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Monthly Archives: December 2022
Medieval Hanukkah: Food and Light
Hanukkah celebrates the recovery of Jerusalem and rededication (chanukkah) of the Temple in 164 BC. The Maccabees, priests who also served as secular rulers, discovered that the holy oil had been profaned, with only enough pure oil left for one … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Holidays
Tagged medieval Jews, Troyes
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Christmas: Yule and Evergreens
When Pope Gregory first sent Latin missionaries to the outer northern wilds of Europe, he instructed them to make it easy for converts. If they were used to gathering on a hilltop somewhere on a certain day, find a saint’s … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays
Tagged boar, Glastonbury, holly, ivy, mistletoe, Pope Gregory, yule
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Advent Fasting: Fish
The chief issue in fasts was to avoid all animal products, so most obviously, meat was right out. Fish, on the other hand, was okay for some reason. I don’t think there’s any real logic to it, though maybe others … Continue reading
Posted in Food, Holidays
Tagged carp, eels, fish farming, Hanseatic League, herring, stockfish
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Advent Begins
Advent, in Latin “the coming,” was the time of mental preparation for trying to experience, emotionally, the birth of Jesus. In monasteries, it would have been a sober, thoughtful time. In secular life, it was still officially a fast, though … Continue reading
November Holidays
This is a break from the Muslim history series for the month of December, 2022. Feast days were the points around which illiterate people organized their sense of time. In November, they had Martinmas (St. Martin of Tours) and Catterntide … Continue reading
Posted in Holidays
Tagged Catterntide, Martinmas, St. Catherine, St. Martin
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First Crusaders Sack Jerusalem, 1099
The Crusaders besieged Jerusalem on June 7, 1099, exactly a year after their siege of Antioch. Between Antioch and Jerusalem, they had passed by Fatimid-ruled cities but these governors had permitted them to go without opposition. The Fatimids abandoned Jaffa … Continue reading
Posted in Islam History D: Crusades
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Moving Toward Jerusalem, 1099
With Armenian Cilician somewhat relieved of Turkish presence, the region of Armenian Edessa established as a Norman-ruled Christian “county”, and Bohemund acting as Prince of Antioch, the next step had to be Jerusalem. Many of the knights had sworn not … Continue reading
Posted in Islam History D: Crusades
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Two Sieges of Antioch, 1098
Antioch had been the regional capital of Roman Palestine. It was a walled city, with the Orontes River dividing it into two parts connected by bridges. Each bridge had a tower and could be defended; there was also a separate … Continue reading
Posted in Islam History D: Crusades
Tagged Antioch, Bohemund, Tancred
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Armenian Governor, Prince and Vizier, 1097
When the Princes’ Crusade arrived in Armenian Cilicia, the Armenian Prince of Cilicia welcomed them with enthusiasm. Until a few decades earlier, Armenia’s capital city was Ani, now a ruin near the borders of Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. Ani was … Continue reading
Posted in Islam History D: Crusades
Tagged Baldwin of Jerusalem, Edessa, Fatimids
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Through the Cilician Gates: Armenia, 1097
Names and borders in the area now known as Turkey have changed so many times that it’s difficult at first to understand the region that the Crusaders were approaching. The few educated priests among them probably knew the New Testament … Continue reading
Posted in Islam History D: Crusades
Tagged Armenia, Cilicia, Edessa
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