June 20th, 2022
The book begins with a description of a hoard found in British, buried around the years of Germanic attacks and British departure. The rest of the chapter describes the Roman empire and why it worked. There was an exceptionally warm period that was great for farming and no real environmental disasters. Rome also spend a significant money on its military and military was its forefront. They would rarely give up after a loss and eventually their strength was enough to prevent a battle. This combined with their laws and way of life, which were attractive and easily adaptable to new locations. This led to the Pax Romana from Augustus to Aurelius and the growth of the empire to where a quarter of the world was under the empire. We’ll see that Rome’s growing dependence on barbarian mercenaries would lead to its collapse in the west.
June 21st, 2022
The first chapter continues to describe Rome and some of the things that would have a lasting impact on Europe. The obvious ones are religion, Christianity, Romance languages, and laws. Emperor Caracalla in 200 something had made a drastic declaration. All peoples of the empire were eligible for citizenship. Before this, only Romans and foreigners who served 25 years in the auxiliaries could become citizens. Another aspect was slavery, which the Roman system was dependent on economically and societally, a la the antebellum South.
June 24th, 2022
The second chapter is about the barbarian invasions of the Roman empire. It begins with the Huns, who were a central Asian nomadic tribe. They were troublesome to the Chinese since a few centuries before Christ and by the 4th century AD they were excellent horse-mounted warriors with composite bows that were deadly accurate. The Huns had no written language, so all record of them are from the people they were killing. They are not kindly written. The belief is that a “megadrought” around 370 left the steppes too arid to live. The dustbowl would not have sustained the horses they used for riding and eating. They crossed the Volga and encountered the locals. They defeated the Alans and then went for the Goths. The Goths may have been weakened by a recent war with the Romans and were not able to hold off the Huns. The Goths then arrived at the Danube, which was the border of Rome. They requested permission to enter from the eastern Emperor Valens. Rome was at war with Persia, so Valens thought he may be able to get away with letting some Goths in and using them to fight the Persians. This was done, and some tribes of Goths were permitted to cross and others were not. The Goths may not have recognized these Roman distinctions. Regardless, this led to a lot of Goths entering illegally. Once in Roman territories, the Goths were treated pretty poorly. There was too much of an influx of people into the Balkans, and starvation broke out. Poor conditions led to conflict, which led to war. Valens reluctantly asked his young nephew, Gratian, the western emperor for aid. Gratian had already had several military successes. However, Valens moved to fight before Gratian could bring his forces to the east. The Romans fought the Goths at Adrianople. It was a disaster. The Romans were completely routed and Valens was dead, his body never found. That’s a big win for the barbarians.
June 25th, 2022
The Gothic war wound down and they were resettled in Thrace. I think it was Theodosius who resolved the problem, then took western Rome as part of his empire. He had a mini-golden age as the last emperor of a single Rome. He died suddenly and his teenage songs took the two empires. The end of the 4th century saw the Huns moving again and pushing more tribes into Rome, including the Vandals. The empire could not keep up. Men were attempting to usurp the throne in Britain and then the entire army abandoned the region. Stilicho was the guardian of western emperor Honorius and the most powerful man in the empire, plus he was half Vandal. His main problem was Alaric, the leader of the new confederation of Visigoths. Stilicho kept him at bay, but Stilicho was executed by the emperor for suspected treason. He probably didn’t do anything and now Honorius was screwed. Alaric was on tour of sacking cities and came to Rome itself. He requested some money, which he got that plus more, then offered to leave Italy for a permanent home in Austria and Dalmatia. This was denied, so Alaric sacked Rome. This was the second time in history, the first being 800 years ago by the Gauls. The Visigoths were Christians, so it really wasn’t the massacre that later writers made it seem. Alaric left and died shortly after, and the Visigoths moved onto to Gaul somewhere. Meanwhile in Britain, the locals were left to fend for themselves from seafaring Germanic tribes. Also Picts and Scots were assailing them. Things were not so good for Rome either. The Vandals were now sweeping across the empire. They were under a strong leader, Genseric, and by 430 they had moved from Iberia to Africa and conquered Carthage. Africa was now Vandal and Rome lost its breadbasket. The Vandals actually had a nice little kingdom, but we know they’ll lose it to Muslims. The Vandals ended up sacking Rome in 455. The situation was not good.
June 26th, 2022
The second chapter ends with the direct impact of the Huns. Some time by 450, the Huns were under Attila, had crossed the Danube, and been harassing the eastern empire. They laid waste to the Balkans and extorted lots of money from Constantinople. By now, the Huns had learned siege weapons. It is thought they took 100k – 200k prisoners for slaves or ransom, and who knows how many dead. Then they set their eyes on the west and laid waste to Gaul. The Huns were not Christians like the Visigoths, and they slaughtered whoever the wanted. I don’t remember many names, unfortunately, but there is one Roman general who was able to beat the Huns on the battlefield, though it was a bloody cost. Attila retreated, embarrassed, then next season came for Italy. He ransacked the place, was somehow bought off, and died shortly after. Read the Nibelungenleid for a fun interpretation of the end of Attila. By now, Rome was mainly just Italy. The Visigoths had the west, Vandals Africa, Burgundians and Franks Gaul, and now a new federation called the Ostrogoths held more eastern lands. Now that the Huns were weak, the Germanic tribes held sway over the land. Odoacer, some sort of Goth, invaded Italy and deposed the child emperor Romulus Augustus. The empire was dead. Odoacer claimed himself King of Italy and a vassal of Emperor Zeno in Constantinople. Then an Ostrogoth, Theodoric, who I confused with Theodosius, caused trouble. He was a hostage in Constantinople and when he came of age he started raiding the empire. Zeno offered him Italy if he killed Odoacer. There fought a war and agreed to rule together, until Theodoric killed him. Theodoric, though a barbarian, brought stability to Italy and ruled for a couple decades. He kept Roman traditions and did not assault the Roman Church or aristocratic class. Finally, 130 years after the Huns and drought caused the death spiral of Rome, a new polity was born.
June 27th, 2022
The third chapter is about the Byzantines, the Greek/eastern continuation of the Roman empire. It opens with a description of the Plague of Justinian in the 540s, the first recorded bubonic pandemic. Then it transitions to the beginning of Justinian’s reign. It discusses his love of law and order, which resulted in his fixing centuries of contradicting Roman laws. The Code of Justinian had an impact on legal systems all the way to Napoleon, whose systems are in use today. Justinian was also a stickler for religion. He tolerated the various sects, but not the pagans. The pagans had been dwindling but were still around and not outlawed. Justinian passed more laws against pagans, and banned them from teaching. So ended the ancient Academy in Athens. He also did the usual culling of gays and pederasts. He almost lost his city during the Nika riots. Some chariot loving hooligans had formed “teams” and the big teams, Green and Blue, were offended by him. A couple were supposed to be hanged after a riot but escaped. These teams ended up burning a lot of the city and Justinian almost fled, but his wife Theodora convinced him to man up. His got his army from around the area and killed tens of thousands of them who were holed up in the stadium. That done, he rebuilt the destroyed sections of the city, including the Hagia Sophia. The blood of 30,000 really adds to the beauty.
July 2nd, 2022
Yesterday I finished the chapter on the Byzantines. Justinian’s reign had some troubles down the road. There was the plague, which seems to have been a mutant version of the existing bacteria which aided in human to human transfer. We already know the devastation the bubonic plague can do. He had on and off wars with Persia, which sapped his military strenth. During one of these “offs” he sent his best general, Belisarius, to retake Africa from the Vandals, which he did with amazing success. Later, Belisarius was sent to fight the Ostrogoths in Italy. This was more difficult. Not only did war with Persia return, but the Ostrogoths put up a good fight. Belisarius took most of southern Italy and then got stuck. War and fighting would last here decades. Later Emperors would give up on Italy and the Byzantine empire became more and more Greek. The Lombards would eventually come south and take more Italian territory. There were also troubles with Slavs coming across the Danube, even to the walls of Constantinople itself. This may have been in the reign of a later emperor, though. After Justinian, the Byzantine emperors were not so successful and had troubles, and the old days of assassinations returned. I think Maurice and Heraclius were decently successful, brought stability in the wars on the several fronts. Heraclius brings us to the 4th chapter, the Arabs. So far it’s the well known story of Muhammad and his fighting in the Arabian Peninsula. Then Abu Bakr, Muhammad's friend who consolidated power after Muhammad's death, and his further conquest, then Umar, who was not a fighter but more of a strategist. He spread into Egypt and Africa, the Levant, Syria, and Persia. My timeline could be off. One of these guys, I think Umar, fairly easily took the Middle East from Persia and the Mediterranean coast lands from Heraclius and his successors. The Arabs fought hard and ferociously, but showed mercy to those who surrendered without a fight. They were not there to convert the locals, but to rule them. Christians and Jews were forced to pay a tax, but that is it. Not a bad deal.
July 3rd, 2022
Umar was assassinated and this Muslim empire had some problems. His replacement was Umathene or something like that who ruled for 12 years. He was killed over something, then Ali, who I think was Muhammad’s cousin or nephew who married his daughter, ruled and was very religious. He wanted to purify the governing system but was also killed. So ended the “Rightly Guided” caliphs. Shia Muslims only regard Ali as legitimate. Then there were some civil wars, and ultimately the military powers in Damascus won. I guess the Shia Muslims think Ali’s descendents should be caliph and Sunnis are cool with the status quo, and thus they bomb each other 1400 years later in Iran and Iraq. Under the Umayyad dynasty, the Muslim empire spread further. They essentially took all of Persia and also took Africa, even crossing into Iberia. In Damascus, the Caliphate lost its overly religious tone and emulated a Byzantine imperialism. In Jerusalem, they built the Dome of the Rock on the site of the Second Temple. It remains there today, and to my surprise, is not a mosque. The Caliphate attempted to take Constantinople twice. Both times the navies were destroyed by Greek fire, and the army could not take the city. This slowed the advance of Islam significantly and probably kept (most) Europe in Christian hands.
July 4th, 2022
Chapter 4 and section 1 end with the 8th century movements of the Caliphate. As mentioned, the Arabs took Byzantine Africa, then moved to Spain in 711 or so and took out the Visigoths with ease. The Arabs also took Persia and moved into the Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other stans. A general crossed the Pyrenees to Frankish Gaul in 732 and was causing some problems. Charles Martel raised an army and fought the Arabs at Tours or Poiters. The Hammer beat the Arabs and sent them back into Spain. Now the Arabs lost their wars of expansion in Asia Minor and in France. They had also gotten beat on the borders of the Chinese empire. The Arab borders were pretty much set for the next 800 years. The author questions raises these other battles to show that Martel’s victory was not the sole event to end Arab expansion. The author also raises the possibility that the Muslims were not interested in controlling Gaul, but merely in plunder. They already significant Mediterranean territory. Domestically, the caliphs started to coin their own money, the dinar, and force civil servants to use Arabic only. Obviously, this had a huge change on local culture and is a main reason why the Muslim world is fairly unified culturally today. The Persians maintained their own culture, which explains why Iran and its sphere are different and conflicting. The Umayyad dynasty ended in another civil war, with non-Arab Muslims who resent the favoritism for Arabs. They won and started the Abbasid dynasty, whose first caliph was a descendant of Mohamed's uncle. They moved the capital from Iraq and thus became more isolated from the west. The Abbasids are known for the Golden Age of Islam and their scientific advances, and technology taken from China. The Abbasids also were more decentralized, with local governors ruling in various regions. Later, these regions would each form a rival faction for power. The Umayyad’s survived in Spain and Morocco (Moors) and also had some cities of high renown in Spain.
July 10th, 2022
Started and finished chapter 5 this weekend. The topic was the Franks and ultimately how Charlemagne affected Europe. The Franks had settled into Gaul during the big wave of barbarians at the end of the Roman Empire, and a kingdom formed under the Merovingian kings. They had pushed out the Visigoths and Burgundians, or at least taken over their territory. They were not great rulers and they divided the kingdom up with all their sons. By the time of Charles Martel, the kings were mostly figureheads and the real work was done by mayors of sorts, which Martel was one. His son, Pepin the Short, officially deposed the king and declared himself king. He was smart and worked with the Pope to get the church to back his kingship. He essentially came up with the whole “anointing” thing. In return, Pepin knocked the Lombards around so they’d leave Roman lands alone. His son, Charlemagne, was also anointed. Once king, Charlemagne took things further. The Franks still split rule between siblings. After his brother died of a “nosebleed”, he had sole control. His brother’s sons fled to Lombardy. Charlemagne invaded Lombardy and actually took the crown and made himself king. His nephews “disappeared”. With the Lombard episode, the Pope officially gave up on Constantinople as protector of the west and hedged its bets with the Franks. Either Charlemagne or his dad gave the Pope a lot of land which would become the Papal states. Charlemagne then conquered east and west and had the largest territory in the region since Rome. He spread Christianity to pagan Germanic tribes and built a beautiful capitol at Aachen. In 800, Charlemagne and the Pope worked out some deals and Charlemagne was anointed Emporer.
In 814, he died. His only living legitimate son, Louis the Pious, inherited the realm. He was not so powerful or lucky as his father. His sons fought against him and deposed him, though he regained the throne. When he died in 840, he split the empire between his three sons, Charles the Bald, Lothair, and Louis. They fought each other until they agreed to split the empire into three, East and West Francia, and the Middle Kingdom. The chapter also discusses the Vikings and the start of their major raids in 797 at Lindisfarne. The Vikings are already very well known. They go from pagan raiders, to pagan invaders, to Christian kings and settlers. Importantly, after a hundred years of Viking problems, Charles the Simple of West Francia gave Rollo the land of Normandy (Nordmania). His son William was the first “duke” of Normandy. Several generations later, William the Conqueror would change Europe.
July 11th, 2022
Chapter 6 turns to monks. I find Christianity kind of boring. It describes the beginnings of asceticism and hermits in 3rd century Egypt. The church was not fond of the hermits or cenobites because they were not really controlled by anyone. They did not answer to bishops or lords. Then monasteries started popping up with rules on how to live. A major rule book was written by Benedict. This spread around western Europe. Some monastery in France (Culy?) was founded and given free reign to do anything it wanted. It’s Benedictine monks were answerable to no one, and they spread. As they spread, they gained control over many other monostaries.
July 12th, 2022
Cluny is the famous monastery network that is being discussed. The book continues to discuss it. The question is why in the 10th to 12th centuries or so was there a huge rise in monasteries? The potential answer lies in land. First, it was a warm period and crops were booming. Landowners were making a lot of money and becoming very wealthy. Next, the new Frankish kingdoms established a new system. Men were rewarded for their service with tracts of land. This led to conflict with neighboring land owners and warfare. How do rich men atone for the sin of murder? With money. They give what they have a lot of (land) and give it to God (monasteries). This isn’t mentioned, but was there an increased population due to the food supply and better climate? If you have a lot of living children, you have to do something with them. The non-heir sons who have some brains can join the clergy or a monastery. The dumb ones can be knights and deal with the surplus population by killing or dying. That’s the gist of it. Cluny houses controlled a lot of pilgrimage roads an profited further. It talks about the multiple abbots who redid the churches in extravagant fashion (I think Cluny was destroyed in WWII). This style survives in the 16th century redone Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Cluny was getting a lot of money from the King of Spain (not Spain per se but whatever kingdoms were participating in the Reconquista) who was winning wars against the Moors and taking their vast wealth. There’s only a few more pages left on this.
July 13th, 2022
The monk chapter rounds out with the slow fall from supremacy of the Benedictines at Cluny. The theory of ascetism had come full circle around the 12th century and a rival group, Cistercians, had come to prominence. The Cistercians were old school in their deprivations of all things comfortable and enjoyable, in stark contrast to the magnificence of Cluny. Thus Cluny was somewhat eclipsed, and the Cistercians were not alone. Where Cluny was the sole power in its heyday, now there were many competitors. Around this time the friars of the Dominican and Franciscan orders came to being, known for their wandering begging for alms. Also on the world stage were the military religious orders, such as the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights. Secular leaders were also fighting the pope for more power over what happens in their land. Time to move on to the next topic.
July 17th, 2022
Chapter 7 is about knights. Three technological advancements were key to the knight’s existence. The stirrup, which had been invented by Siberian nomads in the early centuries AD and spread through the eastern world made their way to Europe through the Arab world. Some sort of saddle, which allowed the rider to side at a certain angle. This would help him stay on his horse when fighting with the last advancement, the lance. Since ancient times, horseback riders fought with the javelin, which obviously was thrown. They were not much more than fast infantry. The Franks did not seem to use cavalry until the era of Charlemagne. With his vast territories, he need a fast army to travel around it. I believe he also encourage his mounted soldiers to fight with the spear as a stabbing weapon as opposed to a throwing weapon, with great results. I guess the difference between a spear and a lance is a blunt front and a handle on the shaft, maybe some sort of counterweight. The knight with the lance charges at full speed and plows into someone with the end of the lance. This is roughly the same force as a rifle shot. One of the early victories in this new warfare was the Battle of Lechfield in 955, where Otto I of Germany used heavy cavalry to obliterate some attacking pagan Hungarians. The Hungarians had been a deadly nuisance for many years, and after this did no attack Germany further. Otto was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, and at some time St. Stephen was converted to Christianity and spread it throughout Hungary.
The knight would not be a knight if not for the symbols of chivalry and the relationship of feudalism. I don’t need to go in detail, but we know the knight served a lord who rewarded him with land. The land-for-arms deal defined the upper classes and governing system of western Europe for centuries. The knight was also romanticized and imagined to be a man of valor, courage, etc. Obviously it takes guts to charge full speed on a horse at another person. The morality of the knight was spread and preserved in songs and epic poems, some of which are based on real people, e.g., the Song of Roland. Some real life examples are El Cid, who fought the Muslims of southern Spain for Alfonso VI, was exiled due to jealously, and became of knight for hire. Eventually he conquered his own “dukedom”, in spite of the the king and all those who opposed him. Another was William Marshall, who served various Plantagenets. He was a wandering knight who performed well in tourneys (i.e., battle-royales, not jousting) and became friend of Henry the Young King (Henry II’s co-king son.) He taught Henry how to be a knight and served in his rebellious army. He was exiled from Henry’s court after rumors of his affairs with Henry’s wife (a la Lancelot) surfaced. They reconciled, but Henry died shortly after. Marshall then served Henry II and fought with him against his rebelling sons Richard and John. He defeated Richard in battle and spared his life. Once Richard was king, he made Marshall an important member of government, especially since Richard spent next to no time in England. After Richard’s death, he served John. Marshall did not like John, but supported his claim over Arthur of Brittany’s. Marshal clashed with John and was in and out of favor. Despite his dislike for the unchivalrous king, Marshal did not join the rebellion that led to the Magna Carta, or the rebellion after that. When John died, Marshal was a protector of the child King Henry III. At age 70, he fought against French invaders at the Battle of Lincoln in 1217. He died at age 72 in 1219. On his deathbed, he warned the young king to act chivalrously, or to die an early death.
July 18th, 2022
The chapter on knights ends with how the fables affect real life, such as the British finding the bones of King Arthur and Henry VIII donning his armor in jousting tournaments and in war. Then the knight as a militant ended with changes in warfare. The siege weapon, the longbow, and crossbow became common. The Scots killed many charging knights of Edward I with well placed pikes. The knight moved on to a man who rode in to battle and dismounted to fight with sword and axe. The age of cannon and gun made him obsolete, though there are the odd men who still fought in armor and on horse. The knight evolved into an aristocrat of rank and lost his fighting prowess, as institutions like the House of Commons were set up to incorporate them. Feudalism was dead and the fighting-for-land was replaced by the hired mercenary. The old system was dead. Today, the knight is a weird club for silly rituals. But people are still into it nearly as much as 1000 years ago.
July 19th, 2002
Chapter 8 is on the Crusades. It opens up with the defeat of the Byzantines by the Seljuk Turks and the collapse of two emperors. The third emperor appealed to Pope Urban II for help, framing it as a fight against Saracens. 1095 or 1096, the pope received Byzantine ambassadors and hoped to not only protect Byzantium, but restore Jerusalem to Christiandom. This would solve his other problem of knights causing ceaseless violence. Western Europe and the Frankish lands took his ideas with zeal. At first, only the mobs made way to Constantinople, massacring German Jews in the process. The emperor was not pleased with this rabble and many of them died due to their lack of military knowledge. Then the real warriors started arriving and against the odds marched through Turkey down the coast of Syria, fight the Seljuks along the way. They took Antioch and Edessa or something like that and make new counties with European lords. Of course, they killed many innocent non-Christians along the way. By 1099, they had besieged Jerusalem and taken the city, with another horrible massacre to follow. Before he learned of his victory, Urban had died.
July 22nd, 2022
The chapter continues with an Islamic historian’s point of view (a century later) that the Crusaders were able to succeed because of the fractured state of Muslim territories. This was true, but the Christians were not only fighting in the Holy Land. Christians were fighting in Spain, fighting Slavic pagans, and even “heretical” Christians. War for Christ was everywhere. Once the kingdoms in the east were created, holy orders such as the Hospitallers and Templars were created to protect it. It was not a safe place, full of brigands. More Crusades were to come. Around 1140, a Seljuk wanted some power and assaulted Edessa, the most vulnerable of the cities. The Christians thought God had abandoned them and the West panicked. The latest pope (Eugene III?) called for the next generation to prove they were as able as their fathers and to repeat the First Crusade. This Crusade was led by kings: Louis VII and the Conrad, King of Germany. They literally followed the course of the First without any of the luck. There was no Byzantine support and the Turks in Asia Minor were stronger. The Crusaders barely made it to the Holy Land and didn’t conquer anything. It was an abject failure. Louis’ wife, Elanor of Aquitaine, divorced him and ultimately married Henry II. Good for Plantagenet history. This failure was offset by the conquering of Portugal and the beginning of the Northern Crusades, sanctioned by the Pope, where Germans murdered or converted Slavs. The idea of fighting in the east now brought a bad taste to people’s mouths. That is for 50 years until Saladin caused trouble. He worked for the son of the guy whose actions led to the Second Crusade. Saladin fought for him in Egypt and led to the collapse of the Fatimid caliphate. Once the guy was dead, Saladin took power and was in control of most of Syria and Egypt. The Kingdom of Jerusalem was weak. Baldwin IV, the leper, died and then the child Baldwin V died, leaving his mother and a guy named Guy on the throne. Guy was much hated. Saladin tricked him into coming out in full force and trapped him, slaughtering most of his army. From there, it was easy to take Jerusalem. This led to the Third Crusade, where Phillip Augustus and Richard the Lionheart led the fight. They took a Mediterranean course, taking some islands on the way. Their hatred for each other grew and they had mild success. They got some territory, but did not attempt a siege of Jerusalem. Phillip left long before, and Richard finally left, shipwrecked in Croatia and got imprisoned in Germany. With Jerusalem gone after 100 years, the Christians turned away. I think they turn to heretics and pagans.
July 23rd, 2022
There were more crusades, but nothing was achieved besides death. Pope Innocent III did some horrible things. Most famously was his crusade against the Cathars, Christians in southern France who rejected certain Catholic teachings. In the early 13th century, the pope wanted his authority to be absolute. He called a crusade against the southern heretics, which was supported by Phillip Augustus. He wanted to use this opportunity to secure power in the region. Simon de Montfort was sent and many thousands of innocent men, women, and children were slaughtered, along with sympathizers. De Montfort was a madman who loved violence and wanted to carve himself his own territory. He even fought and killed the Spanish king, a hero of the Reconquista. He was eventually killed in battle, but the crusade continued under Phillip’s son, Louis “the Pious”. Also under Innocent was the Fourth Crusade, which was supposed to be financed by the French and Venetians. The French failed to deliver, but the Venetians sailed anyway. This is not exactly the pope’s fault, but they went rogue. First they attacked some Croats who owed them money and destroyed their city. Then they sailed for Constantinople, invited by the son of the deposed emperor. They besieged the city, eventually sacking it and killing the emperor. They put a Flemish man on the throne and killed thousands of inhabitants, then sailed back home. After this crusade just became a term to justify violence, which it always was, but much more indiscriminately. English could crusade against English. Teutonic Knights built a duchy on the Baltic and crusaded against pagan Baltics for a couple hundred years, until the French king crusaded against them. It was bad rhetoric and is still used to this day. People shouldn’t crusade and never should have. End of part 2. Part 3 opens with Mongols.
July 24th, 2022
Everybody knows about the Mongols. They were a bunch of steppe nomads in various tribes. Genghis Khan’s family was outcast after his father was murdered, but they survived in the wild. The steppes had the best climate in millennia. Eventually they were brought back into the tribe, and Genghis Khan ascended to tribal leader. Through his leadership, he fought and brought the other tribes under his leadership. He reorganized the military to make it less tribal and more structured. Then he started spreading. The took over the various Chinese kingdoms and then attacked Persia, which was ruled by Turks. They showed a little disrespect, and the Mongols slaughtered them brutally. They always slaughtered brutally, but they were really mad at Persia. At this point, the westerners and Crusaders, on their Fifth Crusade against Egypt, heard about a “King David” fighting the non-believers, a descendant of Prestor John. Obviously this was far from the truth. Somewhere around this time the Mongols split. Genghis Khan sent two generals further west, and they assaulted more territory, up through the Caucus, into Crimea and towards Kiev. Killing, killing, killing. Genghis Khan made it back to Mongolia and died. A new capital city was built to control the largest empire that had ever been created.
July 27th, 2022
The Mongol empire was huge and open. There are several recorded diaries of westerners making the trip to Karakorum to see the Khan. Some travel through Kiev, others through the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Either way, it’s a long trip to Mongolia from there. The trip is full of dirt, fermented mare milk, minimal food, and strict laws that always end with execution. The westerners were fascinated by what they saw and how weird everything was. Obviously, those who left records survived, but not all did. There were instances of westerners in the capital being killed. The Mongols achieved an open empire and took many technologies and ideas from their conquered. This also opened the flow of information between east and west. After Genghis Khan, his son was Khan for 14 years and made a postal system across his whole empire. Then his son ruled, followed by a second grandson. After this, the system collapsed. It fractured and led to civil war. Kublai Khan was on top, but war continued until the empire was split in four. Kublai Khan ruled the Yuan dynasty in China from what would become Beijing. This would soon become another decadent Chinese empire that would collapse and be replaced by the Ming. The Golden Horse ruled the Russian steppes, then there was one that was former Persia and on that was Central Asia. The Khans had embraced Islam, and thus these areas have Muslim majorities today. Mostly Central Asia is because of them, obviously Persia was Muslim before. After these 4 Khanates fractured further, there was a bit of the old revived. Tamerlane, an Uzbek who was not a descendant of Genghis Khan, essentially took power as an “emir” since he was married to a few of Genghis Khan’s descendants. He waged bloody war across his empire, killing indiscriminately, and made a powerful empire that included the old Mongol lands except the Ming regions. Once he died, it was over. Mongol control of half the world lasted barely over a century. Without the strict obedience to a single leader, the system failed. The Mongols had brought the Silk Road into Europe and the next chapter discusses the effects of the merchant class.
July 28th, 2022
The next chapter is about merchants. After the Mongols slaughtered their way to vast territory, they enforced law and order. There was a “Pax Mongolica” and one could try from Europe through Persia to Asia under pretty safe conditions. The man who had made this famous was Marco Polo. He went to Kublai Khan’s summer palace in central Asia with his father and uncle and became a fairly important guy due to his quick learning and skill with languages. He traveled Mongol territory, taking notes of the people, cultures, and sales opportunities. A Venetian, he was captured in a naval battle in his 40s against the Genoese. It was in prison where his co-prisoner wrote down Polo’s stories. This was the interesting stuff. It went on about some merchant stuff which was kind of boring. After the Roman Empire collapsed, there was no wide European market. The new kingdoms traded, but on a small level and had no access to cool stuff. This changed around 1000 when the climate picked up and farming was booming. Then commerce expanded and certain towns started hosting markets and fairs, which became quite famous.
July 29th, 2022
During the rise of merchant trading, several republics in Italy sprouted up. Venice, Genoa, Florence were all centers for trade and banking. It’s all quite boring. I can’t read about money. There was a lot about banking families in Florence lending money to England and it was so much money that they went bankrupt.
July 31st, 2022
Finished the chapter on merchants yesterday. It really says a lot about my attention span when it comes to money because I cannot remember a single thing I read. I’m sure it talked about the Italian Republics and their power/autonomy due to wealth alone. There was a similar, though smaller, group of cities on the North Sea. These Germanic cities formed the Hanseatic League. Then it talked about a guy named Richard Whittington. This part is coming back to me now. He was a son of a poor knight who had no prospects of a landed future. A century ago he’d have gone off to the church, but there were better options now. Richard got into England’s wool trade, the best wool in the world (or maybe just Europe) and acquired wealth. He got into politics in London by being on certain councils and eventually became mayor. He sold and loaned to the court, including John of Gaunt and Thomas of Woodstock. He then got in with Richard II and somehow stayed in favor after Henry IV took the crown. When he died, childless, his vast wealth went to various charities, some of which still exist today. What a nice way to end a chapter.
August 1st, 2022
Chapter 11 is about scholars. It opens with the story of Phillip IV’s destruction of the Knights Templar. He tortured them into confessing heresy and sodomy and got the University of Paris to convict them. The University was unsure and the pope got involved for his own investigation. The thing went on for years and ultimately, Phillip won. He stole their lands, took their money, and killed the ones he had to kill. Then it discusses the history of scholarship after the fall of Rome. For a few centuries, higher learning was scare and reserved for the ultra rich. Scholarship and learning began to flourish again and universities became an important part for a pupil or churchman. But as scholarship advanced, the more it became tied to the church. While early scholarship was able to look at ancient pagan works with interest, the late middle ages viewed anything “different” with suspicion. By the late middle ages, no one knew Greek or could read Plato etc.
August 2nd, 2022
Talks more about scholars. The crusades led to various Muslim cities coming under Christian control and, with that, many manuscripts. The Islamic world maintained the books of the ancient world and translated them into Arabic. Now, Christian scholars were re-translating these into Latin, or in some cases, Castilian (the predecessor to Spanish). It also talked about a few specific scholars.
August 4th, 2022
Finished the chapter on scholars. Unfortunately, it’s just not that interesting. It talks about universities some more, how Bologna was one of the first because it was located between the HRE and the Pope, so many legal scholars resided there. There was a lot of legal argument between the popes and the emperors. It mentions other universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Paris etc. Mentions some scholars and gives short blurbs. Talks about how universities, like today, could be locations for great radical thought, but also for censorship and silencing of different opinions. Back then they could burn you at the stake, too. Interesting topic but not so much for a whole chapter.
August 8th, 2022
Chapter 12 is about architecture, with the first half discussing castles. The claim is that military fortifications did not evolve much past the Roman castra once the empire fell. Castle architecture evolved in the east, especially during the constant warfare in the crusader states. 1000-1400 was the era of siege warfare and it evolved quickly, with weapons and castles changing in response to new technology. The Normans were big in the spread of castles, both in Normandy and England. Edward I famously built a ring of castles after conquering the Welsh. The Spanish built some after their conquests, and the Germans built many too. Kind of interesting stuff. I think the rest will be about cathedrals.
August 12th, 2022
The chapter on builders continues with Gothic architecture. It talks about Louis VII +/- I purchasing Christ’s crown of thorns from Constantinople and building a Cathedral in the style that was taking northern Europe by storm. This was the Sainte-Chapelle on the Ile de la Cite. Gothic architecture differed from Romanesque in that it had thin walls and tall pointed arches, versus massive thick walls with round arches. The thin walls were filled with huge stained glass windows, often depicting Biblical scenes or later Christian imagery. Louis a few decades later commissioned the building of the Notre Dame on the same island. Often the men who envisioned and designed these buildings did not live to see their completion. The author then takes us back to England to discuss the Lincoln Cathedral. Originally built after William the Conqueror moved the diocese there, it collapsed after an earthquake in the 1180s. It was rebuilt in the Gothic style and was huge and miracles were performed there etc. It’s tower was completed in 1300 something and it then became the tallest building in the world, taller than Giza. The tower collapsed 200 years later. The chapter and this third section wraps up with an architect who built a cathedral in Florence. The Italians did not like Gothic style (hence they called it “Gothic”, i.e. barbarian) and it was build in the Roman style. Instead of a tall spire, the architect dreamed of a large dome. It took the city hundreds of years to complete and may have been an inspiration for Renaissance architecture. The fourth and final section shall start with the black plague.
August 13th, 2022
The plague was preceded by a famine. Volcanic eruptions somewhere in the world had affected the global environment. In the early 1310s there were several years of cold temperatures and rains that ruined crops, leading to famine. Then some disease from the east killed half the cattle. 30 years later, the Mongols brought more disease. The bubonic plague was going through their territory and they brought it to their warring. They laid siege to a Genoese city on the Black Sea, but had to retreat due to plague losses. This was not before launching their dead comrades into the city via catapult, allegedly. The disease then went to Italy and the Mediterranean, then from 1347 through 1351 killed half of Europe. This was worse than the Justinian plague since it killed more people and seems to have mutated to spread through expiration. At this point in time, Europe’s population was huge. After the Medieval Warm Period, for example, the population of England went from 1.5 million to 6. After the Black Death, it would not reach 6 million until the Victorian era. There were multiple outbreaks afterwards in the 14th century, but the main damage was done in the first wave. With the death of so many, the peasant became a premium. Despite their new high value, they were not treated well. Edward III passed a law forbidding the increase of wages or any other evil manipulation from the working class. This type of mistreatment leads to the occasional uprising, such as the Jacquerie in France in 1358. The lower classes were sick of mistreatment, war with England, and the general poor ruling of France. For two weeks, thousands or tens of thousands of French men and women attacked the landed upper class, allegedly doing some horrible and violent things. Eventually it was repressed and the leaders killed, with no gain to the peasantry. Popular uprisings are a sensitive subject. The people deserve to be treated and right and must fight for their rights, otherwise they will always be taken advantage of and oppressed. That said, being oppressed does not justify murder of innocents and other shameful acts. But blood will always be shed in an uprising, so some amount of killing must be forgivable. It is who, how, where, and when that determines if it is a crime or an outcome of the situation. There are also populists who take advantage of the ignorance of certain people and convince them that a situation that does not exist is doing them harm, a la Trump. This is not the same as class acting in self-defense. See, it’s very touchy. There’s a lot of nuances.
August 14th, 2022
A generation later, things were not better. There were more uprisings throughout the continent and especially bad period in 1378-1382 when another outbreak of plague occurred. This was characterized by what is known as the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Edward III was dead, his son the Black Prince was dead, so his grandson Richard II became the child-king of England. A group of “peasants”, who were really led by the more well-to-do of the lower classes, such as skilled laborers, began to rebel against the excessive taxation and wage freeze of Edward III. This began in the southeast, around Kent and East Anglia. A few thousand men marched under Wat Tyler to London where they demanded to speak with the king. John Ball, a pastor/preacher, was freed from jail and became another leader of the rebellion. The rebels claimed they were the true commons and wanted to free the king form the bad council of his lords. Richard sailed to meet the rebels down the Thames, but did not disembark, which irritated the rebels. The rebels entered London and went for their enemies, burning John of Gaunt’s palace to the ground. Richard then met the rebels and agreed to their demand to end serfdom. Many rebels left satisfied with this agreement. The next day, the king and Tyler’s rebels met at Smithfield, where Tyler had further demands. A fight broke out and Tyler was stabbed by the Mayor of London. Tyler died and the rebellion collapsed, Ball was drawn and quartered. Serfdom was not abolished, but decline due to economic reasons over time. Richard was oppressive and had no interest in the lives of the lower class after this. There were rebellions in later decades, but none were like the years around 1380. These older rebellions were against the system, trying to destroy it and replace it, committed by people outside the political system. In later years, such as Jack Cade’s rebellion of 1450, the rebels wanted to fix the existing system that wasn’t working. Jack Cade’s rebels wanted to reform Henry VI’s council to stop corruption, not do away with lordship or anything of that sort. Again, one should sympathize with the rebels but should not condone their extrajudicial executions and violent actions. Violence will be met with violence and murder with murder.
August 18th, 2022
The next chapter is about Renaissance and arts it seems. It’s interesting to read, but it’s more biographical about certain people. It talks about Petrarch and some other Italian, Burgundy’s Duke Phillip and Jan van Eyck, and some other stuff. Phillip the Good seems like a solid dude.
August 19th, 2022
The chapter then talks about Leonardo da Vinci and his interesting life. That’s pretty much it. Next chapter is about navigation and the changes that are involved with western discoveries.
August 20th, 2022
The penultimate chapter is about the beginning of global navigation. In 1453, the Ottomans had finally captured the city of Constantinople after years of isolating the Byzantine Empire into a small city state. Over the next 30 years, Mehmed II continued to conquer, seizing Serbia, Albania, parts of Italy, and much of the Greek area for the Ottoman Empire. Only in 1650 something would the Ottoman expansion be stopped at Vienna. The Christian world was as distraught as with the loss Jerusalem. The main impact was the loss of a route to Eastern trade. The Genoese and Venetian cities of the Black Sea were lost and conquered. Mediterranean trade was in peril. Out of desperation, eyes turned westward. The amount of time humans have lived in the Americas is in question, but it is likely the ancestors of the current indigenous peoples came over during the last ice age and spread south from there. With the sinking of Beringia, the two worlds were isolated for millennia. Possibly Polynesians had reached Chile, but certainly the Vikings had settled briefly in Newfoundland in the early 1000s. They did not remain long and the land was forgotten. Navigation of the 15th century was spurred on by the ambitions of the young kingdom of Portugal. Slowly conquered from the Muslims after the Second Crusade, Portugal wanted to be a great kingdom. King John had married a daughter of John of Gaunt and began taking Mediterranean lands from Muslims. His son, Henry the Navigator, sent further expeditions along the West African coast. The caravel and knowledge of the Atlantic winds helped bring the riches from gold and slaves to Europe without relying on the Muslim kingdoms of North Africa. The Portuguese by the late 15th century had carved themselves a lucrative little empire with trading posts along the African continent.
August 21st, 2022
Next the topic of Christopher Columbus’ voyage is discussed. He was obsessed with proving there was a western passage to Asia and finally the King and Queen of Aragon and Castile gave in. He was mostly wrong, and the story is one of the most famous in the world. Equally famous was Vasco da Gama’s voyage that discovered a proper sea route to India around Africa.. The Portuguese had figured out that Africa ended and water continued in 1487, that was Dias. This made the Portuguese very wealthy, while they left the west for Spain. Magellan took the long way by going west and made it to the Philippines before getting killed by natives. Then 8% of his crew made it back to Portugal and it was a rousing success. These voyages are one of the major marks for the end of the Middle Ages. The destruction of the west and east would make Europe rich and give them a huge leg up over the rest of the world. The effects are still seen today. Though none of this Spanish and Portuguese work would turn out as well as English. Good work, England.
August 22nd, 2022
The final chapter of the book is about the Protestant movement. It opens with Gutenberg losing his press and Bible work in a lawsuit to his financier. Then it discusses how the first (or was it earliest surviving) European printed document was an indulgence letter. Indulgences raised lots of money for the church and people loved buying them to save their souls. Pope Innocent III, I believe, started them during the first or second Crusades and they only expanded and become more systematic after that. The indulgence seller became a mockery or caricature for a huckster. Chaucer mocked them, others (Jan Hus) took it a little more seriously and were burned at the stake. The printing press brought exponentially more indulgences to the market, and then Sixtus IV (a bad guy) made it so that you could buy indulgences for the dead. By 1500, things were coming to a head. Early in this century is where Martin Luther makes his big entrance.
August 24th, 2022
The next dozen pages or so are about Martin Luther and his place in the Middle Ages. He was a professor of theology at Wittenburg and had led a fairly ordinary life for an intelligent man. His constant reading and interpreting of the Bible led him to the conclusion that the church authority was nonsense and that earthly men cannot affect one’s entry into heaven. Only through faith and belief in God, not through deeds or buying of indulgences, can one reach salvation. He also questioned the tenants of the Catholic Church, confirmation and whatever else, saying they have no basis in scripture. He then famously wrote his 95 theses, had them mass produced thanks to the printing press, and sent them to notable people (the nailing to the door may be a myth). This was 1517. Then it blew up and was reprinted in different languages all over Europe. Some people agreed with Luther, others opposed him. Pope Leo X (?), a Medici, eventually got into it with him and Luther was excommunicated. Luther had protection in one of the German principalities, I don’t remember which. Henry VIII, aged 29 and seeking some fame, wrote a tract defending those pillars of Catholicism and was awarded the title Defender of the Faith. This was of course before the pope opposed his annulment to the princess of Spain and founded his own church with him at its head. Guess he was defending his faith. Then it talks about Charles V, a Hapsburg, becoming Holy Roman Emperor in 1519. He was already Duke of Burgundy, Lord of the Netherlands, and King of Spain (he simultaneously became Archduke of Austria after the previous Hapsburg died). People were skeptical about one realm and so much power being in the hands of one man. He summoned the Diet of Worms in 1521 to put Martin Luther on trial and get him to renounce the things he had said. Martin Luther defended himself and at some point fled the city, fearing he’d be arrested. Charles banned Martin Luther’s teachings, but it was too late. The Protestant movement had already begun.
August 27th, 2022
Finished the book. The last bit of the last chapter discusses some of the effects of Luther’s work. In Germany, the peasantry reacted strongly. Many people were inspired by Luther’s message of faith alone is enough for salvation. Some of this was voiced elegantly, as in the Twelve Articles, which was a mass produced pamphlet that was sort of a demand for human rights. The authors wanted the right to choose their own pastors and to keep sermons by the Bible alone, the end of serfdom, the return of communal lands, the right to hunt and fish, and some other reasonable demands. It’s definitely worth a read, see it here. Other peasants took to violent measures, forming mobs and killing certain members of the aristocracy and their households. Something that sounds like it could have been taken out of the French Revolution 250 years later. Luther wanted to discourage this behavior, but eventually was so disgusted by it that he published a tract against the peasantry. Luther, after all was said and done, ended up on the side of the noblemen. It goes without saying that these peasant revolts were put down at some point. Charles V let his brother take care of it, but encouraged leniency in order to prevent further rebellion. Charles was busy with decades long war in north Italy. Around this time he finally got a decisive victory against he French and captured the king, forcing some concessions of land and money. Charles was beyond broke at this point. Francis agreed, but once free recanted and got the pope (a new Medici) to relieve him of the agreed treaty. Charles decided to end this once and for all. The Imperial Army, led by a Frenchman who went over to the enemy, made a rapid march on Rome. The army was unpaid and underfed and essentially out of any man’s control. They made quick work of the Roman walls, in which their leader was killed, and sacked the city. Spanish, French, and German troops ran rampant. The Germans were hardcore Lutherans or Lutheran sympathizers and no churchman or church object was sacred. The pope was holed up in a castle for months. The troops looted and killed and destroyed for months. Maybe as many as 10k Romans were killed. Eventually the Pope became an Imperial vassal. It is here the author ends the book. After this, Henry VIII was unable to get an anullment (Catherine of Aragon was Charles’ aunt) and left the Roman church. Protestantism spread to France and wars were waged against Calvanists and Hugenots for decades, leading to massacre. The French, alone against the huge Hapsburg empire, made common cause with the Ottomans, a partnership which lasted more or less until WWI, excluding Napoleon’s war. Spain was on top of the world and increasingly wealthy. Any idea of Italian unity was destroyed for centuries. I don’t know what happened with the Germans, but I can’t imagine the Protestant and Catholic fighting ends here. I’m pretty sure the Thirty Years’ war is in the 17th century. So suddenly the book comes to an end and our own modern era begins.