nature hits harder

It seems that despite all the wars men have and will inflict upon themselves, at least to the point in history we have come to, that 'natural disasters' like that of the black plague make the losses of war seem small. I'm not downplaying the loss of life during wars, nor is it my intent. The numbers of dead given in the reading are staggering. What intrigues me is that the disease is still around. It makes me wonder why there hasn't been outbreaks since these middle ages. We read that we now have a way to treat it, but it still seems that as quickly as the disease strikes you could find high population areas across the world quite susceptible to its ravaging effects. I suppose i should hope that Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars don't once again conspire against us.

what was he thinking?

That is what kept running through my mind as i was reading about the first crusade. Pope Urban II initiated the crusades with his speech and call to arms, yet i don't think that the outcome was what he wanted. This leads me to wonder, what DID he want? He apparently didn't want the poor to rush to battle, yet that was who heard his empassioned speech. Why did he make the speech in the first place? What was his intended outcome, and would it have been better or worse for Christianity that what took place? He was a man looking for reform in his church, but i wonder if what he got was his goal or not.

wiki article #2

Search string "Saxons"

This article is about the Saxons in a general perspective. It covers some of thier movements and migrations, as well as their reluctance to convert to christianity. Interestingly it was the poor class of people who resisted the conversion more than the wealthy.
1. 3,891 words
2. Saxons
3. many other links relating to saxony, or variations on the word
4. The Discussion page contained lots of possible change posts, and is indicated that it has not yet recieved a rating for importance or quality. it is listed as a "Start-Class" on the quality scale.
5. There have been over 500 changes since its creation on May 31, 2006
6. There are only 4 external links.
7. There are 8 references cited
8. There are no Further Reading links.

This article is fairly broad and simplistic, and for that reason should probably only be used in conjunction with other cited sources. Given that there isn't any official seal of approval given by the wikipedia staff or other organizations it is one best only used as giving basic direction.

preservation

In reading about Charlamagne i was particularly interested in the preservation of knowledge, and specifically the reformation of handwriting. It is interesting that our upper and lower case letters have slightly different origins. In my mind much thanks goes to Charlamagne and those involved in their own renessaince. Also, were it not for monks studiously transcribing tome after tome after musty tome it is likely that we would have very little by way of history in this region of the world. They (the monks) deserve much thanks for that.

concerning silence

............... while it did make me chuckle that that section was omitted as others were, i thought it a great example. I imagined a monk teaching his students about silence by simply standing there, staring them down.
One thing i found particularly interesting was that when a person wanted to become a monk, and he presented himself at the door, that he was left outside for days to test his resolve. It also seemed that he would be ridiculed while out there. It all makes sense though considering what a faithful monk would have to endure and adhere to in living the laws.