CoffeeWithTheClassics

history

It involves being sewn into a leather bag along with a variety of cruel animals, such as a chicken, a snake, a monkey or a dog.  Afterwards, having reached the banks of the River Tiber, he was thrown into the icy waters of the river.  This is the execution method called “Poena cullei.”

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In Ancient Rome, the punishment for killing one's father was the death penalty.

Animal_World

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Guys, my dog is changing his teeth and he won't stop smiling

BooksAndArticles

Though it faced treachery, financial woes, and moral decay internally, barbarians toppled the destabilized empire and forged a new world from the ashes.

Here are the greatest barbarians to terrorize Rome.
![20240403_114853.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24951)

Arminius (18 BC-21 AD)

A Latin education and Roman military service first marked him as a great ally of Rome. When Roman general and governor Varus requested his aid in the conquest of the tribes of Germania, Arminius mobilized his troops.
![20240403_114951.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24952)

But whether for his own glory or for an affinity for the wider Germanic peoples, Arminius betrayed Varus and turned his forces abruptly against the Romans while deep in the Teutoburg Forest.
![20240403_115017.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24953)

Arminius’ ambush against three legions was overwhelmingly successful, marking a turning point in Roman expansion into Germania. 

He continued repelling subsequent Roman attacks, enshrining his legacy as a defender of the Germanic peoples.
![20240403_115039.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24954)

Fritigern (~370 AD)

Fleeing the Huns, Fritigern and his Thervingi people entered the bosom of the Roman Empire by settling in Moesia across the Danube.

Relations with the Romans were good at first, until societal pressures took their relationship to a dark place.
![20240403_115100.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24955)

Fighting famine, extortion, and murder of their leaders by the local Roman governors, Fritigern took to the field of battle at Marcianople in 376 A.D. 

His success won them much of Thracia and put them on the doorstep of Constantinople.
![20240403_115123.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24956)

Emperor Valens was forced to take the field himself, resulting in his defeat and death at the Battle of Adrianople in 378 A.D. Fritigern would go on to take the Balkans in a campaign that saw them conquer as far south as Greece. 

The final fate of Fritigern is unknown.
![20240403_115144.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24957)

Radagaisus (~400 AD)

Not all the barbarians fought for noble purposes. 

Radagaisus is a little-known Gothic king who invaded northern Italy with about 20,000 fighters in 405/406 AD. An avowed pagan, he planned to burn Rome to the ground and sacrifice the Senators to the gods.
![20240403_115206.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24958)

Though considered a major threat to the Western Empire, Radagaisus didn’t find the same success as his predecessors.  His campaign was halted by his defeat at Florentia. 

Attempting to flee his own men for fear of revolt, he was captured and executed by the Romans in 406 AD.
![20240403_115228.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24959)

Alaric I (370-411 AD)

Some barbarians tried to climb the corporate ladder.

Spurned by little recognition from the Emperor for his achievements, Alaric took command of the Goths in the shadow of Fritigern.

Despite friction, the Eastern Emperor elevated Alaric in a sign of peace
![20240403_115249.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24960)

But as new leadership took over the East, Alaric was humiliated by a demotion. He raised his sword again—this time toward Italy, threatening Stilicho's rule over the next few years. 

In 408, after the death of Stilicho, Alaric etched his name into history by sacking Rome.
![20240403_115307.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24961)

Alaric and his men stripped the city of its wealth; however, it’s believed Alaric respected the relics of the Church and those who sought safety within church walls. 

One year later, Alaric died from fever. He was buried in the bottom of a riverbed, per Visigothic custom.
![20240403_115344.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24962)

Attila the Hun (404-453 AD)

Attila inherited the Hunnic Empire and pushed as far as Constantinople, whose double walls forced him to look westward instead. 

While successfully ruling with his brother Bleda for many years, Attila took sole command upon his brother’s death.
![20240403_115409.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24963)

Already in possession of virtually all the Balkans, Attila pillaged his way through modern-day Germany until he reached the Catalaunian plains, where he was repelled by Theodoric and the Romans. In his last campaign, Attila invaded Italy as far as the River Po.
![20240403_115428.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24964)

Even in his last days, he concocted plans to take the prize of all Europe—Constantinople. But his death came first. 

Attila’s fame only grew with time. In the Medieval Age, Attila became known as the “Scourge of God”.
![20240403_115447.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24965)

Genseric (389-477 AD)

A great opportunist and king of the Vandals for 5 decades in the mid-400s, Genseric left southern Spain to conquer Western North Africa, conquering parts of Morocco, Algeria, and Numidia. 

St. Augustine famously died during Genseric’s siege of Hippo Regius
![20240403_115506.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24966)

Carthage, the seat of the empire’s African wealth and naval power, also fell to his control in 439 AD, granting Genseric the means to fight Rome head-to-head across the Mediterranean. 

He invaded by sea and sacked Rome—stripping it of all the wealth it had.
![20240403_115523.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24967)

Recognizing the threatening power of Genseric, both halves of the Roman Empire united in a great fleet to defeat the Vandal King—but to no avail. 

Genseric ruled supreme over the Western Mediterranean until his death in Carthage in 477 AD.
![20240403_115541.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24968)

Odoacer (433-493 AD)

Though Odoacer’s early life is obscure, one account in "Life of Saint Severinus" by Eugippus records how a young Odoacer meets Severinus, who prophetically tells him:

 "Go to Italy, go, now covered with mean hides; soon you will make rich gifts to many.”
![20240403_115600.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24969)

Odoacer eventually became the leader of the Germanic foederati of Italy and led them in revolt against Orestes and the young Emperor Romulus - all because he and his people were denied a permanent settlement in Italy.
![20240403_115618.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24970)

By his success in deposing the young Western Emperor at Ravenna, he was declared King of Italy and earned the acknowledgement of the Eastern Emperor. 

His taking of Italy traditionally marks the end of the Roman Empire around 476 AD.
![20240403_115637.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24972)

Barbarians were, above all, opportunists.

In our increasingly unstable Western world, one wonders who the opportunists will be that seize the reigns of power.

Like during Rome’s collapse, power will be given only to those who take it.

The Roman Empire didn’t fall by itself. 

The power of forgiveness: the meeting between John Paul II and the terrorist who tried to kill him

 In 1983, Pope John Paul II made an extraordinary gesture of forgiveness and mercy: he visited in prison the man who tried to kill him two years earlier, Mehmet Ali Agca.  The meeting lasted 21 minutes.  What they talked about remains a secret between the two, but the Pope emerged from the cell saying that he had sincerely forgiven his attacker.

 Mehmet Ali Agca was a Turkish terrorist, member of an ultranationalist organization called Gray Wolves, who had previously murdered a journalist in his country.  He claimed to have received training in Syria and Bulgaria, and to have acted at the behest of communist forces who wanted to eliminate the Pope, a symbol of resistance to the Soviet regime in his native Poland.  But he also changed his version of the facts several times, sometimes claiming to have acted alone, sometimes to have been manipulated by an international conspiracy.

 The fact is that on May 13, 1981, Agca fired four shots at the Pope, who was in an open car in St. Peter's Square, in the Vatican.  The Pope was seriously injured but survived.  Agca was arrested and sentenced to life in prison in Italy.  In 2000, he was pardoned by the Italian president, at the request of the Pope, and extradited to Turkey, where he served another ten years in prison for the murder of the journalist.  He was released in 2010.

 The Pope believed that Agca was a pawn in a larger plan to assassinate him, and that behind him there was “a stronger hand”.  He also said that he saw the date of the attack, May 13, as a significant coincidence: it was the feast day of Our Lady of Fátima, to whom he had a special devotion.  He interpreted the fact that he survived as a miracle and protection from the Virgin Mary, who would have deflected the fatal bullet.

 He even donated one of the bullets that hit him to the sanctuary of Fátima, where it was placed in the crown of the saint's image.

![20240402_235000.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24876)

the meeting between John Paul II and the terrorist who tried to kill him

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People who accidentally found their doppelgängers in museums

But his rules reached far beyond the confines of a monastery—their effects rippled into medieval society and helped shape the world we know today.
![20240401_115218.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24556)

A failed abbot early in his monastic life, Benedict went on to establish several prominent monasteries in the 6th century. More than a dozen monasteries in central Italy owed him their existence, including the famed Monte Cassino.
![20240401_115330.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24557)

But perhaps his most impactful contribution was the guidebook he created for his monks.

He penned his masterpiece “The Rule of St. Benedict” for the brothers of Monte Cassino, who would afterwards take on the title of “Benedictines” after their founder.
![20240401_115522.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24560)

The Rule of St. Benedict was simply a manual on how monks should live communally, one part spiritual, one part administrative. The Rule can best be summarized in the motto of the Benedictines: ora et labora—"pray and work".
![20240401_115548.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24561)

His rulebook was intended as a moderate path between the extreme asceticism of solitary monks and the more formal institutions of the Church at the time. 

This “middle way” emphasized the practices of prayer, but also manual labor and community service.
![20240401_115606.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24562)

Benedict’s Rule broke the monastic day into regular periods of prayer, spiritual reading, and manual labor, living out the concept that “ in all [things] God may be glorified." 

Farming, crafts, tending to the sick, and instructing pupils all fell under the purview of monks.
![20240401_115627.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24563)

Later, “intellectual labor” like scientific and medical research, study of literature, and copying ancient texts would be common tasks as well.
![20240401_115647.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24564)

Each day was divided into a strict schedule revolving around the eight canonical hours. Starting at midnight, a monk arose with a series of readings, chants, and spiritual lessons before returning back to bed and to wash before 6 a.m. prayers and instructions for the day.
![20240401_115708.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24565)

Then, more spiritual readings and mass would occupy the monks’ morning until a midday meal was shared. Leisure activities were allowed until 3 p.m.; afterwards the monks would do manual labor until Vespers (evening prayer) at 6 p.m. At 9 p.m., bedtime.
![20240401_115729.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24566)

“Idleness is the enemy of the soul,” Benedict wrote in his work. Thus, the rigid schedule of his Rule was a form of spiritual warfare to keep adherents’ minds always focused on God.
![20240401_115750.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24568)

Benedict's work wasn’t the first attempt at a monastic rule—previous works like the Rule of St. Basil and the writings by St. John Cassian as well as an anonymous work, the Rule of the Master, influenced his approach. 

But Benedict’s Rule was more developed and all-encompassing.
![20240401_115811.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24569)

The work exploded in popularity far beyond Monte Cassino. Orders like the Cistercians, Cluniacs, and Trappists adopted his method. Groups of nuns, too, followed his Rule since it wasn’t gender specific.  

It was a template for all religious life in the West.
![20240401_115835.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24570)

Charlemagne, an emphatic supporter of the Church, thought it so important that he had the work copied and distributed throughout his empire to encourage monks to follow it as a standard.

But the effects of Benedict’s Rule spilled out into the secular world too.
![20240401_115853.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24571)

It served as an early example of a written constitution and embodied the idea of the “rule of law.” Moreover, it incorporated democratic elements in a highly hierarchical society and brought a dignity to manual labor that was so often overlooked by the pursuit of martial prowess.

As monks busied themselves with scientific and medical inquiry, breakthroughs were made. Some of the earliest western astronomers and natural scientists were Benedictine monks.
![20240401_115931.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24572)

For example, Herman the Cripple, an 11th-century Benedictine, composed works on history, music theory, mathematics, and astronomy, in addition to well-known hymns like "Salve Regina" and "Veni Sancte Spiritus."

Benedictines proved “science vs. religion” was a false dichotomy.
![20240401_115958.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24573)

Universities can even be traced to Benedictine monasteries.

Colleges in the late middle ages stemmed from earlier monastic schools. Benedict didn’t invent monastic schools, but his way of life was conducive to intellectual study, and these schools flourished under his method.
![20240401_120020.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24574)

Hospitals, too, have roots in Benedictine monasteries that took special care to tend to the sick. A focus on hospitality and medical care was one of Benedict’s primary concerns. He incorporated this principle into his Rule, making it widespread throughout western monasticism.
![20240401_120038.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24576)

The early Middle Ages have been called "the Benedictine centuries” due to his immense impact. Pope Benedict XVI, a pope bearing his very name, said of him:

“St. Benedict exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture”
![20240401_120058.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24577)

No figure contributed more to monasticism in the West than Benedict. His Rule was foundational for thousands of religious communities throughout the medieval period, and remains the basis for dozens of monastic orders today.
![20240401_120117.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24578)

The popular adage “discipline = freedom” is embodied in Benedict’s Rule. His methodical approach to living resulted in cultural, scientific, and spiritual prosperity wherever it was applied. 

Benedict proved that Ora et Labora, “Work and Prayer,” is a civilization-building ethos
![20240401_120154.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24579)

Benedict of Nursia wrote the rulebook on monasticism.

But is it the real tomb? How do we know?
Well, in 2016 it was opened for the first time in centuries...
![20240401_090751.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24452)

The tomb looks like this. It's inside a shrine called the Edicule, in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
A few years ago something remarkable was found inside...
![20240401_090912.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24453)

The Gospels say Christ was buried in a rock-cut tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, outside the walls of Jerusalem and near the location of the Crucifixion: Calvary.
![20240401_090945.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24454)

In the 4th century, great interest was forming to confirm the location and to gather any relics of Christ. It was no less than Helena, mother of the Emperor Constantine, who led this charge.
![20240401_091008.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24455)

A few years earlier, her son had embraced and legalized Christianity after being inspired by a vision of a burning cross. Christianity was quickly becoming the religion of the empire...
![20240401_091040.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24456)

At nearly 80 years old, Helena set out on her pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and in 325 AD found a site fitting the Biblical description. It was just outside the old city walls.
![20240401_091102.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24457)

But somebody got there first: the Emperor Hadrian.
200 years earlier, he had built a temple there to assert pagan dominance — in his attempt to eradicate the influence of Christianity.
![20240401_091146.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24459)
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Helena destroyed that temple and began excavating beneath. She found a tomb and burial bed cut from a limestone cave, according to the historian Eusebius.
Legend says she also found three crosses, one of which being Christ's...
![20240401_091217.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24461)

So, Constantine had a church built over the tomb: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We've since found remains of that church, and of Hadrian's temple, at the modern-day site.
![20240401_091249.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24462)

But the church from then on had a tumultuous history. It was rocked by fires, earthquakes, sacked by the Persians and completely destroyed by a Muslim caliph in 1009 — and rebuilt in the 11th century.
![20240401_091313.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24463)
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With these events, and all the time that has passed, how can we know the current tomb is the real one?
Until 2016, the earliest archaeological evidence there dated to the Crusades — so only about 1,000 years ago.
![20240401_091345.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24465)


Well, Jesus is said to have been laid on a limestone burial bed.

But the bed inside the current church has been covered by marble cladding since at least 1555, and probably centuries earlier.
In all that time, nobody has actually seen it.
![20240401_091419.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24466)

That is, until 2016, when some researchers were allowed to open it (because the edicule was long overdue essential repairs)...
![20240401_091448.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24467)

This is what they found:

• A marble slab with a cross carved into it
• A layer of mortar beneath
• A bed carved into the original limestone rock wall
![20240401_091521.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24468)

Scientists analyzed the mortar to determine the last time it had been exposed to light. The result:

345 AD.

Securely in the time of Constantine.
![20240401_091548.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24469)

With that stunning discovery, we're much more confident that this is the site Constantine found.

The question then remains: did Constantine's men find the right spot?
![20240401_091613.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24470)

Well, according to accounts, Christians that had been praying there for centuries prior to Helena's arrival so believed that Hadrian's temple was the site that they persuaded her to demolish it, at great cost.
![20240401_091638.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24471)

And while there are competing sites in Jerusalem, none have the weight of history behind them that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre does.
![20240401_091732.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24472)

During the restorations, the workers left a small window in the marble — pilgrims can peer at the limestone below for the first time.

Whether they're peering at the true burial place might forever remain a mystery...
![20240401_091755.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24473)

This is where Jesus is said to have been buried — and then resurrected.

![20240330_114735.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/24090)

What is the greatest work of art you have stood in front of?

log off and read one of these Good Friday-inspired works of literature.
![20240329_180451.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23924)

The Dream of the Rood
This 7th-century Old English poem tells the story of the Crucifixion from the perspective of the Cross itself ("Rood" is Old English for "pole" or crucifix), blending Christian themes with Anglo-Saxon warrior culture. 
A fascinating work.
![20240329_180600.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23926)

East Coker, from The Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot 
One of the most arrestingly beautiful meditations on the meaning of the Passion.  
It's Eliot at his best, grappling with the modern world while reaching for the transcendent.
![20240329_180649.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23927)

Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward, by John Donne
Donne's poetry is always worth reading, and his spiritual poems in particular are sublime.  
I've attached one that is especially apropos today.
![20240329_180721.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23928)

![20240329_180724.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23929)

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The Wife of Pilate by Gertrud von le Fort
A brilliant novella, written from the perspective of a servant in Pilate's household, about the dream of Pilate's wife (told in Matthew 27:19) and the ramifications for her life.
![20240329_180806.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23931)

The Man Born to be King by Dorothy Sayers
Originally written as a BBC radio drama on the life of Jesus and broadcast during the darkest days of the Battle of Britain, Sayers elevated the work beyond her commercial assignment.
![20240329_180835.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23932)

Good Friday by Christina Rossetti
A list like this would be incomplete without a Christina Rossetti poem.  
Sit down and read all her stuff, but especially the poem I've attached here.
![20240329_180908.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23933)

![20240329_180906.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23934)

The Grand Miracle from "God in the Dock" by C.S. Lewis

One of Lewis's finest essays, it reframes the Incarnation, Descent, and Resurrection as the great missing chapter in humanity's story -- it'll make you look at it all in a new way.
![20240329_180943.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23935)

Death on a Friday Afternoon by Richard John Neuhaus
This book isn't an old one, and it isn't "literature" per se, but it's one of my favorites.
A beautiful and thought-provoking meditation on our suffering world, through reflecting on the last words of Christ.
![20240329_181021.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23936)

The Grand Inquisitor by Fyodor Dostoevsky
This lengthy passage from Dostoevsky's masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov, can stand alone as a novella, exploring the question of how the world today would respond if Christ returned.
A searing, humbling indictment.
![20240329_181053.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23937)

The Bible
Great literature can point us toward the Truth in creative and surprising ways, but it's always good to go to the source.  
Start at the 27th chapter of Matthew, the 23rd of Luke, the 15th of Mark, or the 19th of John, and keep reading.
![20240329_181119.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23938)

It's Good Friday.

Take 90 seconds to read the below poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), titled, "Maundy Thursday."

Appropriate, given that is what today is.

Rossetti is one of my favorite poets for a reason: she was motivated by a deep, complex faith, and had an unmatched ear for language and rhythm. 

Maundy Thursday

The great Vine left its glory to reign as Forest King.
"Nay," quoth the lofty forest trees, "we will not have this thing;
We will not have this supple one enring us with its ring.
Lo, from immemorial time our might towers shadowing:
Not we were born to curve and droop, not we to climb and cling:
We buffet back the buffeting wind, tough to its buffeting:
We screen great beasts, the wild fowl build in our heads and sing,
Every bird of every feather from off our tops takes wing:
I a king, and thou a king, and what king shall be our king?"

Nevertheless the great Vine stooped to be the Forest King,
While the forest swayed and murmured like seas that are tempesting:
Stooped and drooped with thousand tendrils in thirsty languishing;
Bowed to earth and lay on earth for earth's replenishing;
Put off sweetness, tasted bitterness, endured time's fashioning;
Put off life and put on death: and lo! it was all to bring
All its fellows down to a death which hath lost the sting,
All its fellows up to a life in endless triumphing, — 
I a king, and thou a king, and this King to be our King.

![20240329_162253.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23916)

Do yourself a favor.

Hey, nice new format! 

siggy47

I liked the preview of the profile photo at the bottom

![20240327_012504.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23328)

What is one city everyone should visit at least once in their life?

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Our little friends at the farm 🥰

Rather than a contrived political system, feudalism was really just a series of loyalties.
For near a millennia, civilization was held together by the oaths of honorable men...
![20240325_170851.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22995)

After the breakdown of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries, society went through a  restructuring. The political and social infrastructure provided by Rome ceased to function, creating a power vacuum that needed to be filled. 

Enter Feudalism.

![20240325_170917.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22996)

Rather than a planned political system, feudalism can best be understood as an emergent phenomenon that occurred where there was no overarching political entity running the show. 

When institutions fail, oaths between men are all that’s left.
![20240325_170946.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22997)

Loosely defined, it was a way of structuring society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labor. A combination of legal, economic, military, and cultural customs, it flourished in Western Europe between the 9th-15th centuries.
![20240325_171009.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22999)

Some credit Charles Martel with laying the groundwork for the feudal system. According to German historian Heinrich Brunner, Martel “secularized church lands for the purpose of leasing to his followers in return for their military service.”
![20240325_171035.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23000)

As his military became more expensive due to reliance on cavalry, Martel turned to granting followers Church lands to maintain their support. 

This theory is contested though, and others view Feudalism as a more gradual development over time.
![20240325_171102.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23001)

But enough speculation—how did it work?

Medieval feudalism revolved around three key concepts: lords, vassals, and fiefs (lands).
![20240325_171128.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23002)

A lord was a noble who owned lands; a vassal was someone the lord granted possession of land In exchange for service to the lord. Vassals would get land and protection, while the lord would get a vassal he could call upon for military service—this was the “feudal relationship.”
![20240325_171154.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23003)

A wider conception of feudalism also incorporated the peasantry into the structure. Not only were vassals bound to their lords, but peasants were bound to the vassals through manorialism, a type of land ownership.
![20240325_171222.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23004)

In manorialism, or the “manor system,” peasants supported the owner of a manor with resources supplied by the land, while the owner promised them protection.
 
Feudalism was all encompassing, from the lords down to the serfs. Each had certain obligations and rights.
![20240325_171250.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23005)

It’s best envisioned as a pyramid with a king (the ultimate “lord”) at the top, and a series of vassalages cascading down to the peasant class. 

Lower classes granted upper classes resources or military service, while upper classes granted lower classes protection and land.
![20240325_171314.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23006)

Before the feudal relationship could commence and the lord could grant his vassal a fief, a formal ceremony had to occur called a commendation ceremony. 

This ceremony consisted of two parts: an act of homage, and an oath of fealty.
![20240325_171338.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23007)

During the act of homage, the vassal promised to fight for the lord upon command, while the lord pledged to protect the vassal from external threats. Fealty, from the Latin fidelis (“faithful"), refers to the recitation of an oath that confirmed promises made during homage.
![20240325_171411.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23008)

Besides military obligation, vassals might be called upon for other duties like counsel—when facing decisions regarding both mundane matters like agricultural policy or gravely serious matters like declaring war, the lord might find it valuable to obtain his vassals’ input.
![20240325_171435.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23009)

Seems like a reciprocal system, right? So what are some drawbacks of feudalism? 
One popular critique of feudalism is that little social mobility existed.
![20240325_171527.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/23010)

There are a lot of misconceptions about feudalism. 

![20240324_204721.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22778)

Which one Greek play would you recommend to a friend?

Morris’s translation of the Volsunga saga was Tolkien’s first exposure to the Norse myth of Sigurd, Fafnir, and the Ring, and Morris’s historical fiction/fantasy novels were a further inspiration.

![20240324_194126.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22765)
![20240324_194232.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22766)

Happy birthday, William Morris, who was also a major influence on Tolkien. 

C. S. Lewis

![20240324_185103.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22760)

Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither

Reading is a way to live more lives, to experience more worlds, to meet people we want to know more about, to understand others and develop a compassion for what they confront and endure.

![20240321_200138.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22245)

Give me an example of a classic book that helped you do this:

deleted by author

✅Prayer
✅Coffee
✅Great books

![20240321_095946.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22134)

Gm. Wake up early. 

“The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains." 

![20240320_215507.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22034)

Great civilizations are primarily remembered because of impressive engineering. They leave us with physical reminders of their civilization.

There's nothing left of cultures who don't engineer monumental structures.

![20240320_215617.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22035)

But great engineering needs to be combined with an eye toward the Good, True, and Beautiful, or else you get monstrosities like this:
![20240320_215643.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22036)


When done correctly, you get magnificent structures like the Pantheon which that last 2000 years and still stun onlookers.
![20240320_215711.jpg](https://m.stacker.news/22037)