Keeping a Journal

As a "historian" I have always found myself being intrigued by the idea of leaving something behind for the generations that come after us. I want to make sure that a part of me, my life, my beliefs does not simply get lost in the future. I know that I am not going to become a person that is important enough to have books written about her, I am no Clara Zetkin and no Angela Merkel and I really don't want to be! Still, I love the idea that in the future some weird nerdy kid might stumble across a bit of my life and get all excited to learn some interesting yet absolutely unimportant things about me and the past.

Nothing in our lives really lasts forever. We live, we die, we get burried and after 20 to 25 years our grave becomes the grave of somebody else. More and more people decide to get cremated which means that not even our skeletons will be left to please the curiousness of the people living after us. We have loads of skeletons, skulls and bones from different times in the past that we can clearly identify as being the remains of an identified person and I am afraid that will not be possible with us and our remains.

If we look at our clothes, we often see that we tend to wear certain things for a season, maybe a few years and give or even throw them away afterwards. Nothing we make is really meant to last forever, except maybe for jewellery. Back in the past people had most often less clothes and accessoires and the ones they had in their possession were often kept for as long as possible because they were expensive, often handmade and made out of high quality material. I am not only talking about the Victorian era, the Middle Ages and so on but also about the youth of our grandmothers and grandfathers. My grandma owns clothes that are up to 40 years old and still in great condition, simply because the quality and her magic hands keep them in this condition. The generations after us will not be able to find vintage items that belonged to their grandparents (us) because we live in a society where nothing is made to be kept forever.

I want to make sure people will remember me and the time I live in, I want to leave something behind. Something that isn't my carbon footprint. That is why I keep a journal.

My journal is not a diary, it is not a book that I write in on a regular basis. Instead, I use it to document the things in my life that make me happy.
 Things I put into my journal:

• travel reports
• tickets from movies, trains and concerts
• my favourite quotes
• thoughts on books I have read
• pictures that I find beautiful and inspiring
• things my friends drew or wrote 
• a list of things I have learnt 

An entry about a museum I visited

Harry Potter quotes, I reserved a few pages in a row for this

The journal is neither a scrapbook nor a travelogue or a diary, I guess it is something in between. If people in the future ever find it they won't get any knowledge about my daily life but rather about how I like to spend my free time. I enjoy writing/glueing/stamping in it a lot, it gives me the possibility to relive those positive moments in my life another time.

Do you keep a journal? What do you write in it? What would you want future generations to find?

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

This summer

Today I had two exams (Elections in Medieval History and Psychology) in a row which was really exhausting but now I only have to go to my Early Modern English class tomorrow and then I am free until Octobre. I do have another exam in September and there also is that paper about Clara Zetkin but all in all I have holidays! Hip hip hooray!

In order to celebrate that fact properly I have decided to share my list of things I want to do this summer in order to make the best out of it. The notes in italics show how far these projects have gone so far

- go to Sweden and Estonia with my friend Imke 

-> everything is booked and fixed

- read Edgar Allan Poe

-> started reading his short novels

- watch a play at a theatre in Cologne

-> I have a double ticket...Since 2010...

- visit a bunch of museums

-> I went to the Cologne History Museum today after my exams

- learn all elements of the periodic table

-> I know about 25 right now

- go to the Spa with friends

-> We bought coupons months ago

- stich more

-> There are some vague ideas...

- visit Aachen with the Count

-> I have to wait until he has written all of his exams

- create my family tree

-> I downloaded a programme and put my 20 closest relatives in it.

- go to the Botanic Garden of the Uni of Bonn

-> Again, I have to wait for the count...

- go to the opera for the very first time

-> A friend told me she wanted to go with me

- sew something

-> I know i want a black skirt...

- practice calligraphy

-> bought a new quill and new ink in gold

The Cologne City Museum was amazing! I never went to a museum on my own without friends or family but i must say it was absolutely briliant! The museum is in the old Zeughaus which is the armoury. 

Source

They have an impressive collection of medieval and early modern art and parts of the museum are reserved for the themes jews in Cologne, women in Cologne, childhood in Cologne, the founding of the University or science. I loved some of the paintings and especially the two huge old globes that are part of the science exhibiton.

They also had to special exhibitons, one was about the Cologne painter and revolutionist of 1848/49 Wilhelm Kleinenbroich and the other one was about Cologne's Churches and their decorations. I liked the original exhibition better but those two were still really good.

One random fact I learned: In Early Modern times children up to six years were dressed in girl's clothes without any regard to their gender. There are some features and hints on painting though that declare a child as male or female. One feature for example could be a bird on the arm of the child which is a sign that the child is male.

What are your plans for the summer? And what should I add to my list?

Have a great day,

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

Stuff that didn't happen in the Middle Ages

Zelde at Indigobirds is doing a series where she tries to learn more about history by revising various dates concerning important events, developements, breakthroughs in science, art.... You get the picture. I really enjoy this series not only because I study history but also because it is my passion. So I thought I'd do a little history post myself. This one concerns the Middle Ages. Or rather what people think when they think of them. So here we go, three things about the Middle ages that are nothing but hocum:

- Witches weren't burnt in the Middle Ages (MA) but in the Early Modern Age. Seriously. The Malleus Maleficarum was only written in 1486 which is the very, very late MA (Columbus went to America in 1492 which is the most popular date for historians to end the MA).

- People did not believe that the earth is flat. Want proof? Kings and emperors in the MA had so called insignia, one was the globus cruciger which should symbolize the power of christianity over the world. As you can see it is not exactly flat...

The insignia of the kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire (Source)

- People in the MA were actually more hygenic than in the Early Modern Era where people often thought that bathing was harmful. Many people in the MA visited public bath houses frequently where they would sit together in bath tubs and sometimes get massages. Gender, social status, religion and of course money were the crucial factors when it came down to who was allowed to use which bath house. Oh, and another fact: Nobody thought the nudity in those bath houses was anything sinful. This form of prudery is also an "invention" of the Early Modern era.

If you are interested in this, I am going to collect some more facts about history for you, maybe some funny or ridiculous ones.

Have a great night,

The Countess