Italy
-
Magic Beans- The History of Coffee
Java. Cup of Joe. My reason for living. These are all euphemisms for that most delicious of things- a cup of coffee. But how did coffee become the popular pick me up it is today? There is a legend that coffee was first discovered by an Ethiopian goat herder named Kaldi around 850. While out with his flock, he noticed that his goats were eating red cherry-like berries off a plant and afterward they were always frolicking and full of energy. Kaldi tried the fruit and had a similar reaction. A local monk observed Kaldi and his goats, and took some of the fruit back to his monastery and shared…
-
Not so Roman Holiday- The Normans in Sicily
The Norman Conquest brings forth visions of William the Conqueror landing on English shores and going on to defeat Harold at Hastings. There is another lesser known Norman Conquest, that of the Southern Italy and Sicily. Overall, the region has better weather and wine, so why not? Roots of this invasion go back quite some time. In 1054, the “western” church led by Rome and the “eastern” church led by Constantinople officially separated. This had been in the works for some time, but the final blow just happened to land on this date. The Pope did not like the Byzantine expansion in Southern Italy, and raised an army to kick…
-
The Childrens’ Crusade
Just a short one this evening, bit outside of my usual offerings, but an interesting story nonetheless. In 1212, it has been said, a young Shepherd boy from Germany, Nicholas of Cologne, received word from God (or Jesus, depending on which source you read) to lead a crusade to the Holy Land to peacefully convert Muslims to Christianity. His call to the cross inspired many other young people, who left their chores in groups of twenty or a hundred, and despite the misgivings and pleas of their families, went off to join Nicholas. Meanwhile in France a similar notion was taking shape, again on the word of a young 12-year-old…
-
Pope John XII- The Christian Caligula
In previous posts, we have discussed the pornocracy period in papal history. In our last one, we discussed Marozia, the mistress and mother of popes and power behind the papal throne. In this post, we are discussing her grandson, who has the dubious honor of being a contender for the worst popes in history. I’m sure she is very proud…somewhere. John XII was born Octavianus in 937. His father was Alberic II, the man who overthrew his mother, Marozia, and took control in Rome. His mother was either Alberic’s wife, Alda of Vienne, or a concubine. No one is really sure. When Octavianus was around 18 years old, he was…
-
Some insight into The Black Death in Europe
Free from demographic disasters since the middle of the eighth century, Europe was ravaged from one end to the other by bubonic and related forms of plague, primarily from the years 1347-50. The plague subsequently settled in Europe (among the fleas of its rats, to be exact), recurring sporadically and locally in epidemic form until 1720. In the middle of the fourteenth century natural forces dealt the social order of medieval Latin Christendom a blow from which it never recovered. A period of climatic irregularity seems to have occurred simultaneously, bringing with it agricultural disaster and resultant widespread and recurrent famine. The combination was too much for a civilisation whose…
