The Holy Grail Press
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Word of the Every So Often
glabrous: (adj.) (pronounced: glay-brus) Used mostly when talking about skin or leaves, it is being free from hair or down; smooth. If you want to be glamourous, you must be glabrous.
The Almost Daily
On this day in 1453 the Middle Ages Officially Came to an End. Sure, saying the Middle Ages ended on a particular day is a bit like saying that Disco Died on July 12, 1979. Just as Disco was well on its way out before the infamous Disco Demolition Night at Comisky Park in Chicago, the Byzantine Empire had been in serious trouble long before the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople on this day in 1453.
The Byzantine Empire, with its capitol in Constantinople, was the remains of the Roman Empire after the eastern half fell in the 5th century CE. The time between that fall in the 5th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 – almost a thousand years – is considered the Middle Ages, or, if you prefer, Medieval Times. It’s the same thing.
To get a good idea of life in the Middle Ages, just watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Whereas there probably were no Killer Rabbits or Holy Hand Grenades, it is true that people were incredibly stupid, there was a lot of pointless violence, and you knew that somebody was king because he wasn’t all covered in shit. For the most part, there were no dance parties.
While the rest of Europe had been riding around the countryside with coconuts chopping each other’s arms and legs off, the Muslims off to the East had been learning. They had become the center for art, science, and culture. They had libraries. For instance, they came up with the concept of “zero.” They invented algebra. They invented surgical instruments, like forceps and scalpels and catheters. They gave us such things as pajamas and the ottoman. They knew stuff, like astronomy. And… and… other stuff. When Constantinople was toppled by the Muslim ruler Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, a very backward Europe was flooded with knowledge. It was the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.
Like Disco, the Ottoman Empire was well on its way out before it officially came to an end in 1922. Nationalism had been weakening the empire even before World War I. And during that struggle they sided with Germany and saw most of their territory split between the winners, Britian, France, Russia, and Greece. What was left became the Republic of Turkey, and Constantinople became Istanbul. The knowledge remained, though not necessarily the enlightenment.
Cartoon of the Week
Stuff
The Travelers
Not yet abandoned,
we left in the car
only those things we’d never miss:
a broken radio
and a glovebox forced shut
on miss-folded roadmaps
to places neither of us would ever return.
Down a tree-crowded road
we came upon a place
where the creek had moved on its own accord,
and a mailbox now stood
in the middle of the stream.
I couldn’t help but wonder
how they would get their mail,
and laughed at the image
of the postman puttering along in his boat.
And, of course,
you reminded me not to be stupid.
It was plain to see that no had lived there
in quite a while.
And, after all, we had to keep moving on,
because there was somewhere else we were sure to be
before dark.
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