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Bosham Church, West Sussex. Crusaders returning to England would ritually blunt the edges of their swords against the stones of the first church they came to. For many this was Bosham Church, close to a once busy port. What can the Crusades tell us about present tensions? See below...

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A Personal Note (Archive)

Since the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the world's tensions seem to have settled along religious rather than national lines. Instead of a new development this of course is more of a return to an earlier situation. And previous periods of religious strife may have something to tell us about present day problems. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries nine crazy expeditions in numerous different waves headed from western Europe to the Middle East with the supposed aim of liberating the Holy Land from Muslim rule. Most of these expeditions had to pass through the city of Constantinople at a crucial crossing point on the Bosphorus. Founded in 330AD by Emperor Constantine, this was a massive city. It has been estimated that more people lived in Constantinople in 1050 than in the whole of England. Constantinople made its fortune in trade between east and west and was inherently tolerant. Constantinople did have its tyrants. Andronicus who ruled 1180 to 84 was terrifying, and ordered a massacre of the city's western merchants. But Andronicus was overthrown after four years, his reign the exception rather than the rule. Toleration was the rule, because toleration was better for business and trade. There was even a mosque to serve a Muslim population. Constantinople was considered a holy city - its emperor viewing himself as the leader of the Christian world - but even so Constantinople was primarily a place of money and business, and simply had no concept of holy war. Through the difficult crusading centuries all its policies were designed to keep dangerous crusaders happy, while not upsetting Muslim neighbours any more than necessary. One side was played off against the other. Following the First Crusade in 1097, this balancing act continued, with fluctuating success, for two hundred years. It was a great tragedy when efforts finally failed, leading to Constantinople's fall to forces of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. But Constantinople eventually recovered, while all the Crusader states set up in the Middle East collapsed. The empire centred on Constantinople finally disappeared in 1453, when the city was captured by the Ottoman sultan Mahmed II. This brought to an end an empire which had survived since 330. This is a remarkable length of time for a human institution to last. Crusaders and Constantinople's smooth ruling class illustrate two contrasting ways of approaching government - one based on shifting values and the endless job of dealing with things as they come up, the other relying on fanatical certainties and the idea of winning through to the promised land. The states created by the Crusaders in the Middle East lasted at most for a couple of hundred years. Constantinople and its empire lasted over a thousand years.

Best wishes

Martin

Historical news for February

Ships are always interesting as history. They are little national communities, revealing as much about the time they came from as the place. At the Maritime Museum, Falmouth award winning author Philip Marsden will be giving a lecture this month on his latest book The Levelling Sea. This book, fittingly has been described as a microcosm of British history, like a ship in a bottle. Date: 29th February at 6.30 pm. Telephone 01326 215546 or go to the museum web site http://www.nmmc.co.uk/index.php?/whatson/events/philip_marsdens_the_levelling_sea/

Want an idea for a special Valentines evening? Leeds Castle in Kent has hardly ever been involved in the unpleasant business of fighting. Instead it was a lovely castle for the ladies, and was given as a romantic present to a number of English queens. On February 14th you can dine at the castle, and then stay overnight in one of the castle's luxurious guest rooms. Dinner £145 per person. Rooms from £225 per night. Use the following link for more details: http://www.leeds-castle.com/goto.php?sess=+A5A5247191850465D+E+852+9+B5B5841&id=126

To mark the centenary of Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole a display of photographs taken by expedition photographer Herbert Ponting is being staged at the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London. There are also photographs taken by Frank Hurley of Ernest Shackleton's Endurance expedition of 1914 - 16. Visitors will be able to view artifacts from both these expeditions. The exhibition runs from October 2011 to 15th April 2012. Telephone 020 7766 7301.

 

Anniversaries for February

1st February 1953: High winds and high tides combined to overwhelm sea defences and cause widespread flooding in eastern England; 24,000 homes were flooded, and 30,000 people left homeless.

6th February 1665 : Birth of the future Queen Anne at St James's Palace, London. She was the daugther of James Duke of York, and Anne Hyde, a determined woman, a former maid of James's mother, who refused to be just another royal fling.

7th February 1974 : Following a miners' strike and the imposition of a three day working week to conserve fuel supplies, prime minister Edward Heath calls a snap election. The election held on 28th February would see Heath defeated, and Harold Wilson's Labour government taking over.

14th February 1979 : After a series of devasating strikes involving millions of British workers, James Callaghan's government agrees a concordat with the TUC General Council. Although Trade Union leaders no longer had the authority to suddenly stop the strikes, the concordat did see the strikes begin to wind down.

17th February 1912 : Returning from the South Pole with his party of four men, Captain Scott finds Edgar Evans collapsed in the snow: "I was the first to reach the poor man and shocked at his appearance: he was on his knees with clothing disarranged, hands uncovered and frost bitten, and a wild look in his eyes. Asked what was the matter he replied with slow speech that he didn't know, but thought he must have fainted. We got him to his feet but after one or two steps he sank back down again. He showed every sign of complete collapse. Wilson, Bowers and I went back for the sledge while Oates stayed with him. When we returned he was practically unconscious, and when we got him into the tent quite comatose. He died quietly at 12.30am."

22nd February 1997: A significant moment in the history of science as Dolly the sheep in cloned by scientists in Edinburgh.

25th February 1570: Pope Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth I. This caused huge difficulties for English Catholics, as loyalty to the pope was by definition disloyalty to the monarch.

 

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Thank you to photo contributors Danielle Davis, Jean Edwards, Vicky Eagle of Portsmouth Dockyard, Kevin Edwards, Julian Jones, Richard Jones, Jackie Lewis, Debbie Lowless, Judy Mills of the Corinium Museum, and Susan Stuart of Old Spitalfields Market.