#blackdeath — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #blackdeath, aggregated by home.social.
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The Black Death killed ~100 million people between 1347 and 1353, including half the population of London.
* Was the London experience representative?
* Impact of London evidence?IHR lecture by Thomas Asbridge, 24 June: https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/keene-london-lecture-26-black-death-london
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What a list of Black Death survivors reveals about the way people recovered from plague.
Despite the deadliness of the disease, it was possible to recover from plague, and medieval chroniclers mention the possibility – however unlikely – of survival.
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An interesting review of experience and resilience during the Black Death.
The Black Death killed approximately 100 million people (about half the world’s population) between 1347 and 1353. Subsequent outbreaks, which occurred every few years until the 18th century, took millions more lives.
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Interesting #novelty #coin of the day: This piece has a #Plague doctor on one side - this was a volunteer or an actual doctor, though the duty was often more to record accurate numbers of deaths than curing people (though some charged promising cures). Although often a #caricature, beaked masks like this have been dated to the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor Wearing a modern medical coat & stethoscope (invented in 1816).
The other side has a #clock at 8:55 (Does anyone know a potential reason for that?) with the dates 1347-1351 in the centre - that was the rough years of the #Black #Death in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
I can't read the text above the centre?
The piece itself is an Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided), about 25mm diameter, similar to a 1991-1994 Jamaica 25 cents: https://en.numista.com/6476 & about 3mm thick.
I'll tag #Histodons since the theme is historical, though the piece isn't.
#Numismatics #CoinCollecting #BlackDeath #Pandemic #History @numismatics @histodons
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Interesting #novelty #coin of the day: This piece has a #Plague doctor on one side - this was a volunteer or an actual doctor, though the duty was often more to record accurate numbers of deaths than curing people (though some charged promising cures). Although often a #caricature, beaked masks like this have been dated to the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor Wearing a modern medical coat & stethoscope (invented in 1816).
The other side has a #clock at 8:55 (Does anyone know a potential reason for that?) with the dates 1347-1351 in the centre - that was the rough years of the #Black #Death in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
I can't read the text above the centre?
The piece itself is an Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided), about 25mm diameter, similar to a 1991-1994 Jamaica 25 cents: https://en.numista.com/6476 & about 3mm thick.
I'll tag #Histodons since the theme is historical, though the piece isn't.
#Numismatics #CoinCollecting #BlackDeath #Pandemic #History @numismatics @histodons
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Interesting #novelty #coin of the day: This piece has a #Plague doctor on one side - this was a volunteer or an actual doctor, though the duty was often more to record accurate numbers of deaths than curing people (though some charged promising cures). Although often a #caricature, beaked masks like this have been dated to the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor Wearing a modern medical coat & stethoscope (invented in 1816).
The other side has a #clock at 8:55 (Does anyone know a potential reason for that?) with the dates 1347-1351 in the centre - that was the rough years of the #Black #Death in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
I can't read the text above the centre?
The piece itself is an Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided), about 25mm diameter, similar to a 1991-1994 Jamaica 25 cents: https://en.numista.com/6476 & about 3mm thick.
I'll tag #Histodons since the theme is historical, though the piece isn't.
#Numismatics #CoinCollecting #BlackDeath #Pandemic #History @numismatics @histodons
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Interesting #novelty #coin of the day: This piece has a #Plague doctor on one side - this was a volunteer or an actual doctor, though the duty was often more to record accurate numbers of deaths than curing people (though some charged promising cures). Although often a #caricature, beaked masks like this have been dated to the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor Wearing a modern medical coat & stethoscope (invented in 1816).
The other side has a #clock at 8:55 (Does anyone know a potential reason for that?) with the dates 1347-1351 in the centre - that was the rough years of the #Black #Death in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
I can't read the text above the centre?
The piece itself is an Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided), about 25mm diameter, similar to a 1991-1994 Jamaica 25 cents: https://en.numista.com/6476 & about 3mm thick.
I'll tag #Histodons since the theme is historical, though the piece isn't.
#Numismatics #CoinCollecting #BlackDeath #Pandemic #History @numismatics @histodons
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Interesting #novelty #coin of the day: This piece has a #Plague doctor on one side - this was a volunteer or an actual doctor, though the duty was often more to record accurate numbers of deaths than curing people (though some charged promising cures). Although often a #caricature, beaked masks like this have been dated to the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_doctor Wearing a modern medical coat & stethoscope (invented in 1816).
The other side has a #clock at 8:55 (Does anyone know a potential reason for that?) with the dates 1347-1351 in the centre - that was the rough years of the #Black #Death in Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
I can't read the text above the centre?
The piece itself is an Equilateral curve heptagon (7-sided), about 25mm diameter, similar to a 1991-1994 Jamaica 25 cents: https://en.numista.com/6476 & about 3mm thick.
I'll tag #Histodons since the theme is historical, though the piece isn't.
#Numismatics #CoinCollecting #BlackDeath #Pandemic #History @numismatics @histodons
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"The story of the Black Death, as historian Thomas Asbridge shows in this magisterial survey, contains many such echoes of the Covid-19 pandemic"
"...the Black Death did not disappear after 1353; it became endemic"
"As for the long-term social consequences of Covid, it is too early to tell"
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/apr/08/the-black-death-a-global-history-thomas-asbridge-review-pandemic-history-covid
#BlackDeath #covid -
https://www.europesays.com/iran/27985/ March 20 in world history: From beginning of the Iraq war to Einstein’s theory that transformed physics #AmericanCivilWar #BlackDeath #GeorgeWBush #HarrietBeecherStowe #HenryV #InvasionOfIraq #Iraq #JohnLennon #RepublicanParty #TheoryOfRelativity
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During the Black Death, Europeans feared plague victims might return from the dead. Archaeologists discovered unusual face-down burials with knives, possibly meant to stop the undead from escaping their graves.
#BlackDeath #Archaeology #HistoryMystery #MedievalHistory #VampireMyths
Read more:https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/face-down-burials-0014212 -
“Our work suggests that over 2,000 years of increasing European biodiversity was generated because of —not in spite of—humans” www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2026/03/the-... #biodiversity #blackdeath Via @[email protected]
The Black Death holds a surpri... -
A few #NYP for #BandcampFriday :
Witchsnake - Satanas #doom #sludge #stoner https://witchsnake69.bandcamp.com/album/satanas
Spectral Lore - IV (part II) #atmosphericblackmetal https://spectrallore.bandcamp.com/album/iv-part-2-demo
Autonoesis - Moon Of Foul Magics #blackdeath https://autonoesis.bandcamp.com/album/moon-of-foul-magics
Nathorg - Beyond the Gates of Nathorg #blackmetal https://mordgrimm.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-gates-of-nathorg
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𝗪𝗜𝗞𝗜𝗣𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗔 𝗣𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗬
✧ Ibn Khaldun ✧
Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406) was an Arab scholar, historian, philosopher, and sociologist. Born in Tunis into an upper-class Andalusian family of Arab descent, his family's high rank enabled him to study with prominent teachers in Maghreb, where he received a classical Islamic education including the Quran, as well as mathematics, logic, and philosophy...
#BlackDeath #OttomanEmpire #Maghreb #Quran #Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun -
Ectovoid - In Unreality's Coffin
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How volcanic eruptions may have caused the arrival of plague in Europe in the 14th century.
#blackdeath
https://newatlas.com/biology/volcanic-eruptions-black-death/ -
Science reveals new trigger point for the Black Death
People watch lava at a volcanic eruption at Litli Hrutur near Reykjavik, Iceland – Copyright AFP Kristinn Magnusson…
#UnitedStates #US #USA #america #bacteria #blackdeath #Fleas #history #microbiology #Plague #science #technology #unitedstatesofamerica
https://www.europesays.com/2631990/ -
Science reveals new trigger point for the Black Death https://www.byteseu.com/1625755/ #Bacteria #BlackDeath #Fleas #history #microbiology #plague #Science
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🌋🔗🦠 Breaking news: Volcanic tantrums in the 14th century apparently made rats adventurous, setting off a deadly European tour of the Black Death. 🤯 Who knew Mother Nature was the original event planner for pandemics? 🎉🌍
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/volcanoes-black-death #VolcanicEruptions #BlackDeath #HistoryNature #PandemicEvents #AdventureRats #HackerNews #ngated -
🌋🔗🦠 Breaking news: Volcanic tantrums in the 14th century apparently made rats adventurous, setting off a deadly European tour of the Black Death. 🤯 Who knew Mother Nature was the original event planner for pandemics? 🎉🌍
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/volcanoes-black-death #VolcanicEruptions #BlackDeath #HistoryNature #PandemicEvents #AdventureRats #HackerNews #ngated -
🌋🔗🦠 Breaking news: Volcanic tantrums in the 14th century apparently made rats adventurous, setting off a deadly European tour of the Black Death. 🤯 Who knew Mother Nature was the original event planner for pandemics? 🎉🌍
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/volcanoes-black-death #VolcanicEruptions #BlackDeath #HistoryNature #PandemicEvents #AdventureRats #HackerNews #ngated -
🌋🔗🦠 Breaking news: Volcanic tantrums in the 14th century apparently made rats adventurous, setting off a deadly European tour of the Black Death. 🤯 Who knew Mother Nature was the original event planner for pandemics? 🎉🌍
https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/volcanoes-black-death #VolcanicEruptions #BlackDeath #HistoryNature #PandemicEvents #AdventureRats #HackerNews #ngated -
A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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A Volcanic Eruption in 1345 May Have Triggered a Chain of Events That Brought the Black Death to Europe
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"How volcanic eruptions set off a chain of events that brought the Black Death to Europe"
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-volcanic-eruptions-chain-events-brought.html
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The dark metal storm has arrived! From Liepāja, Latvia, Overcast Rain unleashes the official music video for “Rain”, a crushing track from their third studio album Black Death. ⚡
🎬 Watch: https://youtu.be/lju_89k3Ii4
#OvercastRain #Rain #BlackDeath #DarkMetal #DeathMetal #ExtremeMetal #MelodicDeathMetal #BlackenedMetal #MetalMusic #MetalBand #BrutalMetal #HeavyMetal #OfficialMusicVideo #NewMetalRelease
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A really interesting multidisciplinary examination of one of the most catastrophic events in human history.
The original paper is here:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02964-0#BlackDeath #YersiniaPestis #epidemiology #volcanoes #MedievalEurope #history
https://www.sciencealert.com/black-deaths-carnage-traced-to-a-volcanic-eruption-half-a-world-away
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The present is built on top of the ruins of many apocalyptic scenarios.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/factually-with-adam-conover/id1463460577
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Curious story about a research paper suggesting historians have been misled for centuries about how the Black Death spread after a fictional work worked its way into the historical record.
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Misread medieval tale misled generations of historians about the Black Death’s spread, study finds
A new study challenges a widely repeated story about how the Black Death spread across Asia in the mid-14th century, arguing that one of the most influential descriptions of the pandemic’s movement was never meant to be taken as historical fact...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/11/medieval-tale-may-have-distorted-black-deaths-history/
Follow us @archaeology
#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #medieval #blackdeath
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First scientific evidence of Black Death in Edinburgh found on skeleton
The first scientific evidence of the Black Death in Edinburgh has been discovered on the remains of a…
#Edinburgh #UnitedKingdom #UK #GB #Scotland #Headlines #News #Europe #EU #BlackDeath #Britain #Bubonicplague #CityofEdinburghCouncil #DNAsequencing #GreatBritain #JohnLawson #MrLawson #StGiles'Cathedral
https://www.europesays.com/uk/547300/ -
https://www.europesays.com/uk/547300/ First scientific evidence of Black Death in Edinburgh found on skeleton #BlackDeath #Britain #BubonicPlague #CityOfEdinburghCouncil #DNASequencing #Edinburgh #GreatBritain #JohnLawson #MrLawson #Scotland #StGiles'Cathedral #UK #UnitedKingdom
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Spirituality & Religious Studies @spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com ·Catherine of Siena
Her birth name is: Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa. She lived from March 25, 1347 to April 29, 2380, making her 33 years old when she passed away. She was an Italian mystics & pious laywoman who took part in papal & Italian politics through sizable letter-writing & advocacy. She was canonized in 1461. She’s revered as a saint & a Doctor of the Church because of her considerable theological authorship.
She was born & raised in Siena. At an early age, she wanted to devote herself to God. Her parents were against this. Her parents wanted her to marry. She ends up cutting her hair. She resisted any attempts to conform.
Her dad relents, eventually. He gives her a room dedicated to prayer & contemplation. She developed the spiritual practice of building an inner cell in her mind. This is a place of constant prayer from which she could never flee. This would become a core tenet of her mystical teaching.
She joined the Mantellates at 18. This was/is a group of pious laywomen informally devoted to Dominican spiritually. Later on, these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans. This wasn’t until after Catherine’s passing. She lived in near solitude initially.
Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Catherine started fasting for longer periods. But she found it challenging. While tending to a woman with cancerous breast sores, she was disgusted. Intending to overcome her disgust, she gathered the sore pus into a ladle & drank it all. (Yep, yep. You read that right.)
That night, she was visited by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing out of his pierced side. It was with this visitation that her stomach “no longer had need of food and no longer could digest.”
Around the age of 21, following an experience she described as a “Mystical Marriage” with Christ. She received a divine command to leave her solitary life & dedicate her life to public ministry. She started serving the sick & poor in the hospital, particularly during the Black Death. Her wedding ring wasn’t the traditional gold band that nuns wear after they become nuns. Catherine’s wedding ring was the Holy Prepuce, or Jesus’ foreskin. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
Her influence with Pope Gregory XI played a role in his 1376 decision to leave Avignon for Rome. The Pope sent Catherine to negotiate peace with the Florentine Republic. After Gregory XI (March 1378) & the end of peace (July 1378), she went home to Siena. The Great Schism of the West led Catherine to go to Rome with the Pope.
She sent many letters to princes & cardinals to encourage obedience to Pope Urban VI & defend what she calls the “vessel of the Church.” She passed away on April 29, 1380 after she was weary by fastidious fasting. Urban VI celebrated her funeral & burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is 1 of the major churches of the Order of Preachers in Rome.
The people of Siena wanted to have Catherine’s body after she passed away. A story is told of a miracle where they were partially successful. They knew they couldn’t smuggle her whole body out of Rome. They decided to take only her head, which they put in a bag. When they were stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to Catherine to help them. They were confident she (Catherine) would want her body (or at least part of it) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared to not have her (Catherine’s) head but it was full of roses.
Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly after her passing. Pope Pius II canonized her in 1461. She was declared a patron saint of Rome in 1866 by Pope Pius IX. She was only the 2nd woman to be made a Doctor of the Church, on October 4, 1970 by Pope Paul VI. This was only days after Teresa of Avila. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named her joint patron saint of Italy, along with St. Francis of Assisi. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a patron saint of Europe. Along with Teresa Benedicta of the Cross & Bridget of Sweden. She’s also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.
There are 3 main churches in honor of Catherine of Siena:
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is where her body is kept. This church gets its name from that the 1st Christian Church structure on the site was directly over (or Italian sopra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian deity Isis. This had been mistakenly thought to be the temple of Minerva. Possibly due to interpretatio romana, meaning that the ancient Greeks had a tendency to identify foreign gods with their own gods.
- Basilica of San Domenico, in Siena. This is where her incorrupt head is. This incorrupt head doesn’t look like the incorruptible bodies of other saints.
- Shrine of St. Catherine, in Siena. This is a complex of religious buildings built around Catherine’s birthplace.
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#1376 #1461 #1999 #25March1347 #29April1380 #4October1970 #Avignon #BasilicaOfSanDomenico #BasilicaOfSantaMariaSopraMinerva #BlackDeath #Canonized #CaterinaDiJacopoDiBenincasa #CatherineOfSiena #CoPatronSaintOfItaly #DoctorOfTheChurch #DominicanSpirituality #fasting #FlorentineRepublic #GreatSchismOfTheWest #HolyPrepuce #Italy #JesusForeskin #July1378 #Mantellates #March1378 #MysticalMarriage #Mystics #OrderOfPreachers #PatronSaintOfEurope #PopeGregoryXI #PopeJohnPaulII #PopePaulVI #PopePiusIX #PopePiusXII #PopeUrbanVI #Rome #Roses #ShrineOfStCatherine #Siena #StBridgetOfSweden #StFrancisOfAssisi #TeresaBenedictaOfTheCross #TeresaOfAvila #ThetaPhiAlpha #ThirdOrderOfTheDominicans
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👀 Researchers have found the ancestor of the Black Plague : https://youtu.be/fjLNxIf2lXk
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AO THROWBACK - The plague doctor mask is one of the most recognizable symbols of the Black Death. Though the image is iconic the relationship may be a little anachronistic.
https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/secrets-behind-plague-doctor-mask-terrifying-costume-009201
#ancientorigins #ancient #history #ancienthistory #historylovers #historyfacts #historymatters #archaeology #PlagueDoctor #BlackDeath #Throwback -
@1goodtern on X wrote
Breaking:
Confirmed Black Death case in England, as per UK Government report.Yersinia pestis
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Black Death (2010): Could be Called Bleak Death https://mikesfilmtalk.com/2012/07/16/black-death-2010-could-be-called-bleak-death/ #BlackDeath, #CariceVanHouten, #ChristopherSmith, #DarioPoloni, #EddieRedmayne, #EmunElliot, #JohnLynch, #KimberlyNixon, #KlausKinski, #SeanBean, #TimMcInnerny
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Excerpt from "Commons, #Libraries & #Degrowth" by Andrewism
"How has the potent alternative present in the commons been so wiped from our collective memory?
"It goes back to the feudal concept of land ownership, the age of European #colonialism, and of course, the rise of #IndustrialCapitalism. The king of England, for example, owned all the land in feudal England but bestowed titles for pledges of loyalty to powerful members of the nobility that allowed them to rule over large estates. These lords leased the land they were given to aristocrats, who also leased parts of their land as payment, for military aid, or for rent. This rigidly hierarchical system of obligation between landed lords and their tenants or vassals reinforced the monarchy’s ability to stake a claim on the land in their kingdom. However, at the bottom of this system were the peasants, who did all the actual work on the common land on the lord’s estate. Many were generationally serfs; legally prohibited from leaving the land they cultivated without their lord’s permission. Lords may have come and gone, but their bondage to the land was basically forever.
"After the #MagnaCarta, the #BlackDeath, the #Crusades, and all the other dramas that brought #feudalism into decline, the nobility initiated a process of #privatisation that laid the groundwork for early #capitalism through acquisitions, settlement, and enclosure of the commons. But even though revolutions and reforms came and went and most of us have gotten rid of our inbred kings and queens and their right to rule, the concept of sovereignty over private parcels of land and the feudal relationship of landlord and tenant has endured to this day, exported globally through #EuropeanColonialism.
"Despite this violent and antisocial theft of our access to even the means of subsistence, some commons have survived and thrived, though they operate within the constraints of the State and the #GlobalCapitalist status quo. Still, there is a lot we can learn from them when it comes to how to manage the commons.
"Why have they succeeded where others have failed in maintaining their commons? All efforts to organise collective action, including the commons, must address a common set of problems: how to supply new institutions, how to solve commitment issues, and how to maintain stability. It’s not easy. And yet some individuals have created institutions, committed themselves to following the rules they’ve come up with together, and assessed their own and others’ conformance to the rules in order to maintain the stability of their shared commons. Again, why have they succeeded where others have failed? External factors seem to play a significant role. Some have more autonomy than others to change their own institutions while others have change happen too rapidly for them to respond and adjust. Regardless, people try their best to solve the problems they face, despite their limitations. What factors help or hinder them in these efforts is a matter of careful study if we wish to succeed in organising and running our own commons.
"But first, we need to clarify some definitions.
"The commons are based on a common-pool resource or CPR, which is a natural or man-made resource system that benefits a group of people, but provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues their own self-interest. We must draw a further distinction between the resource system and the resource units produced by the system. Resource systems include #forests, #groundwater basins, irrigation canals, #lakes, #fisheries, #pastures, and even #infrastructure like windmills and the internet, while resource units consist of whatever users appropriate from those resource systems, such as cubic metres of lumber harvested and water withdrawn, tons of fish harvested and fodder grazed, kilowatts generated and network bandwidth used. It’s also important to maintain the #renewability of a resource system by ensuring that the average rate of withdrawal does not exceed the average rate of #replenishment.
"The term ‘appropriators’ refers to those who withdraw resource units from a resource system, like a fisher or farmer. Appropriators may use the resource units they withdraw, like residents powering their homes or farmers watering their crops, or they may transfer the resource units for others to use, such as a logger sending lumber to a hardware store for sale. Those who arrange for the provision of a CPR through financing or design are providers, while producers are those who actually construct, repair, and sustain the resource system itself. Providers, producers, and appropriators are often all the same people.
"Appropriators who share a CPR are deeply intertwined in a tapestry of interdependence. Acting selfishly and independently will usually obtain less benefit than they could have had they collectively organised in some way. The process of organising enables us to coordinate and change our shared situations to obtain higher shared benefits and reduce shared harm.
"Some of the commons institutions that endure today are as old as over a thousand years, while others are a few hundred at most. They exist alongside the personal property of the appropriators involved, such as their crops and livestock, but have remained at the core of these communities’ economies for generations. They have survived #droughts, #floods, #wars, #pestilences, and many major economic and political changes. From the alpine meadows of Torbel, Switzerland to the 3 million hectares of Japanese forest to the irrigation systems of Spain and the Philippines, these projects have evolved over time in response to experience and circumstance. None of them are perfect demonstrations of anarchy or anything, nor are they necessarily the most ‘optimal’ by some metrics. But they are successful in establishing a level of #autonomy and #resilience in the people involved in them, and they’ve managed to carefully maintain the ecology of the regions they inhabit.
"These institutions exist in different settings and have different histories, yet they simultaneously share fundamental similarities. Unpredictable and complex environments combined with engineering and farming skills combined with a predictable population over an extended period of time. These fairly egalitarian communities have developed extensive norms that define proper behaviour, involving honesty and reliability, allowing them to live without excessive conflict in a deeply interdependent environment. The perseverance of these institutions is due to the seven, and in some cases eight, key principles that Elinor Ostrom outlines in Governing the Commons..."
Read more:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrewism-commons-libraries-degrowth
#SolarPunkSunday #AnarchistLibrary #ClimateCrisis #Resiliency -
Excerpt from "Commons, #Libraries & #Degrowth" by Andrewism
"How has the potent alternative present in the commons been so wiped from our collective memory?
"It goes back to the feudal concept of land ownership, the age of European #colonialism, and of course, the rise of #IndustrialCapitalism. The king of England, for example, owned all the land in feudal England but bestowed titles for pledges of loyalty to powerful members of the nobility that allowed them to rule over large estates. These lords leased the land they were given to aristocrats, who also leased parts of their land as payment, for military aid, or for rent. This rigidly hierarchical system of obligation between landed lords and their tenants or vassals reinforced the monarchy’s ability to stake a claim on the land in their kingdom. However, at the bottom of this system were the peasants, who did all the actual work on the common land on the lord’s estate. Many were generationally serfs; legally prohibited from leaving the land they cultivated without their lord’s permission. Lords may have come and gone, but their bondage to the land was basically forever.
"After the #MagnaCarta, the #BlackDeath, the #Crusades, and all the other dramas that brought #feudalism into decline, the nobility initiated a process of #privatisation that laid the groundwork for early #capitalism through acquisitions, settlement, and enclosure of the commons. But even though revolutions and reforms came and went and most of us have gotten rid of our inbred kings and queens and their right to rule, the concept of sovereignty over private parcels of land and the feudal relationship of landlord and tenant has endured to this day, exported globally through #EuropeanColonialism.
"Despite this violent and antisocial theft of our access to even the means of subsistence, some commons have survived and thrived, though they operate within the constraints of the State and the #GlobalCapitalist status quo. Still, there is a lot we can learn from them when it comes to how to manage the commons.
"Why have they succeeded where others have failed in maintaining their commons? All efforts to organise collective action, including the commons, must address a common set of problems: how to supply new institutions, how to solve commitment issues, and how to maintain stability. It’s not easy. And yet some individuals have created institutions, committed themselves to following the rules they’ve come up with together, and assessed their own and others’ conformance to the rules in order to maintain the stability of their shared commons. Again, why have they succeeded where others have failed? External factors seem to play a significant role. Some have more autonomy than others to change their own institutions while others have change happen too rapidly for them to respond and adjust. Regardless, people try their best to solve the problems they face, despite their limitations. What factors help or hinder them in these efforts is a matter of careful study if we wish to succeed in organising and running our own commons.
"But first, we need to clarify some definitions.
"The commons are based on a common-pool resource or CPR, which is a natural or man-made resource system that benefits a group of people, but provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues their own self-interest. We must draw a further distinction between the resource system and the resource units produced by the system. Resource systems include #forests, #groundwater basins, irrigation canals, #lakes, #fisheries, #pastures, and even #infrastructure like windmills and the internet, while resource units consist of whatever users appropriate from those resource systems, such as cubic metres of lumber harvested and water withdrawn, tons of fish harvested and fodder grazed, kilowatts generated and network bandwidth used. It’s also important to maintain the #renewability of a resource system by ensuring that the average rate of withdrawal does not exceed the average rate of #replenishment.
"The term ‘appropriators’ refers to those who withdraw resource units from a resource system, like a fisher or farmer. Appropriators may use the resource units they withdraw, like residents powering their homes or farmers watering their crops, or they may transfer the resource units for others to use, such as a logger sending lumber to a hardware store for sale. Those who arrange for the provision of a CPR through financing or design are providers, while producers are those who actually construct, repair, and sustain the resource system itself. Providers, producers, and appropriators are often all the same people.
"Appropriators who share a CPR are deeply intertwined in a tapestry of interdependence. Acting selfishly and independently will usually obtain less benefit than they could have had they collectively organised in some way. The process of organising enables us to coordinate and change our shared situations to obtain higher shared benefits and reduce shared harm.
"Some of the commons institutions that endure today are as old as over a thousand years, while others are a few hundred at most. They exist alongside the personal property of the appropriators involved, such as their crops and livestock, but have remained at the core of these communities’ economies for generations. They have survived #droughts, #floods, #wars, #pestilences, and many major economic and political changes. From the alpine meadows of Torbel, Switzerland to the 3 million hectares of Japanese forest to the irrigation systems of Spain and the Philippines, these projects have evolved over time in response to experience and circumstance. None of them are perfect demonstrations of anarchy or anything, nor are they necessarily the most ‘optimal’ by some metrics. But they are successful in establishing a level of #autonomy and #resilience in the people involved in them, and they’ve managed to carefully maintain the ecology of the regions they inhabit.
"These institutions exist in different settings and have different histories, yet they simultaneously share fundamental similarities. Unpredictable and complex environments combined with engineering and farming skills combined with a predictable population over an extended period of time. These fairly egalitarian communities have developed extensive norms that define proper behaviour, involving honesty and reliability, allowing them to live without excessive conflict in a deeply interdependent environment. The perseverance of these institutions is due to the seven, and in some cases eight, key principles that Elinor Ostrom outlines in Governing the Commons..."
Read more:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrewism-commons-libraries-degrowth
#SolarPunkSunday #AnarchistLibrary #ClimateCrisis #Resiliency -
Excerpt from "Commons, #Libraries & #Degrowth" by Andrewism
"How has the potent alternative present in the commons been so wiped from our collective memory?
"It goes back to the feudal concept of land ownership, the age of European #colonialism, and of course, the rise of #IndustrialCapitalism. The king of England, for example, owned all the land in feudal England but bestowed titles for pledges of loyalty to powerful members of the nobility that allowed them to rule over large estates. These lords leased the land they were given to aristocrats, who also leased parts of their land as payment, for military aid, or for rent. This rigidly hierarchical system of obligation between landed lords and their tenants or vassals reinforced the monarchy’s ability to stake a claim on the land in their kingdom. However, at the bottom of this system were the peasants, who did all the actual work on the common land on the lord’s estate. Many were generationally serfs; legally prohibited from leaving the land they cultivated without their lord’s permission. Lords may have come and gone, but their bondage to the land was basically forever.
"After the #MagnaCarta, the #BlackDeath, the #Crusades, and all the other dramas that brought #feudalism into decline, the nobility initiated a process of #privatisation that laid the groundwork for early #capitalism through acquisitions, settlement, and enclosure of the commons. But even though revolutions and reforms came and went and most of us have gotten rid of our inbred kings and queens and their right to rule, the concept of sovereignty over private parcels of land and the feudal relationship of landlord and tenant has endured to this day, exported globally through #EuropeanColonialism.
"Despite this violent and antisocial theft of our access to even the means of subsistence, some commons have survived and thrived, though they operate within the constraints of the State and the #GlobalCapitalist status quo. Still, there is a lot we can learn from them when it comes to how to manage the commons.
"Why have they succeeded where others have failed in maintaining their commons? All efforts to organise collective action, including the commons, must address a common set of problems: how to supply new institutions, how to solve commitment issues, and how to maintain stability. It’s not easy. And yet some individuals have created institutions, committed themselves to following the rules they’ve come up with together, and assessed their own and others’ conformance to the rules in order to maintain the stability of their shared commons. Again, why have they succeeded where others have failed? External factors seem to play a significant role. Some have more autonomy than others to change their own institutions while others have change happen too rapidly for them to respond and adjust. Regardless, people try their best to solve the problems they face, despite their limitations. What factors help or hinder them in these efforts is a matter of careful study if we wish to succeed in organising and running our own commons.
"But first, we need to clarify some definitions.
"The commons are based on a common-pool resource or CPR, which is a natural or man-made resource system that benefits a group of people, but provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues their own self-interest. We must draw a further distinction between the resource system and the resource units produced by the system. Resource systems include #forests, #groundwater basins, irrigation canals, #lakes, #fisheries, #pastures, and even #infrastructure like windmills and the internet, while resource units consist of whatever users appropriate from those resource systems, such as cubic metres of lumber harvested and water withdrawn, tons of fish harvested and fodder grazed, kilowatts generated and network bandwidth used. It’s also important to maintain the #renewability of a resource system by ensuring that the average rate of withdrawal does not exceed the average rate of #replenishment.
"The term ‘appropriators’ refers to those who withdraw resource units from a resource system, like a fisher or farmer. Appropriators may use the resource units they withdraw, like residents powering their homes or farmers watering their crops, or they may transfer the resource units for others to use, such as a logger sending lumber to a hardware store for sale. Those who arrange for the provision of a CPR through financing or design are providers, while producers are those who actually construct, repair, and sustain the resource system itself. Providers, producers, and appropriators are often all the same people.
"Appropriators who share a CPR are deeply intertwined in a tapestry of interdependence. Acting selfishly and independently will usually obtain less benefit than they could have had they collectively organised in some way. The process of organising enables us to coordinate and change our shared situations to obtain higher shared benefits and reduce shared harm.
"Some of the commons institutions that endure today are as old as over a thousand years, while others are a few hundred at most. They exist alongside the personal property of the appropriators involved, such as their crops and livestock, but have remained at the core of these communities’ economies for generations. They have survived #droughts, #floods, #wars, #pestilences, and many major economic and political changes. From the alpine meadows of Torbel, Switzerland to the 3 million hectares of Japanese forest to the irrigation systems of Spain and the Philippines, these projects have evolved over time in response to experience and circumstance. None of them are perfect demonstrations of anarchy or anything, nor are they necessarily the most ‘optimal’ by some metrics. But they are successful in establishing a level of #autonomy and #resilience in the people involved in them, and they’ve managed to carefully maintain the ecology of the regions they inhabit.
"These institutions exist in different settings and have different histories, yet they simultaneously share fundamental similarities. Unpredictable and complex environments combined with engineering and farming skills combined with a predictable population over an extended period of time. These fairly egalitarian communities have developed extensive norms that define proper behaviour, involving honesty and reliability, allowing them to live without excessive conflict in a deeply interdependent environment. The perseverance of these institutions is due to the seven, and in some cases eight, key principles that Elinor Ostrom outlines in Governing the Commons..."
Read more:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrewism-commons-libraries-degrowth
#SolarPunkSunday #AnarchistLibrary #ClimateCrisis #Resiliency -
Excerpt from "Commons, #Libraries & #Degrowth" by Andrewism
"How has the potent alternative present in the commons been so wiped from our collective memory?
"It goes back to the feudal concept of land ownership, the age of European #colonialism, and of course, the rise of #IndustrialCapitalism. The king of England, for example, owned all the land in feudal England but bestowed titles for pledges of loyalty to powerful members of the nobility that allowed them to rule over large estates. These lords leased the land they were given to aristocrats, who also leased parts of their land as payment, for military aid, or for rent. This rigidly hierarchical system of obligation between landed lords and their tenants or vassals reinforced the monarchy’s ability to stake a claim on the land in their kingdom. However, at the bottom of this system were the peasants, who did all the actual work on the common land on the lord’s estate. Many were generationally serfs; legally prohibited from leaving the land they cultivated without their lord’s permission. Lords may have come and gone, but their bondage to the land was basically forever.
"After the #MagnaCarta, the #BlackDeath, the #Crusades, and all the other dramas that brought #feudalism into decline, the nobility initiated a process of #privatisation that laid the groundwork for early #capitalism through acquisitions, settlement, and enclosure of the commons. But even though revolutions and reforms came and went and most of us have gotten rid of our inbred kings and queens and their right to rule, the concept of sovereignty over private parcels of land and the feudal relationship of landlord and tenant has endured to this day, exported globally through #EuropeanColonialism.
"Despite this violent and antisocial theft of our access to even the means of subsistence, some commons have survived and thrived, though they operate within the constraints of the State and the #GlobalCapitalist status quo. Still, there is a lot we can learn from them when it comes to how to manage the commons.
"Why have they succeeded where others have failed in maintaining their commons? All efforts to organise collective action, including the commons, must address a common set of problems: how to supply new institutions, how to solve commitment issues, and how to maintain stability. It’s not easy. And yet some individuals have created institutions, committed themselves to following the rules they’ve come up with together, and assessed their own and others’ conformance to the rules in order to maintain the stability of their shared commons. Again, why have they succeeded where others have failed? External factors seem to play a significant role. Some have more autonomy than others to change their own institutions while others have change happen too rapidly for them to respond and adjust. Regardless, people try their best to solve the problems they face, despite their limitations. What factors help or hinder them in these efforts is a matter of careful study if we wish to succeed in organising and running our own commons.
"But first, we need to clarify some definitions.
"The commons are based on a common-pool resource or CPR, which is a natural or man-made resource system that benefits a group of people, but provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues their own self-interest. We must draw a further distinction between the resource system and the resource units produced by the system. Resource systems include #forests, #groundwater basins, irrigation canals, #lakes, #fisheries, #pastures, and even #infrastructure like windmills and the internet, while resource units consist of whatever users appropriate from those resource systems, such as cubic metres of lumber harvested and water withdrawn, tons of fish harvested and fodder grazed, kilowatts generated and network bandwidth used. It’s also important to maintain the #renewability of a resource system by ensuring that the average rate of withdrawal does not exceed the average rate of #replenishment.
"The term ‘appropriators’ refers to those who withdraw resource units from a resource system, like a fisher or farmer. Appropriators may use the resource units they withdraw, like residents powering their homes or farmers watering their crops, or they may transfer the resource units for others to use, such as a logger sending lumber to a hardware store for sale. Those who arrange for the provision of a CPR through financing or design are providers, while producers are those who actually construct, repair, and sustain the resource system itself. Providers, producers, and appropriators are often all the same people.
"Appropriators who share a CPR are deeply intertwined in a tapestry of interdependence. Acting selfishly and independently will usually obtain less benefit than they could have had they collectively organised in some way. The process of organising enables us to coordinate and change our shared situations to obtain higher shared benefits and reduce shared harm.
"Some of the commons institutions that endure today are as old as over a thousand years, while others are a few hundred at most. They exist alongside the personal property of the appropriators involved, such as their crops and livestock, but have remained at the core of these communities’ economies for generations. They have survived #droughts, #floods, #wars, #pestilences, and many major economic and political changes. From the alpine meadows of Torbel, Switzerland to the 3 million hectares of Japanese forest to the irrigation systems of Spain and the Philippines, these projects have evolved over time in response to experience and circumstance. None of them are perfect demonstrations of anarchy or anything, nor are they necessarily the most ‘optimal’ by some metrics. But they are successful in establishing a level of #autonomy and #resilience in the people involved in them, and they’ve managed to carefully maintain the ecology of the regions they inhabit.
"These institutions exist in different settings and have different histories, yet they simultaneously share fundamental similarities. Unpredictable and complex environments combined with engineering and farming skills combined with a predictable population over an extended period of time. These fairly egalitarian communities have developed extensive norms that define proper behaviour, involving honesty and reliability, allowing them to live without excessive conflict in a deeply interdependent environment. The perseverance of these institutions is due to the seven, and in some cases eight, key principles that Elinor Ostrom outlines in Governing the Commons..."
Read more:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrewism-commons-libraries-degrowth
#SolarPunkSunday #AnarchistLibrary #ClimateCrisis #Resiliency -
Excerpt from "Commons, #Libraries & #Degrowth" by Andrewism
"How has the potent alternative present in the commons been so wiped from our collective memory?
"It goes back to the feudal concept of land ownership, the age of European #colonialism, and of course, the rise of #IndustrialCapitalism. The king of England, for example, owned all the land in feudal England but bestowed titles for pledges of loyalty to powerful members of the nobility that allowed them to rule over large estates. These lords leased the land they were given to aristocrats, who also leased parts of their land as payment, for military aid, or for rent. This rigidly hierarchical system of obligation between landed lords and their tenants or vassals reinforced the monarchy’s ability to stake a claim on the land in their kingdom. However, at the bottom of this system were the peasants, who did all the actual work on the common land on the lord’s estate. Many were generationally serfs; legally prohibited from leaving the land they cultivated without their lord’s permission. Lords may have come and gone, but their bondage to the land was basically forever.
"After the #MagnaCarta, the #BlackDeath, the #Crusades, and all the other dramas that brought #feudalism into decline, the nobility initiated a process of #privatisation that laid the groundwork for early #capitalism through acquisitions, settlement, and enclosure of the commons. But even though revolutions and reforms came and went and most of us have gotten rid of our inbred kings and queens and their right to rule, the concept of sovereignty over private parcels of land and the feudal relationship of landlord and tenant has endured to this day, exported globally through #EuropeanColonialism.
"Despite this violent and antisocial theft of our access to even the means of subsistence, some commons have survived and thrived, though they operate within the constraints of the State and the #GlobalCapitalist status quo. Still, there is a lot we can learn from them when it comes to how to manage the commons.
"Why have they succeeded where others have failed in maintaining their commons? All efforts to organise collective action, including the commons, must address a common set of problems: how to supply new institutions, how to solve commitment issues, and how to maintain stability. It’s not easy. And yet some individuals have created institutions, committed themselves to following the rules they’ve come up with together, and assessed their own and others’ conformance to the rules in order to maintain the stability of their shared commons. Again, why have they succeeded where others have failed? External factors seem to play a significant role. Some have more autonomy than others to change their own institutions while others have change happen too rapidly for them to respond and adjust. Regardless, people try their best to solve the problems they face, despite their limitations. What factors help or hinder them in these efforts is a matter of careful study if we wish to succeed in organising and running our own commons.
"But first, we need to clarify some definitions.
"The commons are based on a common-pool resource or CPR, which is a natural or man-made resource system that benefits a group of people, but provides diminished benefits to everyone if each individual pursues their own self-interest. We must draw a further distinction between the resource system and the resource units produced by the system. Resource systems include #forests, #groundwater basins, irrigation canals, #lakes, #fisheries, #pastures, and even #infrastructure like windmills and the internet, while resource units consist of whatever users appropriate from those resource systems, such as cubic metres of lumber harvested and water withdrawn, tons of fish harvested and fodder grazed, kilowatts generated and network bandwidth used. It’s also important to maintain the #renewability of a resource system by ensuring that the average rate of withdrawal does not exceed the average rate of #replenishment.
"The term ‘appropriators’ refers to those who withdraw resource units from a resource system, like a fisher or farmer. Appropriators may use the resource units they withdraw, like residents powering their homes or farmers watering their crops, or they may transfer the resource units for others to use, such as a logger sending lumber to a hardware store for sale. Those who arrange for the provision of a CPR through financing or design are providers, while producers are those who actually construct, repair, and sustain the resource system itself. Providers, producers, and appropriators are often all the same people.
"Appropriators who share a CPR are deeply intertwined in a tapestry of interdependence. Acting selfishly and independently will usually obtain less benefit than they could have had they collectively organised in some way. The process of organising enables us to coordinate and change our shared situations to obtain higher shared benefits and reduce shared harm.
"Some of the commons institutions that endure today are as old as over a thousand years, while others are a few hundred at most. They exist alongside the personal property of the appropriators involved, such as their crops and livestock, but have remained at the core of these communities’ economies for generations. They have survived #droughts, #floods, #wars, #pestilences, and many major economic and political changes. From the alpine meadows of Torbel, Switzerland to the 3 million hectares of Japanese forest to the irrigation systems of Spain and the Philippines, these projects have evolved over time in response to experience and circumstance. None of them are perfect demonstrations of anarchy or anything, nor are they necessarily the most ‘optimal’ by some metrics. But they are successful in establishing a level of #autonomy and #resilience in the people involved in them, and they’ve managed to carefully maintain the ecology of the regions they inhabit.
"These institutions exist in different settings and have different histories, yet they simultaneously share fundamental similarities. Unpredictable and complex environments combined with engineering and farming skills combined with a predictable population over an extended period of time. These fairly egalitarian communities have developed extensive norms that define proper behaviour, involving honesty and reliability, allowing them to live without excessive conflict in a deeply interdependent environment. The perseverance of these institutions is due to the seven, and in some cases eight, key principles that Elinor Ostrom outlines in Governing the Commons..."
Read more:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/andrewism-commons-libraries-degrowth
#SolarPunkSunday #AnarchistLibrary #ClimateCrisis #Resiliency
