History Nerd Facts: Times New Roman or Why the Humanists were Idiots

This is Times New Roman.

It is one of the most used types in the modern time and it has its origins in the Carolingian minuscule which was introduced at the time of Karl the Great (king/emperor of the Holy Roman Empire 768-814 AD). Before Karl the Great there was a big variation of types, some of them looking very very different from each other. Today they are incredibly hard to read for untrained eyes as you can see below but even back in Karl's days having many different types wasn't exactly handy. Karl the Great introduced a unified education and writing system to the Holy Roman Empire, the most important one for us today is probably the unified type, the Carolingian minuscule.

If you look at the pictures below and compare them to another you will notice that the Carolingian miuscule is much easier to read for us. 
That has a reason: 
The humanists were idiots.

Back in the time of Humanism the people wanted to bring back the type of the Roman Empire because everything from the ancient times was seen as pure and good, in contrast to everything that came from the so called "dark ages" aka the Middle Ages. (see Stuff that didn't happen in the Middle Ages.)
So the humanists looked at old ancient texts, copied the type, spread it and probably felt very good about themselves. Well...
They DID look at texts that were written in the ancient times... Not on the originals though. What they thought to be originals were really manuscripts from ancient texts that were written in the time of Karl the Great. So what they introduced as the pure type of the ancient times was really the Carolingian minuscule.

Luxeuil type, one of the types that died out when the Carolingian minuscule was introduced. Source

Carolingian minuscule. Source

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Have a great day,
The Countess

History Nerd Facts

"The history of the world is but the biography of great men." -Thomas Carlyle.

This quote is often true but there have been some important, powerful women in the position as head of a country before Angela Merkel. Often, these women had to de-feminize themselfs in order to be taken seriously. Today I want to show you two very famous examples. They are not only a symbol of the repression of women by the patriachal society, not only victims. No, they are also proof that women can succeed in this world, can prove all the prejudiced people wrong. They used the fixed role systems for themselves, turned them around in order to fit to their use. These two women are very inspirational to me.

The first one is my favourite historical person of all times and also my idol:
Queen Elizabeth I., daughter of Henry VIII., sister of "Bloody" Mary I. and the first Queen of what we'd call Great Britain today. 

Queen Elizabeth is also known as the "Virgin" Queen, not because she really was a virgin but because she created this myth around her persona. She stylized herself as almost God-like, pure, above everything that is human. She did not do that because she liked being mythical but because it gave her the possibility to stay unmarried. People back in her time did not believe a woman could reign a country, they wanted her to get married as soon as possible so she could be replaced by her husband and become a wife and mother. It was regarded as unnatural to have a woman in a powerful, leading position, women were supposed to be mothers, wives, daughters, grandmothers but never leaders. 
There was one woman though, that everybody loved and hailed: 
The Virgin Mary.

So Queen Elizabeth decided to stylize herself like the Virgin Mary, She used white face paint, big wigs and impressive dresses to appear almost God-like to her people. They didn't see her as a woman anymore, they didn't see her as weak, as  unworthy, as imperfect. They saw her as this saint-like creature that was pure and perfect.
She went so far that she sometimes, when she referred to herself, she used the term "prince" or "king". If she could not be seen as the mythical virgin (for example when war was about to come up) she took the role of a man.


 "We princes are set as it were upon stages in the sight and view of the world."
 
  "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a King of England too[...]"

This second quote is from her famous speech to the troops at Tilbury before the fight against the Spanish Armada. As the Virgin Queen, the saint, the pure perfection she couldn't lead her troops, so she showed them that she was indeed a King.

Queen Elizabeth's era is today known as The Golden Age. It's the time of Shakespeare and the time where Britain became the most powerful nation in the Western world. Queen Elizabeth supported the freedom of thought, especially when it came to religion, she is known to support the arts and she even has a US state named after her: Virginia.

Queen Christina of Sweden is the second woman I want to tell you about.
Her official title was "King". People addressed her as "queen" but her real title was the male one because usually the throne belonged to a man. Her nickname as a child was the "Girl King". Christina was brought up and educted as a boy because she was the only surviving child of her parents, the King and Queen of Sweden. She was Queen regent from he age of seven until she decided never to marry, converted to catholisism and gave away the crown to her (male) cousin. from that point on she was a Queen without a country. Most of the time she lived in Rome where she was a big supporter of the arts. Many people in her time have written about her not being exactly beautiful, she was probably what some people might call today a tomboy.

These two women can be role models for us, they show that women can succeed even in the worst times and even if they have to de-feminize themself. Elizabeth and Christina can also be reminders that equality is a long path. We are way better off than they are, no doubt, but we still haven't reached the goal. We are not allowed to use the limitations society puts on us as as exuses to lay back and stop trying. We have to follow our dreams, no matter what other people tell us to do.

Have a great day,
The Countess

History Nerd Facts: Caesarean section

Did you know the caesarean section is named after Gaius Iulius Caesar (yup, that one Roman guy who conquered Britain) because the legends say that he was born with the help of a caesarean section? I say legends because caesarean sections were deadly for the mother up until the Modern Era and Caesar's mother survived his birth. 

Another random fact about Caesar: He was killed on the Ides of March 44 BC which is the 15th of March. That's my birthday! 

Here is a picture of his death. As terrible as it sounds: I quite like it!

Source

Have a great day,

The Countess

History Nerd Facts: Elections in Medieval History

If one thinks of the medieval times one thinks of a whole bunch of thing: The plague, crusades, castles, knights... What one does not think of are elections. In fact there were elections in various parts of society and I thought I could tell you about some of them in more detail.

The election of the pope:

The pope of the catholic church has always been elected. In the early medieval times the pope always had to be a Roman and basically every person of importance in Rome was allowed to vote. This changed at the Third Lateran Council in 1179 where new rules were set. Since that point on every male catholic is theoretically able to become pope but only cardinals are allowed to vote. Also you need 2/3 of all votes to become pope now, before the council the "smaller but wiser part" could also choose who should become pope. Unfortunatel, nobody knows how the "wiser part" was defined. It was and is still important that en the end everyone agrees on the new pope because one needs the unanimitas (lat. unanimity) because it represents God's will. Social status and family backround has since then not been a real issue for the election of a new pope.

The election of the kings of the Holy Roman Empire:

Yes, the kings of the Holy Roman Empire were elected! At least theoretically. The only ones that were allowed to vote were the seven electors (germ. Kurfürst from the Old German word kur = Wahl (election)). The archbishop of Mainz first used to have what was called the prima vox (lat. first voice) which means that he could say who should become king and then the other six could only agree or...leave. Yup, seriously.Again the unanimitas was necessary. This rule was later changed with the Golden Bull of 1356, a decree which set rules for the election of the kings. Since then the archbishop of Mainz had the last vote because now 4 out of 7 votes were enough to elect a king so the last vote was the most important one.

There were many more elections in medieval times such as the election of abbots, bishops, mayors or in guilds but I am not going to describe them all because the two mentioned above are by far the most interesting ones. At least to me.

Let me know how you liked this post, do you want to read more things like that or does history bore you?

Good night,

The Countess

History Nerd Facts: Puritan Names

Welcome to another episode of weird and funny history nerd facts! Today I present you my favourite Puritan names. Of course many Puritans gave their children biblical names but some parents took the whole 'naming your child'-thing one step further and named them after desireable virtues or slogans. Some of those names are still in use today, examples are Hope, Chasity, Joy or Faith. Most Puritan names however have died out....Fortunately! Here are my favourites:

- Moral

- Hate-evil

- Endurance

- The-Lord-is-near

- Kill-sin 

- Tranquilla

-  Fear-the-Lord

Aaaaaand my very favourite:

  - If-Christ-had- not-died-for- thee-thou-hadst- been-damned

That's impossible, you might think, nobody would give their child such a ridiculous name. Well, let me prove you wrong: Meet Nicholas If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barbon!

Horrible Histories made a great video about Puritans, you should definately watch it, it's hilarious. So is all the stuff Horrible Histories does, by the way!

Enjoy!

The Countess