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History, Holidays & Observances – November 27

November 27, 2019 by Wolf Howling Leave a Comment

A look at some of the history and holidays on November 27

Holidays & Observances on November 27

Feast of Vergilius of Salzburg, an 8th century Irish missionary and astronomer.  In 745, he left Ireland for the Holy Land, but made it no further than France where he became a favorite of King Pippin III.  At some point, Vergilius’s observation of the sky led him to conclude that the earth was a sphere.  A contemporary, (later St.) Boniface, accused Vergilius of teaching against Church Doctrine.  Records have been lost of how the matter was handled, though we can assume Vergilius defended himself adequately before the Pope, for he was later promoted to Bishop of Salzburg.

 

Major Events on November 27

602 – Emperor Maurice is forced to watch his five sons be executed before being beheaded himself.

It always seemed strange to me that the Muslim armies of 7th century Arabia, a backwater at most, were able to expand so rapidly to the north and east against two of the greatest powers in the world at the time, Byzantium and Persia.  The story of Byzantine Emperor Maurice is the starting point to understand what happened.

Maurice had become emperor of Byzantine in 582,  A general, he spent most of reign waging successful wars.  He earned a notable victory in the Balkans against the Avars – pushing them back across the Danube by 599.  His biggest victory, though, was his defeat of Sasanian Persians. For the first time in nearly two centuries, the Romans were no longer obliged to pay the Persians thousands of pounds of gold annually for peace.

In 602, a disgruntled general,  Phocas, led a coup against Maurice.  Capturing the Emperor and his family, Phocas forced Maurice to watch as Phocas executed Maurice’s five sons, and then finally beheaded Maurice as well.  The Persians, humiliated and cowed by Maurice but not by Phocas, renewed their war with Byzantium.  What followed was the brutal Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628. a war that proved devastating to both empires.  When it ended, both empires were too weak to withstand the onslaught of the Arab Muslims.  Byzantium lost territory and, though it survived for another five centuries against the Arabs (only to fall in the 15th century to the Muslim Turks), it became a weak shadow of its former self.  Persia disappeared entirely.  The great Persian culture and traditions of an empire that had vied with Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, fell to Arab Muslims in 651 A.D.

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Filed Under: History Tagged With: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Alexios I Komnenos, Alfred Nobel, American Statistical Association, Anatolia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Antioch, Antipope Benedict XIII, Arab Muslims, Avars, Baby Face Nelson, Balkans, bank robbery, Battle of Ascalon, Bruce Lee, Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, Byzantium, Caliph, Christianity, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Clovis I, Constantinople, Conversion, Council of Clermont, County of Edessa, County of Tripoli, crusader states, Danube, dynamite, Eastern Rite Byzantines, Egypt, FBI, Ferdinand I of Aragon, First Crusade, France, Franks, Horace, Jerusalem, John Kellogg, Kingdom of Jerusalem, Kurdistan Workers' Party, last will and testament, Latin Catholics, Martial Arts, merchant of death, Nicaea, Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel Prize, Norman England, Palestine, Paul Krugman, Persia, Phocas, PKK, Pope Urban II, Principality of Antioch, Provisional IRA, Public Enemy No. 1, religious toleration, Roman Catholic Church, Ross McWhirter, Saracens, Sasanian Persians, Seljuq Turks, Swedish–Norwegian Club. Paris, Thomas Sowell, Vergilius Bishop of Salzburg. Maurice I, Vergilius of Salzburg, Western Schism

History, Holidays & Observances – November 18

November 18, 2019 by Wolf Howling Leave a Comment

A look at some of the history and holidays on November 18

Holidays & Observances on November 18

Feast of Dedication for Saints Peter and Paul:  This celebrates the building and consecration of the home of Catholicism, old St. Peter’s Basilica as well as the  Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, both built by the Emperor Constantine the Great during the 4th century and dedicated on this day in 326 A.D.  The new (and current) St. Peter’s Basilica was built overtop the old and was consecrated on this day in 1626.

Major Events on November 18

1302 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam

The great political contest of our time is statism and socialism versus republicanism and capitalism.  The great contest in 1302 was the power struggle between Kings and the Papacy, with the former having acknowledged authority over the temporal, the latter having acknowledged authority over the spiritual.  Most often this power struggle  played out in competition for control over important clerical posts, with the Pope having the power excommunicate anyone, even Kings, for great offenses to the Church.  But in 1302, Pope Boniface VIII upped the ante.

In response to challenges to his authority, Boniface issued the Papal bull (an edict issued by the Pope) Unam sanctam, claiming not only complete authority over the spiritual, but in worldly matters as well.  When the French King Phillip II balked at that and refuted the claim, Boniface excommunicated the King.  An adviser of the King led a small army to attack Boniface at his home in an incident known as the Outrage of Anagni.  Boniface was made a prisoner and imprisoned for several days before the people of Anagni rose up and drove out the King’s men.  Still, Boniface was shaken.  He died not long after, something that automatically lifted the edict of excommunication against Phillip II.  Boniface’s claim to rule the temporal was condemned at the time by many theologians, and no Pope ever repeated the claim.

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Filed Under: History Tagged With: Alaric I, Arthur Sullivan, Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Christopher Columbus, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Constantine the Great, Council of Clermont, Dedication for Saints Peter and Paul, Douglas Haig, First Battle of the Somme, First Crusade, Frederick II, Huckleberry Finn, Jerusalem, Mark Twain, Mickey Mouse, Papal Bull, PC, Pope Boniface VIII, Pope Urban II, Robin Hood, St. Peter's Basilica, Steamboat Willie, Unam Sanctam, Visigoths, W.S. Gilbert, Walt Disney

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