Copernicus

I found the reading from Copernicus on the Revolutions of Heavenly Bodies really interesting. This was a way to get into Nicholas' head and see how he came up with his theories on the earth being round, its rotation and how it was not the center of the earth. We have known all our lives that the earth was round, how it rotated on its own axis and that the sun is the center of the Universe (Well actually galaxy if you want to get technical). What Copernicus was saying was new, cutting edge science during his time. It was amazing to read this excerpt on his thoughts and how he came up with these ideas. It was pretty much just simple observations on what was really moving and what was not. I just think it's really cool to read something in a first hand perspective that we have known to be truth and fact our whole lives.

Renaissance and Galileo

I have always loved the Renaissance era and I'm not really sure why, it has just always been my favorite. I also have a huge weakness for the artwork during that time. So of course my favorite reading this week was that of the Renaissance. It is always interesting to hear the stories told behind certain pieces of art or of architecture. The external links provided this week to Nicholas Pioch's Web Museum was amazing. I have taken several Art History classes but I learned a few new things with this link.

Also, I found the reading on Galileo interesting. I had know idea the man was accused of heresy for saying that the sun was the center of the universe and the earth was not and it in fact moved and not the sun. He was accused because what he was saying "was contrary to Holy Scriptures". The part that really saddened me was that Galileo went against what he wrote in his book and told the Inquisitors he was wrong and would not repeat his mistake. I can understand why he did it though. No one was going to believe him, and there wasn't a way to prove his theory just yet.

Wiki Assignment #3

The article begins with what a the Protectorate is and the time frame for which it was in effect. It also give a brief history of what the English, Scottish and Irish government was like before the Protectorate. The title is officially known as the Lord Protector. The article then goes to tell us what the role of the Lord Protector is and basically their responsibilities. The first Lord Protector was Oliver Cromwell. There is a section called Cromwell's role which tells us what he did as Lord Protector, his accomplishments basically and then the article closes with the succession of his son Richard Cromwell the restoration of the monarchy in England.

1. The article has 954 words.
2. The search term used was The Protectorate. This also the name of the article.
3. There is not a disambiguation link.
4. On the discussion page there some comments about the page itself and some posts regarding some changes that have made to the page.
5. There have been 16 changes to this page. The first occurred on Feb. 14, 2005. The last occurred on Jan. 19, 2008.
6. 2 external links.
7. There are 4 references listed and I think its worth it to note that there is a request for more citations for verification for this article.
8. There are no links for further reading.

I would say that I might recommend this article for maybe a starter spot on learning about the the Lord Protector of England. Granted there is not much information to begin with on this subject but this still seems a little vague on certain points. Not too mention that the article stated that it needed more citations for verification. This says to me that the sources listed maybe a little shaky.

All Over Religion

I don't think I will ever truly understand why people feel the need to kill others over their religion. I know this subject has been talked about to death but the reading this week on St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre just brought me right back to it. Several things seemed to have gotten this massacre started. First, the Catholics weren't really happy with the peace treaty set up to end the "Third War of Religion". Second, Henry III of Navarre (protestant) and Marguerite of Valois (catholic) were gonna get married. Which the Pope and most Catholics did not agree with. Paris, a dominatly catholic city was filled protestants around the time that Henry and Marguerite were to get married. Lastly, the failed assassination of the Huguenot Admiral de Coligny upset the catholics even more. This all occured in a time period of about 2 years. Apparently the Catholics were feeling threatened by all this protestanism and went on a killing spree. I read that over 2,000 people were killed in Paris and over 3,000 more in the surrounding French provinces. That's over 5,000 people dead because someone else didn't believe the same thing. The sad thing is that it still happens in our world today and will continue to happen. (Here is the link for my extra information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew's_Day_Massacre)

Freedom of a Christian

Martin Luther's writing on the Freedom of a Christian was interesting. Toward the beginning he said "A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none, a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one." This totally confused me, but as I read on I understood that he was talking about the inside soul and the outside human of a person. That to him being a Christian was something that is on your inside, your soul and that the outside was basically your shell while on earth. He also said that things that can harm the body do not harm the soul and that even though the body dresses and does Christian things does not mean the soul is Christian. The point Martin was making by all this was that Christianity for a person was based on the faith. That faith resided in the soul alone and no where else. I thought this was a interesting point that Martin Luther made about Christianity.

Reformation

It was good to see the people of the early modern world start thinking for themselves and really exploring their thoughts on religion and the Bible. The fact that printing press was now in full swing made it possible that these people could share their thoughts. On top of that, the Bible was being translated into different languages. Now almost everyone could have their own copy of the Bible in their own language and read it for themselves instead of blindly following the Papacy. Obviously, this started problems. The Catholic religion was really THE religion at that time. This started the religious wars. It was amazing to see the different countries jump back and forth between Catholicism and Protestantism depending on who there leader was at the time. No one wanted to compromise (or let one stay in place very long) and let people believe in what they wanted. It was like each religion was out to save the other because they were wrong in what they believed and they were going to go to hell for it.

Power Hungry?

The reading this week on the Papacy in Avignon brings up again the rivalry in powers between the king and the pope and then between popes. The part that interested me the most the was the Great Schism. It started with two rival popes, one Italian the other French. Each had their own college of cardinals, own curia and there were two religious governments. They each excommunicated each other. Thirty years later, we have the same problem, only now it has escalated to THREE popes, their colleges, and their curia. None of them willing to back down. Talk about some serious power hunger. No wonder a council was called again. The purpose was to fix the problem of three popes. The council disposed of all three popes but none of the seemed to want to let their power go. Especially Pope Benedict, retiring in Spain but still excommunicating everyone against him until he died( A sad way to go if you ask me). Even after this popes still ignored councils, side stepped them left and right and avoided them all together. I assume this was because they were afraid that a reform in the church would take away their power. It seemed they weren't even willing to talk about it at all, they just wanted to reassert and hold on to that power of being the pope. The sad thing was that Christians were now seeing the pope as a threat to the church. Ouch. Serious trouble in the church and all over having the power.