[Steppes] Week in Review 05-29 thru 06-04-2006

[Mike]

Heilsa,

Due to size issues within the Post Steppes Fighter Practice
and in the interest of keeping things short, plus feedback
received about having this in a separate email.

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:

May 29th:
Byzantine  1401 - 1500
Orthodox Christian Constantinople fell to the Turks on May 29, 1453,
a date that some historians consider the end of the Middle Ages.
Sultan Mehmed II's attacking forces outnumbered the city's 10,000
defenders by at least 10 to one. The siege lasted for fifty days and
was hard-fought at every stage. The Ottoman Turks breached the city
walls using heavy artillery, then fought their way into the city in
hand-to-hand battles. As ruler, Mehmed renamed the city Istanbul.
He demolished the Church of the Holy Apostles, the burial place of
the Byzantine emperors including Constantine himself, and replaced
it with his own tomb.

<>May 30th:
Italy  -1201 - 1300
Premier Italian poet Dante Alighieri was born on (or about)
May 30, 1265. In his writings, he mentions that he was born under
the sign of Gemini. Dante's Divine Comedy is his greatest and
most famous work. Like Petrarch, he was a poet of courtly love,
reading the works of Provencal and Sicilian poets. He maintained
a lifelong passion for Beatrice, whom he knew only as a speaking
acquaintance. Dante's political life, though less renowned, was
important to him. He fought and plotted for the Guelph faction against
the Ghibellines in the Florentine internal conflict, and led a diplomatic
mission to the Pope on Guelph business. When the Pope "suggested"
he remain in Rome, Dante was condemned to death as a traitor to
Florence and suffered exile until his death. Not until the 19th century
did Florence pardon him, and the tomb that was built for him then
remains empty.

May 31st:
England  Modern Day (Roman  before 601)
Brooch found near Hadrian's Wall. A remarkable brooch, probably
the property of a very senior Roman legionary, has been discovered
in Northumberland. The object is outstanding for its size and workmanship
and also because it is marked with two personal names. The shields and
ivy leaves that form part of the design may indicate campaigns on
which the owner served. The director of excavation at the Vindolanda
settlement where the brooch was found said, "It is a fantastic find
because nothing like this has ever been seen before." <>

June 1st:
Scotland  1401 - 1500
On June 1, 1494, Friar John Cor created the first written record of a
batch of Scotch whiskey. Whiskey has been distilled in Scotland for
many hundreds of years. Some claim the first monks brought the
process with them when they arrived to convert the Picts. A 1505
record shows that King James IV of Scotland purchased a supply
of spirits from a barber while visiting Dundee. The barbers and
surgeons had been granted the exclusive right to distill whiskey
the year before.

June 2nd:
Modern Day Greece and Bulgaris (Before 0601)
Joint Greek - Bulgarian Project to Recreate the Dionysian Temple.
Greece and Bulgaria will work together on a European Union-funded
project to restore the ancient Perperikon, a Thracian sanctuary to
Dionysus. A medieval fortress was built over the earlier temple in
the Rhodopi mountains. It will be transformed into a culture center
as part of the two countries' cross-border cooperation program.

June 3rd:
Modern Day England (Roman Before 0601)
Archaeologists are pondering whether or not a burial site
discovered near a McDonald's restaurant in Birmingham,
England may be that of warrior queen Boudicca. The recent
discovery of Roman-era remains has sparked speculation
about the identity of the grave and some experts feel that it
might indeed be that of the Iceni queen. Others are not so
certain. "There is no doubt that this is an important
archaeological site, with remains which are probably Roman
in date, but there is no evidence whatsoever of any link with
Boadicea," said Mike Hodder, planning archaeologist at
Birmingham City Council.

June 4th:
Germany  1001 - 1100
Holy Roman Emperor Conard II dies on June 3rd, 1039 in
Utrecht, Germany. Royal and imperial line that came to power
with the election of a Salian Frank, Conrad of Swabia, as
German king, after the Saxon dynasty of German kings and
Holy Roman emperors died out in 1024. Conrad (Conrad II)
was crowned Holy Roman emperor in 1027, obtained
suzerainty over the kingdom of Burgundy, and reasserted
German power in Italy. He began the policy of imperial reliance
on a new class of officials, the ministerials, men of low rank
closely attached to the crown. His son was King Henry III of England.

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