#and also the renaissance (equivalent) period JUST happened and now there’s modernism?? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

minervacasterly · 4 years ago

Photo

MARGARET TUDOR: The Queen Who Thrust Herself into the Political Chessboard

The Spanish Princess is showing Margaret in a broader light than other historical dramas where she is distorted and merged with her younger sister, shown for a brief period of time or is practically non-existent. Margaret’s life was a never ending roller coaster. Unlike what was shown in the first episodes of part 2 of TSP, the real Margaret never broke decorum. She certainly would have never disrespected her husband in front of his lords. However, she did have a strong will and was determined (at all costs) to protect her young.In hindsight, she could have chosen for a better husband – or a better route – to keep her regency or, share power with her surviving son’s distant Stewart cousin.

Her marital problems aside, including her son’s mandate to remain married to her third husband (in spite of his betrayal), the last four years of her life, were spent in safe retreat. She wasn’t actively involved in government, since her son was now of age. But she was nevertheless happy to be there by her son’s side, should he need her advice.

Although Margaret’s death is a stark contrast to the two most controversial of Henry VIII’s queens, his first two wives, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn; her end by no means was her beginning. Today, mourners can visit the tomb of Katherine of Aragon. Though not a saint, she has become a cult figure. The same goes for Anne Boleyn, who’s treated as the equivalent of the Virgin Mary for bearing the golden savior of England, Queen Elizabeth I. Every year, hundreds of visitors pay their respects to these women’s tombs. One of the most popular tourists spots for Tudor history buffs is Hever Castle, St. Peterborough Cathedral, and Hampton Court Palace. The first is the Boleyn homestead, where Anne, her sister Mary and brother George grew up. The second is the place where Katherine is buried. And the last is Henry VIII’s majestic palace.

Although at the time of their deaths, it was almost taboo to say a good word about Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn – not to mention that since their marriages had been annulled before their deaths, they didn’t receive burials befitting their stations. Yet, as time went on, their popularity grew. This reverence didn’t reach Margaret Tudor. Death for her was truly the end of her journey. Margaret deserves equal admiration as all of Henry VIII’s wives and her younger sister. She was a woman with a will of iron who lived through many tragedies and survived many intrigues – including those of her own doing when these didn’t go as planned. Her last demands indicate that she wished that the last of the bad blood that existed between the King and her second husband, the Earl of Angus would be over. She also asked that her possessions be handed over to her daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas. She never got an answer. She died at Methven Castle on the 18th of October 1541. She was buried at the Carthusian Charterhouse in Perth in Central Scotland. Ironically, despite having enjoyed a good relationship with her son James V and his second wife, Mary of Guise; her son didn’t fulfill her wishes. He chose instead to appropriate himself of all his belongings.

As the religious wars continued to divide Western Europe, Calvinists in Scotland decided to give the biggest middle finger to the Catholic faction by desecrating the tombs of past kings and queens, and saints. Just like their predecessors, over a thousand years before when they burned pagan sites, or their Catholic enemies who burned Maya and other precious historical jewels in the “New World”, in 1559 Calvinists, professing the true faith, opened Margaret’s tomb, destroyed her burial site and burned her body until there was nothing left.

Was it fair?

No.

It’s history. It can’t be rewritten or undone. Only reflected upon. Margaret’s descendants still sit on the English throne. The first Stuart King to sit on the English throne descended from both her children, James V and Lady Margaret Douglas. James VI of Scotland became the I of England and Ireland in March 1603 after Queen Elizabeth I died and her privy councilors chose him as their next ruler. This was in direct violation to her brother, Henry VIII’s instructions which stated that if neither of his offspring, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I had any legal issue of their own then the next in line would be the heirs of Mary Tudor, Queen Dowager of France and Duchess of Suffolk (Margaret’s younger sister) and Charles Brandon. But at this time, Elizabeth had long shown that she did not care for wills and naming heirs, so it was up to the politicians to name who’d suit them best. While Margaret is a rising star in historical fiction and romance novels, she still remains obscure. She’s largely seen as a side-character or an auxiliary figure when her actions show that she was much more than that. Prior to Flodden, Margaret tried to convince her husband not to ride to Flodden based on a dream where she saw he was murdered. After his death, Katherine of Aragon, feeling genuine sympathy for her sister-in-law, sought to reestablish a peace between their adoptive countries. Margaret was not just a widow but Scotland’s Regent. Ruling in their son and husband’s names respectively, Margaret and Katherine started to work together to seek a resolution. Unfortunately, Henry VIII had other plans. It’s not known how Margaret felt about Katherine following the death of her first husband, or when she and Angus sought asylum in England after their failed coup against John Stewart, the Duke of Albany (who’d been chosen to replace her as her son’s regent). There are no letters that express any ill will between the two women. Yet, her actions speak of a possible resentment. In Alison Weir’s biography of her daughter, Lady Margaret Douglas, The Lost Tudor Princess, she points out that while her youngest sister remained a fervent supporter of Katherine until her death, Margaret chose to side with Anne Boleyn. Margaret’s daughter was in England under her uncle’s care. Though a good friend of Princess Mary, her livelihood was in her uncle’s hands. Margaret probably thought that if she sided with Katherine, Henry VIII would take it out on his niece. Or it could be a case, where with her daughter’s welfare and future in mind, Margaret still felt a little resentment over what happened at Flodden. Either way, Margaret worked endlessly to be the mediator she could not be during the events leading up to Flodden. Like her mother, she possessed a silent strength that is often ignored when studying women of these period. The modern proverb of “silent women don’t make history” isn’t only wrong, it’s a narrow view of history. All kinds of women make history. Sometimes actions speak louder than words. Margaret Tudor’s life is a clear example of that.

Sources:

Fatal Rivalry: Flodden, 1513: Henry VIII and James IV and the Decisive Battle for Renaissance Britain

Tudors vs Stewarts: The Fatal Inheritance of Mary, Queen of Scots by Linda Porter

Tudor. Passion. Murder. Manipulation: The Story of England’s Most Notorious Royal Family by Leanda de Lisle

The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas by Alison Weir

Game of Queens by Sarah Gristwood

Images: Georgie Henley as Queen Margaret Tudor of Scotland in The Spanish Princess Part 2; posthumous sketch of Margaret Tudor, and Methven Castle where Margaret Tudor died.

#Margaret Tudor #The Spanish Princess #History #Scotland #England #Flodden #dailytudors

120 notes · View notes

astrallines · 5 years ago

Text

The Crumbling Tower of 2020

Notes on the Triple Conjunction

Hello friends. What follows is a short introduction to the incredibly rare and historical astrological conditions of the year 2020. This was written with the intention of accessibility first and foremost; I believe it’s important that people have some idea of this moment in a historical context, and the tools to evaluate the themes and stories that are emerging currently and in the near future. To my eyes astrology is at its most useful when it is neither prescriptive nor prophetic. It is foremost a tool of psychological midwifery; reading the meaning of the world and its events.

So it’s in my interest to be painting in broad strokes. If you want concrete predictions or exact dates for orbs of conjunction now and in history, then there is a vast field of mundane astrology for you to Google. The myths I’m unfolding here are only for context and consideration—I hope you find them helpful.

Also, there will be a major western bias in my evaluation of history, which sucks, but that’s the milieu I grew up in and can speak to, and it remains the information most easily available. But of course astrological conditions are affecting the entire world. We can still trace the vibe through western examples.

Our Axial Moment There are two incredibly rare astrological events happening this year. One event is the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of Aquarius. These two planets come together routinely, mechanically, every 20 years. But the rhythm of their waltz is such that each meeting takes place in signs of the same element for 200 years at a time. So when they conjoin in Aquarius, in the last weeks of 2020, that will be their first time together in an air sign since the 14th century.

Since 1802, all of their conjunctions have been in earth signs. (Much more on the significance of this later, but some may already notice this 200 period’s coincidence with the industrial revolution and the age of capital). In the 200-odd years before 1802, they would join every time in fire signs—and for the 200 years before that, water. One waltz more brings us back to the 1300s and 1200s, the previous epoch of air signs. Returning to the present day, we should realize that since an age like this persists for two centuries at a time, it is essentially impossible for someone who witnesses such a transition, to have ever even known anyone who witnessed the previous transition. That is, the 100 year old person in December 2020—even if they had, as a newborn, shared a breath with a 100 year old person—would not reach far back enough in history to have even a dim, second-hand knowledge of the epoch of fire (1603-1801). These periods are effectively the frame edges; the curtains around the drama of the world stage.

Rare as it is, the other historical aspect of the year is much rarer: the fact that Saturn and Jupiter will also conjoin Pluto in Capricorn before they dance their first step together in Aquarius. Though these 3 will never occupy the exact same degree together, they will come very close, on and off throughout 2020. Of course a triple conjunction of planets will always occur in more unpredictable intervals than any pair of planets because of the 3 separate orbits. Famously—well, famous among astrologers—it last happened in the sign of Capricorn during the founding year of the city of Babylon, 1894 BCE.

History of the Elemental Epochs Because the Jupiter-Saturn synodic cycle is so regular, and because we didn’t know about outer planets til the 18th century, the dance of these two planets through the elemental stations is by far the oldest astrological tool for determining epochal periods. It has long been assumed to be the basic attitudinal/affective backdrop of the zeitgeist. (Now that we know about Pluto, we have a new vibecheck every 12 years! But isn’t it funny that generations didn’t have names until we noticed Pluto in 1930?)

I would be remiss not to mention that there are overlaps between these periods. For instance, Jupiter and Saturn were briefly conjunct in an air sign (Libra) for a few months in 1981. So toward the end of each epoch, humanity gets a little multi-month preview of the coming age. 1981 and the transitional period is a whole other topic in itself, but that’s all I’ll say here.

Even though these elemental ages have been observed for so long, we don’t have a ton of historical examples to draw upon to get a sense of the nature of a particular epoch. As for the air age that we’re entering into, we can refer to the high medieval period as the last instantiation, but to get a third example we have to go into history 6 centuries before that! Soon the world starts to look so different from the current day, that we have to stretch the imagination that much farther. So let’s just a get a brief summary of the previous cycle through the elements.

Earth 1802-2020

This is the epoch we are still in as I write this. It began during the industrial revolution, and the earth themes are undeniable. Human begins have had a resolutely atomic understanding of the universe; materialism is rampant; and it feels that capital and capitalism are catalysts of most human drama. We take things literally and concretely: instead of speculating about other realms, we want to drive our spaceships to big slabs of land like the moon and Mars. We have discovered how to build and make so much STUFF!

Fire 1603-1801

This period is famous for the enlightenment and the French and American revolutions. The time of great sparks! Reason, brilliance, luminance ... self-validation and self-determination. This is really when human beings began to appreciate the value of the idiosyncrasy of a particular thinker. “THIS dude’s contribution” etc. Rights, laws, freedom, were all in vogue. “Here I am!�� say the fire signs.

Water 1425-1602

Just as materialist scientism was born out of the liberating thought of the enlightenment, so were the insights of the enlightenment enabled by the world-broadening discoveries of the renaissance. During the water epoch, everyone was sailing everywhere, being introduced to new cultures, and the “new world” was reached by the Europeans. At home, classics of antiquity were being rediscovered and the world was broadened in that sense. Shakespeare was poppin off in a big way. The concept of the stage is essentially water; water is the idea that there is an affective component to reality at all.

Air 1226-1424

Is it a coincidence that the least widely known stage of the cycle is the one we are now entering? Or is that just the nature of history, as it fades further into the past? This period was called, in the West, the “high medieval” era. It was marked by civic demarcations that more or less persist to this day—the previous few hundred years saw constantly changing borders, but now people grouped more firmly into ethnic or national identities drawn to territories. This is also where we got chivalry and the first real rights for women in a long time. And there was the discovery of an actual social life and leisure. “Hanging out” was invented, thank God.

Reality itself received a major patch update: we invented mechanical clocks, which caused people to relate to the passage of time in a totally new way. We used to just slice up the sunrise-to-sundown period into 12 equal parts; now hours were a constant length throughout the year. Common folk had glass windows in their homes for the first time, and the elite even wore glass in front of their eyes to correct their vision. Music became much more complex, as people had more time to take it seriously and form theories. People could go to libraries; for the first time ever there were more books in cities than in monasteries. Cities were finally the place to be. We invented the compass, the game of chess, and the printing press. The astrolabe, like the compass, allowed us to orient ourselves to something that was formerly hopelessly abstract (the stars). Most of this cool shit came from the Arab world, which was flourishing.

Air Epoch 2.0 That’s the historical overview. Obviously there is much, much more there for any anthropologist or history of philosophy ass person. But we are beginning to see some idea of the relation between the qualities symbolized by the elements and the respective periods. Now we can begin a more informed speculation.

The movement from the previous earth age to the previous air age seems to be one of dramatically more complex social relations. Less emphasis on the riches of a kingdom, and more emphasis on its culture, civility, and sophistication. Abstract things became the treasures. As we look to our own incoming air epoch, it is easy to envision a world that places more emphasis on networks instead of objects. Social media, gig economy, and blockchain all appear to be prefigurations of this. In terms of philosophy, it no longer seems very radical to conceptualize oneself as part of a universe whose essential composition is not defined by particles (nouns) but relations and processes (verbs).

What Was Babylon? I ain’t no student of ancient culture. Until a few months ago, I didn’t even know Babylon was where Iraq is. Of course I think it would behoove all of us to research as much as possible the previous instantiation of this astrological aspect, but I also think it’s valid to speak about its cultural impact through a layman’s osmosis. As far as I can tell: what is Babylon best remembered for? The miraculous hanging gardens, the Tower of Babel, and the law code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi’s code, inscribed onto a stele about a century after the founding of Babylon is celebrated as the first known written laws, some 190 edicts long—and by the estimation of modern scholars, supremely humanitarian for its time. What is the modern equivalent of the ancient innovation of codified laws? Hard to fathom, but something for us to consider as the new age dawns.

More famously, there is the story of the Tower of Babel. A persistent image of human hubris, even today people respond to the tower motif as a symbol of defiance of God or of nature, and it is routinely invoked when artists and pundits comment on the ecological folly of industrial enterprise. Human beings tried to use their intellectual capacities to reach the position of God. Without reading the Bible, I can tell you that the punishment for this was the diversification of languages. All of a sudden people couldn’t speak to each other, because there were so many ways to speak.

Today we take for granted the many languages of human beings, so what is the modern equivalent of this event? Taken as a metaphor, the variation of languages could represent a variation of worldview. Styles of interfacing with reality. Because the element of air is so closely associated with concepts like perception, the structuring of thought, communication, and virtual realities, we might imagine that in the new age we will begin to understand just how deeply diversified our mechanisms of interpreting reality are. Phenomenology seems like a pretty fringe field in our current world, but AI is certainly not; and content creators have increasingly brought phenomenological themes to the center of their work over the last couple decades. Just as the previous air epoch (12/1300s) saw the advent of movable type, perhaps we will soon develop novel means of recording our impressionistic realities.

Finally, Babylon was host to the famous hanging gardens. Supposedly built by king Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife who missed the natural beauty of Iran, it is still unclear whether this wonder of the world ever existed in physical reality. In any case, the story is relevant: a ruler, in the midst of tremendous infrastructural expansion, and with it the inevitable subjugation of nature, finds that his greatest cultural influence across the centuries is ecological restoration. Looking at these three legacies of Babylon together is rather interesting: the law code stele, though purportedly divine in origin, is unquestionably real to our materialist sensibilities—you can go and see it. The Tower of Babel, taken from the Bible, was probably not real in the same fundamental way; though there was without question a great ziggurat in Babylon, the Biblical account is not literal. The hanging gardens is the most mythological. So between the three we have different concentrations of myth and historical fact.

Second Second Life I write this in the first few weeks of social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. There is much more to be said about the connection between this unprecedented social condition and the imminent radical astrology—maybe the subject of some other essay. But off the dome, we can see plainly the defaulting of Capricornian things: governments, businesses, economies, and social infrastructure. Without much of a choice, we are withdrawing our energy from the material to which we are accustomed. We’re cooped up in our houses, where the merciful currents of the internet continue to draw us on, to operate in cyberspace as normal. New social functions and vocabularies are already emerging as we are forced to reconsider the online networks that have seemed so toxic for the last few years. People find themselves operating “peer to peer” out of necessity. Some “inessential” products may no longer be available on amazon, but your neighbor might have them. More importantly, people are reaching out to each other for nothing more than human contact. We’ve been wringing our hands about the importance of human connection, but capitalism—through spectacle or stranglehold—has drawn us away from putting it first.

Social service is (along with certain essential aspects of the internet) ruled by Aquarius. Saturn, governor of concern, has already ingressed into this sign, but will retrograde back out in a few months; and then at the end of the year, it will be joined by Jupiter, who greases the wheels, expands the potentiation of Saturn’s concern, and affords prosperity to those who take social service seriously. And together they will inaugurate the new age.

#astrology #mundane astrology #great conjunction #jupiter #saturn #pluto #jupiter-saturn conjunction #saturn-Pluto conjunction #tower of babel #babylon #coronovirus #capricorn #aquarius #air epoch #elemental ages #jupiter saturn synodic cycle #triple conjunction

84 notes · View notes

currycurrie · 6 years ago

Note

I had my own whole post made up but trashed it bc it was too wordy but what do you think of the implications of Caleb encountering an object that transported them to another plane and bent time and reality and him then having to deal with the fact that an object created by a wizard that was probably capable of doing the very things he wants to be able to do harmed his friends nearly killing two of them. (1/2)

For me it’s cause for him to question if it’ll be worth it to change his past if it hurts the people he care for in his present (whether he wants to admit he cares for them or not) (2/2)

Alright I am going to do my very best to answer this in some sort of coherent manner after getting maybe 3 hours sleep cause lol east coast and then working all day. So if shit does not make sense, blame that. I’ll fix it when I wake up tomorrow haha.

So first off, I actually don’t think plane shifting and the time skip would wig him out too much outside of basic magical curiosity. I don’t think this is going to ring his backstory alarm bells too much. I base this off the fact that Caleb can speak Sylvan, the language of the Fey and the Feywild. (Minor C1 spoilers ahoy!) If you recall from the first campaign, whenever VM left the Feywild there was some weird time-shifty shenanigans going on. I feel like that would be very common knowledge for someone as studious as Caleb who must have enough interest in the Fey to learn their language. (Speaking of Fey, my cat is totally Frumpkin-ing it up and scarfing it on my shoulders right now.) I also would say that plane shifting in general isn’t exactly uncommon. It’s definitely not common either, but an easily achievable spell for any archmage worth their salt.

I genuinely think what tickled his magical goolies was the study. It was a treasure trove of pre-Calamity knowledge. Barely anything exists like this from before the Calamity. It was basically the Exandrian equivalent of the burning of the Library of Alexandria. The Age of Arcanum was truly a magical renaissance, and any knowledge from that time period would be beyond priceless. Especially to Caleb. The Age of Arcanum was magic at its most primal and without limits. Totally unrefined unlike the very rigid learning wizards take up in modern Exandria.

Now to the emotional meat of the question here. I think this was truly the first time Caleb’s goals were diametrically opposed to the rest of the Nein’s safety. There was the scroll incident in the High Richter’s place back in Zadash, but that seems such small potatoes compared to last night’s episode. There truly were lives at stake this time. And I think this was the first time Caleb was cognizant of the fact that his goals would actively cause harm to people if he were to pursue them. It was like a microcosm of Caleb’s whole story arc, and the ultimate choice it seems it’s leading up to.

If I had to hazard a guess, as soon as Fjord vanished I think Caleb decided he had to make a snap decision on what he thinks is ultimately more valuable. Having the rest of the party around or his arcane wet dream come to life. I think the darker parts of Caleb’s psyche is playing the long game. This is not the only well of knowledge to be tapped. He knows the Academy has started doing research into time related magic. He has the dodecahedron which seems it may play a relevant part later on. And he can come back to this place if he truly wants. He can find other sources to fill this void of knowledge. He cannot replace the party with its tangled of web of favors he owes and favors owed to him.

I also think this is the first time he’s becoming aware of the fact that his quest is putting him in a vicious cycle of sacrifice. He sacrificed his home and his childhood and his parents already, and he was almost willing to sacrifice more people to get what he wants. I think Caleb is framing this revelation in a very self-absorbed way, and I think it’s forcing him to compare himself to Trent which is just fucking him up in all sorts of ways. I think the shell of selfishness and self-absorption is starting to crack though. Just in little ways. Ways I don’t think he’s totally cognizant of yet. I think he’s going to be reflecting on what happened in this past episode for a very, very long time. Whatever conclusion he ends up drawing about this is going to have some heavy repercussions on his journey going forward though for sure.

#critical role #cr spoilers #ljore tag #caleb widogast

18 notes · View notes

haunting-kind-of-high · 7 years ago

Text

Vampire!Roman headcanons

So, this is part of my Being Human AU, based on the awesome show Being Human. This one focusses mainly on Roman and a bit on his relationships with the others.

This turned out much longer than I originally intended oml

Warnings: Mentions of blood, death, the plague, that's it, I think

He was bitten when he was around 20

It happened at night, when Roman was alone in his chambers

It’s a miracle the intruder snuck into his room, but it’s a vampire we’re talking about so what’s more miraculous?

After that, he just… disappeared

He travelled across England at first

But there were too many memories, and after a few decades it got painful

So many people died

And then the Plague came and even more people died

He just had to get out

So he did

And he travelled the world after that, watching how society changes

He would stay somewhere for a while and then leave if staying got too risky

Either because he went a little too far with his blood-drinking needs, or because too many people close to him had died

Sometimes he’d leave if all his friends were dead, and staying around just hurt him too much

He was in Rome when the Renaissance started and he still loves every memory he made there

Seeing the world changing like that… it was fantastic

Loves ancient mythologies

He probably knew a lot of famous painters let’s be real

I also really like the thought of him knowing Hal (an awesome vampire in the show who’s cool)

Maybe he was the one who recruited Hal? I’m not sure if it fits in the show’s canon though

He has at least heard of him because every vampire has

Roman is a hella gay vamp

Goes to pride every year he’s able to

Is so happy pride exists because he needed that when he was a young 100 vamp

Rome was probably one of the best periods of his life and he never wanted to leave

But after a while, when everyone he knew was dead and he couldn’t stand to be there for much longer

So he continued his travels

He travelled through Europe and Asia

Somewhere in the 1880s/1890s he briefly joined the Old Ones

The Old Ones are a group of vampires who are… well… pretty old

They’re also super powerful, immune to religious symbols, and they’ve got more cool perks

But Roman wasn’t too fond of their way of living, so he left them and returned to England in 1915 to fight in the war

After the war, he went to America

He didn’t want to stay in England anymore

Too many painful memories

That was when he decided he wanted to stop drinking blood

Or try at least, because it is fucking hard

And he started to remember the people he killed and he couldn’t stop thinking about it and he hated it, but he hated blood more, even though he needed it so much

At first, he went to New York first and travelled a bit

He met Logan in 2011

It was in Michigan somewhere

He saved Logan from being beaten up by asshole vampires but that’s a story for another day

They weren’t super close at first, but Roman helped Logan find his way in the supernatural world, Logan helped Roman find his way in the modern world, and they grew pretty close

Logan tried to help Roman with his resolution to stop drinking blood but he didn’t know how to help

Roman appreciated the help though

After a pretty bad relapse, Roman decided he had to move and Logan insisted on going along, even though Roman protested this

But Logan didn’t give up so they moved in together

They moved to Florida

Once they moved into their house, he really had to get used to Patton being around, but he warmed up to the ghost pretty quickly

It was strange, though

He has a lot of nightmares

About the night he was turned into a vampire, about the people he killed, about the wars he fought

It’s not unusual for him to wake up in the middle of the night, convinced he is in the middle of a war, or back in medieval England

At first, Patton tried his best to comfort Roman. He didn’t need to sleep anyways

But it was difficult because Patton had no idea what it was like, and Roman hardly told anything about his nightmares

Roman liked having someone around at night, though

When Virgil moved in, he grew more open about his dreams

He wasn’t planning on it, but he plans on spending the rest of his life with Virgil and he can’t exactly hide his nightmares for all of eternity

And once he does, he’s glad he opened up to Virgil

Virge seems to know exactly what to do to help him out and his presence is a comfort

Sometimes, Roman will wake up thinking he is in the middle ages and he will be disoriented for a while, before Virgil reminds him that it’s 2018 and everything is fine

Roman is so intrigued by modern technology

I mean, phones can fit entire portraits in them, and it takes just a few seconds to make?

You can contact someone on the other side of the world in mere seconds?

Witchcraft, that’s got to be it

Smartphones don’t always work well for him, because his touch is pretty cold but that doesn’t stop him

Huge space geek

Believed the moon landing was fake for a little over 50 years, though

He just couldn’t believe that something was out there and that people can walk on that something

Still in denial about it

But Logan knows

In fact, he was the one who told Roman it was real

He still teases Ro about it every now and again

But yeah space geek Ro

Can't believe there are things out there other than small dots of light

Gets defensive when people make flat Earth memes because he believed that for ages

“I mean, it’s not that unbelievable, right? You can’t see that it’s round, what else are we supposed to believe? How were we supposed to know it was round?”

Every time he brings it up, the others reassure him that it's a joke and it's not meant to ridicule him or whatever

Still forgets the concept of round Earth sometimes

Same with the heliocentric model

"You can see the sun moving! How can it move across the sky if it isn't actually moving? It doesn’t make any sense!"

He has had a lot of discussions about this with Logan

Still doesn’t understand it

Loves Candy Crush

“It is so colourful and cute! How does one come up with this ingenious design?”

The others don’t tell him that there are tons of other games like it

He texts like parents

You know, using correct grammar, lots of emojis

I’m looking forwards to the movie *tons of emojis but for some reason I couldn't get them to work*.

He used to start every text he sent with a “hello (…),” or something similar and he used to end them with a signature thing

But the other convinced him that everyone knew it was him sending the texts and that it was only more effort for him

So he stopped that

The emojis and correct grammar still stand tho

Ok.

Virgil and Patton still haven’t convinced him to give up the ‘Ok.’

It’s agony

He is adorably naïve when it comes to spam and phishing mails

He’s lucky the others are there to stop him from clicking the damn link

“But it says right here that I still have to pay-”

“That’s a lie, darling, they just want your money.”

“But-”

“Just delete the mail.”

Always goes to Logan when he has a problem with technology

Constantly mixes up the slang he learned across the ages

“Don’t flip your wig, Lo! Everything is going to be fine.”

“I had a gas tonight, guys.”

But no one knows what it means

The fifties slang are his favourite. They’re just so fun.

He also uses medieval words a lot, as that is what he grew up with

Keeps calling water Adam’s ale

One time Logan got hurt and he requested an ‘acopon’

No one knew what he meant and it took him ages to explain because he couldn’t come up with the modern equivalent of the word (which would be a plaster)

Sometimes he’ll be stuck in like medieval language for an entire day and no one will understand what he’s saying

Like, it sounds kind of familiar, but not familiar enough to be sure of the meaning

It’s really frustrating to all of them

Also misuses modern slang a lot

“Would you look at the weather outside? It is so bright, and not a single cloud! How wonderfully lit!”

“I… I’m not sure lit means what you think it does, buddy.”

It is hilarious

When he starts dating Virgil, he finds out about Vine and because Virgil loves vines so much, he starts watching them too so he can understand the references and surprise Virge by making references himself

But he gets them wrong a lot too

One day, Logan and Patton are talking in the kitchen

Roman just looks at them and turns to Virgil with a

“And they were roommates”

Virgil almost chokes on his drink

“Oh my god, they were roommates”

Roman’s favourite vine is the croissant one

“I could have dropped my croissant” becomes his thing

It’s cute, but it starts getting annoying when he says it to everything

The others just let him be, he is a 700-year old dork, he needs this

He is upset he doesn’t show up on camera, because otherwise, he’d be all over vine

He had so many great ideas for vines

He has definitely seen some of his old stuff in museums

“Oh my goodness, my old sword!”

For a 700+-year old vampire, he doesn’t know when to chill

But he just gets excited when he sees his stuff

At one point in his life, he has definitely seen an old portrait of him in a museum

And someone definitely saw him looking at it

And they definitely saw the resemblance

And they definitely told Roman about it

He just nodded and told the person that his friends told him about it too

Wishes he could just steal the portrait because it makes him look so good and handsome

He thought about it, but quickly realized that telling staff of the museum that “he wants this portrait because it is him” would sound just a tad… weird

He’s really upset about it

Gets really nostalgic a lot

He has experienced so many things and seen so many amazing things

Met so many people

He misses them a lot

It just hurts to know that you’ll outlive most people you will meet in your life

He has always tried not to get too attached to people because they’re going to die anyways

But somewhere along the way, he let this attitude go

One way or another, he always grew to like a few people

He likes to tell his friends about what he remembers of his travels and experiences

Especially Logan, cause that man is a fucking history nerd

Roman loves Logan so much, because he’s so smart

They have the best conversations

A lot of them are about some event in history, or about modern-day society, cause that still confuses Roman

Loves cartoons

They’re just so cute and so amazing and sweet

He and Patton watch a lot of them together

As a ghost, Patton doesn’t need to sleep, so sometimes they will stay up until four am binge-watching some cartoon

Virgil and Logan try to tell them to stop – especially Roman

But it doesn’t work

Roman is very protective over Logan, because he is the only mortal of their group

Of course, he and Virgil can still die, but there’s a smaller risk of it happening

Patton is already dead

But Logan can still die

And Roman wants to keep Logan around as long as possible

So every time something even remotely dangerous happens around Logan, Roman is there to safe him.

Can’t have their favourite werewolf die

He is scared to lose Logan, but he knows it is inevitable

He just wished it would be different

Roman has quite a few of vampire contacts – they need to work together in order to avoid being discovered, after all

I mean it would be weird to have a passport that says you were born in 1296

So there are vampires to take care of that

Roman knows quite a lot of them personally and they always question his scent

It’s blood-like, as it is supposed to be, but there is a hint of dog

Roman mostly says that it’s because he has a dog, but there are a few people who know he doesn’t have a dog

There’s one or two who know about Logan and they don’t understand him

Why would a vampire be friends with a werewolf? That is unheard of

Roman is also friends with a few vampires who like to organize dog fights

Where a werewolf – during full moon – is caged with a human, who has a knife. At the end of the night, just one survives

And Roman lives in constant fear that one day, they will go after Logan for their sick forms of entertainment

Roman has seen a few dog fights when he was younger, and it is absolutely horrible

He doesn’t want Logan to have to go through that

And then there’s the risk of Logan dying, which makes it even worse

He thought about asking them to not capture Logan, but he feared that they would do it on purpose, just to spite him

So Roman thought of a system

If Logan was ever out and vampires came up to him, he would call Roman, but not say anything

Roman is in his emergency contacts, so that works well

And if Roman heard what was going on, he would track Logan’s phone to see where he was going – taking a few wooden stakes with him – and save his friend

There’s no way he would allow them to put Logan through something as horrible as a dog fight

Sometimes, the age difference between him and Virgil is quite… difficult

They’re both from different generations, obviously, and their experiences are just totally different

They try their best to understand the other, but it’s difficult sometimes

Virgil doesn’t know what it’s like to fight in a war, to see your best friends dying, to wander the earth, knowing that you will never die. He doesn’t know what it’s like to see half your city dying to the Plague

Virgil tries

But he just doesn’t understand

But it’s fine, because Roman loves him and they will have an eternity together to understand each other

He really loves Virgil a lot dude

On multiple occasions, he’s written Virgil a super romantic love letter

You know, one of those extra ones

Super extra

Lots of “my love”, “my darling”, lots of romance

But it’s cute

Virgil has kept every one of those letters

Roman listens to classical music a lot

But he also sort of likes rock

Nothing too heavy though

He can handle most genres though, but rock and classical music are some of his faves

Tries to headbang

But he can’t do it

Virgil says it’s because he’s to old for that crap

Roman doesn’t believe him

He’s young at heart how dare Virgil

Yeah Roman is v cute

#sanders sides #sanders sides headcanon #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #mercy's hc

30 notes · View notes

khalilhumam · 5 years ago

Text

History repeats itself: Chinese state terror and the dismantling of Uyghur neo-Jadidism

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/history-repeats-itself-chinese-state-terror-and-the-dismantling-of-uyghur-neo-jadidism/

History repeats itself: Chinese state terror and the dismantling of Uyghur neo-Jadidism

Entrepreneurs Ablimit Halis Hajim (left), Abduweli Muqiyit (center) and Nurtay Hajim İskender (right) were pillars of Uyghur national education and central figures in the development of Uyghur civil society. All three have been the targets of the Chinese state's assault on Uyghur society.

The city of Ghulja is reputed as a center of Uyghur rebellion, and has, in fact, often been a locus of resistance to Chinese power. Capital of the second independent Republic of East Turkestan from 1944 to 1949, Ghulja boasts many legendary heroes, such as Nuzugum, Sadir the Brave and Ghéni the Brave. That is just part of its identity: the city also claims renowned artists and literary figures such as Lutpulla Mutellip, Zunun Qadiri, Tiyipjan Eliov and Zordon Sabir. Ghulja is located in Ili, an autonomous district bordering Kazakhstan. Ili was colonized for 10 years at the end of the 19th century by Tsarist Russia and has acted as a gateway for Western influences coming through Russian-speaking Central Asia. It is also the cradle of Uyghur Jadidism, a late 19th-century-early 20th-century renaissance movement led by intellectuals and entrepreneurs who aimed to reform Islam and Turkic Muslim societies as part of a broader modernization drive inspired by Western and Ottoman models. This movement of societal and religious reform played a role in the awakening of Uyhgur society and its struggle against Chinese colonialism and religious obscurantism. This gave rise to the first rebellion in the south of the Uyghur lands, which gave birth to the first Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan which lasted from 1933 to 1934. During the period between 1930-40 known as the “white terror”, these religious and cultural reformers—called Jadidists across Central Asia—were driven out, imprisoned and massacred by the various representatives of Chinese colonial power. Intellectuals such as Lutpulla Mutellip, Abduhaliq Uyghur, Enver Nasiri, and Memtéli Tewpiq (the author of the national anthem of East Turkestan) were burned alive. China's then-ruling party, the Kuomintang, victimized anyone they considered a political or ethnic opponent.

Ablimit Hoshur Halis Hajim. Photo courtesy Medine Ablimit, used with permission.

During the period of the Second Republic of East Turkestan, which lasted from 1944 to 1949, Ili became the most advanced, in terms of culture and education, of the 10 districts that form the Uyghur Region, and to this day retains an independent spirit and offers a window on all that is new and modern emanating from outside. From the 1990s, when Uyghur businesspeople gained the opportunity to trade externally with Central Asia, South Asia and Turkey, many of them, including some from Ghulja, invested in supporting the education of young Uyghurs at renowned universities in other countries. One such entrepreneur was Ablimit Hoshur Halis Hajim, who made his money in real estate and was already known for his philanthropic support for the development of Uyghur cultural identity. In October 1994, Halis Halim, together with fellow entrepreneurs Sadiqjan, Abdurishit Hajim, and Memtimin Tewekkül, gathered together around 200 Ili notables in Ghulja and raised 1.5 million yuan (the equivalent of US$200,000) to create the Ili Halis Fund, the region’s first private higher education fund. The task of managing the fund was assigned to pedagogue and public figure Abduweli Muqiyit, as Halis Hajim encouraged other Uyghur entrepreneurs to participate and offer opportunities to Uyghur students from the region. The fund’s first cohort of grantees were 800 students who had to drop out of school due to lack of money, and who were now able to return to their studies. A year after the Ili Halis Fund was founded, another young Ghulja entrepreneur, Nurtay Hajim Iskender, founded the first school for orphans. Abduweli Muqiyit was yet again recruited to take on the huge responsibility of setting up the school’s day-to-day operations, coordination with the state, media promotion, recruiting teachers, budgeting, student selection, and even choosing a location for the school building.

Nurtay Hajim Iskender with children from his school. Photo by the Dilnur Reyhan, used with permission.

A peaceful, leafy district on a wide avenue by the Ili River, a short distance from the noisy, bustling city center, was chosen as the site for an attractive modern school building that incorporated traditional Uyghur architectural features. The school initially took in 60 orphan students, but that number quickly rose to several hundred from throughout the region in the years that followed, All the students’ needs, from primary school to the end of their university studies, were taken care of by Nurtay Hajim, supported by other Uyghur philanthropists.

Nurtay Hajim Iskender School in the city of Ghulja. Photo by Dilnur Reyhan, used with permission.

Nurtay Hajim's fame spread beyond Ili and throughout the Uyghur Region. He and Ablimit Halis Hajim became symbols of the progressive entrepreneurship for which the Jadid era had been known, and increasing numbers of Uyghur entrepreneurs started investing in similar projects. In 2017, the Chinese state renewed its campaign of state terror by targeting intellectuals, religious leaders and entrepreneurs. Sadly—and unsurprisingly—Nurtay Hajim Iskender was one of those arrested, and his school was closed and turned into a concentration camp. Almost all of the teachers at this school were reportedly arrested as well, though it is unclear what happened to the students. Abduweli Muqiyit was another unsurprising target of Chinese state terror. His grandfather had served in the government of the Republic of East Turkestan, and Muqiyit, who had served as head of the education directorate of the city of Ghulja, in 2002 organized the 100th anniversary of Ghulja School No. 2, a combination middle and high school that was the oldest in the Uyghur region. In 2014, he also founded the Bilal Nazimi bookstore, which quickly came to occupy an important place in the intellectual life of the community, with Uyghurs from different social strata gathering there for lectures and conversations. Information on what is really going on in the Uyghur region, one of the most surveilled locations in the world, is extremely difficult to obtain. This situation gives rise to many rumors, some of which prove to be false, but which in many cases are true. Rumors that Nurtay Hajim had died in detention circulated for a time in the Uyghur diaspora, similar to the one about the renowned musician and singer Abduréhim Héyit that was eventually debunked. Relatives of Nurtay Hajim also denied the rumour, in early 2020, they learned through unofficial channels that Nurtay Hajim had received a life sentence. Abduweli Muqiyit reportedly received the same, though as China does not provide any official information, it is impossible to verify this information. As for Ablimit Halis Hajim, his children, who live abroad, have had no news about whether he might have been released, or sentenced. These three men were pillars of Uyghur national education outside official frameworks, central figures in the development of Uyghur civil society, and—in their drive to modernize education, identity, and Uyghur society—pioneering proponents of neo-Jadidism. Like many other Uyghur artists and entrepreneurs, they sought a new basis for creating a society that was both proudly traditional and undeniably modern, and are recognized for their commitment to modernization and openness. The arrest and subsequent disappearance of these three men from Ghulja has exerted a chilling effect on the Uyghur community. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the policy of “white terror” pursued by Chinese governor of the Uyghur Region, Sheng Shicai, sought to eradicate the Uyghur intellectual and bourgeois class in order to subjugate the Uyghur nation. The dismantling of Uyghur society undertaken in recent times by Xinjiang province Party Secretary Chen Quanguo, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, has felt for many like a return to this brutal period. *The author wishes to thank the Uyghur-Australian intellectual Selime Kamal and Medine Ablimit, the daughter of Albimit Halis Hajim, for providing information on the lives of Abduweli Muqiyit and Ablimit Halis Hajim.

Written by Dilnur Reyhan · comments (0) Donate · Share this: twitter facebook reddit

0 notes

joejstrickl · 7 years ago

Text

Building Brands With A Female Lens

Let’s hear it for our Fathers. All of them – from our our father who art in heaven, our fathers who save lives in emergency rooms, to our fathers who program in A.I. and our fathers who market in business.

We know the fore-fathers we learned about in University and the founding fathers who developed the practice of law and the many men who captain industry and become the chiefs. Whether inventing the steam trains, stepping foot on the moon or building color televisions – our fathers have left their name and influence on history.

From an evolutionary perspective this was the natural order. It is an undeniable truth that our fathers’ began laying the tracks upon which we have arrived at this destination. They developed the transport systems, fought the wars and farmed our crops. They used their XY chromosomal gifts to construct our bridges, plant our trees and build our cities. We have recorded men working tirelessly at the coal face and in the words of Thomas Carlyle: “the history of the world is but the biography of great men”.

Why It’s Men’s Business

The business world we know today has likewise been erected by great men: we have received the tablets from their mountains, been instructed in their methodology, received lessons and scholarly counsel. Men created our learning institutions, take Cambridge, dating from 12th century and one of the oldest and most respected Universities, where females were accepted as students but only after 640 years had passed. Back then such little resonance did women have that they were denied validation for the degree they studied for. It was late 18th century that female matriculation and graduation was eventually granted.

Next consider our reading lists – books such as Rich Dad, Poor Dad (but not Rich Mom, Poor Mom). Napoleon Hill and later Warren Buffet, taught men how to think and grow rich but no female equivalent lives. We have the Tools of Titans, but not the Tools of Goddesses. In most facets of our profession, the male lens is the only model for the indoctrination of incoming generations.

The history of brand management dates back roughly seventy-five years, built in a time where men were men and women were housewives – formed through periods where the principles and doctrines of their thinking became the constructs and established practices still preeminent today. An era where women had a very different undertaking and role in society without the right to vote and deprived of much voice in shaping our future.

This cycle of male-lensing has continued in a virtuous circle for centuries but now a slew of data is changing our future. We value that which we can measure – and now we can access and illuminate a new intelligence and proof of female influence.

Different Good, Not Different Bad

In utero hormonal chemistries show the moment the developing fetus becomes male or female. There are brain studies and MRI scans that show distinctive patterns in the hemispheres of M and F brain activity when exposed to the same stimulus. Neuroscience shows us dissimilar trace lines between the genders when tested with exactly the same piece of communication.

This science and data has shown us what different quadrupeds men and women are which may explain the global divorce rate at 44%! There’s nothing wrong with being different but there is something wrong with not acknowledging the significance that these differences have.

Designed back in 1930’s, revisiting segmentation seems an essential step forward. As the Father of Segmentation, Phil Kotler advises, “in order for a segment to be viable, it must be measurable, substantial, accessible, differentiable and actionable.” Well it would seem then that gender checks all of these boxes.

So why is it that we do not use sex difference as the first point of segmenting analysis? Let me bring back the evidence in the earlier part of my discussion. Fore-Fathers ‘built this city’, not Mothers. The legacy lens in modern business practices has been bias to one lens only – and not yet privy to the inception of the female lens.

Consider if you were selling a gender-neutral product like aspirin, consumed by both men and women. Before starting the market segmentation process understanding the macro-purchasing behavior in the category makes sense. Ergo, if women are the main purchasers of OTC pharma at 90% F to 10% M; then surely gender is going to be a big factor in segmenting markets on the meaningful, actionable grid? It would also factor in the way products are developed, marcomms are advanced and media is purchased.

The Fastest Growing Economy Is Female

E&Y predict that by 2028 women will influence 75% of household discretionary spend. BCG published ‘Women Want More’, based on a global study of women with fast facts and numbers showing the growing force of female-spent dollars. Women are earning their own income as well as spending their family budget. Yet the status quo in business is the one that men developed. Long story short; we are still indoctrinated with a legacy model and lens that was developed by fore fathers.

This makes the financial upside of gender-intelligence a really difficult, often avoided, political hot-potato. It gets confused and mixed up among all the other equally important social-issues around feminism, sexual identification and equality. Under a pile of gooey-gendered political-correctness is a commercial value not being realized. We are not considering the facts around category influencer, overall spend and share of wallet when it comes to female customers.

The Blind Spots

Gender-neutralizing, gender streamlining, and gender homogenizing our world has culminated in valuable design and product requirements being overlooked. Worse still it ignores essential brand behaviors that women desire. While some categories would have thought they are market-oriented to female; many are left with a vacuum.

Look at the business disruption in Feminine Hygiene where the last product-innovation took place a century ago until recently. A disruptive new-player burst on the scene knowing that just because the category might have been “female” it was still guilty of male-lensing. THINX started soaking up the dissatisfied dissonance by clearly focusing their female-lens with market-oriented insights and subsequent solutions that leave many a leak in the old legacy lens.

The female-lens in business is disrupting categories seemingly from nowhere. From ride share to shopping for cosmetics without counters to customizing designs for women’s physiological differences to changing the landscape of the athletic-wear category. The new world order is here.

Irrespective of the gender of our workforce – growth happens when both men and women employ this female-lens to better understand their booming and influential female market. In a flat and tough market this should be the best tool of strategic advantage.

Women are a Renaissance-like opportunity but where we once saw Michelangelo’s Creation of Man, we now need to deliberately paint in the image of woman and start recognizing the world from her perspective.

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Bec Brideson, Founder, Venus Comms

The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

markjsousa · 7 years ago

Text

Building Brands With A Female Lens

Why It’s Men’s Business

Different Good, Not Different Bad

The Fastest Growing Economy Is Female

The Blind Spots

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Bec Brideson, Founder, Venus Comms

The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

glenmenlow · 7 years ago

Text

Today’s Brands Require A Female-Lens

Let’s hear it for our Fathers. All of them – from our fathers who save lives in the emergency room, to our fathers who program in A.I. and our fathers who market in business. We know the fore-fathers we learned about in University and the founding fathers who developed the practice of law and the many men who captain industry and become the chiefs. Whether inventing the steam trains, stepping foot on the moon or building color televisions – our fathers have left their name and influence on history.

Why It’s Men’s Business

Different Good, Not Different Bad

The Fastest Growing Economy Is Female

The Blind Spots

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Bec Brideson, Founder, Venus Comms

The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

from WordPress https://glenmenlow.wordpress.com/2018/06/20/todays-brands-require-a-female-lens/ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

0 notes

goldeagleprice · 7 years ago

Text

Gustav Vasa took charge of Sweden

While more southerly European countries were starting to use larger silver and gold coins up in Scandinavia, it was still mostly pennies and local equivalents. This coin, a half ortug, was struck for Swedish King Charles II (now VIII), made in his seat of power, Abo, now called Turku, in Finland. (Photos courtesy Spink & Son, London, UK, www.spink.com)

By Bob Reis

There is a kind of temper of the times when similar kinds of things happen all over the place. I look at history a lot as part of my job. There are these general tendencies that develop over time and one day, in retrospect, things are obviously different. And then, occasionally, there are these pivotal periods of a few years when something changes, then something else, then more change, sometimes disorder maybe, then afterwards everything is different. Like you’re driving through the mountains in the rain and you come around a bend and there’s the valley with the big city in front of you.

The first years of the 16th century were like that.

I was reading Josephus, the first century historian of the Jewish people. He wrote about how the general concept of governance in the world was absolute personal dictatorship, that the desire for other people’s stuff was a sufficient justification for offensive war. Josephus pointed out that his religion had laws that treated everyone the same, king to beggar, and demanded that people treat each other nicely while other people had actual gods of meanness and cruelty.

Conflict between haves and have-nots has been going on at least as long as the start of the bureaucratic states around 6,000 years ago.

I’m thinking about why/how the European “thing,” maybe the word “outlook” is a reasonable way of thinking about it, came to dominate the world until this very moment. There is the scientific element of course, yielding better weapons, but I am thinking that there was also a political element. I’m going to go out on a limb and call it “me too-ism.” The idea that the boss is not absolute, that his (rarely her) personal will is the only relevant factor, that other people, the general populace, must be considered.

In 16th century Europe, a new power-wielding class had fully emerged and become practically independent of the old military noble structure evolved from Roman times. That was the merchants, united for lobbying purposes into guilds and leagues. Mercantile activity is by nature outwardly directed, where there are more opportunities, the old military noble outlook was defensive/offensive, and reasons for offensive activity were somewhat bound by the laws of the religion they happened to have, which happened to be Christianity, which prohibited predatory wars, wars had to be defensive only. Other religions, some of them, didn’t have that particular moral stricture, and to the Europeans it was often only a formal requirement that the war starter had to come up with a story of how the other side had caused an injury that had to be redressed, rather than just wanting to own that port or something.

Nobles, with their local tolls, were a problem for merchants, who would rather deal with one set of rules. Merchants tended to seek assistance for their enterprises from kings, who had a longer reach than local nobles. The kings, in response to the greater needs and larger budgets required of facilitation of trade, began to dust off the old monarchical concepts of infallibility, divine right, absolute authority. Nobles of course resisted the proposed reduction of their status but the flow of events was going in the direction of larger enterprises. Resistance was futile.

Let’s see some of what was happening in a certain year in the 16th century. How about 1521?

China was inward looking, the emperor was calling his reign Jia Jing. We know his coins but he was a recluse. China was corrupt and inward looking. India was fragmented. Iran, after centuries of foreign occupation, was unified under the Shia shah Ismail I Safavi, who, I found in my research, was a descendant on his mother’s side of Byzantine emperors. He, it turns out, was one of those modernizing absolute monarchs of the time, founder, in a sense, of “modern” Iran. Turkey, or, as known then, the Ottoman Empire, was ruled by Suleiman the Magnificent, another of those larger than life 16th century rulers. Who remembers anything about his father? But we remember Suleiman, if only by name.

In Europe a guy named Charles Hapsburg was simultaneously king of Spain and Holy Roman emperor. Under his auspices Cortez conquered the Aztec emperor in Mexico, acquiring thereby a big pile of gold to send back to Spain. 1521 is the year that Martin Luther came on the world scene. Francis I, in some ways as big a shot as Charles, was king of France, obtained an alliance with the Ottoman Suleiman in his struggles against Hapsburg. And of course in England there was Henry VIII, another of those hyper-famous figures of history. Quick, what did his very active father, Henry VII, do? But you know something about Henry VIII, don’t you?

Two years later, up in Sweden, on the edge of the wilderness, as it were (savage Finland to the east, beyond that darkest Russia), yet another of those great figures of history came to power. His name: Gustav Vasa.

And, before looking more closely at our guy Gustav, a quick note on some developments in social activities of the period:

• world-capable boats

• firearms in general use by organized militaries, in 1521 mostly cannons and special small units of small arms specialists, but in the “civilized” zone, from Ireland to China, there were guns on both sides of most conflicts

• printing

• double entry bookkeeping

• expanded use of credit and interest, leading to an increased need for tokens of trade, and therefore

• bigger coins and more of them

• better visual and plastic arts techniques

• I don’t know, maybe there was something about the change of fashion; European guys showing more leg

• but still, like in ancient Rome, the most popular public entertainment was executions.

OK then, in 1521 there are all these egotistical, talented, visionary, charismatic, ruthless kings in greater Eurasia: English Henry, French Francois, Spanish/Austrian Charles, Swedish Gustav, Ottoman Suleiman, Iranian Ismail, that’s six of them, all of them ruling differently than their predecessors, with larger dreams and new control systems. At least that’s how we’d describe it today. And we’re numismatists. They all made monetary reforms that resulted in new coins in new styles that we can collect.

Gustav Eriksson Vasa was born into a family of high nobility. His family was generally what could be described as anti-Danish and pro-Swedish independence. The king of the three Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) was the Dane, Christian II. Christian was known as a double-crosser in diplomacy, and was cruel. There was war. During a negotiation session Christian kidnapped the Swedish envoys, including Gustav. The story is he flipped all of them save Gustav, who escaped. That was 1518. Gustav would have been about 22 years old. Christian, meanwhile, won the war, for the time being. After the crowning of the Danish king several days of festive merrymaking were concluded with the seizure and execution of about 100 of Christian’s enemies, including Gustav’s father. This being Europe, a legal excuse had to be produced to cover political murders, most were convicted in kangaroo court proceedings of heresy.

Much of Gustav’s reform coinage featured his portrait. This is a silver 2 ore of Stockholm dated 1540. (Images courtesy of The Coin Cabinet Ltd, London, www.thecoincabinet.com)

Gustav pulled together an army and mounted a rebellion. Things went well for him and them. The Danish king was deposed in Denmark. The new Danish king failed to win the war. Gustav was elected king of Sweden in 1523. Further ventures occurred involving negotiations and maneuvers that produced an agreement with Denmark, with the Hansa city of Lubeck, supporter of Gustav, by 1524 the way was cleared, Gustav was crowned in 1524.

Immediately he got into trouble with the pope over naming of archbishops. Funny thing, that. All of a sudden these kings were all having problems with the pope, Henry VIII, etc. In Sweden there was a fair bit of that Renaissance “new thinking” going on. A popular priest got married. The Bible got translated. In the end Gustav told the pope: “Don’t worry about the Church in Sweden, I’ll take care of it.”

Sweden under Gustav went most of the way in reforming the church. But not all the way. They didn’t actually proscribe Catholicism. But church properties were seized, pretty much all of them, and put under crown control.

Some big noble donors were allowed to take their donations back, a team building strategy by the king. In most ways though the new political thinking tended to reduce the power of nobles, so it didn’t hurt to give a few power people a few crumbs. Oh, this is topical: big overhaul of the tax system, mostly taking the nobles out of the collection business and depriving them of one of their tools of oppression of their commoners. It was supposed to be a fairer system but there were winners and losers, and the overall take for most people increased. There was a big external debt to the backers of Gustav’s war of liberation to pay off.

Some armed rebellions grew out of perceived economic inequities, though of course, like everything else during the Reformation, there was a religious element. The peasants, mostly, as always, were conservative, and weren’t interested in being anything other than Catholic. Today we yell about stuff. Back then they stabbed each other. Neighbors, about whether to pray in Latin or Swedish.

Gustav’s big international preoccupations were the German Hansa business conglomerate and Denmark. The Hansa city of Lubeck had been a big backer of Gustav in his insurgent days and they had received in due course such extremely nice business conditions in Sweden as to positively oppress, annoy and keep down the natives. Gustav eventually worked out a deal with Denmark to diplomatically gang up on Lubeck and change its rules of engagement in Sweden, and, more importantly perhaps, its waters. Sweden was fully in control of its borders and economy.

No major foreign wars in Gustav’s time, only a bit of exploratory raiding in Russia late in his reign. Ivan the Terrible was the first “tsar of the Russias,” Gustav thought he smelled a potential adventuring conqueror. But Ivan didn’t do the Alexander the Great kind of thing, rather, he oppressed his people at home and wrecked the economy. Gustav nevertheless sent a few thousand troops into Russia to mess around. Russians tromped around in Finland. Nothing came of it. They signed a treaty agreeing to forget about it.

Gustav died in 1560, kind of in the middle of things, politically speaking. He is a George Washington kind of figure in Swedish history. They have him on the money there, or have until recently. And, like most of us can’t tell you much about what Washington actually accomplished in eight years of presidency, yet his, as it were, moral influence endures, so too with Gustav. His bureaucratic reforms have of course evolved over time, but the government and polity of Sweden trace the way they are back to the foundations he laid.

Gustav’s coinage, typically for the period, was varied. Outside of Scandinavia Europe had moved beyond small silver coins into standard gold coins and different sizes of silvers, including big ones. There was getting to be a lot more business. They needed more coinage to do it with. They were more and more using paper to indicate transfers, an idea they got from the Chinese by way of the Mongols. Gustav believed in progress, immediately started making larger silver coins.

There is a book that is usually quoted as a reference for “modern” Swedish coins: Sveriges Mynt 1521-1977, by Bjarne Ahlstrom. It was published in 1977, apparently hasn’t been reprinted. I found a PDF version online.

There are silver coins, undated, of the Liberation War period, imitating Danish coins, planchets cut with shears and usually squarish, in the name of Gustav Eriksson. They seem to be very rare.

The pre-reform coinage was all billon or silver. The basic denomination was the penning. The period 1523-1531 saw some messing around with exchange rates between billon and silver, essentially the billon kept getting its value lowered which had the effect of incrementally robbing the lower class people who used it. The billon Gustav coins were the fyrk of 4 penningar, and the ortug of 20. Then there were silver coins, the ore, call it a dime if you wish, and the gyllen (gulden) and its half, call it a heavy half dollar. At different times and in different places in Sweden the silver/billon rates varied by more than 100 percent, to the annoyance of businesspeople everywhere.

Pre-reform mints were Stockholm. Vasteras, Uppsala, Arboga, and Abo. The billon types were typically but not exclusively the royal arms of three crowns and a large letter, “G” for instance, for the king, or “S” for Stockholm. Traditional designs. The basic type of the silvers was a standing facing king, various versions of the royal arms on the reverse.

Like most European rulers of his era, Gustav believed in the civilizing power of art and put some of that progressive social vision into the coinage. This daler of Stockholm has a beautiful depiction of Christ as Salvator Mundi. (Photos courtesy Myntkompaniet / AB Philea, Stockholm, http://www.philea.se/)

The coinage reform of 1534 involved the introduction of the mark as a money of account, everything else fixed against it, and the daler. 1 mark = 8 ore = 24 ortugar = 192 penningar. 2-1/2 mark = a daler. Coins of 1, 2, and 4 penningar exist, 2 ore, 1/2 marks, 1 and 2 marks. Various types, most with portraits of the king, Mark coins and ores for use in Sweden. The dalers, halves, and quarters, were made ostensibly for the German trade.

Mints were Stockholm, Vasteras, Svartsjo (notable reverse type of Jesus as Salvator Mundi), and Abo.

There were square “klipping” coins struck in Svartsjo in 1543 and in Abo in 1556 and 1557. What happened in 1543? The Dacke peasant uprising was defeated. How about 1556? That was the middle of the Russo-Swedish war. I wish I had more time to research the klippings, which are usually, in the 16th century, emergency money of some kind. Doesn’t matter from a collecting point of view, they are hardly ever for sale.

I went looking to buy a Gustav Vasa coin for a month. I saw more than a few, many denominations and price levels. The most common were the 4 penningar, 2 ore, 1 mark, but there are expensive dalers showing up in auctions. With the exception of a few surprisingly cheap coins that got away, prices ranged from quite robust to outrageous. Multiple hundreds of dollars will get you some small coin in not too bad shape. Or you could wait to get lucky. I found a portrait 2 ore 1540, fine, not so nice, they wanted $1,000. I offered $250. They told me I could have it for $850, I declined.

What do I think about that? That Sweden in Gustav’s time was still mostly using foreign coins, and was mostly making their own coins as a kind of fiscal flag waving, “Look, we make money too.”

This article was originally printed in World Coin News. >> Subscribe today.

More Collecting Resources

• Are you a U.S. coin collector? Check out the 2018 U.S. Coin Digest for the most recent coin prices.

• Download The Metal Mania Seminar with David Harper to learn more about the metals market.

The post Gustav Vasa took charge of Sweden appeared first on Numismatic News.

#Precious Metals

0 notes

learnspanishfans · 7 years ago

Text

Dead Languages: How (and Why) to Learn a Dead Language

What is your “why” for learning a new language? Maybe it’s because you want to feel a greater connection with people around the world. To have improved travel experiences or immerse yourself in a different culture different from your own. But what if you find yourself looking for a greater connection to history? To a religion or your heritage? Or even a desire to better understand the languages that you currently speak? You’re looking for the type of connection that you just can’t get with a modern language. Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Viking runes and Egyptian hieroglyphs call to you and you feel it’s time to answer. These are dead languages - those that no longer have a native speaking community. How do you learn a language without native speakers? Before we get into how to learn a dead language, or even an extinct language, let’s take a step back talk about what they are.

What is a Dead Language?

Dead languages are often confused with extinct languages, so I think it’s worth spending a moment to differentiate the two. A dead language is a language that is no longer the native language of a community, even if it is still used in other contexts. Its uses tend to only exist in specific situations - perhaps academia or amongst individuals or in special circumstances - such as the use of Latin in the Vatican City. In contrast, extinct languages are those that are no longer in current use and that do not have any speakers. While scholars have tried to draw a clear line between the two, the division is still a little fuzzy. Why? Because both languages underwent the same process and no longer have any native speakers. The difference is that dead languages may still have communities that speak the language.

How Many Dead Languages Are There?

According to various sources, there are thousands of dead languages. Maybe as many as hundreds of thousands. There’s a lot of history on that list. What caused so many of the languages once spoken around the world to die? Turns out, there are a lot a factors that can lead to the end of a language. Language death happens as a language is either absorbed into another - usually a minor language into a major - or the last native speaker is lost. This typically happens over a long period of time, but there are exceptions. Sometimes there are radical language deaths where the native speakers stop speaking the language, whether by force or choice.

What are Some Dead Languages?

As I mentioned before, there are thousands of dead or extinct languages that could be included on this list. Here are seven:

Latin

As far as dead languages go, Latin is the most studied. It’s also one of the best known dead languages.This is because it was (and is) taught in schools, because of its importance in the Christian church, and because of its use in legal or political situations. Latin’s death was caused by the process of language change, meaning it was gradual. Latin became Vulgar Latin which then led to the splitting up of the language into the various Romance languages. The result? Latin fell out of use. Some of the famous writers in the language include Ovid, Julius Caesar, and Cicero. If you’re interested in learning any of the Latin languages, like Portuguese, French, Spanish, or Romanian, it would be a great asset to you as a learner. Plus, more modern material is now available in the language, so fans of The Hobbit, Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, The Adventures of Tintin, Le Petit Prince or even The Cat in the Hat have learning materials to enjoy. Recommended Latin Resources

Getting Started with Latin by William E. Linney

Wheelock’s Latin

Coptic

Ancient Egyptian is one of the earliest known written languages, and it was spoken until the late 17th century in the form of Coptic. If you’re into hieroglyphics or different writing systems, Ancient Egyptian would be a fun language to learn. Like Latin, Coptic is still used as a language of religion. It’s used by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and today, there are several hundred fluent speakers. Many learners use hymns to study the language, but there are a few additional resources available for this interested in learning the language. Recommended Coptic Resources

Memrise

Introduction to Sahidic Coptic

Mandan

Mandan is a Siouan language that was spoken in North Dakota. It was one of about three languages to die in 2016 with the passing of Dr. Edwin Benson. The language is currently taught in schools, and there are extensive materials available for the language at the North Dakota Heritage Center. There are two main dialects: Nuptare and Nuetare. The latter fell out of use, and only Nuptare survived into the 20th century. The Mandan language has some similarities to the Welsh language and at one point, scholars even believed the language to be displaced Welsh. In the 1830s, Prince Maximilian of Wied created a comparison list of Mandan and Welsh words, but the validity of these origins is still debated. Recommended Mandan Resources

APS Audio Collections

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language and the liturgical language of Hinduism. It was the lingua franca of much of the east for more than three thousand years. If you’re interested in learning languages like Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, or Bengali, among others, Sanskrit could be a big help. It’s essentially the Eastern equivalent of Latin in the West and many languages in the modern world have Sanskrit roots. Recommended Sanskrit Resources

LearnSanskrit.org

Complete Sanskrit from Teach Yourself

Gothic

The Gothic language is an extinct language that is from the Germanic language family. The Codex Argenteus, a translation of the Bible produced in the 6th century (but copied from a 4th century version), is the most well-known source for Gothic, but the language has a significant body of texts in comparison with other Eastern Germanic languages. The language began to decline for a variety of reasons during the 6th century including geographic isolation and a defeat by the Franks. By the 9th century, it fell out of use. There may be evidence, however, that it was used until the 18th century but the versions of the language that survived past the 9th century are significantly different. It is argued that they may, in fact, be different languages. Recommended Gothic Resources

An Introduction to the Gothic Language by William H. Bennett

Grammar of the Gothic Language by Joseph Wright

Old Norse

The North Germanic language, Old Norse, was spoken by Scandinavians between the 9th and 13th centuries. During the 10th century, Old Norse was the most widely spoken European language - it reached from settlements in North America (Vinland) all the way to Volga in present-day Russia. Modern descendants of the language include Icelandic and Norwegian, so learning Old Norse would give you a leg up if you’re interested in either. It would help with Faroese, Danish and Swedish as well. Recommended Old Norse Resources

A New Introduction to Old Norse: Grammar

A New Introduction to Old Norse: Reader

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek, the language of Homer, Aristotle, and Socrates, is a language of intellects (it has been the subject of scholarly studies since the Renaissance). It dominated parts of Europe from the 9th century BCE to 6th century CE. Many of the words used in scientific fields were taken from Ancient Greek, and tech industries are following suit. If you work in these industries, studying the language would be an interesting way to further explore your field and understand the origins of the terms you use each day. If you’re interested in learning Ancient Greek, it also would help you with modern languages such as modern Greek or Crimean. As with Latin, texts such as Harry Potter and Asterix are translated into the language. Recommended Ancient Greek Resources:

Greek: An Intensive Course

Le Petit Prince

Harry Potter

Why You Should Learn a Dead Language

Why should you learn a dead language, or even an extinct language? If you can’t use the language to communicate with other people, is there any point? Yes, and here are just a few reasons you might benefit from learning a dead language:

Like Esperanto, learning a dead language like Latin or Ancient Greek could help you learn other languages more easily

Learning a dead language gives you a window into history that you just don’t get from modern languages

You still get all of the cognitive benefits you would get from learning any language - modern or not

Academic or professional benefits, meaning you can advance your career

You can read ancient texts the way they were intended to be read - in their original language

Not a lot of people are doing it, so it sets you apart

You gain a greater connection to history and different cultures

How to Learn a Dead Language

Ideally, to learn a language, you’d want a course book to explain the grammar, a dictionary for vocabulary, audio to work with, literature, and speakers to practice with. Unfortunately, in the cases of most dead languages, these are all things you’d be counted lucky to have. So what happens when resources like this don’t exist for the language? How is the language learned? Linguists often work to reconstruct languages based on fragments of writing - letters, documents, or records - they come across. They patch these together to estimate what the language sounds like and what the missing pieces might be. You can see an excellent example of how this is done in Tim Doner’s talk at the 2014 Polyglot Conference. http://www.youtube.com/embed/FAPQEx3tgDQ Thankfully, as a learner, you don’t necessarily need to do this. Today, many of the dead languages that learners are most interested in have grammar or course books readily available. They’re often the result of the work done by those who reconstructed the languages, or by those who got their hands on those reconstructions and primary sources. When this isn’t the case, there are often archives that include texts originally written in the language. Learners then use the text in the target language and a translation of the same work, using the two to study the language. For more recent dead languages, audio often exists. A language like Eyak, an Alaskan language, has audio, a dictionary, collections of folktales, and grammar. The Internet is another incredible resource for those interested in dead languages. Before, finding others who shared your passion for say Old English or Biblical Hebrew was difficult if not impossible. Nowadays, however, a quick Google search changes this. While dead languages don’t have native speakers, you are still likely to find other learners. Some of these will be better than you at speaking or understanding the dead language you’re learning. As a learner, these people are an invaluable resource. To practise speaking a dead language, you just need one person, one speaker or fellow learner who is just a little bit better than you. They don’t have to have mastered the language as long as they are a decent speaker. Try to create a structured learning process with them. If they are a teacher, that’s even better. Some teachers can definitely be worth any price. If they are a fellow learner who just wants to help you, it puts a little bit more of the lesson structure preparation on you.

Dead Languages: Conclusion

When you think of dead languages, it’s easy to forget that they were living languages. Much like English, French, Korean or Arabic, people once loved, laughed and experienced life through languages like Hunnic, Rumsen, or Norn. Reading and learning these languages offers you the chance to connect with those who cursed, philosophized or debated in them and grow more deeply connected with history. And who knows? Perhaps languages that are extinct today may regain a place in modern society. Hebrew was extinct for around two millennia, but a nationalist movement in the 19th century revived the language. Today, there are millions of speakers. Cornish, a language spoken in Cornwall, England, is headed along a similar path. Now, I’ll turn it over to you. Are you interested in extinct or dead languages? If you are, what are you doing to learn or connect with them? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

The post Dead Languages: How (and Why) to Learn a Dead Language appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

Shared by learntospeakspanishquickly.com: http://ift.tt/2ijsGXf from Blogger http://ift.tt/2imC24j

#learn spanish tips #Bloggers

0 notes

markjsousa · 7 years ago

Text

Today’s Brands Require A Female-Lens

Why It’s Men’s Business

Different Good, Not Different Bad

The Fastest Growing Economy Is Female

The Blind Spots

Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by: Bec Brideson, Founder, Venus Comms

The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections

Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education

FREE Publications And Resources For Marketers

0 notes

goldeagleprice · 7 years ago

Text

Gustav Vasa took charge of Sweden

By Bob Reis

The first years of the 16th century were like that.

Conflict between haves and have-nots has been going on at least as long as the start of the bureaucratic states around 6,000 years ago.

Let’s see some of what was happening in a certain year in the 16th century. How about 1521?

And, before looking more closely at our guy Gustav, a quick note on some developments in social activities of the period:

• world-capable boats

• printing

• double entry bookkeeping

• expanded use of credit and interest, leading to an increased need for tokens of trade, and therefore

• bigger coins and more of them

• better visual and plastic arts techniques

• I don’t know, maybe there was something about the change of fashion; European guys showing more leg

• but still, like in ancient Rome, the most popular public entertainment was executions.

Much of Gustav’s reform coinage featured his portrait. This is a silver 2 ore of Stockholm dated 1540. (Images courtesy of The Coin Cabinet Ltd, London, www.thecoincabinet.com)

There are silver coins, undated, of the Liberation War period, imitating Danish coins, planchets cut with shears and usually squarish, in the name of Gustav Eriksson. They seem to be very rare.

Mints were Stockholm, Vasteras, Svartsjo (notable reverse type of Jesus as Salvator Mundi), and Abo.

What do I think about that? That Sweden in Gustav’s time was still mostly using foreign coins, and was mostly making their own coins as a kind of fiscal flag waving, “Look, we make money too.”

This article was originally printed in World Coin News. >> Subscribe today.

More Collecting Resources

• Are you a U.S. coin collector? Check out the 2018 U.S. Coin Digest for the most recent coin prices.

• Download The Metal Mania Seminar with David Harper to learn more about the metals market.

The post Gustav Vasa took charge of Sweden appeared first on Numismatic News.

#Precious Metals

0 notes