ANST - FW: Musing on September 4th -- The Guelph Between Us All

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 08:03
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on September 4th -- The Guelph Between Us All


Dear Folk,

Today is the birthday of a scientist, diplomat, and poet all rolled
up
into one nice guy. It is also the anniversary of the Battle of
Montaperto between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Let’s do the nice
guy first.

Constantijn Huygens was born September 4,1596 in a Holland which had
essentially reinvented itself from a bunch of squabbling provinces
and
dukedoms. Holland had been ruled by France and Spain. Remember
William
of Orange ("Silent Like an Orange")? It was under his guidance and
might that Holland eventually got its independence. Contantijn’s dad,
Christiaan, was William of Orange’s secretary. Christiaan did his
best
to make what we would call a renaissance man out of his son. Of
course,
Constantijn was infected with that heady spirit of independence and
home rule.

It was a good time for Holland, and who doesn’t love the Dutch
anyway?
The nation was the central hub of commerce like weaving and all sorts
of fabric trade, ceramics, jewelry. Holland became a republic when
all
around her were governed by monarchs. Holland was also a country of
Protestantism and free-thinkers. Constantijn helped in a very real
way
to shape that republic.

Huygens corresponded with virtually every contemporary of any
intellectual importance in Europe. His friends and folk listed in his
personal phone book reads like a Who’s Who of European smart guys. It
included Charles I of England, Descartes, Rembrandt, Corneille,
Francis
Bacon, the scientist Leeuwenhoek, Van Dyck, Rubens, John Donne,
Grotius. Constantijn was influential in the history of architecture,
garden design, painting and music, all arts which he was not only
familiar with as a patron and critic, but from personal practice. He
did what he wrote about -- unlike this poor historian.

The range of topics and concerns Huygens put into his poetry reflects
the breadth of his experience as a statesman, diplomat and courtier,
and his stature as a cultured renaissance gentildude with a
wide-ranging interest in the arts and sciences. He lived in an age
where it was almost possible to know everything. He died in1687. One
of
the greatest things he did for us was to give us his son.

His son Christian Huygens (April 14, 1629 - July 8 1695) became much
more famous as a scientist and mathematician. In 1656 Christian
Huygens
patented the first pendulum clock, which greatly increased the
accuracy
of time measurement. Using one of his own lenses, Huygens detected,
in
1655, the first moon of Saturn. The following year he discovered the
true shape of the rings of Saturn and in Systema Saturnium (1659),
Huygens explained the phases and changes in the shape of the ring.

Let’s switch and talk about the two rival gangs: the Guelphs and the
Ghibellines. The reason we are talking about them today is that on
September 4, 1260, at the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan
Ghibellines, who supported the emperor, defeated the Florentine
Guelphs, who supported papal power.  So who cares? Maybe we should
look
a little closer to see if we might overlook something.

You know that there has always seemed to be two major forces vying
for
control of things: the church and the state. Both have relatively the
same objectives although they will claim otherwise. They want your
money, your time, and life. Throw in a soul or two for good measure
would be lovely. In very few cases in modern times have both of those
forces been invested in one central government. Anglican Church comes
to mind.

This struggle was carried to extremes in Germany and Italy during the
Middle Ages. It was not enough that the Holy Roman Empire was
governing
man’s body, it wanted to protect his soul as well. Of course the
Roman
Catholic Church was governing man’s soul but it did seem necessary to
get some worldly cash together and form Armies for Christ. The feudal
nobility, the military, "old bones" made generations ago, who moved
into the area last, and business all were great reasons for killing
each other. Somehow the Italians made it such an art that almost no
one
remembered what it was about.

Since Charlemagne took over in 800 CE, things were kind of shaky
between who had the power to make a king. The War of Investitures
where
Pope Gregory VIII and Emperor Henry IV came to blows (around 1075) --
finally stopped by Pope Callistus II and Henry V in 1122 -- was of
course about this issue. In the midst of this conflict through in a
new
force, the Italian communes. They were free, technically, but needed
some heavy protection. Sure, they sort of owed allegiance to the
Emperor but the Pope looked like a better bet.

The names "Guelphs" and "Ghibellines" appear to have originated in
Germany, in the rivalry between the house of Welf (Dukes of Bavaria)
and the house of Hohenstaufen (Dukes of Swabia), whose ancestral
castle
was Waiblingen in Franconia. Agnes, daughter of Henry IV and sister
of
Henry V, married Duke Frederick of Swabia. So those who supported the
Holy Roman Emperor were allied with Waiblingen.. The dukes of Bavaria
supported the Pope. "Welf" and "Waiblingen" were first used as
rallying
cries at the battle of Weinsberg (1140), where Frederick's son,
Emperor
Conrad III (1138-1152), defeated Welf, the brother of the rebellious
Duke of Bavaria, Henry the Proud. Conrad's nephew and successor.
Trust
the Italians to make the names more interesting!

This became a class conflict, not to sound too Marxian about things.
The Guelphs, good Catholics obeying the Pope, were mostly relegated
to
the merchant class. These hard working churchgoers could not be
trusted
to be in charge of any government lest they turn it over to the
Church
of Rome. The Ghibellines were nobility and could not be entrusted
with
anything in the church lest they sell the Holy See down the river.
Hey,
does this sound like the US presidential election of 1960? Nah.

This conflict of households seems to have moved to Italy along its
northern border of Tuscany and its city states. Siena arose from
being
a minor Tuscan city to rival Florence. The rivalry with Florence
consequently determined the politics of Siena, which adhered to the
imperial (Ghibelline) party. Nevertheless in 1194 the Sienese
repulsed
the army of Henry VI, who reneged on his promise to recognize the
privileges accorded the city by his father. This victory increased
the
prestige of the republic, which now enlarged the circuit of its
walls.
Due to the common people wishing to get involved in government, the
heads of government changed in rapid succession: the Twenty-seven,
Twenty-four, Seventy, Thirty-seven.

At the Battle of Montaperto (September 4, 1260) Siena, at the head of
the Ghibellines of Tuscany, humiliated the hated Florence. But in
Siena
itself, the Guelphs, aided by Charles of Anjou, acquired the
sovereignty in 1277. Pretty slick, working for both sides!

Things went back and forth like this across Tuscany and other parts
of
Italy. It seemed that only the Great Pestilence of 1348, where they
lost 30,000 folks in Siena alone, could quiet the war and private
hits
down. "There are no more wicked nor more mad folk under the vault of
heaven than the Guelphs and Ghibellines," said St. Bernardino of
Siena
in 1427. He gave an appalling picture of the atrocities still
perpetuated, even by women, under these names, although by that time
the primitive signification of the terms had been lost, and declared
that the mere professing to belong to either party is in itself a
mortal sin.

So what have we learned? It is good to be a Renaissance man? Religion
and politics probably should never mix but always seem to anyway? No
matter which side wins, both sides lose? How about old feuds do no
one
credit and everyone much harm?

If you are out there supporting the Empire, inventing better
telescopes, or just whacking someone just to watch them die, and you
think you ought to forward these missives to somebody, By All the
Moons
of Saturn do so! Only please keep my name and sig attached.

"There are some ornery neighbors livin' down by the creek,
We’ll be plumb out of neighbors next week!"

J. Ellsworth Weaver
SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats


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