It has been several years since I read Born in Blood, a book by John J. Robinson about the Knights Templar and the origin of freemasonry (the Masons). As I re-read it now and we approach a new year, I am reminded of human history and our inability to be civil.
To secure their vast treasures, King Philip IV of France rounded up, tortured, and killed in Paris as many Knights Templar as he could find on Friday, October 13, 1307, which gave rise to our superstition surrounding that date. Such a grotesque and barbaric endeavor got me to thinking about the course of human events over the past millennium. How badly have we behaved?
In short, since the beginning of each century since 1000, roaming, religion, and war played major roles in our pitiful passion plays.
This is not too unlike the years leading up to and following the beginning of this century and millennium. Look at the wars in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Add the religious conflicts behind several of them, sprinkle in September 11th (with similar terrorist acts worldwide before and since), mix in our desire to explore the Universe, and our ancestors would be proud.
Some would say that today’s barbarism is not nearly as bad as it was. Yet that is small comfort.
Around the year 1000, Norseman Leif Ericsson landed on the North American coast, either in New England or Nova Scotia. A century later (1099), the first Crusade took Jerusalem from the Moslems.
At the start of the 13th century, religion held center stage. Pope Innocent III, the last of the powerful medieval popes, initiated the 4th Crusade (there were more than eight of them over 200 years), St. Francis of Assisi began his Order, King John of England clashed with Pope Innocent over several issues, including electing the Archbishop of Canterbury. [John was famous for signing the Magna Carta in 1215.] A century later, religion was still in the news. Boniface tried to assert his papal power, but failed due to rising Western European nationalism. The kings of England (Edward I) and France (Philip IV) empowered lay leaders to tax clergy and try them for crimes against Boniface’s wishes. Jews were expelled from France and England.
As the world approached 1400, religious issues continued to burn brightly. There was another “Great Schism” in the church, resulting in three popes contending for supremacy (in Rome; Avignon, France; and Pisa, Italy). John Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin into English in 1382 (so-called Vulgate Bible – over 200 years before the famous King James Version). With the next century, however, we obviously had seen enough trouble, and needed to get out of the house. Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Amerigo Vespucci were the headliners for traveling far and wide and expanding what was the known world at the time.
But church issues would not go away. By 1500 (1517), another church schism occurred – the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther in Germany. And when 1600 arrived, we were on the road again. Jamestown was founded in America (1607) and Henry Hudson was looking for the northwest passage.
Tensions rose throughout Europe as the 18th century came into view. Between the Great Northern War (four countries) and the War of Succession (another eight nations), it seemed as though fighting was our favorite pastime. By 1800, a United States had only recently appeared on the horizon but it was getting heavily involved in geo-politics. As England and France were beating each other senseless, Thomas Jefferson picked up the Louisiana Purchase for a pittance and doubled our country’s land mass.
War and peace were the themes at the outset of the 20th century. In 1899, the first Peace Conference was convened at the Hague, with the International Arbitration Court being established there shortly thereafter (1902). But war persisted, as it so often does. The U.S. had the Spanish-American War (Remember the Maine!), Africa hosted the Boer War, a Boxer Rebellion started in China, and the Russians and Japanese engaged in their own conflict.
As another year is upon us, will we despair of the drive to reverse our historical track record?
Barack Obama was elected on the promise of ‘change.’ Can he help us write a new history for the next millennium that is better than the last?
Note: These historical tidbits were from Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language (Random House, © 1989). As I offer only one source, you would be wise to consult other references for more details, as history is written by the victors without necessarily including the views of the vanquished.
Fred W. Apelquist, III
Approximately 770 words.
December 31, 2008
+++
YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
"To stimulate thought, debate, and introspection”