Sunday 14 June 2009

Augustus

NAME Augustus. his full name was Gaius Octavius Thurinus until he was adopted (Julius Caesar in 44 BC. For the next seventeen years he was Gaius Julius Caesar. In 27BC he was given the name of Augustus meaning "venerable, grand, majestic," so until his death Augustus was known as Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Roman emperor

BIRTH 63BC at Ox Heads, a small property on the Palatine Hill, very close to the Roman Forum in Rome.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Young Gaius lost his father, also confusingly called Gaius Octavius, when he was four. Daddy came from a respectable but undistinguished family of the equestrian order and was governor of Macedonia before his death in 58 BC. More importantly, his mother Atia Balba Caesonia was the niece of a certain Julius Caesar. In 45BC Augustus' Great Uncle Julius adopted him.
Once he became emperor Augustus claimed that he had been conceived through the divine intervention of the God, Apollo.

CHILDHOOD Young Augutus, like other Roman children, played marble games with nuts.

EDUCATION Augustus was learning the art of war with the army in Illyricum (Albania) when he heard Caesar had been killed and he had been named Caesar's successor.

CAREER RECORD Caesar's will caused a sensation when it came to light that the then Caius Octavian was named as his successor.
47BC Augustus' Uncle Julius had him raised to the college of Pontifices, a major Roman priesthood, at the age of 16.
44BC After the death of Uncle Julius, Augustus initially ruled in triumvirate with his brother-in-law Marcus Antonius Caesar (who is better known to us as that bloke Mark Antony who got friendly with Cleopatra) and Lepidus (who had been Caesar's master of horse). it was agreed that Augustus controlled the West, Antony the East and Lepidus Africa.
36BC Lepidus attempts to seize control of Sicily. Antony nips in and takes him captive.
31BC Augustus defeats Antony at Actium thus becomes sole leader and master of the Roman world. He waged war against Antony after discovering his brother-in-law's will contained provisions for Cleopatra and thus two-timed Augustus. From then on he exercised a presidential type rule with a kitchen cabinet which included his third wife Livia.
30BC Augustus received the powers of a tribune, thus giving him the veto and control over assemblies.

APPEARANCE Augustus had a full flock of yellowish curly hair with two pincer shaped locks over his right eye. He was five and a half foot tall, handsome with a serene expression. A Roman nose and complexion half way between dark and fair. (3) Suetonius recorded that Augustus was “unusually handsome and graceful.”

FASHION Once he became, emperor, Augustus was eager to re-establish traditional Roman values. He wore woollen clothes made by his wife to encourage women to return to their looms. In winter he wore no less than four tunics with a heavy woollen gown and beneath them a woollen chest-protector and woollen garters.
He decreed the compulsory wearing of togas in the forum.
Augustus wore a lot of purple coloured garments.

CHARACTER Augustus was cold, implacable and calculating. Presumably he was also venerable, grand, majestic, and august.

SENSE OF HUMOUR When a certain Roman noblemen died with huge debts, Augustus instructed his agent to buy at the estates auction the man's pillow. The emperor explained "that pillow must be particularly conducive to sleep if its late owner, in spite of all his debts, could sleep on it."

RELATIONSHIPS Augustus married three times. His first wife, Clodia Pulchra, was the step daughter of Mark Antony. they married for political reasons. Not much is known about their marriage and little information survives about Clodia. Their marriage was never consummated, and Augustus returned Clodia to her mother with a letter informing her that he was returning her in "mint" condition
Augustus wed his second wife, Scribonia, again for political reasons and basically he hated her. She was older than him by several years and the marriage didn't last long. Augustus divorced her due to her constant nagging, and because he wanted to get hitched to the lovely Livia Drusilla. Scriboia bore Augustus, only natural child, Julia. Her birth occurred on the same day as Scribonia's divorce from Augustus.
Augustus' third wife, Livia Drusilla (58BC – 29AD) was his one true love. Livia, (see bust of the lovely Livia on the left) who was formerly the wife of Tiberius Claudius, was beautiful, ruthless and a fashion icon. She was was well known for anointing herself with more oil than a piece of cod in a fish and chip shop. Augustus loved her but Mr Traditional Roman values also cheated on her. Livia bore him no children but she did bring to their marriage two sons, Tiberius and Drusus Germanicus (who served as a general under Tiberius), by a previous marriage. Drusus died during his reign, leaving Tiberius, to succeed Augustus. Livia lived to the grand old age of 71, which was exceptional in times when the average life expectancy was 45 years.
Augustus' daughter Julia was prominent as an adulteress, despite marrying the Roman general Marcus Agrippa. She lived in a highly extravagant and depraved life style so her father banished her in 2BC to the barren island of Pandateria and he never allowed her name to be spoken again in his presence. She never returned to Rome.
On the death of Augustus' second grandson in 4AD, (the other one died in 2AD) he adopted formally his stepson Tiberius and his friend Agrippa's son Agrippa Postumus.
Among Augustus' friends were the poets Ovid, Horace and Virgil as well as the historian Livy. In the YouTube clip Gaius and Lucius get a lesson in Empire from daddy in I Claudius, episode 1.

MONEY AND FAME Augustus lived a simple lifestyle, (well, relatively simple for a Roman emperor) and tried to restore agriculture in Italy.
He held lotteries to help finance building projects and to give away property and slaves during Saturnalian feats and other entertainments.
Roman rulers understood little about economics, and Augustus was no exception. Like all the Emperors, he over-taxed agriculture and spent the revenue on armies, temples, and games. Once the Empire stopped expanding, and had no more loot coming in from conquests, its economy began to stagnate and eventually decline. The reign of Augustus is thus seen in some ways as the high point of Rome's power and prosperity.

FOOD AND DRINK Famously sober, Augustus only drunk three cups of wine with his meal. (They would have been diluted with water).
Augustus didn't have a large appetite but was very fond of asparagus and originated a saying, "Quicker than you can cook asparagus.” In the Roman Empire asparagus was not only eaten in season but was dried for later use. Apart from asparagus the emperor preferred the food of the common people and his diet consisted of coarse bread, a little fish, cheese and green figs.

MUSIC AND ARTS As emperor, Augustus encouraged the arts especially literature. He was a friend of the poets, Ovid, Horace and Virgil and the historian Livy.

LITERATURE Augustus himself was a writer known for his simple and direct style. He published an account of his reign My Achievements, a much fatter tome than some of his successors.
His reign was known as the "Augustian Age", and a golden age for literature- Horace, Livy, Ovid, Virgil etc.
Augustus' mate Virgil was commissioned to transform existing fables into a coherent masterpiece supplying Augustus' Julian ancestry with a mythical warrant. Thus Virgil wrote The Aeneid.

NATURE His subjects would train birds which make complimentary greetings to his royal purpleness. Augustus would then bury them.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Augustus was quite a weakling, chronic illness preventing him from exercising too much and marching with his armies. To him the words "run" and "fun" were opposites. Running was something to do when your enemy is chasing you with a knife.
He insisted on personally teaching his adopted sons to swim.

SCIENCE AND MATHS 1. I know its not really science or maths but Augustus renamed the 30 day month of Sextiles giving it the name of August to honour himself. He chose August as it had been his most successful month, in that month he had began his consulship, tamed Egypt and ended civil wars. Augustus took a day from February (which originally had 29 days every year) and added extra day to August so that his month would be on a par with July which had been named after Julius Caesar.
2. Augustus had a giant sundial built in 9BC with two feet truck marble slabs. Its face nearly covered three acres. It indicated hours , days and months of the year and direction of prevailing winds. Its hand was a 100 foot high Egyptian obelisk. After a few years the obelisk went out of time.

PHILOSOPHY Augustus was a strict adherent of Roman virtues in times of growing permissiveness, when divorce was prevalent and the institution of the family was threatened. He attempted to buck the trend by morality crusade, promoting marriage, family, and childbirth while discouraging luxury, "interbreeding," unrestrained sex (including prostitution and homosexuality), and adultery. It was largely unsuccessful (indeed, his own daughter was banished and subsequently perished due to it).
Augustus strongly supported the worship of Roman gods, especially Apollo, and depicted Roman defeat of Egypt as Roman gods defeating Egypt's. He sponsored Vergil's Aeneid in the hope that it would increase pride in Roman heritage. The emperor forbade his own deification as he didn't want to upset the upper class Romans, but willingly received all the marks of piety bestowed upon him.
Augustus is mentioned in the Bible in a clear example of a non-believer fulfilling God's will by issuing a decree that a census be taken of (Luke 2 v1) the entire Roman world. As a result Joseph and his family had to register at his home town of Bethlehem. Thus the prophecy about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem in the Old Testament book of Micah (Chapter 5 v 2) was fulfilled.
Augustus was not unfriendly towards the Jews and respected their worship and institutions.
He was very superstitious about putting left shoe on before right.
It could be argued that Augustus was a sort of early pope (bear with me) . As the head of the Roman state religion., he was given the title Pontifex Maximus (high priest), which is now used by popes.

SCANDAL Augustus' daughter Julia (see left) was a fixture in the Roman gossip columns. A blatant adulteress, she lived a highly extravagant lifestyle so her father banished to a barren island.

MILITARY RECORD After pacifying Spain and Gaul and annexing Egypt, Augustus' modus operandi in his later years was diplomacy rather than outright war. The final years of his emperorship, known as "Pax Romana," was the most peaceful period Rome had had in centuries. He did this by restoring unity and orderly government to the realm after nearly a century of civil wars. Also, Augustus bought the army into the 0th century by making it a profession with fixed pay and length of service and a permanent fleet.

Here's a very brief summary of his august military record:
After Augustus' naval victory in Actium in 31BC, where he defeated Antony at Actium, he conquered Cleopatra's Egypt and the kingdom of the Galatians in central Turkey.
And a tragic end:
9AD His three finest legions, 15,000 men, led by General Varus were annihilated in the Teutoburg forest, Germany by the German chieftain Arminus' men. As a result Augustus died a broken man. He refused to cut his beard of hair for several months and walked about muttering "Varus, give me back my legions".

HOMES A lover of architectural splendour, Augustus claimed "I found Rome brick and left it marble", referring to improvements to Rome during his time at the top. He imposed a height limit of 80ft on tower blocks within Rome.
Augustus built his mansion on Palatine Hill, from which came the word, "palace".
He had a summer villa on the Mediterranean.
DEATH d14AD after becoming ill en route to his summer villa. Unable to complete the trip Augustus stopped at Nola, his parental home, where his father had died 60 years before. His friends gathered round him, charioteering across from Rome. The dying emperor mumbled ">

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA 1. Augustus features in two William Shakespeare plays, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
2. Brian Blessed played Augustus and Sian Phillips Livia in BBC's 1971 adaption of Robert Graves' novel I Claudius.
3. Max Pirkis played Julius Caesar's adopted successor Octavian Augustus in the 2005-07 HBO series Rome. (See YouTube clip)

ACHIEVEMENTS 1. 31BC Augustus' total victory over Octavian heralded the end of the Roan republic and the beginning of the Roman empire.
2. Augustus introduced to Rome water system, fire brigade, a police force, professional army an efficient administrative system including gathering of taxes and reorganised the welfare system including the distribution of corn.
3. I know I keep going on about it.. but his reign inspired many purple passages amongst Horace, Livy etc.
4. His grateful subjects awarded Augustus the title "Pater Patriae" (Father of his country) and on his death made him a god (Divus Augustus)
5. Gave the world the month of August.




Sunday 31 May 2009

St. Augustine of Hippo


NAME St. Augustine of Hippo

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Christian Theologian

BIRTH B 354, Tagaste, now Souk-Ahras in Algeria. (A little town in the hill country of Numidia in modern day Carthage).

FAMILY BACKGROUND Augustine's father was Patricius, a coarse, hot tempered character who was unfaithful to his wife. A man of modest means, he owned a few acres of land and was baptised on his deathbed in AD371.
Augustine's mother was Monica (actually Saint Monica). In her younger days Monica was no saint, she was often drunk but a reprimand from a servant paved the way for her conversion to Christianity and the adoption of a more pious lifestyle. Her feast day is May 4th.

CHILDHOOD Augustine admitted in his autobiography Confessions, that as a boy he "told lies to my tutors, my masters and my parents all for the love of games and the craving for stage shows." Young Augustine also stole pears from a neighbour’s tree, the sin troubled him for the rest of his life.

EDUCATION Augustine started off at school at Tagaste before going to Madaura between 365-369. There he excelled and enjoyed all literary education except Greek. However he was not overly fond of school.
370-374 Augustine studied rhetoric at Carthage. A neighbour paid for his fees, however he got into a bad crowd. Its not known if this involved any stealing of pears.

CAREER RECORD Here is Augustine's CV
373 -374, Augustine taught grammar at Tagaste.
375-383 Taught rhetoric at Carthage, then handed in his notice as he had heard that the students in Rome were better behaved than their loutish counterparts in Paris or Carthage. The students in Carthage were prone to cheating the teachers of their fees.
383 Taught rhetoric in Rome.
384-386, A professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan
386 Converted to Christianity and renounces his career as a "gossip merchant".
386-389 Recovers from ill-health and returns to North Africa.
389-391 Set up Monastic community in Tagaste
391 Ordained Priest whilst visiting Hippo. To prevent any misunderstanding I'd better make clear that my references to Hippo in this Trivial Biography relate to the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, Algeria, rather than a large African mammal which live mainly in and near water
395 Appointed Coadjutant Bishop to Valerius
397-430 Bishop of Hippo, where his orthodoxy prevented Catholicism being unduly influenced by alternative teaching. Augustine spent most of his time preaching and writing including his august tomes 397-401 Confessions and 413-426 City Of God.

APPEARANCE The man from Hippo was slim, clean shaven, shaven haired, sharp features. If you go by his paintings he was very fair for a North African.
Pope John Paul II was once so taken by Gerald Depardieu’s resemblance to Augustine that he asked the French actor to impersonate the saint on a world tour.

FASHION As Bishop Augustine he merely dressed in a dull robe.

CHARACTER Sensual in his younger days, sensitive, humble, a spellbinding, literate speaker. A master of rhetoric, Augustine spoke in Latin in the Berber dialect of his mother.

SENSE OF HUMOUR When asked what God was doing before he created Heaven and Earth, Augustine retorted "He was creating Hell for people who ask questions like that." He doesn't sound like the ideal chat show guest.
Augustine is partly to blame for the fallacy that Christians have a problem with fun. He confidently asserted that there was "no frivolous jollity" in Paradise.

RELATIONSHIPS AND FAMILY Augustine never married but he had several lovers prior to his conversion to christianity. He later confessed that as a youth, he had the "most wicked sins of evil lusts." Augustinebecame a single father at the age of 18, (a Son called Adeodatus meaning "a gift of God") when studying in Carthage, and he lived with his lover (her name in not known, but Augustine referred to her as "The One".) for the next 14 years, until his mother found him an heiress to marry in Milan. Augustine said when he had to give up his lover to make a society marriage in Milan, "his heart ran blood with grief" as she went off to Africa, perhaps to a convent. However, as he had to wait two years until his fiancee came of age (she was only 11!) he took on another mistress. The flighty so and so then changed his mind about the young heiress and also left his second mistress. It was then that Augustine converted to Christianity and was during this period that he uttered his famous prayer, "give me chastity but not yet."
After his conversion Augustine had a forceful distrust of the flesh and was influential in persuading Christians that sex is sinful. He commented shortly after his conversion: "I have decided that there is nothing I should avoid so much as marriage. I know nothing which brings the manly mind down many heights more than a woman’s caresses and that joining of bodies without which one cannot have a wife." (1).

MONEY AND FAME As the Bishop of Hippo Augustine led a community lifestyle & did not own any possessions.

INTERESTS FOOD AND DRINK Augustine once denounced the vegetarianism and teetotalism of the Christian Manichaean sect: "who would think they sinned if they took a little bacon and cabbage with a few mouthfuls of pure wine, but will be served at three in the afternoon with every kind of vegetable; the most exquisite of mushrooms and truffles flavoured with a wealth of spices." Contrarily in a letter to his sister’s nunnery he recommend abstinence from meat and drink.

MUSIC AND ARTS Post-conversion, Augustine was somewhat black and white in his artistic tastes. He was more partial to singing, "To sing is to pray twice," than poetry, "Poetry is devil's wine", or the theatre, "The theatres, those cages of uncleanness and public schools of debauchery." However the Hippo bish was still cautious about music, "When I happen to be moved more by the singing than what is sang, I confess to have sinned grievously & then I wish I had not heard the singing."
Tradition has it that whilst Augustine was being baptised by Saint Ambrose, the two of them improvised the "Te Deum Laudamus" (We Praise Thee O Lord) in alternate verses.

LITERATURE Augustine loved books from a young age. A prolific, persuasive and stylish writer, whose style was greatly influenced by the Roman writer Cicero, he carried on writing even when old enough to qualify for his chariot pass. Augustine wrote about 230 books and treatises and in addition around 350 of his sermons survive today. The Church was greatly indebted to his defence of the Gospel.
His two masterpieces are:
397-401 Confessions Augustine's spiritual autobiography, a prose poem addressed to God spread over 13 books. It told the honest, objective story of his childhood and education, his worldly ways, his search for truth, his heretical views at this stage and his conversion to Christianity. Augustine wrote a follow up Retractions about his later life, shortly before his death. In his book he recounts the sins of his youth and how even his prayers of repentance were tainted with insincerity-"Give me chastity, but not yet."
413-426 City of God Augustine's epic tome, split over 22 books, it took him 13 years to complete. Basically it was an answer to the question of why did God allow Rome to fall to the barbarians so soon after enveloping Christianity. Rome's fall was the biggest blow for civilisation until Mrs Cowell gave birth to a baby boy whom she named Simon. Augustine argued that there were two cities, one earthly, Rome, which was bound to pass away in time and the other the City of God, heavenly, founded on goodness and justice which will survive the onslaught of the enemy, and will last eternally. Augustine encouraged the church to have its own empire with the Pope as king. Influenced by this, later the Pope took the emperor’s title "Pontiff" and wore the emperor's imperial robes.
423 A letter that Augustine wrote to a community of women became the main basis for the Augustinian religious communities.

NATURE Here's a surprise- Augustine believed in evolution. Well, he thought that some species of plants and animals had developed from earlier creations.

SCIENCE AND MATHS Augustine once wrote: "The good Christian should beware of mathematicians and all those who make prophecies. The danger already exists that mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to sparken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell." Sounds like to me that Augustine had a disagreeable maths teacher at school. Despite his anti-mathmatical opinions, he used a great deal of numerology in his commentaries.
In Book 11 of Confessions Augustine recorded a startling, brilliant discovery. He came to see that God had not only created both time and space but had created them simultaneously and interdependently. This insight, which Augustine derived from meditation on the Bible, anticipated Einstein's theory of relativity by 1500 years. (2) So it could be argued that Augustine pioneered both Darwin and Einstein's theories- OK maybe I'm going that's going too far.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY In 386, Augustine converted to Christianity. Though he’d learnt the Christian faith from his mother, Monica, doubts had began to creep in as a result of his rhetoric studies and at the age of 19 a treatise by Cicero made him realize he should make truth his life search. For the following ten years he was attached to the heretical Manicheanism beliefs and during this time his concerned mother sent a certain bishop to debate with him. The prelate found Augustine to be too clever a disputant and the bishop counselled Monica to "content yourself with praying for him." She went to her charge weeping and he sent her away saying, "Go, continue as you have done till now; it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish."
Later Augustine found himself in Milan, where Bishop Ambrose's sermons began to speak to his heart but he was still too entwined in the world to convert. After reading an account of the lives of Anthony and other Egyptian hermits, Augustine was thrown into deep inner turmoil but he was still unable to break free. However whilst walking through his garden, he heard a child saying in a sing-song voice "Take it and read it." Under a fig tree, Augustine read Romans 13 v13-14 and in tears he finally found the Savior that his mother had told him about. "As if the light of peace was poured in my heart and all the shades of doubt faded away", he later wrote in his spiritual autobiography Confessions.

The following year Bishop Ambrose baptized Augustine in the Milan Easter vigil service on the night of Holy Saturday. In Confessions, Augustine described later the ceremony “I wept at the beauty of the hymns and canticles and was powerfully moved at the sweet sound of your churches singing…My feeling of devotion overflowed and the tears ran from my eyes and I was happy in them.”
Augustine returned to North Africa, where he converted his family home into a monastery for himself and a group of friends. During a visit to the Mediterranean port of Hippo, 60 miles away, in 391, Augustine attended Mass where the local Bishop Valerius was preaching. The aged bishop, who was looking for an assistant, preached the need for another ordained man in the town. The church members decided they wanted Augustine for this post and Valerius agreed, however Augustine felt inadequate and declined. The congregation had none of protestations and he was jostled to the front of the church where he was ordained on the spot. He became a renowned preacher, his training in rhetoric came in handy and was noted for combating the Manichaean religion, to which he had previously adhered.
In 396 Augustine was appointed bishop of Hippo, in which position he remained until his death in 430. As the Hippo bishop, his orthodoxy prevented Catholicism being unduly influenced by alternative teaching. The great theologian developed many Catholic doctrines helping make infant baptism, belief in purgatory and the teaching that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church normal practice. In addition he encouraged ascetic monasticism and the use of relics. His teachings that no one can really love God or believe in him properly until the grace of God comes to them influenced Luther and Calvin.


SCANDAL In his early life Augustine devoted himself to idle pursuits, lust and adolescent mischief. "I became to myself a wasteland," he later recalled. Let us not forget that on one particularly scandalous occasion, Augustine stole some pears from a neighbour's tree.
Many Christians considered Augustine's doctrines of predestination and salvation through God's grace to be a disturbing innovation.
In the early Middle Ages it was believed (from Augustine’s teaching) that children were damned to hell unless they were baptised. This caused a great deal of grief to parents who’d lost their children.
Tragically many in the church misunderstood Augustine's book City of God as their interpretation of his tome is that the church should have its own empire ruled by bishops.
Augustine used Luke 14v23 to justify the use of force in the suppression of rivals. This was later to influence the Inquisition.

MILITARY RECORD In AD 410 Rome was sacked by Barbarians. The people questioned why Rome, two decades after Theosidius had formally ended the public worship of pagan Gods, had fallen. Augustine wrote City of God to answer this tricky question.

HOMES 370 Moved to Carthage at the age of 17.
383-387 Lived in Rome then Milan with his Mother, girlfriend and Son. In the winter of 386-87 he stayed in a country villa in Classicalism nursing ill-health. It had been loaned by a friend.
389-91 Augustine settled in Tagaste with a few friends in a community thus introducing monasticism to Central North Africa.
391- 430 As Bishop he lived in a community with his cathedral community in Hippo, a small but not necessarily muddy seaport, now known as Annaba, sixty miles from his birthplace in Algeria.
TRAVEL Augustine hated travelling especially sea travelling.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Often sick, in the summer of 386 Augustine was forced to give up his academic position in Milan due to ill-health.
In his early writings Augustine argued that healing was meant for Jesus and the New Testament Christians only and that believers should not look for a continuation of the practice. Later, in his book Retractions he appeared to have changed his mind because of his experiences as Bishop of Hippo. He wrote: “I realized how many miracles were occurring in our own day and which were so like the miracles of old…how wrong it would be to allow the memory of these marvels of Divine power to perish from among our people.”

DEATH Died 430, aged 76 in Hippo, while the Vandals were besieging his Episcopal city As he lay dying, Augustine had the penitential psalms copied on parchment and fixed to the wall of his room so he could read them from bed.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA 1. Augustine of Hippo A 1972 Italian film, which is meant to be quite good in an arty sort of way, it was directed by Roberto Rossellini.
2. Bob Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" is a track from his 1968 John Wesley Harding album .
3. Sting's "Saint Augustine in Hell" is featured on his 1993 Ten Summoners Tales album.
4. Botticelli's famous fresco Saint Augustine (1480) at the Church of the Ognissanti, Florence. (See Below).
5. El Greco's masterpiece, The Burial of Count Orgaz (1586) features Augustine, along with Saint Stephen looking down on Count Orgaz as his soul rises to Heaven. This painting can be found today in the Church of Santo Tome, Toledo, Spain.

ACHIEVEMENTS 1. Saint Augustine is recognised as the founder of the Puritan philosophy, 1000 years before it became en vogue. He laid out the lines between predestination and free will, grace and works.
2. The Hippo bish is the patron Saint of Brewers, (no I'm not sure why). His feast day is 28th August.
3. Saint Augustine developed many Catholic doctrines- he helped make infant baptism normal practice. In addition he encouraged ascetic monasticism, the use of relics, belief in purgatory and the teaching that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.
4. He encouraged religious communities and inspired the Augustinians, who follow the rule of St. Augustine. Today there still exist about 100 Augustine communities. The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who looked after sick and injured pilgrims and crusaders were Augustinians .
5. Saint Augustine was one of the four original Doctors of the Church.
6. St. Augustine a 16th century settlement in Florida, is the oldest town in the USA.
7. More of Saint Augustine's words survive than those of any other writer of antiquity.
8. The City of God encouraged the church to have it’s own empire with the Pope as king.

Sources
(1). Christian Hist 2000 vol 19 issue 3 pg 36
(2) http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/2007/issue94/1.6.html
And in various places (but not that many!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo

Saturday 30 May 2009

St. Augustine of Canterbury

NAME St Augustine of Canterbury

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Founder of Christianity in England

BIRTH b 6th century in Rome, Italy (sorry I can't be any more specific than that).

CHILDHOOD Nothing is known of Augustine's early life apart from that he once spent six weeks just sleeping and drinking-the first six weeks of his life.

EDUCATION When Augustine got to England he found, due to the Britons’ ignorance of Latin, he had to build schools so that people could understand what was going on in the churches. After all Latin was the HOLY language.
Augustine founded Kings School Canterbury. The oldest still existing school in Britain and maybe the world
The Benedictine Abbey he established at Canterbury became the centre of learning and scholarship for all Europe.

CAREER RECORD Augustine was a respected Abbot of St Andrew Monastery in Rome who in 595 was chosen by the Pope to convert England to Christianity
597 Landed Ebbsfleet, in Kent.
597-604 Consecrated Bishop of the English at Arles Cathedral, France. For the following seven years Augustine was the patriarch of the English Christians- indeed the first Archbishop of Canterbury.




APPEARANCE Augustine was Mediterranean looking, tall, distinguished. His lofty stature and patrician presence attracted every eye for he was "taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upwards."

FASHION Augustine habitually wore a habit. After being consecrated Bishop of the English, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine a cape of lamb's wool to denote he had been given jurisdiction over the whole nation.

CHARACTER A conscientious missionary and a holy risk taker. Augustine was an efficient organiser with dictatorial tendencies. At times not exactly Captain Humble, on one occasion after boasting to Pope Gregory of the 10,000 English pagans he'd converted, Augustine was warned by the pope against being led into sin through boastfulness.

FOOD AND DRINK Augustine encouraged the Britons to slaughter animals for their own food rather than sacrificing them to the devil.

LITERATURE The arrival of Catholic Christianity in Briton had a great impact on the English language. Words of Latin and Greek origins became used to express concepts and ideas that were new to Anglo Saxons. Examples of such terms are altar, angel, apostles, candle, disciples, martyr, mass, monk, pope, priest, psalm, shrine and toaster (only joking re the last one-just checking you're paying attention). Non religious terms of Latin and Greek origin that entered the English language at the time included cook, fever and school. (1)
The Bible sent by Pope Gregory the Gregory to Augustine for his English trip can be found in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
The only surviving writings of Augustine are questions he asked Pope Gregory on behalf of the Anglo Saxons such as "Can expectant mothers be baptised?" He referred to the English in those writings as "uncouth"

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Augustine boasted of having put on a number of gladiatorial shows involving in total 10,000 men and 3,500 animals.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Don't believe the stories that prior to Saint Augustine, the Britons were absolute beginners on Christianity. St Martins Church, Canterbury, was in working order before the tall Roman abbot arrived, in fact its font is reputed to be the one in which Augustine baptised King Ethelbert in. Christianity had reached Great Briton in Roman times but the invading Angles, Jutes and Saxons in the 5th century had wiped it out in the eastern half of England. The Celtic Church in Wales and the West of England remained strong. What Augustine did was to introduce the Catholic Church to England.
Here is the story of Saint Augustine's mission. In 595 Pope Gregory I spotted some Angles (British) boys who have been bought to Rome and on being told they are pagan “angli” the pope exclaimed “They are not Angles but Angels”. Inspired he instructed Augustine, who was then a respected abbot, to lead a mission to convert Britain. “Certainly do not destroy the temples of the idols that the English have”, he wisely recommended, “sprinkle them with holy water and let altars be constructed.” Augustine and his company of 40 monks from the See of St Peter and Paul got as far as Aix-en-Provence in France. So terrifying were the reports they heard of the savage Britons that the Catholic missionary returned to Rome for permission to give up the attempt. Pope Gregory would have none of this yellow streak and ordered him to carry on. They recruited an interpreter in France and finally in 597 Augustine landed in Kent at Ebbsfleet on the east coast of Kent with his 40 monks. There he met King Ethelbert, King of Kent, whose Frankish wife, Bertha was a Christian. Ethelbert was originally very suspicious of Augustine as he was brought up to believe priests practised magic. Rumour had it that Augustine could make tails grow on the backs of those who displeased him. Ethelbert met the tall Roman abbot in the open air rather than under cover to protect himself against the abbot's magic. The king listened patiently to the abbot’s sermon and promised the monks shelter and protection at Canterbury. He considered the claims of the Catholic missionary for a time before converting and on June 2nd he was baptized. Augustine sent a report of this encouraging progress to the Pope and Gregory responded by dispatching more missionaries to help with the work. By the end of the year there were around 10,000 converts and Augustine travelled to Arles in France, where he was consecrated. He established his HQ at St Martins Church Canterbury which became Canterbury Cathedral. Before Augustine's arrival, Bertha had used the church to pray daily.
In 603 a conference was planned between seven Celtic bishops who were accompanied by their learned men and Augustine to discuss whether the Celtic church should continue to follow their own traditions or those that Augustine has introduced to South East England.
A holy and prudent hermit told the bishops that they should only listen to Augustine if he is truly a man of God. If this were the case he would rise from his seat to greet them showing himself to be meek and lowly of heart rather than proud. The bishops regarded this to be good advice but when they arrived, Augustine remained in his seat. The Celts becamee angry perceiving him to be a proud man and the discussions got nowhere. (2)
The following year Augustine died. He has been unable to take his message outside the south or east of England as the Celtic Christians in the west half of Britain wanted to remain independent of this new Catholic Church. However King Ethelbert, King of Kent, was instrumental in converting the neighbouring King Sabert of the East Saxons in whose territory he built the cathedral of St Paul in London.
England was finally won over by 680, the Isle of Wight being the last area to succumb to the Catholic faith . It wasn't until 786 that the Pope sent anyone else to Briton.

HOMES Back home in Rome, Augustine lived at St Andrew monastery. On arriving in Kent, a residence was assigned to Augustine and his 40 monks by King Ethelbert at Canterbury where they devoted themselves to monastic exercises and preaching. (Canterbury was actually then known as "Cant-wara-byru").

TRAVEL On their way to England every step of the way, Augustine and his party of 40 read the terrifying stories of the cruelty and barbarity of their future hosts. Augustine was "struck with a cowardly fear." By the time they reached Aix-en-Provence in France, the stories had become so frightening that for a time they turned back before they persuaded them to proceed on.

DEATH Died 604, originally buried Canterbury Abbey. The shrine containing Augustine's body dissapeared from Chilham Church in 1541.

ACHIEVEMENTS 1. Augustine was the first Archbishop of Canterbury and made Canterbury the seat of authority for the church in England. He provided the basis from which the parish system has grown.
2. Saint Augustine's feast day is 28th May in Britain and 26the May in other countries.
3. Augustine founded the first monasteries in Britain at St Peters and St Paul and St Augustines in Canterbury.
4. Augustine bought the Benedictine order to England. A number of Oxford and Cambridge colleges have a Benedictine origin.
5. The tall Roman abbot succeeded into making many Angles into right angles.
Sources



1 The Guinness Book of Words by Martin Manser.
2. The Penguin Dictionary of Saints by Donald Attwater
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Augustine_of_Canterbury

Tuesday 28 April 2009

Attila the Hun

NAME Attila the Hun. Called "Scourge of God" by the Romans, "Etzel" by the Germans, "Ethele" by the Hungarians and something unrepeatable by a lot of people.

WHAT FAMOUS FOR King of the Huns and the scourge of Rome.

BIRTH b406 Hajdúböszörmény in Hungary

FAMILY BACKGROUND Young Attila was a member of the ruling family of the Huns. His warlord dad Rugila was a major factor in the Huns' early victories over the Roman Empire

CHILDHOOD Little is known of Attila's early life.

EDUCATION Attila was illiterate.

CAREER RECORD Here's Attila's CV
434 Attila succeeded his father as joint chieftain. For a time he ruled jointly with his elder brother Bleda but murdered him in 445. Evidently Attila was not a great believer in family values.
451 Attila leads the Huns into Gaul but is defeated by the Roman and Visigoth forces.
452 Attila raids Italy and retreats to Hungary.
Monty Python summed up a typical working day for Attila as follows:
Mr's Attila the Hun: "Have a busy day at the office?"
Attila: "Not at all bad. Another merciless sweep across central Europe."

APPEARANCE The Huns were of Mongol origin and Attila would have been yellow faced, with a thin beard, long and plaited hair and heavy moustache and a face deliberately scarred in boyhood. Priscus, a historian who travelled with Maximin on an embassy from Theodosius II in 448 described Attila as a Hun but no hunk. He said he was: "Short of stature, with a broad chest and a large head; his eyes were small, his beard thin and sprinkled with grey; and he had a flat nose and a swarthy complexion, showing the evidences of his origin." According to an evidently bitter Roman, he was a "hideous dwarf who rolled his eyes fiercely."

FASHION It was customary for Germanic leaders of Attila's day to powder their hair and moustache with gold dust. Others used goats grease and beech timber ashes to give their hair a glowing red colour. Attila probably did this. Attila would have worn short fitted tunics and either short breeches or cross-gartered trousers and crude leather shoes. When cold, he would have covered himself in an animal skin.
Attila was not interested in jewellery himself unlike some of his chieftains.
The Romans complained how much Attila and his fellow Huns smelled. The Barbarians had not got into the Roman habit of bathing.

CHARACTER The scourge of God was not necessarily overcharged in the meathead department. In short, he was a toughie but was kind to women and children. As the Huns were illiterate and his enemies wrote all the accounts of Attila he got a biased anti-Attila press.
So frightening was the the sound of Attila and his fellow Huns approaching that even Daleks would flee under the bed.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Not a fun Hun, the jokes about his height must have got Attila down.



RELATIONSHIPS Despite being short, squat, ugly Attila acquired 12 wives. Among his hunneys was Honoria, the sister of the western emperor Valentinian Honoria, the sister of the western emperor Valentinian III. The story goes that in 450 Attila proclaimed his intent to attack the Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse. Honoria appealed to him in despair to rescue her from an arranged marriage to an elderly Roman senator by marrying her himself. As a dowry he expected half of the western empire. When this was refused Attila stroppily invaded Gaul.
Attila's 12th wife was Ildico, a beautiful German. However he died on their wedding night. Unsurprisingly it was the last of his marriages.
Attila's sons Ellak (his appointed successor), Dengizik, and Ernak fought over his legacy and, were defeated and scattered the following year in the battle of Nedao.

"I want you kids to get a head" Monty Python

MONEY AND FAME Attila lived in relative simplicity. However he regularly extorted vast sums in tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire and won a lot of plunder for his fellow Huns. For example the emperor of the Eastern empire promised to pay 700 pounds of gold each year to Attila and his hordes as payment for not attacking his empire. When the emperor missed some of his payments Attila invaded the region with some devastating consequences. The emperor was forced to increase his tribute.

FOOD AND DRINK According to the Romans the Huns drank blood. In fact Attila and his fellow Huns lived on the roots of such herbs as they could get or on the half-raw flesh of any animal which they merely warmed by rapidly placing it between their own thighs and the backs of their horses.
The historian Priscus was sent as emissary to Attila's encampment in 448. He reported that Attila ate off a wooden plate whilst his chieftains ate off silver plates. Said Priscus: "A luxurious meal, served on silver plate, had been made ready for us and the barbarian guests, but Attila ate nothing but meat on a wooden trencher. In everything else, too, he showed himself temperate; his cup was of wood, while to the guests were given goblets of gold and silver."
As for Attila's drinking habit- put it this way if he was alive today I wouldn't dare offer him a short at the bar.

MUSIC AND ARTS Attila's hordes massacred and looted and burned their way across Europe. Then they reached the Roman empire. In Italy Attila occupied the Imperial Palace in Milan where he had all the paintings altered to show the Roman Emperor kneeling at his feet. So nah-he was probably not a culture vulture- they weren't called barbarians for nothing. However Priscus reports that Attila and his Huns did enjoy a sing-song: "When evening began to draw in, torches were lighted, and two barbarians came forward in front of Attila and sang songs which they had composed, hymning his victories and his great deeds in war. And the banqueters gazed at them, and some were rejoiced at the songs, others became excited at heart when they remembered the wars, but others broke into tears—those whose bodies were weakened by time and whose spirit was compelled to be at rest."

NATURE Attila and his fellow Huns treated their swift steppe horses well.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Attila was a skilled archer. He and his fellow Huns shot their arrows from horseback at full gallop with unerring accuracy.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Despite not being an obvious candidate for the Nobel peace prize, Attila had a fairly superficial Arian Christian faith which at least helped him to maintain certain high standards of Christian morality. Most of the conquering Barbarian tribes were in fact Arian Christians, so much church property was left unransacked, as they had tremendous reference for Christian relics and treasures.
Attila was referred to as the “Scourge of God” by the Romans, as they believed that he was a punishment sent for sinful Christians by God.
In 451 when Attila was on the march in Gaul the French withdrew more and more inside their country until it seemed Paris would fall. However a Christian girl, Genevieve promised the Parisians that if they prayed to God and didn't flee Attila would not come. He didn't. He was defeated at Châlons-sur-Marne and was forced to retreat. The Parisians rejoiced and Genevieve was canonised.
Attila was an autocratic ruler. He planned his campaigns without the help of any others.

SCANDAL On top of all that rampaging and destructing and being the "Scourge of God" Attila murdered his brother to gain sole control of the Hunnish empire.


MILITARY RECORD Being a Barbarian one pictures Attila being as brain empty as Mother Hubbard's cupboard but he was an astute military leader even though most of his victories were over weaker enemies. (On the massive map opposite, Attila's empire in 450 is marked in yellow).
447 Advanced through Illyria and devastated the whole region between the Black and Mediterranean Seas tearing into the opposing armies like Edward Scissorhands. Constantinople was saved as the Huns were not interested in besieging great cities.
451 Attila and his Huns invaded Gaul but was defeated by the Roman and Visigoth armies at the plains of Châlons-sur-Marne, near Troyes in one of the most terrible, bloody battles in history.
Attila retreated to the Rhine then turned his attention to Italy where after devastating North Italy, Rome was threatened. Only the personal intervention of the charismatic Pope Leo I prevented the sacking of Rome. However Attila's little secret was that he had already made up his mind to withdraw due to epidemics in his army and widespread famine. The timely intervention of the Pope helped him to save face.

HOMES When not ravaging and pillaging Europe, Attila was based in a wooden palace in the tiny village of Tápiószentmárton in central Hungary.

TRAVEL Attila saw a lot of central Europe on horseback.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS In battle the Barbarians made the Romans suffer from whooping goths ho ho.

DEATH d453 on the night of his marriage to the beautiful German Ildico, whilst making plans to invade Constantinople. There are conflicting accounts that he was poisoned, had a severe nosebleed or according to the Roman Count Marcellinus "pierced by the hand and blade of his wife." When Attila died, his troops cut his hair and slashed their faces " to mourn with blood rather than tears." The unfortunate men who buried him and his treasures were put to death so that his burial place would remain unknown.
After the demise of Attila, the Huns were absorbed into the surrounding population. Indeed the Visigoths and Vandals had more permanent impact.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA 1. Attila was played by that most Hun-like actor Jack Palance in Sign of the Pagan 1954 (see YouTube clip). The same year Anthony Quinn portrayed him in a Franco-Italian movie Attila, with Sophia Loren playing Honoria.
2. Verdi wrote an opera in 1846 called, yep, Attila.
3. The Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" is about a girl called Barbara Ann not the Barbarians.



ACHIEVEMENTS 1. Attila successfully conquered large areas of territory.

2. Attila indirectly founded a great city. The story goes that families fleeing Attila and his hordes ended up in a series of mudbanks within a lagoon at the head of the Adriatic Sea. They stayed there, the settlement grew and it became Venice.
3. Attila is a national hero even today in Hungary where he is known as Ethele.
4. Margaret Thatcher used to be nicknamed Attila the Hen



Sources (1) Chronicle of the World
(2) 100 Great Kings and Queens and Rulers of the World
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Francis Asbury

NAME Francis Asbury

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Francis Asbury was a prominent figure in early American Methodism and is known for his role as one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States. He is Often referred to as the "Prophet of the Long Road" or the "Bishop without a Diocese."

BIRTH Francis Asbury was born on August 20, 1745, in Hamstead Bridge, Staffordshire, England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND He was born into a working-class family, with his father Joseph Asbury working as a gardener and his mother Elizabeth Asbury taking care of the household.

CHILDHOOD Asbury grew up in humble surroundings in England, where he developed a strong sense of religious devotion from a young age.

EDUCATION He had a limited formal education due to working as a blacksmith's apprentice. Despite his limited formal education, Asbury was a voracious reader and self-taught scholar, with a particular interest in theology and Christian literature.

CAREER RECORD Asbury's career was devoted to spreading Methodism in the American colonies. He arrived in America in 1771 as a Methodist preacher and spent the rest of his life traveling extensively throughout the country, preaching, establishing churches, and organizing Methodist societies.

His resume reads: 

Licensed Methodist preacher at 18

Became an ordained traveling preacher (circuit rider) at 21

Volunteered for missionary work in America in 1771

Appointed joint superintendent of Methodist work in America in 1774 (later became the sole superintendent)

Elected the first Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America in 1784

APPEARANCE Asbury was described as having a slender to medium build, with a plain and unassuming appearance that reflected his humble nature. Of average height , Asbury had piercing blue eyes and a strong jawline.

John Paradise - Francis Asbury

FASHION Asbury dressed modestly, typically wearing plain and practical clothing befitting his role as a preacher travelling long distances on horseback

CHARACTER Asbury was known for his piety, dedication, and unwavering commitment to his faith. He was also admired for his humility and selflessness.

SENSE OF HUMOUR While Asbury was deeply serious about his religious mission, he also had a warm and approachable demeanor. He was known to use humor in his sermons to make a point or connect with his audience.

RELATIONSHIPS Asbury formed close friendships with fellow Methodist leaders, including John Wesley and Thomas Coke, with whom he worked closely to establish and expand Methodism in America.

Asbury was celibate and devoted his life to his ministry. 

MONEY AND FAME Asbury lived a simple and frugal lifestyle, with any money he received typically being used to support his missionary work and the Methodist cause.

He refused to accept a salary and traveled on horseback, often staying with families along the way.  

Famous for his dedication and leadership, but not interested in personal wealth or recognition.

FOOD AND DRINK Asbury adhered to a simple diet, often subsisting on basic fare such as bread, vegetables, and tea.

MUSIC AND ARTS He appreciated music as a means of worship but did not have a particular interest in the arts beyond their role in religious expression. Hymns played a significant role in Methodist worship services.

LITERATURE Asbury was well-versed in the Bible and other theological works, which formed the basis of his preaching and teaching.

NATURE Asbury found solace and inspiration in the natural world, often incorporating references to nature into his sermons and writings.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Asbury's primary focus was on his religious duties, leaving little time for leisure activities or hobbies.

SCIENCE AND MATHS While not his area of expertise, Asbury recognized the importance of education and intellectual inquiry, particularly within the context of religious study.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Asbury was a devout Christian who firmly believed in the principles of Methodism.  He emphasized personal conversion, evangelism, living a holy life and social justice. 

When Francis Asbury rolled into the colonies in 1771, je was a man with a mission and a horse with serious wanderlust. He wasn't there for sightseeing or sipping tea with the Boston Brahmins. No, Asbury had a far more ambitious plan: to spread Methodism across the sprawling frontier like wildfire.

His weapon of choice? Circuit riding. Think of it as the Uber of evangelism. Asbury would pick a region, then gallop from town to town, preaching the Methodist message with the fervor of a tent revivalist on a triple espresso. Thousands of miles he clocked each year, a tireless circuit rider crisscrossing the colonies like a spiritual Pony Express.

Now, Asbury wasn't a dictator. He wasn't some power-hungry bishop lording over his flock. He empowered local preachers, these lay folks who shared his passion. But Asbury wasn't handing out participation trophies. These weren't your leisure-suit-wearing preachers. No sir, Asbury demanded dedication. Up at 4 am for Bible study, hitting the streets by 5 am to catch folks on their way to work – that was the life of a Methodist lay reader. Talk about hardcore.

By 1784, things were getting official. Methodism was booming, but there was a bit of a snag. The American Revolution had severed ties with the Church of England, leaving American Methodists without the sacraments – baptism, communion, the whole shebang. Enter John Wesley, Methodism's founding father, who decided enough was enough. He ordained his buddy Thomas Coke, a Church of England priest, to ordain Asbury and be his co-superintendent for the American Methodists. With a laying on of hands (very official-sounding), Methodism in America got its long-awaited legitimacy.

The Ordination of Bishop Asbury, an engraving of an 1882 painting of the scene

And then came the boom. The 1784 Christmas Conference marked the birth of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a homegrown American denomination. With Asbury at the helm, Methodism exploded. From a measly 500 or so members, the church ballooned to over 200,000 by the time Asbury shuffled off this mortal coil in 1816.

SCANDAL There are no known scandals associated with Asbury's life or ministry.

MILITARY RECORD Asbury was not involved in the American Revolution.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Asbury's rigorous travel schedule and demanding preaching itinerary took a toll on his health, but he remained committed to his work despite physical challenges.

HOMES Asbury lived a nomadic lifestyle, often staying in the homes of fellow Methodists or in rudimentary accommodations while traveling.

TRAVEL  Asbury wasn't picky about his pulpit. Courthouses, taverns, tobacco barns – wherever he could find a crowd, Asbury would preach. He was a circuit-riding dynamo who rode an average of 6,000 miles a year, spreading the Methodist message to remote areas and pioneer new church communities.

DEATH Francis Asbury passed away on March 31, 1816, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, United States.

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Asbury's life and legacy have been celebrated in numerous books, articles, and documentaries, highlighting his pivotal role in the expansion of Methodism in America.

ACHIEVEMENTS Asbury's most significant achievement was his instrumental role in establishing Methodism as a major religious movement in the United States.

Ordained thousands of preachers and helped spread Methodism westward across the frontier.

Championed social justice and spoke out against slavery.

Tuesday 7 April 2009

King Arthur

NAME King Arthur Pendragon

WHAT FAMOUS FOR King Arthur is most famous for leading the defense of Britain against Saxon invaders in the late 5th and early 6th centuries, as well as for his legendary sword, Excalibur, and his Knights of the Round Table. Before I go any further I'd better warn you that Arthur's life is too shrouded in legend for any of these or other details to be certain. His historical existence is debated and disputed by modern historians so I'll leave it up to you how much you believe. 

King Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler (1903)

BIRTH The exact date and place of King Arthur's birth are shrouded in mystery and subject to legend. Some tales place his birth at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall in the late 5th century AD, while others suggest he was born in other regions of Britain.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Arthur's mother was Duchess Igraine of Cornwall and his father Uther Pendragon, a legendary king of sub Roman Britain. 

A some stage an enchanter and magician called Merlin took Arthur from his biological parents and brought him to the estate of one of his barons, Sir Ector. Merlin did not reveal the boy's true identity, and Ector took him on and raised him as his own son. 

CHILDHOOD Arthur was not informed of his royal ancestry by Sir Ector and was kept in obscurity until he pulled the mighty, magic sword Excalibur from a block of stone. This act could not be performed by anyone except by "the true king," which proved he was the rightful heir to Uther Pendragon's throne. According to Tennyson: "They found a naked child upon the sand Of dark Tintagil by the Cornish sea And that was Arthur; and they foster'd him Till he by miracle was approven king." 

EDUCATION Arthur received education in the ways of chivalry, leadership, and warfare from various tutors and mentors, including Merlin the wizard.

CAREER RECORD Well, the Excalibur story was a critical part of Arthur's CV so I'll start with that. According to Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur , in a churchyard at the "greatest church in London", there was a huge stone with a sword embedded in an anvil. On it was written the legend "Whoso pulleth out this sword from this stone and anvil is right and wise king born of all England". So Arthur, who was sixteen at the time, pulled it free, he became king and the sword became Excalibur. He made it sound so easy. 

Confusingly there is an alternative version that Excalibur was given to Arthur by the Lady of the Lake sometime after he began to reign.

Arthur receiving the later tradition's sword Excalibur in N. C. Wyeth's illustration for The Boy's King Arthur (1922),

His actual CV would read as follows: 519-552 This period is blank in the history of Britain. It is assumed that Arthur made his reputation then. In other words, nothing is known about the career of King Arthur. 

APPEARANCE  King Arthur was described in legend as a noble and handsome figure, with a regal bearing that commanded respect.

FASHION Arthur likely wore attire befitting his status as a king, often adorned in richly embroidered robes and armor during formal occasions and battles.

CHARACTER Arthur was chivalrous, a wise and valiant leader. He liked good conversation round a round table. Basically he was a good knight.

SENSE OF HUMOUR While Arthur's responsibilities as king were weighty, he likely possessed a dry wit and enjoyed the camaraderie of his knights during lighter moments.

RELATIONSHIPS Arthur's beautiful wife Guinevere, the daughter of his ally Leondegrance, fell in love with one of Arthur's most trusted knights, Sir Lancelot and their relationship brought about the last great battle and Arthur's death. Guinevere retired to a nunnery at Amesbury where she died. His fellowship of Round Table was also destroyed by Guinevere's love for Lancelot. 

MONEY AND FAME As king, Arthur would have had access to the wealth and resources of his kingdom, though his primary focus was on justice and the well-being of his subjects rather than personal riches or fame.

In the Middle Ages Arthurian legends were known throughout Western Europe as far as Italy.

FOOD AND DRINK Arthur likely enjoyed lavish feasts and banquets, showcasing the bounty of his kingdom. He may have favored traditional British fare such as roasted meats, hearty stews, and ale.

MUSIC AND ARTS While not explicitly mentioned in legend, Arthur's court would have likely been a patron of the arts, with musicians, poets, and artists entertaining the king and his guests.

LITERATURE King Arthur's legend has inspired countless works of literature, from medieval romances to modern novels and films.

NATURE Arthur's kingdom was closely tied to the natural world, with forests, lakes, and mountains featuring prominently in the Arthurian legends.

Cavall was known as Arthur's favorite hunting dog. Apparently, the mutt had a nose for a boar that could sniff out a truffle convention from a mile off.  They even had this posh custom where Cavall, being top dog (literally and figuratively), wouldn't get unleashed until the rest of the pack was already hot on the trail of a stag. Talk about pressure!

But Cavall's real claim to fame came with a legendary boar called Twrch Trwyth (though some sources insist on the terribly uninspired Troynt). The details are a bit hazy, as legend often is, but the gist is that Cavall proved himself a fearsome hunting companion.

Now, things get interesting. Some 9th-century bloke decided to spice up the story by claiming Cavall left his paw print right in a solid rock during this epic boar chase. Apparently, this wasn't your average doggy doodle – it was one of the "Wonders of Britain." They even said the print had a mind of its own, mysteriously returning to the rock no matter how far someone might try to cart it off. Makes you wonder what that boar was feeding on to leave paw prints that defy the laws of physics!

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Arthur likely enjoyed hunting, falconry, and tournaments, common pastimes among medieval nobility.

SCIENCE AND MATHS While not a focus of his reign, Arthur would have been aware of basic scientific and mathematical principles of his time, as they pertained to navigation, engineering, and military strategy.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Arthur's reign was characterized by a sense of honor, duty, and adherence to the Christian faith, though he respected the beliefs of others, including the Druidic traditions of Britain.

The members of the Order of the Knights of the Round Table at King Arthur's court were drawn from the finest English knights. The order consisted of 150 Christians from every race who vowed to oppose the progress of paganism, be loyal to the British throne, protect the defenceless and show mercy to the fallen. Its chief mission was to seek after the Holy Grail. (The chalice used by Jesus at the Last Supper). The round table was round to avoid arguments over who sits at the top of the table amongst the knights. The table is now in Castle Hall, Winchester.

The Round Table experiences a vision of the Holy Grail, an illumination by Évrard d'Espinques (c. 1475

SCANDAL The most infamous scandal associated with King Arthur is the affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot, which ultimately led to the downfall of Arthur's kingdom.

Whether Arthur was just a rumour or reality has not been historically proven. Milton claims that Arthur never existed- he said of him "As to Arthur, more renowned in songs and romances than in true stories, who he was and whether ever any such reigned in Britain hath been doubted heretofore and may again with good reason." 

In the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Arthur explains that he is king because he got Excalibur from the lady of the lake. A peasant union leader replies "strange women in ponds is no basis for a system of government." 

MILITARY RECORD Arthur achieved numerous victories against the Saxons and other enemies of Britain, earning him a reputation as a formidable warrior and leader.

Britain's leading warrior of the dark ages began his martial career about 500 on becoming king when he declared war on the invading Saxons. The war lasted 20 years and the final battle at Mount Badon (approx. 522) near Bath, where Arthur carried a Christian cross on his shoulders, was so emphatic that the Saxon confederation was completely crushed. 

Dryden celebrated Arthur's feats at Mount Badon thus: "They sung how he himself at Badon bore, that day When at the glorious goal his British sceptre lay Two dais together how the battle strong he stood; Pendragon's worthe son, who waded there in blood Three hundred Saxons slew with his owne valiant hand." 

It is said that after seeing off the Saxon invaders Arthur conquered Gaul, Denmark, North Germany and Scandinavia. He was then called home to defend his country against his nephew Mordred. In the final Battle of Camlan both Arthur and his traitorous nephew fell. Some European historians substantiate this 

HOMES King Arthur had several residences, but his favorite was Camelot. The site of Camelot was either the modern Caerleon on the southern border of Wales, near Newport or the great Iron Age hill fort at South Cadbury in Somerset. Its meant to be Cadbury Castle, but you'd have to be a fruit and nut case to refer to the ancient fort as a proper castle. Actually many places in the west of England and Wales lay claim to being the site of Arthur's castle but no one has come up with any living proof. However to quote the wise words of Lerner and Loewe in their musical Camelot: "Don't let it be forgot That once there was a spot For one brief shining moment That was known as Camelot." 

TRAVEL Arthur's travels were primarily within the British Isles, as he sought to defend his kingdom from invaders and maintain order within his realm.

According to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, after creating an Arthurian empire through his conquests of Ireland, Iceland and the Orkney Islands. After twelve years of peace, Arthur sets out to expand his empire once more, taking control of Norway, Denmark and Gaul. 

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS As a warrior king, Arthur would have maintained a high level of physical fitness, honed through training, battle, and outdoor pursuits.

After being wounded at the Battle of Camlan, Arthur was mysteriously carried away to the island of Avalon to be healed of his wound. 

DEATH King Arthur was busy conquering all on continental Europe, when he was called home as his nephew Mordred had rebelled and seized the kingdom. In the final battle of Camlan at Slaughter Bridge, one mile north of Camelford in South West England both Arthur and Mordred fell pierced by each other's spears. 

On his deathbed he commanded that his trusty sword Excalibur be returned to the Lady of the Lake. Geoffrey of Monmouth records the death of Arthur as being in 537. After his death he was taken to Avalon (thought to be Glastonbury.) In Celtic mythology Avalon was the place of rest and reward for departed heroes. He was allegedly buried in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey. 

On Arthur's tombstone according to Sir Thomas Malory was written "Hic Jacet Arthras rex Quondam Rexque futurus". (Here lies Arthur, the once and future king.) The implication being he may come again to reign. His grave was opened by command of Henry II in 1150. 


APPEARANCES IN MEDIA  1. The first allusion to Arthur is found in the Welsh poem Y Gododdin (about 600). He was first specifically mentioned in Historia Britonium by the Welsh monk Nennius, a historical work that was first written sometime shortly after AD 833. Or maybe it was all just a Dark Age wind up. 

The fully developed legend appears in the 12th century Historia Regum Brittaniae by the English chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth. Its popularity led to a stream of medieval Arthurian romances, culminating in Le Morte d'Arthur, a collection of Arthurian legends gathered together by Sir Thomas Malory in a single work in the late 15th century. 

Later King Arthur was used by Edmund Spenser as the "Perfect Knight" in his epic Elizabethan allegory The Faerie Queen(1590-99), 

Tennyson wrote a series of 12 narrative poems, Idylls of the King about Arthur between 1856 and 1885 and Mark Twain penned his early time travel novel, A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court in 1889. 

2. The original theatrical musical version of Camelot 1960 by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, which was all about Arthur's court. 

3. A number of films have been made about the life and times of King Arthur including:    
                    
(a) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) where Arthur and his page Pasty look for that elusive Holy Grail.
(b) Camelot (1960). The film version of the 1960 musical with Richard Harris as the king. 
(c) The Sword in the Stone (1963). A Disney cartoon version based on the 1938 novel of the same name by T.H. White.
(d) Excalibur (1981) a modern version of Malory's Morte d'Arthur with Nigel Terry as Arthur. 
(e) First Knight (1995) with Sean Connery as King Arthur and that authentic Brit Richard Gere portraying a maverick Sir Lancelot. 
(f) King Arthur (2004) The 2nd century AD Roman military commander Lucius Artorius Castus is identified as King Arthur in this movie. Artorius is moved forwards 300 years to become a contemporary of the Saxons.

4 In a famous Carling Black label advert, the Lady of the Lake becomes one of a team of synchronised swimmers. 

5. In 1691 Henry Purcell wrote a five act opera King Arthur based on his battles with The Saxons. The dramatist John Dryden penned the words.

6. Rick Wakeman did a progressive rock concept album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which was released in 1975. He also produced a musical spectacular on ice complete with a 45 piece orchestra and a 48 piece choir. 

ACHIEVEMENTS A cult figure of the Middle Ages, King Arthur not only protected England from the invading Saxons and possibly conquered parts of Northern Europe, but also invented chivalry. Shame he probably didn't exist.

Sunday 5 April 2009

Chester A. Arthur

NAME Chester A. Arthur

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Chester A. Arthur was the 21st President of the United States, serving from 1881 to 1885. He is known for his efforts to reform the civil service system and for his role in advocating for civil rights for African Americans.

BIRTH Chester Alan Arthur was born on October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont, United States. He was named "Chester" after Chester Abell, the physician and family friend who assisted in his birth, and "Alan" for his paternal grandfather.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Arthur was the son of William Arthur, an abolitionist preacher in the Free Will Baptists denomination, a group of people that believe in free grace, free salvation and free will, and Malvina Stone Arthur. His father immigrated to the United States from Ireland, while his mother was born in Vermont. Arthur's family had modest means but placed a strong emphasis on education and moral values.

CHILDHOOD Arthur spent his childhood in Vermont, where he was raised in a household deeply involved in community affairs and the anti-slavery movement.

EDUCATION He attended Union College in Schenectady, New York, where he excelled academically and developed an interest in law.

CAREER RECORD After completing his education, Arthur moved to New York City to pursue a career in law. After a detour into education, where Arthur briefly held the grand title of Principal at the rather modestly sized North Pownal Academy (think classrooms in his dad's church basement), destiny took a turn. Arthur, by some twist of fate, ended up as the lawyer for Elizabeth Jennings Graham, a Black woman who simply wanted a seat on a segregated streetcar. Arthur, to everyone's surprise, won the case, and poof! Desegregated streetcars for all of New York. Not a bad first foray into law.

Roscoe Conkling, a powerful senator who took Arthur under his wing. Soon, Arthur found himself as the Collector of the Port of New York, a fancy way of saying he raked in the big bucks for the government. But then came reform and a new president, Rutherford B. Hayes, who gave Arthur the boot. Ouch.

Luckily, political fortunes can change faster than a New York minute. James Garfield, the next Republican nominee for president, needed a vice president to balance the ticket. Enter Arthur, somewhat reluctantly. Then, tragedy struck. Garfield got shot, succumbed to his wounds, and before you could say "constitutional crisis," Chester A. Arthur, the man who once brawled over politics, was sworn in as the 21st president.

President Arthur, it turned out, was a bit of a reformer himself. He championed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which aimed to take the patronage (read: political bribery) out of government jobs. He also oversaw a Navy revival, which was good, because let's face it, a country needs a decent Navy. But he wasn't everyone's cup of tea. The ever-growing federal budget surplus? Not tackled to everyone's satisfaction. And then there was the Chinese Exclusion Act, a law that slammed the door shut on Chinese immigration for decades – a real black mark on his record.

His resume is as follows:

Lawyer in New York City

Quartermaster General of New York during the Civil War

Collector of the Port of New York (1871-1878)

20th Vice President of the United States (1881)

21st President of the United States (1881-1885)

APPEARANCE Arthur was known for his distinctive appearance, and fashionable attire. He was tall and distinguished with a neatly groomed beard, mustache  and sideburns. 

Chester A Arthur

FASHION Arthur was known for his impeccable fashion sense, often seen wearing tailored suits and stylish accessories. earning him the nickname "Elegant Arthur." He had an ahem, extensive pants collection. 80 pairs! The man had more trousers than a haberdashery.

CHARACTER Arthur was described as affable, charming, and diplomatic, with a knack for building consensus and maintaining good relationships with colleagues and political allies.

SENSE OF HUMOR Arthur was known to possess a dry humor, which he often used to diffuse tension in political situations. He was a witty storyteller 

RELATIONSHIPS Arthur  married Ellen "Nell" Herndon on October 25, 1859, at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City. Their place on Lexington Avenue became famous for the shindigs they threw. Big social gatherings were their thing. 

They had three children together, though tragedy struck early on when one, poor little William, died at just two and a half from convulsions. A terrible blow.

Sadly, Nell never got to see Chester take the big seat. Pneumonia took her before he even became vice president in 1880. 

With Nell gone, Chester's sister, Mary, stepped in as the White House hostess during his presidency. But Chester never forgot his wife. Every single day he was in the White House, he had fresh flowers placed in front of Nell's portrait. 

MONEY AND FAME Arthur enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle but was not excessively wealthy. His fame came primarily from his political career and his tenure as President of the United States.

Arthur had a taste for the finer things. He brought in Louis Comfort Tiffany, the Tiffany guy, to redecorate the White House. To fund this fancy makeover, he even held a White House yard sale (or, as they delicately called it, a "public auction"). Imagine Abraham Lincoln's pants going up for grabs!

FOOD AND DRINK Arthur was known to enjoy fine dining and appreciated gourmet cuisine.

MUSIC AND ARTS He had a fondness for classical music and supported the arts during his presidency.

LITERATURE Arthur was an avid reader and had a particular interest in history and political philosophy.

NATURE He enjoyed spending time outdoors and was known to appreciate the natural beauty of the American landscape.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Arthur enjoyed horseback riding and billiards and was an enthusiastic supporter of various sports, including baseball.

SCIENCE AND MATHS While not a scientist or mathematician himself, Arthur supported initiatives to advance scientific research and education during his presidency.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Arthur's political philosophy was rooted in the principles of liberty, equality, and justice. He was a firm believer in the Constitution and the rule of law.

Arthur taking the oath of office at his home

A moderate abolitionist, as a lawyer, Arthur defended several runaway slaves and was an early activist in the New York Republican party.

Arthur was raised in a religious household, but his personal beliefs are not well documented

SCANDAL Arthur's presidency was overshadowed by accusations of corruption and cronyism, particularly regarding his involvement in the New York City Customs House.

MILITARY RECORD The Civil War saw Arthur as a quartermaster general, a title that sounds ripped from the pages of a Tolkien novel but basically meant he wrangled supplies for the state's troops. He did this with surprising efficiency and honesty, which wasn't always a given in those days. This earned him a coveted spot in the New York Republican organization, a stepping stone to bigger things.

He worked to modernize the U.S. Navy and improve infrastructure during his presidency.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Arthur struggled with health issues in his later life, including Bright's disease, a kidney ailment that eventually led to his death.

HOMES Arthur lived in various residences throughout his life, including in New York City, Albany, New York and Washington, D.C.

TRAVEL As president, Arthur traveled extensively throughout the United States, visiting various states and participating in ceremonial events.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH Chester A. Arthur battled Bright's disease, a nasty kidney ailment, throughout his presidency, keeping it all under wraps. He even made a half-hearted run for reelection in 1884, but ill health and, let's be honest, a lack of enthusiasm, put the kibosh on that.

Leaving office in 1885, Arthur retreated to New York, a respected but not exactly beloved figure. By 1886, his health had deteriorated further, and on a fateful November day, he ordered a bonfire of his personal and political papers. The next day, a stroke robbed him of consciousness, and the following day, November 18, 1886, at the young age of 57, Chester A. Arthur passed away. 


APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Arthur has been depicted in various films, television shows, and literature, often as a supporting character in stories about American history and politics.

ACHIEVEMENTS Signed the Pendleton Civil Service Act, reforming the federal employment system.

Oversaw a period of economic growth and naval expansion.

Championed civil rights for African Americans.