Scientific Revolution

The readings this week made me stop and appreciate the comfort we have been given through science by these amazing people. If it had not been for the discoveries of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo or Newton I wonder where we would be. These men had to endure many questions about their integrity, knowledge and intellect. Many did not believe them because it was something new and never considered before. I believe that it is human nature to question that which is new and often people fear what they do not understand. I Think Galileo was a strong man to stand by his work although there were those that did not believe him and would later imprison him. My favorite statement form the readings was from Sir Issac Newton to Robert Hook. He said "If I have seen further it is because I have stood on ye shoulders of giants." What a great man to acknowledge the fact that others paved the way for him.

Renaissance

It is often easier to look back at a time in history and place a name on it rather than naming it at the time. I'm sure there will be differing names for our time in history given the happenings of late. Maybe those in the future will agree on exactly what to call it or maybe not. The Renaissance seems to be a bit of a re-birth at least when looking at the readings about art and humanism. What an amazing time to live through for those that wanted freedom to express and study what they believed to be important. The new techniques, especially perspective, created a new world for artists to journey. By looking to the past the artists were able to bring back the arts and then they moved forward by making improvements and creating new forms of art. It seems this re-birth was just a stepping stone towards an amazing and exciting time in the creation of art.

Wikipedia Article Analysis

Richard Cromwell
This article tells the history of Richard Cromwell. It is not a life history as it does not have much information about his early life. It does tell about his parents, wife and children. For the most part the article discuss his rise through politics and role as Lord Protector. It focuses on the trouble he had gaining the role and the job he did while he was Lord Protector. It briefly discusses hie life after his role as Lord Protector. In his later years he moved to France, went by various alias’ and never saw his wife again.

Word count: 1,394
Search term: Richard Cromwell
Disambiguation: None
Page discussion: There are a few disagreements with the validity of the knowledge pertaining to whether he resigned as Lord Protector, the inclusion of the Cromwell line in the succession of the throne of England as well as a few other.
Page History: There have been 34 changes to this article. The first on July 18, 2004 and the last on September 26, 2006
External links: Three
References: Two
Further readings: None

This article would be best if used as a starting point for those interested in learning about Richard Cromwell's’ time as Lord Protector. It does go into quite some detail about his life as a politician. I would not recommend it if the goal of reading this article is biographical.

English Civil War

The actions of Oliver Cromwell were that of a religious extremist. He used the wants of those in search of religious freedoms to help in his effort to rid those opposed to his views. Justifying killing because of differing religious views, regardless of the view is incomprehensible to me. I am not a highly religious person but killing people because they are not the same religion as you seems to be a bit of an oxy-moron. Cromwell was successful in ousting the King, but he created a dictatorship. The people of England are fortunate that his son was not a great leader. This seems to be a problem that has long plagued many monarchies. This seems to be a legitimate reason alone for the end of privilege based on birth.

Levellers

The Levellers were a voice for the minority. I wondered as I was reading though how many of the majority might have agreed more if they had had the education to understand what they were really talking about. It is very easy for those in charge to put forth an effort to make the voice seem like they were evil simply because of their views. What they wanted seemed logical considering the wars being fought in the name of religion. If what they wanted came true then the power of those in charge (religion or government) would dissolve so it was very important that the message they were preaching be portrayed as evil and against all things good. This happens even in our time where communication is faster and better. There are those that read something and believe because it was published it must be true. The only way this battle can be won is through education. In education we are taught to ask questions about what we read and research the validity of the argument. Wouldn’t it be an amazing world if we could make an argument to those that don’t agree with us and know they were making an informed argument against us and not just following the leader?

Hundred Years War

As I was reading about the Hundred years War. I couldn't help but wonder what that might be like. How devastating it was for those involved. It all comes down to power. Those who have it want to keep it and those who don't strive to get it. The time span is a couple of generations. The times of reprieve from war could not have felt like much. Living in a time with such strife makes me feel fortunate that we are not going through what they had to. And to think it all started because the heir to the throne of France was held in question. I would have to say that if I were a Frenchman I would definitely be worried if the king of England announced he had rights to rule my country as well as his. Nationalism definately played a roll in this one, but for a hundred or so years, yikes.

Black Death

The Black Plague not only took peoples lives, it also destroyed villages, cities, economies, and had drastic affects on the population. It had an adverse affect on certain professions as well. It makes sense to me that those in the professions of caring for the inflicted would see a decline in numbers. This disease invaded whatever was in its path. The ability of this horrific disease to attack was intensified simply through trade routes. Sanitation during this time was not anywhere what we are able to experience now. I feel very fortunate that we live in an era that is able to better control the breakouts of disease such as this. We have access to clean water and proper sanitation. That added to the fact we have made medical breakthroughs to ensure better care keep us safer than those that endured this horrible tragedy. It does concern me that it still threatens us, especially here in the West. I am convinced that those recommendations by the CDC, such as environmental controls, and public education can keep us safe.
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/plague/info.htm

Wiki Article

Peter the Hermit
This article discusses the involvement of Peter in the First Crusade as a leader and a preacher of the crusade. It begins with his leadership of one of the five sections of the People’s Crusade as they began a pilgrimage toward the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It details various battles he was involved in as he led the people in this pilgrimage. The article traces his life as it is associated with the crusades until his death in 1131.

1. 1,363 words.
2. Search term- Peter the Hermit. Title- Peter the Hermit
3. No disambiguation.
4. The discussion page talks of the scopes of the Wiki project the article falls within, religion, military, biography, middle ages, etc.
5. History of the page shows it has been edited 20 times the first on 5-13-04 and the last on 6-21-08.
6. No external links.
7. One reference.
8. No further readings.


I would recommend this article, but maybe only as additional information. In the body of the article it acknowledges that there are a number of scholars that disagree with some of the information. It would seem important to me to obtain information elsewhere as well.

First Crusaders

It is interesting to read about the first crusades and to realize how important just having a market system for your troops (crusaders) was. This is not something I would have thought could make or break your town when religious crusaders were passing through. The ability for the crusaders following Walter the Penniless to get supplies while en-route to Asia Minor seemed to be a deciding factor in whether the pass through was peaceful or not. It seemed that the crusaders following Peter the Hermit were more likely to haggle over prices and battles were more prevalent than when Walters’ followers went through. I wonder if the people in the towns were more confident because they had held off or bartered with Walters’ followers more successfully? Obviously those that placed the armor of the sixteen men on the walls of the town, in Semlin, were not concerned about the next religious army that would appear.

Frankish Empire?

I am always at a loss when I read about historic leaders with enough foresight to keep their Empires running and growing, yet they do not see far enough into the future to ensure what will happen to it when they are no longer around. Although Louis the Pious was able to further Charlemagne’s, his father, accomplishments he did not see that dividing up the Frankish empire would lead to it’s demise. I feel grateful that even though the system we have in place for our leaders leaves room for improvement, we also have a way to get rid of the “Louis the Fats” and “Charles the Simples”. We are also very fortunate that we have separation of church and state. Can you imagine with the diversity of religions we now have, how much worse our battles might be. I wonder if the main focus was more on gaining land and power, more of an ownership, rather than building an empire to ensure its continuance for the people. Would the Frankish empire have persevered longer?

Islam

The reading I found most interesting this week was Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. I must admit I my knowledge of the Islamic religion is not very strong. It was interesting to read the way the religion started and how it spread. I now understand the basis of this religion. It was also enlightening to read about Benedictine rule and the Rule of St. Francis. I think within each of these belief systems there are some similarities. Most important I see that living an honorable life is a consistent theme. It is distressing to me to read how Islam started and then to realize those on the world stage claim "jihad" and receive such major attention for it, while those that practice Islamic faith and work towards living an honorable life tend to be persecuted for the work of a few corrupt groups. I guess maybe not everyone's idea of honorable is the same, but I would ask, how someone could hurt another in the name of "god"? I know from reading that this has happened in history more than we can probably keep track. I wonder as the world continues to globalize if we will ever see this go into extinction

Few Good Men

The readings this week were full of examples of power hungry men. During this time it was very apparent that Rome lacked men of strong moral values. I'm sure that they existed, but the political and military realms of government were wrought with terror and upended with continous battles for power in and out of the Senate and military. I was left wondering why the Senate didn't exert more power against these "leaders". It seemed that from the moment Tiberius used violence to get what he wanted, it opened the door to forcing individual ideals on the masses with violence in the political realm. That just rolled over into the way the consuls dealt with the Senate. The Senate, in theory was representing the "people", which could have given them more power, but they seemed to be confined to following the constitution and those that challenged them twisted it to benefit the current scheme. Even though Tiberius was working to make Rome more successful by ensuring the veterans were cared for, he resorted to violence which made his concern for those he was fighting for take a backseat. I wonder if he had not resorted to violence if another route would have been taken by Rome in the Civil Wars that followed. Probably not, as there were few good men that followed. They all seemed to be overcome by the greed for power, money, or empire. Augustus seemed to be the only one who was content, and knew how to rule people, without "ruling" them.

The Roman Kingdom

I was intrigued to read about the development of Rome and the evolution that the constitutional system underwent during the change of eras. A continuous theme I saw between the Republic and the Kingdom was the large amount of power given to their officials. The consuls of the republic had power similar to that of the Kings during the Roman Kingdom era.It seems that although they bestowed great power to these people, they perhaps had foresight into the need to have a system of checks and balances. By limiting the powers of the consuls and at the same time granting them imperium. I wondered if this was to keep one person or group from becoming all powerful. If so, then they were using a double edge sword because they were also trying to keep other "lower" classes like the Plebeians from gaining even a small amount of power over their own lives let alone any power over others.

Wikipedia Article Analysis

This article discusses the evolution of Roman constitutional system. The evolution of the Constitution is divided into four different time periods. The Constitution of the Roman Kingdom came first and was followed by the Constitution of the Roman Republic, the Constitution of the Roman Empire and then the Constitution of the late Roman Empire. Within each epoch the constitution changed, but the changes were gradual. The governing "agencies" within the various constitutions were the Senate, the Legislative Assemblies, and the Executive Magistrates. There are present day countries who have used various forms of these constitutions as a model for forming their own constitutions.

1. The word count of this article is 2,237
2. The search term I used was Early Roman Senate. The title is Roman Constitution.
3. There was not a disambiguation.
4. The discussion page has only one entry. It is from an "amateur history buff" informing the reader of a future series of more in depth information.
5. There have been forty changes to this page. The first 10/29/07 and the most recent was on 9/2/08.
6. There are no external links.
7. There are six references.
8. Further readings include twelve other books and articles.

This is a very short article. It gives a good overview of the workings of the Roman Constitutional system. I would recommend this to someone if they just wanted an overview of how it works, but to really understand the system and it's evolution this would only get you started.

Democracy For All

Athens evolved into a more pure form of democracy under the rule of Pericles. At least in theory, in reality this is not what happened. In theory it claimed to be a democracy for all. In action it became an aristocracy. In theory Pericles claimed that class and poverty were not to be considered when thinking about abilities to serve the state. When those who do not have the resources to gain the knowledge for serving the state effectively, the responsibility of the transfer of that knowledge is left on the shoulders of those with the education and ability. This can allow for the aristoi to begin seeping into this new found form of democracy. This is why Athens route to democracy eventually led to an Aristocracy. It requires more effort of those with the resources and education to ensure that the values and desires of the masses do not fall victim to the values and desires of the few higher educated and more fortunate.