#Pro-hohenstaufen

[rkndjzjxmk]

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[gardenofkore]

- E lo princep respos al almirall: -Ques aço que vos volets que yo hi faça? que si fer yo puch , -volenters ho fare.- Yo , dix lalmirall , quem façats ades venir la filla del rey Manfre, germana de madona la regina Darago, que vos tenits en vostra preso aci el castell del Hou , ab aquelles dones e donzelles qui soes bi sien ; e quem façats lo castell e la vila Discle retre . - E lo princep respos , queu faria volenters. E tantost trames un seu cavaller en terra ab un leny armat, e amena madona la infanta , germana de madona la regina , ab quatre donzelles e dues dones viudes.  E lalmirall reebe les ab gran goig e ab gran alegre , e ajenollas, e besa la ma a madona la infanta.

Ramon Muntaner,  CRÓNICA CATALANA, p. 221

Beatrice was born (probably) in Palermo around 1260. She was the first child and only daughter of Manfredi I of Sicily and his second wife, the Epirote princess Helena Angelina Doukaina (“[…] et idem helenam despoti regis emathie filiam sibi matrimonialiter coppulavit, ex quibus nata fuit Beatrix.”, Bartholomaeus de Neocastro, Historia Sicula, in Giuseppe Del Re, Cronisti e Scrittori sincroni Napoletani editi ed inediti, p. 419). It’s quite plausible the baby had been named after Manfredi’s first wife, Beatrice of Savoy (mother of Costanza, who will later become Queen consort of Aragon and co-regnant of Sicily). The little princess would soon be followed by three brothers: Enrico, Federico and Enzo (also called Anselmo or Azzolino). With three sons, Manfredi must have thought his succession was secured.

Beatrice’s father was one Federico II of Sicily’s many illegitimate children, although born from his most beloved mistress (and possibly fourth and last wife), Bianca Lancia. Since his father’s death in 1250, Manfredi had governed the Kingdom of Sicily on behalf firstly of his (legitimate) half-brother Corrado and, after his death in 1254, of Corrado’s son, Corradino. In 1258, two years prior Beatrice’s birth, Manfredi had been crowned King of Sicily in Palermo’s Cathedral, de facto usurping his half-nephew’s rights.

Like it had happened with Federico, Manfredi was soon opposed by the Papacy, which didn’t approve of the Hohenstaufen’s rule over Sicily (and Southern Italy with it) and the role of the King as the champion of the Ghibellines faction. In 1263, Urban VI managed to convince Charles of Anjou, younger brother of Louis IX the Saint, to present himself as a contender to the Sicilian throne. Three years later, on January 6th 1266, the French duke was crowned King of Sicily by the Pope in Rome, thus overthrowing Manfredi. On February 26th, in Benevento, the usurped King then tried to get back his kingdom by facing Charles in the open field, but failed and lost his life while fighting.

The now widowed Queen Helena had previously fled to Lucera (in Apulia) with her children (Beatrice was now six), her sister-in-law Costanza, and her step-daughter, the illegitimate Flordelis, where she thought they would be safer. When they got news of the disaster of Benevento and Manfredi’s death, they fled to Trani from where they planned to set off to Epirus. The unfortunate party was instead betrayed and handed off to the Angevin. On March 6th night, Helena and the children were taken hostage and later separated. The Queen was sent at first to Lagopesole (in Basilicata) and finally to Nocera Christianorum (now Nocera Inferiore), where she would die still in captivity in 1271.

Enrico, Federico and Enzo were taken to Castel del Monte. Following Corradino’s death in 1268, Manfredi’s young sons (the oldest, Enrico, was just four at the time of his capture) were, to all effects, the rightful heirs to the Sicilian throne. It’s undoubtful Charles must have wanted them gone, or at least forgotten. In 1300 they were moved to Naples, in Castel dell’Ovo (which, at that time, was called San Salvatore a mare), under the order of the new Angevin king, Charles II. According to some sources, Federico and Enzo died there within the short span of a year. As for Enrico, he died alone and miserable in October 1318, he was 56.

As for Beatrice, her fate was more merciful compared to that of her mother and brothers and, for that, she had to thank her sex, which made her harmless in Charles’ eyes (as long as she was left unmarried). After being separated from her family (she will never see them again), the six years old princess was, like her brothers, held captive (although not together) in Castel del Monte. In 1271, she was moved to Naples, in Castel dell’Ovo, under the guardianship of its keeper, a French nobleman called either Landolfo or Radolfo Ytolant. Manfredi’s daughter is mentioned in a rescript of Charles dated March 5th 1272, from which we learn she had been granted at least a maid (“V Marcii xv indictionis. Neapoli. Scriptum est Iustitiario et erario Terre laboris etc. Cum ex computo facto per magistrum rationalem Nicolaum Buccellum etc. cum Landulfo milite castellano castri nostri Salvatoris ad mare de Neapoli pro expensis filie quondam Manfridi Principis Tarentini et damicelle sue. ac filie quondam comitis Iordani et damicelle sue dicto castellano in unc. auri novem et taren. sex de pecunia presentis generalis subventionis residuorum quolibet vel qua canque alia etc. persolvatis. non obstante etc. Recepturus etc.”, Monumenti n. XLIV. in Domenico Forges Davanzati, Dissertazione sulla seconda moglie del re Manfredi e su’ loro figliuoli, p. XLIII-XLIV). Like it had happened with her mother, and unlike her brothers, it appears Beatrice was treated with courtesy and respect. In her misfortune, she could count on the company of a fellow prisoner and distant relative, the daughter of Giordano Lancia d’Agliano, who was her grandmother Bianca Lancia’s cousin and had been a loyal supporter of her father, Manfredi.

On Easter Day of 1282, an anti-Angevin rebellion sparkled in Palermo would soon transform itself into a war to get rid of the so much hated Frenchmen, the so-called War of the Sicilian Vespers. It’s dubious that, close in her prison, Beatrice came to know about it. She might have also been surprised to know that her half-sister, Costanza, had been asked by a delegation of fellow Sicilians to take possession of what was hers by right (the throne) as she was their “naturalis domina”. Her rights were shared with her husband, Pedro III of Aragon, who would personally take part in the war and be rewarded with a joint coronation in November 1282.

For Beatrice, everything changed in 1284. On June 4th, Italian Admiral Ruggero di Lauria, at the service of the Aragonese King (he was also Costanza’s milk brother), defeated the Angevin fleet just offshore from Naples and took Carlo II prisoner. Being in clear superiority, the Sicilians could now demand (among many requests) the release of Princess Beatrice. Carlo’s eldest son and heir, Carlo Martello Prince of Salerno, could nothing other than obliging them. (“Siciliani autem , & omnes faventes Petro Aragonum, incontinenti de ipsorum victoria plurimum exultantes, Nuncios, & Legatos ad quoddam Castrum ex parte Principis direxerunt , ubi quaedam filia quondam Domini Regis Manfredi sub custodia tenebatur , ut dicta filia fine ullo remedio laxaretur , quae statim fuit antedictis Legatis , & Nunciis restituta.”, Anonimo Regiense, Memoriale Potestatum Regiensium. Gestorumque iis Temporibus. Ab anno 1154 usque ad Annum 1290, in Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Rerum Italicarum scriptores ab anno aerae christianae quingentesimo ad millesimumquingentesimum, vol. VIII, p. 1158). 

Beatrice, finally free, left Castel dell’Ovo headed for Capri, where the Admiral was waiting for her. She had spent 18 long years in captivity and was now 24. From Capri she reached Sicily, where she was warmly welcomed and with a lot of enthusiasm, to meet her half-sister Costanza. 

As the Queen’s closest free relative (both Pedro and Costanza had no interest in asking for Enrico’s release since, as a male, he had more rights than Costanza to inherit the throne), Beatrice had a great political value. At first, Ranieri Della Gherardesca’s name came up. He was the son of that Count Gherardo who had fought together with the unfortunate Corradino (the sisters’ royal cousin), and for that had been beheaded in Naples in 1268 alongside his liege. Finally the perfect candidate was found. Manfredo of Saluzzo was born in 1262 and was the son of Marquis Tommaso I and his wife Luigia of Ceva. Like Beatrice, Manfredo was strongly related to Costanza, specifically, he was her nephew since Tommaso and the Sicilian Queen were half-siblings (they were both Beatrice of Savoy’s children).

The marriage contract between the two is dated July 3rd 1286 and the contracting parties are on one side “la serenissima signora constanza regina dy aragon e dy sicilia e dil ducato de puglia principato di capua” and, on the other side “il marchexe thomas di sa lucio signore de conio una cum mạdona alexia soa moglie”. Tommaso declares that Manfredi will inherit his title, privileges and possession upon his death. If, after the marriage is celebrated, Manfredi were to die first, Beatrice would enjoy possession of the castle and some properties. The Marquise Luisa declares to agree with her husband’s decision (“[…] e a tuto questo la marchexa aloysia madre dy manfredo consenty”, Gioffredo Della Chiesa, Cronaca di Saluzzo, p. 165-166). The union was formally celebrated the year after.

Beatrice bore Manfredi two children: Caterina and Federico, born presumably in 1287 (“Et da questa beatrix haue uno figlolo chiamato fredericho et una figlola chiamata Kterina” Gioffredo Della Chiesa, Cronaca di Saluzzo, p. 185). In 1296 Tommaso died, so Manfredi inherited the marquisate and Beatrice became Marquise consort of Saluzzo. She will die eleven years later at 47, on November 19th 1307 (“Venne a morte nel dì 19 novembre di quest’anno Beatrice di Sicilia moglie del nostro marchese Manfredo, e noi ne accertiamo il segnato giorno col mezzo del rituale del monastero di Revello , nel quale leggesi annotato: 19 novembris anniversarium d. Beatricis filiae quondam d. Manfredi regis Ceciliae et uxoris d. Manfredi primogeniti d. Thomae marchionis Saluciarum, quae huic monasterio quingen- tas untias in suo testamento legavit.” Delfino Muletti, Memorie storico-diplomatiche appartenenti alla città ed ai marchesi di Saluzzo, vol III, p. 76). Her husband would quickly remarry with Isabella Doria, daughter of Genoese patricians Bernabò Doria and Eleonora Fieschi. Isabella would give birth to five more children: Manfredi, Bonifacio, Teodoro, Violante and Eleonora. 

As of Beatrice’s children, Caterina would marry Guglielmo Enganna, Lord of Barge (“Catherina figlola dy manfredo e de la prima moglie fu sorella dy padre e dy madre dy fede rico e fu moglie duno missere gulielmo ingana capo dy parte gebellina in questy cartiery dil pie monty verso bargie.”, Gioffredo Della Chiesa, Cronaca di Saluzzo, p. 256). Federico’s fate would be more complicated. Like many mothers before and after her, Isabella Doria wished to see her own firstborn, Manfredi, succeeded his father rather than her step-son. The new Marchioness of Saluzzo successfully instigated her husband against his son to the point the Marquis. in a donatio mortis causa dated 1325, disinherited Federico in favour of the second son (Federico would have settled with just his late mother’s belongings), Manfredi (“Et questo faceua a instigatione de la moglie che lo infestaua a cossi fare.” Gioffredo Della Chiesa, Cronaca di Saluzzo, p. 224). Federico’s natural rights were later acknowledged by an arbitral award proclaimed in 1329 by his paternal uncles Giovanni and Giorgio of Saluzzo, and finally, an arbitration verdict dated 1334 and issued by Guglielmo Earl of Biandrate and Aimone of Savoy. As a condition of peace, the future Marquis should have granted his younger brother the castle and villa of Cardè as a fief. Stung by this defeat, Manfredi IV, his wife Isabella and beloved son Manfredi retired to Cortemilla. Federico died in 1336 and was succeeded by his son Tommaso, who would inherit his father’s rights and feud with the two Manfredi's. After being defeated by his half-uncle in 1341 (the older Manfredi, his grandfather, had died the year before), resulting in losing his titles, possessions and freedom, Tommaso would later regain what was of his right and rule as Marquis of Saluzzo.

Sources

-ANONIMO REGIENSE, Memoriale Potestatum Regiensium. Gestorumque iis Temporibus. Ab anno 1154 usque ad Annum 1290, in Ludovico Antonio Muratori, Rerum Italicarum scriptores ab anno aerae christianae quingentesimo ad millesimumquingentesimum, vol. VIII

-BARTHOLOMAEUS DE NEOCASTRO, Historia Sicula, in Giuseppe Del Re, Cronisti e Scrittori sincroni Napoletani editi ed inediti

- DEL GIUDICE GIUSEPPE, La famiglia di Re Manfredi

- DELLA CHIESA, GIOFFREDO, Cronaca di Saluzzo

-FORGES DAVANZATI, DOMENICO, Dissertazione sulla seconda moglie del re Manfredi e su’ loro figliuoli

- LANCIA, MANFREDI, Il complicato matrimonio di Beatrice di Sicilia

-Monferrato. Saluzzo

-MULETTI, DELFINO, Memorie storico-diplomatiche appartenenti alla città ed ai marchesi di Saluzzo, vol II-III

- MUNTANER, RAMON, Crónica catalana

- SABA MALASPINA, Rerum Sicularum

- SAVIO, CARLO FEDELE, Cardè. Cenni storici (1207-1922)

-Sicily/Naples: Counts & Kings

[historical-babes]

Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194-1250).

13th century Hohenstaufen Holy Roman Emperor.

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He was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225.

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His political and cultural ambitions were enormous as he ruled a vast area, beginning with Sicily and stretching through Italy all the way north to Germany. As the Crusades progressed, he acquired control of Jerusalem and styled himself its king. However, the Papacy became his enemy, and it eventually prevailed. Viewing himself as a direct successor to the Roman emperors of antiquity, he was Emperor of the Romans from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a claimant to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy.

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At the age of three, he was crowned King of Sicily as a co-ruler with his mother, Constance of Hauteville, the daughter of Roger II of Sicily. His other royal title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. Frequently at war with the papacy, which was hemmed in between Frederick's lands in northern Italy and his Kingdom of Sicily (the Regno) to the south, he was excommunicated three times and often vilified in pro-papal chronicles of the time and after. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him an Antichrist.

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Speaking six languages (Latin, Sicilian, Middle High German, Langues d'oïl, Greek and Arabic), Frederick was an avid patron of science and the arts. He played a major role in promoting literature through the Sicilian School of poetry. His Sicilian royal court in Palermo, beginning around 1220, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school had a significant influence on literature and on what was to become the modern Italian language. He was also the first king to formally outlaw trial by ordeal, which had come to be viewed as superstitious.

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After his death his line did not survive, and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end. Furthermore, the Holy Roman Empire entered a long period of decline during the Great Interregnum from which it did not completely recover until the reign of Charles V, 250 years later.

[Submission]

[troybeecham]

The Church remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess.
Ora pro nobis.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231 AD), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia or Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness.
Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her husband's death she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was canonized on 25 May 1235.
Elizabeth was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania. Her mother's sister was Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia. Her ancestry included many notable figures of European royalty, going back as far as Vladimir the Great of the Kievan Rus. According to tradition, she was born in Hungary, possibly in the castle of Sárospatak on 7 July 1207 AD.
Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to be betrothed to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia (also known as Ludwig IV), a future union which would reinforce political alliances between the families.[a] She was raised by the Thuringian court and would have been familiar with the local language and culture.
In 1221 AD, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Louis; the same year he was enthroned as Landgrave, and the marriage appears to have been happy.
In 1223 AD, Franciscan friars arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of Francis of Assisi, but started to live them. Louis was not upset by his wife's charitable efforts, believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he is venerated in Thuringia as a saint, though he was never canonized by the Church.
It was also about this time that the priest and later inquisitor Konrad von Marburg gained considerable influence over Elizabeth when he was appointed as her confessor. In the spring of 1226 AD, when floods, famine, and plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the Imperial Diet held in Cremona.
Elizabeth assumed control of affairs at home and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them.
Elizabeth is perhaps best known for the miracle of the roses which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig on a hunting party, who, in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. In that moment, her cloak fell open and a vision of white and red roses could be seen, which proved to Ludwig that God's protecting hand was at work.
Her husband, according to the vitae, was never troubled by her charity and always supported it. In some versions of this story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions her. Hers is the first of many miracles that associate Christian saints with roses, and is the most frequently depicted in the saint's iconography.
Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.


[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.[citation needed] 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.[citation needed] AD 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops. 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire. 1268 – The Battle of Tagliacozzo marks the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy. 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London. 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers. 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent. 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada. 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory. 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara. 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton. 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion. 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years. 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power. 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army. 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed. 1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China. 1864 – American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague. 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens. 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London. 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented. 1914 – World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army. 1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany. 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive. 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial. 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Union after the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies. 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies. 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people. 1945 – World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War". 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein. 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. 1954 – First flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft. 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy. 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon. 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins. 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". 1975 – The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration. 1975 – The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. This is called the Baltic Way or Baltic Chain. 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3. 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public. 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143. 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity. 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia. 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD. 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others. 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

[commedia2018]

Infierno X o la promesa de una luz imposible

    Cuenta la leyenda que Flavio Valerio Aurelio Constantino, segundo al mando del Imperio Romano de Occidente, creyó ver algo en el cielo mientras marchaba al frente de sus tropas en la tarde del 27 de octubre del año 312. Al levantar la mirada lo sorprendió una inmensa cruz luminosa donde se leía con toda claridad: “Εν τούτῳ νίκα” [en este signo vencerás]; y esa misma noche soñó con Jesucristo, quien le ordenó que el día siguiente marcara los escudos de sus soldados con el crismón, un símbolo compuesto por las letras xi (χ) y rho (ρ), las dos primeras del nombre del hijo de Dios en griego antiguo (χριστός).     Aquel líder no era cristiano, pero obedeció. El día siguiente, durante el enfrentamiento que la historia conocería como la Batalla del Puente Milvio, su ejército, a pesar de una significativa inferioridad numérica, dispersó al de Majencio, el emperador reinante; y en el caos de la retirada, mientras los vencidos cruzaban el Tíber, Majencio cayó de su caballo y murió aplastado por sus propias tropas. Esa batalla marcó el principio del fin de la tetrarquía que había gobernado al Imperio desde los tiempos de Diocleciano; y años más tarde el mismo hombre que derrotó a Majencio, ahora conocido como Constantino el Grande, reunificaría a Roma bajo su dominio, y luego de un reinado legendario, en su lecho de muerte se convertiría al cristianismo.     La conversión de Constantino permitió que aquella curiosa secta tardía del judaísmo se hiciese con el control del Imperio, y de esa manera plantó las semillas de la Edad Media. Por eso para los medievales la Batalla del Puente Milvio era de suma importancia. Europa quería concebirse a sí misma como heredera de Roma, pero en clave cristiana, y leyendas como la de los legionarios de Constantino protegidos por el crismón proveían a ese sueño de una legitimidad no sólo histórica, sino también mística.    Pero en los cimientos de ese sueño estaban desde el principio las grietas que habrían de desestabilizarlo; porque si un emperador del siglo IV había reunificado a Roma bajo el signo de Cristo, también era innegable que el Hijo de Dios le había delegado su autoridad a una institución humana muy diferente a la imperial: la Iglesia fundada por Pedro. ¿Qué significaba, entonces, que también apoyase de forma directa a líderes seculares? ¿Quién era la autoridad suprema a ojos de Dios, el Vicario de Cristo o el ocupante del trono sacro de Constantino?    Esa se convertiría en una de las preguntas fundamentales de la Edad Media, una cuestión que definiría lo que tendría lugar en Europa durante más de un milenio; y de hecho sus ecos todavía determinan en parte la política occidental, puesto que la doctrina del estado laico y de la separación entre la Iglesia y el Estado deriva en buena medida de los ríos de sangre que se vertieron a favor de uno u otro bando durante el medioevo.    Para comprender la verdadera dimensión de ese conflicto es necesario tener en cuenta que en ese entonces la autoridad papal distaba de ser sólo espiritual. En la práctica, si no de nombre, el ocupante del trono de San Pedro era rey de un vasto territorio localizado en el centro de la península itálica, conocido como los Estados Pontificios. Los señores de ese territorio le pagaban impuestos y peleaban guerras bajo su estandarte, y a eso se sumaban los diezmos que le pagaban todos los señores que se reconocían como católicos. Ese poder era una piedra en el zapato de los reyes y emperadores en ciernes, incluso cuando quien ocupaba el solio era una persona sin ambiciones políticas; pero la gran mayoría de los cardenales medievales eran muy ambiciosos, y al convertirse en papas se convencían con facilidad de que Dios no sólo les había otorgado las llaves del cielo, sino también las de la tierra.

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   En el siglo XII, en una escena más de esas eternas tensiones entre papado y realeza, Federico I Barbarroja, Emperador del Sacro Imperio, condujo campañas militares en el norte de Italia con el fin de expandir su territorio. Fue entonces que los términos germánicos “güelfo” (derivado de la casa de Welf) y “gibelino” (proveniente de “Weibling!”, el grito de guerra de los Hohenstaufen) se usaron por primera vez en la península. “Güelfos” eran quienes luchaban a favor de la independencia de las ciudades-estado italianas, y “gibelinos” quienes apoyaban a Barbarroja en su intento de conquistar Italia. El Papa, por supuesto, estaba a favor de los primeros, ya que un triunfo del Emperador habría puesto su territorio en peligro; por esa razón “güelfo” y “pro-Papa” se volvieron casi sinónimos. Y por extensión, “gibelino” llegó a significar no sólo “pro-imperial”, sino también “enemigo del Papa”.    Pero la política de las ciudades-estado italianas no dependía tanto del Papa o del Emperador como de las familias que las gobernaban, y de sus relaciones, siempre tensas y pragmáticas, con otras familias y comunidades; así que, a medida que pasaron los años y las décadas, güelfismo y gibelinismo se diluyeron ideológicamente, y degeneraron en facciones enfrentadas por una larga e intrincada serie de traiciones, batallas, escaramuzas, asesinatos y venganzas. En la Italia de Dante se era güelfo o gibelino, no necesariamente porque se creyera en la supremacía del Papa o del Emperador, sino sobre todo porque se había nacido en una ciudad, o incluso en una familia, allegada a uno de los dos bandos, y junto con la nacionalidad y el nombre se heredaban conflictos ancestrales. Y para dichos conflictos se reclutaba estratégicamente a quienes pudieran beneficiarse del triunfo de uno u otro de los grandes poderes en contienda, pero en última instancia lo que importaba era el poder local, con todas sus contradicciones, entuertos y mezquindades.    Florencia, una de las ciudades-estado más importantes del norte de Italia, fue también una de las más inestables en términos de filiación política durante la Edad Media. Antes de 1248 había sido güelfa; pero luego de la intervención directa del emperador Federico II Hohenstaufen, nieto de Barbarroja, los gibelinos toscanos se hicieron con el poder y expulsaron a sus enemigos. Su preeminencia, sin embargo, no duró mucho; Federico murió de disentería en 1250, y el año siguiente los güelfos regresaron para encabezar una serie de reformas políticas que debilitaron a sus enemigos. Esto culminó en 1258 con la expulsión de todos los gibelinos; pero los exiliados, liderados por Farinata degli Uberti, se aliaron con Siena, ciudad que históricamente había sido favorable a su causa, y el 4 de septiembre de 1260, en la batalla de Montaperti, derrotaron de forma humillante a sus compatriotas güelfos.     Las secuelas de esa batalla fueron más dramáticas que esta misma. Embriagados con la victoria, los sieneses propusieron borrar a Florencia del mapa, lo que habría fortalecido significativamente la posición de su ciudad en el norte de Italia. Farinata degli Uberti fue el único que se opuso, diciendo que sus tropas pelearían una segunda batalla contra sus aliados en ese mismo momento si no desistían de su propósito. Degli Uberti y sus hombres superaban en número a los sieneses; aquel día no se luchó más.    Luego de salvar —literalmente— a la patria, Farinata y su partido se hicieron una vez más con el gobierno. Conscientes de que su posición era débil, se empeñaron en fortalecerla con el apoyo de Manfredo de Sicilia, de la casa Hohenstaufen; pero el papa Urbano IV, aterrado por la posibilidad de que el Emperador usara a la Toscana como cuartel general para conquistar el resto de Italia, coronó como rey de Sicilia al francés Carlos de Anjou, con el compromiso de que se deshiciera de Manfredo y sus incómodos gibelinos. El francés cumplió de forma decisiva su parte del trato en 1266, cuando sus tropas vencieron en la batalla de Benevento. Manfredo, rodeado por un puñado de sus caballeros, cargó contra el enemigo al darse cuenta de que la derrota era inevitable. Al principio se lo enterró con honores en el mismo lugar donde cayó; pero luego, por orden directa del Papa, sus restos fueron exhumados y enterrados en una fosa sin marca, fuera de las fronteras del Reino de Nápoles y de los Estados Pontificios.     Después de su derrota en Benevento, los gibelinos nunca regresaron al poder en Florencia. Los Uberti y las otras grandes familias pro-imperiales fueron exiliados, sus herederos fueron expropiados, e incluso se prohibió que se construyera sobre las ruinas de sus casas, para que el pueblo recordara por siempre lo que les ocurriría a quienes se oponían al poderío güelfo. Pero en la mente de muchos, dada su decisión de salvar a Florencia incluso en contra de sus propios intereses, el nombre de Farinata tenía una resonancia noble, acaso trágica. Por eso, cuando Dante le pregunta a Ciacco por él en Infierno VI, el hecho de que se encuentre “entre las almas más negras” es triste y ominoso. Degli Uberti podría haber sido un líder gibelino, pero mucho más importante que eso era su condición de estadista magnánimo; de hombre que, en el momento de mayor debilidad de la patria, había arriesgado todo su capital político y militar para salvarla.     Ese es el hombre, figura clave de la política italiana de su tiempo, que Dante encuentra en el canto X del Infierno, erguido cuan alto es en la tumba en llamas a la que ha sido condenado por hereje de inclinación epicúrea; y si el lector siente al recorrer esos versos que hay algo no sólo aristocrático, sino también honorable, en el porte, la fiereza y el diálogo cortante de ese pecador, eso no es casual. Farinata será un condenado, pero también es un héroe. Parte de la pregunta de Infierno X es cómo es posible que esa combinación exista; que alguien cuya nobleza y liberalidad son innegables sea también un pecador irredento.

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    A diferencia de todos los condenados que lo preceden en el poema, Farinata habla primero. Su voz irrumpe de una forma inesperada que Erich Auerbach elogió con justicia, ya que se trata de un momento de llano realismo casi sin precedentes en la literatura de Occidente. Transcribir las palabras de alguien sin introducirlo antes, evocar la sorpresa del personaje mediante la del lector mismo, es una técnica narrativa básica a la cual nos hemos acostumbrado hasta el punto de que no la reconocemos como tal, pero Dante prácticamente la inventó para narrar el encuentro con Farinata en el infierno. Y lo primero que este hace es llamar a Dante por su gentilicio: O Tosco! [¡Oh, toscano!]     ¿Cómo puede saber el capitán gibelino que el hombre que camina vivo por el cementerio eterno de los epicúreos es un compatriota suyo? Sencillo: por el acento. La tua loquela, le dice, ti fa manifesto: tu dialecto te ha delatado. De la misma manera que un porteño, un antioqueño o un cubano detectarían de inmediato a un paisano en una calle concurrida de Calcuta o Nueva York sólo con oírlos hablar, Farinata reconoce en el autor de la Comedia a uno de los suyos.     La escena, aunque fantástica, es perfectamente plausible. Después de más de dos décadas de arder en una tumba sin tapa pero sin escape, el hecho de que un hombre libre pase por allí es razón más que suficiente para entablar una conversación, y más aún si su acento lo revela como un conciudadano. “¡Hey, toscano, ven acá!”; cualquier otro habría dicho lo mismo. Pero en una primera lectura la pregunta siguiente de Farinata puede parecer curiosa, incluso inverosímil: Chi fuor i maggior tui? [¿Quiénes fueron tus ancestros?] Otras almas florentinas le preguntarán a Dante por su familia, o por quienes jugaron un papel importante en su pecado y probablemente habrán de terminar también en el infierno; pero lo primero que el líder gibelino quiere saber son los apellidos del compatriota que está de visita en el inframundo. Y cuando oye “Alighieri”, y entiende que se trata de un allegado de los Cerchi, y por lo tanto un güelfo, su respuesta es recordarle de inmediato que dos veces, primero en 1248 y después en 1266, por orden expresa de la gente de Farinata, sus mayores fueron expulsados de Florencia.     La respuesta de Dante está tan bien calculada para herir la susceptibilidad política de su interlocutor como el ataque a traición del condottiero. Los míos supieron regresar ambas veces, replica, pero los tuyos nunca aprendieron bien ese arte. Y de hecho, como hemos visto, luego del descalabro de Benevento los gibelinos nunca pudieron volver a Florencia.     Pero Dante no ha contado con algo que debería haberle quedado claro cuando habló con Ciacco: los condenados pueden ver el futuro. Y ese olvido ha de pesarle. Porque Farinata, herido en lo más profundo por la manera como este compatriota le recuerda que su facción fue la perdedora de una centenaria lucha intestina, sabe lo que le sucederá a él en menos de un año y decide revelárselo con todo detalle. No presuma tanto del triunfo güelfo, le contesta, porque dentro de poco usted, no sólo su partido sino también usted, será exiliado de esa patria que tanto ama.     Ante esa terrible revelación, Dante se queda sin respuesta. Quiso jugar con un condenado a determinar el partido político que más victorias se ha adjudicado en Florencia, pero el condenado entendía el juego mejor que él, sabía cómo se desarrollaría en los próximos años, y le ganó la partida.     En efecto, Dante fue exiliado de su ciudad natal en marzo de 1302, pero no por los gibelinos sino por los mismos güelfos. En efecto, luego de su victoria en 1289 contra los aretinos, el partido triunfante se dividió en dos facciones, lo que demuestra que para entonces las ideologías pro- o anti-papistas pesaban poco frente a las tensiones intrafamiliares y económicas. Los güelfos negros, liderados por la familia Donati, se identificaban con la vieja nobleza, mientras que los blancos, capitaneados por los Cerchi, eran más cercanos a las familias de nuevo cuño que se habían enriquecido mediante la industria y las finanzas. Los Cerchi eran allegados de los Alighieri, por lo que Dante era un güelfo blanco; y en 1301, mientras se encontraba en Roma por petición de la República en calidad de embajador ante Bonifacio VIII, los güelfos negros se tomaron la ciudad y expulsaron a sus enemigos, entre ellos los Alighieri, y ordenaron la confiscación de sus bienes. La primera condena de Dante era por dos años y tenía derecho a apelación; pero dado que no se presentó a la audiencia —y las autoridades florentinas sabían bien que no podría hacerlo, puesto que Bonifacio lo estaba reteniendo en Roma— se lo condenó in absentia al exilio vitalicio. Si regresaba, se lo quemaría en la hoguera. Y a pesar de sus ingentes esfuerzos nunca se lo perdonó; de hecho, fue apenas en 2008 que el comune florentino emitió la anulación de la pena de muerte de Dante Alighieri. El autor de la Comedia murió en el exilio, probablemente de malaria, en 1321, en el camino de Venecia a Ravena, y fue enterrado en esa última ciudad, donde pasó sus años finales y compuso buena parte de su obra maestra.     Pensando en esa terrible derrota futura profetizada por Farinata, Dante va cabizbajo. Su guía se percata de ello. El peregrino explica la causa de su desazón, y el guía le responde con un terceto que se cuenta entre los más bellos de la Comedia:

Quando sarai dinanzi al dolce raggio di quella il cui bell’occhio tutto vede, da lei saprai della tua vita il viaggio.

[Cuando estés frente a los dulces rayos de aquella cuyos bellos ojos todo lo ven sabrás por ella el viaje de tu vida.]

    El mensaje de Virgilio y del canto es de una sabiduría melancólica que el personaje no es capaz de asimilar; pero lo reconforta en algo la promesa de que verá a Beatrice y oirá algo de su boca sobre esa profecía. Sigue caminando.     Pero esa es sólo una dimensión de la escena. Para entenderla a cabalidad es necesario tener en cuenta que en la Comedia no hay uno, sino dos Dantes, ambos personajes del texto, ambos peregrinos. Está Dante-personaje, que cruza físicamente los tres reinos de ultratumba de la mano de sus guías, y para quien cada encuentro es nuevo e inesperado, cada palabra espontánea; pero está también Dante-autor, que ya ha descendido al Infierno y ascendido al Paraíso por medio de la montaña del Purgatorio, que ya ha contemplado a Dios, que recuerda cada detalle de ese viaje como si lo tuviera escrito ante sí, y ahora se enfrenta a la aventura paralela de transcribir en papel lo que lleva impreso en el “libro de la memoria.” En varios momentos, Dante-autor habla con voz propia para recordarnos su existencia y recalcar que su dificultad es tan o más grande que la del peregrino. Un ejemplo es el cuarto verso de la Comedia, ah, quanto dir com’era è cosa dura, que identifica la dureza del inicio del camino con la dificultad de narrar ese comienzo. De esa manera, el viaje del poeta tiene dificultades, pero también revelaciones, que reflejan las del peregrino y que en unos cuantos momentos claves se diferencian de ellas.     El episodio de Farinata es uno de esos momentos. Dante-personaje no ha experimentado el exilio, las conversaciones en el cielo con su amada ni la visión divina, y luego de oír a Virgilio lo único que le traen esas palabras es un vago alivio y una razón para la esperanza. Pero Dante-autor no sólo ya ha terminado el viaje, sino que escribe desde el exilio; para él la amenaza del condenado es una realidad, y también el sentido profundo de las palabras de Virgilio, que no es la esperanza sino la resignación.     Da lei saprai della tua vita il viaggio, le dijo el maestro; ahora, al recordarlo y escribirlo, el autor comprende que lo que cambió una vez pudo ver el camino de su vida con ojos iluminados por la visión divina no fue ese camino en sí, sino los ojos que lo contemplan. El exilio, la impotencia política, el desarraigo y la pobreza, que para Dante-personaje son apenas una advertencia, para Dante-autor son concretos e ineluctables; pero también lo es que algo fundamental ha cambiado en el hombre maduro y derrotado en quien se ha convertido. Si para el personaje que no ha visto a Dios, como para Farinata, la política florentina es un valor absoluto, para Dante-autor, que ha visto el universo a través de los ojos totalizantes y amorosos del demiurgo, los güelfos y gibelinos, los Papas y Emperadores, Siena, Venecia, Florencia, los hombres, sus facciones, sus naciones y sus guerras, no son más que accidentes, pequeñas ondulaciones de una línea histórica que, pase por donde pase, conduce desde Adán al demiurgo. En otras palabras, para Dante-autor da lei saprai de la tua vita il viaggio no significa que con la ayuda de Beatrice verá otras cosas en su futuro, sino que verá las mismas de siempre y entenderá que no tienen importancia.     En este punto del infierno, en esas tumbas en llamas, se condena a los herejes, y específicamente a los epicúreos, que el poema define en el canto IX como aquellos che l’anima col corpo morta fanno [que piensan que el alma muere con el cuerpo]. Farinata, en efecto, es uno de ellos, pero la forma en que su pecado se manifiesta dista de ser filosófica. La falta del capitán florentino no estriba tanto en lo que pueda creer o no en términos metafísicos, sino en la forma como se comporta en términos políticos y vitales, incluso aquí, en el infierno. Para él, el sentido de la vida se resume en la rivalidad entre güelfos y gibelinos; eso es lo primero y lo único que le pregunta a Dante, la filiación suya y de sus ancestros. Dante-personaje cae en su juego porque antes del exilio todavía cree en la importancia absoluta de la política de su ciudad natal. Y es esa misma creencia la que convierte la profecía del exilio en una tortura; pero para Dante-autor eso no es así, su perspectiva de la vida ha cambiado. Así, una de las cosas que Infierno X revela es que los adversarios políticos, por poco que se parezcan, siempre comparten una convicción fundamental: la de que sus diferencias son importantes, así como el conflicto al que estas dan pie. No hay guerra posible si los rivales no creen que en nombre de sus ideales valga la pena marchar a la guerra.     Es por eso que Farinata, en un último análisis, es un pecador similar a Paolo y Francesca. En el caso de los dos cuñados, el amor que los condenó era al mismo tiempo la razón de su nobleza; en el del líder gibelino, la obsesión política que lo convirtió tanto en capitán de las fuerzas pro-imperiales como en el salvador de su ciudad es el motivo de su distinción pero también la raíz de su pecado. Dante-personaje no puede entender eso, porque para adquirir la sabiduría distante necesaria le faltan la iluminación de Dios y el dolor del exilio.      La genialidad de Infierno X es que pone al lector en el punto insostenible en que esas dos visiones, la del autor y la del personaje, se friccionan la una contra la otra y producen chispas de poesía con el roce. Porque el punto de vista de Farinata y de Dante-personaje no es inválido, apenas limitado; mientras que el otro, el de Dante-autor y su poema, es tan sabio que en ocasiones parece inadmisible, precisamente porque es sobrehumano. Y en medio estamos nosotros, humildes lectores, que no hemos visto a Dios y probablemente nunca podremos verlo, criaturas de tiempo y sangre para quienes es inimaginable la trascendencia; pero al mismo tiempo comprendemos que obsesionarse con los asuntos humanos es una trampa muy peligrosa. Y sin embargo, por mucho esfuerzo que hagamos seguiremos siendo humanos; así que acaso, por lo menos para nosotros, la trampa sea inescapable.     A menos, por supuesto, que podamos ver el camino de nuestra vida con ojos purificados por la luz de Beatrice; pero si no se es Dante Alighieri, tal vez sea natural pensar que tanta luz es imposible.

[jgmail]

Entrevista con Claudio Mutti: “Nuestra actividad debe ser arrancar la máscara al término ‘Occidente'”

Entrevista con el Prof. Claudio Mutti, “Junges Forum” n 3 (2005) –

Junges Forum: En Italia, como en otros países europeos, se desarrolló una colaboración entre representantes de la derecha con las fuerzas islámicas. Sin embargo en Alemania, una gran parte de la derecha es muy crítica y hostil hacia el Islam. ¿Cuáles son las razones de ello? Geopolítica.

Claudio Mutti: En Italia llamamos “de derechas” (destra) al ala de la clase política colaboracionista que ve en el presidente estadounidense Bush a su líder actual, mientras que la “izquierda” de esa misma clase política (que ayer estaba a las órdenes de Clinton) se encuentra a la espera de que Kerry sea el futuro líder.

En la extrema derecha (estos serían los neo-fascistas y los llamados ultraderechistas) el caso es diferente, y tan confuso como contradictorio. En un determinado sector de esta niebla sin forma, una actitud explícitamente pro-islámica siempre ha prevalecido; las raíces de ello hay que buscarlas en los siguientes factores: 1) la solidaridad histórica del Fascismo y el NS con los pueblos musulmanes, 2) la representación del Islam como dictada por los pensadores tradicionalistas, sobre todo Julius Evola, y 3) el surgimiento del Islam a finales de los años ´70 como una fuerza espiritual y política en la lucha “contra nuestros enemigos comunes.”

Observamos, sin embargo, dentro de esta nebulosa una esquizofrenia característica: Se mantiene una posición  pro-islámica (o pro-árabe) con respecto a Palestina o Irak y una anti-islámica (o anti-árabe) con respecto a Italia, donde la afluencia de inmigrantes islámicos es considerada como “invasión”, debido a una percepción que es más irracional y emocional que objetiva y realista.

Esta esquizofrenia provoca que la extrema derecha, los “ultraderechistas”, corran por supuesto el riesgo de convertirse en aliados objetivos de las derechas establecidas, que son anti-europeas, pro-estadounidenses y pro-sionistas.

JF: La llamada “sociedad multicultural”, sin duda, representa un peligro para Europa ¿Qué papel puede o debe jugar en su opinión el Islam en Europa, y como se puede evitar el peligro de “crisol de razas”  a lo EE.UU?

CM: La estructura social que se conoce comúnmente como “multicultural” es en verdad monocultural, ya que se trata de la hegemonía o más bien de la existencia exclusiva de una sola cultura: la cultura occidental, que triunfa bajo la forma de los Estados Unidos. El sistema occidental, que fue injertado en una parte de Europa en 1945 y en la otra en 1989 ve al Islam como su enemigo: “Para Occidente”, escribe Samuel P. Huntington, “el problema real no es el fundamentalismo islámico sino el propio Islam”

JF: Se dice que el Islam es una religión que no reconoce las diferencias raciales. ¿Podría una influencia islámica en Europa, promover el mestizaje?

CM: El Islam afirma explícitamente la supremacía del factor espiritual sobre lo biológico. Pero eso no significa que el Islam no reconozca diferencias raciales. La doctrina islámica con respecto a este debate se expresa artísticamente en el Corán de éste modo: “Uno de Sus [= Dios] portentos es la creación de los cielos y la tierra y de la diversidad entre vuestras lenguas y vuestros colores” (XXX, 23, traducido por Ludwig Ullmann). Por lo tanto, el Islam se refiere a “las lenguas y colores”, es decir, las identidades culturales y raciales, como regalos divinos. El Islam fue elogiado por Ludwig Ferdinand Clauss, quien plasmó su visión psíquico-racial en “Raza y Carácter” (1936), y por otros teóricos de la cuestión racial como Johann von Leers.

JF: Se dice que el Islam es una religión muy agresiva que no tolera otras religiones a su lado. Julius Evola imaginó un reino supranacional, interconfesional. ¿Tolera el Islam otras religiones a su lado?

CM: Cuando el Islam durante la historia, asumió la responsabilidad de gobierno, reconoció a otras religiones y a sus seguidores les fue concedida protección y autonomía. En el Imperio Omeya los cristianos estaban tan respetados que uno de sus famosos santos, Juan de Damasco, fue ministro de finanzas bajo el Califa; en la España musulmana, floreció la cultura de los cristianos mozárabes; en el Imperio Otomano el Patriarca ortodoxo siempre ostentó el rango de ministro del Sultán, y las comunidades cristianas gozaban de completa autonomía; en la parte india del imperio Mogol los hindúes y budistas tenían la misma condición jurídica y los privilegios asociados que las “gentes del libro”; en la actual República Islámica de Irán. cristianos y zoroastrianos tienen sus escaños en el Parlamento de Teherán.

En cuanto a Julius Evola, su opinión sobre el Islam fue una muy positiva. En “Revuelta contra el mundo moderno” se puede leer que el Islam es una tradición “de un nivel superior al de los credos que han conquistado Europa”.

JF: La idea de “Eurasia como un baluarte contra el americanismo, el liberalismo y el materialismo” está en Italia y otros países europeos, tal y como podemos comprobar, en la agenda de los círculos de la derecha tradicionalista. Pero en Alemania, la idea de Eurasia sigue siendo en gran parte desconocida. Hemos tratado en el primer número del nuevo Junges Forum, de proporcionar una visión general de las ideas de Alexander Dugin. ¿Mantiene usted el proyecto eurasiático como factible?

CM: Hasta la Segunda Guerra Mundial, los Estados-nación como Alemania, Italia o Francia tenían dimensiones territoriales, demográficas y económicas, que eran suficientes para formar un estado independiente, pero ahora la independencia pertenece exclusivamente a aquellas entidades políticas que tienen dimensiones continentales. En la primera mitad del siglo XX, esto fue reconocido por Karl Haushofer, quien presentó el concepto geopolítico de un bloque continental euroasiático desde Dublín a Vladivostok.

Es obvio que el bloque continental euroasiático es la necesidad geopolítica que nacerá de ello, pero su fundamento más profundo es la unidad espiritual de Eurasia, una unidad que trasciende las variadas formas culturales.

JF: ¿No es esto es un concepto que puede ser realizado sólo por los gobiernos? ¿Qué podemos hacer los que no tenemos la capacidad de tomar decisiones políticas?

CM: El pars destruens de nuestra actividad debe ser arrancar la máscara al término “Occidente” para mostrar su naturaleza anti-europea. Ese “Occidente” se ha fijado el objetivo de mantener la subordinación de Europa a los EEUU y la creación de una profunda brecha entre Europa y el resto del continente euroasiático. La tesis del “choque de civilizaciones” debemos condenarla como un instrumento ideológico del imperialismo de EE.UU., que tiene el propósito de provocar una serie de guerras civiles en Eurasia, lo que beneficiaría a los Estados Unidos. Si existe un “choque de civilizaciones”, entonces no es uno entre el Islam y el Cristianismo, sino entre la cultura euroasiática y la barbarie americana.

Como pars construens tenemos que crear una conciencia de Eurasia y desarrollar la información contenida en los escritos de los grandes pensadores que han demostrado la unidad espiritual de Eurasia. Me refiero no sólo a los escritores tradicionalistas, como René Guenon y Julius Evola, sino también a los estudiosos de la historia de las religiones como Mircea Eliade y Giuseppe Tucci, historiadores como Franz Altheim y Lev Gumilev, y “clásicos” teóricos del eurasismo como Nikolai Trubetzkoi y Pyotr Savitsky.

JF: ¿Se podría hablar del Proyecto Eurasia como una reactivación del Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico medieval?

CM: Bajo Carlomagno, el Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico abarcaba el área entre el Mar del Norte y el Mediterráneo, el río Ebro y el mar Adriático. Bajo el Kaiser Federico II – el “genio entre los emperadores alemanes” (Friedrich Nietzsche), quien hablaba latín y alemán, griego y árabe, y escribía sus poemas en italiano – el Reich dio el primer paso hacia una síntesis eurasiática: Después de que, gracias a un programa de “Paz y amistad con el Islam” (Nietzsche), tomara el control sobre Jerusalén, el gran Hohenstaufen unió en su persona los caracteres de un Imperator romano y de un rey ​​alemán, de un Basileus bizantino y de un sultán musulmán. Los musulmanes lo comparan con Alejandro Magno, que fue el primero en tratar de integrar Europa y Asia. Hoy, en los albores del tercer milenio, se llena con la idea de Eurasia el mismo espíritu en el amplio espacio entre el Atlántico y el Pacífico.

(Traducido del alemán para TM por Felix W.)

Fuente: Tribulaciones Metapolíticas.

[alamio]

willkommen-in-germany: “He who defends everything defends nothing.” — Frederick II (1194-1250),...

“He who defends everything defends nothing.”

—

Frederick II (1194-1250), Holy Roman Emperor and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, even to Jerusalem, were enormous, but his enemies, especially the popes, prevailed, and his dynasty collapsed soon after his death. Historians have searched for superlatives to describe him, as in the case of Professor Donald Detwiler, who wrote: "A man of extraordinary culture, energy, and ability – called by a contemporary chronicler stupor mundi (wonder of the world), by Nietzsche the first European, and by many historians the first modern ruler – Frederick established in Sicily and southern Italy something very much like a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.“

Viewing himself as a direct successor to the Roman Emperors of Antiquity, he was Emperor of the Romans from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a claimant to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy. At the age of 3, he was crowned King of Sicily as co-ruler with his mother. His other title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. He was frequently at war with the Papacy, hemmed in between Frederick’s lands in northern Italy and his Kingdom of Sicily to the south, and thus was excommunicated 4 times and often vilified in pro-papal chronicles of the time and since. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him the Antichrist. Speaking 6 languages (Latin, Sicilian Italian, German, French, Greek, Arabic), Frederick was an avid patron of science and the arts. After his death, his line quickly died out and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end.

[gardenofkore]

“Dina and Chiarenza, two obscures women, whose names the injustice of history has barely handed down to us, saved their country.”

Michele Amari, History of the war of the Sicilian Vespers, vol I, p. 251  

Following the defeat and death of the last two male exponents of the Hohenstaufen family (Manfredi and his nephew Corradino), started the French domination of Sicily. But the mala signoria (wicked dominion) of the Angevins was too much to endure for the Sicilians, who decided to revolt against Charles I of Anjou. This riot, started in Palermo on Easter Monday (March 30th 1282) will soon spread through the whole island. The Sicilian Vespers will eventually lead to the end of Angevin rule and beginning of the Aragonese one. At first Charles tried to quiet things down by promising reforms and better ruling, but when he realized the revolt wouldn’t stop, he decided to resort to military intervention. 

From Naples, new capital of the Kingdom (the relocation from Palermo to Naples was incidentally one of the many reasons of the malcontent of the Sicilians), he moved to north of Reggio to lay siege on Messina in late may 1282.

The whole population, led by the Captain of the People Alaimo da Lentini, took part in the defence of their city, women and children included. In particular, Alaimo da Lentini had positioned the archers on a strategic place, such as the ridge of the Caperrina hill. On the late afternoon of August 8th of the same year, because of a downpour, these men (which were clearly not pros, but indeed common citizens) left their guard posts to seek shelter from the rain. The Frenchmen were quick to take advantage of the situation and attempted the invasion. Luckily the Captain of the People was informed just in time, so the station was reconquered. During the night, the soldier alongside with the population was busy to restore the defences. Men took turns to guard the stations, while women organized in patrols got around the city to check if everything was alright and eventually raise the alarm.That night, the Frenchmen made another attempt and they would have succeeded if they hadn’t been spotted by a patrol made of just two women, whom the tradition calls Dina and Clarenza. Dina started shouting, giving the alarm, and even threw a big rock at the invaders, taking down a few and somehow stalling their advance. In the meanwhile, Clarenza rang the bells, yelling “At the Caperrina, the enemy!”. Thanks to these brave women, the Messinese soldiers managed to stop the invasion, saving their city from falling into French hands.

The siege of Messina will eventually last until September, when Charles abandoned the attack and returned (defeated) to Naples on September 26th.

Nothing is known about Dina and Clarenza’s lives before and after the siege, and their whole historicity is debated. Whether or not they indeed existed, they undoubtedly can represent all the women have always fought (in this war as in every other one) alongside the men, sharing the dangers (and many times a cruel death), but who always end up being forgotten.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.[citation needed] 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC.[citation needed] 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops. 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire. 1268 – The Battle of Tagliacozzo marks the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy. 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London. 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers. 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent. 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada. 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory. 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara. 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton. 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned. 1741 – Eruption of Oshima–Ōshima and the Kampo tsunami: At least 2,000 people along the Japanese coast drown in a tsunami caused by the eruption of Oshima. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion. 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years. 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power. 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army. 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed. 1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China. 1864 – American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague. 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens. 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London. 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented. 1914 – World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army. 1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany. 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive. 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial. 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Union after the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies. 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies. 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people. 1945 – World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War". 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein. 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. 1954 – First flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft. 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy. 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon. 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins. 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". 1975 – The start of the Wave Hill walk-off by Gurindji people in Australia, lasting eight years, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 Paul Kelly song and an annual celebration. 1975 – The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. This is called the Baltic Way or Baltic Chain. 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3. 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public. 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143. 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity. 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia. 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington, D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD. 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others. 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. AD 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 406 – Gothic king Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by Roman general Stilicho and 12,000 "barbarians" are incorporated into the Roman army or sold as slaves. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops. 634 – Abu Bakr dies at Medina and is succeeded by Umar I who becomes the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire. 1268 – Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Charles of Anjou defeats the Ghibellines supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen marking the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy. 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London. 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers. 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent. 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada. 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory. 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara. 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton. 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion. 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years. 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power. 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army. 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed. 1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for the First Opium War with Qing China. 1864 – American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague. 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens. 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London. 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented. 1914 – World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army. 1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany. 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive. 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial. 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated by the Soviet Union after the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies. 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies. 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people. 1945 – World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War". 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein. 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. 1954 – First flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft. 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy. 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon. 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins. 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". 1975 – The Pontiac Silverdome opens in Pontiac, Michigan, 30 miles (48 km) northwest of Detroit, Michigan 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3. 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public. 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143. 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity. 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia. 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD. 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others. 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

[troybeecham]

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

The Church remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Princess.

Ora pro nobis.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231 AD), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia or Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness.

Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her husband's death she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was canonized on 25 May 1235.

Elizabeth was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania. Her mother's sister was Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia. Her ancestry included many notable figures of European royalty, going back as far as Vladimir the Great of the Kievan Rus. According to tradition, she was born in Hungary, possibly in the castle of Sárospatak on 7 July 1207 AD.

Elizabeth was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to be betrothed to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia (also known as Ludwig IV), a future union which would reinforce political alliances between the families.[a] She was raised by the Thuringian court and would have been familiar with the local language and culture.

In 1221 AD, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Louis; the same year he was enthroned as Landgrave, and the marriage appears to have been happy.

In 1223 AD, Franciscan friars arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of Francis of Assisi, but started to live them. Louis was not upset by his wife's charitable efforts, believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he is venerated in Thuringia as a saint, though he was never canonized by the Church.

It was also about this time that the priest and later inquisitor Konrad von Marburg gained considerable influence over Elizabeth when he was appointed as her confessor. In the spring of 1226 AD, when floods, famine, and plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the Imperial Diet held in Cremona.

Elizabeth assumed control of affairs at home and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them.

Elizabeth is perhaps best known for the miracle of the roses which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig on a hunting party, who, in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. In that moment, her cloak fell open and a vision of white and red roses could be seen, which proved to Ludwig that God's protecting hand was at work.

Her husband, according to the vitae, was never troubled by her charity and always supported it. In some versions of this story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions her. Hers is the first of many miracles that associate Christian saints with roses, and is the most frequently depicted in the saint's iconography.

Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. AD 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 406 – Gothic king Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by Roman general Stilicho and 12,000 "barbarians" are incorporated into the Roman army or sold as slaves. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops. 634 – Abu Bakr dies at Medina and is succeeded by Umar I who becomes the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire. 1268 – Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Charles of Anjou defeats the Ghibellines supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen marking the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy. 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London. 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers. 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent. 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada. 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory. 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara. 1614 – Fettmilch Uprising: Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the Judengasse. 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton. 1650 – Colonel George Monck of the English Army forms Monck's Regiment of Foot, which will later become the Coldstream Guards. 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion. 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years. 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power. 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army. 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed. 1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing three-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War. 1864 – American Civil War: The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague. 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens. 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London. 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented. 1914 – World War I: The British Expeditionary Force and the French Fifth Army begin their Great Retreat before the German Army. 1914 – World War I: Japan declares war on Germany. 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber Estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive. 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial. 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated after the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies. 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies. 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people. 1945 – World War II: Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War". 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein. 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. 1954 – First flight of the Lockheed C-130 multi-role aircraft. 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy. 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon. 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins. 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". 1975 – The Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan has opened. It is 30 miles south of Detroit, Michigan 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3. 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public. 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143. 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity. 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia. 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD. 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others. 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.

[alamio]

willkommen-in-germany: “He who defends everything defends nothing.” — Frederick II (1194-1250),...

“He who defends everything defends nothing.”

—

Frederick II (1194-1250), Holy Roman Emperor and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, even to Jerusalem, were enormous, but his enemies, especially the popes, prevailed, and his dynasty collapsed soon after his death. Historians have searched for superlatives to describe him, as in the case of Professor Donald Detwiler, who wrote: "A man of extraordinary culture, energy, and ability – called by a contemporary chronicler stupor mundi (wonder of the world), by Nietzsche the first European, and by many historians the first modern ruler – Frederick established in Sicily and southern Italy something very much like a modern, centrally governed kingdom with an efficient bureaucracy.“

Viewing himself as a direct successor to the Roman Emperors of Antiquity, he was Emperor of the Romans from his papal coronation in 1220 until his death; he was also a claimant to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, Italy, and Burgundy. At the age of 3, he was crowned King of Sicily as co-ruler with his mother. His other title was King of Jerusalem by virtue of marriage and his connection with the Sixth Crusade. He was frequently at war with the Papacy, hemmed in between Frederick’s lands in northern Italy and his Kingdom of Sicily to the south, and thus was excommunicated 4 times and often vilified in pro-papal chronicles of the time and since. Pope Gregory IX went so far as to call him the Antichrist. Speaking 6 languages (Latin, Sicilian Italian, German, French, Greek, Arabic), Frederick was an avid patron of science and the arts. After his death, his line quickly died out and the House of Hohenstaufen came to an end.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.23

30 BC – After the successful invasion of Egypt, Octavian executes Marcus Antonius Antyllus, eldest son of Mark Antony, and Caesarion, the last king of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and only child of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. 20 BC – Ludi Volcanalici are held within the temple precinct of Vulcan, and used by Augustus to mark the treaty with Parthia and the return of the legionary standards that had been lost at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. AD 79 – Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. 406 – Gothic king Radagaisus is executed after he is defeated by Roman general Stilicho and 12,000 "barbarians" are incorporated into the Roman army or sold as slaves. 476 – Odoacer, chieftain of the Germanic tribes (Herulic - Scirian foederati), is proclaimed rex Italiae ("King of Italy") by his troops. 634 – Abu Bakr dies at Medina and is succeeded by Umar I who becomes the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. 1244 – Siege of Jerusalem: The city's citadel, the Tower of David, surrenders to Khwarezmian Empire. 1268 – Battle of Tagliacozzo: The army of Charles of Anjou defeats the Ghibellines supporters of Conradin of Hohenstaufen marking the fall of the Hohenstaufen family from the Imperial and Sicilian thrones, and leading to the new chapter of Angevin domination in Southern Italy. 1305 – Sir William Wallace is executed for high treason at Smithfield, London. 1328 – Battle of Cassel: French troops stop an uprising of Flemish farmers. 1382 – Siege of Moscow: The Golden Horde led by Tokhtamysh lays siege to the capital of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. 1514 – The Battle of Chaldiran ends with a decisive victory for the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty. 1521 – Christian II of Denmark is deposed as king of Sweden and Gustav Vasa is elected regent. 1541 – French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec City in his third voyage to Canada. 1566 - Beeldenstorm reaches Amsterdam. 1572 – French Wars of Religion: Mob violence against thousands of Huguenots in Paris results in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 1595 – Long Turkish War: Wallachian prince Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the Battle of Călugăreni and achieves a tactical victory. 1600 – Battle of Gifu Castle: The eastern forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu defeat the western Japanese clans loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori, leading to the destruction of Gifu Castle and serving as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara. 1614 – Fettmilch Uprising: Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the Judengasse. 1628 – George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, is assassinated by John Felton. 1650 – Colonel George Monck of the English Army forms Monck's Regiment of Foot, which will later become the Coldstream Guards. 1655 – Battle of Sobota: The Swedish Empire led by Charles X Gustav defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. 1703 – Edirne event: Sultan Mustafa II of the Ottoman Empire is dethroned. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion. 1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years. 1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power. 1813 – At the Battle of Großbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army. 1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion is suppressed. 1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing three-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War. 1864 – The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas. 1866 – Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague. 1873 – Albert Bridge in Chelsea, London opens. 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition, the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departs from London. 1904 – The automobile tire chain is patented. 1914 – World War I: Battle of Mons: The British Army begins withdrawal. 1921 – British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive. 1923 – Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours. 1927 – Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial. 1929 – Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65–68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations. 1942 – World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. 1943 – World War II: Kharkiv is liberated after the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies. 1944 – World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies. 1944 – Freckleton Air Disaster: A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England, killing 61 people. 1945 – Soviet–Japanese War: The USSR State Defense Committee issues Decree no. 9898cc "About Receiving, Accommodation, and Labor Utilization of the Japanese Army Prisoners of War". 1946 – Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein. 1947 - 8th Venice Film Festival opens (first since the start of World War II). 1948 – World Council of Churches is formed by 147 churches from 44 countries. 1958 – Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait Crisis begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy. 1962 - First Europe-US live TV program is broadcast via Telstar. 1966 – Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon. 1970 – Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins. 1973 – A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome". 1982 – Lebanese falangist leader Bechir Gemayel is elected as president. 1985 – Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany. 1987 – The American male basketball team lost the gold medal to Brazilian team at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, 120–115. 1989 – Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands. 1990 – Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western "guests" (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War. 1990 – Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – West and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3. 1991 – The World Wide Web is opened to the public. 1994 – Eugene Bullard, the only black pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. 2000 – Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143. 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Přiklopil, after eight years of captivity. 2007 – The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia. 2011 – A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD. 2011 – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War. 2012 – A hot-air balloon crashes near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, killing six people and injuring 28 others. 2013 – A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia kills 31 people.