Here is a nice story, a tale of heroism and selflessnes, and a deeper look at the grace and kindness of humanity in the face of what was perhaps the greatest calamity ever to befall mankind. (I was asked to write something kind on the Blog; it pains me to do it)
The bubonic plague ravaged the villages, towns, and cities of Europe from 1348 - 1350. This was a disease that infected people via fleas (via rats) and took its toll swiftly, killing those infected in a period of days, or hours. It is believed this disease originated in the steppes of Asia, was transmitted to the Tartars, and was carried to Europe by Genoese sailors who traded (and made warfare) with them. Indeed, ships sailing into medieval ports in Sicily in 1348 were rife with men who were dead or dying. Those afflicted showed strange boils and blotches, and swellings known as "buboes" were open and seeping with pus or blood. These men were burning with high fever, their bodies were damp with sweat, and they were coughing up phlegm and blood.
This was a disease that moved quickly, and seemed to carry with it what people believed to be the wrath of an angry God. In 1347 the plague was in Genoa and Venice; by early 1348 it penetrated France; by the terrible hot summer of 1348 it had reached Rome, then Florence, and was teeming in England. The sheer number of people to die was staggering -- in cities it was recorded that 400 to 800 were dead every day; in the towns perhaps four out of five died; smaller villages were wiped out completely, some of them lost forever.
It is hard to imagine that kind of death; it is harder when you consider that people were dying too quickly for them to be buried. Graveyards were full, and streets were littered with rotting corpses. The church bells tolled endlessly... until there was no one left to actually ring them. The plague was highly transmittable through touch, and was even more virulent in its "pneumatic" (breath) form. People turned on each other, they abandoned friends, and even families deserted one another. A brother might leave his father, a husband his wife, a mother her child -- it was as if a man's heart had grown cold, and one person shunned another. (Boccacio)
So it is in this time that I give you the selfless nuns, in the "Hotel Dieu," in Paris.
These were the charitable women who kept to the tenets of their faith and took in, selflessly, victim after victim of the plague. People with purple-black skin and oozing sores would appear from the streets and the nuns would dutifully care for them... even when touching such a person meant certain death. Daily there were carts of people being taken to burial pits (or else left to be scattered in the streets) and the nuns were soon among them. It did not matter; they were constantly being replaced by newer members, by newer nuns who knew what their fate must be. They tended to the sick, cooled their fevers, washed them with water, and tried to dress the open, festering sores... even when it meant that they, too, might be dead within hours.
This was an act of bravery and kindess that stands out, momentarily, from the terrible dark pages of this time period. These women were able to care for strangers in a way that friends or even family did not. It is unthinkable to believe a mother would leave her child, or that a child would abandon his parents. These remarkable women were not afraid to show us that history is about humanity, and the ways we are compassionate and kind, and the stories we need to share.
(It so hurts me to be nice)

Lawrence has asked me to post something about American History, so I will do it, just for him, to make him well-happy. It's not that I don't "like" Am Hist -- it's just that I've studied more European History and I'm into things like the Crusades, the Church, Byzantium, and the Black Death. So, LK, my buddy, this one is all for you. I love ya.
You may be familiar with the Salem Witch Trials. They took place between 1692 - 93 in the American colony of Massachussetts. This was a larger part of a conflict between the traditional "farmer" way of life common to the early colonists -- and the new, more secular colonists who were more interested in commercialism than religious tradition. It's possible you're not familiar with one elderly farmer named GILES CORY, who was put to death for his alleged involvement in "witchcraft" in 1693. Like the women accused of such crimes, Cory was sent to trial before a panel of men, most of whom represented the older "Puritan" and "Patriarchical" ways of colonial tradition. The old farmer (Cory was nearly 80) was asked to show these men what he had been accused of -- namely, being "possessed" by a supernatural spirit. Cory refused to answer and was then committed to be "pressed to death."
The poor man was laid on his back, and then wooden slats were placed on top of him. Then rocks were placed upon the wood, one after another, over a period of days until the weight was no longer sustainable... and he was crushed to death.
What has always interested me is the fact that this was an old, old man who was perhaps not fully aware of the charges being leveled against him. He was not fully coherent and was perhaps not able to answer his accusers. Indeed, he would not have been able to speak to them at all, given the weight being pressed down on him. It is recorded that he bit off his own tongue as he gasped and struggled for air. And his accusers, in an effort to gain the truth, stood on top of the rocks and eagerly tried to press down on them.
Next Week -- a more pleasant story, I promise.
We'll go back to the Crusades.

Pope John XXII (r. 1316 - 1334) was known for giving lavish feasts. His pontificate would set the tone for the what was known as the "Avignon Papacy" in France. This was a period in History where the Papal See had been moved from Rome to Avignon in what the Italian poet PETRARCH referred to as "The Babylonian Captivity."
The writer went much further to call the Papal Court a veritable "Hell on Earth" and referred to it as a "sink of iniquity" and the "cess-pool of the world."
Indeed, the Papal Court was elaborate, extravagant, lavish, and decked with wanton greed, avarice, simony, and favors given freely to royalty.
In celebrating the marriage of his grand-neice in 1324, Pope John XXII went to extremes.
According to record, the guests at the newly erected Papal Palace in Avignon would consume over 4000 loaves of bread, 8 oxen, 55 sheep, 8 pigs, 4 boars, and vast quantities of fish, chicken, partridge, rabbits, duck, and other wild game. So, too, they would consume over 300 lbs of cheese, over 3000 eggs, and nearly 450 liters of royal wine.
Many were disgusted by such a display and there were calls for the Pope to return to "simpler" ways in following a life for Christ. Unfortunately, the Popes would not be released from their "Captivity" for another 40 years. In 1377 they would leave Avignon and return back to Rome.

Hannibal was famous for crossing the Alps (218BC) with his elephants, and for using the animals in his battles against Rome during the Punic Wars.
But long before elephants it was the use of camels that proved effective in War.
The "Battle of Thymbra" took place in 546BC.
Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II) sought to expand his rule, and the rule of the "Persians," in the central and southern regions of Asia (modern-day Iran).
He was forcefully opposed by the "Lydians," a small empire that had itself arisen from the fallen Hittite kingdoms nearly five hundred years before. There was much wealth to be found in conquering these people, and the warfare between Cyrus and the Lydian King Croesses was vividly detailed in the histories of the day.
Cyrus was pressing against Croesses, seeking the fabulously wealthy city of "Sardis," when he devised a plan to use camels as weapons in his attack. These were pack-animals, but the camels were instead placed in the front of the marching army, and as the Persians approached the Lydians it was the Lydian horses that withdrew in terror. The horses feared the smell of the camels and they reared back, throwing off their riders, and it was not difficult for the Persians to rush forward, cutting down man after man... until they soon found themselves ankle-deep in Lydian blood. The battle quickly became a massacre, and it secured Cyrus' position over Lydia.
Cyrus would continue his quest for "Empire" and soon captured territories in Greece, Babylonia, Syria, Egypt, and Palestine -- with his camels in battle beside him.
Cyrus' grandson, "Darius I," would later become famous in the Persian conflicts against the Greeks and the "Battle of Marathon" in 490BC.

The "Minoans" were a civilization of people emerging (ca.) 1700 BC on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean. They were contemporaries of the early Greeks, and they were known for their palaces, their culture, their commerce, trade, and their elaborate and sometimes hypnotic artwork. Their paintings and pottery depicted animals, gardens, fish and birds, and reflected a sense of freedom and delight that was common to this culture. Trade-oriented, the Minoans were familiar with the Egyptians and the early Greeks; they engaged the peoples in Cyprus, Syria, Mesopotamia, and even moved into the remote regions of Spain.
What is interesting is the quick disappearance of these people -- certainly the raiding, warring Myceneans overtook them -- but there is another factor in this History.
In 1627 BC (ca.) there was a massive volcanic eruption on the island of Thera.
This was indeed one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the Earth's history... it destroyed the island of Thera and much of the coastline of Crete, itself. It is estimated that a 200 foot tsunami hit, with full-force, the island of Crete, and continued violent magma-steam eruptions would destory the people and their settlements. In fact, the amount of ash spewed into the air would darken the skies in Egypt and China. There are records of famine in Egypt and yellow fog and frost in the regions of Asia. Starving, displaced, and devastated, the Minoans quickly faded.
What is left to us are the legendary palaces, now mesmerizing ruins, and a sense of this "Lost Eden" (Thucydides - 460-395BC).

My friend Marilen is fascinated with this one. It is the story of "Irene of Athens" who ruled Constantinople, in her son's stead, from 753-803. What makes this interesting is the fact that Irene actually had her son "blinded" in an effort to make herself ruler.
She was married to LEO IV, who ruled for five years, and was under Irene's thumb. She controlled policy and warfare, and it was under suspicious circumstances (it is very probable that Irene had him killed) that LEO IV met his death.
What is not suspicious is the way in which Irene had her own son killed.
Constantine IV would have been Emperor. He was only six when his father died. Growing up in the royal court he proved to be frivolous, flirtatious, and perhaps scandalous in his escapades with young women. In Constantinople, no "deformed" or "maimed" ruler was able to take control -- and Irene used this to her full advantage. Her son was seized and then mutilated when his captors took red-hot irons to his eyes. It was not something he would survive. For days he lingered in pain before finally succumbing to death.
Irene ruled for fifty years... but her rule was never accepted. Despite the ongoing "Iconoclasm" (still raging between those who supported paintings and idols within the Church, and those who did not) it was, in reality, Irene's callousness and cruellness which people could not accept. She was called Irene "The Terrible" and Irene "The Murderer" for the death of her son.

717 A.D. was a year of acute crisis for the Emperor of Constantinople, Leo III. Skirmishing Muslim armies had seized Anatolia and were swiftly marching on the Holy city itself. The eastern "Rome" would have perhaps fallen to the invaders -- the Muslims were adept at planning a prolonged seige -- if it were not for the use of "Greek Fire." This was an older tactic that had been used by the Greeks hundreds of years before -- yet, it was the scientists inside Constaninople who actually perfected the weapon. They combined a mixture formed of petroleum, sulphur, and saltpeter that ignited on contact with water. This FIRE was crucial in the defense of the city. The Muslims were terrified of the "Sea Fire"... they did not understand how it could actually seem to burn and blur in terrible fury on the waves. Leo III was successful in using this weapon to drive back the Muslims, and Constantinople would be saved. For a long time the actual ingredients of the "Greek Fire" were carefully guarded secrets. Leo III claimed it was "Divine Intervention" in saving the Holy City.

Christian II, the king of Denmark from 1513 - 1523, gives us a fascinating episode in Scandinavian History -- The "Bloodbath of Stockholm" (1520).
Christian was known as a "Tyrant" during his short reign, and if you ask the Swedes, they will tell you the same, as they refer to him as the "Wicked One."
Despite his fondness for the peasantry, and his need for all things German, Christian made many enemies in Sweden. Both the Danes and the Swedes held to a tenuous union (the Kalmar Union), but Christian's actions in November, 1520, would drive a permanent wedge between the two emerging nations.
The Danish army had successfully invaded Sweden and Christian II offered overtures of peace when he asked Swedish nobles, merchants, and even ordinary people into the castle at Stockholm. His plan was perhaps more diabolic -- he had prepared a large and lavish feast for his guests, just before he imprisoned them and began to "hunt" and "kill" them. Nearly 100 people would be hanged, beheaded, or in some other way murdered in Stockholm square.
It was Christian's pleasure to kill these men at will; for three days in stormy November there were people locked within the rooms of the castle. They had nowhere to go, and there was nowhere to hide where Christian would not find them. Only a spare handful of people would survive to tell the tale. Among them, it is notable -- and perhaps done on purpose by Christian -- that Gustav Eriksson Vasa would escape. He would later become the King of Sweden.