ANST - FW: Musing on August 14 th -- Printer's Devil and a Bastard King

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 14:17
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on August 14 th -- Printer's Devil and a Bastard King


Dear Folk,

On August 14th, an illegitimate son won the independence of a nation
spawning a generation of explorers, and the first printed book was
published by a man who was then accused of witchcraft.

Let us talk of the book first. It was on this day, 1457, that the
first
book ever printed was published by a wandering astrologer who lived
mostly in Germany. It was The Book of Psalms, which was part of a
project of his to print the entire Bible. He had begun that project
seven long years before.

He carried several of his newly printed editions with him to Paris,
thinking to sell them there. He made a small mistake: he showed more
than one copy at a time. He was thrown in prison on the suspicion
that
he had been dealing with the Devil. Why? Well, looking at the copies
anyone could see that they were exactly alike. No one could do that
unless they were practicing witchcraft.

Now when I say "witchcraft" I am not talking about how we understand
Wicca as (do this in a single breath) a European pre-Christian folk
faith based upon the turning wheel of the year. Trust me on that.
These
Parisian folks were worried about the Devil (with the big D) who was
out to ensnare men’s souls by granting them temporary gifts.  That
was
sort of like the military recruiters are today.

In order to prove his innocence the traveler had to show the folks
what
was behind his uniformly printed documents. In doing so, he opened
the
way for the spread and advancement of this technology. No, he wasn’t
in
league with the Devil. However, he became grist for some authors’
mills. You may have heard of this jailed German; his name made it as
the prototypic deal with the Devil: Dr. Faust.

Today also marks the battle of Aljubarratto fought in 1385 between
John
of Portugal and John of Castile. It ensured that Portugal achieved
its
independence from the kingdom of Castile (later part of Spain) beyond
any dispute.

To set the stage just a little, here are some kings of Portugal. King
Diniz (the Worker) who ruled from 1279 to 1325 was a poet who raised
the education level of his people, made commercial treaties with
England, started the Portuguese naval activity which was to win so
much
of the New World. He had help from Venice and Genoa on that. His son,
Alphonso IV (the Brave), ruled from 1325 to 1357. Alphonso had his
problems: the Moors and his own family. He solved the Moorish problem
by allying with Castile (he married Beatrice who was the daughter of
Sancho IV of Castile) to beat them pesky Moors at the battle of
Salado.
His family problems he handled in sort of the same way.

Alphonso’s son Peter had a mistress, Inez de Castro, whom he later
married. Alphonso had her killed in 1355. The why of that escapes me
but evidentially most Portuguese know about this. Peter was very
unhappy with dad for doing this. Wouldn’t you be? I think dad was
upset
because Peter was originally married to Constance of Castile in
another
effort to keep things cool with the Castilians. Peter, after a brief
revolution,  ruled from 1357 to 1367. Peter and Constance’s kid, was
Ferdinand I who ruled from 1367 to 1383.  But Peter and Inez also had
a
child named John. More on him in a second.

Ferdinand I (the Handsome) was a rather wishy-washy king. He also
ignored grandpa’s thing about Castile and conveniently forgot his
betrothal to a Castilian princess. He married for his heart’s sake
Leonora Telles. Castile was having quite enough of these amorous
Portuguese. There was a tiny war now declared. Ferdinand and Leonora
had a daughter, Beatrice (named for Ferd’s grandma), whom they
betrothed to John I of Castile. Ah, that should re-cement things.
Ferdinand died and left Leonora as regent for Beatrice.

The only problem was that the folks of Portugal detested Leonora, her
new lover (no, I am not naming names) and the Castilian meddling.
Enter
John, the illegitimate son of Peter I and Inez. He led a revolution
to
drive out Leonora and her Castilian friends. Although crowned king,
John I (1385 - 1433) had the counter-revolutionary forces of the
Castilians to deal with. They invaded Portugal twice and even
besieged
Lisbon.

It was at the Battle of Aljubarrato on August 14, 1385 that John I of
Portugal defeated the forces led by John I of Castile (Beatrice’s
hubby.) Portugal won and Castile was finally thrown out. Portugal
entered probably the greatest period in its history. John was a
capable
and enlightened ruler. In the Treaty of Windsor (May 9, 1386)
Portugal
permanently cemented peaceful relations with England. To cap it off,
John I married Phillipa, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster
and son of Edward III. One of John I and Phillipa’s children became
King Henry the Navigator who sponsored Vasco de Gama's explorations.

What have we learned from this? Kings should be careful whom they
marry? Bastards can make pretty good kings? Local rule is often the
only acceptable practice? How about "sufficiently advanced technology
is indistinguishable from magic?"  I offer mention in a following
column for the first person who tells me who originally said that
quote.

If you wish to impress the French (or anyone else) by sending them my
column, please keep my name and sig attached.

Printing my own stuff,
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

SCA – Sir Balthazar of Endor
AS – Polyphemus Theognis
TRV – Sebastian Yeats

(Note the new location of the Archive)


=====
SmileWeavers Astrology Charts & Interpretations
Modern & Medieval (but always discreet)
If you are interested, contact me at
astroweaver at yahoo.com or 805.473.8867

Read back issues of Musings at http://www.surfari.net/~2thpix/amuse/

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