[Steppes] Period Week in Review 08-13-2006 thru 08-19-2006

[Mike]

Heilsa,

Hope the reader will enjoy this look at History
within Period - both from the past and the present
as it affects the history that is known today.

Week in Review 08-13  through 08-19:

August 13th:
Italy  0501- 0600
On August 13th, 0523   Pope John I elected. Pope John I was
Pope from 523 to 526. He was a native of Tuscany, and was
very old and frail by the time he was elected to the papacy.
Despite his protests, he was sent by the Arian King Theodoric
the Great of the Ostrogoths to Constantinople to secure a
moderation of Emperor Justin's decree of 523 against the
Arians. Theodoric threatened that if John should fail in his
mission, there would be reprisals against the orthodox
Catholics in the West. When Pope John returned to Ravenna,
Theodoric's capital, Theodoric had John arrested on the
suspicion of having conspired with Emperor Justin. He was
imprisoned at Ravenna, where he died of neglect and ill
treatment. His body was transported to Rome and buried in the
Basilica of St. Peter. John I is depicted in art as looking
through the bars of a prison or imprisoned with a deacon
and a subdeacon. He is venerated at Ravenna and in Tuscany.

August 14th:
Japan  1201 - 1300
On August 14th, 1281   During the second Mongol attempt to
conquer Japan, Kublai Khan's invading fleet disappeared in
typhoon off of Japan, leaving them to death or slavery. This
famous typhoon referred to as kamikaze, translating as divine
wind in Japanese, is attributed to devastating the second
Mongol invasion forces who invaded in the spring of 1281,
although some scholars assert that the defensive measures
the Japanese built on the island of Kyushu may have been
adequate to repel the invaders. The Mongol army of 45,000
from Korea had joined an armada with 120,000 men from
southern China landing at Hakozaki Bay. Although the
Japanese were successful in stopping the Mongols, the
invasion attempt had devastating domestic repercussions,
leading to the extinction of the Kamakura shogunate.

August 15th:
Eurasia (Eastern Europe/Western Asia)  1101 - 1200
On August 15th, 1185   The cave city of Vardzia was consecrated
by Queen Tamar of Georgia. Cave City of Vardzia (41°22?31?N,
43°15?27?E, Georgian ??????) is a cave monastery dug into the
side of the Erusheli mountain in south Georgia near Aspindza.
The monastery consisted of over six thousand apartments
created as protection from Mongols into the hidden thirteen floors
high complex. The city included a church, throne room, and a
complex irrigation system watering terraced farmlands. Only
access to the complex was through some well hidden tunnels
near the Mtkvari river. An earthquake in Samtskhe destroyed
approximately two thirds of the city in 1283, exposing the caves
to outside view and collapsing the irrigation system. The church
was reinforced and an externally visible bell tower added during
the reign of Beka Jakheli in the thirteenth century. Persians
commanded by Shah Tahmasp I raided the monastery in 1551,
capturing all important icons and effectively ending the life of the
monastery. In the modern days Vardzia is a major tourist
attraction in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. The
place is maintained by a small group of monks and can be
visited for a small fee. Marshrutkas go to Vardzia daily from the
city of Akhaltsikhe. About three hundred apartments and halls
remain visitable, and in some tunnels the old irrigation pipes
still bring drinkable water.

August 16th:
Modern Day
Celts' warpaint may be weapon to beat cancer
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor  Woad, the warpaint of ancient
Britons and Celts, could become another weapon in the fight
against breast cancer. New research has found that the plant,
Isatis tinctoria, a member of the cabbage family, has 20 times
more of an anti-cancer chemical than its cousin broccoli,
already the subject of research. The chemical glucobrassicin,
one of a group of compounds called glucosinolates, acts
against oestrogen in the human body, which can promote the
growth of breast cancer. One problem has been the difficulty of
extracting enough glucobrassicin from broccoli for research
studies. So woad, recently displayed by Mel Gibson in the film
Braveheart, may be a better alternative, scientists say. If it were
to become a treatment for breast cancer then very large
quantities would be needed for studies. Research, reported
in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, tested
different ways of growing woad to maximise the presence of
glucobrassicin. Dr Stefania Galletti, of the University of Bologna,
Italy, grew woad under glass and in different outdoor conditions.
She found that if young woad leaves were deliberately damaged
they produced 65 times more glucobrassicin, almost certainly
as a defence mechanism by the plant, making it more of a
commercial proposition. She says they have shown that
glucobrassicin is "easily obtainable at low cost" if the leaves a
re damaged. "The crop cycle is very short since the treatment is
performed on young plants but it could be hypothetically
repeated after the first collection of the newly formed leaves,
making successive harvests on the same crop [possible],"
she says. The potential for woad is being taken seriously by
cancer researchers. The group of drugs known as taxanes,
for example, derived from yew, have been found to be a powerful
form of chemotherapy and are now widely used in the treatment
of ovarian and breast cancer. Dr Kat Arney, the cancer
information officer at the research charity Cancer Research UK,
said: "The natural world is a rich source of molecules that can
benefit human health. "This new way of growing woad, a plant
from the same family as cauliflower, could allow researchers to
get hold of larger quantities of potential anti-cancer agents.
"These can then be tested further in the lab and in patients.
Chemicals like these could one day prove to have an important
part to play in the prevention and treatment of cancer."

August 17th:
Hundred Years' War 1401 - 1500
On August 17th, 1424   The Battle of Verneuil (occasionally 'Vernuil')
was a battle of the Hundred Years' War, fought Verneuil in Normandy
and was a significant English victory. At 4pm on August 17th, 1424,
as if by some prearranged signal, the two hosts advanced
simultaneously. Once Bedford had taken his troops within arrow
range he ordered a halt and the archers started to drive their stakes
into the ground, a simple but effective device for snaring cavalry.
The ground had been baked hard by the summer sun, and the
stakes could only be forced in with difficulty. Seeing an opportunity
the French began an immediate charge out of synchronisation with
the Scots division. The archers on Bedford's extreme right were
caught off balance, allowing the French cavalry to break through
their ranks, leaving that flank dangerously exposed. The opportunity
was lost when the cavalry failed to wheel round. They continued
their charge away towards the baggage train to the north, while
the men-at-arms in Bedford's division began a spirited attack on
the French infantry to their front. Unable to withstand the onslaught
Narbonne's division broke and was chased back to Verneuil, where
many, including Aumale, were drowned in the moat. Having
disposed of the French, Bedford called a halt to the pursuit and
returned to the battlefield, where Salisbury was closely engaged
with the Scots, now standing alone. The Lombard cavalry, anxious
that their French counterparts were poised to take all the spoils,
charged round the English left flank towards the baggage. By the
time they arrived the French had been driven off by Bedford's
reserve, soon to be followed by the Lombards. Having tasted
blood the reserve decided on their own initiative to enter the main
battle, advancing on the unsupported Scottish right wing. The Battle
of Verneuil reached its closing stages when Bedford returned from
the south to take the Scots in the rear. Now almost completely
surrounded the Scots made a ferocious last stand. Verneuil was
one of the bloodiest battles of the Hundred Years War, described
by the English as a second Agincourt. Altogether some 6000
allied troops were killed, including 4000 Scots, the English lost
1600 men, an unusually high figure for them, far greater than their
losses at Agincourt, indicating the ferocity of the fight. The Tyneman
fought on the losing side for the last time, joined in death by the earl
of Buchan. The Army of Scotland had been severely mauled; but it
was not yet ready to march out of history. Greatly saddened by the
catastrophe at Verneuil Charles continued to honour the survivors,
one of whom, John Carmichael of Douglasdale, the chaplain of the
dead Douglas, was created Bishop of Orleans.


August 18th:
Modern Day
Korea  0901 - 1400  10th Century Korean Palace to be Excavate
On August 18th    Teams of experts from North and South Korea will
band together to excavate the ancient site of the Koryo Kingdom
in North Korea. The site is the location of a royal palace and tombs
constructed in the 10th century CE. Scholars from the two Koreas
will begin a joint excavation of a historical site in Kaesong, North
Korea starting early next month. A group of historians from the two
Koreas will jointly research a historical site of the ancient Koryo
Kingdom, the Cultural Heritage Administration, a South Korean
governmental body that leads the project, said Thursday. The two
Koreas agreed to conduct the excavation at their latest ministerial
meeting in April. Preparations are already under way, and South
Korean scholars will visit the site on July 3 for the project, which
will continue through Sept 2. The site in Kaesong, which lies a few
kilometers from the inter-Korean border, is the location of
Manwoldae, the ancient kingdom's royal palace. Korean scholars
have applied to UNESCO to designate the site as a World Cultural
Heritage. In 2004, UNESCO designated the royal tombs of the
Koguryo Kingdom in North Korea as a World Cultural Heritage.
As the city was the capital of the kingdom from 918 to 1361, it is
believed to contain important relics and remains from the kingdom.
Located beneath Mt. Songak, the royal palace was built in 919 but
was destroyed in 1361 when China invaded Korea. According to
historical records, the royal buildings were arranged in the form of
stairs on a piece of land 445-meters wide and 150-meters long.
The buildings had 13 castle wall gates and 15 palace gates.

August 19th:
Poland  1501 - 1600
On August 19th, 1587   Sigismund III was chosen to be the king of
Poland. In 1587, he was a candidate for the monarch of
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the death of previous
Polish king, Stefan Batory. The election was held in the shadow
of conflict between the Polish nobility (szlachta), with the two
opposing sides gathered around Chancellor Jan Zamoyski and
the Zborowscy family. Sigismund, supported by Zamoyski and
the former king's wife, Anna Jagiellon, was elected King of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commnwealth on 19 August 1587 and
recognized as such by the interrex, the Primate of Poland,
Stanis?aw Karnkowski.



YIS,
 Lord Michael Kettering