Ancient, medieval, Islamic and world history -- comments, resources and discussion.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
21st century jousting
Iranian power in the new Middle East
Update: See this Guardian (UK) article by an Iranian expatriate, Ali Ansari, on the weakness of Iran's president. An interesting contrast to Shadid's.
The US Constitution and the President as Commander-in-Chief
Wills is the author of a fabulous study of Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Political advertising
You can look at translations of and commentary on the graffiti, political and otherwise, here and here.
Monday, January 29, 2007
HIST 2805 will meet tonight at 5
Today we will discuss the modernizing process in the 19th century Ottoman empire
VITAL INFO FOR NU HISTORY STUDENTS!
Before you pre-register for next year you will want an explanation of those changes and how they affect you
There will be two general information sessions for returning History students
FEB 5th 11:30- in F210
FEB 6th 11:30- in A137
Be sure you attend one of these!
Brendan Murray at NU today
North Bay native and accomplished actor Brendan Murray will give a talk called:
Monday January 29, 2007, 5:00 – 6:20 p.m., Room A118
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Steve Muhlberger on Chivalry -- a podcast on the Chivalry Today website
The Duellists
I am working my way through past Scott projects, and I just saw The Duellists, a little-known 1977 film (only 7 copies circulated in North America in its original release, though one was in Toronto). It was Scott's first feature film and it is visually stunning and thematically right up my alley. It's about two French officers who spend most of the Napoleonic wars fighting inconclusive duels yet refusing to let their quarrel go. Actually, one of them, whom the film follows, is trapped in this situation by his concern for honor, while the other, Captain Feraud seems to live for duels and his own image of himself as a dangerous man -- a quite accurate perception. The rules of honor and chivalry (the term is used in the movie at least once) allow him to kill without restraint.
The whole situation reminds me very much of the high-profile jousters I discussed in my book Deeds of Arms, some of whom were as angry and as anxious to promote themselves as Captain Feraud.
Those not so concerned with this theme will probably still be amazed by the incredible vistas and interior shots, many of them reminiscent of great paintings of the period. Those who know something of moviemaking will be astounded that it was made for $900,000. Even given that it was 30 years ago, that hardly seems possible.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
This is the war in Iraq, January 27, 2007
Then there is this.
Update: One more report.
More for HIST 4505, Monday January 29
84. Charny asks:
Two men at arms find themselves afoot in the field, and they are enemies. The one is armed entirely as appertains to a man at arms and has his sword and knife. The other is unarmed in his tunic but he has, clearly to be seen on his hood, some precious stones that he was willing to put there, but no weapon nor any other armor. And there they are going to fight to the death. Which of these two would you rather be?
For HIST 4505 on January 29
It will be worth your while to consider Charny's War Question #17.
17. Charny asks:
Because I do not know what kind of people are called "preux," I ask what they should necessarily have done before they bear this name so that when they've done this they are able to have such an honorable name. For I believe that he who does more is worth more. But I ask what they should necessarily do at the minimum.
What do you think he was fishing for?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Ancient racism
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Political conflict comes to the on-line game "Second Life"
Friday, January 19, 2007
The Death of Hrant Dink and the Armenian genocide
For a Turkish comment on the murder, see this.
The picture comes from the Telegraph (UK)., which has more coverage of the incident.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Clarification HIST 2805
Monday, January 15, 2007
Britain-France merger, 1956: a truly astonishing historical find
According to the Guardian, which got the info from the BBC:
Britain and France talked about a "union" in the 1950s, even discussing the possibility of the Queen becoming the French head of state, it was reported today.On September 10 1956, Guy Mollet, the then French prime minister, came to London to discuss the possibility of a merger between the two countries with his British counterpart, Sir Anthony Eden, according to declassified papers from the National Archives, uncovered by the BBC.
The man pictured above is Guy Mollet, who has to have been one of the strangest Frenchmen to ever live. Or maybe he was just in a mood.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Mali, my musical home (?)
Sometimes when I work at home I listen to one of the 30 Galaxie "radio" channels that come with my satellite TV package. One of my favorite channels is the World Music channel. A funny thing: 9 times out of 1o, when I hear something that I really like, it is music from the West African country of Mali. Or from neighboring Senegal, where some of the music is quite similar. Or failing that, it might be something by Madagascar Slim, from much more distant Madagascar (though last I heard, he now lives in Toronto).
This magnetic pull of Malian/Senegalese music is rather odd, since it's not all the same by any means (apart from choice of instruments). And I've never been to either place, or anywhere in Africa. But there is some essential quality that pulls me in.
You may not have Galaxie (though if you live in Canada, you may without knowing it!), but there are many Web radio stations available free. The Web can be not just your picture book of the world, but your world jukebox.
Image: US bluesman Markus James and the Wassonrai, Malian musicians.
Friday, January 12, 2007
The age of colonialism
The speech reflects a profound misunderstanding of our era. America is acting like a colonial power in Iraq. But the age of colonialism is over. Waging a colonial war in the post-colonial age is self-defeating. That is the fatal flaw of Bush's policy.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
History Seminar Series at Nipissing, Jan. 19th
An announcement from Dr. James Murton:
The next installment of the History Department Seminar Series ventures outside the hallowed halls of the History Department (though we don't, of course, have our own halls) to take in Dr. David Tabachnick of Political Science. David's talk is entitled, "Is there an American Empire? The Difference Between Hegemonia and Arkhe," and will take place on Friday, Jan 19, at 3:30 pm in A224. See you there!
Our information age
From TomDispatch.com:
And here's a strange footnote to the administration's surge of words. The most secretive White House in our history, ever ready to accuse others of leaking or releasing information that could hurt national security, has over the last week essentially released the full American "surge" plan for the Baghdad area -- as if we weren't in one world, as if those resisting the American military didn't watch CNN and couldn't read our press on-line like anyone else. Whether you belong to a Sunni insurgent group, al-Qaeda in Iraq, or Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, you now know that the American plan involves dividing the Iraqi capital into nine sections; more or less how many American (as well as Iraqi) troops and police will be assigned to live in each of them; that new mini-bases for the surging Americans will be created throughout the city, and so on.
Given administration and military leaks, copious official background briefings for the media, Bush's speech, and the endless comments of key neocon planners and presidential briefers Frederick Kagan and retired General Jack Keane, can there be anyone on our planet who doesn't know a great deal about the American "way forward" and the exact schedule on which it is to be rolled out? Since the President's plan sounds so much like past "surges" into Baghdad, military and economic, just as the speech itself caught so many past presidential speech patterns, planning to avoid, outwait, outfight, or outwit it should be well underway as you read this.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Go find out
Here in Canada, we are a bit more open to outside influences -- we have to be -- but many of us are still woefully ignorant. We are bombarded by material from the USA, but often our understanding of what the United States is really like and how it differs from Canada does not go far beyond laughable cliches (they are a melting pot and we aren't, for instance). As for the rest of the world, we often see it through the lens of the American media, a dangerous state of affairs.
This is addressed to my students and any other young Canadians who might be reading. The single most valuable thing you can do at this stage of your life, other circumstances permitting, is to go live somewhere else for a year, a term, a season. I think highly of the education you can get at NU, but the education of living abroad is more important. (We do have an exchange student program -- look into it). It would be a valuable education to go to the United States for a while. It might be even better to go someplace else.
If you can't manage a foreign expedition, here's an easier alternative: go live and work in some dramatically different part of Canada for a while. This is particularly important if you are from Ontario and like many Ontarians haven't really been anywhere else in the country. Your fellow Canadians have been trying to tell you this for nearly a century and a half. Go find out.
Democracy in America, again
Thomas Paine's Common Sense:This post on an American political blog is now relevant. (Tony Snow is the White House Press Secretary).
...the plain truth is that it is wholly owing to the constitution of the people, and not to the constitution of the government, that the crown is not as oppressive in England as in Turkey.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Democracy in America
The book Democracy in America was the result of a long trip through the United States about 1830 by the French "liberal" (liberal has changed meanings since then) Alexis de Tocqueville, who was interested in showing the new democratic culture of America to his countrymen. De Tocqueville thought French culture was in the process of being democratized and that the French better get ready for the results, some good some bad.
Besides the book, which is excellent and thought-provoking, de Tocqueville kept a journal, which was eventually published. When I read it, I was struck by how, in 1830, he met some prominent local person in every city he visited who told him that democracy had already gone too far.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Phil Paine on the challenges of democracy in the new millenium
Friday, January 05, 2007
Joust at St. Inglevert
This challenge resulted in the best-recorded joust of the later Middle Ages, and a week from Monday my Chivalry seminar will be looking at some of the surviving accounts of the event.
I thought, however, that it might be nice to point other readers to the available material. I've put a lot of it on the Web. If you get really interested and want to read my detailed analysis, you can find it in my book Deeds of Arms (see sidebar).
Here are various links:
Froissart's account.
Account from the Life of Boucicaut.
Account from the Chronica Regum Francorum.
Account of Jean Juvenal des Ursins.
And finally, a scorecard derived from Froissart's account, not to be taken literally since Froissart's account seems to be incomplete and altered for dramatic effect.
New Year's weather
Right now the "historical perspective part of my brain is having a hard time thinking about anything (Iraq and the American Constitution apart) besides the "above normal" temperatures we are having in almost every part of Canada as a result of El Nino. (See the Globe and Mail for a summary; the G&M also provided the map above.)
Above normal here in the North Bay area means that we've got about the same temperatures and the same snow cover (i.e. tiny scraps in sheltered north-facing areas) as we usually have in late April. Last night the low temp was significantly above freezing (normal low: -16C).
Scientists say this weather is not a direct result of climate change, but whatever the cause, it's pretty freakish.
And to think, just last year, when we got hammered with record snow, I was urging the university to make the most of our winter weather as it has become milder and less snowy in areas just a little further south. Right now you can't even walk on the lakes.
Among my favorite web visiting places are the sites devoted to the snow and ice festivals in frigid Harbin, Manchuria, China, where they make gorgeous sculptures from snow and huge palaces of ice cut out of the frozen river. After the first draft of this post it occurred to me that this annual event might be in danger. It is one of the nice things about the web that I didn't have to wonder in complete ignorance -- I just looked for Harbin weather sites, and found that it's plenty cold there right now, more like North Bay normals than what we've actually had. I'll be looking to see the situation in February.
Those of you who have been away -- have a look at the English Russia site I've put on my sidebar for long-term ready reference.