[Steppes] Period Week in Review 11-06-2006 through 11-11-2006

[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.


11-06-2006
Modern Day
Sweden   Viking Age
    Swedish experts have confirmed the finding of over 1,000
Viking-era silver coins after their chance discovery by two brothers
on the Swedish island of Gotland.
    The treasure was believed to have been buried in the 10th century
and weighed about 3 kilos (7 pounds), local curator Majvor Ostergren
told the TT news agency.
    Edvin Sandborg, 20, and his 17-year-old brother Arvid dug up more
than 100 coins on Monday last week, while helping their neighbour
with his garden.
    "Completely by accident I found an Arabic silver coin that's about
1,100 years old," Edvin Sandborg told TT.
    The brothers contacted the local council and archaeologists are
now close to completing their excavation of the site, TT said.
Most of the coins were recovered in relatively good condition.
    The two brothers were in line for a finder's fee from the government,
although the precise amount of the reward was not yet known,
officials said. Over 700 Viking treasure troves have been found on
the island of Gotland, which lies off Sweden's east coast.
     The world's largest known Viking hoard was found on the island
in 1997. The find included coins and jewelry, amounting to about
65 kilos (143 pounds) of silver and 20 kilos (44 pounds) of bronze.
The government awarded the finder 2.1 million kronor
(290,00 dollars, 228,000 euros), TT said.

11-07-2006
Luxemburg  0701 - 0800
On November 7th, 0739   Saint Willibrord, Bishop of Utrecht,
Apostle of the Frisians, and son of St. Hilgis, died at
Echternach, Luxemburg, 7 Nov., 739. Willibrord made his early
studies at the Abbey of Ripon near York, as a disciple of St. Wilfrid,
and then entered the Benedictine Order. When twenty years old he
went to Ireland and spent twelve years in the Abbey of Rathmelsigi
(identified by some as Mellifont in Co. Louth) under St. Egbert.
 >From him Willibrord and eleven companions received the mission
to Frisia, at the request of Pepin. They came to Utrecht but did not
remain there, repairing to the court of Pepin. In 692 Willibrord went to
Rome, received Apostolic authorization, and returned to his
missionary labours. At the wish of Pepin he went for a second time to
Rome, was consecrated Bishop of the Frisians by Sergius III
(21 Nov., 695) in the Church of St. Cecilia, and given the name of
Clement. He also received the pallium from the pope. On his return
he laboured among the people assigned to him; to raise recruits for
future apostolic work he founded a monastery at Utrecht, where also
he built a church in honour of the Holy Redeemer and made it his
cathedral. In 698 he established an abbey at the Villa Echternach on
the Sure; this villa had been presented to him by St. Irmina, daughter
of St. Dagobert II, the donation being legally confirmed in 706.
    When Radbod gained possession of all Frisia (716) Willibrord was
obliged to leave, and Radbod destroyed most of the churches,
replaced them by temples and shrines to the idols, and killed many
of the missionaries. Willibrord and his companions made trips
between the Maas and the Waal, to the North of Brabant, in Thuringia
and Geldria, but met with no success in Denmark and Helgoland. After
the death of Radbod he returned (719) and repaired the damages
done there, being ably assisted in this work by St. Boniface.
Numberless conversions were the result of their labour. Willibrord
frequently retired to the Abbey of Echternach to provide more
particularly for his own soul; he was buried in the oratory of this abbey,
and after death was almost immediately honoured as a saint. Some
relics were distributed in various churches, but the greater part
remained at the abbey. On 19 Oct., 1031, the relics were placed in a
shrine under the main altar of the new basilica. His feast is celebrated
on 7 Nov., but in England, by order of Leo XIII, on 29 Nov. Since his
burial Echternacht has been a place of pilgrimage, and Alcuin
mentions miracles wrought there. The old church was restored in 1862
and consecrated in Sept., 1868. Another solemn translation of the
relics took place on 4 June, 1906, from the Church of St. Peter to the
new basilica. On this occasion occurred also the annual procession
of the holy dancers (see ECHTERNACH, ABBEY OF. --
The Dancing Procession). 
Five bishops in full pontificals assisted; engaged in the dance were
2 Swiss guards, 16 standard-bearers, 3045 singers, 136 priests,
426 musicians, 15,085 dancers, and 2032 players


11-08-2006
Modern Day
Roman Empire   Vote for Politicus!
   THE MID-TERM campaigns have offered up perhaps the most
venomous volleys of political advertising in U.S. history.
    Everything from race, sexual appetite, corruption and patriotism
has been fodder for mudslinging and nastiness. And the many
modes of transmitting the negative words and pictures, from
broadcast and print to the Internet, ensure that Americans will be
inundated with personal attacks on opponents right up to the
election, day and night.
    Yet as Americans ponder how much of it is true and how much
pure vindictive blather, we might note that we're rather backward
compared to the pointed, frank and refreshingly honest political ads
of the Romans more than 1,900 years ago. True, there were no TV
sets or print ads. But the citizens were fairly literate and involved in
daily life. They met in public forums, and debated the wisdom of
their politicians.
    And when it came to swaying elections, the Roman "ad men" used
walls, creating graffiti as well as paintings and formal signs. The
remains of Pompeii, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79
A.D., provide us with examples of Roman political advertising copy.
    We may think that political action committees, 527s and
special-interest groups are modern inventions. Not so. Look at one
group that supported Marcus Priscus for duovir, or magistrate:
"The fruit dealers... unanimously urge the election of Marcus Holconius
Priscus as duovir." It should be noted that, for similar offices, the
goldsmiths wanted Gaius Cuspius Pansa and the mule drivers
"urged the election of Gaius Julius Polybius."
    Often, advertising was done by individuals and was of a personal
nature. Someone who agreed with the muleteers wrote:
"I ask you to elect Gaius Julius Polybius... he gets good bread."
Another wrote: "If upright living is considered any recommendation,
Lucretius Fronto is well worthy of the office." That sure has a modern
ring to it.
    Today, media buyers worry about their ads appearing at the right
time in front of the right audience. In Pompeii, some worried about
their ads lasting out the day.
    One wrote: "His neighbors urge you to elect Lucius Statius
Receptus duovir with judicial power; he is worthy. Aemilius Celer,
a neighbor, wrote this. May you take sick if you maliciously erase
this!"
    In today's elections, any dark past of a candidate is carefully
concealed by managers and handlers. But the ancient Romans had
no problem advertising what a candidate was really about. Two
happy-spirited writers thought they could help their candidate by
writing, "We ask you to elect Marcus Cerrinius Vatia to the aedileship.
All the late drinkers support him." And one unsavory group let its
feelings be known with the line: "Petty thieves support Vatia for the
aedileship." Or perhaps Vatia's opponents wrote it - we'll never know.
    In the modern era, we continue to be inundated with ads pushing
the best and worst qualities of the ambitious and egocentric -
whether those qualities are accurate or fabricated is academic.
    We haven't quite gotten to the point where a weary public finally
cries, "Enough!" and demands a better form of political education
that avoids having to slither in the gutter.
    But it may have happened in Pompeii. One anonymous writer
probably reached the point of "ad exhaustion" - maybe ad
nauseam is more appropriate - when he wrote: "I wonder,
O wall, that you have not fallen in ruins from supporting the
stupidities of so many scribblers."


11-09-2006
Spain  1201 - 1300
On November 9th, 1208, Sancha of Castile, known also as
Infanta Sancha of Castile, died at age 54. She was the only child of
King Alfonso VII of Castile by his second queen, Richeza of Poland,
who was the daughter of Vladislav II, Duke of Silesia.
    On January 18, 1174 in Saragossa she married King Alfonso II of
Aragon. They had 9 children, including Peter II of Aragon, Alfonso's
successor to the throne of Aragon and Catalonia, Alfonso of Aragon,
Count of Provence (1176 - 1209), Ferdinando (1190 - 1249),
who became the Cisterican abbot of Montearagon, and four daughters.
A patroness of troubadours such as Giraud de Calanson and Peire
Raymond, the queen became involved in a legal dispute with her
husband concerning properties which formed part of her dower
estates. In 1177 she entered the county of Ribagorza and took forcible
possession of various castles and fortresses which had belonged to
the crown there.
    After her husband died at Perpignan in 1196, Sancha was relegated
to the background of political affairs by her son Pedro II, and she
retired from court, withdrawing to the abbey of Nuestra Senora,
at Sijena, which she had founded. There she assumed the cross of
the Order of St John of Jerusalem which she wore till the end of her
life. The queen mother entertained her widowed daughter Queen
Constanza of Hungary (1179 - 1222) at Sijena prior to her leaving
Aragon for her marriage with the emperor Frederick II in 1208. She
died soon afterwards, aged fifty-four, and was interred before the high
altar of the church at Sijena. a.


11-10-2006
Modern Day
Kazahkstan
Early Horse Domestication Evidence in Kazahkstan
    Soil from a Copper Age site in northern Kazakhstan has yielded new
evidence for domesticated horses up to 5,600 years ago.
The discovery, consisting of phosphorus-enriched soils inside what
appear to be the remains of horse corrals beside pit houses,
matches what would be expected from Earth once enriched by horse
manure. The Krasnyi Yar site was inhabited by people of the Botai
culture of the Eurasian Steppe, who relied heavily on horses for
food, tools, and transport.
    "There's very little direct evidence of horse domestication," says
Sandra Olsen, an archaeologist and horse domestication
researcher at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in
Pittsburgh, PA. That's because 5,600 years ago there were no
saddles or metal bits to leave behind. Equipment like bridles,
leads, and hobbles would have been made from thongs of horse
hide, and would have rotted away long ago. Likewise horses
themselves have not changed much physically as a result of
domestication, unlike dogs or cattle. So ancient horse bones
don't easily reveal the secrets of domestication.
    With research funding from the National Science Foundation,
Olsen's team took a different tack. They looked for circumstantial
evidence that people were keeping horses. One approach was to
survey the Krasnyi Yar site with instruments to map out subtle
electrical and magnetic irregularities in the soils. With this they
were able to identify the locations of 54 pit houses and dozens of
post moulds where vertical posts once stood. Some of the post
moulds were arranged circularly, as would be most practical for a corral.
    Next, geologist Michael Rosenmeier from the University of
Pittsburgh collected soil samples from inside the fenced area and
outside the settlement. The samples were analyzed for nitrogen,
phosphorus, potassium, and sodium concentrations by Rosemary
Capo, University of Pittsburgh geochemist, and her students.
Modern horse manure is rich in phosphorous, potassium, and
especially nitrogen, compared to undisturbed soils. But because
nitrogen is mobile in soils, it can be lost to groundwater or
transferred to the atmosphere by organic and inorganic processes.
Phosphorus, on the other hand, can be locked into place by calcium
and iron and is more likely to be preserved in the soils for millennia.
     As it turned out, the soil from inside the alleged corral had up to 
ten
times the phosphorus concentration as the soils from outside the
settlement. Lots of phosphorus can also indicate a hearth, said Capo,
but that phosphorus is usually accompanied by a lot of potassium,
which is not the case in the corral at Krasnyi Yar.
    The corral soils also had low nitrogen concentrations, says Capo,
reducing the likelihood that the phosphorus came from more recent
manure. "That's good, actually," she said of the recently completed
nitrogen analyses. "It suggests we've got old stuff."
    Even more compelling will be if we find long-lived molecules of fat,
or lipids, directly attributed to horse manure in the soils, says Olsen.
    Early as the Botai were, they were probably not the first to
domesticate horses, says Olsen. "The very first horse domestication
was probably a bit earlier in Ukraine or western Russia," she said.
"Then some horse-herders migrated east to Kazakhstan."
    Horses allowed the Botai to build large perennial villages with, in
one case, hundreds of homes. They did so without the benefit of
agriculture, Olsen explained, as theirs was a horse economy.
    The Botai were able to stay put year-round because horses are
very well adapted to cold winters, she said. "Horses can survive ice
storms and don't need heated barns or winter fodder," Olsen said.
They are, in fact, some of the last remaining large, Ice Age,
Pleistocene mammals living in one of the last places on Earth
where Pleistocene vegetation survives. Because they were
domesticated, the horses supplied meat year-round and vitamin-rich
mare's milk from spring  through fall. "No one in their right mind
would try to milk a wild mare," said Olsen.
    There is also evidence that the Botai were carrying a lot of heavy
material, like rocks and large skulls, over long distances. That is a
lot more practical and explicable if they used pack horses.
    Later people of the same region adopted shepherding and cattle
raising, said Olsen. That created a more nomadic culture, since
sheep and cattle are not well suited for sub-zero climates and
therefore needed to be taken south in winter. The tradeoff, she says,
was that cows and sheep give far fattier milk year round, which can
be made into yogurt and cheese. Sheep also provide wool.
    Kazakh people today still eat horsemeat. They were forced to
abandon their nomadic lifestyle during the Soviet era and have
returned to small village pastoralism, Olsen says.

11-11-2006
Italy  1201 - 1300
On November 11th, 1215 - The Fourth Lateran Council meets,
adopting the doctrine of transubstantiation, meaning that bread
and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ.
Also said Jews and Muslims should wear a special dress to enable
them to be distinguished from Christians.
    The Fourth Council of the Lateran was summoned by Pope
Innocent III with his Bull of April 19, 1213. The assembly took
place in November, 1215. It was the 12th ecumenical council
and is sometimes called "the General Council of Lateran" due to
the attendance by seventy-one patriarchs and metropolitans,
four hundred and twelve bishops, and nine hundred abbots
and priors.
    Innocent III stated his purposes as the defence of the Catholic
faith, for the aid to the Crusader States in Palestine, and to
establish the liberty of the Church from lay investiture and other
lay interference. The pope presented to the council seventy
decrees; these were considered along with the organisation
of the Fifth Crusade and with measures against heretics. In this
context, Saint Dominic and bishop Foulques of Toulouse
discussed with the pope the establishment and constitution of the
Order of Friars Preachers, finally approved fifteen months later
by the new Pope Honorius III.


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