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<P> Are steak and potatoes period? Does it really matter? But,
for those who are interested, by 1587 tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and tobacco
smoking were in common usage among the educated members of the nobility of
Europe (what would today be called the yuppies of their time); as was knowledge
of the Americas, Indians, and slavery.</P>
<P> Also for those who are interested, there is a lot which
was period, but is widely overlooked or ignored in the Society. It does not
require special, out of print books to find this knowledge either. All it takes
is a visit to the local encyclopedia, and a little digging into different
libraries (colleges and universities are a great source).</P>
<P> One of the most "out of period" things we do is
being crowned by right of arms in a tournament. (I have never been able to
find even one reference to a person, in or out of period, being crowned in a
tournament.) As early as 1066 and the Battle of Hastings newly crowned
kings were admitting that it was the army that made kings and monarchs, not
their individual prowess on the field. Kings, or those desiring to be king, for
the most part, were rarely in the forefront of the battle (yes, I know that
there are those of you who will now quote me different battles where the King is
shown in tapestries in the front of the battle, but as I said, for the most part
they were not allowed to risk their lives by their own men).</P>
<P> After the Battle of Hastings, most of them stayed in the
back and discussed strategy with their nobles, basically directed the battles,
and came out for the capture or killing of the enemy leaders later on. The power
of the nobles to make kings was first demonstrated in the European theater when
William I was forced to sign a battle field charter giving his nobles the right
to be a part of the ruling decisions, and the chopping away of the power of the
monarchy (at least in English and Scottish history) continued until a King could
not even pay his men without approval of the parliament..</P>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1215 - King John of England signs the Magna Carta. Ends
"Divine Right of Kings"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1258 - Provisions of Oxford</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1259 - Provisions of Westminster</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1264 - Simon de Montfort and the English barons defeat
Henry III at the Battle of Lewes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1265 - Simon de Montfort is killed at the Battle of
Evesham.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1290 - Edward I expels the Jews from
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1297 - William Wallace expels the English from
Scotland.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1298 - English king Edward I defeats William Wallace
and reconquers Scotland.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1306 - Robert the Bruce leads the Scots in a rebellion
against English rule.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1314 - The Scots defeat the English at the Battle of
Bannockburn.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1381 - The Peasants' Revolt begins in
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1455 - The Wars of the Roses begin in
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1485 - Established "Power of the Purse"
(House of Commons generates revenue bills)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1492 - Christopher Columbus sails from Spain to the New
World.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas establishes a boundary
between New World discoveries.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1496 - The first description of the tobacco plant
appears in Europe.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1498 - Columbus lands on the coast of South America
during his third voyage.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1500 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral lays claim to
Brazil for Portugal.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1501 - Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci explores
Brazil.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1502 - Columbus sails on his fourth voyage of
discovery.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1503 - Juan Bermudez lands on the island of Bermuda,
which is named for him.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1503 - The Spanish crown approves encomienda (enforced
slavery) in the American </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
colonies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1506 - Christopher Columbus dies in
poverty.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1507 - Cartographer Martin Waldseemuller uses the word
America on a map for the first </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
time.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1509 - Henry VIII succeeds his father Henry VII as king
of England.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1509 - The first sugar cane mill is established in the
Americas.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1510 - The English morality play Everyman is adapted
from an earlier Dutch work.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1511 - Father Antonio de Montesinos when he
successfully argued that Indians are men, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
which thereby established their humanity among Europeans.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1512 - Pope Julius II issued a decree establishing the
humanity of Indians in the eyes of </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Christianity.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1513 - Italian political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli
writes The Prince.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon lands on the
coast of Florida.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1513 - Vasco Nunez de Balboa becomes the first European
to sight the Pacific Ocean.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1514 - Bartolome de Las Casas tries to improve the
treatment of South American Indians.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1514 - Spanish conquistadors under Diego Velazquez de
Cuellar conquer Cuba.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1515 - The building of Hampton Court is begun in
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1515 - Thomas Wolsey is appointed Lord Chancellor of
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1516 - English intellectual and statesman Sir Thomas
More writes Utopia.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1517 - Theologian Martin Luther displays his 95 theses
at Wittenberg in Germany.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1518 - Spanish conquistador Pedro de Alvarado explores
the Yucatan Peninsula.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1519 - Panama City is founded by the Spanish in Central
America.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1519 - Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes meets the
Aztec leader Montezuma in </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Mexico.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1521 - Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes conquers the
Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1523 - Spanish settlements are established in
Venezuela.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1523 - Verrazano wrote of the Delaware and
Narrangansett that "they are the most </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
beautiful and have the most civil customs that we have
encountered."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1524 - Giovanni da Verrazano discovers New York Bay and
the Hudson River.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1529 - Henry VIII dismisses Cardinal Wolsey for failing
to secure his divorce.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1532 - Thomas Cromwell becomes chief minister to Henry
VIII of England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1533 - Francisco Pizarro conquers the Incas in Peru;
the Inca leader Atahulpa is executed.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1533 - Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon and
marries Anne Boleyn.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1533 - The Church of England breaks with
Rome.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1535 - English humanist and statesman Thomas More is
executed.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1535 - Iroquois teach the French to use white cedar tea
to fight scurvy</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier navigates the
St. Lawrence River in Canada.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1535 - Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro discovers
Chile.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1535 - Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founds
the city of Lima in Peru.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1536 - Dissolution of the monasteries and nunneries
begins in England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1536 - Henry VIII executes Anne Boleyn and marries Jane
Seymour.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1536 - Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza founds
Buenos Aries in Argentina.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1537 - Niccolo Tartaglia publishes his work on
ballistics The New Science.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1538 - The Spanish found the city of Bogota in
Columbia.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - de Soto encounters a Woman Chieftain in the
Creek town of Cofitachequi, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Camden, South Carolina.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - Coronado explores the American southwest in
search of the fabled cities of Cibola.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - Henry VIII executes his principal minister
Thomas Cromwell.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves; he is
divorced and marries Catherine Howard.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - Hernando de Soto defeats the Choctaw Indians
under Chief Tuscaloosa.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1540 - The Grand Canyon is discovered by Garcia Lopez
de Cardenas.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1541 - Geneva becomes the center of
Calvinism.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1541 - Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founds
the city of Santiago in Chile.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovers the
Mississippi River.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1542 - Catherine Howard is executed by Henry
VIII.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1542 - Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana discovers
the Amazon River.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1543 - Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr, his sixth
wife.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1543 - The first single-cast cannon is made in
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1545 - Henry VIII's warship the Mary Rose sinks near
Portsmouth in England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1545 - Silver mines are discovered in Bolivia; the city
of Potosi is founded.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1547 - Henry VIII dies and is succeeded by Edward VI as
king of England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1549 - English theologian Thomas Cranmer promotes the
Book of Common Prayer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1550 - Pedro de Valdivia founds the city of Concepcion
in Chile.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1550 - Tobacco smoking is introduced into Spain and
Portugal.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1551 - The University of Mexico is
founded.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1553 - Edward VI dies; Lady Jane Grey rules England but
is deposed after 9 days.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1553 - Mary I (Bloody Mary) becomes queen of
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1553 - The Araucanian Indian Lautaro kills Pedro de
Valdivia during an uprising in Chile.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1553 - The English Muscovy Company begin the search for
a Northeast Passage to the </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Indies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1554 - Mary I, Queen of England, marries Philip, heir
to the Spanish throne.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1554 - The Catholic restoration begins in England under
Mary I.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1554 - Tomatoes from South America are cultivated in
Europe.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1555 - 300 English Protestants are burned at the
stake.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1556 - Protestant theologian Thomas Cranmer is executed
by Mary I.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1557 - The Portuguese establish a settlement at Macao
in China.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1558 - Elizabeth I succeeds Mary I as queen of
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1558 - Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the French dauphin
Francis II.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1558 - The English lose Calais, their last French
possession.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1559 - Calvinist preacher John Knox returns to Scotland
to lead the Protestant struggle.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1561 - Mary, Queen of Scots, returns from France to
Scotland.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1562 - French Huguenots attempt to colonize
Florida.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1562 - Sir John Hawkins begins the slave trade between
Africa and the West Indies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1564 - Spain founds the first European settlement in
the U.S. at Saint Augustine in </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Florida.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1564 - The manufacture of lead (graphite) pencils
begins in England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1565 - The Spanish massacre French Huguenot settlers in
Florida.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate in
favor of her son James VI.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1567 - The Portuguese oust Huguenot settlers and found
the city of Rio de Janeiro in </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
Brazil.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1568 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is imprisoned in England
for 19 years by Elizabeth I.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1569 - Cartographer Gerardus Mercator uses the first
cylindrical projection for a world </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
map.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1569 - Jacques Besson develops the first screw-cutting
lathe.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1570 - Nicholas Hilliard paints a miniature portrait of
Elizabeth I.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1573 - The potato is brought back from the Americas and
cultivated in Spain.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1575 - Indian leader Hiawatha allegedly founds the
Iroquois League.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1576 - Martin Frobisher commands an expedition to
search for a Northwest Passage.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1576 - The Dutch provinces unite to drive out the
Spanish.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1576 - The first playhouse, the Theater, is erected by
actor James Burbage in London.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1577 - English explorer Francis Drake begins his voyage
of circumnavigation.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1578 - English dramatist John Lyly writes Euphues, the
Anatomy of Wit.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1579 - English explorer Francis Drake discovers San
Francisco Bay.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1580 - Witches are persecuted throughout western
Europe.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1582 - Geographer Richard Hakluyt publishes an account
of the discovery of America.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for
England.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1584 - Walter Raleigh and Richard Grenville organize
English colonizing ventures to </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT
color=#000000>
North America.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1585 - England is at war with Spain (until
1604).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1585 - John Davis discovers Davis Strait between
Greenland and North America.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1585 - Roanoke Island in North Carolina is settled as
the first English colony in Virginia.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1586 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is found guilty of treason
and executed (1587).</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1586 - Pipe smoking is introduced into
England.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1587 - Francis Drake attacks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz
harbor.</FONT></DIV><B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1587 - North Carolina Indians introduce English to
corn.</FONT></DIV></B>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English
navy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1588 - Timothy Bright composes the first manual of
shorthand.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1590 - Christopher Marlowe's drama Tamburlaine the
Great is published in London.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1590 - William Shakespeare begins writing plays about
this time.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1590 - English poet Edmund Spenser begins The Faerie
Queene.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1591 - The Roanoke colony dies out in North
Carolina.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1592 - Elizabeth I founds Trinity College in
Dublin.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000000>1600 - A charter is granted to the East India Company
by Queen Elizabeth I.</FONT></DIV>
<P> So, what does this all mean? Applaud and enjoy the efforts
of those who are willing to take on the task of working to put on an event. Let
those who wish to strive for more authenticity do so. Let those who are just
there to have fun do so. Just try to remember that it is the atmosphere and
attitudes which are just as important in creating the Dream as it is anything
else.</P>
<P>y Spyke</P>
<P>(timeline courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica, Groliers, the history library
of the University of Washington, Libbrary of COngress, Senior Thesis:
<EM>Decline in the Power of the European Monarchy 1066-1701</EM> James Earl
Atkinson, University of Washington, March, 1998, and Senior Research
Dissertation: <EM>Influences of Native American Tribal Societies on European
Cultures.1492-1800</EM>, James Earl Atkinson, University of Washington, June,
1998.)</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>