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The Dramatic Burglary Of St. Martin’s Church

By
thehistorianshut
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Around the year 581, a band of audacious thieves hatched a plot to burglarize an iconic structure in the city of Tours. Their target was the treasure-laden church of Saint Martin, the seat of power for the local bishopric, then led by the clergyman and historian, Bishop Gregory of Tours (c. 539-594). At a time—presumably at night—when Saint Martin’s had low foot traffic and little surveillance, the thieves infiltrated onto church property, entering through a graveyard that was adjacent to the apse of Saint Martin’s. The thieves, it was said, then vandalized one of the tombs in the cemetery, removing a length of railing which they used as a ladder or ramp to access a window along the apse. After smashing the window, the burglars entered Saint Martin’s and went about stripping the sanctuary of its valuable adornments. Gold, silver and ornate tapestries were stolen from the premises, and the thieves reportedly made quite a mess while gathering their plunder. In particular, Bishop Gregory of Tours commented with horror that there was evidence (footprints, or the like) of the thieves walking sacrilegiously over the tomb of Saint Martin.

After pulling down the wall-hangings of the church and gathering up all the precious metal adornments, trays and vessels that they could find, the thieves vanished into the night and escaped from the city of Tours without a trace. They eventually reached the city of Bordeaux, where the gang of burglars began dividing up the plunder, literally cutting apart the gold and silver objects so that each thief received a fair share. Yet, honor is dubious among thieves—especially medieval thieves who would ransack a church. Before long, heated disagreements arose between the various burglars in the gang, likely on the division of the ill-gotten gains or on the next step that the group should take. In the end, the differences became unreconcilable and the division became violent. As the story goes, one of the burglars was eventually murdered, a crime that caught the attention of local authorities in Bordeaux. In the course of the investigation, the entire gang of burglars was rounded up and their stash of valuables was discovered, to the relief of Gregory of Tours. All of the tapestries and wall-hangings were recovered intact, but some of the gold and silver was apparently traded away by the thieves, and much of the rest was broken up into barterable chunks.

King Chilperic of the Franks (r. 561-584) took special interest in the case, overseeing the imprisonment of the thieves and restoring the pillaged goods (or what was left of it) to the church of Saint Martin’s in Tours. Bishop Gregory of Tours claimed to have sent a messenger to King Chilperic, asking for the thieves not to be executed. Yet, the bishop did not say if the king heeded his advice. Gregory of Tours did, however, comment that “Saint Martin made a terrible example of these reckless men” (History of the Franks, VI.10). Therefore, the thieves likely were not given easy treatment by the law.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Image of a siege from The Story of Our Christianity by Frederic Mayer Bird (1838-1908) and Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

  • The History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours, translated by Lewis Thorpe. New York: Penguin Classics, 1971.

Zhufu Yan (recorded by Sima Qian)

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thehistorianshut
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Zhufu Yan (c. 2nd century BCE)

“Any real man knows that there are only two alternatives in life—to succeed and dine from rich cauldrons, or to fail and end by being boiled alive in them.”

  • A quote attributed to Zhufu Yan in the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji, 112) by Sima Qian. Translated by Burton Watson (Columbia University Press, 1993).

The Fur Experiment Of Caliph Al-Mahdi

By
thehistorianshut
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Arts, sciences and other scholarly endeavors flourished under the reign of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi (r. 775-785). Al-Mahdi was apparently caught up, at times, in his era’s culture of intellectual curiosity. One supposed instance of this occurred when the caliph was staying in the city of Rayy at a time when the region was experiencing a particularly cold season. While shivering in the chilly air, Al-Mahdi apparently was suddenly struck with the inspiration to experiment with different furs, hoping to determine which of the selection was the warmest and most moisture-resistant pelt.

Al-Mahdi was not short on fur to test—he had on hand pelts of different colors from various species. To test the insulating powers of these furs, the caliph reportedly ordered that numerous flagons of water be brought forth, one for each fur that Al-Mahdi wished to test. He then reportedly stoppered and swaddled each flagon of water with a different fur and exposed the pelt-covered containers to the freezing-cold air for an entire brisk night. Come morning, the furry flagons were retrieved and the curious caliph inspected the state of the water inside each container. As the story goes, only one flagon (bundled in a black fox pelt) had survived the cold in a liquid state, whereas the water in every other container was frozen solid by morning. With this data, the experiment was concluded and Al-Mahdi proclaimed that black fox fur was the warmest fur he had on hand.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Illustration from the history of Muhammad Bal’ami  (d. 974), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

Procopius

By
thehistorianshut
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Procopius (c. 490-565)

“While cleverness is appropriate to rhetoric, and inventiveness to poetry, truth alone is appropriate to history.”

  • From The History of the Wars (Book I, section 1) by Procopius, translated by H. B. Dewing (Harvard University Press, originally published 1914).

The Tale Of Thurid The Sound-Filler

By
thehistorianshut
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Thurid the Sound-Filler was a prominent woman who lived around the time of the Icelandic Age of Settlement (c. 860-930). Before her eventual move to Iceland, Thurid made a name for herself in the region of Halogaland, the northernmost section of medieval Norway. While there, she astounded her neighbors by showing an uncanny ability to locate and cultivate schools of fish. In one particularly lauded incident, Thurid relieved Halogaland from the ravages of a famine by guiding fishermen from the various towns and cities in the region to great fishing spots in the local waterways and inlets. With Thurid’s knowledge and guidance, fishing in Halogaland became so easy that the fjords and sounds seemed to be filled with fish—hence her epithet, the Sound-Filler.

For whatever reason—be it the rise of King Harald Finehair (r. 860-940), the lure of free land, or some other unknown cause—Thurid the Sound-Filler decided to leave Norway and begin a new life in Iceland. She claimed land in the northwest region of the island and settled down to raise a family. She was evidently the undisputed matriarch of her household, as she specifically was reported to have held dominion over her land, and the name of her husband has been lost to history, as he was apparently the least interesting of the pair.

While Thurid the Sound-Filler lived in Iceland, she continued her fish-finding ways, much to the joy of her fisherman neighbors. She was particularly helpful to the Ísafjörður Bay region, where plentiful fishing grounds were discovered with her help. According to the Book of Settlements, the people of the Ísafjörður area were so thankful for Thurid’s help that each household in the region gave her a hornless ewe as a show of gratitude.

As Thurid’s list of successes and accomplishments grew, her neighbors began to suspect that there was something more to her talents than raw instinct and knowledge. Rumors circulated that she had supernatural gifts, such as the ability of prophecy and an education in magic. Such gossip, however, did little to harm Thurid’s reputation. Since she lived in a pre-Christianized Iceland, such rumors likely boosted her renown.

Written by C. Keith Hansley

Picture Attribution: (Tristan and Isolde painted by Herbert James Draper (1863–1920), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

  • The Book of Settlements (Sturlubók version) translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1972, 2006.

Benjamin Franklin

By
thehistorianshut
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Benjamin Franklin (c. 1706-1790)

“Nothing brings more pain than too much pleasure; nothing more bondage than too much liberty.”

  • From Poor Richard’s Almanac by Benjamin Franklin (Seven Treasures Publications, 2008).

10 Wise Quotes From Anna Komnene

By
thehistorianshut
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Check out our Youtube channel HERE.

Anna Komnene was born to Emperor Alexios and Empress Eirene in 1083, just two years after Alexios wrested the imperial throne from his predecessor, Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, after a typical Roman civil war. As a child, Anna gained a broad, but thorough, education. She was interested in many topics—literature (plus grammar and rhetoric), medicine, philosophy, metaphysics and geography. She continued to be fascinated by intellectual pursuits all her life. She would later gather salons of great thinkers and give them patronage to encourage them to continue writing and making new discoveries. When her brother, Emperor John II, ascended to the imperial throne in 1118, Anna Komnene hoped to usurp power, yet her plot was discovered and she was forced into a convent. There, from 1143-1153, Anna Komnene wrote a history about the reign of her father, which she titled The Alexiad. Most historians recognize Anna Komnene as the first female historian, or at least The Alexiad is the first known history to have been written by a woman. The ten quotes here come from that work, translated by E. R. A. Sewter (Penguin Books, 2009).

The elegant music in the background is: “Midnight Tale” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b…
All images used in the creation of this video were public domain at the time of creation.

 

10 Insightful Thucydides Quotes

By
thehistorianshut
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Thucydides (c. 460-400 BCE) was an Athenian general and historian who lived through the Peloponnesian War (c. 431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta. He was eventually exiled from Athens in 424 BCE after the brilliant Spartan general, Brasidas, bested him during the war. Yet, being exiled allowed Thucydides to gather information from both sides of the war, consequently making his History of the Peloponnesian War a more well-rounded and authoritative text. Here are 10 insightful quotes from Thucydides’ timeless history.

The translation of Thucydides used here is by Rex Warner (Penguin Classics, 1972).

The calm music in the background of the video is:
Pippin the Hunchback by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

All images used in the production of this video were public domain at the time of the film’s creation.

 

Ten Mysterious Edgar Allan Poe Quotes

By
thehistorianshut
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Edgar Allan Poe was born in 1809 to David and Elizabeth Poe, two actors who lived in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Unfortunately, David Poe abandoned the family shortly after the birth of his son, and Elizabeth Poe died in 1811, when Edgar Allan Poe was only three years old. With no immediate family able to take care of him, Edgar Allan Poe was taken in by the Allan family in Richmond Virginia as a foster son.

Even at a young age, Edgar Allan Poe strove to be a writer. Despite his great intellectual abilities, Poe struggled to stay in school. Between 1825 and 1826, he left home to attend the University of Virginia, but in less than a year, Poe was dismissed from the University of Virginia for lack of funds. After that, Poe joined the military from 1827-1829, and attended West Point after being honorably discharged from the armed services. Yet, once again, Edgar Allan Poe was kicked out of school.

From 1831 to 1835, Edgar Allan Poe lived with his aunt, Maria Clemm, and her young daughter, Virginia. While living with them, Edgar had his first taste of recognition with the publication of his short story, “Ms. Found in a Bottle,” which was released in 1833. Poe found eventually found a job as a magazine editor in 1835, and a year later he married the aforementioned Virginia, his cousin.

Virginia was Poe’s muse, both during their marriage and after her death to tuberculosis in 1847. During his years as a married man, Edgar Allan Poe published such famous works as “The Fall of the House of Usher” (1838), “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1843), “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” (1843), “The Pit and the Pendulum” (1843), “The Black Cat” (1843), “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1843) and “The Raven” (1845). After Virginia’s death, Edgar Allan Poe was inspired to write one of his most emotionally powerful poems, “Annabelle Lee” (1849).

Shortly before the publication of “Annabel Lee,” Edgar Allan Poe left Richmond Virginia, intending to arrive in Philadelphia. Mysteriously, he was found delirious in Baltimore and died of odd circumstances on October 7, 1849. The cause of the great author’s death remains unknown and debated. There are many theories about the cause of death, including being beaten to death, rabies, poisoning, or even a case of fatal kidnapping. Even today, no conclusive consensus has been reached as to why and how Edgar Allan Poe met his end.

All images used or modified for this video were public domain at the time of editing.
The intro music was written by C. Keith Hansley for use on this channel, and the rest Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” accompanies the rest of the video.

 

10 Witty Quotes From Benjamin Franklin

By
thehistorianshut
-

Over the course of his life, Benjamin Franklin (1706- 1790) underwent a tremendous transformation, from a poorly educated boy who ran away from his family, to a world-acclaimed statesman, inventor, scientist and diplomat who was received as a guest by at least five kings. Born to Josiah and Abiah Franklin; he was one of seventeen children. Due to his father’s money troubles, Benjamin’s education was cut off after only two years of formal schooling. Even so, he was able to cultivate his own intellect through an avid passion for reading. By 1718, Benjamin Franklin (a boy of 12) was sent to his brother, James, to become a printer’s apprentice. Yet, by 1723, the seventeen-year-old Benjamin could no longer suffer his brother’s abuses and he decided to flee to Philadelphia, which would become his lifelong home. He built a personal fortune through his printing business and other enterprises, but by the 1750s, Franklin divided his time between carrying out scientific experiments and representing the colonies in London. Politically, Franklin was a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and later, the Second Continental Congress. He also aided in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Benjamin Franklin died in 1790 and around 20,000 people attended his funeral.

The intro music was written and performed by C. Keith Hansley for this channel.

The classy flute song in the background of the video is Boismortier Concerto for Five Flutes No. 4, Allegro, by the United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps.

Thanks for watching!

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