Читать книгу Bible of the Time. …from the Big Bang to the present day… - Rem Word - Страница 16

With the beginning of the Middle Ages, historians associate changes in the calendar, up to the removal of three centuries from it. This is not so difficult to do. Only monks and some officials in charge of the kings own the literacy. The clash of swords is heard everywhere. The common people do not give in to philosophy. In the seventh century, knowledgeable people only have to slightly correct the complex and incomprehensible Roman numerals. Whether it is true or not, it is not known for sure, but it is clear that from the middle of the sixth century to the beginning of the tenth, a very sparse desert extends on the calendar.

Until the thirteenth century, the Eastern Roman Empire flourished. But, progress, development disappears in it, so that sometimes it is even too lazy to look through the biographies of its emperors, marked by palace intrigues rather than great, albeit not always specious achievements.

The symbol of the European Middle Ages, donjon (fr. – «master’s tower»). The central tower is placed within the walls of the castle, or separately. It serves as a warehouse for weapons and food supplies. First of all, the donjon is a symbol of the rule of a dynasty or community over a territory.

We dive into the European Middle Ages, emerge in the nineteenth century, the era of science and steam.

…European Union at the beginning of the Middle Ages. France, in the recent past, Roman Gaul, is the core of the ancient «European Union». Merovingians. The founder of this great dynasty is the semi-mythical leader Merovei (which can be translated as «Bee»). The monarch has ruled since the beginning of the fourth century AD. His grandson Clovis pushes the boundaries, produces sons, bequeaths to everyone a piece of the kingdom and orders them to live in peace. Fighting with each other, the offspring are taken to unite these allotments. The winner divides the state according to the number of male children. In the finale of this life’s drama, the true rulers of the country are the accountants of the royal court, the enterprising majordomo. One of them elevates to the throne his heir, the future father of Charlemagne, the founder of the Carolingian dynasty (747).

In the seventh century, Charles expands the empire, on all sides, to modern Spain, the middle of Italy, the shores of Normandy and Poland.

Charlemagne (742—814), among other things, founder of the title «King» – «Charles»

Two hundred years later, France, Italy, Germany gain independence, but are considered a single Holy Roman Empire until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The states maintain a cultural community, deploy troops for the Crusades and repulse the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire. The Vatican watches over the behavior of the rulers. If the whims of a certain king go beyond the limits, spiritual power, in cooperation with other monarchs, is able to correct something.

…In France, after the childless King Louis the Fifth Carolingian, Count Hugo Capet comes to power. He approves the Capetian dynasty (kapa is the robe of the priest, which this nobleman likes to wear).

In 1313, the famous Capetian, Philip the Fourth the Handsome, crushes the first transnational corporation, the richest Order of the Knights Templar, closed in the awareness of its own superiority. On the scaffold or with weapons in hand, a thousand knights are sent to another world. Brutal repression falls on another 20,000 Order workers, servants and squires. A year later, according to the curse of the head of the Templars, Jacques de Molay, as a result of an accident while hunting, the organizer of this operation, not so handsome as greedy, the French king, himself and his three sons die after a short time, leaving no direct heirs.

Philip the Fair’s cousin, Philip the Sixth of France, establishes the Valois dynasty, the younger branch of the Capetian, on the throne. He has no sons, so to speak, initially, which becomes the reason for the outbreak of the Hundred Years War.

Marguerite de Valois (1553—1615), she is «Queen Margot», daughter of Henry II and Catherine de Medici, the Princess is married to the young Henry de Bourbon, King of Navarre, one of the leaders of the Protestants. The wedding spills over into St. Bartholomew’s Night after six days. Margarita refuses to file a divorce under violent pressure from relatives. So she saves the life of her husband and several other eminent nobles.

A few more rulers of the Valois dynasty, and the hero of the novels of the father and son of Dumas, Henry of Anjou, bursts into the stormy stream of history. His sister is Queen Margot (Margaret), married to Henry of Navarre, one of the brothers is Charles Maximilian, the current King Charles the Fourth. Their parent is a subtle connoisseur of poisons, a leading politician in Europe, Catherine de Medici. In order to somehow pass the time, Henry of Anjou becomes the Polish king. The monarch is preparing for a dynastic wedding on Anna Jagiellonka, who, otherwise, could have become the wife of Ivan the Terrible. But, having learned about the sudden death of his brother Charles, this nobleman leaves his residence in Poland and hurries for the more prestigious French crown. In Paris, however, the nomination of the Catholic Duke Heinrich de Guise is popular. Henry III manages to lure the brothers of Gizov, the duke and the bishop into negotiations. Here they, along with bodyguards, are stabbed with swords by the adherents of the king.

The troops of two Henrys – Navarre (Bourbon), who became Margot’s husband and at the same time a Catholic, and Anjou, besiege the outraged Paris. A dexterous, desperate scout plunges a knife into Henry III, interrupting the entire Valois dynasty with a single precise movement. A month later, the crowned Henry IV of Navarre also dies from the dagger of his colleague, Ravallaca. This monarch’s own kingdom, Navarre, is consolidated within France. So, rather unexpectedly, the younger branch of the Capetian, the Bourbons («blackbirds»), comes to power in France. The son of Henry of Navarre, Louis the Thirteenth, also a very famous hero of historical novels, marries Princess Anne of Austria. Under him, the country was ruled by the wise Cardinal Richelieu.

For a more complete immersion in History, we will sing the ancient Breton song "Drink cider, Lau!" You have probably heard its intricate melody more than once:

…Since the middle of the seventeenth century, for almost seventy years, France has been ruled by the famous Bourbon, the Sun King Louis the Fourteenth, aka «The State is Me». The son of the sun, Louis the Fifteenth Beloved (1710—1774), is better known for his mistress, a true enchantress, the Marquise de Pompadour.

Louis the Fourteenth (1643 – 1715)

Louis the Fourteenth, despite his love, has only one legitimate son, married to Maria of Spain (daughter of the Spanish king). Louis the Great Dauphin died under mysterious circumstances in 1711 in the midst of the struggle for the Spanish inheritance (theoretically, this aristocrat unites the crowns of France and Spain). Equally unintelligible, officially, from measles aggravated by bloodletting, other heirs also die. Only the great-grandson of the «Sun King», Louis the Fifteenth Beloved (1710—1774), survives and occupies the French throne.

Louis the Sixteenth has long postponed reforms to levy taxes from nobles and clergy. Endlessly maneuvering between the estates, he gets entangled and throws the steering wheel of the state to the mercy of fate.

Louis the Sixteenth (1754—1793), king and blacksmith

In the end, the king is condemned by the revolutionary convention. The former monarch ascends the scaffold. He is followed by his wife, Marie Antoinette. The execution of the queen is very disliked by the German (European) Habsburg dynasty, whose representative is Antoinette Habsburg-Lorraine. The last direct heir of the Bourbons, recognized by the monarchies of Europe as King Louis the Seventeenth, dies of malnutrition and mistreatment, ten years old.