ANST - FW: Musing on July 2 -- Three Kings

[j'lynn yeates]

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From: Ellsworth Weaver [mailto:astroweaver at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, July 03, 2000 00:46
To: 2thpix at surfari.net
Subject: Musing on July 2 -- Three Kings


Dear Folk,

On this day July 2, at least three things happened. Probably a heck
of
a lot of great other things but shall we talk about at least these
three and the three kings they affected?

I am sure most of you remember from an earlier date my talking about
Hank VI, Lancaster king of Jolly Old England. It was noted that Hank
was a nice guy but was a lousy king. He really did not do much toward
keeping order, stability and prosperity in his realm. Instead he was
caught up in things like Bible study and trying to decide the rules
for
kids painting on scrolls. Now I want to tell you about another guy
who
opposed Hank -- Jack Cade – and his rebellion. For on this date, the
rebellion spread into London.

Jack might have been Irish, we really don’t know. What we do know is
that he sometimes went by the name of John Mortimer and fought for
France against England during the Hundred Years War. With what
England
had been doing to Ireland since King John’s time, who could blame
him?

In May 1450, Jack and some local boys decided that the nobles were
taking peasants’ land, stealing folks blind, taxing and pillaging,
forcing folks to work for nothing (we call that slavery), and the
incredibly corrupt courts which were letting all this go on. Jack
Cade’s Rebellion, as it became known, trounced the government force
at
Sevenoaks, Kent, too. Huzzah! As mentioned previously, Jack entered
London to the cheers of most. His boys forced the London authorities
to
condemn and execute both the sheriff of Kent and his father-in-law,
the
lord chamberlain under King Hank. King Hank was hurried out of the
way
to safety of Coventry. Heavy duty stuff. Everybody was ready to go
back
to business as usual but Jack pushed things too far. More violence
erupted and the good London folk thought that was bad for business.
You
know how revolutions can get in the way of the tourist trade.

The rebellion was soon in chains. Most of his men accepted pardons
and
some offered concessions by King Hank. One little whoopsy: Jack Cade
was pardoned as John Mortimer. On July 12th, 1450. the new sheriff of
Kent, deciding to rectify things and take advantage of the
opportunity
offered by that error, hunted down and killed Jack near Heathfield in
Sussex.

Now you might say that Jack Cade died in vain (or in Sussex) but that
rebellion sort of catalyzed the events which led to the rise of Dick
York (Edward IV and Richard III’s dad) and the War of the Roses. Not
only were Hank and the Lancasters of less noble blood, they were
lousy
administrators the Yorks could and did charge. So, thanks, Jack.

July 2 also marks the anniversary of the Battle of Marston Moor
(1644)
in the first English Civil War (1642 - 1646).  This was a battle
between the forces of Parliament and the Royalists (supporters of
King
Chuck I) in England. Marston Moor was a wild and windswept place
about
6 miles west of York. The folks from Parliament were lead by Lord
Fairfax. The Royalists by the 1st Earl of Newcastle. The situation in
the war had been swinging both ways for awhile until the Scots got
involved. Let’s step back for a sec and look at the cause of this
unrest.

Chuck Stuart I was a great believer of the "Divine Right of Kings."
What he took that to mean is that sure he had some responsibilities
but
he was king because God willed it so. Anyone questioning the king’s
right to sit his throne was, in essence, a heretic. Cool position if
you can get everybody to go along with it. Remember that Chuck came
from the Scottish Stuarts who gave England King James (yes, the guy
who
commission the Bible to be translated) right after Lizzie I died
childless. Okay, we all know Lizzie probably was Francis Bacon’s mom
but...oh, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that, was I? Forget about
that,
okay? Anyway, these nice Scottish folk were heavy into religion and
being king.

Problem was we had had so many other rebellions against bad rule
there
in England from King John and his baron’s war to Jack Cade. The
Divine
Right thing just was not flying, especially not with the Parliament
who
had gotten stronger under Lizzie.

Back to Marston. Newcastle was aided by Prince Rupert and they were
opposed by the Parliament forces aided by the Scots. Now you might
ask
why the Scots were fighting against the Stuarts who were Scottish.
The
answer is a long one but suffice it to say Scots like fighting
everybody second only to fighting other Scots. Besides Chuck had
gotten
himself too far away from Scottish ways. He was pretty darn
Frenchified
to the mind of many a single malt drinker. Prince Rupert and
Newcastle
decided that being holed-up in York was not a good idea and decided
to
head out of town where they could commence to mash and bash these
upstarts.

It was nasty and darkening when the Royalist forces finally got to
the
site. Raining. It was obviously too nasty to fight, the ground was
all
slippery and unsafe. Probably best just to pitch a tent and relax
until
morning. Darn it! Nobody told Fairfax and the Parliamentarians (what
a
wuss name! hard to even fit on a uniform much less as a battle cry.)
Fairfax and company fell upon the Royalists. Slaying was the order of
the evening. Rain and bad weather eventually did not bother any
further
6000 late human beings. Most of the dead were Royalists, especially
their officers and experienced troops. The Royalists decided York was
not such a fun place and left quickly.

Two years later Chuck I surrendered to the Scots. The Scots turned
around and sold Chuck to Parliament for 400,000 pounds. That is a ton
o’money even today. Chuck made an escape to the Isle of Wight in
November 1647. The Scots switched sides to fight for Chuck in order
to
get some English property in July 1648. Oliver Cromwell beat the
Scots
at the Battle of Preston in August 1648. King Chuck lost his crown
and
what was holding it January 30th, 1649. Sigh.

I cannot let today go by without noting the passing of a sweetheart
of
a guy named Michel in 1566. He was born 14th December 1503 near
Avignon. He was a clairvoyant, an astrologer, a doctor of medicine, a
cosmetician, and a considerable historian. His grandfather, a Jew,
taught him Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and astrology / astronomy. He even
had
some luck at treating plague victims. Obviously a bad guy. Michel
(Mike
to us who knew him) did lose his wife and kids to the plague and his
father-in-law sued him to recover the dowry he had put up. And you
thought that unfair legal suits are new. He also upheld the heretical
viewpoint that the earth orbited the sun (this was 100 years before
Galileo, by the way.)

A chance remark caused Mike a bit of trouble. He told an "artist"
casting some bronze statue of the Virgin that the artist "was making
devils." He meant it as a critique of the artwork not because he
wasn’t
down with the BVM, honest. Because of his astrology and because his
family had been Jewish until pious Christians with swords and other
devices convince them to see the light, the Inquistion did think they
ought to torture him a might to see if they could get him back in
line.
Mike took off and hit the road. Sort of staying out of churches.

Queen Kate de Medici could not get enough of him. Mike predicted her
hubby’s death, Hank II with the splintered lance (remember?) and that
all her sons would be king. Well, he missed on one of them, Frank
snuffed before he could inherit. It is said that Hank II was not much
interested in Mike’s predictions. However, later on Kate even gave
Mike
a title of Physician in Ordinary, which carried with it a salary and
other bennies.

Sadly though, Mike passed away on this date July 2 leaving behind the
12 volumes of prophecies covering thousands of years into his future.
No other prophet since has covered such a large span of time. His
book
The Centuries contains 965 quantrains written in the latter part of
his
life. Oh, most folks called Mike by his Latinized last name:
Nostradamus.

What have we learned? Divine rights of kings only work when all the
folks believe it? In-laws should be outlawed? Scotsmen can attack at
night and may switch sides to boot? Stay out of churches if you are
an
astrologer? Always make sure they spell your name right in the papers
and on the papers? I think I like: Kings who do not pay attention get
whacked.

Don’t you get whacked out there. I need the audience. Send me your
impressions, comments, praise, room keys. And when you forward these,
and I know you will, please be gentle and keep my name and email on
it.
Thanks.

Celebrate your interdependence,
Ellsworth

BTW See "Chicken Run" -- funnier than you would believe.

=====
"That proves you are unusual," returned the Scarecrow; "and I am
convinced that the only people worthy of consideration in this world
are the unusual ones. For the common folks are like the leaves of a
tree, and live and die unnoticed." -- L. Frank Baum in _The Land of
Oz_

__________________________________________________
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http://invites.yahoo.com/

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