Interview to Martin Luther

Today, we are interviewing Martin Luther, one of the most significant figures in christian's history. He wrote the 95 theses in a period in which the church was not as it has come to our days. With them, he managed to spark rebellion among European countries. 

1. What impulsed you to publish your 95 theses?

Europe, and catholism particularly, were going through a very difficult period of lies, greed and corruption and I couldn't stay sat down with my arms closed. However, I never had the intention to cause a rebellion, I only expected my thesis to make people think and to change the way religion was used to obtain money in an easier way. I have to standout, that in that moment, salvation was a matter of how much you paid for an indulgence and not a matter of what you have done in life; I mean, if you were wealthy, for example, and you could afford the indulgences, you had ensured a quick trip to heaven.

2. Did you expect being excommulgated after you made public your theses?

Of course I expected; me and my thesis weren't making any good for the church, so it was imaginable they would put me aside in order not to become a problem, what doesn't mean I agreed with the decision. However, it was late, my thesis had already been read by a lot of people (as this took place four years after their publication) and many of them had the same opinion as I did.

3. If you could pointout an event that encouraged the rebellion which would it be?

Well, I think that an event that realy helped to spread my believings around the whole continent is the one that took place in 1522: the translation of the New Testament into common German. This made easier to ordinary people the accesion to the scriptures; this promoted the criticism to the Roman church. In oder words, people hadn't judged before because they didn't know what to judge. 

4. What consequences had that event? 

This is an easy question: many german peasants rebolt, two years later, against their feudal lords. I think this incident was a huge step, as people started to have their own voice and learned they had to fight for their rights. Moreover, I was very pleased to be the person who had impulsed all of this people to do what they believed. 

5. Was that the only translation of the new testament done during the 1500s? 

No it wasn't, there was another translation in 1526. This one was into English and was done by William Tyndale as I can remember. In fact, I think this new translation had the same efect as the one to german had, making the reading more achievable for a lot of people.

6. So, what did translation caused?  

Well, although it took place eight years later, in 1534, it is clear its direct relation. I'm talking about the designation of henry VIII as head of the English church. This naming brought with it the announcement of the English Reformation. 

7. How did the Reformation affect the patrimony of the European countries in your opinion? 

Talking only about patrimony and putting aside the bloodsheds, I think it has been a huge lose of it as a lot of manesteries, abbeys or friaries were destructed and many written and painted works as well. However, I olso think this wa most of the times necesary as people were fighting for what they believed: integrity and justice. Furthermore, this lead to the rise of new forms of art that weren't actually known before. 

8. Did these fights worth? 

of course it did, in 1545, when the Council of Trent opened in order to reform the Catholic church and to make its "laws" more fair. And I think it did manage in a big part its objectives, managing to make the Catholic church a bit more equal for everyone. However, it was not enough and in 1618 the "Thirty Years' War" started.

9. Tell us about that war which lasted for thirty years.

The parts that participated in the war were the catholic States (Spain and Holy Roman Empire) against the Lutheran (Denmark and Sweden), the Anglican (England), the Calvinist (Netherlands) and France. Finally the French coalition difited the imperial armies of their enemies in 1548. After all the fight, war ended with the Peace of Westphalia, which was a series of treaties signed in order to end religious wars and get to an agreement. 

10. If you had to resume all the Reformation in one word, which would it be and why?

It would be "Braveness" as I think this is what made the Reformation go on. The braveness that I had when I published my thesis, the braveness of the german peasants to confront their lords, the braveness of all thepeople that supported my believings and finally, the braveness of the soldiers who fought in the Thirty Yeras' war. 

Animism in Sumba

Sumba is an island situated in the Indonesian archipelago that still conserve its animistic traditions. Here we can see some information about this island and manage to know more about animism, dualism, and many of its traditions.

1. What features animism define the believings of Sumba?  
The animism features that mainly define the believings of this island are those situated in the houses. First of all, each house has three floors: the first, for animals; the second, for humans; and the third, for the spirits, which are called "marapu" by the inhabitants of Sumba. Moreover, this houses are made of straw mainly, because stone is preserved for doing tombs mostly. Furthermore, it is remarkable that houses are decorated with animal craniums and paintings of cockatoos and horses, which are consedered spiritual animals.

2. Who is ratu for the village? 
He is a sorcerer or chieftain and the inhabitants of Sumba usually call him the worm's priest because of an ancient tradition they have related with this animals.

3. Which are the examples of dualism that appear on the video?
The division between men and women in the houses; the round walnut and the phallic husk; the ground and the seashore, which represents life and dead, day and night, and the change between seasons; and the central tree of the village, that also represents life and dead: life because of its fertility, and dead because the burials take place under this tree.

4. Explain the universal symbols that appear in the video and how they adapt to the believings of the village. 
The tree: because they are axs that conect Earth to heaven, in this case, it is also the center of the village.
Water: that surrounds the island os Sumba, in which the inhabitants of this place bath at the beginning of every year in order to renovate their souls.
The moon: which represents a cycle, days and nights.
The stones: they use them to make the megaliphic tombs because they last over time as well as souls do.
Although this are the main universal symbols they have, some others as sky or sun also take an important part in their belivings.

5. Explain the symboles of the house, what parts they have and how thay decorate them. 
Each house have three floors: the first for the animals, the second for men and women and the third for the marapu (the spirits) so they can be near the sky. Moreover, they decorate the houses with craneums of animals they have hunted and drawings of cockatoos and horses, which are considered spiritual animals by the inhabitants of Sumba.

6. Who is marapu? 
Marapu are the spirits that surround the village as well of those of the antecesors of the inhabitants of Sumba.

7. Explain the symbolism of the loom and explain the drawings of icats.
The icats are the clothes that the inhabitants of Sumba weaved. In them, it was expressed all the history of the island, as who the marapu are, their colonizations, etc; everything relevant for the history of the village.

8. How do the Sumba announce the new year? 
With  a collective catching of worms of sea. Every inhabitant of the island goes to the beach at the beginning of the year in order to catch as much worms of sea as they can. The more woms they obtain, the better year and the more fertile the ground will it be , so all effort a lot in order to find as much as possible.

9. Explain the symbolism of Pasola. 
Pasola is a fight between to two rival clans that takes place in order to fertilice the ground with blood. The members of both clans fight by horse, using spears to hurt the other. A good Pasola is that in which a lot of blood falls to the ground as it symbolises the fertilization of the ground and, as a consequence, a good year. For this reason, the ratus won't stop the fight until a lot of blood is spilled , so they can ensure a good rice harvest.

10. How does ratu tell the future to the village?
The ratu can predict the future by the ammount of sea worms that people catch at the beginning of the year. If there are a lot of sea worms, the year will be good, if not, it will be a bad year.
A part from this, he killed a hen and looked at its innards; if they were well, it will be a great future, on the other hand, if they weren't, something wrong was going to happen.

Interview to a pike man of the Tercios of Flanders.

Today, we are interviewing a pike man of the Tercios of Flanders. He was born in 1506 and enlisted to the Tercio of the kingdom he lived in when it was created, so he has being one the first pike men in history.

1. Which was the purpose of the creation of the Tercios?

They were created by Charles I when he faced the difficult job of maintaining secure the territories he had inherited in Milan, Naples and Sicilia.

With France trying to snatch these regions to the King, he had the duty of reorganizing the Spanish infantry of these Italian regions.  So, the first Tercios were created in order to accomplish the defense of these territories.

2. Which of the Tercios you belonged to?
I was part of the Sicilia’s Tercio, one of the first three Tercios, together with the ones of Naples and Lombardi. This three Tercios were called “Old Tercios” because of its long service.

These groups were born, by order of Charles I, for defending some of his kingdoms, and each of them had its own authorities. 

Later, Tercios’s formation continued as we were doing a very good job and demonstrating our loyalty to the King.

3. How did it come to your mind the idea of enlisting to a Tercio for defending your region?

Well, you have already said it: it was a matter of defending my own region. However, it was also a great opportunity of showing the world my loyalty to the king; all men that were there demonstrated a huge loyalty to Charles I in every battle and, of course, to God, as all were also catholic.

Moreover, it seemed to be a great chance to form myself as a soldier, as I had no experience in the job and Tercios were formed by great soldiers but also by unexperienced ones.

4. Talk us about the tactics you used in your battles.

Our tactics were inspired by the ones that the Swiss army used; we fought combining, in a very efficient way, bladed weapons (such as spades and spears) and fire arms (like harquebus and muskets).

Moreover, we had a huge mobility and a big capacity for adapting to each fighting field, so everybody knew us as the invincible army.

5. What part did you take inside this tactic? Which was your job?

I was a pike man, as well as most of the people that worked in the Tercios.

First of all, the muskets started the war, over one hundred meters away from the enemy.

Then, harquebuses fired when the opposite army was nearer.

And finally it was our turn, the turn of the pike mans, who were organized in a square formation. We put our pikes pointing the outside of the square, so the enemy army couldn’t get closer to us. I don’t want to brag, but we were the most important part of the attack, because the enemy army, whose soldiers were mostly on horses, was unable to fight against us as it was very easy to make them fall with our pikes.   

Furthermore, next to us, there were situated what we called “mangas”, that were groups of soldiers with fire arms that helped us during the battle.

6. What would you say that were the keys for wining so much?

I would stand out the organization of the Tercios and the huge help that pikes provided us. The square organization was a fundamental part of our attacks in order to defeat our enemies as they could do nothing to penetrate the formation. Moreover, pikes were important because they were between 4 to 6 meters long, so they made us able to manage the other army’s soldiers without getting out of our place and they also avoid a lot of deads as we used them to protect ourselves too.

7. Did you participate in the “encamisadas”? ¿What did they consist in?

Of course, and I think they provided our army a huge help.

The “encamisadas” were tactics in which we attacked the enemy when it was off-guard. The best pike mans of the Tercio were in charge of putting into practice this strategy.

It consisted in travelling during the night to the enemy’s field (where they slept), taking with us only bladed weapons and a white T-shirt for distinguishing us from the other army.  

Although these were only eventual attacks, with them we managed to sabotage our enemy’s arms and to cause the most injuries as possible.

8. What can you tell us regarding the “12 apostles”?

As a mentioned, I was part of one of the first Tercios, so it still was a big difference between the two groups of soldiers that had fire arms: the harquebusiers and the musketeers. Both groups used different arms.

The ones used by the harquebusiers, needed 12 gunpowder’s loads in tubes made of wood, this is what was popularly called the 12 apostles.

However, as time went by, differences between the two groups of soldiers disappeared, and the arms that harquebusiers used started to be similar to the ones of the musketeers.

9. Did you use any uniform or method for distinguishing from your enemies?

We didn’t use any uniform, each person wore what he wanted or could afford; however, all of us had to wear a red ribbon tied to our wrists and those who were pike men also had to tie another like it in our pikes and similar weapons.

10. How did Tercios end?

The end of the scary Tercios took place during the reign of Philip V, who dissolved and transformed them into regiments with less free captains, controlled by a more centralized power.

However, I think Tercios will remain during history because of all the battles they have fought and won and the good reputation they have given to the Spanish armies. 

SPANISH ARMADA: reading like a historian

Extract from a letter to English government giving details about the progress of the Armada (SP 94/3)   
                                                                                                                                                                    -How useful do you think this information would be to the English government?
The information included in the letter is very useful because it provides facts related to the Spanish Armada, such as the number of boats, soldiers, their locations...This way, they will be able to know if it was necessary to send more boats, crews, or whatever and be prepared for the attacs.

-Why were there more soldiers than sailors?
The reason of a huge difference between sailors and soldiers is that the main objective was a land invasion, so soldiers were more useful to fight, whereas sailors only had to carry them to England. 

Lord Howard of Effingham, the Admiral of the English fleet, sent this report to Francis Walsingham 21 July (SP 12/212)

-How do you think the news that the Spanish Armada had been sighted was able to reach Lord Howard so quickly when he was at Plymouth, over a hundred miles away?
Because he received intelligence (someone who transmited relevant information) that there were a great number of Spanish ships.

-Why do you think Howard complained to Walsingham about the wind?
The main problem regarding the wind was that it was changing frequently, what made the fight very difficult for them.

-Howard says that the Spanish fleet was ‘soe strong’. What made it strong?
What made the Spanish Armada seem so strong was the great number of different kinds of sheeps that compond it: 120 sail sheeps whereof 4 were galleasses and many ships of greate burthen. An extract from a Spanish captain’s account of the events. He had survived after being shipwrecked on the Irish coast and was then interrogated by the English, but eventually returned home to Spain.

 An extract from a Spanish captain’s account of the events. He had survived after being shipwrecked on the Irish coast and was then interrogated by the English, but eventually returned home to Spain.

-The Spanish Armada fought the English fleet for two days without losing any ships. What happened next that changed this?
After two days in wich they hadn't lost any ship, they perceived in the night 6 ships falling upon them fired: by reason whereof they were driven to cut their Cables: at which time a great ship was burned among them.

-Why was it a good thing that the Spanish plans were stopped?
 Because the captain who wrote the letter had been hold prisonerin the british coast after suffering a shipwrecked, so, if Spanish plans of attaking the british cities would have been done, he would have died.

-If you could change one thing to give the Spanish a better chance of winning what would it be and why?
 If I had the chance, I would change those annoying winds and weather conditions that made the work of the Spanish Armada so difficult, to the point that people even said that was God who made the fleet be unsuccesful.

-The English celebrated their victory with a medal saying ‘God Blew and they were Scattered’ – how would the Spanish have explained their defeat? The medal represents the important part that the wind and weather in generall took in their battles, and that made the fight so difficult for the soldiers. This argument would habe been the one used by the Spanish in order to explain their fail in the battle.

Charles V

In this map we can see four different layers.
The first one show the territories of Charles V, those that he inherited, as well as those which were conquered by himself.
In the second layer it is showed the place were he was crowned emperor and some important facts about the day of his coronation.
In the third layer we can see the three most important battles in wich he took place.
Finally, in the fourth layer, we can see his last journey as an emperor.

Welcome

Welcome to my new history blog! Here I will be posting information about whatever related to history: kings, battles, emperors... Moreover, if you have any doubt you can leave a comment and I will try to answer as soon and as accurate as possible.