#16thcentury — Public Fediverse posts

Restorers expose trove of 16th-century nude murals in Rome that were covered by disapproving nuns – The Art Newspaper

On Rome’s Via dei Fori Imperiali, the main road leading to the Colosseum, a rundown-looking building partially covered…
#Italy #Europe #Europa #EU #Rome #16thcentury #Heritage #murals #Museums&Heritage #Restoration
https://www.europesays.com/italy/51529/

Portrait of the Poetess Elpide (late 15th-early 16th century), Regional Museum of Messina, Sicily, Italy

https://welchwrite.com/blog/2026/09/25/poetess/

Follow My Photos on Pixelfed: https://pixelfed.social/p/douglaswelch/1009224203503905432

#poetess #Elpide #sculpture #marble #15thcentury #16thcentury #art #museum #history #messina #sicily #italy #photography #travel

Scottish Workmanship at the Jacobean & Tudor Courts
6 October, 1–1:50pm, Oxford – free

Explore the arts of calligraphy, embroidery & bookbinding as practised in the 16th & 17th centuries by Esther Inglis, creator of exquisite miniature manuscripts

https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/2026/oct/esther-inglis

#Scottish #literature #EarlyModern #16thcentury #17thcentury #Tudor #Jacobean #manuscript #calligraphy #embroidery #bookbinding #EstherInglis

“I found more than 30 anonymous poems. So many of them immediately struck me as being by women, about female themes, & written in a female voice. And I certainly wasn’t expecting to find lesbian love poetry”

—Ashley Douglas explores Marie Matland’s 16th-century Scottish sapphic verse

https://thecoldmagazine.co.uk/theatre-literature/meet-the-scottish-lesbian-poet/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #loevepoetry #manuscript #16thcentury #renaissance #earlymodern #queerliterature #queerpoetry #sapphic #lesbian #LGBTQ

The Angel Of Death takes the soul, in the form of a child, from the body of a dying man. Augsburg, 1508.
#Gothic #medieval #angel #16thCentury

The Angel Of Death takes the soul, in the form of a child, from the body of a dying man. Augsburg, 1508.
#Gothic #medieval #angel #16thCentury

A young man with a death's head drawn by Lucas van Leyden, 1519.
#Gothic #skull #16thCentury #medieval #art

A young man with a death's head drawn by Lucas van Leyden, 1519.
#Gothic #skull #16thCentury #medieval #art

@bookstodon

Musical Diplomacy on the Global Stage: Dallam's Organ & Lymond's Spinet
The Dorothy Dunnett Society lecture 2024

Dr Jennifer L Wood compares the historical Thomas Dallam presenting a self-playing organ to the Ottoman Sultan, with Lymond taking the horological Spinet there in 𝘗𝘢𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 (The Lymond Chronicles 4)

6/7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DQE8uW6poo

#Scottish #literature #DorothyDunnett #LymondChronicles #HistoricalFiction #novel #history #16thcentury

@bookstodon

Historian Yvonne Seale on the women of the LYMOND CHRONICLES:

“some of the most compelling women characters you’re likely to find in print … after several years spent studying the history of women in pre-modern Europe […] I better understand just how much Dunnett’s female characters have both feet firmly planted in a sixteenth-century world”

5/7

https://yvonneseale.org/blog/2019/05/14/the-women-of-the-lymond-chronicles/

#Scottish #literature #DorothyDunnett #LymondChronicles #HistoricalFiction #novel #history #16thcentury

Navy Researchers Scanned the Seafloor and Tracked a Ping. Then They Found a Staggering 500-Year-Old Shipwreck.

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: The French military accidentally discovered what has become the…
#France #FR #Europe #EU #16thcentury #autonomousunderwatervehicle #Frenchwaters #remotelyoperatedvehicles
https://www.europesays.com/france/65771/

Palestrina -- Missa Hodie Christus natus est -- Kyrie --The Sixteen
https://youtu.be/ZT9nzSOL4fk?si=Imej-RhvxBHYmplZ

Today's random pick from my YouTube playlists.

#Palestrina #RenaissanceMusic #ChoralMusic #Mass #MissaHodie ChristusNatusEst #LiturgicalMusic #16thCentury

“In her new book With My Own Hand: The Secret Life of Marie Maitland, historian & translator Ashley Douglas places an analysis of Poem 49 at the heart of her thoughtful & often speculative reconstruction of this early modern woman’s queer life”

@litstudies

https://theconversation.com/the-16th-century-lesbian-poet-who-could-be-scotlands-answer-to-gentleman-jack-286743

#Scottish #literature #poetry #16thcentury #EarlyModern #LGBTQ #LGBTQhistory #QueerHistory

In the latest episode of Talking Tudors, Natalie Grueninger speaks with Dr Ashley Douglas about her new book, With My Own Hand: The Secret Life of Marie Maitland, Scotland's Sixteenth-Century Sappho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgC3ivcGoOw

#Scottish #literature #poetry #16thcentury #EarlyModern #LGBTQ #LGBTQhistory #QueerHistory

@bookstodon

Dr Morna Fleming looks at Mollie Hunter’s THE THIRTEENTH MEMBER, a novel of witchcraft, alchemy, & treason set in late 16th-century Scotland – presented at our 2021 Schools Conference

3/5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKHL58len-g

#Scottish #literature #ChildrensLiterature #kidlit #YA #fantasy #historicalfiction #folklore #witchcraft #16thcentury

Ye auditoris most honorable that eris has gevin
Onto this uncouth aventur quhilk airly me happinnit,
Of thir thre wanton wiffis that I haif writtin heir,
Quhilk wald ye waill to your wif gif ye suld wed one?

The full text of William Dunbar’s “The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen & the Wedo”, with glosses, is available online here (number 84):

https://metseditions.org/read/aWPKyXybI55L0uN3khzq2NHYBP43YAlY

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #satire #medieval #15thcentury #16thcentury #midsummer

“The women, dressed in elvish green, the color often conveying sexual associations in medieval poetry, have literally let down their hair, and while indulging in rich wine, they discuss the trials of marriage in frank detail”

2/3

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-dunbar

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #satire #medieval #15thcentury #16thcentury #midsummer

Apon the Midsummer evin, mirriest of nichtis,
I muvit furth allane, neir as midnicht wes past…

—in “The Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen & the Wedo”, William Dunbar (c1465–1530) eavesdrops on three ladies discussing marriage. What begins as candid moves rapidly to obscene…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #satire #medieval #15thcentury #16thcentury #midsummer

💁🏻‍♀️ ICYMI: 🏰🛡️ In 1315 #Scotland's King Robert the Bruce decided to lay siege to #England's Carlisle Castle but retreated after just 11 days.

The siege is a prime example of how #medieval European #castles could stand firm against enemy onslaughts with concentric walls, round flanking towers, and active gatehouse defenses.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/how-to-attack-and-defend-a-medieval-castle

#12thcentury #13thcentury #14thcentury #15thcentury #16thcentury #8thcentury #9thcentury #architecture #culture #defense #design #engineering #europe #government #history #money #politics #royalty #stone #tech #technology #tedEd #middleages #war #weapons #wood #tksst #video

💁🏻‍♀️ ICYMI: 🏰🛡️ In 1315 #Scotland's King Robert the Bruce decided to lay siege to #England's Carlisle Castle but retreated after just 11 days.

The siege is a prime example of how #medieval European #castles could stand firm against enemy onslaughts with concentric walls, round flanking towers, and active gatehouse defenses.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/how-to-attack-and-defend-a-medieval-castle

#12thcentury #13thcentury #14thcentury #15thcentury #16thcentury #8thcentury #9thcentury #architecture #culture #defense #design #engineering #europe #government #history #money #politics #royalty #stone #tech #technology #tedEd #middleages #war #weapons #wood #tksst #video

💁🏻‍♀️ ICYMI: 🏰🛡️ In 1315 #Scotland's King Robert the Bruce decided to lay siege to #England's Carlisle Castle but retreated after just 11 days.

The siege is a prime example of how #medieval European #castles could stand firm against enemy onslaughts with concentric walls, round flanking towers, and active gatehouse defenses.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/how-to-attack-and-defend-a-medieval-castle

#12thcentury #13thcentury #14thcentury #15thcentury #16thcentury #8thcentury #9thcentury #architecture #culture #defense #design #engineering #europe #government #history #money #politics #royalty #stone #tech #technology #tedEd #middleages #war #weapons #wood #tksst #video

💁🏻‍♀️ NEW: 🏰🛡️ In 1315 #Scotland's King Robert the Bruce decided to lay siege to #England's Carlisle Castle but retreated after just 11 days.

The siege is a prime example of how #medieval European #castles could stand firm against enemy onslaughts with concentric walls, round flanking towers, and active gatehouse defenses.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/how-to-attack-and-defend-a-medieval-castle

#12thcentury #13thcentury #14thcentury #15thcentury #16thcentury #8thcentury #9thcentury #architecture #culture #defense #design #engineering #europe #government #history #money #politics #royalty #stone #tech #technology #tedEd #middleages #war #weapons #wood #tksst #video

With My Own Hand: Ashley Douglas on Scotland’s 16th-century Sappho
22 July, Lighthouse Bookshop, Edinburgh – £0/£4/£22 (with book)

Ashley Douglas tells the story of Marie Maitland (c1550–1596), the Maitland manuscript, & Marie’s secret lesbian love poetry

https://lighthousebookshop.com/events/with-my-own-hand-ashley-douglas-on-scotlands-sixteenth-century-sappho

#Scottish #literature #earlymodern #poetry #16thcentury #lesbian #queerlit #womenwriters #sapphic

💁🏻‍♀️ ICYMI: 🛡️⚔️ How did armorers design body #armor that could protect a #knight from the force of a lance?

#Steel provided the basic required strength, but shape determined how that strength performed under impact. Rounded surfaces helped reduce the chances of dents when hit with a lance.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-makes-a-knights-armor-strong

#15thcentury #16thcentury #activities #animation #art #defense #design #diy #etching #gilding #history #kids #museums #physics #renaissance #science #weapons #tksst #video

💁🏻‍♀️ NEW: 🛡️⚔️ How did armorers design body #armor that could protect a #knight from the force of a lance?

#Steel provided the basic required strength, but shape determined how that strength performed under impact. Rounded surfaces helped reduce the chances of dents when hit with a lance.

👉 Learn more: https://seethis.tv/post/what-makes-a-knights-armor-strong

#15thcentury #16thcentury #activities #animation #art #defense #design #diy #etching #gilding #history #kids #museums #physics #renaissance #science #weapons #tksst #video

Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

• Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

• The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
• The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
• The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

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Immaculate Conception

This is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was/is free from original sin from the moment of her conception. It’s 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8.

It wasn’t defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin non-dogmatically.

Many Protestant churches reject this doctrine as unscriptural. Some Anglicans accept this as a pious devotion. The teaching of the Immaculate Conception among Oriental Orthodoxy varies. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept it.

Anne (who eventually becomes a saint), the mom of the Virgin Mary & Jesus’ maternal grandma, shows up for the 1st time in the 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of James. Anne & her husband Joachim (who also became a saint) were infertile. But God heard their prayers. Mary was then conceived.

Within the Gospel of James, Mary’s conception happens without physical sexual intercourse between Anne & Joachim. This is to demonstrate Mary’s purity. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that Mary was conceived by her parents like we all were.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, & Cyrus of Jerusalem came up with the idea of Mary as the new Eve. While yet immaculate & incorrupt, she wasn’t subject to original sin. Ephraim the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall.

Ambrose asserted Mary’s incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to grace & immunity from sin. Severus, the Bishop of Antioch, agreed to affirm Mary’s purity & immaculateness. John of Damascus extended the supernatural influence of God to Mary’s parents. This suggests they were purified by the Holy Spirit during her generation. According to John of Damascus, even the material of Mary’s origin was deemed pure & holy.

By the 4th century, the idea of Mary being free from sin was more widespread. But her being free from original sin, passed down from the OGs Adam & Eve, raised questions. The question became more acute when the feast of Mary’s conception brought the objection that, as adult spicy time is sinful, & to celebrate Mary’s conception was to celebrate a sinful act. (Let’s get 1 thing straight: God doesn’t make married adult spicy time between 2 consenting MARRIED adults a sin! He (God) in fact encourages a healthy marital sex life. “Be fruitful & multiply,” ring any bells! And how exactly do we multiply? This is the conclusion of our TED talk.)

The feast of Mary’s conception came from the Eastern Church in the 7th century. It reached England in the 11th century. From there, it spread out to Europe. It was given official approval in 1477 & extended to the whole church in 1693. The word “immaculate” wasn’t used until 1854.

This doctrine caused a “civil war” between the Franciscans & the Dominicans during the Middle Ages. The Franciscan “Scotists” were in favor & the Dominican “Thomists” against it.

The English ecclesiastic & scholar Eadmer (circa 1060-circa 1126) reasoned that Mary might have been conceived without original sin because of God’s omnipotence. It was also appropriate for her role as Mother of God. Potuit, decuit, fecit: “it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done.”

Others, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux (of the St. Bernard dog breed fame, 1090-1153) & Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) objected because if Mary were free of original sin at her superfluous conception. Then she would have no need of redemption. Thus making Christ’s saving redemption unneeded.

In 1439, the Council of Basel, in schism with Pope Eugene IV (who lived at the Council of Florence), declared the Immaculate Conception a “pious opinion” consistent with faith & Scripture. The Council of Trent made no explicit declaration on the topic. But did exempt her from the universality of original sin.

They also affirmed that she remained free from all stains of sin during her life, even the venial ones. By 1571, the revised Roman Breviary set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

Some devotees go so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary just by kissing her husband. They also believe that (St.) Anne’s dad & grandma had likewise been conceived without spicy adult time. However, (St.) Bridget of Sweden (circa 1303-1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne & Joachim conceived their daughter through a spicy adult time, which was sinless because it was pure & free of sexual lust.

In the 16th & 17th centuries, Spain exploded with Immaculatist devotion. This led the Habsburg monarchs to demand the Holy See elevate this belief to the status of dogma.

In France in 1830, Catherine Laboure (May 2, 1806-December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw. The medal said, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” which was a confirmation from Mary herself that she was conceived without sin. Laboure’s vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival.

In 1849, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Ubi primum, soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma. 90% of those who responded were supportive. Although the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, warned that the Immaculate Conception “could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition.”

In 1854, the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus. Ineffabilis Deus found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation (Noah’s Ark), Jacob’s Ladder, the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the Song of Song/Song of Solomon, & many more passages.

The pope’s advisors singled out 2 Bible passages: Genesis 3:15 – “I’ll put enmity between you & the woman.” This is a prophecy which reached fulfillment in the figure of the Woman in Revelation, crowned with stars & trampling the Dragon underfoot. Luke 1:28 – Specifically the phrase “full of grace” by which Gabriel greeted Mary was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: “she was never subject to the curse & was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction.”

Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young Bernadette Soubirous (of the Lourdes grotto fame) said that Mary appeared to her at Lourdes in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church later endorsed the apparition as authentic. There are other “approved” Marian apparitions in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. For example, Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland.

The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. The Roman Missal (which contains texts & rubrics (a set of rules)) & the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours (a set of Catholic prayers) include references to Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Its celebration seems to have begun in the Eastern church in the 7th century & may have spread to Ireland by the 8th century. The earliest well-attested record in the Western Church is from England early in the 11th century. It was suppressed there after the Norman Conquest (1066). The 1st thorough exposition of the doctrine was a response to this suppression. It continued to spread through the 15th century despite accusations of heresy from the Thomists & strong objections from several prominent theologians.

Beginning around 1140, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Yes, like the dog breed. That’s where the dog breed got its name.), a Cistercian monk (This is a religious order of monks & nuns that branched off from the Benedictines.), wrote to Lyons Cathedral to express his surprise & dissatisfaction that it had recently begun to be observed there.

But in 1477, Pope Lixtus IV, who was a devoted Immaculist, put it on the Roman calendar via the papal bull called Cum praexcelsa. In 1481 & 1483, Pope Sixtus IV published 2 more bulls which prohibited anyone from preaching or teaching against the Immaculate Conception, or for either side to accuse the other of heresy, under threats of excommunication.

Pope Pius V kept the Feast on the Tridentine calendar. But suppressed the word “Immaculate.” Pope Gregory XV, in 1622, prohibited any public or private assertion that Mary was conceived in sin. In 1624, Pope Urban VIII allowed the Franciscans to establish a military order dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo & Eritrean Orthodox Tewahed Churches believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on August 13 (Nehasie 7).

Eastern Orthodoxy does not exempt Mary from original sin. But they do affirm Mary’s purity & preservation from personal sin.

In the mid-1800s, some Catholics who were unable to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility left the Roman Church & formed the Old Catholic Church. They reject the Immaculate Conception.

Protestants overwhelmingly condemned the announcement of Ineffabilis Deus. Protestants teach that Mary was a sinner, saved through grace, like everyone else.

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Once did I see
A sounding bee,
Amongst her sweetned swarme…

—“Madrigall: Of a Bee”, by Simion Grahame (c.1570–1614)
published in JACOBEAN PARNASSUS: Scottish Poetry from the Reign of James I (ASL, 2022)

A poem for World Bee Day 🐝 – today, 20 May

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/jacobean-parnassus/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #EarlyModern #16thcentury #17thcentury #Jacobean #bees #WorldBeeDay

Xibalba

Xibalba roughly translates to “place of fright.”

This is the K’iche’ (A Mayan language of the K’iche’ people of the central highlands of Guatemala & Mexico) named the Underworld in a Maya(n) mythology. The underworld is known as Mitnal in Yucatec, a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatan Peninsula.

In the 16th century, Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba, was traditionally held to be a cave in the area of Cabon, Guatemala. Cave systems in nearby Belize have also been referred to as the entrance to Xibalba. In some Mayan areas, the Milky Way is viewed as the road to Xibalba.

Xibalba is described in the Popol Vuh (A text recounting the mythology & history of the K’iche’ people of Guatemala. This is 1 of the Maya peoples who also inhabit Mexican states) as a court below the surface of the earth associated with death & with 12 gods, or powerful rulers, known as the Lords of Xibalba.

The 1st among the Mayan death gods ruling Xibalba were: Hun-Came (“One Death”) & Vucub-Came (“Seven Death”). Though Hun-Came is the elder of the 2.

The remaining 10 Lords are often referred to as demons & are given commission & domain over diverse forms of human suffering: to cause sickness, starvation, fear, destitution, pain, & ultimately death.

These Lords work in pairs: Xiquiripat (“Flying Scab”) & Cuchumaquix (“Gathered Blood”), who sickens people’s blood. Ahalpuh (“Pus Demon”) & Ahalgana (“Jaundice Demon”), who cause people’s bodies to swell up. Chamiabac (“Bone Staff”) & Ahalttcob (“Stabbing Demon”), who hide in the unswept areas of people’s homes & stab them to death. Xic (“Wing”) & Patan (“Pack strap”), who cause people to die coughing up blood while out walking on a road.

The remaining residents of Xibalba are thought to have fallen under the dominion of 1 of these Lords, going about the face of the Earth to carry out their listed duties.

Xibalba was a large palace, & several individual structures located within Xibalba are described or mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Chief among these was the council place of the Lords, the 5 or 6 houses that served as the 1st tests of Xibalba, & the Xibalba ball court. Also mentioned are the homes of the Lords, gardens, & other structures, indicating that Xibalba was at least a great city.

Xibalba seems to be rife with tests, trials, & traps for anyone who comes into the city. Even the roads to Xibalba were filled with obstacles: 1st, a river filled with scorpions, a river filled with blood, & then a river filled with pus.

Beyond these was a crossroads where travellers had to choose from among 4 roads that spoke in an attempt to confuse & beguile. Upon passing these obstacles, 1 would come upon the Xibalba council place where it was expected visitors would greet the seated Lords.

Realistic mannequins were seated near the Lords to confuse & humiliate people who greeted them, & the confused would then be invited to sit up on a bench, which was actually a hot cooking surface. The Lords of Xibalba would entertain themselves by humiliating people in this fashion before sending them into 1 of Xibalba’s deadly tests.

The city was home to at least 6 deadly houses filled with trials for visitors. The 1st was the Dark House, a house that was completely dark inside. The 2nd was the Rattling House/Cold House, full of bone-chilling cold & rattling hail. The 3rd was the Jaguar House, filled with hungry jaguars. Tht 4th was the Bat House, filled with dangerous shrieking bats. The 5th was the Razor House, filled with blades & razors that moved about of their own accord. In another part of the Popol Vuh, a 6th test, the Hot House, was filled with fires & heat, is identified. The purpose of these trials/tests was to either kill or humiliate people placed into them if they couldn’t outwit the test.

Xibalba was home of a famous ballcourt in which the heroes of the Popol Vuh succumbed to the trickery of the demons in the form of a deadly, bladed ball, as well as the site in which the Mayan Hero Twins outwitted the gods & brought about their downfall.

According to the Popol Vuh, the residents of Xibalba at 1 point enjoyed the worship of the people on the surface of the Earth who offered human sacrifice to the gods of death.

Over the span of time covered in the Popol Vuh, the gods of Xibalba are tricked & finally humiliated into accepting lesser offerings from above by the Maya Twins, who got superpowers after they were burnt & their ashes thrown into a magical river.

The role of Xibalba & its inhabitants after their great defeat at the hands of the Hero Twins is unclear. Although it seems to have continued its existence a dark place of the underworld long after.

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@13 Legitimate fun with explosives!
@medievodons @histodons @militaryhistory

#ExperimentalArchaeology #MaryRose #MilitaryHistory #16thCentury #firearms

In this week’s Miscellanies: following #16thcentury seabirds

📬 Sign up for our email newsletter at https://buff.ly/NLSWwWz, and we’ll send it to you on Thursday.

In this week’s email newsletter: following #16thcentury seabirds

📬 Sign up for Miscellanies at https://mailchi.mp/historytoday/miscellanies-from-history-today, and we’ll send it to you on Thursday.

In Infanta: The Short, Remarkable Life of Catalina Micaela, Magdalena S. Sánchez discovers a #16thcentury marriage documented in remarkable detail.

✍️ Amy Fuller reviews the recent #history book

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/review/infanta-magdalena-s-sanchez-review

Byron’s poem ☝️ borrows from the Scottish song “The Jolly Beggar” – often attributed to King James V (who reputedly liked to disguise himself as “the Gudeman of Ballangeich” to enjoy amorous adventures)

From Cromek’s SELECT SCOTTISH SONGS (1810):

2/4

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wrqZPUBJqJwC&pg=PA53&dq=%22we%27ll%20gang%20nae%20mair%20a%20roving%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRzY_714rwAhX7VBUIHafXBksQuwUwBnoECAEQBw&fbclid=IwAR2y-nlehZgaooF6HbjkRUv65obO875dbi6w41K_0-PijVyX3SZiNiJSAMY#v=onepage&q&f=false

#Scottish #literature #Byron #LordByron #song #folksong #16thcentury #earlymodern

“The ballad’s enduring appeal (and Romantasy’s, too) is that it flips the traditional narrative of heroism on its head”

In the early Scottish ballad “Tam Lin”, the titular man is rescued from the fairies by the bravery of Janet, the heroine

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/romantasy-history-acotar-celtic-folklore

#Scottish #literature #folklore #ballad #romantasy #TamLin #16thcentury

Archangel Uriel

Uriel means “God is my flame.” His name could be spelled Auriel or Oriel. He’s one of the archangels who’s mentioned in Rabbinic tradition & in certain Christian traditions.

He’s well known in the Russian Orthodox tradition & in folk Catholicism (in both he’s considered to be 1 of the 7 major archangels). In Anglicanism, he’s also well known in European esoteric medieval literature.

Uriel is also known as a master of knowledge & archangel of wisdom. He’s associated with the truth.

In apocryphal, kabbalistic, & occult works, Uriel has been equated (or confused) with Urial, Nuriel, Uryan, Jeremiel, Vretil, Sariel, Puruel, Phanuel, Azrael, & Raphael.

In the Secret Book of John (an early Gnostic work), Uriel is placed in control of the demons who help Yaldabaoth create Adam.

Of the 7 Archangels in the angelology of Judaism, only 2 of them (Gabriel & Michael) are mentioned by name in the canonized Jewish scripture. Where a 4th archangel is added to the named 3 (to represent the 4 cardinal points), Uriel is generally the 4th. Uriel is listed as the 4th angel by Christian Gnostics, under the name of Phanuel.

Uriel appears in the 2nd Book of Esdras, which is found in the Biblical apocrypha (called Esdras IV in the Vulgate). In this, the prophet Ezra asks God a series of questions, & God sends Uriel to instruct him. According to the Revelation of Esdras, the angels who will rule at the end of the world are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Beburos, Zebuleion, Aker, & Arphugitonos. The final 5 listed appear only in the book & nowhere else in apocryphal or apocalyptics works.

In Christian apocryphal Gospels, Uriel plays a role (differing between the sources) in the rescue of Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, from the Massacre of the Innocents ordered by King Herod. He carries John & his mom, St. Elizabeth, to join the Holy Family after their flight into Egypt. Their reunion is pictured in da Vinci’s Virgin of the Rocks (a.k.a. Madonna of the Rocks).

Uriel is often identified as a cherub & the angel of repentance. He stood at the Garden of Eden with a fiery sword, or as the angel who’s over the world & over Tartarus. In the Apocalypse of Peter, he appears as the angel of repentance, who is graphically represented as being as pitiless as any demon.

In the Life of Adam & Eve, Uriel is regarded as the spirit (1 of the cherubs) of the 3rd chapter of Genesis. He’s also identified as 1 of the angels who helped bury Adam & Abel in Eden. He checked the doors of Egypt for lamb’s blood during the plague. He held the key to the pit during the end times, & led Abraham to the west.

In modern angelology, Uriel is identified variously as a seraph, cherub, regent of the sun, flame of God, angel of the divine presence, presider over Tartarus/Hell, archangel of salvation, & in later scriptures, identified with Phanuel (“God has turned”). He’s often pictured carrying a book or a papyrus scroll representing wisdom. Uriel is a patron of the arts.

In the Eastern Orthodox churches, Uriel is commemorated together with the other archangels & angels with a feast day of the “Synaxis of the Archangel Michael & the Other Bodiless Powers” on November 8 of the liturgical calendar. For those churches which follow the Julian calendar, November 8 & falls on November 21 on the modern Gregorian calendar.

He’s regarded as the patron saint of the arts & sciences. In addition, every Monday throughout the year is dedicated to the angels.

The Anglicans & Coptic Christians of Ethiopia & Eritrea venerate archangel Uriel. According to the latter, July 11 is his feast day. In the Ethiopian Homily on the Archangel Uriel, he’s pictured as 1 of the great archangels & as the angelus interpres who has interpreted prophecies to Enoch & Ezra, & the helper of both of them.

According to the Homily, at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, Uriel dipped his wing in the blood & water flowing from Christ’s flank & Filled a cup with it. Carrying the cup, he & the archangel Michael rushed into the world & sprinkled it all over Ethiopia.

In every place where a drop of blood fell, a church was built. Thus, Uriel is often pictured carrying a chalice filled with the blood of Christ in Ethiopian Orthodox iconography. Uriel is honored in the Lutheran Churches as well, with churches including statuary of the archangels Gabriel, Uriel, Michael, & Raphael.

At the Council of Rome of 745, Pope Zachary (intending to clarify the church’s teaching on angels & curbs a tendency toward angel worship) condemned obsession with angelic intervention & angelology. But reaffirmed the approval of the practice of the reverence of angels.

This Synod struck many angels’ names from the list of those eligible for veneration in the church of Rome, including Uriel. Only the reverence of the archangels is mentioned in the recognized Catholic canon of scriptures, namely, Michael, Gabriel, & Raphael, remained acceptable.

In the 16th century, Archangel Uriel appeared before the Sicilian friar Antonio Lo Duca & told him to build a church in the Termini area. Lo Duca told Pope Pius IV about the apparition, and the pope then asked Michelangelo to design the church, which became the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels & of the Martyrs located at the Esedra Plaza.

In the 1st half of the 11th century, Bulgarian followers of the duelist heresy called Bogomilism, who lived in the dukedom of Ahtum in present-day Banat, invoked Uriel in rituals. This was witnessed by Gerard of Csanad, the Catholic bishop of the area after 1028. Uriel was also named in a small exorcism in the 15th century.

The Book of Enoch (which presents itself as written by Enoch) mentions Uriel in many of its component books. In chapter IX, part of “The Book of the Watchers” (2nd century BC), only 4 angels are named. Those angels are Michael, Uriel, Raphael, & Gabriel. Though some versions have a 5th angel: Suryal or Suriel.

However, chapter XX later lists 7 angels’ names & functions. Those angels are “Uriel, 1 of the holy angels, who’s over the world & over Tartarus,” Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, & Remiel.

The Book of the Watchers tells us that Uriel, Raphael, & Gabriel were present before God to testify on behalf of humankind. They ask for divine intervention during the reign of the fallen Grigori (fallen watchers). These fallen ones took human wives & had half-“angel,” half-human offspring called the Nephilim.

Uriel was responsible for warning our boy Noah about the upcoming deluge. After judgment has been brought up on the Nephilim & the Fallen Ones, including the 2 main leaders, Samyaza & Azazel. Uriel then acts as a guide for Enoch for the rest of the Book of Watchers.

In the traditions & hagiography of the Episcopal & other Anglican churches, Uriel is mentioned as an archangel. He’s recognized as the patron saint of the sacrament of confirmation. In some Episcopal churches, Uriel is also regarded as the keeper of beauty & light, & regent of the sun & constellations.

In iconography, he’s shown holding in his right hand a Greek Ionic column, which symbolizes perfection in aesthetics & man-made beauty, and in his left hand is a staff topped with the sun. He is celebrated in the Anglican liturgical calendars of the Feast of the Archangels. The Church of St. Uriel the Archangel at Sea Girt, New Jersey, is a testimony to Anglicans’ devotion to Uriel.

In Hermetic Kabbalah, Uriel’s name is commonly spelled Auriel. He’s regarded as the archangel of the North, & of the element of Earth. According to the teaching of the modern Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Uriel is the archangel of North & East, & is associated with the vegetation of the Earth. In iconography, he’s depicted holding stems of ripened wheat & wearing robes of citrine (a medium deep shade of golden yellow), russet (dark brown with a reddish-orange tinge), olive (like green olives), & black.

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