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Lear Green: Escaping Slavery in a Chest

Lear Green (circa 1839-1860) was an enslaved African American woman in Baltimore, Maryland, who had herself shipped in a chest to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to escape slavery. Her story is frequently compared to that of Henry Box Brown (circa 1815-1897), "the man who mailed himself to freedom" in a large box in 1849.

In Green's case, she had the help of her fiancé, a free Black named William Adams, and Adams' mother, also free, who accompanied the chest on its 18-hour trip from Baltimore to Philadelphia circa 1857. Green and the Adams were assisted in her escape by members of the Underground Railroad, a network of safe houses and locations operated by abolitionists running north to Canada, where slavery had been abolished.

After the US Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, runaway slaves could more easily be recaptured by their masters, the master's agents, or professional slave-catchers, and so many continued on through the Underground Railroad network to Canada, where they could not be returned to slavery.

This seems to have been the plan of Lear Green and William Adams, but once she was freed, they settled in Elmira, New York, where they lived for three years until Green's death (cause unknown) in 1860 at the age of 21.

Lear Green & William Still

As with many fugitive slaves who found freedom in the North, Lear Green was helped by William Still (1819-1902), an African American abolitionist and the son of a fugitive slave from Maryland. Still, often referred to as The Father of the Underground Railroad, kept extensive records of all the people he helped find freedom in the North, believing these would someday assist in reuniting families.

In 1872, he published these documents as The Underground Railroad Records, in which he details the escape of Lear Green and how she lived only three years after marrying Adams in Elmira. There is almost no other information on her available. The chest she escaped in is part of a permanent exhibit, Tides of Freedom: African-American Presence on the Delaware River, curated by Professor Tukufu Zuberi, at the Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Green lived with William Still in Philadelphia until arrangements could be made to send her on to Elmira, New York, where William Adams received her, and they were married. The primary reason for Green attempting the escape was that, as a slave, her children would be born into slavery, and she could not bear that thought. Even so, there is no record of William and Lear Adams of Elmira, New York, ever having children, and, after Lear's death in 1860, nothing is recorded concerning William.

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⇒ Lear Green: Escaping Slavery in a Chest

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The Many Motivations Behind the Crusades Revealed Different people participated in the Crusades for different reasons. The Pope wanted to become the head of the Christian Church and strengthen the papacy in Italy whereas the Emperor was fuelled by the desire to regain lost territory and defeat a threatening rival state. Merchants took part because they wanted to monopolise trade routes that were under Muslim control whereas the knights were participating with the goal of defending Christianity and gaining material wealth and special favour in the next life. For the ordinary citizen the idea of the Crusades was an appealing way to gain prestige and honour #crusade #pilgrim #christian #muslim #pope #emperor LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOlllw1Tbs

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German-Soviet War: WWII's Bloodiest Front

The German-Soviet War, known in the USSR and today's Russia as the Great Patriotic War or, in Western Europe, as the Eastern Front of the Second World War (1939-45), began in June 1941 with Operation Barbarossa and ended in Germany's total defeat in May 1945. The German-Soviet campaign involved such key battles as Kiev (Kyiv), Moscow, Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Stalingrad (Volgograd), and Kursk. This particularly brutal front of the war witnessed the largest troop movements, sieges, and battles in history, as well as tens of millions of combatant and civilian deaths.

Hitler v. Stalin

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), leader of Nazi Germany, attacked the USSR on 22 June 1941 with the largest army ever assembled. Despite the two states signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939, a non-aggression agreement, Hitler was ready in 1941, having conquered most of Western Europe, to turn his attention to the East. Hitler hoped to smash the Soviet Red Army and grab huge swathes of territory, what he called Lebensraum ('living space') for the German people, that is, new lands in the east where they could find resources and prosper. Of particular interest were resource-rich regions in Ukraine and the Caucasus oil fields. Other reasons for the attack included the belief that the leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), intended to attack Germany's vital source of oil from the Ploiești fields in Romania and Hitler's desire to destroy Bolshevism, the ideological enemy of Nazism. It was also hoped that knocking the USSR out of the war would oblige Britain to sue for peace. Finally, conquest would represent new opportunities to further impose Nazi race theory, since Jewish people and Slavic people were regarded as politically or racially inferior to the Nazis and Germanic people.

Hitler was confident of victory and promised his generals, "We'll kick the door in and the house will fall down" (Stone, 138) in a matter of weeks. The lack of a plan B if this did not happen was a serious flaw in the whole operation. Not for the first time, a Western European army would head into the vast depths of Russia unaware it faced not one enemy but three: the opposing army, the problem of logistics, and the harsh winter conditions. Stalin called the fighting on the Eastern Front (his Western Front) a 'Patriotic War', and he demanded total resistance to the invaders. The Soviet people, both military and civilian, men and women, certainly rose to the occasion.

Key battles of the German-Soviet War included:

Battle of Białystok-Minsk in 1941

Battle of Smolensk in 1941

Battle of Kiev in 1941

Battles of Kharkov in 1941, '42, and '43

Siege of Leningrad in 1941-44

Battle of Moscow in 1941-2

Siege of Sevastopol in 1941-2

Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-3

Battle of Kursk in 1943

Battle of Smolensk in 1943

Battle of Berlin in 1945

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⇒ German-Soviet War: WWII's Bloodiest Front

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Futures after Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore

Chloe Ahmann’s debut book, "Futures After Progress," is a well-researched and a unique publication in that, instead of focusing only on humans and human activities, this book takes into account non-human facets too. The present ethnographic study offers a delightful journey into the heart of South Baltimore’s environment and ecology. The book is recommended for anthropologists, sociologists as well environmental and social historians.

Chloe Ahmann’s Futures After Progress offers a delightful journey into South Baltimore’s environment and ecology. South Baltimore, due to frequent factory fires, chemical explosions, and aerial pollutants, has transformed into one of the most polluted places in the United States. Ahmann, using rigorous fieldwork with archival and non-archival sources, weaves a fascinating story of the important role that the environment has played in shaping Baltimore’s socioeconomic and political history. By focusing on late industrial South Baltimore, the author has attempted to examine the central role of speculation in American urban history.

Covering over 200 years of history, this study delineates not just the making of a city but also the critical role it played in enabling futures in other parts of the US. From being a quarantine zone under precautionary public-health regimes to being a source of military supply for real as well as speculative warfare, and finally, being a site where the largest trash incinerator in the US was built, South Baltimore has played many different roles during its long history. The trash incinerator, interestingly, has been advertised as a “climate solution” and is popularly referred to as the Fairfield Renewable Energy Project. Ahmann’s book is recommended for ethnographers, anthropologists, sociologists as well environmental and social historians. Additionally, the book may also be of interest to university-level students and researchers who are keen to understand the urban history of the US. The intended readers of the book range from subject specialists to university-level students and general history enthusiasts.

Futures After Progress contains two parts that discuss at length environmental issues, socio-economic aspects, and geopolitics in the specific context of South Baltimore. The book identifies two of Baltimore's omnipresent themes that pose health risks and interfere with daily activities: soot and dust. Ahmann stresses the fact that South Baltimore's population has contributed significantly to the creation of a toxic environment here. In addition to concretization and rapid (and unplanned) industrialization, efforts by cities, states, nations, and corporations to master the future through ever more conjectural modes of governance have played a significant role in shaving years off locals’ lives. The book informs us that, while industrial progress in South Baltimore has long lost its steam, the city has recently transformed into a battleground between environmental activists, younger and older generations of the city, industrial enthusiasts, and the White-Black racial conflicts. The competing political futures of all these communities, and those beyond Baltimore, are at stake. Through an in-depth discussion of the debates centered on the incinerator and historical analysis, this ethnographic study sheds light on the diverse ways in which people, living in such an unhealthy environment and marked by doubts, relate to the future. Ahmann succinctly highlights the fact that speculation has become a mode of life in South Baltimore.

Chloe Ahmann is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Cornell University. She, given that this is her debut book, has done a commendable job. Ahmann, writing from Curtis Bay, a residential-commercial-industrial neighborhood in South Baltimore, constructs a coherent and meticulous ethnography of what it means to be born, grow up, and die, in a heavily contaminated post-industrial urban environment. That, in addition to closely scrutinizing the archival records, especially those dealing with environment and ecology, the author has done extensive fieldwork and has interviewed, thoroughly, a range of people residing in South Baltimore about the prevailing environmental conditions, which is well-reflected in the present study. Apart from discussing at length the harmful effects of industrialization, borne unevenly by racialized groups and extending across generations, Ahmann has analyzed the diverse ways in which the deteriorating environment of South Baltimore has permeated all kinds of relationships, including chemical and ethical as well as structural and personal. Moreover, by examining the efforts by the local population to realize a secure and healthy future, she can demonstrate the diverse ways in which people in the US have politicized “impure” environments.

Because the book has been written in a lucid manner and for more than one type of audience, it will be of interest to general readers, anthropologists, and specialists in social and environmental history.

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⇒ Futures after Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore

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Underground Railroad: Pathways to Freedom

The Underground Railroad was a decentralized network of White abolitionists, free Blacks, former slaves, Mexicans, Native Americans, and others opposing slavery in the United States who established secret routes and havens to help slaves escape bondage. The system operated between circa 1780 and 1865, when slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment.

The Underground Railroad was neither underground nor a railroad, and the origin of the name is debated. It is generally understood to have first appeared in a newspaper article in 1839. The term was defined and explained by the African American abolitionist William M. Mitchell (circa 1826 to circa 1879) in his work, The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom (1860):

A slave, in the State of Kentucky, came to the conclusion that he was not a mere thing, as the law termed him, but a man with immortal destinies in common with other men…He accordingly eloped, and his master followed in hot pursuit to the Ohio River, which divides the slave from the free States; here he lost track of his escaped chattel…Being disappointed, and the loser of a thousand dollars, and having no object on which to vent his dirty spleen, he turned upon the poor Abolitionists, and said, "The d-d Abolitionists must have a railroad under the ground by which they run off niggers." The significant term "underground" emanated from this circumstance…And the means by which the slaves still disappear, like the one just alluded to, beyond the probability of recovery, so suddenly, and with such rapid progress, we very appropriately call a railroad! This is the derivation of the term "Underground Railroad."

(12-13)

Although the Underground Railroad is commonly understood as running from the slave states in the south to the free states in the north and Canada, it also ran south to Spanish Florida and Mexico and west into so-called Indian Territory. Slaves also fled by sea to islands in the Caribbean. The routes north are the best known, owing primarily to the work of the railroad's most famous conductor, Harriet Tubman (circa 1822-1913), the "Father of the Underground Railroad", William Still (1819-1902), and the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) who operated a 'station' on the railroad.

The number of slaves who used the 'railroad' to escape bondage is unknown, but estimates - based on arrivals documented in Canada, abolitionist records, William Still's The Underground Railroad Records (1872), and similar documents – place the number at around 500,000 by 1865. This number is all the more impressive when one considers the risks taken by all those who participated in refusing to obey unjust laws – such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 – in placing themselves and their families in danger for the sake of others they did not know and, in most cases, would never see again.

Slavery in Colonial America & the USA

Although slavery in colonial America is usually dated to 1619 – when around 20 enslaved Africans arrived at the Jamestown colony of Virginia – these people, though en route to being sold as slaves, were traded to Governor Yeardley (1587-1627) for provisions and were regarded as indentured servants, working for 4-7 years before they were granted their freedom and land. One of these, Anthony Johnson, later had a slave of his own.

The first slaves in colonial America were Native Americans following the Pequot War (1636-1638) when Pequots were sold into slavery in Bermuda, the West Indies, or to farmers in the colony of Massachusetts. Institutionalized chattel slavery of Africans did not begin until 1640 at the Jamestown Colony and was fully institutionalized by the 1660s. By 1700, all of the 13 colonies held slaves, mainly Africans, and the only objection to this practice on record comes from the Quakers of Pennsylvania in 1688, who condemned slavery as immoral and anti-Christian. Quakers would later make up the majority of those who served on the Underground Railroad's northern routes.

Following the American Revolution, the slave trade continued and, in fact, increased as more land was taken from the Native peoples of North America and more free labor was required to work it. There had been slave rebellions prior to the birth of the United States – notably the Stono Rebellion of 1739 – and others afterwards including Gabriel's Rebellion (1800), the 1811 German Coast Uprising, Denmark Vesey's Conspiracy (1822), and Nat Turner's Rebellion (1831), but, usually, slaves chose to escape bondage on their own or in small groups and, in this, they were sometimes – though not always – assisted by the Underground Railroad.

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⇒ Underground Railroad: Pathways to Freedom

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This map illustrates the political landscape of the United States in 1861, just as the nation stood on the brink of civil war. It highlights the division between free and slave states, the status of U.S. territories, and the emerging Confederacy, offering a snapshot of a fractured republic at a critical turning point. As Southern states began to secede following Abraham Lincoln’s election, long-standing...

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Battle of Smolensk in 1943: Operation Suvorov

The Battle of Smolensk in August to September 1943 was the second time the Soviet Union and the Third Reich fought over the city on the Dnieper during the Second World War (1939-45). By the summer of 1943, the plan by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) to permanently occupy the USSR was in tatters. The Soviet Red Army was relentlessly pushing back and recapturing lost cities. Smolensk was to be next in a prolonged three-phase battle that ended any hopes Hitler might have had of winning the German-Soviet War.

The German-Soviet War

Hitler's decision to invade the USSR in the summer of 1941 with Operation Barbarossa had got off to a good start with massive territorial gains thanks to victories like the Battle of Białystok-Minsk and the Battle of Kiev in 1941. The following year, though, the Soviet Red Army began to fight back, winning the Battle of Moscow in 1941-2, holding out in the siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and resisting Hitler's Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad, eventually winning that particular encounter in February 1943. Another large Soviet victory came at the Battle of Kursk in July and August 1943. The Axis armies simply had neither the men nor the material to face an enemy that was growing ever more powerful in size and ever more confident in ultimate victory in the German-Soviet War.

The Axis armies were now fighting a retreat, steadily losing the gains they had made earlier in the war. Smolensk was a case in point. The city, located on the Dnieper (Dnepr/Dnipro) river and the traditional gateway to Moscow, had been captured by Axis forces following the Battle of Smolensk in 1941. Now it was time to get the city back. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), who had always had the final say on how the war was conducted, began to take an even more direct role. Stalin now prohibited encircling manoeuvres and told his commanders to instead focus on a wide front, utilising multiple direct attacks and employing a massive numerical superiority over the enemy. Stalin's new policy resulted in eight Soviet fronts with 19 parallel thrusts along a frontline over 1,000 km (660 mi) long. One of these thrusts involved the task of liberating Smolensk. This latter offensive was code-named Operation Suvorov, after the great Russian field marshal Alexander Suvorov (1729-1800). The problem for the Soviets was that they greatly underestimated how well dug-in the invaders were at this crucial crossing of the Dnieper.

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⇒ Battle of Smolensk in 1943: Operation Suvorov

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Battle of Kursk: Largest Tank Battle in History

The Battle of Kursk (Jul-Aug 1943), which involved nearly 6,000 tanks, was the largest tank battle in history and ended in a decisive victory for the Red Army in WWII (1939-45). Two Axis armies had attempted to cut off a Red Army bulge in the Eastern Front but were defeated due to the Soviets possessing pre-battle intelligence, excellent ground defences, and superior numbers. The Soviet victory at Kursk, which includes for some historians the taking of Orel (Oryol) and Kharkov (Kharkiv) immediately after, was "the decisive turning-point of the German-Soviet war, the point after which the Soviet forces permanently held the initiative" (Dear, 516).

The German-Soviet War

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of Nazi Germany, had launched Operation Barbarossa, the code name for the attack on the USSR, on 22 June 1941. Early victories such as the Battle of Kiev in 1941 led to great territorial gains and the capture of some 2 million Red Army soldiers, but still the Soviet Union fought on. Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), the Soviet leader, reacted to the initial defeats and brutal nature of the campaign by declaring this a 'Patriotic War' where everyone must offer nothing less to the enemy than a 'relentless struggle'. The Red Army won its first victory at the Battle of Moscow in January 1942, successfully held out in the siege of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), and destroyed Hitler's Sixth Army at the Battle of Stalingrad (Volgograd) in February 1943. As the Axis invaders were pushed back westwards, the Red Army struck again in the summer of 1943, this time in the largest tank engagement in history.

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⇒ Battle of Kursk: Largest Tank Battle in History

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The Poems of Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was one of the most influential dramatists of Elizabethan theatre. Though he is best known for his plays, his poems were very popular in their time and are still well-regarded today. These include his translation of Ovid's Elegies, his pastoral poem A Passionate Shepherd to His Love, his narrative romance Hero and Leander, his epitaph On the Death of Sir Roger Manwood, as well as excerpts from his play Doctor Faustus.

Ovid's Elegies

Scholars generally agree that Marlowe's earliest work was probably his translation of the Amores, three books of Roman literature by the poet Ovid (43 BCE to c. 17 CE) in which a male narrator addresses his mistress. The original poems, written in Latin when Ovid was still a young man, would have been viewed as rather scandalous in Marlowe's time; indeed, scholar Stanley Wells describes them as celebrating "the delights and excitements of, especially, illicit heterosexual love, of promiscuity, seduction, and adultery" (78). Marlowe's decision to translate this specific work, likely undertaken when he was still a student at Cambridge circa 1584, was therefore "a characteristically transgressive act" against "the religious and moral establishment" (ibid).

Marlowe's translation of the Amores – known in English as the Elegies – was a more groundbreaking work than it may first appear. Not only was it the first known translation of Ovid into English, but it was also the first time that the rhymed heroic couplet was used in such a long-form way in an English text. As scholar Georgia E. Brown explains, "the patterning and arrangement of words carries a lot of the argument in the couplet, which exploits balance and contrast, and lends itself to the process of comparison, juxtaposition, and apposition" (Cheney, 113). Marlowe was not merely translating an existing work, then, but building upon it, and creating something that English literature had not yet seen. One of the most famous poems from Marlowe's translation of Ovid's Elegies is the fifth elegy from Book One, in which the lust and passion of the narrator are on full display:

In summer's heat and mid-time of the day

To rest my limbs upon a bed I lay,

One window shut, the other open stood,

Which gave such light as twinkles in a wood,

Like twilight glimpse at setting of the sun

Or night being past, and yet not day begun.

Such light to shamefaced maidens must be shown,

Where they may sport, and seem to be unknown.

Then came Corinna in a long loose gown,

Her white neck hid with tresses hanging down:

Resembling fair Semiramis going to bed

Or Lais of a thousand wooers sped.

I snatched her gown, being thin, the harm was small,

Yet strived she to be covered therewithal.

And striving thus as one that would be cast,

Betrayed herself, and yielded at the last.

Stark naked as she stood before mine eye,

Not one wen in her body could I spy.

What arms and shoulders did I touch and see,

How apt her breasts were to be pressed by me?

How smooth a belly under her waist saw I?

How large a leg, and what a lusty thigh?

To leave the rest, all liked me passing well,

I clinged her naked body, down she fell,

Judge you the rest: being tired she bade me kiss,

Jove, send me more such afternoons as this.

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⇒ The Poems of Christopher Marlowe

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Great Exhibition

The 1851 Great Exhibition in London's Hyde Park was a groundbreaking event that drew over 6 million visitors to marvel at the latest innovations in engineering, science, and arts from around the world. Held in the iconic Crystal Palace, it was the brainchild of Prince Albert, showcasing Britain's industrial prowess following the Industrial Revolution. This event not only was a cultural phenomenon but also raised funds that helped establish several enduring museums and institutions.

Key Facts

Location: Hyde Park, London, in the Crystal Palace.

Duration: May to October 1851.

Attendance: Over 6 million visitors.

Organizer: Prince Albert and the Royal Society of Arts.

Purpose: To showcase industrial progress and cultural achievements.

Historical Context

The Great Exhibition occurred in a time of significant economic and technological change, marking a high point of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. It highlighted the achievements of various nations, promoting international collaboration and admiration for progress.

Historical Significance

The exhibition's success led to the establishment of several iconic institutions, including museums, many of which continue to enrich our cultural landscape today. It also symbolized the globalization of ideas, emphasizing the importance of international collaboration and exchange during the Victorian era.

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Unveiling the Secrets of Indus Trade with Mesopotamia The Indus people traded with other cultures from Mesopotamia and the Near East and because we can read their script we know what the Indus people traded with them but we don't know what they got in return. One of the materials the Indus people seem to have been able to monopolize was lapis lazuli a blue semi-precious stone which was highly sought after due to its coloring. The Indus people did not seem to use it much themselves but traded with Mesopotamia where it was in great demand and highly prized. #indus #mesopotamia #lapislazuli LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWGX-N1Dk60

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This map illustrates the vibrant trade networks of the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age (circa 1500–1200 BCE), highlighting an era of growing interconnectivity among major powers. Goods, ideas, and diplomatic contacts flowed across land and sea, linking Egypt, the Hittite Empire, Mesopotamia, the Levant, and the Mycenaean world. These exchanges fostered a complex web of economic...

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Ancient Museums Unveiled

In the ancient Mediterranean, museums were not just places to admire artifacts, but vibrant hubs of learning and research. The Museum of Alexandria, with its famous library, was a leading example of these intellectual centers. Unlike today, ancient museums didn't focus solely on public art displays; instead, they housed serious scholarly pursuits, often in grand buildings adorned with beautiful sculptures and paintings.

Key Facts

Origin of the Term: The word "museum" comes from the Muses, Greek goddesses of wisdom and the arts.

Museum of Alexandria: Included the renowned Library of Alexandria, a major center for knowledge.

Public Art Display: Typically featured in royal palaces, temples, baths, and libraries.

Historical Context

In the ancient world, citizens often encountered art in public arenas like circuses and amphitheatres, as well as within royal palaces and temples. This setup allowed for a broader exposure to art and culture.

Historical Significance

The early museums, particularly the Museum of Alexandria, played a crucial role in preserving knowledge and fostering intellectual development. These institutions supported a culture of scholarship that significantly influenced the development of Western civilization.

Learn More: Museums in the Ancient Mediterranean

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The Chinese Emperor: Power and Legacy

The ancient Chinese emperors, known as the 'Son of Heaven', held immense power and responsibility. They were believed to have a divine right to rule, bestowed upon them by Heaven. This right, known as the Mandate of Heaven, obligated them to act in the best interest of their people. If they failed to do so, they risked losing their right to govern, as evidenced by the rise and fall of dynasties due to perceived divine disfavor[2][3].

Chinese emperors were absolute monarchs, often secluded from the public and advised by an inner circle of officials. Their authority encompassed legislative, executive, and military roles, allowing them to introduce laws, appoint officials, and oversee military forces[1]. Despite their power, emperors were reliant on advisors and limited by tradition and precedent[1].

The institution of the emperor began with Shi Huangdi, who founded the Qin dynasty and was the first to take the title of emperor. The title continued through various dynasties until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911[2]. Succession typically followed a hereditary path, with the eldest son inheriting the throne, though emperors sometimes chose other successors based on suitability[2].

The emperor was also a moral and religious leader, expected to support Confucian principles and perform important rituals. Education and learning were equally important, as many emperors promoted literacy and established schools. The emperor's mystique was enhanced by his invisibility and distinct regalia, such as imperial robes and carriages[1].

Their legacy endures through grand tombs and the political systems they shaped. Despite their absolute authority, the influence of advisors and tradition acted as checks on their power, ensuring that decisions were often made through consensus rather than arbitrary rule[1].

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The above summary was generated by AI using Perplexity Sonar. To read the orginial human-authored article, please visit Chinese Emperor.

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Sparta vs. Athens: Education and Women's Rights Explored Although they spoke the same language and held men's rights higher than women's Sparta gave women more freedom and access to education. Although they both had an assembly in their government. Athens was a democracy whereas Sparta was a monarchy ruled by kings Sparta's physical and military training was of higher importance than other education whereas Athens who still had a strong military considered the education of a wide range of topics more highly. #sparta #democracy #women #athens #military LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhbRwe2li4

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30 Statues of English Kings & Queens

This statue gallery covers 30 English kings and queens over 1400 years, from the early Anglo-Saxon rulers to Queen Elizabeth II (reign 1952-2022). The statues are primarily located in England. Some have local significance, based in the former capitals of the small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms like Canterbury, Tamworth and Winchester. However, some of these early rulers were canonised as saints, becoming important figures throughout the Christian world. This explains why St. Oswald (reign 634-642) has a statue in Italy, and St. Edward the Confessor (reign 1042-1066) has one in the United States of America.

There are also statues of foreign consorts and conquerors in their native countries of France and Spain, warrior kings with statues near the site of their death, like Harold Godwinson (reign 1066) at Hastings and Richard III of England (reign 1483-1485) at Leicester and modern monarchs with statues in the former colonies they ruled over, like Australia and India.

Over time, we see the depictions of the king's role change. Richard I of England (reign 1189-1199) and Edward I of England (reign 1272-1307) are depicted as warrior-kings with swords held aloft in victory. Yet, as a king became more of a figurehead and less of a warlord, they would be depicted as spreaders of peace and wisdom, as with the statue of James I of England (reign 1603-1625), standing on the walls of a library, where he wields a book, rather than a sword and above him, is the inscription, "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Some of these statues were controversial at the time of building and continue to be so today. The construction of the Oliver Cromwell (reign 1653-1658) statue outside the House of Commons was fiercely debated and opposed by many who saw it as an offence against the monarchy. In Australia, which retains the British monarch as its Head of State, a statue of George V (reign 1910-1936) was recently beheaded by anti-monarchy activists.

The sculptors who created these statues found ancient and modern inspirations for their subjects. The statues of James II of England (reign 1685-1688) and George III of Great Britain (r. 1760-1820) were constructed not to depict them as they looked but as Roman Emperors, as part of the Classical Art movement. Nor was the statue of Henry V of England (reign 1413-1422) designed to look like him, but rather like the actor Laurence Olivier, who played Henry V in a 1944 movie.

These statues are found in a wide variety of locations. From traditional sites outside churches, castles, and in town centres, some are found in unexpected places. In Hong Kong, a statue of George VI (reign 1936-1952) is to be found in a Zoo. Edward the Confessor's American statue is located on a university campus, while Edward I stands guard next to a football pitch, and Henry V observes traffic from a West Midlands roundabout.

The gallery ends with a statue of Queen Elizabeth II, made in November 2022 to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee (70 years of her reign). It is located on the walls of York Minster, which visitors can observe on their way to see the statue of Henry I of England (reign 1100-1135), which is the oldest statue in the gallery, built during the reign of Henry V, in the 1420s.

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⇒ 30 Statues of English Kings & Queens

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Pope Joan: A Legendary Figure

Imagine a world where a woman secretly rises to the highest position of power in the Catholic Church. Pope Joan is a legendary figure from the Middle Ages, said to have reigned as pope from 855 to 858. Her story, popularized by Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, has become a fascinating tale of deception and intrigue. According to legend, Joan was elected pope after disguising herself as a man and impressing the church with her scholarly prowess. Her secret was exposed after she gave birth during a procession.

Key Facts

Legendary Reign: Pope Joan supposedly reigned from 855 to 858.

Origin Story: Born in Mainz to English parents, she traveled to Athens, disguising herself as a man to pursue a religious education.

Rise to Power: She became a respected scholar and was unanimously elected pope by the College of Cardinals.

Exposure: Her true identity was revealed when she gave birth during a procession.

Historical Context

The story of Pope Joan gained prominence during the Reformation as a controversial figure. Reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin used her legend to challenge Catholic doctrine. The tale was widely accepted until it was questioned by French writer Florimond de Raemond.

Historical Significance

The legend of Pope Joan highlights the societal attitudes towards women in positions of power during the Middle Ages. Her story also played a significant role in the debates of the Reformation, serving as a tool for critics of the Catholic Church to question its authority. Despite being largely discredited as a historical fact, Pope Joan remains a captivating figure in the annals of history.

Learn More: Pope Joan