[Steppes] Period Week in Review 10-29-2006 through 11-05-2006

[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.


10-29-2006
Poland  1101 - 1200
On October 29th, 1138 - Boles?aw III Krzywousty, Duke of Poland,
died at age 53. He was Duke of Poland from 1102. He was the son
of Duke W?adys?aw I Herman and Judith of Bohemia, daughter of
Vratislaus II of Bohemia. Boles?aw Wrymouth defeated the
Pomeranians at the Battle of Nak?o (1109) and took control of
Pomerania (1119-1123), thus regaining Polish access to the
Baltic Sea. The local government of the Pomeranians was left
in place.
    Boles?aw also defeated Emperor Henry V (1109) in the Battles
of G?ogów and Psie Pole (the latter also known, in German
translation, as the Battle of Hundsfeld). In the years 1113-1119
he had taken control over Pomerania.  In 1135, Boles?aw gave
a tribute to Emperor Lothair II (Lothar von Supplinburg) and the
emperor received from Boleslaw parts of Western Pomerania
and Rügen as fiefs.
   With his first wife, Zbyslava, daughter of Grand Duke Sviatopolk
II of Kiev, Boles?aw had one son.
    Boles?aw subsequently married Salome von Berg-Schelklingen,
by whom he had 14 children: six sons and eight daughters.
     Before his death in 1138, Boles?aw Wrymouth published his
testament (Boles?aw Wrymouth's testament) dividing his lands
among four of his sons. The "senioral principle" established in the
testament stated that at all times the eldest member of the dynasty
was to have supreme power over the rest and was also to control
an indivisible "senioral part": a vast strip of land running north-south
down the middle of Poland, with Kraków its chief city.
The Senior's prerogatives also included control over Pomerania,
a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. The "senioral principle" was soon
broken, leading to a period of nearly 200 years of Poland's
feudal fragmentation.

10-30-2006
France  1501 -1600
On October 30th, 1513 - Jacques Amyot, French writer, born of poor
parents, at Melun. He found his way to the university of Paris, where he
supported himself by serving some of the richer students. He was
nineteen when he became M.A. at Paris, and later he graduated doctor
of civil law at Bourges. Through Jacques Colure (or Colin), abbot of
St. Ambrose in Bourges, he obtained a tutorship in the family of a
secretary of state. By the secretary he was recommended to
Marguerite de Valois, and through her influence was made professor
of Greek and Latin at Bourges. Here he translated Theagene et
Charidée from Heliodorus (1547), for which he was rewarded by
Francis I with the abbey of Bellozane.


11-01-2006
Italy 1501 - 1600
On November 2, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1512>1512 - The ceiling of 
the Sistine Chapel, painted by
Michelangelo, is exhibited to the public for the first time.
    In1508 Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint
the vault, or ceiling of the chapel. It took him until 1512 to complete.
To be able to reach the ceiling, Michelangelo needed a support; the
first idea was by Bramante, who wanted to build for him a special
scaffold, suspended in the air with ropes. But Michelangelo
suspected that this would leave holes in the ceiling once the work
was ended, so he built a scaffold of his own, a flat wooden platform
on brackets built out from holes in the wall, high up near the top of
the windows. He stood on this scaffolding while he painted.
    The first layer of plaster began to grow mold because it was too
wet. Michelangelo had to remove it and start again, so he tried a
new mixture of plaster, called intonaco, which was resistant to
mold. It was created by one of Michelangelo's assistants,
Jacopo l'Indaco, and is still in use today.
     Michelangelo used bright colors, easily visible from the floor.
On the lowest part of the ceiling he painted the ancestors of Christ.
Above this he alternated male and female prophets, with Jonah
over the altar. On the highest section Michelangelo painted
nine stories from the Book of Genesis.
    Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint only 12 figures,
the Apostles. He turned down the commission because he saw
himself as a sculptor, not a painter. The Pope offered to allow
Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice as a
compromise. When the work was finished there were more than
300. His figures showed the creation, Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden and the Great Flood. The sketches are very precious and
curious documents. Michelangelo used male models, even for the
females, because female models were rare and more expensive.


11-02-2006
Modern Day:
England  1501 - 1600
Sotheby's to auction letter from Catherine of Aragon,
first wife of Henry VIII. Sale Date December 11, 2006
    A letter from Catherine of Aragon pleading for help to preserve her
marriage to England's King Henry VIII will be offered at auction in
New York in December, Sotheby's said Tuesday.
The letter is part of an extraordinary batch of 31 documents owned
by a collector whose identity was not disclosed. Also up for auction
is a handwritten document by Michelangelo Buonarroti in reference
to an important commission for a church in Rome, and items from
Beethoven, Chopin, Napoleon and Stalin, the auctioneer said.
    Catherine, the first of Henry's six wives, wrote to her nephew, the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, asking him to use his influence to
persuade Pope Clement VII to resist Henry's attempts to invalidate
 the marriage. The letter is dated Feb. 8, 1534.
    Clement's rebuff of Henry led the monarch to reject papal authority,
leading to the creation of the Church of England.
    The letter has not been seen in public since it was sold at auction
in New York in 1987 for US$38,000. Sotheby's estimated the price
at the coming sale at US$100,000 or more.


11-02-1006
Modern Day
Study Reveals Why Blue Frescoes Fade
    Medieval and Renaissance Madonnas will no longer risk their vibrant
blue mantels turning into yellowish grey robes, according to U.S.
researchers who have discovered why natural ultramarine blue
sometimes fades in frescoes.
    Known as "ultramarine sickness," the irreversible form of discoloration
has been observed in frescoes at the Church of Saint Augustine in
San Gimigniano, near Siena, and in the Basilica of Assisi.
    Derived from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli
(literally "blue stone"), ultramarine blue has been one of the most
valued pigments by European painters since the late 13th century.
Since the process to extract the pigment from the mineral was very
expensive and complicated, ultramarine -- from the Latin
ultramarinus, meaning "from beyond the sea" -- was more
precious than gold.
    The use of this color was usually reserved to artworks of great
importance, such as the funeral mask of Tutankhamen. The
pigment found its most extensive use in 14th and 15th century
Italian paintings, and was often reserved for the robes and
mantels of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
    Ultramarine blue was also used by Michelangelo for the skies
of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
     To discover the mechanism behind ultramarine fading,
Jerschow and Del Federico produced frescoes with the pigment
and stored them in a chamber at 85 percent relative humidity for
two weeks. After that time, the rich and vibrant blue faded to a
yellowish grey.
     The researchers examined the simulated and degraded fresco
samples with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a technology
 that shows the structure of molecules.
     The test showed that the ultramarine's color-forming molecule,
or "chromophore," is composed of three sulfur atoms plus one
electron. Under normal conditions, the ultramarine chromophore
remains trapped in a cage of aluminum and silicon atoms.
     But the framework breaks apart if the fresco is exposed to
humidity or acids.
    "There is a release of the color forming molecules, upon which
they are oxidized to form compounds with little or slightly
yellowish color," Jerschow told Discovery News.
     The research also shed new light on Michelangelo's work in
the Sistine Chapel.
     "During the restoration of the Last Judgment, restorers found
an extra layer of ultramarine, meaning that the artist reinforced
the color... This means that Michelangelo might have experienced
some ultramarine fading when painting with humid weather,"
Del Federico told Discovery News.
      According to Mauro Bacci, head of research in structure of
matter and spectroscopy at the Italian National Research Council
in Florence, the study adds our knowledge of pigments in
artworks, but should not cause alarm among preservationists.
     "We should not worry too much about ultramarine sickness,"
Bacci told Discovery News. "It is unlikely that a fresco would
experience the same lab conditions of the test."


11-03-2006
Modern Day
England  Period Before 601
    Roman mosaics found on Quantocks
Archaeologists working on the Quantock Hills in Somerset have
uncovered evidence of a substantial Roman villa with a mosaic
floor in the main room.
    The findings are part of a six-year study carried out on six
separate sites around the area.  The dig team said the villa at
Yarford is one of the most westerly villas with mosaic floors found
in Roman Britain. It was subjected to three seasons of excavation
but has since been buried again to protect it for the future.
The excavation was jointly carried out by the University of Winchester,
Somerset County Council and English Heritage.
    Dr Keith Wilkinson, from Winchester University, said:
"This was an unexpected and exciting discovery and was an
important and significant site on this part of the Quantock Hills.
If there is one villa, then the chances are that others will be found
in due course."
    Also discovered at the Yarford dig is a large prehistoric site dating
from the Iron Age around 500 BC.


11-04-2006
Modern Day
Norway   Viking Ship Found in Larvik, coastal city
    The discovery was made during archaeological examinations of
the Nordheim Farm, which is near the Hedrum Church in Larvik.
The examinations were ordered in connection with the pending
expansion of the cemetery around Hedrum Church, which is
located a few hours' drive south of Oslo. Norwegian Broadcasting
(NRK) reported that archaeologists also found indications that
another ship is buried in the same area.
     Archaeologist Knut Paasche has been examining the area
around Nordheim Farm, near Hedrum, for Vestfold County officials.
He called Tuesday's discovery "important and interesting,"
but said it was too early to say whether the ship could be
excavated intact. He said that so many traces of the vessel were
found that it should at least be possible to describe exactly how
the ship looked.
    Archaeologists were quick to point out that the discovery of the
Viking ship wasn't comparable to the famous Oseberg or
Gokstad discoveries. The Oseberg ship, which has long been on
display in Oslo, had been buried in a valley and covered with clay,
which helped keep it so well preserved.


YIS,
 Lord Michael Kettering
  Combat Archer for the Condottieri
  King's Archer
  Steppes Deputy Knight Marshal
  Steppes Deputy Hospitaler