early medieval insular art. (<i>honestly</i>, even <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic">wikipedia</a> knows this.) I think I will also start posting more of my lesson plans on this blog, for the benefit of others who may be frustrated by the art history lesson plans they were given. Meantime, I guess I will stop accusing the author of my curriculum of ignorance, and stop blaming my PTA for not realizing they were buying a stupid book. Still, I wish I could sell them an art history book I wrote myself. I'd write an accurate one.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-278251915900780832013-04-05T23:33:00.001-06:002013-04-05T23:33:21.412-06:00Antebellum Protestantism and the Medieval: Church History SymposiumSo what does religion in antebellum America have to do with the middle ages?<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Queen_Guinevere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Queen_Guinevere.jpg" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juxtaposition of the 1800s and the Medieval:<br />
William Morris' 1858 painting of Guinevere<br />
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I went to the 2013 Church History Symposium sponsored by BYU and the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, March 7-8. Although the focus of the symposium was not a time period I was particularly interested in, I had the idea that perhaps spending time listening to historians whose specialty was early Mormon history would give me a better overall view of Christian history. I figured the conference would give me a sort of wide lens through which I could later view the shorter time period called the middle ages. I did not expect to learn anything particularly medieval, though.<br />
<br />
I was wrong. Turns out that because Christianity is not static, but has evolved throughout its roughly two-thousand year history, one cannot study what Christianity <i>was</i> at any one moment but must study what Christianity <i>had been </i>and <i>was becoming</i> at that moment. So I did pick up some insights into medieval Christianity after all.<br />
<div>
<br />
<b>The classical model of education, based on the liberal arts, lasted well beyond the middle ages. </b>The keynote address,<i> The Academic Study of Antiquity in Antebellum America, </i>was given by<a href="http://history.columbia.edu/faculty/Bushman.html"> Richard L. Bushman</a> of Columbia University. Unfortunately, the auditorium provided was about half the size needed; it was standing room only, and I couldn't take notes while standing in the doorway. Mainly I remember that he said antebellum America was fascinated by antiquity, that education in this time period was still based on the classical liberal education model, and that Napoleon's journey to Egypt followed by Champollion's deciphering of the Rosetta Stone led to a craze of all things Egyptian.<br />
<br />
I thought it was interesting that the model of education based on the trivium and quadrivium lasted into the 19th century.The main difference between the classical education received by a nineteenth-century American scholar and a medieval or early modern scholar was, if I remember Bushman correctly, one of language: American scholars, being in general Protestant, rejected learning Latin in favor of learning Greek. This served two purposes: first, it was a symbolic break with Catholicism, and second, it gave the American scholar the ability to better understand the Septuagint.<br />
<br />
<b>Evolution of the masonic order from a medieval guild into a gentlemen's fraternity. </b>The next session at the conference thinned out enough that I was able to find a place to sit on the floor and take notes. It was a panel with speakers <a href="http://religion.byu.edu/richard_bennett">Richard E. Bennett</a>, Michael Hubbard MacKay, and Steven C. Harper. Harper's paper, <i>Joseph Smith's Relationships to Hermeticism and Masonry</i>, discussed the history of hermeticism and of the Masonic Order. The <i>Corpus Hermeticum, </i>a compilation of ancient Greek and Egyptian philosophical (Neo-Platonic) and alchemical texts, was published by the Medici's in 1471. The idea of a <i>prisca theologica </i>(see below) was popular at the time, and linked Hermeticism to Christianity. The Masonic Order dates back to 1390, beginning as a guild, and evolving into a gentlemen's fraternity during the 1600s. 1737 was the first record of the genesis story of masonry: i.e. that the order originated from Solomon and Hyrum of Tyre. (The cynical side of me had wondered about the timeline here, and now I know). The remainder of Dr. Harper's presentation was a rebuttal to a thesis presented by John Brooke in his book, <i>Refiner's Fire</i>. I haven't read the book so I can't comment on the success/failure of Harper's rebuttal.<br />
<br />
I was not able to attend the afternoon sessions for either day, so now I will skip to Friday morning.<b> </b>The second day commenced in Salt Lake City instead of BYU campus, and was in a much larger auditorium, to everyone's relief. Nicholas J. Frederick opened with <i><a href="http://www.lds.org/church/news/prophet-joseph-smith-and-the-gospel-of-john?lang=eng&query=joseph+smith">Joseph Smith and the Gospel of John</a>. </i><br />
<br />
<b>Time may only flow one way, but temporalities are not so limited. </b>This paper did not teach me anything exclusively medieval, but it helped me to understand what medieval historians mean when they discuss temporality (here's an example of distemporality from the Medievalist blog<a href="http://www.inthemedievalmiddle.com/2013/02/distemporality-richard-iii-and-that.html"> In the Middle</a>).<i> </i>Temporality, as historians use the term, refers (I think) to how our understanding of the past influences our understanding of the present, and how our existence in the present affects our understanding of the past. Frederick's paper discussed intertemporality between the writings of Joseph Smith and the writings of St. John. He explained that Joseph Smith's familiarity with the writings of St. John influenced Smith's language in the Doctrine and Covenants, and conversely the language of the Doctrine and Covenants influenced Joseph Smith's translations of the New Testament, especially the books written by St. John. As I listened to this paper, something in my brain clicked, and I think I will be able to get more out of medievalists' blogs when the subject of temporality comes up. I'm quite proud of myself for figuring this out.<br />
<br />
<b>Priesthood hierarchy was more important to the institutional medieval Church than to the Protestant congregations. </b>Next up was Justin R. Bray, discussing the role of the Seventy disciples in Christian thought. According to Bray, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Church_Fathers">church fathers</a> (to ca. 750) wrote a lot about the Seventies, to the point of speculating on who they were. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, most theologians had dismissed them as a temporary band of disciples, unique to the ministry of Christ, and not part of the organization of the Christian church after Christ's death. The idea of the Seventy disciples continued to evolve, however, so in 1835 Dr. John Henry Hopkins, an Episcopalian bishop, could argue that the seventies were a type of missionary, similar to the traveling bishops in American Protestantism.<br />
<br />
<b>Protestant congregations adapted the medieval Prisca Theology to explain how the Catholic church had fallen from pure Christianity. </b>After the break the symposium continued with papers given by Samuel Brown and <a href="http://www.hsc.edu/Academics/Academic-Majors/Religion/Professors/Matthew-Bowman.html">Matthew B. Bowman</a>. Professor Brown discussed the <i>Prisca Theology</i>. The prisca theology deals with the idea of lost past truths and ancient secrets: the idea is that Old Testament patriarchs had the whole truth, which was gradually lost. <a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04045a.htm"> Clement of Alexandria</a>, for example, taught that the pagan Greek philosophers held beliefs similar to Christians because these pagans had been taught by the Jews. During the middle ages through to the early modern period, European Christians thought that other non-Christian cultures retained "fragments" or "distorted memories" of the original truth (quotes taken from Brown's slides). The <i>prisca theology </i>remained popular into the nineteenth century. Dr. Bowman discussed nineteenth century biblical commentaries, with particular emphasis on how much early Mormons sounded like Protestants: how much anti-Catholic sentiment was expressed in the tracts of the various sects? Attempts to reconcile a tension between institutional Christianity and personal spirituality led some commentaries to look for the moment when the Catholic church had fallen away from the truths held by the original Christian church: the Council of Nicaea and the creation of monasticism were mentioned.<br />
<br />
<b>Medieval to Antebellum to me. </b>Now that I've covered what religion in antebellum America has to do with the middle ages, what does religion in antebellum America have to do with me, today? Dr. Bushman, in his response to Thursday morning's session, asked, How does God communicate with us, mortals? God must use the language and culture of mortality. His statement has really stuck with me. He was talking about Harper's paper, but I think the meaning of his statement is wider than that. I think that what he said means that the divine and the human are intertwined. It means that humans are not only social animals or political animals but are also ethical animals. There's a reason that the news right now contains stories about defining families and civil rights, about working toward peace through international diplomacy, about fighting glass ceilings, and so on. Examining questions of morality is part of what makes us human. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #444444;"></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-31731052457861136802013-03-14T16:07:00.000-06:002013-03-14T16:07:32.245-06:00How to elect a medieval Pope<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Pope_francis_at_13_march_2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Pope_francis_at_13_march_2013.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope Francis at his first public appearance after the conclave<br />Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday the College of Cardinals elected Pope Francis to be the 266th Bishop of Rome. He was elected by secret ballot, each ballot containing the name of one candidate for whom the elector voted, and was elected by at least a two-thirds majority. The process of papal election has changed repeatedly since Jesus appointed Saint Peter; the most recent change (removing the allowance for a simple majority win if 15 ballots fail to elect a pope) being made by Pope Benedict. During the Middle Ages papal elections followed systems of unanimous vote, secular arbitration, weighted voting, or approval ballots.<br />
<br />
The first thing to understand in a discussion of any medieval election is the difference between the modern concept of elections and the medieval idea of the process. The election process today is to determine the will of the people. Medieval elections, ideally, determined the will of God. This was particularly true for ecclesiastical elections, such as elections for bishops, abbots/abbesses, and popes. Early Christian philosophers taught, <i>Vox Populi, vox Dei,</i> or, "The will of the people is the will of God." In practice, this meant that the people of the Roman Province nominated papal candidates, and then the bishops and archbishop of Rome picked the winner by unanimous vote. Similarly, the medieval policy of <i>Sanior et maior pare,</i> meaning " the older and wiser part," created a system of weighted voting meant to bring election results in line with Divine will. Basically, priority was given to cardinals with more seniority or who held higher priesthood office. The thinking was that these older and wiser men were closer to God and more able to know God's will. <br />
<br />
Early medieval dependence on unanimity in papal elections often resulted in schism when a consensus could not be reached. A schism was generally resolved by Imperial arbitration, meaning the winner was the papal candidate backed by the political authority.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Simmaco_-_mosaico_Santa_Agnese_fuori_le_mura.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Simmaco_-_mosaico_Santa_Agnese_fuori_le_mura.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope Symmachus <br />fresco at the Basillica of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura, Rome<br />Courtesy Wikimedia Commons </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In 498/9, at the beginning of the Middle Ages, Pope Symmachus decreed that if unanimity could not be reached, and if the previous pope had not nominated a successor, then the next pope could be elected by a simple majority. This did not solve the problem of undecided elections, however, and the emperor continued to choose the winner in these cases. As time progressed, imperial power waned as the power of the cardinals grew, so that by 1059 the laity was officially excluded from the papal elections, and the Cardinals, not the emperor, were the final authority in choosing the pope. In 1122 at the Concordat of Worms Emperor Henry III formally renounced his role as arbiter in papal elections. From here forward, secular rulers would have to influence the elections only indirectly, by influencing groups of cardinals. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/TrioE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="274" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/TrioE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pope Alexander III, center<br />14th c. manuscript<br />Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Pope Alexander III's <i>Licet de evitanda</i> established the rule of two-thirds majority, and changed the way votes were counted to give all cardinals' votes equal weight. This rule, established at the Third Lateran Council in 1179, successfully ended the need to defer to secular authority to choose the pope. Later, Pope Pius wrote concerning the two-thirds rule, "What is done by two-thirds of the sacred college, that is surely of the Holy Ghost, which may not be resisted." <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Gregorio_X.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Gregorio_X.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">19th c. portrait of Pope Gregory X<br />Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Rome<br />Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
While not as difficult as finding consensus, a two-thirds majority still sometimes took a long time to reach. Pope Gregory X, at the Council of Lyon in 1274, addressed this problem by introducing the idea of a "conclave." The first Pope elected by conclave was Innocent V in 1276. After a temporary suspension, during which papal elections again took a long time to resolve, Pope Celestine V reinstated the procedure. <br />
<br />
From 1305-1352 Cardinal-Deacon Jacobus Gaytanus attended five conclaves. He then wrote <i>Ordinarium Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae</i>, containing suggestions for elections based on his experiences from the conclaves. According to Gaytanus, the College of Cardinals used a system of voting similar to modern approval ballots. That is, there was no limit to either the number of candidates a cardinal could nominate or a limit to the number candidates a cardinal could vote for. Combining approval ballots with a two-thirds rule (as opposed to a simple majority) meant members of the College usually had to participate in several rounds of voting. Beginning in 1455, multiple-round candidates needed at least one vote in the previous round of voting to continue to the next round. This is called "access voting." Access voting and approval ballots continued to be the way the College elected the pope until 1621, when the Church changed the procedure to categorical voting.<br />
<br />
From Imperial appointment to approval ballots, the system of electing a pope underwent several changes during the thousand-year span of the Middle Ages. The medieval Church was looking for a system that would ensure that the pope was the man God wanted for the job. Modern Catholics tend to view a papal election in terms of who the cardinals thought would be best for the job. I wonder which, or both, views the members of the College kept in mind as they cast their ballots for Pope Francis.<br />
<br />
Sources: <br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Uckelmen, Joel and Uckelman, Sara L. Strategy and manipulation in medieval elections. Paper given at the COMSOC seminar, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 28 Oct 2010. University of Amsterdam.<a href="http://www.illc.uva.nl/Research/Reports/PP-2010-22.text.pdf">(found here)</a></li>
<li>Colomer, Josep M. and McLean, Iain. Electing popes: Approval balloting and qualified-majority rule. Journal of interdisciplinary history, xxix:i (summer, 1998), 1-22. <a href="http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/61631/3/Electing%20Popes.pdf">(found here)</a></li>
</ul>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-11635895729448886512013-02-05T11:39:00.000-07:002013-02-06T15:03:33.041-07:00Qin Dynasty: My introduction to the history of AsiaOur elementary school's PTA sponsors an art history program. Parent volunteers come into their kids' classrooms about once a month to teach the units. This is one of my favorite things to do. I get to learn something new, and then share what I've learned (which, come to think about it, is a lot like this blog). <br />
<br />
This month was my turn to teach. I taught 5th and the 2d graders about the Qin Dynasty of China. I felt intimidated because I knew practically nothing about Asian history. I spent about a week beforehand cramming like a college student before final exams, learning everything I could. This is what I discovered:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Qinshihuangdi3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Qinshihuangdi3.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emperor Qin Shi Huang<br />
Source: Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Me: What do you know about China?</i><br />
<i>2d grader: They used to have a ruler.</i><br />
<i>Me: Yes, do you know what the ruler of China was called?</i><br />
<i>2d grader in the back: PHIL!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Qin (pronounced "chin") was one of several states that fought during the Chinese "warring states period" (ca. 475 BCE-221 BCE). When the fighting was over, Qin had won, taking over the other warring states. This was the beginning of what would eventually become the modern Chinese State. In fact, the western name for the country, "China," probably comes from the name "Qin."<br />
<br />
<i>5th grader (musing): Hey . . . Qin . . . Quin-ah . . . China.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
The ruler of Qin State, Qin Shi Huang, declared himself the first emperor of China. He had the task of uniting the various Chinese states into one Chinese Empire. He accomplished this by dismantling the smaller walls between the states and replacing them with one Great Wall; by altering the promotion systems in the army and the bureaucracy from one based on noble status to one based on merit; and by uniting the various systems of writing, measurement, and money into one empire-wide system.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Our country is made up of lots of states, too. Why is it that we all see ourselves as Americans instead of citizens of Utah, Wisconsin, South Carolina, etc.?</i><br />
<i>5th grader: Well, we don't fight wars with people of other states.</i><br />
<i>Me: Why not, do you think?</i><br />
<i>5th grade consensus: Because we all work together to do things and we all have the same enemies. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Emperor Qin's reforms made a lot of people happy, but they also made a lot of enemies. The old aristocracy was not pleased that bureaucratic and military promotions were now based on merit. He also angered a lot of people through his book-burning program: Emperor Qin did not approve of the teachings of Confucius. After 3 assassination attempts, Emperor Qin grew paranoid. He hired alchemists to search for the philosopher's stone and create an elixir of life. He did escape assassination, however, eventually dying of old age.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Xian_guerreros_terracota_detalle.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Xian_guerreros_terracota_detalle.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Several of Emperor Qin's terracotta warriors on display in the Xian Terracotta Warriors Museum.<br />
Source: Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Disappointed 5th grader: What, nobody successfully killed him?</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Emperor Qin had built himself an elaborate tomb just in case he didn't make it to immortality. He was buried under a man-made hill, inside a necropolis which supposedly contains palaces, towers, rivers of mercury, and replicas of constellations. Chinese archaeologists have found the burial site, but have not excavated due to concerns about preservation of the relics. Tantalizingly, the earth making up the burial site does contain higher levels of mercury than the surrounding earth, suggesting the tomb's description may be based on truth. Archaeologists have dug trenches in the area around the tomb, finding an estimated 8,000 terracotta warriors guarding the entrance. The warriors are life-size and individual--they have different faces and hairstyles, and different uniforms based on the warrior's rank. Originally, they held bronze weapons. Some had terracotta horses, others chariots.<br />
<br />
<i>2d grader: That is kind of like the elaborate tombs in Egypt! I know a lot about Egypt and a lot about China because my dad and I watch the history channel.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
Links I found helpful:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/qind/hd_qind.htm">Metropolitan Museum of Art</a>. This website has a timeline of art history which includes a discussion of the Qin Dynasty.</li>
<li>The <a href="http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-information/introduction-qin-dynasty-221%E2%80%93206-bce">Asian Art Museum</a> (San Francisco). The museum's website is targeted toward teachers. Visitors can download information packets containing lesson materials. I used the packets with information about ancient China.</li>
<li><a href="http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1000bce_calligraphy.htm">Asia for Educators</a> (Columbia University). The week after teaching about the history of the time period, volunteers return to the classroom to lead the students in an art project. I used this website as the basis for the 2d week's introduction of Chinese calligraphy in the 5th grade class (it was too complicated for the 2d graders).</li>
<li><a href="http://www.archchinese.com/">http://www.archchinese.com/</a>. This website, intended for students of Mandarin Chinese at schools and universities in the United States, has animated stroke orders for 7,000 Chinese characters. </li>
</ul>
<br />
Finally, <a href="http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/mahjong/mahjong_e.html">Japanese mahjong</a>. There is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series in which Kirk teaches a gambling game (Fizzbin) to mobsters in order to distract them. He makes up the rules on the fly, and they are enormously complicated. This game reminds me of Fizzbin. The flash game is the Japanese variant of the four-player game, and I still can't remember all the hands or understand the point system, but I've had a lot of fun trying to figure it out.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-47321809040440162632013-01-12T15:19:00.000-07:002013-01-12T15:19:24.797-07:00Thoughts on national identityLast week Katy Meyers over at<a href="http://bonesdontlie.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/can-we-excavate-ethnicity/"> Bones Don't Lie</a> posted an entry I found thought-provoking. It was excellent. Go read it. In her article she discussed the difficulties involved in identifying the ethnicity of an excavated skeleton. Archaeologists can examine ethnicity by studying cranial features, isotope ratios, and grave goods. However, these are all imprecise. Katy concluded by writing, "Perhaps the more important question isn't trying to identify barbarian groups, but rather to look at the integral change in cemeteries and how individuals expressed identity on a more local scale." <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/St_George's_Day_2010_-_18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/St_George's_Day_2010_-_18.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An English child celebrates St. George's Day 2010.<br />From Wikimedia Commons.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Katy's post interested me because I have been thinking lately about something similar. I have been wondering about how individual early medieval people formed their national identities. I originally got to thinking about national identity while watching the Olympic Games in London. What makes an athlete or a spectator identify themselves as, for example, British? I then started thinking about people who lived in England during the medieval period. When did these people start seeing themselves as primarily English instead of as primarily members of their Germanic or Celtic tribe, and why did this happen? Further, when medieval people established a consistent national identity from Scotland to Wales and Cornwall, why did they see themselves as "English" instead of "Saxon" or "Mercian" or even "Viking?"<br />
<br />
The Olympics were several months ago, and I haven't yet found an answer to these questions that I find satisfying. I begin to suspect that my lack of good answers is partially because there aren't any good answers to be had. This may be one of those instances where our modern ways of thinking are sufficiently different from how people thought 1000 years ago; that we're not going to be able to understand exactly what was going through their minds unless we can borrow the TARDIS and ask them.<br />
<br />
That said, I have found a couple of hints. <br />
<br />
I've learned that the Anglo-Saxon legal system sometimes favored people of an English nationality. For example, Ine's law established a higher weregild and lower burden of proof for Anglo-Saxons then for Britons (see Ward-Perkins). People who lived under a tiered legal system that favored the English would have had an incentive to label themselves as English. <br />
<br />
I've also come to the conclusion that religion played a role. An obvious difference between the English and the Norse was their different religions. There must have been something about Christianity that medieval people found compelling: the pagan Vikings converted to Christianity within one or two generations of settling in Northumbria (see citation). If Northumbrians saw the term "English" as being synonymous with "Christian" than calling themselves English would have followed conversion.<br />
<br />
A person's national identity is influenced by a number of things. This is true today, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it is equally difficult to understand the national identity of medieval people. I will continue to learn about and think about this, but I will probably stop looking for an easy, direct answer. <br />
<br />
Works cited: <br />
Ward-Perkins, Bryan. <u>Why did the Anglo-Saxons not become more British?</u> English Historical Review (Oxford University Press), June 2000.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-35930993205173584252012-12-27T21:35:00.000-07:002012-12-27T21:35:41.853-07:00History-envyLiving where I do, I sometimes envy people who live places where they are surrounded by history. Salt Lake City does a good job of preserving the history of what is available, but the fact is that the city was not founded until 1847, so there is not a whole lot to work with. The oldest surviving buildings are only about 150 years old, which is downright modern from a world history, or a western history perspective.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I remember, two years ago, <a href="http://forgefire.blogspot.com/2010/09/spain-segovia-and-toledo.html">exploring Segovia with my spouse</a>. We had spent the afternoon wandering through the Castilian alcazar, walking along medieval city walls, and ogling at Romanesque churches. That evening, standing under the Roman aqueducts, I watched the locals <i>dar paseos</i> through the town where they lived their lives. I asked my husband, do you think these people appreciate the history around them? I mean, I can reach out and touch stones placed on top of each other by people who lived two thousand years ago. Do the locals see it? <i>Do they know what they have?</i></div>
<div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-nu5rQcDCLXFpc8CnUB00SkY1kMDzZJoBFDK48oAi71vKZxSsDAIsQUc6U093ZI5RC7kiWIFoKUTnNyp80-Fdpep1PW_lqLRsVUsikV_Ba_N577Q7fuqJZeBUlWV4orSQQuTFa7o2STE/s1600/IMG_2483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-nu5rQcDCLXFpc8CnUB00SkY1kMDzZJoBFDK48oAi71vKZxSsDAIsQUc6U093ZI5RC7kiWIFoKUTnNyp80-Fdpep1PW_lqLRsVUsikV_Ba_N577Q7fuqJZeBUlWV4orSQQuTFa7o2STE/s320/IMG_2483.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beneath the Roman aqueducts in Segovia, Spain</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I have history-envy. I need to go back.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
In the meantime, I see the objects that go on exhibit at the museums along the Wasatch Front. Certainly I can (and do) read a lot of books and articles and look at a lot of pictures, but there is something different about being physically present with the actual object. <br />
<br />
As an example, last month I saw an exhibition of medieval English alabasters at Brigham Young University's <a href="http://moa.byu.edu/">Museum of Art</a>. Now, I have read enough about medieval religious images to know that during the middle ages depictions of religious events and figures followed a basic iconography, making the stories and people in the art easily recognizable to the viewer. It was standing in a room full of religious art, however, where I really understood how alike these medieval depictions actually were. I walked back and forth between two carvings of the beheading of John the Baptist, then between three carvings of Christ rising from the tomb, and then between depictions of the Trinity, checking out the similarities. When I realized that I could distinguish God the Father from God the Son in all the carvings of the Trinity I was so excited that I turned to the group of people standing next to me and pointed it out, which was probably quite rude as I didn't know them and as they likely didn't care that God the Father was always holding a world orb, but I was so thrilled to have learned this that I had to share it with somebody, and they just happened to be next to me when my learning bubbled over.<br />
<br />
Anyway, other people probably daydream about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, hiking through the Amazon, or lying on beaches in Hawaii. Me, I wish I could examine the Staffordshire hoard, stand inside the Sistine Chapel, or read the signatures on the engrossed US Declaration of Independence. History-envy. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-6079701271341756272012-11-07T22:55:00.000-07:002012-11-07T22:55:47.964-07:00This blog is not yet deadAs mentioned in a previous post, I now have a son in middle school. The transition has been difficult; he feels crushed under the heavier workload and he cannot quite juggle all the new expectations thrown his way. My husband and I have been helping him adjust, and all 3 of us finally begin to see improvement. The consequence, though, is that we have not spent as much time on our other priorities, such as blogging. <br />
<br />
Last week began a new quarter, however. My son is making progress. He's had an abrupt shift in the way he looks at the world and at himself, and it has been a struggle for him to deal with it, but I think he's going to be stronger for it in the end. <br />
<br />
So where does this leave the blog? Well, I have several drafts in the queue which I hope to publish in the next few weeks as my son continues to master his study habits. These drafts include notes on articles I read, classes I taught, and museum exhibits I toured. Meantime, I will end this post with a bit of etymology I picked up while learning about the Anglo-Saxon economic system:<br />
<br />
The term for a particular class of peasant working on a manor farm was <i>gebur</i>. A <i>gebur </i>was a freeman, so he could not be sold to another person. His services could, however, be transferred with the property worked if that property was sold. The <i>gebur </i>who lived close-by to an individual was called the individual's <i>near-gebur</i>, in old english <i>neah-gebur</i>, in modern english <i>neighbor</i>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-47739741378747587332012-06-27T21:53:00.001-06:002012-06-27T21:53:17.039-06:00School days, school days . . .The school year is just finishing up in here in the Jordan School District. The year-round elementary school my children attend will be in session one more week, then people in my family are off to vacations, campouts, and *gasp* junior high.<br />
<br />
I volunteered at the elementary school again this year, mostly in the first and sixth grade classrooms. I always wonder what the kids in the class think about the extra adult in the room. I remember when I was an elementary school student, that the reading groups were led by an adult (usually female) who came to the classroom expressly for that purpose. In retrospect, these adults were probably parent volunteers. As a child, though, I had just a vague idea that these women were extra teachers from somewhere.<br />
<br />
Anyway, with school year endings and beginnings on everybody's minds around here, I thought I'd post something about education in the middle ages.<br />
<br />
My kids and their classmates spent the year learning the 3 R's: reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic. Medieval scholars' educations were built around the 7 liberal arts: Grammar, Logic, Rhetoric, Arithmetic, Geometry, Music, and Astronomy.<br />
<br />
<b>Grammar</b>. Specifically, medieval students needed to learn Latin grammar. Latin was the international language of the middle ages. Textbooks were written in Latin, lectures spoken in Latin, and dissertations argued in Latin. For a look at a Modern English translation of a 10th century grammar text, see <a href="http://www.kentarchaeology.ac/authors/016.pdf">Aelfric's Colloquy</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Logic</b>. Grammar was learning to understand. Logic (or dialectic) was learning how to think. Popular works of logic studied in the middle ages included <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14328">Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy</a> and various works of Aristotle.<br />
<br />
<b>Rhetoric</b>. Rhetoric was the study of communication. Scholars learned rhetoric to better use the skills gained while studying Grammar and Logic. Students read Cicero, Augustine, and Bede.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Septem-artes-liberales_Herrad-von-Landsberg_Hortus-deliciarum_1180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Septem-artes-liberales_Herrad-von-Landsberg_Hortus-deliciarum_1180.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Seven Liberal Arts surrounding Philosophy,<br />
as illustrated in the 11th-cent. manuscript Hortus deliciarum.<br />
Image courtesy Wikimedia commons.<br />
Note the scholars underneath the Arts.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Grammar, logic, and rhetoric made up the <i>trivium</i>. Many medieval universities awarded their lowest degrees to scholars who had mastered the trivium. These scholars were then called <i>bachelors</i>. The rest of the liberal arts constituted the <i>quadrivium</i>.<br />
<br />
<b>Arithmetic</b>. Today when students learn arithmetic they learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In the middle ages arithmetic referred to number theory. It also encompassed the symbolism of number. For example, seven symbolized perfection because it was the number of the days of the week and the number of visible planetary bodies. Three referred to the Godhead.<br />
<br />
<b>Geometry</b>. The works of <a href="http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/java/elements/elements.html">Euclid</a> were known throughout the middle ages. <br />
<br />
<b>Music. </b> Like arithmetic, music referred to music theory, not to the practical knowledge of learning an instrument or voice.<br />
<br />
<b>Astronomy</b>. Ptolomy's writings on astronomy survived into the middle ages, and medieval astronomers based their understanding of the universe on Ptolomy's models. Like Ptolomy, medieval thinkers believed that the Earth was the center of the universe. Like Ptolomy, the medieval astronomer combined astronomy with astrology. <br />
<br />
Upon his studying all 7 liberal arts and defending an oral dissertation, the university awarded the student the degree of <i>Master of Arts</i>. The master could then apply for a teaching licence or continue studying at the university to become a <i>doctor</i> of law, of theology, of medicine, or of philosophy.<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-56901065023139663912012-06-10T22:52:00.001-06:002012-06-10T22:52:58.934-06:00English Benedictine Reform, part IAlternate title: Socrates was right, and it's aggravating.<br />
<br />
The story goes that Socrates was wise because he understood how little he really knew. I find something similar--the more I learn the more I discover how little I have yet to learn.<br />
<br />
For example, I have lately been learning about the Benedictine Reform movement that took place in Anglo-Saxon England around the tenth century. I spent two weeks of my spare time, roughly, gathering information, only to feel as if I must find much, much more to really grasp what occurred and what the implications were for Anglo-Saxon church and state. Briefly, here is what I've managed to glean so far:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Glastonbury_Abbey_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Glastonbury_Abbey_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glastonbury Abbey. <br />
Photographed by Tony Grist. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.<br />
St. Dunstan, an advocate of Benedictine Reform was abbot here<br />
(though not this particular building, which was constructed later).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
First, the Benedictine Reform loosened the ties of the clergy and the clan. For example, Anglo-Saxon priests frequently married and had families. The Benedictine Reform eventually ended the practice.<br />
<br />
Second, many abbeys had previously been under the jurisdiction of the local aristocracy; the Reform led to more independence.<br />
<br />
Third, the effect of the above two points was to strengthen the position of the king and increase royal power.<br />
<br />
More information to follow as I continue to figure this out.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, Wikipedia (for what it's worth) says "historians continue to debate the extent and significance of this movement" (See the entry <i>Edward the Peaceful</i>). This makes me feel a bit better about my inability to wrap my brain around the topic.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-16769578581024211052012-05-24T22:44:00.000-06:002012-05-24T22:44:41.785-06:00More Anglo-Saxon thoughts, and what I want to learn nextThe bad part about having strep throat is, well, strep throat. The best part about having strep throat is that, while contagious, everybody left me alone so I had lots of time to read. I finished <u>The Anglo-Saxons</u> edited by James Campbell. I learned a lot more than can be mentioned in just one blog post, so I'll mention only the things I learned pertaining to Anglo-Saxon England overall.<br />
<br />
First, contact with the Continent, particularly France, was much greater than I had realized. I knew Anglo-Saxon England had contact with Scandinavia through the vikings, and Rome through the Church. Somehow I'd missed the large amount of influence England and France had on each other at this time. Carolingian France influenced English politics, law, art, religion, and commerce. Toward the time of the Conquest,<br />
England developed strong ties with Normandy. Queen Emma was a Norman! How could I have not known this? The relationship between England and Normandy must have been important to the events leading up to the Norman invasion. I want to read a biography of Queen Emma, at least a translation of her Encomium, to understand this better. I also want to learn more about Cnut's reign. What were the differences between his rule and Duke William's? Why did the Norman rule stick, while the Danish rule ended in a generation? <br />
<br />
Second, the early medieval English economy was quite well developed. Coins were widely available and in circulation. I should keep an eye out for more information on Anglo-Saxon coin distribution and its implications on their economy.<br />
<br />
Third, the early medieval church in England had a different flavor than the early medieval church in Rome. While I don't agree with those who hold that the modern Church of England has its roots in Anglo-Saxon Christianity, it does seem to me that the Church in England differed in some ways from the Church in Rome in response to the Anglo-Saxons' Germanic culture. I would like to learn more about the history of early Christianity in England and in Italy to get a better sense of the similarities and differences.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-51251547294576062672012-05-09T21:48:00.000-06:002012-05-10T12:04:52.898-06:00On neutrality in writing historyAll scholars make assumptions in their writing, but good writers will lay out their assumptions at the outset and then will present information in as unbiased a manner as possible. When I read an account of a historical event, I expect the historian to put aside the historian's own values and look at the event from the point of view of the people who lived it. I also expect the historian to address more than one side of the event, if possible.<br />
<br />
That's why I was disappointed in a podcast I listened to last week on the History Network. I have had no complaints about the History network before, nor did a quick check on Google bring up any complaints of non-neutrality from other people. Their podcasts are generally well-researched and well-presented. The podcast I listened to last week was well presented, too. But it was not neutral.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Simon_IV_de_Montfort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Simon_IV_de_Montfort.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Simon IV de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester<br />
Bust by Jean-Jacques Feuchere<br />
Photo by Ray9<br />
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The podcast was entitled <u>The Fires of Languedoc: The Cathar Crusade</u>. The guest writer identified the Cathars as a heretic sect of Christianity (they believed in dualism rather than monotheism) and identified the Cathar Crusade (also called the Albigensian Crusade) as a 20-year war in southern France between the Catholic and Cathar armies. The Northern French army, backed by Paris and Rome and led by Simon de Montfort, fought the Southern French army, backed by the Cathars and led by Raymond VI of Toulouse. The Cathars, during the crusade, had to choose between renouncing their beliefs and rejoining the Catholic Church, or fighting. Most chose to fight. Thousands died. Following the war was an inquisition and destruction of Cathar writings until the sect was nearly stamped out about 100 years later. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Salle_des_illustres_10.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Salle_des_illustres_10.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raymond VI, Count of Toulous<br />
Photo by Guerin Nicolas<br />
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This is all true enough. The question which follows is why did the Catholic Church label the Cathars to be heretics, and why was it so anxious to suppress the movement? The podcast painted a picture of the Church that was less than flattering. It displayed the Church as a fearful, power hungry organization that demanded complete control of medieval Europeans' faith and was willing to wipe out entire communities and cultures in order to maintain that control. I don't doubt that power and politics influenced the decisions of the Church to call a crusade. But they weren't the entire story. <br />
<br />
The entire podcast was written from the point of view of the Cathars. The writer pointed out several discrepancies between Catholic and Cathar doctrine, always from the Cathar perspective. Where was Rome's rebuttal? It ought to have been included. The writer also spent time discussing the Cathars' argument that the Languedoc region was, and ought to remain, independent from Paris. Where was the French Crown's argument that Languedoc was, and had been, subject to the French King? Again, this ought to have been included.<br />
<br />
Further, historians ought not to make judgments on the events of the past based upon the values of the present. Medieval people did not always think like 21st century people, and it does them an injustice to be treated as if they did. The podcast condemned the northern French armies for, among other things, not allowing the southern French people the freedom to worship as they pleased. When governments today fail to offer their citizens freedom of conscience, we condemn them, and I believe rightfully so. 800 years ago, however, western Europeans did not have the idea of freedom of conscience. Expecting them to behave as if they did have the idea is illogical. Judging them for it is unfair.<br />
<br />
I have addressed two forms of bias that can appear in a historical account: failing to account for multiple points of view, and judging decisions made in the past using values of the present. A good, unbiased account will do neither. Then, after presenting the information in a clear, neutral manner, a historian will add their own analysis, thoughts, and opinions. The readers, likewise, will be able to draw their own conclusions.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-46162315561547149572012-05-02T13:18:00.002-06:002012-05-03T11:15:15.991-06:00Bram Stoker's use of folklore in writing Dracula<span style="font-family: inherit;">(NOTE: In the following post I use the terms myth, folklore, and folktale interchangeably)</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Bela_Lugosi_as_Dracula,_anonymous_photograph_from_1931,_Universal_Studios.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" mea="true" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Bela_Lugosi_as_Dracula,_anonymous_photograph_from_1931,_Universal_Studios.jpg" width="245" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Bela Lugosi as Dracula; courtesy wikimedia commons</span></div>
<div align="right">
<br /></div>
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (Mem. I must ask the Count all about them.)</span> </em>Jonathan Harker's journal, 3 May<br />
<br />
Last week I was distracted from <u>The Anglo-Saxons</u> by a copy of Bram Stoker's <u><a href="http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/grol/stoker/dracul00.htm">Dracula</a></u>. I must have liked it; I put all other non-essential tasks on hold until the book was finished.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula">Wikipedia</a> claims that Stoker spent 7 years studying vampire folklore before writing the novel. While I have no information to back this up, I am inclined to agree. The novel has the <em>feel </em>of a tale steeped in centuries-old legend, as opposed to a tale that <em>feels</em> completely made-up (I think some fantasy authors would do well to do a bit less world-building and a bit more world-borrowing). His research, combined with his writing, produced a novel that felt factual as well as fantastic. What follows are three examples from Stoker's Dracula mythos and how it fits into what I know of supernatural folklore.<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset. These things we are told, and in this record of ours we have proof by inference. Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place unhallowed, as we saw when he went to the grave of the suicide at Whitby, still at other time he can only change when the time come.</span> </em>Mina Harker's journal, 30 September<br />
<br />
The above quotation from <u>Dracula</u> caught my attention. I had noticed something similar a few months ago while reading the Breton Lay <u><a href="http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/orfeofrm.htm">Sir Orfeo</a></u>. In the lay, Queen Heurodis first met her fairy lover and abductor when he and his court passed by her house at noon. This appears to be a common trait of supernatural being in myth: supernatural creatures are most likely to be seen traveling through mortal lands at sunrise, at sunset, and at noon. At all other times, if they are seen by mortals at all they are seen withing the bounds of their own country--for example, fairies caught dancing at midnight atop their fairy-mound.<br />
<br />
<em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide.</span> </em>Mina Harker's journal, 30 September<br />
<br />
Another folklore motif I noticed Stoker used was water-as-boundary. Commonly in myth the realm of mortals and the realm of Fairie are separated by a body of water: sometimes a river, sometimes a sea. <a href="http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/launffrm.htm"> <u>Sir Launfal</u></a>, another Middle English Breton lay, contains an example of this. At the end of the poem, Sir Launfal lives happily-ever-after with Tyramour, his wife and the daughter of the Fairy King, in the Fairy King's island realm Olyroun. As a more modern example, Tolkien used this idea successfully in his writings. Rivendell lies across the Bruinen, and Lothlorien across the Silverlode. Stoker used water a bit differently. Instead of the water marking the perimeter between the natural and supernatural worlds, water creates a barrier over which the vampire cannot cross except under special circumstances. Regardless, the idea of water acting as a boundary is still there.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em>Beside the bed, as if he had stepped out of the mist, or rather as if the mist had turned into his figure, for it had entirely disappeared, stood a tall, thin man, all in black. . . .<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></em></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><em>For an instant my heart stood still, and I would have screamed out, only that I was paralyzed.</em></span> Dr. Seward's diary, 3 October</span><br />
<br />
Finally, I noticed while reading <u>Dracula</u> a use of the supernatural to explain sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs when the sleeper is conscious but the body is asleep and therefore unable to move. As a result, the sleeper is aware of external stimuli but cannot respond to it, which generally leads to a feeling of panic. I have occasionally experienced this, and can attest to feeling terrified. Typically, folk belief connects sleep paralysis to an evil supernatural presence. Old English medical texts contain remedies for banishing the night-mare (maere) that sits on a person's chest, paralyzing them and giving them bad dreams (see <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=WznjSoPvWQsC&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=anglo-saxon+nightmare&source=bl&ots=RC2Q_Rsn_2&sig=93Fp9q-HflQ65WCP3K-3PriIiPU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WoOhT9KtA4SZiAKLnZSqBw&ved=0CCIQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=anglo-saxon%20nightmare&f=false">here</a> for an example). Bram Stoker used this, substituting vampires for the night-mare.<br />
<br />
Vampires in <u>Dracula</u> have other attributes that I will have to keep an eye out for as I read folklore. They can shapeshift into wolves or bats and summon rats and wolves at will. They cannot cross a threshold without an invitation, and they do not cast a shadow or have a reflection. They are harmed by the crucifix, communion wafers, bullets sanctified by a priest, and garlic.<br />
<br />
They do not, however, sparkle in the sunlight.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-18028883740620515192012-04-18T23:42:00.000-06:002012-04-18T23:42:06.978-06:00Political stability vs. representation<div style="text-align: left;">
My oldest son is writing an autobiography for a school English assignment. One of the requirements is to include a brief family history, so a couple of weeks ago he and my husband spent an evening discussing my son's paternal ancestry. My son then turned to me. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Where's your family from, Mom?"</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
"Indiana."</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
It was not the answer he wanted.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Later, my son was looking through my <a href="http://new.familysearch.org/">familysearch</a> web page and announced, "Somebody has researched the Harper line all the way back to Adam!" I said, "Somebody's wrong." Again, not the answer he wanted.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I think it's typical for people to want their family history to contain famous people and exotic places. Medieval kings' genealogies commonly trace the royal family to Troy or Jerusalem. Often these genealogies listed legendary heroes or gods among the ancestors. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
James Campbell wrote that royal genealogies began appearing in England during the 8th century (see <u>The Anglo-Saxons</u>, p. 116). He argued that the dynastic politics of this time period required kings to prove royal descent. In short, during the 8th century, Anglo-Saxon nobility invented the idea of inherited rule to reduce the frequent fighting between the countries' dynastic factions.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
What I found fascinating about this development was the idea that a stable monarchy could be more desirable than an unstable republic. Granted, even at its most democratic, the Anglo-Saxon "constitutional kingship" was only remotely similar to modern representative nation-states. But citizens today frequently assume that greater representation in government is always desirable. People who lived during the Middle Ages may not have had this assumption. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Questioning the "greater representation is better government" assumption lead to questioning some of my other assumptions about political philosophy and international relations. I do not want to discuss this too much here, as I want this blog to focus on historical, not present-day political systems. However, I will point out that the current ideas about what is best for many countries may change if the assumptions about what makes better government also changed. What if a country in the Middle East set up a constitution that valued a stable theocracy over a potentially unstable democracy? What if a former Soviet republic set up a system of government that was totalitarian but had little chance of overthrow? James Campbell has given me something to think about.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6889484180179741510.post-67102037012393498692012-04-11T14:44:00.000-06:002012-04-11T14:44:25.903-06:00I need to buy more booksI read a lot about early medieval history. I read articles from academic journals I find on <a href="http://www.medievalists.net/">medievalists.net</a>; I read primary sources (often in translation); and I follow my favorite medievalist blogs. I haven't read a lot of textbooks, as my budget and my bookshelf space are limited. Recently, however, I found a copy of <u>The Anglo-Saxons</u> edited by James Campbell at my local library. I have started reading it and I wish I had picked it up sooner.<br />
<br />
The book is generally described as an introductory survey to the Anglo-Saxons, and, honestly, I think the word "introductory" turned me off. Though not a professional historian, I have studied early English history for about 5 years, making a point to read articles and lectures published by academics. I assumed that an "introductory" textbook would contain information I already knew.<br />
<br />
I was somewhat right. Quite a bit of the book has been a review of things I knew. On the other hand, I'm embarrassed to admit how much of this basic information I <em>didn't </em>know. <br />
<br />
I found this book particularly helpful in two main ways. First, Campbell and his co-authors were familiar with much more detail about this time period than I am. For example, p.22 mentioned Byzantine historian Procopius' confusion as to the location of Britain, leading historians to understand there must have been two different routes of exporting information out of the island depending on whether the source of the information was Saxon or Celtic. Second, as a survey of Anglo-Saxon history, the book brought out broad trends and patterns that I would never have noticed by reading a narrowly-focused article or lecture. For example, I understood the ecclesiastical and political influences on Whitby after I read that section of the book, whereas before I had only sensed that there was more going on at Whitby than arguing over the date of Easter.<br />
<br />
I've learned my lesson. I'm going to begin paying more attention to books, especially textbooks. I'm not going to dismiss resources simply because they are secondary, or labelled introductory. I have always liked to think that the most important things I obtained while studying for my university degrees was learning how to learn; what I just learned from Campbell was that even introductory surveys can teach me something.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446854289256130596noreply@blogger.com0