Belgium, 1100, 12th-14th Century, Holy Roman Empire Folder, Crusades and Avignon Papacy.kmz

Belgium, 1100, 12th-14th Century, Holy Roman Empire Folder, Crusades and Avignon Papacy

Belgium, 1100-1199, 12th Century Folder, HRE, 2nd Crusade, 3rd, and Battle of the Ice Crusade

Belgium, 1101-1142, Peter Abelard, Philosopher, rationalistic, forerunner of Rousseau
France, 1100-1142, Philosopher, Peter Abelard; Abelard (c. 1079 - 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet.[4] philosophy he is celebrated for his logical solution to the problem of universals via nominalism and conceptualism and his pioneering of intent in ethics.[5] Often referred to as the "Descartes of the twelfth century", he is considered a forerunner of Rousseau, Kant, and Spinoza.[6] He is sometimes credited as a chief forerunner of modern empiricism.[7] history and popular culture, he is best known for his passionate and tragic love affair and intense philosophical exchange with his brilliant student and eventual wife, Heloise d'Argenteuil. Apologist of women and of their education, Abelard founded in 1131 the first feminine monastery, meeting point of learned women, for whom he composed music. After having sent Heloise to a convent in Brittany to protect her from her abusive uncle who did not want her to pursue this forbidden love, he was castrated by men sent by this uncle. Still considering herself as his spouse even though both retired to monasteries after this event, Heloise publicly defended him when his doctrine was condemned by Pope Innocent II and Abelard was therefore considered, at that time, as a heretic. Among these opinions, Abelard professed the innocence of a woman who commits a sin out of love.[8] Catholic theology, he is best known for his development of the concept of limbo, and his introduction of the moral influence theory of atonement. He is considered (alongside Augustine) to be the most significant forerunner of the modern self-reflective autobiographer. He paved the way and set the tone for later epistolary novels and celebrity tell-alls with his publicly distributed letter, The History of My Calamities and public correspondence. law, Abelard stressed that, because the subjective intention determines the moral value of human action, the legal consequence of an action is related to the person that commits it and not merely to the action. With this doctrine, Abelard created in the Middle Ages the idea of the individual subject central to modern law. This eventually gave to School of Notre-Dame de Paris (later the University of Paris) a recognition for its expertise in the area of Law (and later led to the creation of a faculty of law in Paris). PETER ABELARD, Abbot, Theologian, Philosopher, 21 April 1142 ; BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153);

Belgium, 1105-1125, HRE Emperor, Henry V (Investiture Controversy, church and state, ability to install church officers)
Belgium, 1105-1125, Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor ; V (1081 or 1086 (probably on 11 August)[1] - 23 May 1125, in Utrecht), was King of Germany (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Henry IV, in 1098. Emperor Henry IV's conflicts with the imperial princes and the struggle against the reform papacy during the Investiture Controversy, young Henry V allied himself with the opponents of his father. He forced Henry IV to abdicate on 31 December 1105 and ruled for five years in compliance with the imperial princes. He tried, unsuccessfully, to withdraw the regalia from the bishops and in order to at least preserve the previous right to invest he captured Pope Paschal II and forced him to perform his imperial coronation in 1111. Once crowned emperor, Henry departed from joint rule with the princes and resorted to earlier Salian autocratic rule. After he had failed to increase control over the church, the princes in Saxony and on the Middle and Lower Rhine, in 1121 the imperial princes forced Henry V to consent with the papacy. He surrendered to the demands of the second generation of Gregorian reformers, and in 1122 he and Pope Callixtus II ended the Investiture Controversy in the Concordat of Worms. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153); HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, VISIONARY (17 SEP 1179);

Belgium, 1112-1153, Bernard of Clairvaux, Philosopher, Abbot, Judge, revitalization of monasticism, pope ordered crusades
Bernard of Clairvaux; of Clairvaux (Latin: Bernardus Claraevallensis; 1090 – 20 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was a Burgundian abbot and a major leader in the revitalization of Benedictine monasticism through the nascent Cistercian Order. was sent to found Clairvaux Abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val d'Absinthe, about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) southeast of Bar-sur-Aube. In the year 1128, Bernard attended the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar,[a] which soon became an ideal of Christian nobility. the death of Pope Honorius II in 1130, a schism arose in the church. Bernard was a major proponent of Pope Innocent II, arguing effectively for his legitimacy over the Antipope Anacletus II. 1139, Bernard attended the Second Council of the Lateran and criticized Peter Abelard vocally. Bernard advocated crusades in general and convinced many to participate in the unsuccessful Second Crusade, notably through a famous sermon at Vézelay (1146). was canonized just 21 years after his death by Pope Alexander III. In 1830 Pope Pius VIII declared him a Doctor of the Church. France, 1100-1142, Philosopher, Peter Abelard; PETER ABELARD, Abbot, Theologian, Philosopher, 21 April 1142 ; BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153); third son of a Burgundian nobleman, was born in 1090. His brothers were trained as soldiers, but Bernard from youth was destined for scholarship. One Christmas Eve as a child he had a dream about the infant Christ in the manger; and the memory of it, and consequent devotion to the mystery of the Word made flesh, remained with him throughout his life. Bernard had good prospects of success as a secular scholar, but he began to believe that he was called to the monastic life, and after a period of prayer for guidance, he decided at age 22 to enter the monastery of Citeaux (Latin Cistercium, appearing on modern maps as Corcelles-les-Citeaux), an offshoot of the Benedictines which had adopted a much stricter rule than theirs, and became the founding house of the Cistercian (Trappist) order. (Actually, the Trappists are a reformed (i.e. stricter) offshoot of the Cistercians, who are a stricter offshoot of the Benedictines.) He persuaded four of his brothers, one uncle, and 26 other men to join him. They were the first novices that Citeaux had had for several years. After three years, the abbot ordered Bernard to take twelve monks and found a new house at La Ferte. The first year was one of great hardship. They had no stores and lived chiefly on roots and barley bread. Bernard imposed such severe discipline that his monks became discouraged, but he realized his error and became more lenient. The reputation of the monastery, known as Clairvaux (48:09 N 4:47 E), spread across Europe. Many new monks joined it, and many persons wrote letters or came in person to seek spiritual advice. By the time of his death, 60 new monasteries of the Cistercian order were established under his direction. For four years after 1130 Bernard was deeply involved with a disputed papal election, championing the claims of Innocent II against his rival Anacletus II. He travelled throughout France, Germany, and Italy mustering support for his candidate (and, it should be added, preaching sermons denouncing injustices done to Jews), and returned from one of these journeys with Peter Bernard of Paganelli as a postulant for the monastery. The future Pope Eugenius III spent the next year stoking the monastery fires. Years later, Bernard wrote a major treatise of advice to Eugenius on the spiritual temptations of spiritual power. The papal election was not the only dispute in which Bernard became involved. He was highly critical of Peter Abelard, one of the most brilliant theologians of the day (see 21 April). Bernard believed that Abelard was too rationalistic in his approach, and failed to allow sufficiently for the element of mystery in the faith. When Abelard rejected some of the ways of stating Christian doctrines to which Bernard was accustomed, Bernard concluded, perhaps too hastily, that this was equivalent to rejecting the doctrine itself. A conference was scheduled at Sens, where Abelard's views were to be examined, but soon after it began Abelard decided that he was not about to get a fair hearing, announced that he was appealing to Rome, and left. He set out for Rome and got as far as Cluny, where he stopped. Peter the Venerable, the abbot (see 30 April), was a friend of both Abelard and Bernard, and managed to reconcile them before they died. of ClairvauxOne of Bernard's most influential acts, for better or worse, was his preaching of the Second Crusade. The First Crusade had given the Christian forces control of a few areas in Palestine, including the city of Edessa. When Moslem forces captured Edessa, now called Urfa and located in eastern Turkey) in 1144, King Louis VII of France (not to be confused with St. Louis IX, also a Crusader, but more than a century later) was eager to launch a crusade to retake Edessa and prevent a Moslem recapture of Jerusalem. He asked Bernard for help, and Bernard refused. He then asked the Pope to order Bernard to preach a Crusade. The pope gave the order, and Bernard preached, with spectacular results. Whole villages were emptied of able-bodied males as Bernard preached and his listeners vowed on the spot to head for Palestine and defend the Sacred Shrines with their lives. The preaching of the Crusade had an ugly side-effect. In the Rhineland, a monk named Raoul wandered about telling crowds that if they were going to fight for the faith, the logical first step was to kill the Jews who were near at hand. There were anti-Jewish riots in Mainz, (in the Rhineland), where the archbishop sheltered the Jews, or many of them, in his palace, and sent an urgent message to Bernard to come before both he and they were killed. Bernard came. He called Raoul arrogant and without authority, a preacher of mad and heretical doctrines, a liar and a murderer. Then he got nasty. Raoul sneaked off the scene, and the riots were over. From that day to this, Bernard has been remembered among Rhineland Jews and their descendants as an outstanding example of a "righteous Gentile," and many of them (e.g. Bernard Baruch) bear his name. As for the Crusade, things went wrong from the start. The various rulers leading the movement were distrustful of one another and not disposed to work together. Of the soldiers who set out (contemporary estimates vary from 100,000 to 1,500,000), most died of disease and starvation before reaching their goal, and most of the remainder were killed or captured soon after their arrival. The impact on Bernard was devastating, and so was the impact on Europe. In 1153, Bernard journeyed to reconcile the warring provinces Metz and Lorraine. He persuaded them to peace and to an agreement drawn up under his mediation, and then, in failing health, returned home to die. Bernard in controversy was fierce and not always fair, it was partly because he was a man of intense feeling and dedication, quick to respond to any real or supposed threat to what he held sacred. It is his devotional writings, not his polemical ones, that are still read today. Among the hymns attributed to him are the Latin originals of "O Sacred Head, sore wounded," "Jesus, the very thought of Thee," "O Jesus, joy of loving hearts," "Wide open are Thy hands (to pay with more than gold the awful debt of guilt and sin, forever and of old--see the Lutheran Book of Worship et alibi)," and "O Jesus, King most wonderful." His sermons on the Song of Songs, treated as an allegory of the love of Christ, are his best-known long work. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1112-1153, BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX&Trappists, Word flesh mystery, Abelard too rational, jews named Bernard
France, 1112-1153, BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, Burgundy, France (Morvan Hills, rivers source area, Saone drainage), Scholarship, childhood dream of word becoming flesh mystery, Citeaux 1112, founded Cistercian (Trappist) order 1115 LaFerte, 60 T monasteries by death, 1130-34 d Papal election, S Innocent II, wrote temptations of spiritual power, thought Abelard too rational, not allow mystery, Pope forced preaching 2nd Crusade, stopped anti Jew riots and Raoul, jews named Bernard, failed Crusade, hymns, sermons; Burgundy; BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153); third son of a Burgundian nobleman, was born in 1090. brothers were trained as soldiers, but Bernard from youth was destined for scholarship. Christmas Eve as a child he had a dream about the infant Christ in the manger; and the memory of it, and consequent devotion to the mystery of the Word made flesh, remained with him throughout his life. had good prospects of success as a secular scholar, but he began to believe that he was called to the monastic life, after a period of prayer for guidance, he decided at age 22 (1112) to enter the monastery of Citeaux (Latin Cistercium, appearing on modern maps as Corcelles-les-Citeaux), offshoot of the Benedictines which had adopted a much stricter rule than theirs, and became the founding house of the Cistercian (Trappist) order. the Trappists are a reformed (i.e. stricter) offshoot of the Cistercians, who are a stricter offshoot of the Benedictines.) He persuaded four of his brothers, one uncle, and 26 other men to join him. were the first novices that Citeaux had had for several years. three years (1115), the abbot ordered Bernard to take twelve monks and found a new house at La Ferte. first year was one of great hardship. They had no stores and lived chiefly on roots and barley bread. imposed such severe discipline that his monks became discouraged, but he realized his error and became more lenient. reputation of the monastery, known as Clairvaux (48:09 N 4:47 E), spread across Europe. Many new monks joined it, and many persons wrote letters or came in person to seek spiritual advice. the time of his death, 60 new monasteries of the Cistercian order were established under his direction. four years after 1130 (1130-34) Bernard was deeply involved with a disputed papal election, the claims of Innocent II against his rival Anacletus II. travelled throughout France, Germany, and Italy mustering support for his candidate it should be added, preaching sermons denouncing injustices done to Jews) and returned from one of these journeys with Peter Bernard of Paganelli as a postulant for the monastery. future Pope Eugenius III spent the next year stoking the monastery fires. Years later, Bernard wrote a major treatise of advice to Eugenius on the spiritual temptations of spiritual power. papal election was not the only dispute in which Bernard became involved. was highly critical of Peter Abelard, one of the most brilliant theologians of the day (see 21 April). believed that Abelard was too rationalistic in his approach, and failed to allow sufficiently for the element of mystery in the faith. Abelard rejected some of the ways of stating Christian doctrines to which Bernard was accustomed, Bernard concluded, perhaps too hastily, that this was equivalent to rejecting the doctrine itself. conference was scheduled at Sens, where Abelard's views were to be examined, but soon after it began Abelard decided that he was not about to get a fair hearing, announced that he was appealing to Rome, and left. set out for Rome and got as far as Cluny, where he stopped. the Venerable, the abbot (see 30 April), was a friend of both Abelard and Bernard, and managed to reconcile them before they died. Bernard of Clairvaux of Bernard's most influential acts, for better or worse, was his preaching of the Second Crusade. First Crusade had given the Christian forces control of a few areas in Palestine, including the city of Edessa. Moslem forces captured Edessa, now called Urfa and located in eastern Turkey) in 1144, King Louis VII of France to be confused with St. Louis IX, also a Crusader, but more than a century later) eager to launch a crusade to retake Edessa and prevent a Moslem recapture of Jerusalem. asked Bernard for help, and Bernard refused. then asked the Pope to order Bernard to preach a Crusade. pope gave the order, and Bernard preached, with spectacular results. Whole villages were emptied of able-bodied males as Bernard preached and his listeners vowed on the spot to head for Palestine and defend the Sacred Shrines with their lives. preaching of the Crusade had an ugly side-effect. the Rhineland, a monk named Raoul wandered about telling crowds that if they were going to fight for the faith, the logical first step was to kill the Jews who were near at hand. were anti-Jewish riots in Mainz, (in the Rhineland), where the archbishop sheltered the Jews, or many of them, in his palace, and sent an urgent message to Bernard to come before both he and they were killed. came. He called Raoul arrogant and without authority, a preacher of mad and heretical doctrines, a liar and a murderer. Then he got nasty. sneaked off the scene, and the riots were over. From that day to this, Bernard has been remembered among Rhineland Jews and their descendants as an outstanding example of a "righteous Gentile," many of them (e.g. Bernard Baruch) bear his name. for the Crusade, things went wrong from the start. various rulers leading the movement were distrustful of one another and not disposed to work together. the soldiers who set out estimates vary from 100,000 to 1,500,000) most died of disease and starvation before reaching their goal, and most of the remainder were killed or captured soon after their arrival. impact on Bernard was devastating, and so was the impact on Europe. 1153, Bernard journeyed to reconcile the warring provinces Metz and Lorraine. He persuaded them to peace and to an agreement drawn up under his mediation, then, in failing health, returned home to die. Bernard in controversy was fierce and not always fair, it was partly because he was a man of intense feeling and dedication, quick to respond to any real or supposed threat to what he held sacred. is his devotional writings, not his polemical (critical) ones, that are still read today. the hymns attributed to him are the Latin originals of "O Sacred Head, sore wounded," "Jesus, the very thought of Thee," "O Jesus, joy of loving hearts," "Wide open are Thy hands (to pay with more than gold the awful debt of guilt and sin, forever and of old--see the Lutheran Book of Worship et alibi)," and "O Jesus, King most wonderful." sermons on the Song of Songs, treated as an allegory of the love of Christ, are his best-known long work. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1118-1179, Saint Hildegard of Bingen, visions, preacher, dear Abby
Belgium, 1118-1179, Saint Hildegard of Bingen; HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, VISIONARY (17 SEP 1179); there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God." of Bingen has been called by her admirers "one of the most important figures in the history of the Middle Ages," and "the greatest woman of her time." Her time was the 1100's (she was born in 1098), the century of Eleanor of Aquitaine, of Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux, of the rise of the great universities and the building of Chartres cathedral. She was the daughter of a knight, and when she was eight years old she went to the Benedictine monastery at Mount St Disibode to be educated. The monastery was in the Celtic tradition, and housed both men and women (in separate quarters). When Hildegard was eighteen, she became a nun. Twenty years later, she was made the head of the female community at the monastery. Within the next four years, she had a series of visions, and devoted the ten years from 1140 to 1150 to writing them down, describing them (this included drawing pictures of what she had seen), and commenting on their interpretation and significance. During this period, Pope Eugenius III sent a commission to inquire into her work. The commission found her teaching orthodox and her insights authentic, and reported so to the Pope, who sent her a letter of approval. (He was probably encouraged to do so by his friend and former teacher, Bernard of Clairvaux.) She wrote back urging the Pope to work harder for reform of the Church. The community of nuns at Mount St. Disibode was growing rapidly, and they did not have adequate room. Hildegard accordingly moved her nuns to a location near Bingen, and founded a monastery for them completely independent of the double monastery they had left. She oversaw its construction, which included such features (not routine in her day) as water pumped in through pipes. The abbot they had left opposed their departure, and the resulting tensions took a long time to heal. Hildegard travelled throughout southern Germany and into Switzerland and as far as Paris, preaching. Her sermons deeply moved the hearers, and she was asked to provide written copies. In the last year of her life, she was briefly in trouble because she provided Christian burial for a young man who had been excommunicated. Her defense was that he had repented on his deathbed, and received the sacraments. Her convent was subjected to an interdict, but she protested eloquently, and the interdict was revoked. She died on 17 September 1179. Her surviving works include more than a hundred letters to emperors and popes, bishops, nuns, and nobility. (Many persons of all classes wrote to her, asking for advice, and one biographer calls her "the Dear Abby of the twelfth century.") She wrote 72 songs including a play set to music. Musical notation had only shortly before developed to the point where her music was recorded in a way that we can read today. Accordingly, some of her work is now available on compact disk, and presumably sounds the way she intended. My former room-mate, a non-Christian and a professional musician, is an enthusiastic admirer of her work and considers her a musical genius. Certainly her compositional style is like nothing else we have from the twelfth century. The play set to music is called the Ordo Virtutum and show us a human soul who listens to the Virtues, turns aside to follow the Devil, and finally returns to the Virtues, having found that following the Devil does not make one happy. She left us about seventy poems and nine books. Two of them are books of medical and pharmaceutical advice, dealing with the workings of the human body and the properties of various herbs. (These books are based on her observations and those of others, not on her visions.) I am told that some modern researchers are now checking her statements in the hope of finding some medicinal properties of some plant that has been overlooked till now by modern medicine. She also wrote a commentary on the Gospels and another on the Athanasian Creed. Much of her work has recently been translated into English, part in series like Classics of Western Spirituality, and part in other collections or separately. If your university library or bookstore cannot help you, try a Christian bookstore. If they do not have it, try a trendy (feminist, New Age, ecology) bookstore. Human Soul", an illumination of a manuscript of Hildegard/s Visions But her major works are three books on theology: Scivias ("Know the paths!"), Liber Vitae Meritorum (on ethics), and De Operatione Dei. They deal (or at least the first and third do) with the material of her visions. The visions, as she describes them, are often enigmatic but deeply moving, and many who have studied them believe that they have learned something from the visions that is not easily put into words. On the other hand, we have the recent best-seller, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, by Oliver Sacks, Professor of Clinical Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and author of Migraine and various other books. Professor Sacks is concerned with the relation of the brain to the mind, and ways in which the phsical state of the nervous system can affect our ways of perceiving reality. He views the pictures in Hildegard's books of what she saw in her visions, and says, "The style of the pictures is a clear indication that the seer suffered regularly from migraine attacks. Migraine sufferers tend to see things in this manner." And indeed, it is true that Hildegard suffered throughout her life from painful attacks of what may have been migraine. Professor Sacks hastens to add that this has nothing to do with whether her visions are authentic insights into the nature of God and His relation to the Universe. & her scribeHildegard has undergone a remarkable rise in popularity in the last thirty years, since many readers have found in her visions, or read into them, themes that seem to speak to many modern concerns. For example: Although she would have rejected much of the rhetoric of women's liberation, she never hesitated to say what she thought needed to be said, or to do what she thought needed to be done, simply because she was a woman. When Pope or Emperor needed a rebuke, she rebuked them. Her writings bring science, art, and religion together. She is deeply involved in all three, and looks to each for insights that will enrich her understanding of the others. Her use of parable and metaphor, of symbols, visual imagery, and non-verbal means to communicate makes her work reach out to many who are totally deaf to more standard approaches. In particular, non-Western peoples are often accustomed to expressing their views of the world in visionary language, and find that Hildegard's use of similar language to express a Christian view of reality produces instant rapport, if not necessarily instant agreement. Hildegard wrote and spoke extensively about social justice, about freeing the downtrodden, about the duty of seeing to it that every human being, made in the image of God, has the opportunity to develop and use the talents that God has given him, and to realize his God-given potential. This strikes a chord today. Hildegard wrote explicitly about the natural world as God's creation, charged through and through with His beauty and His energy; entrusted to our care, to be used by us for our benefit, but not to be mangled or destroyed. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1125-1137, HRE Emperor, Lothair II, German King, reign troubled by H Dukes, successful Sicily campaign
Belgium, 1125-1137, Holy Roman Emperor, Lothair II, Holy Roman Emperor ; III, sometimes numbered Lothair II[a] and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (1075 - 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before being crowned emperor in Rome. The son of the Saxon count Gebhard of Supplinburg, his reign was troubled by the constant intriguing of the Hohenstaufens, Duke Frederick II of Swabia and Duke Conrad of Franconia. He died while returning from a successful campaign against the Norman Kingdom of Sicily. BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153); HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, VISIONARY (17 SEP 1179);

Belgium, 1137-1190, HRE Emperor, Frederick 1, long reign, extraordinary org, Red Beard, Italian campgns, R of Law
Belgium, 1137-1190, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick 1, Belgium; Barbarossa (1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 1152. He was crowned King of Italy on 24 April 1155 in Pavia and emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155 in Rome. Two years later, the term sacrum ("holy") first appeared in a document in connection with his empire.[1] He was later formally crowned King of Burgundy, at Arles on 30 June 1178. was named Barbarossa by the northern Italian cities which he attempted to rule: Barbarossa means "red beard" in Italian;[2] in German, he was known as Kaiser Rotbart, which has the same meaning. The prevalence of the Italian nickname, even in later German usage, reflects the centrality of the Italian campaigns to his career. his imperial election, Frederick was by inheritance Duke of Swabia (1147–1152, as Frederick III). He was the son of Duke Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty and Judith, daughter of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, from the rival House of Welf. therefore, descended from the two leading families in Germany, making him an acceptable choice for the Empire's prince-electors. consider him among the Holy Roman Empire's greatest medieval emperors. He combined qualities that made him appear almost superhuman to his contemporaries: his longevity, his ambition, his extraordinary skills at organization, his battlefield acumen and his political perspicacity. contributions to Central European society and culture include the reestablishment of the Corpus Juris Civilis, or the Roman rule of law, which counterbalanced the papal power that dominated the German states since the conclusion of the Investiture Controversy. died in 1190 in Asia Minor while leading an army in the Third Crusade. HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, VISIONARY (17 SEP 1179); St Balthasar of the Magi, Commemorated on December 25; St Gaspar of the Magi, Commemorated on December 25; St Melchior of the Magi, Commemorated on December 25;

Belgium, 1147-1150, Second Crusade, HRE, after fall of Edessa
Belgium, 1145-1149, Second Crusade, Holy Roman Empire ; BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX, ABBOT, THEOLOGIAN, AND POET (20 AUGUST 1153); EARLY ABBOTS of CLUNY, 30 April 909 ;

Belgium, 1176-1200, Hugh of Lincoln, Carthusian, Henry II a friend and sponsor, E Monastery, Land comensation, vacant bisoprics, Lincoln, forresters, meaningless lucrative post, Falaise glove
England, 1176-1200, Hugh of Lincoln, Carthusian, Henry II friend and sponsor, Monastery, Land comensation, vacant bisoprics, Lincoln, forresters, meaningless lucrative post, Falaise glove, faced riots against Jews, refused money grant for King Richard the Lion Hearted, legal precedent, King John's amulet, wit, temper, love for defenceless, washed lepers, animals loved him; Avalon, France; Chartreuse Mountains (Carthusians); Carthusians - Grande Chartreuse; HUGH OF LINCOLN, BISHOP, PROTECTOR OF THE OPPRESSED (17 NOV 1200); a sign of his remorse for his role in the murder of the Archbishop Thomas a Becket, King Henry II founded the first house in England of the strict monastic order called the Carthusians. Difficulties arose with the first two priors, and a French noble recommended Hugh de Avalon, who at that time had been a monk at the mother house of the order for 17 years. his arrival in England in 1176, Hugh found that the building of the monastery had not begun. Worse, no compensation had been paid to those who would have to lose their lands and property to make room for it. refused to take office until these persons had been paid "to the last penny." He intervened again on behalf of the builders, whose pay was not forthcoming. Henry loved him for his plain speaking. "I do not despair of you," Hugh said to him at their first interview; "I know how much your many occupations interfere with the health of your soul." impressed by his frankness, swore that while he lived he should not leave his kingdom, and took so much pleasure in his conversation, and paid so much heed to his counsels, that a rumor arose that Hugh was his son. biographer wrote that "of all men only Hugh could bend that rhinosceros to his will." Henry was in danger of shipwreck, he cried out, "If only my Carthusian Hugh were awake and at prayer, God would not forget me." This affection never diminished, though Hugh dared to oppose the king, particularly in the matter of keeping bishoprics vacant in order that their revenues might fall to the king's treasury. of the worst examples was Lincoln, which, except for a few months, had been without a bishop for eighteen years. Hugh was elected to the post in 1186, and his monastic superiors ordered him to accept. After so long a period of neglect, there was great need of reform. employed priests of great piety and learning, and made the fullest use of his authority in disciplining his clergy. He took a stern view of the ill-treatment of the poor by the royal foresters, and when a subject of the church of Lincoln suffered at their hands he excommunicated their chief. He also refused to appoint a royal favorite to a meaningless but lucrative post. Henry was furious, and summoned him to his presence. He came, and Henry turned away his face and would not speak, but by way of ignoring his presence took out a torn glove and began to sew it. At last Hugh said, "How like you are to your relations at Falaise." king might have resented this allusion to the humble birth of William the Conqueror's mother, the daughter of a glove-maker, but he only laughed, and the quarrel was made up. against the Jews broke out in England at the time of the Third Crusade. In defence of the persecuted, Hugh faced armed mobs in Lincoln, Stamford and Northampton and compelled their submission. refused to raise money for the foreign wars of King Richard the Lion-Heart, calmed the king's rage with a kiss, and persisted in his refusal: was the first clear example on record of the refusal of a money-grant demanded directly by the crown, and an important legal precedent. Richard said, "If all bishops were like my lord of Lincoln, not a prince among us could raise his head against them." His relations with King John were less happy. John showed him an amulet, which he said was sacred and would preserve him. Hugh replied, "Do not put your trust in lifeless stone, but only in the living and heavenly stone, our Lord Jesus Christ." following Easter he preached at length on the duties of kings, and the king slipped out partway through. tireless, and forgetful of self, Hugh also had wit, a temper that he described as "more biting than pepper," and a great love and concern for children and the defenceless. He visited leper-houses and washed the ulcerous limbs of their inmates. He was fond of animals, and they of him. Birds and squirrels came readily to his hand. He had a swan that would feed from his hand, follow him about, and keep guard over his bed, so that no one could approach it without being attacked. In 1200 the king sent him on an embassy to France. His mission was a success, but he took ill and returned to England to die on 16 November 1200. John Ruskin called him "the most beautiful sacerdotal (priestly) figure known to me in history." by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1189-1192, Third Crusade, after Jerusalem loss, Angevin England, France and HRE
Belgium, 1189-1192, Third Crusade, Holy Roman Empire;

Belgium, 1190-1221, Saint Dominic, Founder of the Dominicans, preachers in poverty, philosophy, theology, logical argument, OP
Spain, 1190-1221, Saint Dominic, Founder of the Dominicans; DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221); was born in Castile, in Spain, in 1170. He entered the priesthood, and eventually became prior of the canons of the cathedral chapter (the clergy who formed the staff of the cathedral and conducted the daily worship services) at Osma (42:52 N 3:03 W). turning point of his life came in 1206, when he was chosen to accompany the bishop on a visit to southern France, to an area held by the Albigenses. These were a heretical sect more or less directly descended from the early Gnostics and Manichees. They were dualists, holding that there are two gods, one the god of goodness, light, truth, and spirit, and the other the god of evil, darkness, error, and matter. The material universe is the creation of the bad god. The good god made the souls of men, and the bad god kidnapped them and imprisoned them in bodies of flesh. their first night in Albigensian country, they stayed at an inn where the innkeeper was an Albigensian. Dominic engaged him in conversation, they sat up all night talking, and by dawn the man was ready to become an orthodox Christian. then on, Dominic knew what his calling in life was. Dominic and his bishop undertook to study the Albigensian beliefs and to engage in public debates with their opponents. They seemed to be making some progress, but in 1207 the bishop died, and in the same year the murder by Albigenses of the papal legate moved the pope to declare a crusade against the Albigenses, which lasted about five years. continued to preach and to debate where he could, and in 1215 he founded an order of preachers, who were to live in poverty, and devote themselves to studying philosophy and theology and to combatting false doctrine by logical argument rather than by the use of force. was convinced that a major obstacle to the conversion of heretics was the material wealth of some of the clergy, which made plausible the accusation that they were concerned for their purses and not for the glory of God, and made workers indisposed to hear them. He therefore determined that the brothers of his order should live lives of poverty and simplicity, being no better off materially than those they sought to convert. he was in Rome, seeking authorization for his order from the Pope, the Pope gave him a tour of the treasures of the Vatican, and remarked complacently (referring to Acts 3:6), "Peter can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none.'" Dominic turned and looked straight at the Pope, and said, "No, and neither can he say, 'Rise and walk.'" He got the permission he was seeking, and the order grew and flourished. Officially known as the Order of Preachers (hence the letters O.P. after the name of a member), it was informally known as the Dominicans, or the Blackfriars (from the color of their cloaks). Two of their best-known members are Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great, 1200-1280, see 15 Nov), who was famous for his learning in numerous fields, and his pupil Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274, see 28 Jan), who wrote reconciling Christian theology with the philosophy of Aristotle, which was then being rediscovered in western Europe, and was thought by many to be a threat to Christianity. In later years, the Order forgot its commitment to "logic and persuasion, not force" as the means of bringing men to Christian truth, and many of its members were active in the Inquisition. St. Dominic & St. Catherine St. Dominic & St. Catherine was three times offered a bishopric, and refused, believing that he was called to another work. He died in 1220 in Bologna, Italy, after a preaching mission to Hungary. His emblem in art is a dog with a torch in its mouth, a pun on his name (the Dominicans are sometimes called the "Domini canes", the hounds of the Lord), and a reference to his relying on the power of preaching. by James Kiefer FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226);

Belgium, 1190-1220, DOMINIC, Castile, Order of Preachers, combat w logical argument, poverty, inquisition
Spain and Portugal, 1190-1220, DOMINIC, Castile, Spain (Madrid, Henares River Mouth, Jarama River 1), Dominicans founder, Order of Preachers, studied philosophy and theology, combat w logical argument not force, poverty commitment, Blackfriars, Albert Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, inquisition; Crown of Castile (court of Ferdinand and Isabella, the rulers of Spain); DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221); was born in Castile, in Spain, in 1170. entered the priesthood, and eventually became prior of the canons of the cathedral chapter (the clergy who formed the staff of the cathedral and conducted the daily worship services) at Osma (42:52 N 3:03 W). turning point of his life came in 1206, when he was chosen to accompany the bishop on a visit to southern France, to an area held by the Albigenses. were a heretical sect more or less directly descended from the early Gnostics and Manichees. were dualists, holding that there are two gods, one the god of goodness, light, truth, and spirit, and the other the god of evil, darkness, error, and matter. material universe is the creation of the bad god. The good god made the souls of men, and the bad god kidnapped them and imprisoned them in bodies of flesh. their first night in Albigensian country, they stayed at an inn where the innkeeper was an Albigensian. engaged him in conversation, they sat up all night talking, and by dawn the man was ready to become an orthodox Christian. then on, Dominic knew what his calling in life was. and his bishop undertook to study the Albigensian beliefs and to engage in public debates with their opponents. They seemed to be making some progress, but in 1207 the bishop died, and in the same year the murder by Albigenses of the papal legate moved the pope to declare a crusade against the Albigenses, which lasted about five years. continued to preach and to debate where he could, and in 1215 he founded an order of preachers, who were to live in poverty, and devote themselves to studying philosophy and theology and to combatting false doctrine by logical argument rather than by the use of force. was convinced that a major obstacle to the conversion of heretics was the material wealth of some of the clergy, which made plausible the accusation that they were concerned for their purses and not for the glory of God, and made workers indisposed to hear them. therefore determined that the brothers of his order should live lives of poverty and simplicity, being no better off materially than those they sought to convert. he was in Rome, seeking authorization for his order from the Pope, the Pope gave him a tour of the treasures of the Vatican, and remarked complacently (referring to Acts 3:6), "Peter can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none.'" turned and looked straight at the Pope, and said, "No, and neither can he say, 'Rise and walk.'" got the permission he was seeking, and the order grew and flourished. known as the Order of Preachers (hence the letters O.P. after the name of a member), it was informally known as the Dominicans, or the Blackfriars (from the color of their cloaks). of their best-known members are Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great, 1200-1280, see 15 Nov), who was famous for his learning in numerous fields, and his pupil Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274, see 28 Jan), who wrote reconciling Christian theology with the philosophy of Aristotle, which was then being rediscovered in western Europe, and was thought by many to be a threat to Christianity. later years, the Order forgot its commitment to "logic and persuasion, not force" as the means of bringing men to Christian truth, and many of its members were active in the Inquisition. St. Dominic & St. Catherine St. Dominic & St. Catherine was three times offered a bishopric, and refused, believing that he was called to another He died in 1220 in Bologna, Italy, after a preaching mission to Hungary. His emblem in art is a dog with a torch in its mouth, a pun on his name (the Dominicans are sometimes called the "Domini canes", the hounds of the Lord), and a reference to his relying on the power of preaching. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1191-1197, HRE Emperor, Henry VI, well educated, poet, Byzantine ransom, Sicily, d before his Crusade
Belgium, 1191-1197, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI; VI (Heinrich VI) (November 1165 – 28 September 1197), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was King of Germany (King of the Romans) from 1169 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1191 until his death. From 1194 he was also King of Sicily. was the second son of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his consort Beatrix of Burgundy. in the Latin language, as well as Roman and canon law, Henry was also a patron of poets and a skilled poet himself. 1186 he was married to Constance of Sicily, the posthumous daughter of the Norman king Roger II of Sicily. Henry, stuck in the Hohenstaufen conflict with the House of Welf until 1194, had to enforce the inheritance claims by his wife against her nephew Count Tancred of Lecce. Henry's attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily failed at the siege of Naples in 1191 due to an epidemic, and following his retreat Empress Constance was captured. Based on an enormous ransom for the release and submission of King Richard I of England, he conquered Sicily in 1194; however, the intended unification with the Holy Roman Empire ultimately failed due to the opposition of the Papacy. threatened to invade the Byzantine Empire after 1194 and succeeded in extracting a ransom, the Alamanikon, from Emperor Alexios III Angelos in return for cancelling the invasion. He made the Kingdom of Cyprus and the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia formal subjects of the empire and compelled Tunis and Tripolitania to pay tribute to him. 1195 and 1196, he attempted to turn the Holy Roman Empire from an elective to a hereditary monarchy, the so-called Erbreichsplan, but met strong resistance from the prince-electors and abandoned the plan. pledged to go on crusade in 1195 and began preparations. A revolt in Sicily was crushed in 1197. The Crusaders set sail for the Holy Land that same year but Henry died of illness at Messina on 28 September 1197 before he could join them. death plunged the Empire into the chaos of the German throne dispute for the next 17 years. DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221);

Belgium, 1195-1350, Northern Crusades, ordered by Pope Celestine III, 1242 Battle of the Ice, Pskov Lake
Russia, Novgorod, 1195-1350, Northern Crusades, ordered by Pope Celestine III; Rome, 1191-1198, Pope, Celestine III; Novgorod, 1242, Great Battle of the Ice of Pskov Lake, defeat of Teutonic Knights; Repose of St Alexander Nevsky, Commemorated on November 23;

Belgium, 1198-1215, HRE Emperor, Otto IV, excommunicated by Pope Innocent III
Belgium, 1198-1215, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto IV; IV (1175 – 19 May 1218) was one of two rival kings of Germany from 1198 on, sole king from 1208 on, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1209 until he was forced to abdicate in 1215. only German king of the Welf dynasty, he incurred the wrath of Pope Innocent III and was excommunicated in 1210. DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221); CLARE OF ASSISI, NUN (11 AUGUST 1253) ; FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226);

Belgium, 1200-1299, 13th Century Folder, Holy Roman Empire, 4th-9th and Northern Crusades

Belgium, 1201-1205, Fourth Crusade, HRE, to recapture Muslim Jerusalem, but sack of C
Belgium, 1200-1205, Fourth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire;

Belgium, 1202-1204, Fourth Crusade, HRE, Sack of Constantinople
Belgium, 1122-1124, Fourth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire;

Belgium, 1202-1226, Francis of Assisi, Franciscans, Lady Poverty, no money, no property
Rome, 1202-1226, Francis of Assisi, Franciscans, Lady Poverty, no money, no property; Assisi; FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226); was born in 1182, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. His early years were frivolous, but an experience of sickness and another of military service were instrumental in leading him to reflect on the purpose of life. day, in the church of San Damiano, he seemed to hear Christ saying to him, "Francis, repair my falling house." He took the words literally, and sold a bale of silk from his father's warehouse to pay for repairs to the church of San Damiano. His father was outraged, and there was a public confrontation at which his father disinherited and disowned him, and he in turn renounced his father's wealth--one account says that he not only handed his father his purse, but also took off his expensive clothes, laid them at his father's feet, and walked away naked. He declared himself "wedded to Lady Poverty", renounced all material possessions, and devoted himself to serving the poor. his day the most dreaded of all diseases was something known as leprosy. (It is probably not the same as either the modern or the Biblical disease of that name.) Lepers were kept at a distance and regarded with fear and disgust. Francis cared for them, fed them, bathed their sores, and kissed them. Since he could not pay for repairs to the Church of San Damiano, he undertook to repair it by his own labors. He moved in with the priest, and begged stones lying useless in fields, shaping them for use in repairing the church. He got his meals, not by asking for money so that he might live at the expense of others, but by scrounging crusts and discarded vegetable from trash-bins, and by working as a day laborer, insisting on being paid in bread, milk, eggs, or vegetables rather than in money. Soon a few companions joined him. Dante in his Paradiso has Aquinas say of him: me tell you of a youth whose aristocratic father disowned him because of his love for a beautiful lady. She had been married before, to Christ, and was so faithful a spouse to Him that, while Mary only stood at the foot of the Cross, she leaped up to be with Him on the Cross. These two of whom I speak are Francis and the Lady Poverty. As they walked along together, the sight of their mutual love drew men's hearts after them. Bernard saw them and ran after them, kicking off his shoes to run faster to so great a peace. Giles and Sylvester saw them, kicked off their shoes and ran to join them.... three years, in 1210, the Pope authorized the forming of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans. ("Friar" means "brother," as in "fraternity", and "minor" means "lesser" or "younger." I take the meaning to be that a Franciscan, meeting another Christian, is to think, "I am your brother in Christ, and your younger brother at that, bound to defer to you and to give you precedence over myself." and his companions took literally the words of Christ when he sent his disciples out to preach (M 10:7-10): as you go, saying, "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand." ... You have received the Gospel without payment, give it to others as freely. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, no spare garment, nor sandals, nor staff. would have no money, and no property, individually or collectively. Their task was to preach, "using words if necessary," but declaring by word and action the love of God in Christ. Francis was partial to a touch of the dramatic (see his parting from his father, for example), and it was probably he who set up the first Christmas manger scene, to bring home the Good News of God made man for our salvation, home to men's hearts and imaginations as well as to their intellects. 1219, Francis went to the Holy Land to preach to the moslems. He was given a pass through the enemy lines, and spoke to the Sultan, Melek-al-Kamil. Francis proclaimed the Gospel to the Sultan, who replied that he had his own beliefs, and that moslems were as firmly convinced of the truth of Islam as Francis was of the truth of Christianity. Francis proposed that a fire be built, and that he and a moslem volunteer would walk side by side into the fire to show whose faith was stronger. The Sultan said he was not sure that a moslem volunteer could be found. Francis then offered to walk into the fire alone. The Sultan who was deeply impressed but remained unconverted. Francis proposed an armistice between the two warring sides, and drew up terms for one; the Sultan agreed, but, to Francis's deep disappointment, the Christian leaders would not. Francis returned to Italy, but a permanent result was that the Franciscans were given custody of the Christian shrines then in moslem hands. preaching to the birds, by giottoBack in Italy and neighboring countries, the Order was suffering from its own success. Then, as now, many persons were deeply attracted by Francis and his air of joy, abandonment, and freedom. What is overlooked is that these were made possible only by his willingness to accept total poverty, not picturesque poverty but real dirt, rags, cold, and hunger, and lepers with real pus oozing from their sores and a real danger of infection. Many idealistic young men were joining the Order in a burst of enthusiasm and then finding themselves not so sure that such extremes of poverty were really necessary. When there were only a few friars, they were all known to Francis personally, and the force of his personality kept the original ideals of the Order alive in them. Now that the Order was larger, this was no longer enough. In 1220 Francis resigned as minister-general of the Order, and in 1221 he agreed to a new and modified rule, which he did not approve, but could not resist. He died on 4 October 1226. The Franciscan split into the Conventual Franciscans, who held a limited amount of property in common, and the Spiritual Franciscans, who disavowed all property. They taught that Christ and the twelve apostles had held no property, singly or jointly. This view offended those who held property, and was declared to be heretical (proof text, J 18:10; Jesus said to Peter, "Put up THY sword...."). In 1318, several Spiritual Franciscans were burned at the stake in Marseilles. story is told of the days when the friars first began to have permanent houses. A beggar came by when Brother Juniper was at the gate and asked for a little money. Brother Juniper said, "There is no money in the house. But wait a minute. Last week someone gave us an altar cloth with little silver bells attached. We don't need those. I will cut them off for you. They will be as good as money." And he did. When the sacristan learned what had happened, he complained to the prior, who said, "We are fortunate that he did not give away the cloth itself. But send him to me, and I will scold him." Brother Juniper came, and the prior scolded him until he was hoarse. Brother Juniper noticed that the prior was hoarse, and went to the kitchen and cooked him some mint sauce. He brought it to the prior, who had gone to bed. He said, "Father Prior, get up and eat this mint sauce. It will be good for your throat." The prior said, "I don't want any mint sauce. Go away and let me sleep." Brother Juniper said, "It's good sauce, and will be good for your throat." The prior said, "Go away, I don't want it." Brother Juniper said, "Well, if you won't eat it, how about holding the candle while I eat it?" This was too much for the prior. He got up and they both ate. the first known letter from Francis to all Christians: how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul, and your neighbor as yourself. Thereofore, let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers, saying: "Our Father, who are in heaven," since we must always pray and never grow slack. Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neightbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. Men lose all the material things they leave behind in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. For these they will recieve from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. We must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be sinple, humble and pure. We should never desire to be over others. Instead, we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God's sake. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father's children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many readers are enthusiastic about St. Francis of Assisi, a biography of Francis by G K Chesterton. A reader of these essays has also recommended The Biography of Saint Francis of Assisi by Englebert by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1202-1226, FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Franciscans, wedded Lady Poverty, serving p, preach by word&action love of God in Christ
Rome, 1202-1226, FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR, Umbria, Italy (Tiber River 1), Franciscans, repair my falling house, bale of silk for church of St Damiano, wedded to Lady Poverty, serving poor, leprosy, begged stones, paid in bread, 1210 order of brothers, out to preach, by word and action the love of God in Christ, touch of drama, Christmas manger, 1219 Holy Land Moslems, faith fire story, proposed armistice, sultan agreed, C not, custody shrines, split conventual v spiritual franciscans, s franciscans heretical burned a stake 1318; Assisi; FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226); was born in 1182, the son of a wealthy cloth merchant. early years were frivolous, but an experience of sickness and another of military service were instrumental in leading him to reflect on the purpose of life. day, in the church of San Damiano, he seemed to hear Christ saying to him, "Francis, repair my falling house." took the words literally, and sold a bale of silk from his father's warehouse to pay for repairs to the church of San Damiano. father was outraged, and there was a public confrontation at which his father disinherited and disowned him, and he in turn renounced his father's wealth--one account says that he not only handed his father his purse, but also took off his expensive clothes, laid them at his father's feet, and walked away naked. declared himself "wedded to Lady Poverty", renounced all material possessions, and devoted himself to serving the poor. his day the most dreaded of all diseases was something known as leprosy. is probably not the same as either the modern or the Biblical disease of that name.) were kept at a distance and regarded with fear and disgust. cared for them, fed them, bathed their sores, and kissed them. he could not pay for repairs to the Church of San Damiano, he undertook to repair it by his own labors. He moved in with the priest, and begged stones lying useless in fields, shaping them for use in repairing the church. got his meals, not by asking for money so that he might live at the expense of others, but by scrounging crusts and discarded vegetable from trash-bins, and by working as a day laborer, insisting on being paid in bread, milk, eggs, or vegetables rather than in money. a few companions joined him. Dante in his Paradiso has Aquinas say of him: me tell you of a youth whose aristocratic father disowned him because of his love for a beautiful lady. She had been married before, to Christ, and was so faithful a spouse to Him that, while Mary only stood at the foot of the Cross, she leaped up to be with Him on the Cross. These two of whom I speak are Francis and the Lady Poverty. As they walked along together, the sight of their mutual love drew men's hearts after them. Bernard saw them and ran after them, kicking off his shoes to run faster to so great a peace. Giles and Sylvester saw them, kicked off their shoes and ran to join them.... three years, in 1210, the Pope authorized the forming of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly called the Franciscans. ("Friar" means "brother," as in "fraternity", and "minor" means "lesser" or "younger." I take the meaning to be that a Franciscan, meeting another Christian, is to think, "I am your brother in Christ, and your younger brother at that, bound to defer to you and to give you precedence over myself." and his companions took literally the words of Christ when he sent his disciples out to preach (M 10:7-10): as you go, saying, "The kingdom of Heaven is at hand." ... You have received the Gospel without payment, give it to others as freely. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, no spare garment, nor sandals, nor staff. would have no money, and no property, individually or collectively. task was to preach, "using words if necessary," but declaring by word and action the love of God in Christ. was partial to a touch of the dramatic (see his parting from his father, for example), and it was probably he who set up the first Christmas manger scene, to bring home the Good News of God made man for our salvation, home to men's hearts and imaginations as well as to their intellects. 1219, Francis went to the Holy Land to preach to the moslems. was given a pass through the enemy lines, and spoke to the Sultan, Melek-al-Kamil. Francis proclaimed the Gospel to the Sultan, who replied that he had his own beliefs, and that moslems were as firmly convinced of the truth of Islam as Francis was of the truth of Christianity. proposed that a fire be built, and that he and a moslem volunteer would walk side by side into the fire to show whose faith was stronger. The Sultan said he was not sure that a moslem volunteer could be found. Francis then offered to walk into the fire alone. The Sultan who was deeply impressed but remained unconverted. Francis proposed an armistice between the two warring sides, and drew up terms for one; the Sultan agreed, but, to Francis's deep disappointment, the Christian leaders would not. returned to Italy, but a permanent result was that the Franciscans were given custody of the Christian shrines then in moslem hands. Francis preaching to the birds, by giotto in Italy and neighboring countries, the Order was suffering from its own success. Then, as now, many persons were deeply attracted by Francis and his air of joy, abandonment, and freedom. What is overlooked is that these were made possible only by his willingness to accept total poverty, not picturesque poverty but real dirt, rags, cold, and hunger, and lepers with real pus oozing from their sores and a real danger of infection. idealistic young men were joining the Order in a burst of enthusiasm and then finding themselves not so sure that such extremes of poverty were really necessary. there were only a few friars, they were all known to Francis personally, and the force of his personality kept the original ideals of the Order alive in them. Now that the Order was larger, this was no longer enough. 1220 Francis resigned as minister-general of the Order, and in 1221 he agreed to a new and modified rule, which he did not approve, but could not resist. died on 4 October 1226. Franciscan split into the Conventual Franciscans, who held a limited amount of property in common, and the Spiritual Franciscans, who disavowed all property. They taught that Christ and the twelve apostles had held no property, singly or jointly. view offended those who held property, and was declared to be heretical (proof text, J 18:10; Jesus said to Peter, "Put up THY sword...."). In 1318, several Spiritual Franciscans were burned at the stake in Marseilles. story is told of the days when the friars first began to have permanent houses. A beggar came by when Brother Juniper was at the gate and asked for a little money. Brother Juniper said, "There is no money in the house. But wait a minute. Last week someone gave us an altar cloth with little silver bells attached. We don't need those. I will cut them off for you. They will be as good as money." And he did. When the sacristan learned what had happened, he complained to the prior, who said, "We are fortunate that he did not give away the cloth itself. But send him to me, and I will scold him." Brother Juniper came, and the prior scolded him until he was hoarse. Brother Juniper noticed that the prior was hoarse, and went to the kitchen and cooked him some mint sauce. He brought it to the prior, who had gone to bed. He said, "Father Prior, get up and eat this mint sauce. It will be good for your throat." The prior said, "I don't want any mint sauce. Go away and let me sleep." Brother Juniper said, "It's good sauce, and will be good for your throat." The prior said, "Go away, I don't want it." Brother Juniper said, "Well, if you won't eat it, how about holding the candle while I eat it?" This was too much for the prior. He got up and they both ate. the first known letter from Francis to all Christians: how happy and blessed are those who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself said in the gospel: You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul, and your neighbor as yourself. let us love God and adore him with pure heart and mind. This is his particular desire when he says: True worshipers adore the Father in spirit and truth. For all who adore him must do so in the spirit of truth. Let us also direct to him our praises and prayers, saying: "Our Father, who are in heaven," since we must always pray and never grow slack. Furthermore, let us produce worthy fruits of penance. Let us also love our neightbors as ourselves. Let us have charity and humility. Let us give alms because these cleanse our souls from the stains of sin. lose all the material things they leave behind in this world, but they carry with them the reward of their charity and the alms they give. these they will recieve from the Lord the reward and recompense they deserve. must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. we must be sinple, humble and pure. should never desire to be over others. we ought to be servants who are submissive to every human being for God's sake. Spirit of the Lord will rest on all who live in this way and persevere in it to the end. He will permanently dwell in them. They will be the Father's children who do his work. They are the spouses, brothers and mothers of our Lord Jesus Christ. readers are enthusiastic about St. Francis of Assisi, a biography of Francis by G K Chesterton. A reader of these essays has also recommended The Biography of Saint Francis of Assisi by Englebert by James Kiefer BENEDICT, FOUNDER OF WESTERN MONASTICISM (11 JULY 540); was born at Nursia (Norcia) in Umbria, Italy, around 480 AD. He was sent to Rome for his studies, but was repelled by the dissolute life of most of the populace, and withdrew to a solitary life at Subiaco. A group of monks asked him to be their abbot, but some of them found his rule too strict, and he returned alone to Subiaco. Again, other monks called him to be their abbot, and he agreed, founding twelve communities over an interval of some years. His chief founding was Monte Cassino, an abbey which stands to this day as the mother house of the world-wide Benedictine order. of Monte CassinoTotila the Goth visited Benedict, and was so awed by his presence that he fell on his face before him. Benedict raised him from the ground and rebuked him for his cruelty, telling him that it was time that his iniquities should cease. Totila asked Benedict to remember him in his prayers and departed, to exhibit from that time an astonishing clemency and chivalry in his treatment of conquered peoples. drew up a rule of life for monastics, a rule which he calls "a school of the Lord's service, in which we hope to order nothing harsh or rigorous." The Rule gives instructions for how the monastic community is to be organized, and how the monks are to spend their time. An average day includes about four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer (called the Divinum Officium -- the Divine Office), five hours in spiritual reading and study, six hours of labor, one hour for eating, and about eight hours for sleep. The Book of Psalms is to be recited in its entirety every week as a part of the Office. Benedictine monk takes vows of "obedience, stability, and conversion of life." That is, he vows to live in accordance with the Benedictine Rule, not to leave his community without grave cause, and to seek to follow the teaching and example of Christ in all things. Normal procedure today for a prospective monk is to spend a week or more at the monastery as a visitor. He then applies as a postulant, and agrees not to leave for six months without the consent of the Abbot. (During that time, he may suspect that he has made a mistake, and the abbot may say, "Yes, I think you have. Go in peace." Alternately, he may say, "It is normal to have jitters at this stage. I urge you to stick it out a while longer and see whether they go away." Many postulants leave before the six months are up.) After six months, he may leave or become a novice, with vows for one year. After the year, he may leave or take vows for three more years. After three years, he may leave, take life vows, or take vows for a second three years. After that, a third three years. After that, he must leave or take life vows (fish or cut bait). Thus, he takes life vows after four and a half to ten and a half years in the monastery. At any point in the proceedings at which he has the option of leaving, the community has the option of dismissing him. Benedict, by Fra AngelicoThe effect of the monastic movement, both of the Benedictine order and of similar orders that grew out of it, has been enormous. We owe the preservation of the Holy Scriptures and other ancient writings in large measure to the patience and diligence of monastic scribes. In purely secular terms, their contribution was considerable. In Benedict's time, the chief source of power was muscle, whether human or animal. Ancient scholars apparently did not worry about labor-saving devices. The labor could always be done by oxen or slaves. But monks were both scholars and workers. A monk, after spending a few hours doing some laborious task by hand, was likely to think, "There must be a better way of doing this." The result was the systematic development of windmills and water wheels for grinding grain, sawing wood, pumping water, and so on. The rotation of crops (including legumes) and other agricultural advances were also originated or promoted by monastic farms. The monks, by their example, taught the dignity of labor and the importance of order and planning. For details, see The Mediaeval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Age, by Jean Gimpel, (Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1976; Penguin, 1977, ISBN 0-14-00-4514-7). by James Kiefer CLARE OF ASSISI, NUN (11 AUGUST 1253) ; Offreduccio, born in 1194, was the daughter of a wealthy family in Assisi. she was eighteen years old, she heard a sermon by Francis of Assisi, and was moved by it to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and vow herself to a life of poverty. Her family was horrified, and brought her back home by force; but one night, in a gesture both tactical and symbolic, she slipped out of her house through "the door of the dead" (a small side door that was traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and returned to the house of the Franciscans. Francis cut off her hair, and placed her in a nearby convent. Later a house was found for her, and she was eventually joined by two of her sisters, her widowed mother, and several members of the wealthy Ubaldini family of Florence. Clare's best friend, Pacifica, could not resist, and joined them, too. sisters of her order came to be known informally as Minoresses (Franciscan brothers are Friars Minor = "lesser brothers") or as Poor Clares. When the order was formed, Francis suggested Clare for the Superior. But she refused the position until she turned twenty-one. They devoted themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected. adopted a rule of life of extreme austerity (more so than of any other order of women up to that time) and of absolute poverty, both individually and collectively. They had no beds. They slept on twigs with patched hemp for blankets. Wind and rain seeped through cracks in the ceilings. They ate very little, with no meat at all. Whatever they ate was food they begged for. Clare made sure she fasted more than anyone else. Despite this way of life, or perhaps because of it, the followers of Clare were the most beautiful young girls from the best families of Assisi. community of Poor Clares continues to this day, both in the Roman and in the Anglican communions. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1204, Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, 1202-1204
Constantinople, 1204, Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade Byzantine Emperor, 1205-1215, Michael I Komnenos Doukas; Greatmartyr Marina (Margaret) of Antioch in Pisidia, Commemorated on July 17; Translation of the relics of St Hilarion the Bishop of Meglin in Bulgaria, Commemorated on October 21;

Belgium, 1204-1261, Latin Empire, Crusader State
Constantinople, 1204-1261, Latin Empire, Crusader State; The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantine Empire as the Western-recognized Roman Empire in the east, with a Catholic emperor enthroned in place of the Eastern Orthodox Roman emperors. The Fourth Crusade had originally been called to retake the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem but a sequence of economic and political events culminated in the Crusader army sacking the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Originally, the plan had been to restore the deposed Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos, who had been usurped by Alexios III Angelos, to the throne. The crusaders had been promised financial and military aid by Isaac's son Alexios, with which they had planned to continue to Jerusalem. When the crusaders reached Constantinople the situation quickly turned volatile and while Isaac and Alexios briefly ruled, the crusaders did not receive the payment they had hoped for. In April 1204, they captured and plundered the city's enormous wealth. The crusaders selected their own emperor from among their own ranks, Baldwin of Flanders, and divided the territory of the Byzantine Empire into various new vassal crusader states. The Latin Empire's authority was immediately challenged by Byzantine rump states led by the Laskaris family (connected to the Angelos dynasty of 1185-“1204) in Nicaea and the Komnenos family (which had ruled as Byzantine Emperors 1081-“1185) in Trebizond. From 1224 to 1242 the Komnenos Doukas family, also connected to the Angeloi, challenged Latin authority from Thessalonica. The Latin Empire failed to attain political or economic dominance over the other Latin powers that had been established in former Byzantine territories in the wake of the Fourth Crusade, especially Venice, and after a short initial period of military successes it went into a steady decline due to constant war with Bulgaria to the north and the various Byzantine claimants. Eventually, the Nicaean Empire recovered Constantinople and restored the Byzantine Empire under Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went into exile, but the imperial title survived, with several pretenders to it, until the 14th century. Like the term "Byzantine Empire", "Latin Empire" was not a contemporary term used by the empire itself or the rest of the world. The Byzantines referred to the Latin Empire as the Frankokratia and the Latin Emperors themselves referred to the empire by various names, commonly imperium Constantinopolitanum (lit. Empire of Constantinople), but also imperium Romaniae (lit. Empire of Romania) and imperium Romanorum (lit. Empire of the Romans). The term Romania ("Land of the Romans") had been used unofficially by the population of the Byzantine Empire for their country for centuries.

Belgium, 1204-1261, Holy Roman Crusaders rule Constantinople
Constantinople, 1204-1261, Holy Roman Crusaders rule Constantinople; Constantinople, 1204, Sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade Byzantine Emperor, 1205-1215, Michael I Komnenos Doukas; Greatmartyr Marina (Margaret) of Antioch in Pisidia, Commemorated on July 17; Translation of the Image œNot-Made-By-Hands of our Lord Jesus Christ from Edessa to Constantinople, the ThirdœFeast of the Savior in August, Commemorated on August 16 Translation of the relics of St Hilarion the Bishop of Meglin in Bulgaria, Commemorated on October 21;

Belgium, 1204-1226, Holy Roman Saint, Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscans
Belgium, 1204-1226, Holy Roman Saint, Francis of Assisi; of Assisi (1181 or 1182 - 3 October 1226), venerated as Saint Francis of Assisi, also known in his ministry as Francesco, was an Italian Catholic friar, deacon, mystic, and preacher.[3] He founded the men's Order of Friars Minor, the women's Order of St. Clare, the Third Order of St. Francis and the Custody of the Holy Land. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in Christianity.[1] Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228. with Catherine of Siena, he was designated patron saint of Italy. later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on or near his feast day of 4 October. 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades.[4] this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the order. Once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. is known for his love of the Eucharist.[5] In 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene.[a][6][7] to Christian tradition, in 1224 he received the stigmata during the apparition of a Seraphic angel in a religious ecstasy,[8] which would make him the first person in Christian tradition to bear the wounds of Christ's Passion.[9] died during the evening hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142 (141). DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221); FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226);

Belgium, 1209-1229, Sixth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire, Albigensian, near Albi, against neo Gnostics
Belgium, 1209-1229, Sixth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire; Albigensian Crusade; Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229; French: Croisade des albigeois, Occitan: Crosada dels albigeses) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown, and diminishing both Languedoc's distinct regional culture and the influence of the counts of Barcelona. Cathars originated from an anti-materialist reform movement within the Bogomil churches of the Balkans calling for what they saw as a return to the Christian message of perfection, poverty and preaching, combined with a rejection of the physical to the point of starvation. reforms were a reaction against the often perceived scandalous and dissolute lifestyles of the Catholic clergy in southern France. Their theology, neo-Gnostic in many ways, was basically dualist. Several of their practices, especially their belief in the inherent evil of the physical world, conflicted with the doctrines of the Incarnation of Christ and Catholic sacraments. led to accusations of Gnosticism and attracted the ire of the Catholic establishment. They became known as the Albigensians, because there were many adherents in the city of Albi and the surrounding area in the 12th and 13th centuries. 1022 and 1163, the Cathars were condemned by eight local church councils, the last of which, held at Tours, declared that all Albigenses should be put into prison and have their property confiscated. The Third Lateran Council of 1179 repeated the condemnation. Innocent III's diplomatic attempts to roll back Catharism were met with little success. After the murder of his legate Pierre de Castelnau in 1208, and suspecting that Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse was responsible, Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars. He offered the lands of the Cathar heretics to any French nobleman willing to take up arms. 1209 to 1215, the Crusaders experienced great success, capturing Cathar lands and perpetrating acts of extreme violence, often against civilians. From 1215 to 1225, a series of revolts caused many of the lands to be regained by the Cathars. A renewed crusade resulted in the recapturing of the territory and effectively drove Catharism underground by 1244. The Albigensian Crusade had a role in the creation and institutionalization of both the Dominican Order and the Medieval Inquisition. The Dominicans promulgated the message of the Church to combat alleged heresies by preaching the Church's teachings in towns and villages, while the Inquisition investigated heresies. Because of these efforts, by the middle of the 14th century, any discernible traces of the Cathar movement had been eradicated. The Albigensian Crusade is considered by many historians to be an act of genocide against the Cathars.[3][4][5]

Belgium, 1214-1253, CLARE OF ASSISI, Poor Clares, wealthy, Francis' poverty ex, begged food, ate little, no meat, most beautiful
Rome, 1214-1253, CLARE OF ASSISI, Umbria, Italy (Tiber River 1), Poor Clares, wealthy Florence Ubaldini daughter, followed Francis' example, of poverty, door of t dead, begged for food, ate little, no meat, most beautiful; CLARE OF ASSISI, NUN (11 AUGUST 1253) ; Offreduccio, born in 1194, was the daughter of a wealthy family in Assisi. she was eighteen years old, she heard a sermon by Francis of Assisi, and was moved by it to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and vow herself to a life of poverty. family was horrified, and brought her back home by force; but one night, in a gesture both tactical and symbolic, she slipped out of her house through "the door of the dead" (a small side door that was traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and returned to the house of the Franciscans. cut off her hair, and placed her in a nearby convent. Later a house was found for her, and she was eventually joined by two of her sisters, her widowed mother, and several members of the wealthy Ubaldini family of Florence. best friend, Pacifica, could not resist, and joined them, too. sisters of her order came to be known informally as Minoresses (Franciscan brothers are Friars Minor = "lesser brothers") or as Poor Clares. the order was formed, Francis suggested Clare for the Superior. But she refused the position until she turned twenty-one. devoted themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected. adopted a rule of life of extreme austerity so than of any other order of women up to that time) of absolute poverty, both individually and collectively. had no beds. They slept on twigs with patched hemp for blankets. and rain seeped through cracks in the ceilings. ate very little, with no meat at all. they ate was food they begged for. made sure she fasted more than anyone else. this way of life, or perhaps because of it, the followers of Clare were the most beautiful young girls from the best families of Assisi. community of Poor Clares continues to this day, both in the Roman and in the Anglican communions. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1216-1250, HRE Emperor, Frederick II, 6th and Northern Crusades, King of Jrslm, pope conflicts, interregnum
Belgium, 1216-1250, Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II; DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221); CLARE OF ASSISI, NUN (11 AUGUST 1253) ; LOUIS IX, KING OF FRANCE (25 AUGUST 1270); FRANCIS OF ASSISI, FRIAR (4 OCT 1226); St Eupraxia, Princess of Pskov, Commemorated on October 16; ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231); THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, FRIAR, AND THEOLOGIAN (28 JAN 1274);

Belgium, 1217-1221, Fifth Crusade, led by King Andrew II of Hungary, to Cairo
Hungary, 1217-1221, Fifth Crusade, led by King Andrew II of Hungary ; Hungary, 1205-1235, King, Andrew II of Hungary ; ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231) ;

Belgium, 1223-1280, Albertus Magnus, Dominican, greatest German philosopher and theologian of Middle Ages
Belgium, 1223-1280, Holy Roman Saint, Albertus Magnus, Dominican; Magnus[a] OP (c. 1200 - 15 November 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great or Albert of Cologne, was a German Catholic Dominican friar, philosopher and bishop. Later canonised as a Catholic saint, he was known during his lifetime as Doctor universalis and Doctor expertus and, late in his life, the sobriquet Magnus was appended to his name.[6] Scholars such as James A. Weisheipl and Joachim R. Söder have referred to him as the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages.[7] The Catholic Church distinguishes him as one of the 36 Doctors of the Church. DOMINIC, PREACHER, FRIAR, MISSIONARY (8 AUGUST 1221);

Belgium, 1226-1231, Elizabeth of Hungary, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST, Wartburg, Thuringa, Germany
Hungary, 1226-1231, Elizabeth of Hungary, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST, Wartburg, Thuringa, Germany ; Wartburg is a castle. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231); numerous "St. Elizabeth's Hospitals" throughout the world are for the most part named, not for the Biblical Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, but for this princess of Hungary. was concerned for the relief of the poor and the sick, and with her husband's consent she used her dowry money for their relief. During a famine and epidemic in 1226, while her husband was away in Italy, she sold her jewels and established a hospital where she nursed the sick, and opened the royal granaries to feed the hungry. her husband's death in 1227, her inlaws, who opposed her "extravagances," expelled her from Wartburg. an arrangement was negotiated with them that gave her a stipend. became a Franciscan tertiary (lay associate) and devoted the remainder of her life to nursing and charity. She sewed garments to clothe the poor, and went fishing to feed them. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1226-1231, Elizabeth of Hungary, Halych ancestors, Princess, Thuringa, Marburg Hospital, German Ancestress
Hungary, 1226-1231, Princess, Elizabeth of Hungary; of Hungary (7 July 1207 - 17 November 1231),[6] also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia or Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness.[7] was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20.[8] After her husband's death she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was canonized on 25 May 1235. life and marriage[edit] was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania. Her mother's sister was Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia.[6] ancestry included many notable figures of European royalty, going back as far as Vladimir the Great of the Kievan Rus. According to tradition, she was born in Hungary, possibly in the castle of Sárospatak (discussed below), on 7 July 1207.[9][10][11] sermon printed in 1497 by the Franciscan friar Osvaldus de Lasco, a church official in Hungary, is the first to name Sárospatak as Elizabeth's birthplace, perhaps building on local tradition. The veracity of this account is not without reproach: Osvaldus also translates the miracle of the roses (see below) to Elizabeth's childhood in Sárospatak and has her leave Hungary at the age of five.[12] to a different tradition she was born in Pozsony, Hungary, (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia), where she lived in the Castle of Posonium until the age of four. was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to be betrothed to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia[8] (also known as Ludwig IV), a future union which would reinforce political alliances between the families.[a] She was raised by the Thuringian court and would have been familiar with the local language and culture. St. Elizabeth washing a sick man a scene from the main altar of St. Elisabeth Cathedral in Kassa, 15th century 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Louis; the same year he was enthroned as Landgrave, and the marriage appears to have been happy. inclinations, influences[edit] 1223, Franciscan friars arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of Francis of Assisi, but started to live them.[14] was not upset by his wife's charitable efforts, believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he is venerated in Thuringia as a saint, though he was never canonized by the Church.[15] was also about this time that the priest and later inquisitor Konrad von Marburg gained considerable influence over Elizabeth when he was appointed as her confessor. In the spring of 1226, when floods, famine, and plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the Imperial Diet held in Cremona. assumed control of affairs at home and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. St. Elizabeth spinning wool for the poor by Marianne Stokes (1895) life changed irrevocably on 11 September 1227 when Louis, en route to join the Sixth Crusade, died of a fever in Otranto, Italy, just a few weeks before the birth of her daughter Gertrude. hearing the news of her husband's death, Elizabeth reportedly said, "He is dead. He is dead. It is to me as if the whole world died today."[16] His remains were returned to Elizabeth in 1228 and entombed at the Abbey of Reinhardsbrunn. Louis' death, his brother, Henry Raspe, assumed the regency during the minority of Elizabeth's eldest child, Hermann (1222–1241). bitter arguments over the disposal of her dowry — a conflict in which Konrad was appointed as the official Defender of her case by Pope Gregory IX — Elizabeth left the court at Wartburg and moved to Marburg in Hesse. to 1888 it was believed, on account of the testimony of one of Elizabeth's servants during the canonization process, that Elizabeth was driven from the Wartburg in the winter of 1227 by her brother-in-law, Heinrich Raspe, who acted as regent for her son, then only five years old. 1888 various investigators (Börner, Mielke, Wenck, E. Michael, etc.) asserted that Elizabeth left the Wartburg voluntarily. She was not able at the castle to follow Konrad's command to eat only food obtained in a way that was certainly right and proper.[6] her husband's death, Elizabeth made solemn vows to Konrad similar to those of a nun. These vows included celibacy, as well as complete obedience to Konrad as her confessor and spiritual director. treatment of Elizabeth was extremely harsh, and he held her to standards of behavior which were almost impossible to meet. the punishments he is alleged to have ordered were physical beatings; he also ordered her to send away her three children. pledge to celibacy proved a hindrance to her family's political ambitions. Elizabeth was more or less held hostage at Pottenstein, the castle of her uncle, Bishop Ekbert of Bamberg, in an effort to force her to remarry. however, held fast to her vow, even threatening to cut off her own nose so that no man would find her attractive enough to marry.[17] second child Sophie of Thuringia (1224–1275) married Henry II, Duke of Brabant, and was the ancestress of the Landgraves of Hesse, since in the War of the Thuringian Succession she won Hesse for her son Heinrich I, called the Child. third child, Gertrude of Altenberg (1227–1297), was born several weeks after the death of her father; she became abbess of the monastery of Altenberg Abbey, Hesse near Wetzlar.[18] built a hospital at Marburg for the poor and the sick with the money from her dowry, where she and her companions cared for them.[19] Miracles[edit] of the Roses[edit] A statue showing the miracle of the roses in the rose garden in front of the neo-Gothic church dedicated to her at Roses' Square (Rózsák tere), Budapest[20] is perhaps best known for her miracle of the roses which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, she met her husband Ludwig on a hunting party, who, in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. In that moment, her cloak fell open and a vision of white and red roses could be seen, which proved to Ludwig that God's protecting hand was at work.[21] husband, according to the vitae, was never troubled by her charity and always supported it. In some versions of this story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions her. Hers is one of many miracles that associate Christian saints with roses. in the bed[edit] story told of Elizabeth, also found in Dietrich of Apolda's Vita, relates how she laid the leper Helias of Eisenach in the bed she shared with her husband. Her mother-in-law, who was horrified, told this immediately to Ludwig on his return. When Ludwig removed the bedclothes in great indignation, at that instant "Almighty God opened the eyes of his soul, and instead of a leper he saw the figure of Christ crucified stretched upon the bed."[21] This story also appears in Franz Liszt's oratorio about Elizabeth.[22] and legacy[edit] Elisabethkirche in Marburg Floorplan of Elisabethkirche Elisabeth church in Grave, The Netherlands 1231, Elizabeth died in Marburg at the age of twenty-four.[23] after death and canonization[edit] soon after the death of Elizabeth, miracles were reported that happened at her grave in the church of the hospital, especially those of healing. On the suggestion of Konrad, and by papal command, examinations were held of those who had been healed between August 1232 and January 1235. The results of those examinations was supplemented by a brief vita of the saint-to-be, and together with the testimony of Elizabeth's handmaidens and companions (bound in a booklet called the Libellus de dictis quatuor ancillarum s. Elizabeth confectus), proved sufficient reason for quick canonization. She was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 24 May 1235.[23] shrine became one of the main German centers of pilgrimage of the 14th century and early 15th century. During the course of the 15th century, the popularity of the cult of St Elizabeth slowly faded, though to some extent this was mitigated by an aristocratic devotion to St Elizabeth, since through her daughter Sophia she was an ancestor of many leading aristocratic German families. papal bull declaring her a saint is on display in the Schatzkammer of the Deutschordenskirche in Vienna, Austria. Her body was laid in a magnificent golden shrine—still to be seen today—in the Marburg church bearing her name. But three hundred years after her death, one of Elizabeth's many descendants, the Landgrave Philip I "the Magnanimous" of Hesse, a leader of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important supporters of Martin Luther, raided the church in Marburg and demanded that the Teutonic Order hand over Elizabeth's bones, in order to disperse her relics and thus put an end to the already declining pilgrimages to Marburg.[6] Philip took away the crowned agate chalice in which her head rested, but returned it after being imprisoned by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. reliquary chalice was subsequently plundered by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War and is now on display at The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm.[24] Her skull and some of her bones can be seen at the Viennese convent bearing her name. A portion of her relics were kept in the church of the Carmelites at Brussels; another in the magnificent chapel of La Roche-Guyon, upon the Seine, and a considerable part in a precious shrine is in the electoral treasury of Hanover.[25] Another part of her relics were taken to Santafé de Bogotá, then the capital of the Spanish New Kingdom of Granada by friar Luis Zapata de Cárdenas. The relics are today inside a chapel dedicated to the saint in the Primatial Cathedral of Bogotá. Elisabethkirche is now a Protestant church, but has spaces set aside for Catholic worship. Marburg became a center of the Teutonic Order, which adopted St. Elizabeth as its secondary patroness. The Order remained in Marburg until its official dissolution by Napoleon in 1803. of Hungary is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 18 November.[26] with the Franciscans[edit] her death, Elizabeth was commonly associated with the Third Order of Saint Francis, the primarily lay branch of the Franciscan Order, which has helped propagate her cult. Whether she ever actually joined the order, only recently founded in 1221, the year when she married Louis at the age of fourteen, is not proven to everyone's satisfaction.[27] must be kept in mind though that the Third Order was such a new development in the Franciscan movement, that no one official ritual had been established at that point. Elizabeth clearly had a ceremony of consecration in which she adopted a Franciscan religious habit in her new way of life, as noted above. her support of the friars sent to Thuringia, she was made known to the founder, St Francis of Assisi, who sent her a personal message of blessing shortly before his death in 1226. Upon her canonization she was declared the patron saint of the Third Order of St Francis, an honor she shares with St Louis IX of France. Hungary, 1205-1235, King, Andrew II of Hungary ; ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY, PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231) ;

Belgium, 1242, Northern Crusades, ordered by Pope, Battle of the Ice, Pskov Lake
Russia, Novgorod, 1195-1242, Northern Crusades, ordered by Pope Celestine III; Rome, 1191-1198, Pope, Celestine III; Novgorod, 1242, Great Battle of the Ice of Pskov Lake, defeat of Teutonic Knights; Repose of St Alexander Nevsky, Commemorated on November 23;

Belgium, 1245-1274, Thomas Aquias, Dominican, philosopher, theologian, and jurist, scholasticism (w Aristotle Logic)
Belgium, 1245-1274, Holy Roman Saint, Thomas Aquias; Aquinas (1225 - 7 March 1274) was an Italian[10][11] Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, he is also known within the latter as the Doctor Angelicus, the Doctor Communis, and the Doctor Universalis.[a] The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio, Italy. Among other things, he was a prominent proponent of natural theology and the father of a school of thought (encompassing both theology and philosophy) known as Thomism. He argued that God is the source of both the light of natural reason and the light of faith.[12] His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy developed or opposed his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, and political theory. many currents in the Catholic Church of the time,[13] Thomas embraced several ideas put forward by Aristotle—whom he called "the Philosopher"—and attempted to synthesize Aristotelian philosophy with the principles of Christianity.[14] best-known works are the Disputed Questions on Truth (1256–1259), the Summa contra Gentiles (1259–1265), and the unfinished but massively influential Summa Theologica, or Summa Theologiae (1265–1274). His commentaries on Scripture and on Aristotle also form an important part of his body of work. Furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the church's liturgy.[15] The Catholic Church honors Thomas Aquinas as a saint and regards him as the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood, and indeed the highest expression of both natural reason and speculative theology. In modern times, under papal directives, the study of his works was long used as a core of the required program of study for those seeking ordination as priests or deacons, as well as for those in religious formation and for other students of the sacred disciplines (philosophy, Catholic theology, church history, liturgy, and canon law).[16] Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Church's greatest theologians and philosophers. Pope Benedict XV declared: "This (Dominican) Order ... acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored with the special praises of the Pontiffs, the master and patron of Catholic schools."[17] The English philosopher Anthony Kenny considers Thomas to be "one of the dozen greatest philosophers of the western world".[18] LOUIS IX, KING OF FRANCE (25 AUGUST 1270); THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, FRIAR, AND THEOLOGIAN (28 JAN 1274);

Belgium, 1248-1254, Seventh Crusade, Holy Roman Empire, Louis captured, ransomed, 1259 Karyes?
Belgium, 1248-1254, Seventh Crusade, Holy Roman Empire; The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Louis' Christian army was defeated by the Ayyubid army led by Fakhr al-Din ibn Shaykh al-Shuyukh and their allies, the Bahriyya Mamluks, led by Faris ad-Din Aktai, Baibars al-Bunduqdari, Qutuz, Aybak and Qalawun. Shaykh al-Shuyukh was killed in the war, and Louis was captured. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for his return.[3][4][5]

Belgium, 1250-1273, Holy Roman Interregnum, No Emperor, several weak kings, anti kings, Avignon Papacy
Belgium, 1250-1273, Holy Roman Interregnum, No Emperor; There were many imperial interregna in the history of the Holy Roman Empire, when there was no emperor. Interregna in which there was no emperor-elect (king of the Romans) were rarer. Among the longest periods without an emperor were between 924 and 962 (38 years), between 1245 and 1312 (67 years), and between 1378 and 1433 (55 years). The crisis of government of the Holy Roman Empire and the German kingdom thus lasted throughout the late medieval period, and ended only with the rise of the House of Habsburg on the eve of the German Reformation and the Renaissance. The term Great Interregnum is occasionally used for the period between 1250 (death of Frederick II) and 1273 (accession of Rudolf I). Great Interregnum[edit] Or three leopards sable.svg Staufen party Arms of the Holy Roman Emperor (Hohenstaufen).svg Frederick II (1245-“50) Arms of the Holy Roman Emperor (Hohenstaufen).svg Conrad IV (1245-“54) Royal Coat of Arms of the Crown of Castile (1284-1390).svg Alfonso X of Castile (1257-“75) Arms of Rudolph I of Germany.svg Rudolf of Habsburg (1273-“75) Coat of arms of the House of Welf-Brunswick (Braunschweig).svg Welf party Thuringia armor.svg Henry of Thuringia (1246-“47) Wapen graafschap Holland.svg William II of Holland (1247-“56) Richard of Cornwall Arms.svg Richard of Cornwall (1257-“72) Blason Bo Bohame.svg Ottokar II of Bohemia Result: compromise Unanimous election of Rudolf in 1273 Alfonso X of Castile renounced claim in 1275 After the deposition of Frederick II by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia was set up as anti-king to Frederick's son Conrad IV (d. 1254). Henry was killed in 1247 and succeeded as anti-king by William of Holland (died 1256). After 1257, the crown was contested between Richard of Cornwall, who was supported by the Guelph party, and Alfonso X of Castile, who was recognized by the Hohenstaufen party but never set foot on German soil. After Richard's death in 1273, Rudolf I of Germany, a minor pro-Staufen count, was elected. He was the first of the Habsburgs to hold a royal title, but he was never crowned emperor. After Rudolf's death in 1291, Adolf and Albert were two further weak kings who were never crowned emperor. Albert was assassinated in 1308. Almost immediately, King Philip IV of France began aggressively seeking support for his brother, Charles of Valois, to be elected the next King of the Romans.[1] Philip thought he had the backing of the French Pope Clement V (established at Avignon in 1309), and that his prospects of bringing the empire into the orbit of the French royal house were good. He lavishly spread French money in the hope of bribing the German electors.[2] Although Charles of Valois had the backing of Henry, Archbishop of Cologne, a French supporter, many were not keen to see an expansion of French power, least of all Clement V.[2][3] The principal rival to Charles appeared to be Rudolf, the Count Palatine. Instead, Henry VII, of the House of Luxembourg, was elected with six votes at Frankfurt on 27 November 1308.[2] Given his background, although he was a vassal of king Philip,[2] Henry was bound by few national ties, an aspect of his suitability as a compromise candidate among the electors,[4] the great territorial magnates who had lived without a crowned emperor for decades, and who were unhappy with both Charles and Rudolf. Henry of Cologne's brother, Baldwin, Archbishop of Trier, won over a number of the electors, including Henry, in exchange for some substantial concessions.[2] Henry VII was crowned king at Aachen on 6 January 1309, and emperor by Pope Clement V on 29 June 1312 in Rome, ending the interregnum. LOUIS IX, KING OF FRANCE (25 AUGUST 1270); 26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders, Commemorated on October 10; THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, FRIAR, AND THEOLOGIAN (28 JAN 1274); Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on May 13;

Belgium, 1259, Martyrs killed by Latins at Iviron monastery, pope's private army
Greece, Mt Athos, 1259, Martyrs killed by Latins at Iviron monastery; monks began to settle on Mt. Athos in the middle of the 10th century, and a Georgian monastery, Iveron, was founded there not long after. that time foreign armies were constantly invading Mt. Athos. In the 13th century the Crusaders stormed through the region, and between 1259 and 1306 the pope’s private army devastated Mt. Athos several times. Monks of Zographou and Vatopedi monasteries and the Protaton were martyred for the Orthodox Faith, and the monks of the Iveron Monastery eventually met the same fate. this period Georgian and Greek ascetics labored together at the Iveron Monastery, and many young ascetics of the new generation began to arrive from Georgia. Crusaders demanded that the Iveron monks convert to Catholicism and acknowledge the primacy of the Roman pope. But the monks condemned their fallacies and anathematized the doctrine of the Catholics. to the Patericon of Athos, the Ivá¸—ron monks were forcibly expelled from their monastery. Nearly two hundred elderly monks were goaded like animals onto a ship that was subsequently sunk in the depths of the sea. The younger, healthier monks were deported to Italy and sold as slaves to the Jews. sources claim this tragedy took place in the year 1259, while others record that the Georgian monks of the Holy Mountain were subject to the Latin persecutions over the course of four years, from 1276 to 1280. Iviron monastery ; Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on May 13; monks began to settle on Mt. Athos in the middle of the 10th century, and a Georgian monastery, Ivḗron, was founded there not long after. that time foreign armies were constantly invading Mt. Athos. In the 13th century the Crusaders stormed through the region, and between 1259 and 1306 the pope’s private army devastated Mt. Athos several times. Monks of Zographou and Vatopedi monasteries and the Protaton were martyred for the Orthodox Faith, and the monks of the Ivḗron Monastery eventually met the same fate. this period Georgian and Greek ascetics labored together at the Ivḗron Monastery, and many young ascetics of the new generation began to arrive from Georgia. Crusaders demanded that the Ivḗron monks convert to Catholicism and acknowledge the primacy of the Roman pope. But the monks condemned their fallacies and anathematized the doctrine of the Catholics. to the Patericon of Athos, the Ivḗron monks were forcibly expelled from their monastery. Nearly two hundred elderly monks were goaded like animals onto a ship that was subsequently sunk in the depths of the sea. The younger, healthier monks were deported to Italy and sold as slaves to the Jews. sources claim this tragedy took place in the year 1259, while others record that the Georgian monks of the Holy Mountain were subject to the Latin persecutions over the course of four years, from 1276 to 1280.

Belgium, 1261-1282, Euthymius&12 Monks, Vatopedi, Mt Athos, martyred for denouncing Latinizing Patriarchs Paleologos&Bekkos
Greece, 1261-1282, Euthymius&12 Monks, Vatopedi monastery, Mt Athos, martyred for denouncing Latinizing Patriarchs Paleologos&Bekkos; Vatopedi monastery ; Venerable Euthymius and twelve other Monks, martyred at Vatopedi, Commemorated on January 4; Monk Martyr Euthymius, Igumen of the Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos, and twelve other monks suffered martyrdom denouncing the Latinizing Patriarchs Michael Paleologos (1261-1281) and John Bekkos (1275-1282) as heretics. Saint Euthymius was drowned in the sea, and the monks were hanged.

Belgium, 1270, Eighth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire, Disease
Belgium, 1270, Eighth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire; The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX of France against the Hafsid dynasty in 1270. The Eighth Crusade is sometimes counted as the Seventh, if the Fifth and Sixth Crusades of Frederick II are counted as a single crusade. The Ninth Crusade is sometimes also counted as part of the Eighth. The crusade is considered a failure after Louis died shortly after arriving on the shores of Tunisia, with his disease-ridden army dispersing back to Europe shortly afterwards.[1]

Belgium, 1271-1272, Nineth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire, Lord Edward's C, clash with Baibars, Outremer territories
Belgium, 1271-1272, Nineth Crusade, Holy Roman Empire ; Edward's crusade,[1] sometimes called the Ninth Crusade,[2] was a military expedition to the Holy Land under the command of the future King Edward I of England in 1271-“1272. It was an extension of the Eighth Crusade and was the last of the Crusades to reach the Holy Land before the fall of Acre in 1291 brought an end to the permanent crusader presence there. Ninth Crusade saw Edward clash with Baibars, with both achieving limited victories. The Crusaders were ultimately forced to withdraw, since Edward had pressing concerns at home and felt unable to resolve the internal conflicts within the remnant Outremer territories. It is arguable that the Crusading spirit was nearly "extinct" by this period as well.[3] It also foreshadowed the imminent collapse of the last remaining crusader strongholds along the Mediterranean coast. Monastic Martyrs of Karyes, Commemorated on December 5 ;

Belgium, 1272, Union of Lyons, convoked 1272, convened 1274, Peace among Christians, revoked
France, 1272, Union of Lyons 1272; The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274.[1] Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West.[2] The council was attended by about 300 bishops, 60 abbots[3] and more than a thousand prelates or their procurators, among whom were the representatives of the universities. Due to the great number of attendees, those who had come to Lyon without being specifically summoned were given "leave to depart with the blessing of God" and of the Pope. Among others who attended the council were James I of Aragon, the ambassador of the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos with members of the Greek clergy and the ambassadors of Abaqa Khan of the Ilkhanate. Thomas Aquinas had been summoned to the council, but died en route at Fossanova Abbey. Bonaventure was present at the first four sessions, but died at Lyon on 15 July 1274. As at the First Council of Lyon, Thomas Cantilupe was an English attendee and a papal chaplain.[4] In addition to Aragon, which James represented in person, representatives of the kings of Germany, England, Scotland, France, the Spains and Sicily[5] were present, with procurators also representing the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Bohemia, the "realm of Dacia" and the duchy of Poland. In the procedures to be observed in the council, for the first time the nations appeared as represented elements in an ecclesiastical council, as they had already become represented in the governing of medieval universities. This innovation marks a stepping-stone towards the acknowledgment of coherent ideas of nationhood, which were in the process of creating the European nation-states. The main topics discussed at the council were the conquest of the Holy Land and the union of the Eastern and Western Churches. The first session took place on 7 May 1274 and was followed by five additional sessions on 18 May 1274, 4 or 7 June 1274, 6 July 1274, 16 July 1274, and 17 July 1274. By the end of the council, 31 constitutions were promulgated. In the second session, the fathers approved the decree Zelus fidei, which contained no juridical statutes but rather summed up constitutions about the perils of the Holy Land, the means for paying for a proposed crusade, the excommunication of pirates and corsairs and those who protected them or traded with them, a declaration of peace among Christians, a grant of an indulgence for those willing to go on crusade, restoration of communion with the Greeks, and the definition of the order and procedure to be observed in the council. The Greeks conceded on the issue of the Filioque (two words added to the Nicene Creed), and union was proclaimed, but the union was later repudiated by Andronicus II,[2] heir to Michael VIII. The council also recognized Rudolf I as Holy Roman Emperor, ending the interregnum.[2] 26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders, Commemorated on October 10;

Belgium, 1273-1291, Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf I of Germany, first Hapsburg for Germany, Austria
Belgium, 1273-1291, Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf I of Germany; I (1 May 1218 - 15 July 1291) was the first king of Germany from the House of Habsburg. The first of the count-kings of Germany, he reigned from 1273 until his death. election marked the end of the Great Interregnum which had begun after the death of the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II in 1250. a Swabian count, he was the first Habsburg to acquire the duchies of Austria and Styria in opposition to his mighty rival, the Premyslid king Ottokar II of Bohemia, whom he defeated in the 1278 Battle on the Marchfeld. territories remained under Habsburg rule for more than 600 years, forming the core of the Habsburg Monarchy and the present-day country of Austria. played a vital role in raising the comital House of Habsburg to the rank of Imperial princes. 26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders, Commemorated on October 10; Monastic Martyrs of Karyes, Commemorated on December 5 ; THOMAS AQUINAS, PRIEST, FRIAR, AND THEOLOGIAN (28 JAN 1274); Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on May 13;

Belgium, 1274, Union of Lyons convoked in 1272, convened 1274, peace among Christians, revoked
France, 1272, Union of Lyons 1272; The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274.[1] Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to act on a pledge by Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to reunite the Eastern church with the West.[2] The council was attended by about 300 bishops, 60 abbots[3] and more than a thousand prelates or their procurators, among whom were the representatives of the universities. Due to the great number of attendees, those who had come to Lyon without being specifically summoned were given "leave to depart with the blessing of God" and of the Pope. Among others who attended the council were James I of Aragon, the ambassador of the Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos with members of the Greek clergy and the ambassadors of Abaqa Khan of the Ilkhanate. Thomas Aquinas had been summoned to the council, but died en route at Fossanova Abbey. Bonaventure was present at the first four sessions, but died at Lyon on 15 July 1274. As at the First Council of Lyon, Thomas Cantilupe was an English attendee and a papal chaplain.[4] In addition to Aragon, which James represented in person, representatives of the kings of Germany, England, Scotland, France, the Spains and Sicily[5] were present, with procurators also representing the kingdoms of Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Bohemia, the "realm of Dacia" and the duchy of Poland. In the procedures to be observed in the council, for the first time the nations appeared as represented elements in an ecclesiastical council, as they had already become represented in the governing of medieval universities. This innovation marks a stepping-stone towards the acknowledgment of coherent ideas of nationhood, which were in the process of creating the European nation-states. The main topics discussed at the council were the conquest of the Holy Land and the union of the Eastern and Western Churches. The first session took place on 7 May 1274 and was followed by five additional sessions on 18 May 1274, 4 or 7 June 1274, 6 July 1274, 16 July 1274, and 17 July 1274. By the end of the council, 31 constitutions were promulgated. In the second session, the fathers approved the decree Zelus fidei, which contained no juridical statutes but rather summed up constitutions about the perils of the Holy Land, the means for paying for a proposed crusade, the excommunication of pirates and corsairs and those who protected them or traded with them, a declaration of peace among Christians, a grant of an indulgence for those willing to go on crusade, restoration of communion with the Greeks, and the definition of the order and procedure to be observed in the council. The Greeks conceded on the issue of the Filioque (two words added to the Nicene Creed), and union was proclaimed, but the union was later repudiated by Andronicus II,[2] heir to Michael VIII. The council also recognized Rudolf I as Holy Roman Emperor, ending the interregnum.[2] 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou of Mt Athos, Commemorated on September 21;

Belgium, 1274, 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou, burned alive by heretic Michael VIII, for no union with Rome
Greece, Mt Athos, 1274, 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou Monestary, Bulgarian, Mt Athos, burned alive by heretic Michael VIII, for not accepting union with Roman Church; Zographou Monastery; 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou of Mt Athos, Commemorated on September 21 ; July of 1274, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII accepted a union with the Roman Church at Lyons, France. with dangers from Charles of Anjou, the Ottoman Turks, and other enemies, the emperor found such an alliance with Rome expedient. Union of Lyons required the Orthodox to recognize the authority of the Pope, the use of the Filioque in the Creed, and the use of azymes (unleavened bread) in the Liturgy. Joseph was deposed because he would not agree to these conditions. The monastic clergy and many of the laity, both at home and in other Orthodox countries, vigorously opposed the Union, denouncing the emperor for his political schemes and for his betrayal of Orthodoxy. January 9, 1275 a Liturgy was celebrated in Constantinople in which the Pope was commemorated as “Gregory, the chief pontiff of the Apostolic Church, and Ecumenical Pope. ” The emperor’s sister remarked, “It is better that my brother’s empire should perish, rather than the purity of the Orthodox Faith.” the infamous Crusade of 1204 when Latin crusaders sacked Constantinople, many of the people also preferred to submit to the infidels than to abandon the Orthodox Faith. martyrs of Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos were among those who were persecuted by Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos (1261-1282) and Patriarch John Bekkos (1275-1282) because they would not obey the imperial command to recognize the Union of Lyons. steadfastly kept the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, and fearlessly censured those who accepted Catholic doctrines. the authorities came to Mt. Athos to enforce the imperial policy, the monks of Zographou shut themselves up in their monastery. the tower they reproached those in favor of the Union, calling them lawless men and heretics. The attackers set the monastery on fire and burned the twenty-six martyrs alive. names of the martyrs are: Igumen Thomas, the monks Barsanuphius, Cyril, Micah, Simon, Hilarion, James, Job, Cyprian, Savva, James, Martinian, Cosmas, Sergius, Menas, Joasaph, Joannicius, Paul, Anthony, Euthymius, Dometian, Parthenius, and four laymen who died with them. holy martyrs are also commemorated on October 10.

Belgium, 1282, Martyrs of Karyes, Athos, by Latins, fire and sword, apostate Paleologos, burned Protaton basilica
Greece, Mt Athos, 1282, Martyrs of Karyes, Athos, m by t Latins, fire and sword, during apostate Mike Paleologos, burned Protaton basilica, Protos hanged, others by swords; Serbian Bishop Saint Sava built a church and cell at Karyes, where he stayed for some years, becoming a Hieromonk, then an Archimandrite in 1201. He wrote the Karyes Typicon during his stay there, and a marble inscription of his work still exists.[2] In 1219 Sava becomes the first Archbishop of Serbia.[2] the year 1283, Latin Crusaders during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Michael Paleologos, attacked Mount Athos. They tortured and hanged the Protos, and sacked the Protaton, murdering many of the monks. These monks are commemorated as martyrs by the Orthodox Church on December 5 (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian Calendar, December 5 falls on December 18 of the Gregorian Calendar). Kayes; Venerable Philotheus of Karyes of Mt Athos, Commemorated December 5 ; Philotheus of Karyes lived an ascetic life on Athos in the cell of Iagari near Karyes. was the Spiritual Father of Saint Nectarius. Because of the purity of his life, he was granted the gift of clairvoyance. Monastic Martyrs of Karyes, Commemorated on December 5 ; Holy Monastic Martyrs of Karyes were martyred by the Latins who came with fire and sword onto Mount Athos during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Michael Paleologos (1259-1282), an apostate from Orthodoxy. in upon the Karyes monastery, the Latins burned and devastated the Church of the Protaton [the only basilica on the Holy Mountain, built in 965], “leaving no one alive.” -------------------------------------------------The Protos of the Holy Mountain, who had denounced the Latin rationalising as heresy, was after much torture hanged before the Protaton at the place called Chalkhos. hidden in caves around Karyes were cut down with swords. See October 10.

Belgium, 1284, Zographou Monestary, Mt Athos, Crusaders, 26 Martyrs
Zographou Monastery; 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou of Mt Athos, Commemorated on September 21 ; Venerable Cosmas the Bulgarian of Zographou of Mt Athos, Commemorated on September 21; Venerable Cosmas of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on September 22 ; Icon of the Mother of God "of the Akathist" of the Zographou Monastery, Commemorated October 10 ; 26 Martyrs of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos at the hands of the Crusaders, Commemorated October 10 ; Venerable Pimen the Bulgarian of the Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated November 3 ; St Hilarion the Georgian, the New, Commemorated February 14 ; Venerable Damian of Esphigmenou of Mt Athos, Commemorated February 23 ; Icon of the Mother of God œof the AkathistÂ, Commemorated on March 27; Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on May 13;

Belgium, 1284, Zographou Akathist Icon and MOG Prepared 26 for Martyrdom
Greece, Macedonia, Mt Athos, 1284, Zographou Akathist Icon and MOG Prepared 26 for Martyrdom day, while reading the Akathist, and silently repeating the word "rejoice," the Elder suddenly heard a voice coming from the Icon, "Rejoice also, Elder of God!" ascetic trembled in horror, but the voice continued: "Do not be afraid, but go to the monastery as soon as possible and announce to the brethren and to the Igoumen that the monastery is in danger from enemies who are already close by. Whoever is weak in patience, let him hide until the temptation passes; but as for those who are seeking crowns, let them stay." Zographou Monastery; Icon of the Mother of God of the Akathist of Zographou Monastery, Commemorated on October 10; the XIII century, there was a certain Elder who spent his life in ascetical struggles on Mount Athos. He had the pious custom of reading the Akathist Hymn before the Icon of the Mother of God every day. day, while reading the Akathist, and silently repeating the word "rejoice," the Elder suddenly heard a voice coming from the Icon, "Rejoice also, Elder of God!" ascetic trembled in horror, but the voice continued: "Do not be afraid, but go to the monastery as soon as possible and announce to the brethren and to the Igoumen that the monastery is in danger from enemies who are already close by. Whoever is weak in patience, let him hide until the temptation passes; but as for those who are seeking crowns, let them stay." Elder left the cell right away and hurried to the monastery. As soon as he entered the gate, his eyes beheld the very Icon from his cell, before which he had just read the Akathist. An invisible, miraculous power had brought it there from the ascetic's cell. Elder fell down before the Icon with ardent prayer, and then with the Icon in his hands, he went to the Igoumen. The brotherhood, learning of the impending danger, was very worried. The more faint-hearted monks hastened to hide in the mountains, while twenty-six brave monks, including the Igoumen himself, remained in the monastery. The Elder, who received the heavenly revelation, also remained with them, so that he might comfort them during the coming trial. did not take long for their enemies to reach the monastery. These were Latins who at that time were trying to convert Orthodox Christians to Catholicism. Arriving at the monastery and approaching the tower in which the monks had locked themselves, they tried to persuade them to renounce Orthodoxy. In an effort to convince them to recognize the pope as the head of the Universal Church, the Latins promised the champions of Orthodoxy all sorts of favors and monetary rewards. But these faithful sons of the Orthodox Church remained adamant. the enemies of Orthodoxy piled wood around the tower and lit it. As they prayed to the Lord, the monks gave thanks to the Almighty for making them worthy of receiving the crown of martyrdom, and then all of them surrendered their spotless souls to the Heavenly Father. Their martyric death occurred on October 10, 1274. The names of the victims were added to the Synodikon of Zographou Monastery, as well as to the official calendar of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. wonderworking Icon of the Mother of God, who warned the Elder about the impending disaster, was subsequently found unscathed under the ashes in the ruins of the monastery. Today this Icon is in the monastery, and an unsleeping lampada burns before it. is another Icon with the same name "of the Akathist" at Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos. Information about that Icon may be found under January 12. 26 Monk-Martyrs of Zographou of Mt Athos, Commemorated on September 21 ; July of 1274, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII accepted a union with the Roman Church at Lyons, France. with dangers from Charles of Anjou, the Ottoman Turks, and other enemies, the emperor found such an alliance with Rome expedient. Union of Lyons required the Orthodox to recognize the authority of the Pope, the use of the Filioque in the Creed, and the use of azymes (unleavened bread) in the Liturgy. Joseph was deposed because he would not agree to these conditions. The monastic clergy and many of the laity, both at home and in other Orthodox countries, vigorously opposed the Union, denouncing the emperor for his political schemes and for his betrayal of Orthodoxy. January 9, 1275 a Liturgy was celebrated in Constantinople in which the Pope was commemorated as “Gregory, the chief pontiff of the Apostolic Church, and Ecumenical Pope.” emperor’s sister remarked, “It is better that my brother’s empire should perish, rather than the purity of the Orthodox Faith.” the infamous Crusade of 1204 when Latin crusaders sacked Constantinople, many of the people also preferred to submit to the infidels than to abandon the Orthodox Faith. martyrs of Zographou Monastery on Mt. Athos were among those who were persecuted by Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos (1261-1282) and Patriarch John Bekkos (1275-1282) because they would not obey the imperial command to recognize the Union of Lyons. They steadfastly kept the teachings of the Fathers of the Church, and fearlessly censured those who accepted Catholic doctrines. the authorities came to Mt. Athos to enforce the imperial policy, the monks of Zographou shut themselves up in their monastery. From the tower they reproached those in favor of the Union, calling them lawless men and heretics. The attackers set the monastery on fire and burned the twenty-six martyrs alive. names of the martyrs are: Igumen Thomas, the monks Barsanuphius, Cyril, Micah, Simon, Hilarion, James, Job, Cyprian, Savva, James, Martinian, Cosmas, Sergius, Menas, Joasaph, Joannicius, Paul, Anthony, Euthymius, Dometian, Parthenius, and four laymen who died with them. holy martyrs are also commemorated on October 10. Icon of the Mother of God œof the AkathistÂ, Commemorated on March 27; Martyrs killed by the Latins at the Iveron Monastery on Mt. Athos, Commemorated on May 13;

Belgium, 1291-1298, Holy Roman Emperor, Adolf of Germany, deposed by Albert I
Belgium, 1291-1298, Holy Roman Emperor, Adolf of Germany; (c. 1255 – 2 July 1298) was Count of Nassau from about 1276 and elected King of the Romans (King of Germany) from 1292 until his deposition by the prince-electors in 1298. was never crowned by the Pope, which would have secured him the title of Holy Roman Emperor. He was the first physically and mentally healthy ruler of the Holy Roman Empire ever to be deposed without a papal excommunication. died shortly afterwards in the Battle of Göllheim fighting against his successor Albert of Habsburg. was the second in the succession of so-called count-kings of several rivalling comital houses striving after the Roman-German royal dignity. last agnatic dynastic descendant was William IV of Luxembourg. ---------------------------------------------------------- Venerable Joasaph of Snetogorsk, Pskov, Commemorated on March 4;

Belgium, 1298-1308, Holy Roman Emperor, Albert I of Germany, assinated
Belgium, 1298-1308, Holy Roman Emperor, Albert I of Germany; I of Habsburg (German: Albrecht I.) (July 1255 - 1 May 1308), the eldest son of King Rudolf I of Germany[1] and his first wife Gertrude of Hohenberg, was a Duke of Austria and Styria from 1282 and King of Germany from 1298 until his assassination. JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415; Venerable Joasaph of Snetogorsk, Pskov, Commemorated on March 4;

Belgium, 1300-1399, 14th Century Folder, Holy Roman Empire, Avignon Papacy

Belgium, 1308-1313, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII of Luxembourg
Belgium, 1308-1313, Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII of Luxembourg ; JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415;

Belgium, 1309-1377, Avignon Papacy
France, 1309-1377, Avignon Papacy; Avignon; CATHERINE OF SIENA, REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER (29 APR 1380); EARLY ABBOTS of CLUNY, 30 April 909 ; JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415;

Belgium, 1337-1453, 100 Years War between France and England for France
Battle of Agincourt; Hundred Years War (1337-1453); THOMAS A KEMPIS, PRIEST, MONK, AND WRITER (24 JULY 1471) ; GEORGE, SOLDIER and MARTYR, 23 APRIL 303, Commemorated April 23; JOAN OF ARC, VISIONARY, 30 May 1431;

Belgium, 1351-1430, Joanikije of Devic in Kosovo, wonderworker, solitude silence fasting unceasing prayer
Serbia, 1351-1430, Joanikije of Devic in Kosovo, f Zeta, tChrna Reka (Black River), nIbar River, solitude silence fasting unceasing prayer, people gathered, fled to Drnica & forest of Devic, healed prince's daughter, money for Monastery, miracles after death; Venerable Joannicius of Devic, Commemorated on December 2; Ioannikios (Janićije) was a Serb from Zeta, near the Adriatic Sea. was the son of pious and God-fearing parents, and he lived during the reign of the last medieval Serbian ruler, Prince George Branković (1427-1458). his youth, Saint Ioannikios loved solitude, as an adolescent he left his parents and made his way to eastern Serbia, where he settled in a wooded area called Chrna Reka (Black River), a few miles from the Ibar River. found a narrow cave where, according to Tradition, Saint Peter of Koriša (June 5) had struggled during the XIII century. Ioannikios built a cell and lived there for many years in solitude, fasting, and unceasing prayer. time, people began coming to him from all over Serbia in order to hear his words, and to receive his blessing. Others were drawn to him because they wanted him to guide them in the monastic life. community grew around him, and they built a church near his cell. when people heard about the holiness of his life, he fled to Drnica and hid himself in the thick forest of Devič. again, the Saint lived in solitude, weeping, fasting, struggling with demons, and devoting himself to the unceasing Prayer of the Heart. day Prince George brought his terminally ill daughter to him, and the Saint healed her. Prince wanted to know what he could do to express his gratitude. Ioannikios asked him to built a monastery at Devič and dedicate it to the Entrance of the a Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (November 21). a holy and God-pleasing life, Saint Ioannikios reposed on December 2, 1430, when he was almost one hundred years old. His grace-filled and wonderworking relics are kept at the monastery. After his death, many miracles have taken place there, and those who entreat him with faith are healed of their sicknesses and afflictions. this monastery there once lived a renowned and godly nun, Sister Euphemia, who is better known in the Kossovo region as Blessed Stoina. She built an Ispostnica (House of Silence) in honor of St. Ioannikios. She fell asleep in the Lord in the year 1895. Ioannikios still performs miracles, just as he did in his lifetime, five hundred years ago. A certain man from Hercegovina, whose name was Miloš wanted to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to venerate the holy places. Just as he was about to embark on his journey, Saint Ioannikios appeared to him in a dream and told him not to go to Jerusalem. "It would be better," the Saint explained, "if you went to Devič and cleaned my church, and put it in order, instead of going to Jerusalem." š followed the Saint's advice and went to the neglected Devič monastery, cleaned it up, restored it, and gave it new life. He became a monk and remained there until the end of his life. the First World War and the Austrian occupation, a Hungarian officer arrived at Devič with some soldiers. He made Igoumen Damaskene take him to the tomb of Saint Ioannikios, and asked him what was under the slab. "It is a holy place," the Igoumen replied. sort of holy place?" the officer asked. "You have some valuables hidden under there, don't you?" officer ordered the soldiers to break the slab with pick axes. As they were completing their task, the officer was stricken with pain in the middle of his body. He lay down on a bed and died before that evening. The terrified soldiers abandoned their work and fled from the monastery. Ioannikios is also commemorated on April 26, the uncovering of his holy relics. Devic Monastery in Kosovo; Devič Monastery (Serbian: Манастир Девич, romanized: Manastir Devič; Albanian: Manastiri i Deviçit) is a Serbian Orthodox abbey in Kosovo[a]. It was built in 1434 and is dedicated to St Joanikije of Devič. Devič was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.

Belgium, 1355-1378, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV of Luxembourg
Belgium, 1355-1378, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV of Luxembourg; CATHERINE OF SIENA, REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER (29 APR 1380); JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415;

Belgium, 1367-1380, CATHERINE OF SIENA, REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER, vision of Christ at 6, leprosy cancer nurse, Avigon Papacy
Rome, 1367-1380, SCATHERINE OF SIENA, (a Tuscan hill town, irrigation), REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER, vision of Christ at 6, leprosy cancer nurse, Avigon Papacy, persuaded Gregory XI back to R, ambassador to Florence, retired to Sienna, Dialog book visions advice, arrogant Urban VI, new Clement VII at Avigon, papal Schism till 1417; Siena; CATHERINE OF SIENA, REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER (29 APR 1380); Benincasa, born in 1347, was the youngest (one of my sources says the 23rd) of twenty-five children of a wealthy dyer of Sienna (or Siena). the age of six, she had a vision of Christ in glory, surrounded by His saints. that time on, she spent most of her time in prayer and meditation, over the opposition of her parents, who wanted her to be more like the average girl of her social class. they gave in, and at the age of sixteen she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic (First Order = friars, Second Order = nuns, Third Order = laypersons), where she became a nurse, caring for patients with leprosy and advanced cancer whom other nurses disliked to treat. began to acquire a reputation as a person of insight and sound judgement, and many persons from all walks of life sought her spiritual advice, both in person and by letter. have a book containing about four hundred letters from her to bishops, kings, scholars, merchants, and obscure peasants.) persuaded many priests who were living iacn luxury to give away their goods and to live simply. her day, the popes, officially Bishops of Rome, had been living for about seventy years, not at Rome but at Avignon in France, where they were under the political control of the King of France Avignon Papacy, sometimes called the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, began when Philip the Fair, King of France, captured Rome and the Pope in 1303). visited Avignon in 1376 and told Pope Gregory XI that he had no business to live away from Rome. He heeded her advice, and moved to Rome. then acted as his ambassador to Florence, and was able to reconcile a quarrel between the Pope and the leaders of that city. She then retired to Sienna, where she wrote a book called the Dialog, an account of her visions and other spiritual experiences, with advice on cultivating a life of prayer. Gregory's death in 1378, the Cardinals, mostly French, elected an Italian Pope, Urban VI, who on attaining office turned out to be arrogant and abrasive and tyrannical, and perhaps to have other faults as well. Cardinals met again elsewhere, declared that the first election had been under duress from the Roman mob and therefore invalid, and elected a new Pope, Clement VII, who established his residence at Avignon. worked tirelessly, both to persuade Urban to mend his ways letters to him are respectful but severe and uncompromising -- as one historian has said, she perfected the art of kissing the Pope's feet while simultaneously twisting his arm), to persuade others that the peace and unity of the Church required the recognition of Urban as lawful Pope. Despite her efforts, the Papal Schism continued until 1417. greatly weakened the prestige of the Bishops of Rome, and thus helped to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation a century later. is known (1) as a mystic, a contemplative who devoted herself to prayer, (2) as a humanitarian, a nurse who undertook to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the sick; (3) as an activist, a renewer of Church and society, who took a strong stand on the issues affecting society in her day, and who never hesitated (in the old Quaker phrase) "to speak truth to power"; (4) as an adviser and counselor, with a wide range of interests, who always made time for troubled and uncertain persons who told her their problems -- large and trivial, religious and secular. by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1369-1397, Callistus of Xanthopoulos, historian, Hesychasts d, divine light, faces shine like sun
Greece, Mt Athos, 1369-1397, Callistus of Xanthopoulos m & Magul skete, Mt Athos, near Philotheou, 28 yrs, Gregory of Sinai's story, directions to Hesychasts, divine light, faces shine like sun, died in Serbia; Magul skete on Holy Mount Athos (opposite the monastery of Philotheou) Venerable Callistus Xanthopoulos of Mt Athos, Commemorated November 22 ; Callistus II pursued asceticism at the Magul skete on Holy Mount Athos (opposite the monastery of Philotheou), there for twenty-eight years. was the disciple of Saint Gregory of Sinai (August 8), whose Life he wrote. with his fellow ascetic Ignatius of Xanthopoulos, he compiled the “Directions to Hesychasts in One Hundred Chapters” found in the second part of the Slavonic edition of the Philokalia (English translation in Kadlubovsky and Palmer, Writings from the Philokalia on Prayer of the Heart). their contemporary, Saint Simeon of Thessalonica (September 15) asserts, Saints Callistus and Ignatius of Xanthopoulos beheld the Uncreated Light, as the apostles had done on Mount Tabor. Their faces seemed to “shine like the sun.” 1397 he was elevated to the patriarchal throne, and was hierarch during the days of Manuel Paleologos (1391-1425). agreed to journey to Serbia in order to bring peace to that church, stopping along the way at Mt Athos. There, the Patriarch was told that he would not see his flock again. Upon reaching Serbia, he exchanged this temporal life for life eternal.

Belgium, 1378-1437, Sigismund of Bavaria, Bohemia, Brandenburg (Berlin), Lux, Croats, Serbs, Italy, & Hungry, Crusade, Hussites
Belgium, 1378-1437, Holy Roman Emperor, Sigismund of Luxembourg ; of Bohemia (15 February 1368 - 9 December 1437), also known as Sigismund of Luxembourg, was prince-elector of Brandenburg from 1378 until 1388 and from 1411 until 1415, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1387, king of Germany from 1411, king of Bohemia from 1419, king of Italy from 1431, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1433 until 1437, and the last male member of the House of Luxembourg.[1] was born in Nuremberg, the son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania. He married Queen Mary of Hungary in 1385 and was crowned King of Hungary soon after. He fought to restore and maintain authority to the throne. Mary died in 1395, leaving Sigismund the sole ruler of Hungary. 1396, Sigismund led the Crusade of Nicopolis, but was decisively defeated by the Ottoman Empire. Afterwards, he founded the Order of the Dragon to fight the Turks and secured the thrones of Croatia, Germany and Bohemia. Sigismund was one of the driving forces behind the Council of Constance (1414-1418) that ended the Papal Schism, but which also led to the Hussite Wars that dominated the later period of his life. In 1433, Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and ruled until his death in 1437. life in Nuremberg, Sigismund was the son of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles IV, and of his fourth wife, Elizabeth of Pomerania, who was the granddaughter of King Casimir III of Poland and the great-granddaughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas. He was named after Saint Sigismund of Burgundy, the favourite saint of Sigismund's father. From Sigismund's childhood he was nicknamed the "ginger fox" in the Crown of Bohemia, on account of his hair colour. first wife, Mary I, Queen of Hungary. Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland always had a good and close relationship with Emperor Charles IV, and Sigismund was betrothed to Louis' eldest daughter, Mary, in 1374, when he was six years old. his father's death in 1378, young Sigismund became Margrave of Brandenburg and was sent to the Hungarian court, where he soon learnt the Hungarian language and way of life, and became entirely devoted to his adopted country.[2] King Louis named him as his heir and appointed him his successor as King of Hungary. 1381, the then 13-year-old Sigismund was sent to Krakow by his eldest half-brother and guardian Wenceslaus, King of Germany and Bohemia, to learn Polish and to become acquainted with the land and its people. King Wenceslaus also gave him Neumark to facilitate communication between Brandenburg and Poland. disagreement between Polish landlords of Lesser Poland on one side and landlords of Greater Poland on the other, regarding the choice of the future King of Poland, finally ended in choosing the Lithuanian side. The support of the lords of Greater Poland was however not enough to give Prince Sigismund the Polish crown. Instead, the landlords of Lesser Poland gave it to Mary's younger sister Jadwiga I of Poland, who married Jogaila of Lithuania. of Hungary coin of Sigismund of Hungary with his coat of arms (right), the image of the King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (left). Standard of Hungary under the rule of Sigismund (1387–1437). the death of her father in 1382, his betrothed, Mary, became queen of Hungary and Sigismund married her in 1385 in Zolyom (today Zvolen). The next year, he was accepted as Mary's future co-ruler by the Treaty of Gyor. However, Mary was captured, together with her mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, who had acted as regent, in 1387 by the rebellious House of Horvat, Bishop Paul Horvat of Macva, his brother John Horvat and younger brother Ladislav. Sigismund's mother-in-law was strangled, while Mary was liberated. secured the support of the nobility, Sigismund was crowned King of Hungary at Szekesfehervar on 31 March 1387.[3] Having raised money by pledging Brandenburg to his cousin Jobst, margrave of Moravia (1388), he was engaged for the next nine years in a ceaseless struggle for the possession of this unstable throne.[2] The central power was finally weakened to such an extent that only Sigismund's alliance with the powerful Czillei-Garai League could ensure his position on the throne.[4] It was not for entirely selfless reasons that one of the leagues of barons helped him to power: Sigismund had to pay for the support of the lords by transferring a sizeable part of the royal properties. (For some years, the baron's council governed the country in the name of the Holy Crown). The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades of work. The bulk of the nation headed by the House of Garai was with him; but in the southern provinces between the Sava and the Drava, the Horvathys with the support of King Tvrtko I of Bosnia, Mary's maternal uncle, proclaimed as their king Ladislaus, king of Naples, son of the murdered Charles II of Hungary. Not until 1395 did Nicholas II Garai succeed in suppressing them.[2] Mary died heavily pregnant in 1395. ease the pressure from Hungarian nobles, Sigismund tried to employ foreign advisors, which was not popular, and he had to promise not to give land and nominations to anyone other than Hungarian nobles. However, this was not applied to Stibor of Stiboricz, who was Sigismund's closest friend and advisor. On a number of occasions, Sigismund was imprisoned by nobles, but with help of the armies of Garai and Stibor of Stiboricz, he would regain power. of Nicopolis Sigismund of Hungary during the battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting by Ferenc Lohr (1896), main hall of the Castle of Vaja. 1396, Sigismund led the combined armies of Christendom against the Turks, who had taken advantage of the temporary helplessness of Hungary to extend their dominion to the banks of the Danube. This crusade, preached by Pope Boniface IX, was very popular in Hungary. The nobles flocked in their thousands to the royal standard, and were reinforced by volunteers from nearly every part of Europe. The most important contingent being that of the French led by John the Fearless, son of Philip II, Duke of Burgundy. Sigismund set out with 90,000 men and a flotilla of 70 galleys. After capturing Vidin, he camped with his Hungarian armies before the fortress of Nicopolis. Bayezid I raised the siege of Constantinople and, at the head of 140,000 men, completely defeated the Christian forces in the Battle of Nicopolis fought between the 25 and 28 September 1396.[2] returned by sea and through the realm of Zeta, where he ordained a local Montenegrin lord Durad II with the islands of Hvar and Korčula for resistance against the Turks; the islands were returned to Sigismund after Durad's death in April 1403. disaster at Nicopolis angered several Hungarian lords, leading to instability in the kingdom. Deprived of his authority in Hungary, Sigismund then turned his attention to securing the succession in Germany and Bohemia, and was recognized by his childless half-brother Wenceslaus IV as Vicar-General of the whole Empire. However, he was unable to support Wenceslaus when he was deposed in 1400, and Rupert of Germany, Elector Palatine, was elected German king in his stead.[2] of Luxembourg, official imprint. to Hungary his return to Hungary in 1401, Sigismund was imprisoned once and deposed twice. In 1401, Sigismund helped an uprising against Wenceslaus IV, during the course of which the Bohemian king was taken prisoner, and Sigismund ruled Bohemia for nineteen months. He released Wenceslaus in 1403. In the meantime, a group of Hungarian noblemen swore loyalty to the last Anjou monarch, Ladislaus of Naples, putting their hands on the relic of Saint Ladislas of Hungary in Nagyvarad (today Oradea). Ladislaus was the son of the murdered Charles II of Hungary, and thus a distant relative of the long dead King Louis I of Hungary. Ladislaus captured Zara (today Zadar) in 1403, but soon stopped any military advance. This struggle in turn led to a war with the Republic of Venice, as Ladislaus had sold the Dalmatian cities to the Venetians for 100,000 ducats[2] before leaving for his own land. In the following years Sigismund acted indirectly to thwart Ladislaus' attempts to conquer central Italy, by allying with the Italian cities resisting him and by applying diplomatic pressure on him. to his frequent absences attending to business in the other countries over which he ruled, he was obliged to consult Diets in Hungary with more frequency than his predecessors and institute the office of Palatine as chief administrator while he was away.[5] In 1404, Sigismund introduced the Placetum Regium. According to this decree, Papal bulls could not be pronounced in Hungary without the consent of the king. his long reign, the royal castle of Buda became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. of Croatia horn of Sigismund of Luxembourg, before 1408. about 1406, Sigismund married Mary's cousin Barbara of Celje, daughter of Count Hermann II of Celje. Hermann's mother Catherine (of the House of Kotromanic) and Mary's mother Queen Elisabeth of Bosnia were sisters, or cousins who were adoptive sisters. managed to establish control in Slavonia. He did not hesitate to use violent methods (see Bloody Sabor of Krizevci), but from the river Sava to the south his control was weak. Sigismund personally led an army of almost 50,000 "crusaders" against the Bosnians, culminating with the Battle of Dobor in 1408, a massacre of about 200 noble families. in Serbia by Ottoman expansion, king Sigismund managed to strengthen the security of southern Hungarian borders by entering into a defensive alliance with despot Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia. In 1403, Hungarian possessions in northwestern regions of Serbia (city of Belgrade and the Banate of Macso), were given to despot Stefan, who pledged his allegiance to king Sigismund, remaining the king's loyal vassal until death in 1427. Stefan's successor George Branković of Serbia also pledged his allegiance to Sigismund, returning Belgrade to the king. By maintaining close relations with Serbian rulers, Sigismund succeeded in securing southern borders of his realm.[6][7] of the Dragon founded his personal order of knights, the Order of the Dragon, after the victory at Dobor. The main goal of the order was fighting the Ottoman Empire. Members of the order were mostly his political allies and supporters. The main members of the order were Sigismund's close allies Nicholas II Garay, Hermann II of Celje, Stibor of Stiboricz, and Pippo Spano. The most important European monarchs became members of the order. He encouraged international trade by abolishing internal duties, regulating tariffs on foreign goods and standardizing weights and measures throughout the country. of the Romans the death of King Rupert of Germany in 1410, Sigismund – ignoring the claims of his half-brother Wenceslaus – was elected as successor by three of the electors on 10 September 1410, but he was opposed by his cousin Jobst of Moravia, who had been elected by four electors in a different election on 1 October. Jobst's death 18 January 1411 removed this conflict and Sigismund was again elected king on 21 July 1411. His coronation was deferred until 8 November 1414, when it took place at Aachen.[2] alliances a number of occasions, and in 1410 in particular, Sigismund allied himself with the Teutonic Knights against Władysław II of Poland. In return for 300.000 ducats he would attack Poland from the south after the truce on St. John's Day, 24 June expired. Sigismund ordered his most loyal friend Stibor of Stiboricz to set up the attack on Poland. Stibor of Stiboricz was of Polish origin and from the main line of the powerful Clan of Ostoja that had also been against choosing Jagiello as King of Poland. With the support of Sigismund, Stibor become one of the most influential men in late medieval Europe, holding titles as Duke of Transylvania and owning about 25% of modern-day Slovakia, including 31 castles of which 15 were situated around the 406 km long Váh river with surrounding land that was given to him by Sigismund. In the diplomatic struggle to prevent war between Poland-Lithuania, which was supported by the Muscovites, and the Teutonic Knights, Sigismund used Stibor's fine diplomacy to gain financially. The Polish side appointed several negotiators and most of them were also from the Clan of Ostoja, distant relations of the Stibors. However, those "family meetings" could not prevent the war and an alliance of twenty-two western states formed an army against Poland in the Battle of Grunwald in July 1410. Stibor attacked then Nowy Sącz and burned it to the ground, but after that he returned with his army back to the Beckov Castle. After the Polish-Lithuanian victory in the Battle of Grunwald, the Teutonic knights had to pay a huge sum of silver to Poland as reparation and again, through diplomacy of his friend Stibor, Sigismund was able to borrow all this silver from King Władysław II of Poland on good conditions. In the light of facts about the diplomatic work of Stibor and the Clan of Ostoja that was following the politics of King Sigismund, one can question whether Sigismund actually joined the anti-Polish alliance.[8] of Constance and Barbara of Celje at the Council of Constance. 1412 to 1423, Sigismund campaigned against the Venetians in Italy. The king took advantage of the difficulties of Antipope John XXIII to obtain a promise that a council should be called in Constance in 1414 to settle the Western Schism. He took a leading part in the deliberations of this assembly, and during the sittings made a journey to France, England and Burgundy in a vain attempt to secure the abdication of the three rival popes. council ended in 1418, solving the Schism and — of great consequence to Sigismund's future career — having the Czech religious reformer, Jan Hus, burned at the stake for heresy in July 1415. The complicity of Sigismund in the death of Hus is a matter of controversy. He had granted him a safe-conduct and protested against his imprisonment;[2] and Hus was burned during Sigismund's absence. at one point during the council a cardinal corrected Sigismund's Latin, Sigismund replied Ego sum rex Romanus et super grammaticam ("I am king of the Romans and above grammar").[9] Thomas Carlyle nicknamed Sigismund "Super Grammaticam".[10][11] alliance with England against France, and a failed attempt, owing to the hostility of the princes, to secure peace in Germany by a league of the towns,[2] were his main acts during these years. Also, Sigismund granted control of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (which he had received back after Jobst's death) to Frederick I of Hohenzollern, burgrave of Nuremberg in 1415. This step made the Hohenzollern family one of the most important in Germany. began to shift his alliance from France to England after the French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt. The signing of the Treaty of Canterbury on 15 August 1416 culminated diplomatic efforts between Henry V of England and Sigismund and resulted in a defensive and offensive alliance against France. This, in turn, led the way to the resolution of the papal schism.[12] The close relationship that developed between Henry V and the Emperor resulted in Sigismund being inducted into the Order of the Garter.[13] Wars of Emperor Sigismund, painted by Albrecht Dürer after the emperor's death. 1419, the death of Wenceslaus IV left Sigismund titular King of Bohemia, but he had to wait for seventeen years before the Czech Estates would acknowledge him. Although the two dignities of King of the Romans and King of Bohemia added considerably to his importance, and indeed made him the nominal temporal head of Christendom, they conferred no increase of power and financially embarrassed him. It was only as King of Hungary that he had succeeded in establishing his authority and in doing anything for the order and good government of the land. Entrusting the government of Bohemia to Sofia of Bavaria, the widow of Wenceslaus, he hastened into Hungary.[2] Bohemians, who distrusted him as the betrayer of Hus, were soon in arms; and the flame was fanned when Sigismund declared his intention of prosecuting the war against heretics. Three campaigns against the Hussites ended in disaster although the army of his most loyal ally Stibor of Stiboricz and later his son Stibor of Beckov could hold the Hussite side away from the borders of the Kingdom. The Turks were again attacking Hungary. The king, unable to obtain support from the German princes, was powerless in Bohemia. His attempts at the diet of Nuremberg in 1422 to raise a mercenary army were foiled by the resistance of the towns; and in 1424 the electors, among whom was Sigismund's former ally, Frederick I of Hohenzollern, sought to strengthen their own authority at the expense of the king. Although the scheme failed, the danger to Germany from the Hussites led to the Union of Bingen, which virtually deprived Sigismund of the leadership of the war and the headship of Germany.[2] years 1428, Sigismund led another campaign against the Turks, but again with few results. In 1431, he went to Milan where on 25 November he received the Iron Crown as King of Italy; after which he remained for some time at Siena, negotiating for his coronation as emperor and for the recognition of the Council of Basel by Pope Eugenius IV. He was crowned emperor in Rome on 31 May 1433, and after obtaining his demands from the Pope returned to Bohemia, where he was recognized as king in 1436, though his power was little more than nominal.[2] Shortly after he was crowned, Pope Eugenius began attempts to create a new anti-Ottoman alliance.[14] This was sparked[citation needed] by an Albanian revolt against the Ottomans, which had begun in 1432. In 1435, Sigismund sent Fruzhin, a Bulgarian nobleman, to negotiate an alliance with the Albanians. He also sent Daud, a pretender to the Ottoman throne, in early 1436.[15] However, following the defeat of the rebels in 1436, plans for an anti-Ottoman alliance ended.[15] died on 9 December 1437 at Znojmo, Moravia (now Czech Republic), and as ordered in life, he was buried at Nagyvárad, Hungary (today Oradea, Romania), next to the tomb of the king Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary, who was the ideal of the perfect monarch, warrior and Christian for that time and was deeply venerated by Sigismund.[16] By his second wife, Barbara of Celje, he left an only daughter, Elisabeth of Luxembourg, who was married to Albert V, duke of Austria (later German king as Albert II) whom Sigismund named as his successor. As he left no sons, his line of the House of Luxembourg became extinct on his death.[2] and issue married twice but had little luck in securing the succession to his crowns. Each of his two marriages resulted in the birth of one child. His first-born child, probably a son, was born prematurely as a result of a horse riding accident suffered by Queen Mary of Hungary when she was well advanced in pregnancy. Mother and child both died shortly after the birth in the hills of Buda on 17 May 1395. This caused a deep succession crisis because Sigismund ruled over Hungary by right of his wife, and although he managed to keep his power, the crisis lasted until his second marriage to Barbara of Celje. Barbara's only child, born in the purple on 7 October 1409, probably in the castle of Visegrád, was Elisabeth of Luxembourg, the future queen consort of Hungary, Germany, and Bohemia. Queen Barbara was unable to give birth to any further issue. Elisabeth of Bohemia was thus the only surviving legitimate offspring of Sigismund. affiliations of arms of John Hunyadi. was known to speak fluent Hungarian, wore Hungarian-style royal clothes, and even grew his beard in the Hungarian fashion.[17] He also spent huge amounts of money during his reign to rebuild the Gothic castles of Buda and Visegrád in the Kingdom of Hungary, ordering the transportation of materials from Austria and Bohemia.[18] many affairs with women led to the birth of several legends, as the one that existed decades later during the reign of the King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. According to this, John Hunyadi was Sigismund's illegitimate son. Sigismund gave a ring to the boy's mother when he was born, but one day in the forest a raven stole it from her, and the ring was only recovered after the bird was hunted down. It is said that this incident inspired the coat of arms of the Hunyadis, and later also appeared in the coat of arms of Matthias "Corvinus".[19] adopted the Hungarian reverence for Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary, who was considered to be an ideal Christian knight at that time. He went on pilgrimage several times to his tomb in Nagyvárad. Before Sigismund died, in Znaim, Moravia, he ordered to be buried next to the king saint.[20] Sigismundi Main article: Reformatio Sigismundi Reformatio Sigismundi appeared in connection with efforts to reform the Holy Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Sigismund (1410–1437). It was presented in 1439 at the Council of Basel, published by an anonymous author, and referred to the injustice of the German rulers. It included a vision of Sigismund's about the appearance of a priest-king, Frederick, as well as plans for a wide reform of the monarchy and emperorship and the German empire. Sigismund, by the grace of God elected Holy Roman Emperor, forever August, King in Germany, of Hungary, Bohemia, Italy, Dalmatia, Croatia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria; Duke of Silesia and Luxembourg; Margrave of Moravia, Lusatia and Brandenburg.[21][failed verification – see discussion] Heraldry of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor Coat of Arms of the King of the Romans (c.1433-1486).svg Coat of arms of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.svg Coat of arms as King of the Romans (1433–1437) Coat of arms as Holy Roman Emperor (1433–1437), king of Hungary and Bohemia Sigismund Arms Hungarian Czech per pale.svg Sigismund Arms.svg Arms of the House of Luxembourg-Hungary-Bohemia Coat of Arms of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.png Coat of arms as Knight of the Garter THOMAS A KEMPIS, PRIEST, MONK, AND WRITER (24 JULY 1471) ; Venerable Theophilus the Abbot of Omutch, Pskov, Commemorated on October 21; CATHERINE OF SIENA, REFORMER AND SPIRITUAL TEACHER (29 APR 1380); Venerable Isidore the Fool-For-Christ and Wonderworker of Rostov, Commemorated on May 14; JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415 ;

Belgium, 1391-1415, JOHN HUS, during pope controversy, denounced church abuses, didn't support archbishop's warlike pope
Czech Land Saint, 1391-1415, JOHN HUS; Controversy. then) Meanwhile, Hus had begun to denounce various church abuses in his sermons. His disputes with authority did not concern basic theological issues, but rather matters of church discipline and practice. The custom had arisen, at celebrations of the Lord's Supper, of distributing the consecrated bread to all Christians in good standing who desired to receive it, but restricting the chalice to the celebrant alone. Hus denounced this restriction as contrary to Holy Scripture and to the ancient tradition of the Church. He also held that Church officials ought to exercise spiritual powers only, and not be earthly governors. In 1412 his archbishop excommunicated him, not for heresy, but for insubordination. (The real problem was that Hus supported one papal claimant and the archbishop another. Hus's candidate was ultimately declared to be the true pope.) Matters came to a head when one claimant (later declared unfit) proclaimed a sale of indulgences to raise money for a war against his rivals. Hus was horrified at the idea of selling spiritual benefits to finance a war between two claimants to the title "Servant of the Servants of God," and said so. 1414 he was summoned to the Council of Constance, with the Emperor guaranteeing his personal safety even if found guilty. He was tried, and ordered to recant certain heretical doctrines. He replied that he had never held or taught the doctrines in question, and was willing to declare the doctrines false, but not willing to declare on oath that he had once taught them. The one point on which Hus could be said to have a doctrinal difference with the Council was that he taught that the office of the pope did not exist by Divine command, but was established by the Church that things might be done in an orderly fashion (a view that he shared with Thomas More). The Council, having just narrowly succeeded in uniting Western Christendom under a single pope after years of chaos, was not about to have its work undone. It accordingly found him guilty of heresy, and he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415, Commemorated July 6; Icon of the Mother of God œCzestochowaÂ, Commemorated on March 6; wonderworking Czestochowa Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is to be found in a Roman Catholic monastery at Yasna Gora near the city of Czestochowa, Petrov Province. It is believed to be one of the seventy icons painted by the holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke (October 18). Tradition says that the icon was taken from Jerusalem when the Romans conquered the city in the year 66, and was hidden in a cave near Pella. The icon was given to Saint Helen (May 21) when she visited the Holy Land in 326, and she brought it back to Constantinople with her. in the eighth century the icon traveled to various places, including Galicia, Bavaria, and Moravia. Prince Leo, who founded the city of Lvov, brought the icon to Russia and placed it in the fortress of Belz. There many miracles took place before the holy icon. Vladislav of Opolsk acquired the icon when the Poles captured southwestern Russia. At the time that Vladislav ruled in Poland, the Tatars invaded Russia and soon appeared before the gates of the fortress of Belz. The prince ordered the icon to be placed atop the city walls as the Tatars began their siege of the fortress. Blood began dripping from the icon where it had been struck by an arrow or some other projectile. Those who witnessed it were fearfully amazed at the sight. The Tatars began to retreat when a dark haze covered them, and many of them died. this miraculous deliverance, Prince Vladislav planned to take the icon to Siesia and to place it in his castle at Opolsk. As preparations for the transfer were being made, Vladislav was overcome with an inexplicable fear. He began to pray before the holy icon, and that night he was told in a vision to take the icon to Yasna Gora near Czestochowa. Vladislav built a monastery at Yasna Gora in 1382 and gave the icon to an order of Roman Catholic monks. years later, followers of John Hus attacked Czestochowa and plundered the monastery. When they attempted to carry the Czestochowa Icon away in a cart, the horses refused to move from the spot, held back by some invisible power. One of the Hussites became angry and threw the icon onto the ground, while another stabbed the face of the Virgin with his sword. The first man was struck dead, and the hand of the second man shriveled up. other invaders also suffered punishment from God. Some of them died on the spot, while others became blind. Although many of the monastery’s treasures were stolen by the Hussites, the wonderworking Czestochowa Icon was left behind. Carl X Gustav of Sweden occupied most of Poland in the seventeenth century, and his forces remained virtually undefeated until they fought a battle near Yasna Gora and the monastery where the icon was kept. With the help of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Poles were able to overcome the Swedes and end the war in 1656. At Lvov, King Jan Casimir officially decreed that Mother of God was the Queen of Poland, and that the nation was under her protection. miracles have been worked by the Czestochowa Icon, and are recorded in a book which is kept at the Czestochowa monastery. of the icon are found in many Orthodox and Roman Catholic monasteries. Some of these copies are venerated in the village of Pisarevkain in the Volhynia Province (June 29 and September 8), at Verhnaya Syrovatka in the Kharkov Province, at Tyvrov in the Vinits Province (Holy Spirit day), in the Kazan Cathedral at Saint Petersburg, and in several other places.

Belgium, 1391-1415, JAN HUS, Bohemia, denounced church abuses not theological, burned after E's promise , Moravians
Czech Lands, 1391-1415, JAN HUS, Bohemia, Western Czech Republic, denounced church abuses in discipline and practice, not theological, church spritual govenors, not earthly, found guilty for saying pope not divine office, burned right after Council of Constance, followers became Moravians; Bohemia; JAN HUS, PRIEST and MARTYR, 6 July 1415; Huss (Jan Hus) was born in Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) in about 1371. received a master's degree from Charles University in Prague in 1396, became a professor of theology in 1398, was ordained to the priesthood in 1400, was made rector of the University in 1402, and in 1404 received a bachelor's degree in theology (presumably a more advanced degree than the term suggests today). his day, there was a crisis of authority in the Western Church. 1305, under pressure from the King of France, the seat of the Popes was moved from Rome to Avignon in France, where it remained for 70 years. period is called the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, suggesting the 70 years that Jerusalem lay desolate after when the Jews were deported to Babylon.) 1376, the then pope returned to Rome. When he died soon after, the cardinals, mostly French, were disposed to elect a French Pope, but the people of Rome objected, fearing that a French Pope would move the Papacy back to France. cardinals therefore elected an Italian Pope, and then fled elsewhere, where they elected a French Pope and said that the first election had been under duress, and was void. there were two (later three) claimants for the Papal Office. Council of Constance was called to settle the matter. One claimant recognized the Council and then abdicated. The Council responded by proclaiming that he had been the true Pope. It then deposed the other two, and elected a new Pope, thus healing the schism. Hus had begun to denounce various church abuses in his sermons. His disputes with authority did not concern basic theological issues, but rather matters of church discipline and practice. custom had arisen, at celebrations of the Lord's Supper, of distributing the consecrated bread to all Christians in good standing who desired to receive it, but restricting the chalice to the celebrant alone. denounced this restriction as contrary to Holy Scripture and to the ancient tradition of the Church. also held that Church officials ought to exercise spiritual powers only, and not be earthly governors. 1412 his archbishop excommunicated him, not for heresy, but for insubordination. real problem was that Hus supported one papal claimant and the archbishop another. Hus's candidate was ultimately declared to be the true pope.) came to a head when one claimant (later declared unfit) proclaimed a sale of indulgences to raise money for a war against his rivals. was horrified at the idea of selling spiritual benefits to finance a war between two claimants to the title "Servant of the Servants of God," and said so. 1414 he was summoned to the Council of Constance, with the Emperor guaranteeing his personal safety even if found guilty. was tried, and ordered to recant certain heretical doctrines. replied that he had never held or taught the doctrines in question, and was willing to declare the doctrines false, but not willing to declare on oath that he had once taught them. one point on which Hus could be said to have a doctrinal difference with the Council was that he taught that the office of the pope did not exist by Divine command, but was established by the Church that things might be done in an orderly fashion (a view that he shared with Thomas More). Council, having just narrowly succeeded in uniting Western Christendom under a single pope after years of chaos, was not about to have its work undone. It accordingly found him guilty of heresy, and he was burned at the stake on 6 July 1415. his death, his followers continued to insist on the importance of administering the Holy Communion in both kinds, and defeated several armies sent against them. 1436 a pact was signed, by which the Church in Bohemia was authorized to administer Chalice as well as Host to all communicants. followers of John Huss and his fellow martyr Jerome of Prague became known as the Czech Brethren and later as the Moravians. Moravian Church survives to this day, and has had a considerable influence on the Lutheran movement. Luther suddenly became famous after the publication of his 95 Theses, cartoons and graffiti began to appear implying that Luther was the spiritual heir of John Huss. When Luther encountered the Pope's representative Johannes Eck, in a crucial debate, Eck sidestepped the questions of indulgences and of justification by faith, and instead asked Luther whether the Church had been right to condemn Hus. Luther, after thinking it over, said that Hus had been unjustly condemned, the whole question of the authority of Popes and Councils was raised. — by James Kiefer

Belgium, 1392-1471, Thomas A Kempis, Priest, Monk, Writer, Kempen, Germany
Germany, 1400, Thomas A Kempis, Priest, Monk, Writer, Kempen, Germany ; à Kempis (c. 1380 - 25 July 1471;[2] German: Thomas von Kempen; Dutch: Thomas van Kempen[3]) was a German-Dutch canon regular of the late medieval period and the author of The Imitation of Christ, one of the most popular and best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", Kempen being his home town. was a member of the Modern Devotion, a spiritual movement during the late medieval period, and a follower of Geert Groote and Florens Radewyns, the founders of the Brethren of the Common Life.[4] was born in Kempen in the Rhineland.[5] His surname at birth was Hemerken (or Hammerlein), meaning the family's profession, "little hammer," Latinized into "Malleolus."[6] His father, Johann, was a blacksmith and his mother, Gertrud, was a schoolmistress.[5] 1392, Thomas followed his brother, Johann, to Deventer in the Netherlands in order to attend the noted Latin school there. While attending this school, Thomas encountered the Brethren of the Common Life, followers of Gerard Groote's Modern Devotion. He attended school in Deventer from 1392 to 1399.[5] leaving school, Thomas went to the nearby city of Zwolle to visit his brother again, after Johann had become the prior of the Monastery of Mount St. Agnes there. This community was one of the Canons Regular of the Congregation of Windesheim, founded by disciples of Groote in order to provide a way of life more in keeping with the norms of monastic life of the period. Thomas himself entered Mount St. Agnes in 1406. He was not ordained a priest, however, until almost a decade later. He became a prolific copyist and writer. Thomas received Holy Orders in 1413[7] and was made sub-prior of the monastery in 1429.[8] first tenure of office as subprior was interrupted by the exile of the community from Agnetenberg (1429). A dispute had arisen in connection with an appointment to the vacant See of Utrecht. Pope Martin V rejected the nomination of Bishop-elect Rudolf van Diepholt, and imposed an interdict. The Canons remained in exile in observance of the interdict until the question was settled (1432). During this time, Thomas was sent to Arnhem to care for his ailing brother. He remained there until his brother died in November, 1432.[7] Thomas spent his time between devotional exercises in writing and in copying manuscripts. He copied the Bible no fewer than four times,[7] one of the copies being preserved at Darmstadt, Germany, in five volumes. In its teachings he was widely read and his works abound with biblical quotations, especially from the New Testament. subprior he was charged with instructing novices, and in that capacity wrote four booklets between 1420 and 1427, later collected and named after the title of the first chapter of the first booklet: The Imitation of Christ. Thomas More said it was one of the three books everybody ought to own.[9] Thirteen translations of the Imitatio Christi and three paraphrases in English seem to have been published between 1500 and 1700.[10] died near Zwolle in 1471. Opera spirituale, 1568. Kempis's 1441 autograph manuscript of The Imitation of Christ is available in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels (shelfmark: MS 5455-61).[11] also wrote the biographies of New Devotion members—Gerard Groote, Floris Radewijns, Jan van de Gronde, and Jan Brinckerinck.[11] important works include a series of sermons to the novices of St. Augustine Monastery, including Prayers and Meditations on the Life of Christ, Meditations on the Incarnation of Christ, Of True Compunction of Heart, Soliloquy of the Soul, Garden of Roses, Valley of Lilies, and a Life[12] of St. Lidwina of Schiedam. The following quotes are attributed to him: "Without the Way, there is no going, Without the Truth, there is no knowing, Without the Life, there is no living." "If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned." "At the Day of Judgement we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done." — The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 3 "For man proposes, but God disposes" — The Imitation of Christ, Book I, ch. 19 "If, however, you seek Jesus in all things, you will surely find Him. " — The Imitation of Christ, Book II, ch. 7 "In angello cum libello" (with slight variations), "In a little corner with a little book" — Shortened form of a motto often ascribed to, or associated with, Thomas a Kempis. The complete saying as reported by an early biographer is a mixture of Latin and Dutch and runs as follows: "In omnibus requiem quaesivi, sed non inveni, nisi in hoexkens ende boexkens", "I have sought everywhere for peace, but I have found it not, save in nooks and in books."[13][a] monument was dedicated to his memory in the presence of the archbishop of Utrecht in St Michael's Church, Zwolle, on November 11, 1897. In 1964, this church closed, causing his shrine to be moved to a new St. Michael's Church outside the centre of Zwolle. In 2005, this church also closed and his shrine was moved to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw-ten-Hemelopneming kerk (Assumption of Mary church) in the centre of Zwolle.[14] Kempen, Germany (North Rhine Westphalia) ; THOMAS A KEMPIS, PRIEST, MONK, AND WRITER (24 JULY 1471) ;