On this day in history the death of Jan Frans de Boever

Jan Frans de Boever was a Flemish painter, born in Belgium. He passed away today 63 years ago in 1949 for the mathematically challenged. He was an incredibly self-absorbed man, considering himself the best Belgian painter ever. Considering that Belgium has produced incredible artists like Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens de Boever might have been full of other things other than himself. While, Jan Frans de Boever was incredibly talented and I do enjoy his work, his egotistical behavior alienated himself from most of his peers and he became reclusive.

In his reclusiveness and self-absorption he created his own style that was pretty, how to say it nicely... dirty. He painted morbid paintings of prostitutes and scantily clad women as objects of evil. Considering he was probably spurned by numerous women in his loneliness, his depiction of them as lustful temptresses using men as toys might be a bit of sour grapes. However, his best work were his depictions of Charles Baudelaire's erotic poems Les Fleurs du Mal. He created them for an exclusive client who paid him handily. The last few decades of his life were lived out in America. Considering he died nearly 70 years ago he probably looks a bit like this painting here below nowadays.

Today in History, the death of Olaf the Black

On today, May 21, we profile Olaf the Black, or Óláfr Guðrøðarson for three reasons. First, Olaf the Black died today 775 years ago. Second, we couldn't pass up profiling someone named ... "the Black". Third, we couldn't pass up profiling someone with so many odd characters in his name, Óláfr Guðrøðarson, out of 16 "letters" in his name, five are a pain in the but to type in English. Thus, we simply had to let everyone know about old Olaf.

Olaf was King of the Island of Mann (Isle of Man today), as well as territories on the Hebrides and the island of Lewis (present day Scotland) and other areas of modern Scotland and the U.K. Olaf had ties to Icelandic sources and Norway and are chronicled in both these countries vast histories, called sagas. Basically, Olaf was a viking, who spanned both the pagan and Christianization of the Vikings. His legacy at the time was as a lord of the Kingdom of the Isles, a kingdom made up of small islands in between Ireland and the modern day United Kingdom. His historical legacy though is as the father of a number of Scottish tribes, which is likely poppycock. Just like his famous sword, the Manx Sword of State, this tie to Olaf is probably mythological rather than factual.

The sword, though claiming to have belonged to Olaf, picked up sometime on a Christian pilgrimage to Spain, is likely to have been made in the 15th century, a few hundred years after the black had gone dark (died, for our readers not familiar with our heritage). Olaf though represents much of what the late viking age was. He was a raider that terrorized people all over the Atlantic. His journey to Spain, if it happened at all was probably an event that the contemporary Spanish didn't appreciate. It was probably accompanied by copious amounts of death, rape and plunder. But, in subsequent years it was turned into a pilgrimage where he visited the miracles of St. James (Santiago in Spanish). For me the Christian whitewashing of vikings is fascinating. It represents both a modern and historical ideal, that of a Christian warrior, a pious man that could still kick some booty. In many ways these Viking missionaries probably garnered the kind of fascination that early 20th century mob bosses get today in American pop culture. We idolize them for their lifestyles while simultaneously thanking God that we didn't have to survive their exploits. But, let's face it, the only reason I'm profiling him, aside from his terror inducing name, is because his exploits are worth noting nearly 800 years into the future and thus, 800 years into safety. Had I been writing this blog 800 years ago I likely would have profiled Hrolf, the farmer that lived on one of Olaf's isles because Hrolf posed to me no danger. Since though I'm nearly 810 years younger than Olaf, I can think he's cool. Had he been my contemporary I'd like to have thought him a bully, or worse a dictator to be feared. But this is the beauty of history. We can relive terrifying events in Hollywood cinemas and enjoy the historicity and dramatic elements of the story. And since we don't actually have to face the sword that inspired the impostor that is the Sword of Manx, we can enjoy the debate of what is historical and what is dramatic. Methinks that if I had told Olaf that I doth beleiveth his sword to be of dubious origin, my head might have been wrest from me shoulders.

On this day in history: allusions to sex, religion and the trappings of power.

We're again a little behind on the podcast. The conclusion of the Neolithic is written, but I was sick last week during the only time I could have recorded it. My head cold made it sound like I was speaking in a vacuum. Couple that with my already shoddy recording equipment and we're looking at some of the worst sounding podcasts in the history of bad sounding podcast. Thankfully I know my seven listeners love the content and not the technology behind the podcast. But, there could be the sinful Amish guy out there getting his tech-ication on with my podcast. For a technologically deprived human being, my magic speaking box about long long ago might seem downright magical. Hopefully that magic can come out fairly early in the week on iTunes. I will do my best.

Yesterday, had we been faithful to this day in history we would have focused on the execution of Anne Boleyn and all of the scintillating sexual details that went a long way into making her HBO worthy. We would have asked then today, what could have possibly topped such sensationalism? What could ever burn the loins more than love triangles and beheadings? Is there anything that can arouse in man such a fervor as illicit copulation and political intrigue? There is but one thing, religious and political intrigue!

So today on this day in History we'll celebrate the consummation of Church and State in its most modern, Western form, before their estrangement and untimely divorce in the unfortunate aftermath of the Enlightenment. Having over exhausted this innuendo though, we'll move on to the beginning of the 1st Council of Nicea, that began on May 20, 325 AD.  The Council was called Constantine the Great in order to bring a single voice to Christianity in attempt to unify a splintering Empire. Constantine had just won a succession of civil wars and looked to the Cross as a political tool to reunify his disparate peoples. But the problem was as Constantine soon found out, his unifying tool was not very uniform. Basically there were two major veins of Christianity at the time. One that would become a template for future Christological thought within the Church and one that would be labeled a heresy.

The controversy came up when Arius, a Christian thinker and teacher from Alexandria decided that Jesus the Son was essentially different from God the Father. Arius basically taught that Jesus was God the Father's first creation and perfect, but still a creation. Arius and the Arians (his followers) were vehemently opposed by Athanasius, a younger contemporary of Arius and a fellow Alexandria native. Athanasius taught that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit were all of the same essence. This line was followed and proclaimed by the Council of Nicea. It's this decision that led to the Church following a strict Trinitarian view of the nature of God, three persons, but one essence. Arian teachers fled the council in quite a huff and even though their belief was declare a heresy and thus, not part of the orthodoxy, the belief didn't immediately die out. In fact Arianism would linger on long enough for some of the barbarians who would eventually rip the Empire apart to become practitioners of this heretical branch of Christianity. The fact that the Orthodox, Catholic view was held by the Roman establishment and the Arian view held by many Germanic invaders gave the debate renewed political trappings. But, when Clovis became the first barbarian king to become a Catholic and thus, a Trinitarian, ruler, his power would wipe much of Arian theology from the West, leaving the remaining Arians in North Africa. They would linger there until the Muslims swept across the continent and effectively destroyed Arius' teachings.

The 1st Council of Nicea had some other outcomes as well. In addition to declaring Trinitarian views as the only acceptable understanding of the Christian God, it also put together the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed would serve as statement of faith to be repeated by the faithful to express the most fundamental tenants of Christianity. The council also established Constantine's role in the history of the Church. It also helped establish Canon Law. It gave Rome and her bishop an exalted place in the Church. And it led to Christianity becoming fundamentally declared separate from its parent religion, Judaism. Basically the 1st Council of Nicea was a huge step in the long process of formalizing the Christian church. It is for this reason that the Council get's this day in history status.

On this day in history...the birthday of Charles Peace

Peace, after sipping on a bitter beer.

Ain't too often that this American gets to share a thing or to with a man confident enough to claim, and strong enough to prove, "I am not an American, I am the American." Unfortunately for me, another of Mark Twain's quotes suits me a bit more than this bravado. When Twain wrote, "Noise proves nothing. Often a hen who has merely laid an egg cackles as if she had laid an asteroid" might have been anticipating a post or two of mine. But, today, we celebrate the 180th birthday of Charles Peace on This Day in History here at the The History of Europe Podcast.

Charles Peace was born in Sheffield, England. His life of crime has been romantacized and retold in works that range from Sherlock Holmes to Mark Twain's final work, Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven. Peace was a strange fellow, but a pretty darn good burglar. He had a robbing and killing spree that would span England. For his crimes he'd spend time in penalty servitude and at prisons in London, Southeast England and even in Gibraltar. He spent some time stateside where he undoubtedly continued his crime spree, but we don't have any strong records of this. Its just that his character seemed to have demanded him steal something in his few years in America. Eventually, his burglary and murders to keep from getting caught would end up with him caught and executed.

Peace was a bit of a wild man. He staged dramatic robberies and shot wide at people to get them to leave him alone when his plans didn't quite go off as he imagined they would. When this warning shot didn't have the desired effect of creating cowardice in the police that pursued him, he'd shoot to kill. In this, he ended up getting an innocent man sentenced to death for one of his crimes. He was in the courtroom to see the guilty verdict. He did have a couple of endearing and redemptive qualities though. He taught himself to play the violin and in spite of only playing on one string, was a bit of a virtuoso at it. In a slightly redeeming quality, he did exonerate the lucky man who had been found guilty of his crime and luckily, the innocent dude's sentence had been changed to life in penal servitude. The innocent man was released after serving three hard years.

As he was going to his death he happened to pass a preacher that was "ministering" to the condemned. When the preacher nonchalantly read a passage about eternal damnation in his casual and disinterested way, Charles Peace looked at the man and said, "Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worth while living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that". It would seem that this pointed words did nothing to sap the apathy of the Church of England. For some reason I have this notion of lukewarm water and spewing come to mind...

On this day in History...

On May 11, 1498 the Friar Girolamo Savonarola was excommunicated by the Pope Alexander VI for disobedience. Savonarola was born in 1452, in Ferrara. In 1475 a religiously convicted Savonarola left the wold he had contempt for and joined the Dominican Order. While in Bologna, he became well versed in Scriptures, Logic, the Classics and Aristotelian, Thomistic theology and philosophy. When he wasn't dedicating his time to studying he was showing his reformist tendencies, rabble-rousing the Bologna Dominicans about their loosening rules. He wanted strict asceticism and criticized his superiors for not staying on this path. It could have been the annoyance of his superiors that led him to a placement away from Bologna to go back to Ferrara to do some administrative work. When that assignment was up he opted to go to Florence, rather than return to Bologna. It was in Florence where his fiery reformist proposals would eventually lead to his excommunication, torture and hanging.

He arrived in Florence in 1490 and became an instant hit when he preached. He railed against tyrants and their allies, the rich who exploited the poor. Using apocryphal language and backing his social and political views with I John and the Book of Revelation, his blend of populist preaching and sharp rhetoric earned him a name among the poor and enmity among the elite. Around 1493 he really began to turn up the heat and started to profess to have received visions and prophecies about a new Cyrus bringing the sword of the Lord. A year later it seemed as if the prophecy was coming true. King Charles VIII of France crossed the Alps and through the Italian peninsula into a tail spin.

Charles VIII marched onto Florence and briefly occupied the city after booting out the powerful Medici family who was ruling it at the time. Savonarola however had intense negotiations with the king that led France to continue their march south. A whole sack of cash promised by Savonarola might have helped Charles VIII in this decision. Savonarola preached a new Florence, one that was powerful and the center of a new empire of reforming the Church. He predicted spiritual and temporal riches, glory and might. So, now, a de facto an ally of Charles VIII it was no surprise when Pope Alexander VI sent Savonarola a letter demanding that Florence join the papacy in the war against the heretic Charles VIII that Savonarola decided not to oblige. The Pope excommunicated Savonarola.

With the threat of an interdict hanging over the heads of the Florentines, Savonarola was forced to back off the public stage. A rival suggested that Savonarola prove his prophecies, visions and spiritual mettle by walking through fire. When this didn't happen, public opinion turned against Savonarola. After this whole debacle Savonarola was arrested. While imprisoned he was tortured and he recanted his visions and prophecies. A few days later he was hanged.

The legacy of Savonarola however, is far reaching. His works were admired by Martin Luther, especially his thoughts on love and grace. Luther declared that he was a precursor and kindred thinker on Luther's revolutionary ideal of justification by faith alone. His works and sermons were translated into French and became a building block in the coming Huguenot reform. His political thinking and prophecy/vision thoughts were whitewashed a bit by the Dominicans and they revered him for his reformist zeal. Then much later, his puritanical bent was whitewashed and his political leanings were revived by the Il Risorgimento, leading to the Italian Unification in the 19th century. Savorna's teaching were used in at least two Italian political party formations in the 20th century albeit, tempered to fit their needs, but mostly focusing on his ideas of social justice. Today, the Catholic Church is considering him beatification. Not a bad little legacy you've got there.

On this day in European history...

Medieval depiction of the battle.

On this day in we'll focus on the Battle of Fontenoy. Not the later battle fought during the War of the Austrian Succession, but the earlier battle fought by the grandsons of Charlemagne. The battle during the War of the Austrian Succession was fought on May 11, 1745 and would be the obvious selection for this day in history. The earlier battle was actually fought on June 25, 841 and wouldn't necessarily qualify for the exact "On this day history" criteria, but this battle was far more interesting to research and so I'll relate it here rather than on June 25th which was already slated for a different historical occurence. I don't have to be exact. This is my blog and I'll do as I please, thank you very much!

Lothair I

Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious had ruled the inherited empire of his father seemingly well enough, but as he was getting on in age he decided to dole out his territories to his sons in keeping up with Frankish law rather than the eldest one getting the whole shebang. But, in keeping with many Medieval cultures (and ancient ones' too) Louis gave his sons co-ruler status while he was still alive.

Louis the German

Lothair, Louis' eldest son was given the title of Emperor of the Romans and King of Italy by his pops. His full brother Louis the German was given the title of King of Bavaria. Their half brother, Charles the bald was given Western Francia to rule over. Lothair and Louis the German decided that their half-brother had no claim to rule and decided to go to war with their father and Charles the Bald over the latter's promotion to rule. They fought three separate civil wars to show their dismay at Charles getting some territory. But, in the end Charles the Bald would have a chance to rule as Louis the Pious would beat down his two sons in battle. But, eventually Louis the Pious would pass away and after he did, all hell broke loose. Lothair decided he had had enough of his brothers and decided to try and take over the whole kingdom of Charlemagne and claimed it for himself. Louis the German and Charles the Bald balked at this assertion of dominance and war broke out amongst the brothers.

Charles the Bald

The war between the brothers was brutal and the Battle of Fontenoy was decisive in nature. Lothair brought in his nephew, Pepin II, King of Aquitaine and Gerard II, Count of Paris. Louis the German and Charles the Bald were able to muster about the same number of troops as their older brother Lothair through their barons. The battle started off well for Lothair as Pepin's troops pushed back the forces of Charles the Bald. But, the troops of Lothair started to lose ground to the men of Louis the German. As Lothair's men got beaten back further and further the troops of Bernard of Septimania decided that the victors would be Louis the German and Charles the Bald. He entered the fray and turned the victory into a rout. Lothair would retreat from battle, but on his way back to his capital of Aachen in modern Germany, Lothair would pillage and plunder and grab a whole bunch of treasure. If he wasn't going to rule all of Charlemagne's kingdom he was going to take as much of its wealth as he could. He lost the battle and the chance to rule like Charlemagne. Charles the Bald and Louis the German retained the rights to their kingdoms, but Charles the Bald would find that he had a rather impoverished kingdom to look after. And that's what happened on this day in history, sort of...

On this day in History, The Thomas Blood Heist

In 1671 Thomas Blood, an Irish fighter named Thomas Blood decided that it was in his best interest to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. Thomas Blood was born in County Clare, towards the Southwest of Ireland in 1618. He would play a part in the English Civil War, starting as a Royalist and eventually, conveniently switching to become a supporter of the Roundheads when it looked like the Parliament would win. At some point he decided to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of London. He undertook this venture on May 9, 1671.

St. Edward's Crown was
hammered to be flat by
Blood and his men so it
could fit in somebody's
trousers on the way out
of the Tower of London.

Prior to actually attempting the theft he had befriended the guard of the Crown Jewels. He went so far as to provide the guard with a promise of marriage for the guard's daughter that would include a nice little inheritance. Having tricked the old guard (he was in his 70's at the time), he entered the Jewel House with a number of accomplices who were aided by the use of canes. These canes were not necessary for the aid of walking, rather, they contained hidden swords, shanks and single shot pistols to aid the would be robbers. Once inside they clubbed the old guard and stabbed him before gagging him. Thomas Blood and his fellow cohorts then got their hands on St. Edward's Crown, the Sovereign's Orb and the Sceptre with the Cross and mangled them so that they would fit in their clothing in a concealed way.

The heist failed spectacularly. Blood was caught before leaving the Tower of London and his capture meant certain death. But in a weird twist of fate, Blood would be pardoned. His pardoning came because of two reasons, which may may or may not be mutually exclusive. It's possible that King Charles II decided to pardon Blood because Blood had a large enough following that King Charles II didn't want the headache that would follow Blood's execution or, that Charles II was so amused by the bodacious bungled burglary that he decided to pardon Blood on account of amusement. Much to the chagrin of English lords, Blood was not only pardoned but given land in Ireland and a title. Whoever said that crime doesn't pay was either lying or completely ignorant of this massive, albeit unsuccessful heist.

The heist was doomed, but daring enough to be celebrated centuries later. There have been 3 movies made about the theft, the most recent one being made in the 1960's. Given the current market of Hollywood it wouldn't surprise me if some epically terrible movie remake of this was in the works right now. But, in addition to awful 30's, 50's, 60's and subsequent remakes to come in the future, the heist inspired an incredibly nerdy board game called Outrage! The game basically has the objective to steal the crown jewels. It's not super fun. It's pretty lame in fact, but it's got a weird cult following. The following was popular enough that somebody decided that the game should include real jewels that were supposed to resemble the real crown jewels. This more expensive set retails for nearly $15,000, making it the world's most expensive board game. But, you can find it on eBay for about $19, minus the expensive jewels.

On this day in history, a tax break on account of Visigothic bullying

On May 8, 413 AD the Roman Emperor Honorius decided to give a tax break to most of the provinces of Italy. It wasn't because he was feeling especially generous or that the Roman coffers were so overstuffed he could afford to grant some largesse. It was because the peninsula had been absolutely ravaged by the Visigoths. Three years prior to the tax break, the Visigoths had marched up to the eternal city and sacked it causing a whole bunch of physical, economic and psychological damage to the empire from which it never really recovered. So, while this day marks the anniversary of a fiscal policy enacted some 1599 years ago, the fiscal policy was in response to a seriously traumatic experience. We'll probably touch on the Visigothic sack of Rome at a later date so we'll just give a bit of blog love to the Visigoths today. Pictured here is the Visgothic wave of invasion from Eastern Europe to become lords of Spain. As you can see they entered into Roman territory around 376 and wreaked havoc down into the Balkans, sacking Athens along the way. But on the way to walking triumphantly on the streets of the brain capital of the ancient Mediterranean the Visigoths managed to completely upend the Eastern Empire in 378 at the battle of Adrianople (modern day Turkey). Then the sauntered on up the coast and down into Italy, sacking Rome in 410. They would go on to establish a kingdom in 418 that would stretch from the South Atlantic coast of Portugal up through most of modern day Spain and into France. After claiming such a big stretch of European soil, the Visigoths would go on a slow, but inevitable retreat until finally Ardo, the last of the Visogothic kings was defeated and killed by the Arab conquest of Spain in the 720's. So there you have it. You earn a tax break when you get invaded. I think I could deal with some unruly Visigoths if it got me off the hook for my income tax.

The Madness of Christopher Smart

On May 6, 1757 Christopher Smart was admitted, and by admitted I mean forced into, St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics as a "Curable Patient". Christopher Smart was an English writer that began his poetic career very early on. At the age of four he penned a poem about how to defeat a rival to win the affections of a twelve year old girl. From this early start he began to craft a number of works that would eventually lead him to the lunacy hospital, a place that was undoubtedly unpleasant.

Smart's poetry was mostly of a religious nature, but he dabbled in other forms as well. He wrote a scathing mock epic poem called The Hilliad to critique and belittle another English author, John Hill. But picking on this botanist turned literary critic was not what landed him at St. Luke's. What landed him at the asylum was Smart's quarrels with his father-in-law, John Newbery. Newbery was a publisher and forced Smart into a 99 year contract that effectively forbade him to publish with anyone else. The stress of this contract seems to have led to a couple of possibilities, each of which could be explained as the Madness of Christopher Smart, that led to a new poetic style in his celebrated works Jubliate Agno and A Song to David. These poems left the normal styles of 18th century England and are seen as introducing a new and introspective religious fervor. Whatever the madness was, it helped Smart to write some pretty good poems.

Possibility #1 - Christopher Smart was a talented poet that received good remarks from fellow writers at the time, but the poetry was not sustaining him and his family. He decided to make a translation of Horace into English, a degrading and disappointing venture for someone who could write so well. This however didn't pay the bills either so he was signed by Newbery to write for a weekly publication for the remainder of his life. This literary imprisonment led to a nervous breakdown and he entered into various asylums that furthered his depression. Out of this depression came the two aforementioned works.

Possibility #2 - After not having the financial success he was hoping for and being forced into that draconian contract by his father-in-law, Smart took up drinking. The drinking would lead to bits of "madness" that ended up landing him in the asylums where he became depressed. The depression then produced the new poetry.

Possibility #2, corollary B - The drinking led him to have outbursts when he was drunk. His outbursts were expressed in signs of over-religious behavior. He took up praying without ceasing and interrupted meetings and gatherings with loud, drunken expressions of prayer. This embarrassed the crap out of his father-in-law. Newbery had him confined to the asylum as a punitive measure.

Possibility #3 - Failure led Smart to become intensely religious. He expressed his newly intense religious devotion publicly, leading to the stogy English becoming uncomfortable with his sensibilities. They used these outbursts to classify him with a curable madness. Smart indeed wrote, "for I blessed God in St. James' Park till I routed all the company...for the officers of the peace are at variance with me, and the watchman smites me with his staff" (Jubliate Agno). They locked him up because free religious expression is embarrassing and dangerous.

Possibility #4 - Smart was in fact, afflicted with madness.

Either way, the madness of Christopher Smart led his poem A Song to David to be regarded as the ramblings of a madman during his life and Jubliate Agno wasn't published until the 20th century. After this publication Smart's entire body of work was reassessed in a new light and this is when the madness of Christopher Smart was reassessed and his poetic genius was heralded anew. But, it still didn't make him any money...

The death of Napoleon I

On this day in the History of Europe we'll mark the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France that through all of Europe and the Americas into disarray. Napoleon was born on the island of Corsica to Genoese noble parents. He ended up as a distinguished soldier on the French Mainland and became emperor of France. As Emperor he would unleash a whole host of wars on the continent that would see all of Europe running around fighting for a few decades. But, we'll focus solely on his death because otherwise this post would be unwieldy and impossible to follow.

After his wars and exile and escape from the island of Elba, Napoleon was sent to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. The island was used to exile a number of prisoners after Napoleon by the English, including Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo, a king of the Zulu and some prisoners from the Boer War. While in charge of things, Napoleon commanded great respect throughout Europe. This continued even in his exile on Saint Helena. He had some English support in Lord Holland and Lord Cochrane. The Napoleonic wars had set into motion disruptive revolutions in the New World. These two English lords had the idea of moving Napoleon to Brazil or Chile to establish a South American empire there. There was even a plot from Texas by former members of Napoleon's Grande Armée to have him come to the lone star state and establish an empire there. But, it was not meant to be. Napoleon died of stomach cancer on May 5, 1821. Some have claimed he died of poisoning, but there is scant evidence of this.

Napoleon's death mask.

He was buried on the island against his wishes. In 1840 his remains were brought home to France were he was entombed at Les Invalides in Paris, where he has been ever since. During his life he spread the ideals of the French Revolution all over Europe. Though he is remembered as the short general and the Napoleon Complex was named after him, he was actually about 5'6", an average height for the time. His family would be involved in the French political sphere for decades after his death. But, his legacy was more than what his progeny produced. His impact continues to play in France and Europe through the Napoleonic Code. The Napoleonic Code has influenced many modern societies' civil law codes, advocating for a meritocracy and the freedom of religion. While he will always be remembered for his wars, this code has had the deepest impact on European and really, the world's societies.

Forgive Me!!!

Please forgive me. I have neglected my duty. This is a post for yesterday's  Today in the History of Europe... I mean yesterday, (May 4) Peter Minuit, a Walloon from Wesel (modern day Germany) decided to cross the Ocean Blue, though much later than the 1492 year in which we get this fantastically memorizable line for children, to discover and found the colony of New Netherlands. It was Peter Minuit who purchased the island of Manhattan (in 1614) for the Dutch at a price of 6o Guilders. Peter got a pretty good deal on the landscape that would become New York City.

On this day in history, the world's second constitution

The Constitution of May 3 is widely considered the second oldest constitution in the world. It was an act of the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, a country that existed from about 1569 - 1795, before being split up into the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and the Russian Empire. The Constitution was aimed to right the ship of the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth as the magnates of this nation had come to have enormous power over both the government and the people. Basically, a massive amount of class warfare had been going on between the nobles (szlachta) of the commonwealth and the commoners. This class warfare threatened to tear the commonwealth apart so the the parliament, called the Sejm put into place a constitution to level the playing field between the local folk and the big wig Szlachta. However, outside players were having none of this compromise as it limited their influence in the commonwealth.

Catherine the Great of the Russian Empire invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Prussians didn't like the new powers of the Polish-Lithuanian king because it might have led to a demand on Prussian lands that were once in the hands of the Poles. Other powers didn't like it because it was a threat to the notion of absolute monarchy and these threats could've caused some political instability. All in all, the Constitution was regarded contemporaneously as a nuisance. The Russian invasion and the discontent of its neighbors leaked into the second partition of Poland. This led to Polish and Lithuanian lands falling into the hands of the Russians and Germans. The bourgeoisie of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were beaten back and the old magnates returned to their former glory under the Prussians and Russians. Poland would lose independence until the 20th century on account of this constitution. While this might be sad for most Poles, the constitution retained power long after it was abandoned as a symbol for what is right and good about the Polish culture. It became a beacon in the history of democracy and has inspired countless other democratic movements. It now stands as both a Polish and Lithuanian holiday marking the democratic spirit of both peoples.

On this day in history, the King James Bible

The Bible has been around for a few millennia in certain forms. The Old Testament has been held sacrosanct since before Jesus was born. The present rendition was put together around 300 AD. The canonization of the Scriptures is fascinating, but we'll broach the topic at a later date. The Old Testament was mostly written in Ancient Hebrew. The New Testament was largely written in Greek. Then it was translated into Latin. For a long time the Latin translation was the only option for Bible readers. This was rather unpalatable for the English who wanted a version for themselves.

The English had a go at the translation earlier than the King James Version. The Wycliffe Bible was published in the 15th century, but was banned. King Henry VIII had yet to split with the Church so most priests decided that an English version was not only unnecessary, but heretical. William Tyndale had a go at publishing the Bible in English in 1525 that served as King Henry VIII's template for the Great Bible. It also served as a template for the Geneva Bible, an English language Bible printed in Geneva, Switzerland by English ex-pats. The English not living life abroad however, wanted something English made. They produced the Bishop's Bible. The Bishop's Bible would go on to be the base text for the King James Bible we're talking about today.

The KJV was printed by Robert Barker, the Royal Printer in 1611. It sold for ten or twelve shillings depending on the binding. Barker was meticulous in his first printing, but subsequent printing produced the Wicked Bible. The Wicked Bible misquoted Scripture saying, "Thou shalt commit adultery". The Wicked Bible was destroyed, but countless humans have followed the mantra of the Wicked Bible, fornicating where ever and whenever they saw fit.

The KJV has been revised over the years, but it's initial publishing in 1611 marked a paradigm shift in the religious life of the faithful. For centuries, Christians relied on the Latin speaking clergy to relate to them in the common tongue the sayings of Jesus and the prophets that preceded him. The KJV marked the beginning of the end to a cleric dominated understanding of the Scriptures. It is for this reason that the printing of the KJV in 1611 makes us mark, this day in history....

On this day in History

Today is May 1, 2012. May 1 has a rich European History, one which has reverberations that we feel today. On May 1, 1707 the English and Scottish Parliaments decided to join together to form the Parliament of Great Britain. The idea had been in the works since at least 1606. The two separate nations had possessed kings that had ruled both kingdoms before. But this union brought about the Union of the Parliaments, a political coup for both sides.

Why is this important? Well, the Scottish referendum for independence is coming up probably next year. This would mark a divorce in a 300+ year marriage. The convergence hasn't always been an easy thing to maintain. Scots have every now and again called for independence. The English have long held some notion of cultural superiority over their northern neighbors. Sometimes this was prominent, other times the slight was completely made up on the Scottish side. Either way this helps us know why history matters. If the United Kingdom were to split, it could create some fairly difficult times for both nations. The English nuclear submarine fleet would have to leave the deep lochs of Scotland. This would likely mean that the Loch Ness Monster would be unleashed on the public. Scotland meanwhile would instantly face a currency crisis. Would they stick to the pound? Would they get automatic bid to the Euro? These are tough legal questions. If they didn't get that stalwart Euro they would find themselves in a monetary, but not fiscal union with England. Considering how well this has served Europe recently, this might not be a great idea. Either way, it was on this day in 1707, that the two Parliaments came together, and for this reason the Act of the Unions is our this day in history focus...