ANST - FW: Musing on August 16th -- Rocks Break Windows

[j'lynn yeates]

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- -----Original Message-----
From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 10:34
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on August 16th -- Rocks Break Windows


Dear Folk,

On this day perished a bad king having a bad reaction to a
defenestration and a saint who had already survived the plague.

Roche or Rock or Rocky was a survivor. He had contracted the Black
Death, the bubonic plague, and crawled off into the woods to die. He
didn’t die, much to his surprise: he lingered a bit. A dog came by
with
some bread and gave it to Rocky. This is the origin of the legend of
the Taco Bell dog, who recently passed on from complications due to
gout and diverticulitus.  I am still distraught about that, by the
way.
Why did they have to take little "Yo Querro Perro?"  But I digress.

Rocky had a vision where an angel of the Lord appeared and squeezed
out
the poison of his swelling nodules on his thigh. Yuck! He recovered
and
went back to the plague areas and helped nurse many victims. Some he
saved. In Europe fully one third of the entire population died of the
plague. Death eventually came for Rocky on August 16, 1327 in
Montpelier, France.

Rocky quickly was canonized and became the Patron Saint of plague
victims. He is usually shown holding up his garment to show his sores
on his thigh. A dog usually accompanies him. I think it is
appropriate
to invoke his intercession with any sort of a plague at all: locusts,
bills, food poisoning. It is in my church. You have to decide for
yourselves.

The king was not "Good King Wenceslas" but probably the worst of his
name. Wencelslas (Vaclav) IV was the son of Charles I (IV – as German
Emperor) whose reign is considered the golden age of Bohemian
history.
Charles was a constitutional king and was very good at making his
citizens healthy, wealthy and wise. Obviously, this could not last.
His
son Wencelsas was proof that greatness often skips a generation or
two.
He was addicted to partying. Hey, things were great, no need to
worry!

Due to his neglect, Wenceslas managed to lose most of the German
empire. Some histories say he was so publicly and shamefully  drunk
at
times that he was removed from office of king twice by rebellious
nobility. And you thought that the Scots were hard on their rulers.
Perhaps history is a little unfair to him.

He was crowned king of Bohemia in 1363 and king of the Romans in
1376.
Daddy Charles died in 1378, leaving his 25 year old son on the
throne.
The power vacuum drew the rebellion to full flame in all the regions.
Wenceslas was a peace-loving man who held many conferences on how
best
to have folks get along. The Germans, who had felt neglected, wanted
their own imperial governor and got pretty darned nasty about it.
Wenceslas did what anyone would have done: he moved. Prague was so
much
nicer. This hacked off the Germans even more. Finally, in August
1400,
when Wenceslas refused to attend another meeting of the German
princes,
they deposed him and elected Rupert (Ruprecht) III, elector Palatine,
king of the Romans. Wenceslas was, however, able to retain the title
of
German king for the rest of his life.

Well, there was always Bohemia, right? Wenceslas' reign in Bohemia
was
even less successful than that in Germany.  He was young and his
relatives thought he ought to appoint them to high positions.  His
cousin Jobst led a rebellion which captured and imprisoned Wenceslas.
The Germans came to his aid but Jobst managed to get himself
appointed
as governor of the realm. So much for any kingly power. Later in 1402
his half brother Sigismund deposed Wenceslas in Bohemia. Fact is,
Wenceslas found himself back in prison. He was collecting a lot of
very
bad tattoos and getting no tans. You know, it is sad because
Wenceslas
helped bro. Siggy to become king of Hungary.

Once more sprung from jail, Wenceslas was told to go sit in a corner
while other folks ruled. A spiritual life was all he had left. Some
of
the spirits he drank; the rest he invested in making the Church
better.
He supported the church reformers led by Jan Hus (the Hussites). In
fact, Wenceslas wrote a letter of protection for Hus when Hus was
summoned to testify about his reforms to the Catholic Church.
Wenceslas’ letter was promptly ignored and Jan Hus was burned at the
stake. The Hussites had wanted the Church to give up its wealth, to
teach what the Bible said, be more uniform and fair about  religious
judgments. This was, of course, heresy. Jan Hus, by the way, was
heavily influenced by the writings of John Wyclif. Wyclif you may
remember was protected by Joan the Fair Maid of Kent.

Anyway, the Hussites got radical for the next few years. They raged
through Prague and managed to break into a town council meeting.
Deciding, in a Christian way, not to spill any blood, the Hussites
merely threw the council members out of the windows (defenestration).
Unfortunately the council rooms were a tad high up and the council
members earned their wings.  When Wenceslas, the drunken,
ineffectual,
powerless king heard of this, his poor heart broke. He died of a
heart
attack on August 16, 1419.

Wenceslas was married twice, first to Joanna of Lower Bavaria (died
in
1386) and, from 1389, to Sophia of Bavaria. He had no children, and
the
Bohemian crown passed to Sigismund. And personally, I hope it chafed
his head and wore a bald spot on it.

What have we learned from this? History can be so cruel to kings? You
can pick your friends but you cannot pick your relatives? No matter
how
much you do for some people, they are never satisfied? How about a
quote from Harlan Ellison: "I know what love is; a boy loves his
dog."

Hey, if you are throwing these missives out the window, do keep my
name
and sig attached. If these are spamming up your windows, let me know
and I shall take you off the mailing. Do notice the new archive
location. I am doing my best to keep all of these together.

I eat my nachos grande, myself,
J.  Ellsworth Weaver

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


=====
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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