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Episode 51: The Relic (not the 1997 Creature Feature set in the Field Museum in Chicago)

Summary

Ever see an Indiana Jones movie?

For more on relic theft, see Patrick J. Geary’s Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages.

Annotations and Corrections

1/ The episode where we talked about St. Nicholas was episode 23 (a Christmas episode). The oil is kind of said to be myrrh, but it’s not… but it is a weird thing.

For more on this phenomenon (not reserved for St Nicholas—there are other saints who are myroblytes), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myroblyte_saint

2/ Great fictional versions of the Grail lore: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and I will add the short story “Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman.

3/ The Master and Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. I recommend the Diana Burgin and Katerine Tiernan O’Connor translation (1996), but apparently there have been some more recent ones that are also good.

4/ There are a lot of places with magical springs; I think I was thinking of Lourdes. You can apparently buy Lourdes water online for $6.99 and have it shipped directly to your house.

5/ We talked about the eucharist in episode…a lot of them. [The search engine on the website will find them all!–Jesse]

6/ It’s good to be the king. [Thank you Mel Brooks!–Jesse]

7/ From Maria Headley’s translation of Beowulf (since I have become her acolyte), lines 26–51 (with a few omitted here because typing them is tedious):

Scyld was iron until the end. When he died,
his warriors executed his final orders.
They swaddled their king of rings and did just
as the Dane had demanded, back when mind
and meter could merge in his mouth.
They bore him to the harbor, and into the bosom
of a ship, that father they’d followed, that man
they’d adored.
[…]
They laid him by the mast, packed tight in his treasure-trove,
bright swords, war-weeds, his lap holding a hoard
of flood-tithes, each fare-coin placed by a loyal man.
He who pays the piper calls the tune.
His shroud shone, ringed in runes, sun-stitched.
I’ve never heard of any ship so heavy, nor corpse
so rich.
[…]
No man knows,
not me, not you, who hauled Scyld’s hoard to shore,
but the poor are plentiful, and somebody got lucky.

8/ Some of the Greek heroes mentioned:

Herakles, aka Hercules: you know him, there was a Disney movie about him.

Asclepius: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepius You know that medical symbol that looks like a caduceus but only has one snake? That’s the rod of Asclepius. That’s this guy. Son of Apollo + someone. [His mom’s identity–or even if he has a mom–is dependent on the myth.–Jesse]

Orestes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestes son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, brother of Electra. Eventually kills his mother and her boyfriend, Aegisthus. [And gets chased by the Furies!–Jesse]

Pelops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelops king of Pisa (in myth); his father was Tantalus, who you might also remember from Greek myth.

9/ Oedipus at Colonus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_at_Colonus

10/ The Oedipus Rex song, by Tom Lehrer.

11/ In what is arguably the best scene in any bible ever, Elisha summons the bears in 2 Kings 2:23–24. The story of a guy who touched him rising from the grave is 2 Kings 13:20–21.

12/ The big black cube is the kaaba, which means “cube.” It’s a building. You can go inside it, although it’s kept closed during hajj. (I mean, maybe you can if you’re Muslim. They don’t allow non-Muslims in Mecca.)

The connection with Abraham is that he and Ishmael repaired it. [Isaac is the favored son of Judaism and Christianity, and Ishmael is the favored son in Islam.–Jesse ]

Topkapi Palace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topkap%C4%B1_Palace (Scroll down to the Privy Chamber for the sacred relics.)

Abraham’s pot: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/abrahams-pot-is-displayed-at-topkapi-palace-on-july-03-2018-news-photo/991960532

Joseph’s Turban: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/josephs-turban-amongst-sacred-trusts-is-displayed-at-news-photo/991960876

Muhammad’s swords and bow: https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/prophet-muhammads-swords-and-bow-are-displayed-in-their-news-photo/991960842

13/ Muhammed lived 570–632. Solidly early medieval.

14/ The Wailing Wall, also known as the Western Wall, is a wall in Jerusalem that was once a retaining wall for the Second Jewish Temple. We’ve sort of alluded to before (in…discussions of Jesus, actually) that Jews used to have a big temple where all the ritual stuff went down, and after the Romans expelled all the Jews from that general area (the diaspora) and destroyed the temple (70 CE, not 76 like Em suggests), Judaism evolved into the rabbinical religion we know today. But Jews like to go back there and…cry, I guess. Also, the wall is known in Arabic as al-Buraq, after the legend that this is where Muhammed tied his winged steed before he ascended to heaven.

Interesting how Judaism and Islam are incredibly tied together in these two stories. [In SO MANY STORIES. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are three siblings who have trouble getting along and really wonder which one dad loves more.–Jesse]

15/ We talked about Angkor Wat in episode 14. We talked about Perugia in episode 1!

16/ Śarīra: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%9Aar%C4%ABra The term “sarira” is a generic one for Buddhist relics, but you can see photos of the pearl-like objects Jesse mentions on this page.

17/ The monk was named Thich Quang Duc, and he self-immolated on June 11, 1963, at what is now the corner of Nguyen Dinh Chieu St. and Cach Mang Thang Tam St. (Be warned that if you go to that wikipedia page, there is a picture of the self-immolation, and you might find it disturbing. I mean, it’s also on the Rage Against the Machine album, I guess. You should also find it disturbing that the US was propping up a regime so bad that someone did this as a form of protest. OKAY.)

That page also has a photo of a memorial for TQD, but it is very different from what was there when I was living in VN in 2006–2007ish, when there was really quite a small stupa that you could easily go past without noticing it.

18/ We’ve talked about St. Catherine of Siena in episode 6, note 37.

I don’t know anything about those particular bodies, but I think that “incorrupt,” for saints, doesn’t always mean “incorrupt.” Check out this video Caitlin Doughty of Ask a Mortician made on the topic. (They’re talking about the modern guidelines, which date from 1734! I ALSO don’t know if old bodies got reassessed when the new guidelines were issued!

19/ We discussed Jesus’ foreskin in episode 6, if I recall correctly. It’s not in the notes, but I think it’s in the episode. Is this the weirdest note I’ve written to date? Hmm.

20/ The Veronica (vera icon) is parodied by Forrest Gump: https://youtu.be/tOHr85z9k64

[I can’t believe Jesse said that “Veronica” is derived from “Bernice” and just strolled on past that. They both mean “bringer of victory,” but I’m not sure what the other connection is.–Em]

21/ I guess I should note that Dr. Katie, friend of the pod (well, friend of Jesse’s anyway) was/is not just a pathologist but a medical examiner. The difference is that a pathologist can look at the mole your doctor just lopped off and tell you if you have cancer, and a medical examiner can tell you if you were murdered. If you meet anyone who is a medical examiner, be sure to invite them to parties—they have excellent stories.

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Episode 50: The Heretical Hussites (feat. Martin Luther)

Synopsis

The last of the major proto-protestant heresies we’re going to examine is the Hussites, who were led by Jan Hus. And then we’re going to quick talk about the man, the myth, the machine, Martin Luther.

The first rule of Medieval Studies is “Don’t talk about Luther.” [Also the second and third rules.–Jesse] But we’re doing it today. 

Annotations and Corrections

1/ Monastic orders and asceticism: see episode 5 on Hermits and Anchoresses and episode 49 notes 9, 10, and 11.

2/ I believe we’ve mentioned this before, but Catholic priests weren’t always expected to be celibate.

3/ Okay, it looks like “Henry VIII founded his own church so he could get divorced” is not one hundred percent of the story and there was some complicated stuff going on. But that was well into the not-Middle-Ages-anymore time, so you’ll have to find one of the other four million books on this.

4/ For more on Falstaff, Oldcastle, and Fastolf, see episode 49 note 20.

The Avignon Papacy: 1309–1376. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy

Generally speaking Bohemia didn’t have a sea coast, which is how you know that A Winter’s Tale is a fairy tale (although Shakespeare’s source is also the source for the sea coast).

5/ Richard II (1367–1400). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_of_England As Jesse says, his second wife, Isabella of Valois, was six when they married and nine when he died. Eventually she married her cousin Charles, Duke of Orleans, and then died in childbirth at age 19.

Richard II is a really beautiful play and you should read it. [Yes!!-–Jesse]

6/ The Hussites! Jan Hus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hus

7/ The second Vatican council (aka Vatican II) was 1962–1965.

They still do masses in Latin in Rome. (I think Dr. Jesse and I attended one once.) [Yes!! So cool!!–Jesse]

A scene from Our Flag Means Death. Stede: Do you think they understand ecclesiastical Latin? Ed: (puzzled, skeptical look)

[Our Flag Means Death is THE BEST. Let’s have some ecclesiastical Latin in season 2!–Jesse]

Greek is the worst.

Parks and Rec gif. That one guy shouting "the wooooorst" at Adam Scott.

Sorry, Greek. Sorry, Dr. Jesse who is actually in Greece as I edit this. [I mean, Greek did give us theatre and history and philosophy, just for starters. 🙂 Interestingly, some schools are rethinking that second semester Greek class precisely because not everyone wants to be a linguist. Some people want to be historians or philosophers but also want to be able to read that stuff in the original Greek.–Jesse]

About Classical Sanskrit: Just don’t.

(Good on me to choose an example word, “woman”, that is NOT Greek at its root…)

8/ When we say “why learn Latin when you can read it in translation,” just know that despite agreeing, I am crying quietly inside—a lot of my MA work was about how things get translated (or not) between languages and cultures.–-Em [Yes, translators should be credited as equal to authors!!–Jesse]

9/ If we actually discussed the frequency of communion before, will put link here. [I’m sure we’ve discussed it, but we don’t seem to have made a note.–Jesse]

10/ If a pope and an antipope collide, they annihilate each other. True facts.

11/ Jean Gerson came up in our episode on Joan d’Arc (ep. 6 notes 25, 27, and 33; ep. 8 note 9; ep. 9 note 23). Probably some others.

Council of Constance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Constance

12/ The man, the myth, the MARTIN LUTHER (1483–1546). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther

13/ John Wycliffe was mentioned recently—see episode 47.

14/ Jesus’ quotation about the camel needle: “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24) [I clearly missed the, uh, abbreviation to “rich man passing through the eye of a camel.” Otherwise there would have been many, many lolz.–Jesse]

15/ The question of cannibalism was in episode 3, note 24.

16/ This is from the first section of Ulysses, lines 636–650:

— After all, I should think you are able to free yourself. You are your
own master, it seems to me.
— I am the servant of two masters, Stephen said, an English and an
Italian.
— Italian? Haines said.
A crazy queen, old and jealous. Kneel down before me.
— And a third, Stephen said, there is who wants me for odd jobs.
— Italian? Haines said again. What do you mean?
— The imperial British state, Stephen answered, his colour rising, and
the holy Roman catholic and apostolic church.
Haines detached from his underlip some fibres of tobacco before he spoke.
— I can quite understand that, he said calmly. An Irishman must think like
that, I daresay. We feel in England that we have treated you rather unfairly.
It seems history is to blame.

The character of Haines is a British student studying Irish folklore, and I want to say his line about “It seems history is to blame” is just so amazingly apropo and also insufficient and just, like, it says everything about colonialism. Thank you once again for a tiny piece of perfection, Mr. Joyce.

17/ Henry VIII founds the Church of England in 1534.

18/ The Council of Trent (1545–1563) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Trent

19/ The Counter-Reformation: 1517–1648 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation

20/ Other reasons why WWI started (per Blackadder). [The best!–Jesse]

21/ Of all the various revolutions that got countries out of the USSR, the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) had one called the Velvet Revolution, which is honestly a pretty awesome name.

22/ I couldn’t find the part where John Oliver says he hates Europe, but here’s an 18-min compilation of him making fun of different countries.

23/ CORRECTION: It was the house of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha that became the house of Windsor, not Hanover. We regret this error.

The short version of what happened with George being German is: Queen Anne died in 1714 without having produced any heirs, and so the British went to what was then the Holy Roman Empire and is now Germany (Hanover, specifically) and grabbed George Louis, son of Ernest Augustus and Sophia of Hanover (the Winter King and Queen of Bohemia). Sophia was an amazingly interesting person who happened to be a close personal friend of GOTTFRIED LEIBNIZ, but more importantly she was also the granddaughter of James VI/I. James was 1/ the reason Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, 2/ possibly gay (we don’t really know but he did have some super intense relationships with men who did things like stay the night in his rooms and also he made them dukes later on), and 3/ his son Charles I was later beheaded by Oliver Cromwell (which is both a major plot point in some novel by Dumas my father talked about a lot) and his descendant James II later abdicated, which is the set up for the extremely boring political bickering that goes on in Outlander. Essentially–going back to why we always say James I of England / James VI of Scotland–it’s because he was the king of both SEPARATELY, and this was really important to the Scots who were still in many ways a separate group rather than being “those quirky British people with angry eyebrows” as we now all typify them, so when James II quit and left and the English parliament gave the throne of Scotland to William III and Mary II, the Scots got super angry about it.

If you made it through that, I’m sorry.

[Also Edward VIII was a Nazi (sympathizer), so we’re glad he abdicated.–Jesse]

24/ Let me be clear, Peter Singer has a lot of really unpleasant views on euthanasia.

25/ We’re posting this way closer to the anniversary of Marguerite Porete getting burned at the stake than I thought we would. [Yay!!! Let the commemorations commence!!–Jesse]

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