Modern Americans Work More than Medieval Peasants

From Nancy Bilyeau at the Vintage News:

“Before capitalism, most people did not work very long hours at all,” wrote Schor in her book. “Consider a typical working day in the medieval period. It stretched from dawn to dusk (sixteen hours in summer and eight in winter), but, as the Bishop Pilkington has noted, work was intermittent – called to a halt for breakfast, lunch, the customary afternoon nap, and dinner.” 

Depending on time and place, there were also midmorning and midafternoon refreshment breaks. These rest periods were the traditional rights of laborers, which they enjoyed even during peak harvest times. During slack periods, which accounted for a large part of the year, adherence to regular working hours was not usual. According to Oxford Professor James E. Thorold Rogers, the medieval workday was not more than eight hours. 

Plowing and harvesting were backbreaking toil, no doubt, but the peasant enjoyed anywhere from eight weeks to half the year off. 

The Catholic Church, mindful of how to keep a population from rebelling, enforced frequent mandatory holidays. Weddings, wakes, and births might mean a week off to celebrate, “and when wandering jugglers or sporting events came to town, the peasant expected time off for entertainment,” according to Business Insider. “There were labor-free Sundays, and when the plowing and harvesting seasons were over, the peasant got time to rest, too.” 

In fact, Schor found that during periods of particularly high wages, such as 14th-century England, peasants might put in no more than 150 days a year. “All told, holiday leisure time in medieval England took up probably about one-third of the year,” she wrote in her book. “And the English were apparently working harder than their neighbors. The ancien règime in France is reported to have guaranteed fifty-two Sundays, ninety rest days, and thirty-eight holidays. In Spain, travelers noted that holidays totaled five months per year.” (Read more.)

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How Comrade Mamdani Will Appropriate Private Real Estate In New York City

 From AND Magazine:

Lest you think this is an exaggeration, here are some quotes by Cea Weaver, Mamdani’s point person on housing:

“Private property, including and kind of ESPECIALLY homeownership, is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as ‘wealth building’ public policy.”

“Homeownership is racist/failed public policy.” ·

“For centuries, we’ve really treated property as an individualized good and not a collective good, and we are going to, in transitioning to treating it as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity, will require that we think about it differently... Families, especially White families, but some POC families who are homeowners as well, are going to have a different relationship to property than the one that we currently have.”

Cea hasn’t stopped at simply identifying the problem, however. She has been remarkably up front about exactly how to destroy the horrible capitalist, racist, cisgendered edifice she so detests.

“But investment in enforcement is not in itself enough,” Weaver wrote. The city, as the New York Post put it in an editorial, can then pass “laws that cause real-estate values to collapse.”

You need to understand that in Weaver’s world, the city’s “lack of a profit motive” is a great advantage. The city can ignore considerations of profit and loss and use its taxing and regulatory powers to drive out private actors. It can destroy private landlords and then seize control of their assets when they are forced to flee the market.

“With its multibillion-dollar capital budget, the city has the capacity to act as a non-speculative market actor: purchasing buildings where the landlord is no longer interested in ownership.”

“We need to combine the power to enforce housing standards and the power to finance and acquire rental housing — two capacities the city already has.”(Read more.)

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Medieval Lepers

 From Archaeology Magazine:

Phys.org reports that Elena Fiorin of Sapienza University of Rome and her colleagues looked for mercury in samples of dental calculus taken from the remains of people buried at two medieval lepers’ hospitals, or leprosaria—Peterborough Abbey in England, which was founded in 1125, and Saint-Thomas-d’Aizier, built in the late eleventh century in Normandy, France. During the medieval period, the toxic metal was used to treat syphilis and leprosy in the form of ointments that were rubbed onto the skin. Samples of bones, teeth, and hair are usually used to test mercury levels in human remains. “Dental calculus offers a new and complementary perspective,” Fiorin said. “Because it forms in the mouth during life, it can capture substances that enter the body more directly, including medical treatments applied in or around the mouth,” she explained. The researchers also tested soil from the graves to see if mercury could have entered the dental calculus after burial, and analyzed the dental calculus of people who had been buried in non-leprosaria cemeteries in England and France. “Individuals buried in leprosaria show significantly higher mercury levels than those from other cemeteries, and our analyses indicate that this mercury was incorporated during life rather from the soil,” Fiorin said. “In addition, there is no evidence of local environmental sources, such as mining, that could explain these patterns.” Mercury detected in the soil at the leprosaria likely leached from contaminated bodies, since the levels of mercury in the dental calculus tended to be higher than those in the soil samples. The highest levels of mercury were found in the remains of two individuals who had been buried in a leprosarium chapel, perhaps indicating that they were elites with access to more medical treatment. Read the original scholarly article about this research in the Journal of Archaeological Science. To read more about chemical sampling of soil around burials, go to "Secrets of Life in the Soil." (Read more.)

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The Man, the Ox, the Lion and the Eagle

  

From Hilary White at the Sacred Images Project:

There is a running internet joke going around about “biblically accurate angels” that usually involves sticking googly eyes and extra wings onto random objects until they become progressively more horrifying. Like most jokes, it exists because there is a grain of truth behind it. The heavenly beings described in Scripture are often deeply strange, covered with eyes, multiple wings and composite forms, sometimes not even remotely anthropomorphised and seem designed less to comfort than to overwhelm the human imagination.

We’re going to take a brief look today at the background for these images, and we’ll learn how Christian artists traditionally rendered as symbols some of the strangest passages in Scripture.

You’ve seen them hundreds of times if you’ve ever looked at medieval art, even if you never noticed them consciously. Whenever you see an image of Christ enthroned, surrounded by the mandorla - the “Christ in Majesty” prototype we’ve discussed, you also see these four strange beings: a winged man who looks like an angel, a lion, an ox and an eagle, usually all with wings and halos. And it’s in nearly every single depiction of it, from illuminated manuscripts and book covers to Romanesque frescoes and carved Gothic tympana over church doors. (Read more.)

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Tibet - Reincarnation With Communist Characteristics

 From AND Magazine:

During the recent summit with President Trump, Xi Jinping made clear his intention to “reunite” Taiwan, which is not historically part of China, with the People’s Republic. Another historically independent nation, Tibet, has already suffered this fate. Over a million Tibetans died in that “reunification” process, and for good measure, the CCP destroyed over 6000 Buddhist monasteries and temples.

But, if you want to get a full appreciation for what it means to be “reunited” with Communist China, you need to understand that Red China now presumes to control the succession of the Dalai Lama. Beijing has already occupied the physical. It now intends to occupy the metaphysical as well.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso. He is 90 years old. He lives in exile in India, having fled the Chinese occupation of his country, but remains widely regarded as the symbol of Tibetan resistance to Chinese tyranny. Given his advanced age, the question of who will succeed him is more than academic.

The Tibetans employ an elaborate religious process to choose the successor to a Dalai Lama. In brief, it is believed that when a Dalai Lama passes, he is reincarnated immediately in the body of someone else. The process, then, is effectively a hunt for that new individual, usually a child.

To find the Dalai Lama, other high lamas consult oracles, watch the direction of smoke emanating from the cremation of the deceased Dalai Lama, take note of natural events, and even watch to see which way the Dalai Lama is facing when he dies. When a possible successor is identified, these lamas then interview possible successors and test them. Candidates are shown personal items belonging to the old Dalai Lama, as well as “decoys,” and must correctly identify the items that “belong” to them. This is all a matter of looking for signs and delving into a world of mysticism, faith, and ancient history.

None of which means anything to the Communist abomination that is modern China.

The Chinese have no intention of allowing a bunch of Tibetan monks to choose their spiritual leader. They have declared they will choose. They have a ministry for just this task, and, of course, they have rules and regulations. (Read more.)

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DNA Analysis of Christopher Columbus

 From Bored Panda:

Christopher Columbus may not have been who we thought, as researchers are closer to unraveling the mystery of his true identity. According to the widely accepted story about the famous explorer, he is a man of humble Italian origins. But a new genetic study has challenged this, saying he may be from a powerful and influential family elsewhere.

For centuries, history books have painted Columbus as a navigator of modest Italian origins.

Despite not being the first to make it to the Americas, he was the man credited with discovering the “New World” after convincing the Catholic Monarchs to finance a voyage that changed the course of history.

On August 3, 1492, he and his crew of nearly 100 people set sail from the port of Palos in southern Spain in three vessels: The Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria.

To find a route to China and India was Columbus’ mission.

But after 35 days at sea and growing frustration among his crew, he nearly turned back. But the cry of land being spotted was heard at around 2 a.m. on October 12. And thus, Columbus had arrived in the Americas. (Read more.)

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'Viva la Vida'

One of my sisters insisted to me that I listen to the Coldplay song 'Viva la Vida'. She said it was about Louis XVI. I doubted that anything with a Spanish title, written by a liberal like Chris Martin, with Delacroix's painting honoring the 1830 Revolution on the cover, could have anything to do with my beloved Martyr-King. But I listened to humor her. And then listened again and again and again. I am now convinced that, in spite of the title and revolutionary imagery, the song is an ode honoring the immolation of His Most Christian Majesty Louis XVI. I have pondered the lyrics and what they express about his life, his passion and his death. At my sister's request, I have jotted down my thoughts here. The lyrics are from the Coldplay website. The comments in bold are mine.

I used to rule the world

At his coronation on June 11, 1775, Trinity Sunday, Louis XVI was anointed with the holy oils, including the miraculous chrism from the Holy Ampulla. He was invested in the ancient royal regalia, including the sword of Charlemagne. As the Most Christian King, Louis was first among the rulers of the world.

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Louis XVI rebuilt the French navy, which defeated the British in the American War for Independence.

Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

During his trial in late 1792 and early 1793, Louis XVI was separated from his wife and family and was in solitary confinement in the Temple prison even on Christmas Day, when he wrote his Will. I am not sure what the reference to sweeping the streets means, except that Louis was treated by the Temple guards with insults and disrespect.

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy’s eyes

 Louis hated gambling, although it was rife at court. He did gamble when he chose to help the Americans, which was a successful gamble, and when he summoned the Estates-General in 1789, an unsuccessful gamble, which was used to overthrow him.

Listened as the crowd would sing
Now the old king is dead long live the king

Louis XVI was exceedingly popular when he came to the throne at 20 years old in 1774 at the death of his grandfather Louis XV.

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me

Louis was given the keys of the city of Paris when he formally visited in 1774 as Dauphin with his wife Marie-Antoinette, the city where he would eventually become a prisoner in October 1789.

And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

The "pillars of salt" I am guessing refers to the refusal of the court to let go of the past, and the resistance, even in the royal family, to the reforms of Louis and Antoinette. The "pillars of sand" must refer to the bankruptcy inherited by Louis XVI from the last two monarchs, which he had to deal with from day one, in spite of the demands of the people for a glamorous court.

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing

Perhaps a reference to the heritage of crusader kings Louis VII and St. Louis IX. Louis XVI was named for the latter, with the saint's exact name of "Louis-Auguste."

Roman cavalry choirs are singing

The French monarchy was long regarded as a defender of the papacy and was thus given the title of Eldest Daughter of the Church.

Be my mirror, my sword and shield

Louis was gradually deprived of the splendor of his palace, his armed forces and his public worship of God. The "mirror" might refer to the famous Hall of Mirrors. Louis' "sword" I think represents the army he built up, and the "shield" means his Catholic faith, all of which were materially stripped from him. What did he have left until the last few months? His children, his sister and his wife. Marie-Antoinette was his mirror, sword and shield when all else was gone. And she defended him until the moment of her own death.

Missionaries in a foreign field

The Jesuit martyrs of North America are famous but people forget that Louis XVI sent out his own missionaries in the Lapérouse expedition.

For some reason I can’t explain
Once you’d gone there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world

Louis XVI was plunged into an acute depression when his oldest son Louis-Joseph died after a painful illness in June of 1789, just as Louis had to deal with the Estates-General and the chaos that followed.

It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in

Louis XVI would never have been king except that his older brother died of tuberculosis, a slow suffocation which people believed was caused by "bad" air. His son died of the same illness a few months before the mob broke into the palace and captured the Royal Family as prisoners.

Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn’t believe what I’d become

This appears to refer to the raids upon the Palace of the Tuileries in June and August of 1792, in which much damage was done. On August 10, 1792, the Royal Family fled the mob to take refuge with the National Assembly, where they were arrested. The Swiss Guards were massacred.

Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate

There were those who early on sought the death of the entire Royal Family. Louis, his wife and his sister, were guillotined.

Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?

When Louis was under house arrest at the Tuileries he was basically a puppet. In his Will he lamented the misfortune of being king.

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
I know St Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can’t explain
I know St Peter won’t call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

  "For some reason I can’t explain/ I know St Peter won’t call my name." This verse breaks my heart because I think it is a reference to how Louis XVI was originally advised by clerics to sign the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which created a church independent of the papal supremacy. Louis felt so guilty he became ill, and when he eventually received guidance from the Pope on the matter he did everything he could to work against the document he had signed. Refusing to receive his Easter Communion in 1791 from a priest who had taken the oath to the government, he attempted to flee Paris with his family, to be captured at Varennes on the Feast of Corpus Christi. From the beginning of the ordeal, Marie-Antoinette refused to take the oath to the Civil Constitution and she and Madame Elisabeth, Louis' sister, arranged for secret Masses with priests who had not betrayed the papacy. Nevertheless, Louis' earlier perceived betrayal is the reason that has been given for why the Catholic Church, which he loved, has never beatified him.

"Never an honest word/ But that was when I ruled the world." Louis as ruler often had to go against his feelings and preferences. Although he was known to be blunt and forthright he had learned as a child to keep his thoughts to himself. Lies were told about him during his life: that he was an impotent imbecile under the thumb of his foreign wife. Lies are told about him to this day.

Anyway, this song captures the majesty of all that was great about the patrimony of the French monarchy, and how Louis had to take upon his shoulders the satanic rage of the fall of Christendom, while embodying in himself all the past courage, faith and mercy.

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Memorial Day, the Triumphal Arch, and the Veterans Suing to Block America's 250th Birthday Arch

 From Alexander Muse at Amuse on X:

On Memorial Day, the country pauses to honor the men who died in its uniform, and the men who came home and continued to serve the republic in quieter ways. It is a day for plain speech about loyalty, sacrifice, and the difference between the two. So it is worth being plain about the piece CBS News published this morning under the headline, “For a group of Vietnam vets, opposing Trump’s arch is about being ‘loyal to the country.’” The piece profiles Shaun Byrnes and Jon Gundersen, two of the Vietnam veterans who, alongside a third veteran and an architectural historian, sued in February to stop construction of the 250-foot Triumphal Arch planned for Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, the empty traffic circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. CBS frames them as career diplomats, decorated veterans, and reluctant non-partisans who have been roused from retirement by a uniquely alarming threat to the republic. The framing is the story. The men are props. And the framing collapses the moment one consults the public record.

Consider how the framing works. CBS allows Byrnes to compare the arch to the architecture of “authoritarian dictatorships,” which he says have “no rule of law, no consent of the governed,” and “monuments for the leaders.” CBS reports, with no audible skepticism, that both Byrnes and Gundersen view the arch as a monument to Trump rather than to the country’s 250th anniversary. The reader is invited to receive this as the sober judgment of patriots who have set politics aside. The reader is not told that Gundersen appeared in a 2020 video titled “Vietnam Vet and Ukraine Diplomat Talks Voting Against Trump as a Republican,” that he has spent years using his veteran status to attack the president’s Ukraine policy from a maximalist pro-Kyiv posture, or that Byrnes publicly attacked President Trump and Richard Grenell when they brokered the Kosovo-Serbia normalization, preferring the conflict to continue. The reader is not told that the burial threat in the piece, Byrnes saying he would “reconsider” interment at Arlington if the arch is built, is a rhetorical device, not a policy objection. The reader is told only what the framing requires. (Read more.)

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Audubon's 'Birds of America'

 From Country Life:

In November 2023, shortly after taking up the position of Heritage Lead at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Claire McDade, a woman who positively thrums with all the compact energy and bright-eyed good cheer of a goldfinch on a sunny spring morning, removed the dust sheet that for the previous 30-odd years had covered a waist-high cabinet, about the size of a foosball table or perhaps a little larger, in a corner of the college’s upstairs library.

What lay beneath left her speechless.

A first edition of the first volume of John James Audubon’s Birds of America. ‘I hate to use the word, but, honestly, I was,’ she told me, ‘gobsmacked. I thought, “We’ve got to do something more with this.” I made it my mission.’

By May 2026, with necessary funding secured and conservation work done, her mission was accomplished. As of this week, the college’s Audubon is, for a few precious hours every Monday, available for public inspection. (Read more.)

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