Life in the Middle Ages

Stu said:
The Normans were Vikings in 845 and Normans by 1000, that's a century and a half......give it a rest [MENTION=14189]ImaginaryBloke[/MENTION]
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First: THEN WHAT ABOUT 1066??? :rant: :mad2: :yell:

Then: :bored: :cool:

Later: :lol:
 
The Normans were among the most influential people of western Europe and significantly influenced the modern era. At the crux of their cultural birth they were Norse. Of course they were more than that but that is, in my opinion, where this notion that their blood lines were better than anyone else's came from.
 
Stu said:
The Normans were among the most influential people of western Europe and significantly influenced the modern era. At the crux of their cultural birth they were Norse. Of course they were more than that but that is, in my opinion, where this notion that their blood lines were better than anyone else's came from.
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They assimilated quickly. 'Norman', i.e. Viking as an identity, was just an inheritance without meaning. It was a label. Their culture had greater relation to feudalism rather than paganism. It was only about marketing and perceived identity, not true identity.

I suspect that the notion of bloodline bears some truth. In Tess of the d'Urbervilles, bloodline was of importance. That was 800 years after the invasion. And many other bloodlines survive to this day.

Yawn ...
 
sorry to bore you
 
so we can't talk about Henry II, once Duke of NORMANdy? Plantagenet empire? Amazing?
His rule changed the maps for much of the known world at that time. They used to look at Europe from the bottom up. Henry's empire turned it upside down. and that's just the maps. his courts of law were unprecedented.


6-s2013-henry-ii-and-the-angevin-empire-1-638.webp
 
Pleiades said:
so we can't talk about Henry II, once Duke of NORMANdy? Plantagenet empire? Amazing?
His rule changed the maps for much of the known world at that time. They used to look at Europe from the bottom up. Henry's empire turned it upside down. and that's just the maps. his courts of law were unprecedented.


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[MENTION=13999]Pleiades[/MENTION], you truly are a flower. 'Flower' is a French word brought by the Normans to England. That is what shaped Anglo-Saxon and French to merging into English. The original Anglo-Saxon word corresponding to 'flower' has been lost. In modern French, it is 'fleur'.

(Of if you want to bring it back further, you are from a distant constellation. :w: )
 
blossom (n.) c. 1200, from Old English blostm, blostma "blossom, flower, fruit," from Proto-Germanic *blo-s- (cognates: Middle Low German blosom, Dutch bloesem, German Blust), from PIE *bhlow-, extended form of *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom" (see folio). This is the native word, now largely superseded by bloom (n.1) and flower (n.).
 
yes yes..yea

Hic am so blithe, so brighit brid one brere
Quan I se that ende in halle
Yhe is quit of lime, loveli trewe
The is fayr and flur of alle

yes I want to bring it back farther.... William of Tolouse. Eleanor's grandfather. Eleanor..the grandmother of modern Europe.. merovingians ...all things post-roman but pre-renaissance
 
Pleiades said:
or even pre-roman..if only there were more resources
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They claim that the records of Atlantis will be made available in the future. Time to learn Basque language??? :smile:

(Frankly, I am just guessing from what I have read.)
 
BrokenDaniel said:
Be more thorough doing your research before flaunting your bigoted and misinformed views.

In many ways the aztects and mayans provided huge intellectual contributions to western society. Mathematics, like the concept of number 0. Also calculation formulas, astronomy and enginering. This holds true specially for mayans.
Also, europeans stink, literally. Personal hygiene was a precolombine thing. The only thing they lacked was the wheel in comparison, gunpowder too, unfortunetly. Human sacrifice was performed as a rite for prisioners of war mainly. Members of comunity weren't sacrificed as much, and only for specific dates of the year and events, that has been hugely overstated, because it was stated as their rituals that the gods demanded human blood.
Also Cortez was an asshole, monkey, sadic greedy piece of scum who barely knew how to read.
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The number zero, mathematics, trigonometry, and astronomical calculations (as we use them) came from pre-islamic Arabia (mostly Babylonia), Europe, and China. Bathing and flowing-water sanitation for urban populations, as an integrated system of civil engineering, was developed by the Romans way before the middle ages.

Elegant Winter said:
Lots of stuff, but mainly "huge intellectual contributions to Western society."
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I can't understand why no one is crowing about culinary contributions: CHOCOLATE, COFFEE, VANILLA, AND POPCORN! (All from South/Central America).
 
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Flavus Aquila said:
The number zero, mathematics, trigonometry, and astronomical calculations (as we use them) came from pre-islamic Arabia (mostly Babylonia), Europe, and China. Bathing and flowing-water sanitation for urban populations, as an integrated system of civil engineering, was developed by the Romans way before the middle ages.
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Yes indeed. Which mayans also developed independently anyway, way before they were colonized.
 
BrokenDaniel said:
Yes indeed. Which mayans also developed independently anyway, way before they were colonized.
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True. There is something kind of cool about mayan numerals:

Maya_add.png
 
Flavus Aquila said:
True. There is something kind of cool about mayan numerals:

Maya_add.png
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I watched Apocalypto in highschool, which presented the last months, or years, of the mayan civilization before the spanish people came. It's a pretty vivid portrait of what may have happened there, i really, really, really liked it.
 
Eventhorizon said:
Primative perhaps but certainly not less evolved.
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"Whoa there! They may have quite commonly sacrificed and eaten children, but don't you dare suggest they weren't just as moral, intelligent, inventive and capable as Europeans!"

It's kind of funny that you're so politically correct.
 
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BrokenDaniel said:
Be more thorough doing your research before flaunting your bigoted and misinformed views.

In many ways the aztects and mayans provided huge intellectual contributions to western society. Mathematics, like the concept of number 0. Also calculation formulas, astronomy and enginering. This holds true specially for mayans.
Also, europeans stink, literally. Personal hygiene was a precolombine thing. The only thing they lacked was the wheel in comparison, gunpowder too, unfortunetly. Human sacrifice was performed as a rite for prisioners of war mainly. Members of comunity weren't sacrificed as much, and only for specific dates of the year and events, that has been hugely overstated, because it was stated as their rituals that the gods demanded human blood.
Also Cortez was an asshole, monkey, sadic greedy piece of scum who barely knew how to read.
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"In History of the Things of New Spain, Sahagún confesses he was aghast by the fact that, during the first month of the year, the child sacrifices were approved by their own parents, who also ate their children.

In the month Atlacacauallo of the Aztec calendar, children and captives were sacrificed to the water deities, Tláloc, Chalchitlicue, and Ehécatl. In the month Tozoztontli, children were sacrificed to Coatlicue, Tlaloc, Chalchitlicue, Tona. In the month Hueytozoztli, a maid, a boy and a girl were sacrificed to Cintéotl, Chicomecacóatl, Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl. In the month Tepeilhuitl, children and two noble women were sacrificed by extraction of the heart and flaying; ritual cannibalism in honor of Tláloc-Napatecuhtli, Matlalcueye, Xochitécatl, Mayáhuel, Milnáhuatl, Napatecuhtli, Chicomecóatl, Xochiquétzal. In the month Atemoztli, children and slaves were sacrificed by decapitation in honor to the Tlaloques."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_sacrifice_in_pre-Columbian_cultures

So, what are your thoughts on decapitating children? What are your thoughts on parents slaughtering and eating their own children?

Here's another article that may pique your interest (not to do with the Aztecs, however):

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23496345

"Tests on three mummies found in Argentina have shed new light on the Inca practice of child sacrifice. Scientists have revealed that drugs and alcohol played a key part in the months and weeks leading up to the children's deaths. Tests on one of the children, a teenage girl, suggest that she was heavily sedated just before her demise."

"Dr Emma Brown, from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, said: 'The Spanish chroniclers suggest that children were sacrificed for all kinds of reasons: important life milestones in the lives of the Incas, in times of war or natural disasters, but there was a calendar of rituals too.'"

"Dr Brown explained: 'From what we know of the Spanish chronicles, particularly attractive or gifted women were chosen. The Incas actually had someone who went out to find these young women and they were taken from their families.'"

So they sacrificed the prettiest and the smartest to satisfy their Gods. That can't be good for society. Have any thoughts about this?

You seem to be fascinated by the Aztecs. What do you find so interesting about them?
 
Elegant Winter said:
"In History of the Things of New Spain
So they sacrificed the prettiest and the smartest to satisfy their Gods. That can't be good for society. Have any thoughts about this?
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The mayans also sacrificed their best warriors and made the others commit acts of cannibalism. They believed in something that was coined as transubstansiation. In which the spirit passes through the flesh to others. So the spirit of the highest warrior would pass on to many.
Now, i don't really think that's right, nor wrong. It just was... Also if we're going to what people did in ancient or medieval rituals, and even through institutions, christian or western society by example haves a lot of that too. So i don't think you can draw the line that easily when it comes to "primitiveness' or even... "bestiality". You put one in the bag, and you put em'all, specially in that time. Spanish people massacred the aztecs and left almost no one alive, most mexicans today descend from mayans which were already kind of dispersed before the spanish came. The information you post is not relevant when put in context.


You seem to be fascinated by the Aztecs. What do you find so interesting about them?
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I'm not really that much. Just what i learned and sticked in highschool mostly which was probably a whole semester. Although i do like those precolombine civilizations a lot.
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