Crusades according to Shakespeare

"As far as to the sepulchre of Christ--
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engaged to fight--"...

But I have sent for him to answer this;

And for this cause awhile we must neglect
Our holy purpose to Jerusalem....
But come yourself with speed to us again;
For more is to be said and to be done

Than out of anger can be uttered.

WESTMORELAND I will, my liege.

Henry IV Scene One Act One- William Shakespeare

Interlude: Christianity Today?

Very funny and thought provoking? Enjoy!

Interlude: Christianity Today?

Found these funny videos on IMONK (Michael Spencer's Blog) and thought y'all would like them... very funny stuff and very ummm so thought provoking:

A Slice of the Battle: Kingdom of Heaven

1095 Chewing on Mohammedans

Were the Crusades truly human or truly holly?

There are no perfect causes or perfect systems that are stainless from the blood of sin. Crusaders were not exempt from rape or plunder.

Crusaders were at home when cooking and eating Mohammedans, because Crusaders objectified them as demons praying to a warrior god. One food critic on his first crusade gave heathen-flesh a Zagat Rating, "This is better than spiced peacock."

POV: Quran on Christians

Quran on Christians: 4:167 Lo! those who disbelieve and hinder (others) from the way of Allah, they verily have wandered far astray.
4:168 Lo! those who disbelieve and deal in wrong, Allah will never forgive them, neither will He guide them unto a road,
4:169 Except the road of hell, wherein they will abide for ever. And that is ever easy for Allah. 4:171 O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One God. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender. 4:172 The Messiah will never scorn to be a slave unto Allah, nor will the favoured angels. Whoso scorneth His service and is proud, all such will He assemble unto Him; 4:173 Then, as for those who believed and did good works, unto them will He pay their wages in full, adding unto them of His bounty; and as for those who were scornful and proud, them will He punish with a painful doom. And they will not find for them, against Allah, any protecting friend or helper.

Abraham's Blood Began the Feude

Why Can't We Just All Get Along?

Genesis 16:12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone's hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”

The battle began here when Abraham and Sarah doubted that they would bear offspring. (Gen 17:17) Sarah tells Abraham to make an heir through her maid Hagar. Abraham listened and conceived a child with Hagar. This action was not of God because God had promised Abraham an inheritance. And the covenant was between Sarah and Abram not between Abraham and Hagar. (Gen 12:13)

Sarah was angry and resented Hagar. Sarah took her anger out on Hagar because she did not dare to confront her husband, the lord of the Manor Abraham.

This offspring , Ishmael was the father of the people who would become the Arabs. These Arabs would hear the call from Mohammad about Allah. This group would battle with the Christians and Jews over the holy-land and Abraham's inheritance.

Whom was the first to be born from Abraham? Ishmael! The "First Born" had a right to the inheritance because of man's legal apologetics. But God had promised the covenant between Sarah and Abraham, (Genesis 17:7) and said "I will establish my covenant with him." (Genesis 17:19), so Isaac gained the inheritance.

The battle over Abram's Inheritance will be waged until the end of time.

Manzikert 1071

2Samual 3:34
"Your hands were not bound;
your feet were not fettered;
as one falls before the wicked
you have fallen.”

Manzikert August 25, 1071

The Byzantine Christian Empire (the Eastern Roman Empire) was crumbling apart.

The luxurious baggage train dragged and slowed the 200,000 Byzantine soldiers down.They continued the heavy march towards Manzikert. Seljuk Steppe warriors knowing their territory used classic hit and run tactics that continued to weaken the Byzantines. The Seljuks seized the opportunity to attack the Christian Soldiers as they grew more and more confused. Finally they seized the king Romanos IV.

This would be the beginning of the end for the Eastern Roman Empire.
___________________________________

When the Seljuk Sultan seized Romanos it is chronicled that the following discussion occurred:

Alp Arslan: What would you do if I were brought to you as a prisoner.

Romanos: Perhaps I'd kill you, or exhibit you in the streets of Constantinople.

Alp Arslan: My punishment is far heavier. I forgive you and set you free.

555 Visitors Today: Thank You

Today there have been 555 people visiting this site. That is awesome and I am very thankful. Gregorio Roth

1095 Pope Urban II first Crusade-Deus Volt:

Shakespeare on the Crusades:
Henry IV: I
As far as to the sepulchre of Christ--
Whose soldier now, under whose blessed cross
We are impressed and engaged to fight--
Forthwith a power of English shall we levy,
To chase these pagans in those holy fields
Over whose acres walk'd those blessed feet
Which fourteen hundred years ago were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross.
But this our purpose now is twelvemonth old,
And bootless 'tis to tell you we will go:
Therefore we meet not now.--Then let me hear
Of you, my gentle cousin Westmoreland,
What yesternight our Council did decree
In forwarding this dear expedience.

WEST.
My liege, this haste was hot in question,
And many limits of the charge set down
But yesternight; when, all athwart, there came
A post from Wales loaden with heavy news;
Whose worst was, that the noble Mortimer,
Leading the men of Herefordshire to fight
Against th' irregular and wild Glendower,
Was by the rude hands of that Welshman taken;
A thousand of his people butchered,
Upon whose dead corpse' there was such misuse,
Such beastly, shameless transformation,
By those Welshwomen done, as may not be
Without much shame re-told or spoken of.

KING.
It seems, then, that the tidings of this broil
Brake off our business for the Holy Land.

Pope Innocent III: 1198-1216

In The Shadow of Papal Rome

Student Reciting from the board:
"The Pope is the sun, the kings are the moon. The pope is the the light, the moons received that light."
A book is closed a candle is blown out.
The church elongated into people's day casting a shadow that required obedience to Papal Rome or risk being cut off from their church, and their effective lives. Rome cut off not only men but whole countries, for the feudal LORD represents more than just a household but represented their subjects in their community!

Dayyenu

How many acts of kindness God has performed for us!

Had he taken us out of Mitzrayim without carrying
out judgment against the Egyptians- Dayyenu.

Had he carried out judgments against the Egyptians
without vanquishing their gods-Dayyenu.

Had He vanquished their gods
without dividing the sea for us - Dayyenu.

Had he divided the sea for us,
without leading us across on Dry land- Dayyenu.

Had He led us across on dry land without taking care
of for forty years in the desert - Dayyenu.

Had He taken care of us for forty years in the desert
without feeding us manna- Dayyenu.

Had He fed us manna without giving us
Shabbat- Dayyenu.

Had He brought us to Mount Sinai without giving us the
Torah-Dayyenu.

Had he given us the Torah without leading us
to the Land of Israel- Dayyenu.

Had He led us to the Land of Israel without
building the temple for us- Dayyenu.

How manifold and miraculous are the great deeds that our God has performed us, from taking us of Mitzrayim to building the temple.




עֲבָדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְריִם. וַיּוֹצִיאֵנוּ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מִשָּׁם, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרוֹעַ נְטוּיָה,
וְאִלּוּ לֹא הוֹצִיא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת–אֲבוֹתֵינוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם, הֲרֵי אָנוּ וּבָנֵינוּ וּבְנֵי
בָנֵינוּ, מְשֻׁעְבָּדִים הָיִינוּ לְפַרְעֹה בְּמִצְרָיִם. וַאֲפִילוּ כֻּלָּנוּ חֲכָמִים, כֻּלָּנוּ נְבוֹנִים, כֻּלָּנוּ
זְקֵנִים, כֻּלָּנוּ יוֹדְעִים אֶת–הַתּוֹרָה, מִצְוָה עָלֵינוּ לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרָיִם. וְכָל הַמַּרְבֶּה
לְסַפֵּר בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם, הֲרֵי זֶה מְשֻׁבָּח:
Avadim hayyinu l’far’oh b’mitzrayim, v’yotzi-ehnu Adonai Eloheynu mi-sham b’yad khazakah
u’vizro’a n’tuyah, v'ilu lo hotzi ha-Kadosh Baruch Hu et-avoteinu mi-Mitzrayim, harei anu uvaneinu
u'vnei vaneinu, m'shuabadim hayyinu l'Pharaoh b'Mitzrayim. V'afilu kulanu
chachamim, kulanu k'vonim, kulanu z'keinim, kulanu yod'im et-ha-Torah, mitzvah aleinu
l'saper b'y'tziat Mitzrayim. V'chol hamarbeh l'saper bitziyat Mitzrayim, harei zeh m'shubach.

Church Revival 1137-1144

"I seem to find myself, as it were, in some of the earth nor wholly of the serenity of heaven, but by the Grace of God I seemed lifted in a mystic manner from the lower ends to the upper sphere." Suger the Abbot of St. Denite (guiding the rebuilding between 1137 to 1144)

Lifting up higher in arched finger as if picking grapes from the outstretched branches.
500 churches went up.
Reaching out like the tender waves collecting sand off of the rocky beaches.
High standing alters went up.
Aspiring like a great cedar, the high middle ages attempted to build a stairway to heaven.
White-washed steeples promised renewal.

Father Thomas Keating: Spiritual not Religious

We go back to a time when mysticism was a strong pulsating heart. We walk down the corridors of a monastery that is protected inside a cave. The cave is dark. The darkness is thick; like your moving within a cloud. A torch in your left hand allows you to view pictures on a wall. You look closely now at one of the pictures; you see a painful moment in your own historic quest. The pain has been there for a long time and has begun to corrode your heart.

(Father Thomas Keating speaks of releasing your grip on Religion and walk in the faith that could save your hardening heart.)

849 Battle of Ostia

Luck of the Irish?

Indexed had a great illustration of the luck of the Irish!!!!

847-855 Fire in the Borgo

Rome is the New Troy

Kill by the Sword not by the Pen

Ego sum rex Romanu a super grammatica: As "king of Rome" he was above "grammar!" He would rather kill by the sword, than kill by a well crafted letter.

(Sad Truths)...

I am sure others want to play the part of God, starring themselves. Once up then down, up and down.
The Pope felt he needed to guard the church. His focus was on outward forms, but gave no consideration to a god that is greater than boundaries.(Three O's)

Repenting: My Need to be God.

Charlmagne (the Hammer) April 2 742 – January 28 814

Charlemagne's physical empire was blessed by the Christian Leaders who feared losing their battle between the Muslims and Pagans. Charlemagne hammered up a fence between the Muslim outer world and the Christian inner world.

But Charlemagne re-opened the battle between the empire and papacy.

A thorny rose of cultural renewal grew between the fence posts.

April 25 799. Instrumentality of the Church

Sarah laughed.

A woman pass menopause could have a child? beyond reason?

The Pope laughed.

How could the Church survive? beyond reason?

Pope Leo III saw that his Church was threatened from many sides. He knew he needed a body guard. So he shuck hands with Charles the Great to endow a drafted plan of protection for the Church.

Whom is the Greatest?

Matthew 18

Whoever Becomes Simple Again

¹ At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, "Who gets the highest rank in God's kingdom?"

^2-5For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.(The Message)

Galations 4:20-31

"Hey I did this so I am the Good A+ Student." The Law Creates "Good Students" who can regurgitate and make an A, but once the final is over they have not stored the learning to their undeveloped heart. There is a Problem: Exam Time is not at one place, or one time, it is 365/24/7.

Pope Leo III 795-816

Pope Leo III rode amongst the peasant fields. The fields laid muddied. There were no signs of wheat. Peasants were starving and getting angry. The Pope appeared to pray in vane.
Muddy paths slowed his movement to a crawl. Leo's black nag neighed.

Sound of horses moving quickly mixed with the Nags cries. Leo kicked his horse in its ribs to get it to move, faster. Kicking the horse did nothing but make the neighing louder. Pope Leo panicked when he saw the horses. Pope Leo III was captured. The palace guards took him to a Greek Monetary where he was charged with adulatory.

742 April 2 – 814 January 28 Charlemagne

Charlemagne at his Crowning: Raphael