Born into a family of no particular noble distinction, Lucas de Iranzo (1453-73) rose in rank because he had been a page to prince Enrique who would become King of Castile. (Some chroniclers would suggest a homosexual relationship between the prince and Iranzo). Because of this bond he was heaped with honours: Constable, Royal Falconer, Chancellor, and member of the Council. His ascent caused jealousy among the ranks of the nobility, so for the sake of a quiet life he moved to the city of Jaén where he was governor. There he undertook civic improvements, established a mint, and strengthened fortifications — the city had only been wrested for the hands of a Muslim prince in 1446 and Andalusia was a contested frontier area. Iranzo was frequently at war with the forces of the Islamic Kingdom of Granada. As governor, Iranzo quarrelled with the local bishop, aroused the envy of local nobles, and upset the common people because of his protection of the city’s Jewish converts.
Lucas de Iranzo was murdered on March 21, 1473 while he was praying on his knees in the main chapel of the cathedral. The act was publicly justified because of the support that the Constable had given to the Jews, and, indeed, anti-Jewish attacks soon erupted in the city. After his death, King Enrique IV arrived in Jaén incognito and went to the Council, where he inquired about certain jurors and aldermen whom he deemed to be guilty of the assassination. He ordered them to be hanged from their windows in retribution.
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin was born Hubert Gerold Brown but is best known as H. Rap Brown. On this date in 2002 he was apprehended by police for the murder of a Georgia police officer.
Rap Brown first came to the attention of America in the 1960s when he assumed the chairmanship of the civil rights group known as the Students’ Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, (SNCC, pronounced “snick”). Under his leadership the group’s pronouncements were anything but nonviolent. He clashed with President Johnson in a visit to the White House, telling him “I think that the majority of Black people that voted for you wish that they had gone fishing.” He called for urban guerilla warfare in an armed uprising of blacks against the country he termed the “Fourth Reich” – “Black folks built America. If America don’t come around, we should burn it down.” He played a part in a short-lived attempt to merge SNCC with the Black Panthers, after which the group collapsed and Brown became increasingly alienated from the mainstream of the civil rights struggle.
Brown was charged with inciting a riot and a firearms offence; his trial was tumultuous, marked by bombings and Brown’s going on the run for 18 months. He was convicted in 1971 and served five years in New York’s notorious Attica prison. There he converted to Islam and took his new name.
After his release he moved to Atlanta and was active in community organizing and Islamic outreach. But the polic interest in him did not die down. In 1995 he was accused of shooting a man outside of the grocery store he ran but the charges were dropped. In 1999 he was stopped by police for driving a stolen car and impersonating a police officer; when he didn’t appear for a court date, two policemen (both black) were sent to serve a warrant on him. In the gunfire that ensued both officers were shot, one fatally. Al-Amin fled but was arrested four days later. He was convicted of murder by a majority-black jury and is serving a sentence of life without parole. Efforts continue to have him released.
The long-simmering quarrel between much of England’s political class and the monarchs of the new Stuart dynasty boiled over into civil war in the 1640s. The result of this Parliament-Crown conflict was the execution of King Charles I and an attempt to institute a form of republican government. On March 19, 1649, the lower house of the bicameral Parliament, the House of Commons representing the towns and shires of the country, voted to abolish the upper chamber, the House of Lords, where the heads of the noble families and England’s bishops sat.
Though a number of aristocrats had supported Parliament during the Civil War, the House of Lords was a far less radical body than the Commons. In order to counter the conservatism of the Lords, it was suggested that the upper house be abolished but the members of it allowed to sit in a unicameral body. This was resisted out of a fear that the influence of the nobility would sway the Commons unduly. Some suggested that the Lords might serve as a kind of court or a consultative body but pressure grew to do away with the House of Lords altogether. At first, the highly-influential Oliver Cromwell was opposed, calling the idea madness at a time when unity was required but he was outvoted. Th existence of a powerful chamber of aristocrats in a country which had killed its king and done away with monarchy seemed to serve no purpose and the following bill was passed:
The Commons of England assembled in Parliament, finding by too long experience, that the House of Lords is useless and dangerous to the People of England to be continued, have thought fit to Ordain and Enact, and be it Ordained and Enacted by this present Parliament, and by the Authority of the same, That from henceforth the House of Lords in Parliament, shall be and is hereby wholly abolished and taken away; And that the Lords shall from henceforth not meet or sit in the said House called The Lords House, or in any other House or Place whatsoever, as a House of Lords; nor shall Sit, Vote, Advise, Adjudge, or Determine of any matter or thing whatsoever, as a House of Lords in Parliament: Nevertheless it is hereby Declared, That neither such Lords as have demeaned themselves with Honor, Courage and Fidelity to the Commonwealth, nor their Posterities who shall continue so, shall be excluded from the Publique Councils of the Nation, but shall be admitted thereunto, and have their Free Vote in Parliament, if they shall be thereunto elected, as other persons of Interest elected and qualified thereunto, ought to have.
It is little remembered but the republican government of the 1650s reconstituted an upper chamber in 1657. Called the “Other House”, it was meant to be an assembly of nominated life (as opposed to hereditary) peers and to serve as a check on the restive Commons. It disappeared with the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660.
I am reluctant to leave St Patrick behind when there is this brilliant bit of animation to be shown. The good saint was famous for explaining the mystery of the Trinity with a shamrock — three leaves on one plant. That may not be theologically rigorous enough, according to this Lutheran cartoon satire.
March 17 is sacred to the memory of Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, Nigeria, and Boston. Born in the late 300s to a noble Romano-Briton family, he was kidnapped as a teen and enslaved in Ireland as a swineherd. He escaped, returned to the civilization of Britain, and became a priest with the intention of spreading Christianity to the Irish. In this, he was very successful, becoming the stuff of legends. As we swill our green-dyed beer today and (at least in western Canada, wait for the ice to melt), let us enjoy this particular set of myths retold in the 19th century.
The principal enemies that St. Patrick found to the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, were the Druidical priests of the more ancient faith, who, as might naturally be supposed, were exceedingly adverse to any innovation. These Druids, being great magicians, would have been formidable antagonists to any one of less miraculous and saintly powers than Patrick. Their obstinate antagonism was so great, that, in spite of his benevolent disposition, he was compelled to curse their fertile lands, so that they became dreary bogs: to curse their rivers, so that they produced no fish: to curse their very kettles, so that with no amount of fire and patience could they ever be made to boil; and, as a last resort, to curse the Druids themselves, so that the earth opened and swallowed them up.
A popular legend relates that the saint and his followers found themselves, one cold morning, on a mountain, without a fire to cook their break-fast, or warm their frozen limbs. Unheeding their complaints, Patrick desired them to collect a pile of ice and snow-balls: which having been done, he breathed upon it, and it instantaneously became a pleasant fire—a fire that long after served to point a poet’s conceit in these lines:
Saint Patrick, as in legends told, The morning being very cold, In order to assuage the weather, Collected bits of ice together; Then gently breathed upon the pyre, When every fragment blazed on fire. Oh! if the saint had been so kind, As to have left the gift behind To such a lovelorn wretch as me, Who daily struggles to be free: I’d be content—content with part, I’d only ask to thaw the heart, The frozen heart, of Polly Roe,
Henry “Henny” Youngman was born to a family of Russian Jews in England but moved to New York as a child. Working with a jazzband called the Swanee Syncopaters, he began to tell jokes between numbers and developed a reputation as a comedian. Working in radio from the late 1930s he developed a style of rapid-fire one-liners with an occasional riff on the violin he always carried as a prop. He worked in nightclubs, on television, and in the movies – in fact, anywhere people would pay him. Only his death in 1998 ended his performing career. Here are some of Youngman’s innumerable jokes, amny at the expense of his wife Sadie, to whom he was actually devoted:
My wife said to me, ‘For our anniversary I want to go somewhere I’ve never been before.’ I said, ‘Try the kitchen!’
I take my wife everywhere, but she keeps finding her way back.
My wife will buy anything marked down. Last year she bought an escalator.
We always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.
My wife told me the car wasn’t running well. There was water in the carburetor. I asked where the car was, and she told me it was in the lake.
My wife and I went to a hotel where we got a waterbed. My wife called it the Dead Sea.
My wife is on a new diet. Coconuts and bananas. She hasn’t lost weight, but can she climb a tree.
Last night my wife said the weather outside was fit for neither man nor beast, so we both stayed home.
I was so ugly when I was born, the doctor slapped my mother.
If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.
I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places.
My son complains about headaches. I tell him all the time: ‘When you get out of bed, it’s feet first!’
In the late 5th century the Roman Empire in the West was largely a fiction. The territories had been overrun by a number of Germanic tribes looking for loot and places to settle. The imperial throne was the plaything of rebellious generals and their barbarian allies. In 476 a Gothic/Hunnic military leader, Odoacer, deposed the last western emperor, Romulus Augustus, and sent the kid home without much ado.
Odoacer dispatched the regalia to Zeno, the eastern emperor in Constantinople, and henceforth claimed to be administering Italy in his name. For 12 years he ruled with notable success, collaborating with the Senate in Rome, keeping his land-hungry tribesmen happy, and making sure civilization still functioned. (Without the Roman civil service who was going to collect the taxes?) Though he was an Arian Christian he seems to have had decent relations with his Catholic subjects.
Odoacer’s big mistake was to join with other rebels in trying to depose Zeno, sensing that the emperor was viewing him as a danger. Zeno responded by turning to another Gothic general, Theoderic, who invaded Italy. After years of fighting, Theoderic had Odoacer cornered in Ravenna, where he was protected by easily-defended marsh land. In 493 a peace was negotiated whereby the peninsula was to be shared by the two warriors but at a banquet of reconciliation, Theoderic stabbed Odoacer to death, and ordered his wife and children to be murdered as well.
Theoderic wisely adhered to Odoacer’s policy of cooperation with the Roman elite and ruled Italy happily for over 30 years.
The 1830 revolution that toppled the Bourbon dynasty brought with it the disbanding of the regiments of foreign troops who had served those kings. In March 1831 the new French king Louis-Philippe created a Foreign Legion from those soldiers and quickly dispatched it to aid in the conquest of Algeria. Since then the mercenaries of the Legion – whose motto is Legio Patria Nostra, the Legion is our Homeland – have fought with distinction in every French war. Their toughness is legendary and their casualties were heavy, especially in Mexican, North African, and Vietnamese conflicts.
As with every elite unit, esprit de corps is essential. This can be seen in the eccentric lyrics of their marching song, “Le Boudin”. A boudin is a sausage and refers to the rolled pack carried on the soldiers’ backs.
Chorus:
Hey, here’s blood sausage, here’s blood sausage, here’s blood sausage,/ For the Alsatians, the Swiss, and the Lorrains, /For the Belgians, there is none left,/ For the Belgians, there is none left, They are ass shooters. [des tireurs au cul]
1st verse:
We are crafty,/ We are rogues, Not ordinary guys,/ We often have our dark moods/ We are Legionnaires./ In Tonkin, the Immortal Legion/ Honoured our flag at Tuyen Quang./ Heroes of Camarón and model brothers/ Sleep in peace in your tombs.
(Chorus)
2nd verse:
Our ancestors knew how to die/ For the glory of the Legion./ We will all know how to perish/ Following tradition./ During our far-off campaigns,/ Facing fever and fire,/ Let us forget, along with our sorrows,/ Death, which forgets us so seldom./ We the Legion.
The slandering of the Belgians refers to the incident in 1870 when the King of Belgium requested that his subjects in the Legion not take part in the Franco-Prussian War. These troops were left at their home base much to the disgust of their comrades sent to the fighting.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born in 1936 in Buenos Aires to a family of Italian immigrants. He became a Jesuit in 1960 and was ordained to the priesthood seven years later. He served the order as a teacher and theologian but his opposition to “liberation theology” and his emphasis on pastoral work rather than critiquing contemporary society led to a falling out with his Jesuit superiors in Argentina.
Despite a Jesuit rule forbidding members from attaining high office in the church Bergoglio was named a bishop in 1992 and became Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1997. He became known for his decision to have his priests penetrate the poorer areas of his diocese and for curbing extravagant spending. He was also noted for his call for national repentance for the violence and terrorism of Argentine political life in past eras.
At age 75 he resigned as Archbishop but was named a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, whereupon he moved to Rome where his simple living attracted attention. At the papal conclave to elect a successor to John Paul he is said to have finished second to Cardinal Ratzinger in the voting. On Ratzinger’s resignation in 2013 Bergoglio was chosen pope and took the name Francis, after St Francis of Assisi. He thus became the first Jesuit pope, the first from the Americas or the Southern Hemisphere, the first non-European since 714.
Since his election, he has proved an enigmatic leader of the Roman Catholic world, giving off mixed signals about gay marriage, women as deacons, communion for divorced couples, and indigenous spirituality without actually directly challenging received teachings. Francis is perceived to be over-friendly to leftist regimes and has angered theological conservatives with his restrictions on the Tridentine mass. He is the first pope to have an Instagram account.
Only three popes have merited the title of “the Great” (though fans of John Paul II are trying hard to make it a quartet.) The second of these to be born (c. 540) was Gregorius Anicius, who renounced great wealth to become a monk. In 590 he was elected pope and became a powerful force for good in the ruins of the western Roman empire. You will not find a more loving tribute to him than this 19th-century account.
There have been Popes of every shade of human character. Gregory the Great is one distinguished by modesty, disinterestedness, and sincere religious zeal, tempered by a toleration which could only spring from pure benevolence. The son of a Roman senator, with high mental gifts, and all the accomplishments of his age, he was drawn forward into prominent positions, but always against his will. He would have fain continued to be an obscure monk or a missionary, but his qualities were such that at length even the popedom was thrust upon him (on the death of Pelagius II in 590). On this occasion he wrote to the sister of the Emperor: ‘Appearing to be outwardly exalted, I am really fallen. My endeavours were to banish corporeal objects from my mind, that I might spiritually behold heavenly joys. I am come into the depths of the sea, and the tempest hath drowned me.’
The writings of Pope Gregory, which fill four folio volumes, are said to be very admirable. The English King Alfred showed his appreciation of one treatise by translating it. In exercising the functions of his high station, Gregory exhibited great mildness and forbearance. He eagerly sought to convert the heathen, and to bring heretics back to the faith: but he never would sanction the adoption of any harsh. measures for these purposes. One day-before he attained the papal chair-walking through the market in Rome, he was struck by the beauty of a group of young persons exposed to be sold as slaves. In answer to his inquiry of who they were, and whence they came, he was told they were Angli, from the heathen island of Britain. ‘Verily, Angeli,’ he said, punning on the name: ‘how lamentable that the prince of darkness should be the master of a country containing such a beautiful people! How sad that, with so fair an outside, there should be nothing of God’s grace within! His wish was immediately to set out as a missionary to England, and it was with difficulty he was prevented. The incident, however, led to a mission being ere long sent to our then benighted country, which thus owed its first reception of Christian light to Gregory.
Almsgiving, in such Protestant countries as England, is denounced as not so much a lessening of human suffering as a means of engendering and extending pauperism. Gregory had no such fears to stay his bountiful hand. With him to relieve the poor was the first of Christian graces. He devoted a large proportion of his revenue and a vast amount of personal care to this object. He in a manner took the entire charge of the poor upon his own hands. ‘He relieved their necessities with. so much sweetness and affability, as to spare them the confusion of receiving alms; the old men among them he, out of deference, called his fathers. He often entertained several of them at his own table. He kept by him an exact catalogue of the poor, called by the ancients Matriculae; and he liberally provided for the necessities of each. In the beginning of every month he distributed to all the poor corn, wine, pulse, cheese, fish, flesh, and oil; he appointed officers for every street, to send every day necessaries to all the needy sick: before he ate, he always sent off meats from his own table to some poor persons.’ There may be some bad moral results from this wholesale system of relief for poverty, but certainly the motives which prompted it must be acknowledged to have been highly amiable.
Gregory was a weakly man, often suffering from bad health, and he did not get beyond the age of sixty-four. We owe to him a phrase which has become a sort of formula for the popes-‘Servant of the servants of God.’ His name, which is the same as Vigilantius or Watchman, became, from veneration for him, a favourite one: we find it borne, amongst others, by a Scottish prince of the eighth century, the reputed progenitor of the clan M’Gregor. It is curious to think of this formidable band of Highland outlaws of the seventeenth century as thus connected by a chain of historical circumstances with the gentle and saintly Gregory, who first caused the lamp of Christianity to be planted in England.
