15 Times Tiny Countries Shocked the World by Resisting Invasions - History Collection 7. East Timor’s Struggle Against Indonesia (1975-1999) Image Source: Wikimedia Commons. From 1975 to 1999, East Timor endured a prolonged struggle against Indonesian occupation. The Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor (Falintil), led by Xanana Gusmão,...

Few composers in history have had as widespread and controversial an influence as Richard Wagner. Eventually celebrated as the genius behind the music and libretti of works whose impact spread beyond the opera world to inspire poets and painters, Wagner struggled for many years to find an audience. He spent many formative years in exile following his revolutionary action, developing theories about art and society that were as seismic in their impact as his music.Richard Wagners Early YearsLeipzig Gewandhaus in 1870. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Stadtgeschichtliches Museum LeipzigRichard Wagner hailed from Leipzig, Germany. In the 18th century, it had been the home of J.S. Bach, who wrote many of his most celebrated works while employed at St. Thomas Church. Leipzig would also be the source of the Bach revival in the 19th century, when another native of the city (and a composer Wagner came to see as a great rival), Felix Mendelssohn, conducted Bachs St. Matthew Passion oratorio.Born in 1813, Wagners early life was dominated by passions for the theater and the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. His immersion in theatrical life came through his stepfather, Ludwig Geyer, an actor and playwright, who married Johanna Wagner when her son, Richard, was just a few months old. Wagner grew up believing, erroneously, that Geyer was his real father and that he was Jewish.Despite an early education in music and theater, Wagners first attempts at composing operas were fairly fruitless. Die Feen (1833) and Das Liebesverbot (1836) were in the Romantic vein popular at the time, but Wagner quickly discovered the unpredictability of the opera world, where employment posts were fleeting and debts racked up all too easily.Das Liebesverbot is notable because Wagner wrote it while working in Magdeburg, where he fell for and married the actress Minna Planer. This marriage, however, was also to be an education in unpredictability and tempestuousness.Beethoven with the Manuscript of Missa Solemnis, by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Source: Beethoven-Haus Museum, BonnNow living a peripatetic life, traveling between appointments in various centers of music, Wagner built up experiences that shaped his later ideas. In Paris, struggling to make a name for himself amidst the glitzy productions of successful French composers, Wagner formed strong opinions about the irreconcilability of commerce and art, and about French people.He wrote articles and short fiction to get by. The story A Pilgrimage to Beethoven distills his ideas about the French capital as a place of greed and philistinism, where even Beethovens greatness is ignored.At this time, Wagner also began to conceive anti-Semitic notions about the supposed dominance of Jewish people in Pariss operatic circles. For Wagner, this was part of the reason that contemporary opera was all commerce and no artand, of course, this must be why he struggled to get his operas staged.Actually, Wagner was being disingenuous. The Jewish composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most successful opera composers of the 19th century, lent strong support to Wagner, enabling him to stage his third opera, Rienzi, in Dresden in 1842.1848-49: A Turning PointSaxon and Prussian troops at Dresdens Neumarkt, artist unknown, 1848. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Saxon State Library, DresdenWagner was still in Dresden in 1848, a pivotal year across Europe. After moving there in 1842, he had composed The Flying Dutchman and Tannhuser, works which showed the beginnings of a departure from his early style. His art was evolving. However, for Wagner, art and revolution went hand in hand, and in 1848/1849, he got the chance to put his principles into action.Throughout Europe, a wave of revolutions broke out whose causes could be traced to the French Revolution of 1789, with its demonstration of the ability of ordinary people (what Marx would, in 1848, call the proletariat) to rise up against institutions such as the monarchy and aristocracy and claim democratic freedoms.Following the French Revolution, aspirations to create freer and more just societies were brewing all over the continent. In Germany, these aspirations were focused on the unification of the states then known as the German Confederation into one nation.Portrait of Mikhail Bakunin by Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, 1860, via Sothebys.Wagner, a fervent German nationalist, also passionately believed in the revolutionary call for democracy, feeling that he had been treated unjustly in the hierarchic world of opera, where aristocratic patronage seemed to be essential to success.He wrote articles in Dresdens left-wing newspaper and mixed with figures such as the Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin. When violence broke out in May 1849, Wagner was a prominent instigator, and a warrant for his arrest was issued. He consequently spent the next 12 years in exile, heading to Zurich in Switzerland.This was a turning point for Wagner because, in exile, he gained two things. Firstly, the notoriety that made him a popular cause for fellow composers such as Franz Liszt to take up (Liszt defiantly staged Wagners next opera, Lohengrin, in Weimar in 1850), and, secondly, the space to undertake profuse writings about his theories on art.The Art-Work of the FutureApollo and the Muses, by John Singer Sargent, 1921, via the Museum of Fine Arts BostonIn 1849 and 1850, Wagner wrote essays such as Art and Revolution, The Art-Work of the Future, and Opera and Drama. Contemporary opera was, as he had complained before, too commercialized, and this prioritization of money, above all, damaged opera as an art.Looking back to Ancient Greek theater, Wagner dreamed of a Gesamtkunstwerk in which all the artsmusic, poetry, dance, paintingwould come together. Operas would no longer be structured around one or two show-stopping arias, when the audience would leave off their private chatter to listen in awe to the diva of the hour. They would be sung through; every element of the music meticulously considered to complement the libretto, and vice versa.The music, too, would be like nothing anyone had heard before. Zukunftsmusik, or music of the future, was a term Wagners detractors were already using against him by the 1850s. The meaning of the term varied depending on who was using it. Zukunftsmusik could refer to Wagners innovation of techniques such as the leitmotif (a musical phrase which corresponds with a character or idea, woven throughout the drama) and endless melody, in which musical phrases do not reach a cadence, or resolution, but continuously overlap, unsettling the harmonic progressions on which music was traditionally constructed.Camilla Nylund and Klaus Florian Voigt in Tristan und Isolde at the Semperoper Dresden, 2024. Source: The Kennedy CenterEndless melody was one of the reasons Wagners detractors found his music unpalatable, even offensive. To his supporters, it was a necessary step beyond the popular insistence on catchy melodies, which had led to operas in which second-rate libretti were paired with scores containing a handful of tunes which audiences could hum to themselves afterwards.In the 1850s, Wagner sketched out worksinitially called music dramas, to emphasize the union of art forms he hoped to achievewhich put these theories into practice, and would become his best-loved works: Tristan and Isolde and the Ring cycle.He also wrote the essay Jewishness in Music, a diatribe giving full rein to his anti-Semitic beliefs. In the essay, he not only suggested that Jewish composers pandered to commercialism, but that German-Jewish composers, such as Mendelssohn and Wagners former supporter Meyerbeer, could never write truly German music.Published under a pseudonym, the essay was supposed to be considered objectively, not associated with Wagner personally, but its motivations could hardly have been more personal. Wagners views were a combination of the casual, unchallenged prejudice of his time and a bitter hatred amounting to persecution mania, stemming from artistic frustration and rejection, which found an all too easy target.Richard Wagner and King Ludwig II of BavariaLudwig IIs coronation portrait, by Ferdinand von Piloty, 1865. Source: Wikimedia Commons / King Ludwig II Museum, ChiemseeGiven Wagners antipathy for the practice of aristocratic patronage and commitment to meritocracy (an artistic hierarchy based solely on artistic genius), it is ironic that his return to Germany and triumphant staging of his mature works came about thanks to a monarch.King Ludwig II ascended to the throne of Bavaria aged 18, and was already what was coming to be known as a Wagnerite: a devotee of Wagners music dramas and writings. His offer to patronize Wagner, in 1864, came at an ideal time.The 1850s had seen the composers music and theories surge in popularity. He went to England in 1855 and conducted concerts in front of Queen Victoria. This period was also intellectually stimulating, as he elaborated his libretto for Tristan and Isolde by combining the original Arthurian legend with the pessimist philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer.Photo of Richard Wagner by Franz Hanfstaengl, 1871. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Bavarian State Library, MunichAt the same time, the decade had also been full of personal drama. Wagners marriage to Minna was buckling under the pressure of their exile and dire finances, as well as his infidelity. His infatuation with Mathilde Wesendonck, whose husband helped to financially support Wagner, inspired much of Tristan and Isolde, which has a love triangle at its center. Minna left Wagner in the early 1860s, though not before the affair with Mathilde had come to a tortuous end.These personal circumstances, along with the newly completed Tristan under his belt, Wagner welcomed King Ludwigs overtures. Ludwigs interest in Wagner was intensely romantic, not merely philanthropic, and it seems that Wagner recognized the ulterior motive and let it pass.After all, here was a young king, blessed with more money than he could ever reasonably spend, offering to bankroll all of Wagners music dramas and encouraging him to write the story of his life. Titled Mein Leben, the work would take 20 years to write, spanning four volumes and more than a thousand pages. Ludwig would also soon start building Neuschwanstein Castle, which had rooms decorated with murals depicting scenes from Wagners works.Although in his letters to Ludwig, Wagner reciprocated the kings words of ardent longing, his heart was elsewhere. He had fallen for a woman named Cosima, daughter of Franz Liszt and wife of Hans von Blow, a prominent conductor who promoted Wagners work. In April 1865, just two months before von Blow conducted the premiere of Tristan and Isolde, Cosima gave birth to Wagners child: a daughter called Isolde.The Ring Cycle and BayreuthFor the Third Tableau of Das Rheingold, by Aubrey Beardsley, 1896. Source: The Yellow Nineties 2.0By 1876, Wagner had completed a cycle of four operas which, since the beginning over 20 years previously, he had envisioned as his masterwork. The tetralogy was called Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) and was based on old Germanic and Norse epics. In line with Wagners fervent nationalism and wish for the German states to be unified as one country (and, he hoped, one race), the cycle was meant as a foundational work for the German people.The first drama, The Rhinegold, sets up the events of the tetralogy: the theft of the mythical gold from the River Rhine, the enslavement of the Nibelung people, and the all-powerful god Wotan, who fashions a ring from the gold.In the sequel, The Valkyrie, we are introduced to the incestuous siblings Sieglinde and Siegmund, whose child, Siegfried, is destined to be a hero, and Brnnhilde, a warrior goddess who will help save him. The third and fourth dramas, Siegfried and The Twilight of the Gods, show Siegfrieds quest for the ring, Wotans vengeance, and Brnnhildes self-sacrifice.Along with these dramas, conceived as total works of art in which music, words, and visual art were perfectly blended, Wagner had the idea of building a theater solely for performances of the Ring. Financed by Ludwig II, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, or festival theater, was purposely built in an out-of-the-way village, rather than in one of the major centers of German music.Bayreuth Festspielhaus before 1882. Source: Bayreuther Festpiele / RWA National Archives BayreuthEvery aspect was designed to enhance the performances of Wagners work, from the way the sound reverberated in the auditorium to the hidden orchestra pit and wedge-shaped seating arrangement, which gave every audience member an equal view of the stage.Work on the theater at Bayreuth began in 1872, with the intention of opening in time for the premiere of all four works in the Ring cycle. Wagner did not quite get his waythe first two parts of the cycle were premiered individually a few years earlierbut when Bayreuth opened in 1876, its first performance was the premiere of the Ring in full.In 1882, an annual festival having been established at Bayreuth, it hosted the premiere of Wagners final music drama, Parsifal. At last, he had found a way to avoid the jostling and negotiations with the music industry that had so infuriated him. With Bayreuth, he could stage his works exactly as he liked, keeping all the revenue for the continuation of the theater, and bringing audiences to him rather than condescending to try and attract them.The Case of NietzschePhotograph of Friedrich Nietzsche by Gustav Schultze, 1882. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Ring and Wagners other works were steeped in philosophy, from Schopenhauer to mysticism and Christian theology. In 1868, he met a young, up-and-coming philosopher, who would influence Wagner and be influenced by him in turn: Friedrich Nietzsche.1872s The Birth of Tragedy chimed with Wagners interest in Ancient Greece as the ideal civilization, with Nietzsche meditating particularly on music in envisioning his influential dichotomy between the Apollonian (order and form) and Dionysiac (chaos and disorder). Nietzsche wrote the book at the instigation of Wagner (and Cosima, now married to the composer), and it specifically name-checked the composers works as modern embodiments of the Greek ideal.Nietzsches relationship with the Wagners was close and personal. It is a matter of speculation whether Nietzsche was more enamored with Richard or Cosima. He certainly wrote about having fallen in love with the latter, but was this an effect of her closeness to the composer? Commentators from Sigmund Freud onwards have read a certain amount of repression into the philosophers relationships with men. Nietzsche appears to have idolized Wagner, who, as with Ludwig, encouraged and probably quite enjoyed the admiration.Cartoon of Richard Wagner from Les Moeurs et la Caricature en Allemand by J. Grand-Carteret, undated. Source: Meister DruckeBy 1888, though, Nietzsche had repudiated Wagnernot privately, since the composer had died back in 1883 and their relationship had cooled before thenbut publicly. In the essays The Case of Wagner and Nietzsche Contra Wagner, the philosopher took a radical new stance against his former idol, albeit one which many readers shared.By the fin de sicle, many saw Wagner and his music as dangerous, its endless melody and lack of rhythm exerting a hypnotic effect on listeners, leaving them open to pernicious suggestions by this dictator-like figure pulling all the strings.Nietzsche continued to admire some things about Wagner, but no longer saw him as the redeemer of German music. Instead, he was a sign of decadence and moral decline. For Wagners supporters, Nietzsches diatribes would be invalidated by the fact that the philosopher succumbed to a mental breakdown just a year later, but the posthumous battle over the significance of Wagner in German culture had begun.Wagnerism: From Decadent France to Nazi GermanyPortrait of Richard Wagner by Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1882. Source: MeisterdruckeThe cult of Wagner, after his death in 1883, went far beyond what he could have imaginedor, maybe, it was exactly the scope he had always dreamed of. Wagnerism spread across Europe, like a virus, some said, infecting just about every art form, from poetry to painting to architecture. His terminology around music of the future infiltrated beyond the arts, as people at the end of the 19th century envisioned a politics of the future, inventions of the future, men and women of the future, and so on.In late-19th-century France, his name was nearly inescapable in artistic circles. Painters such as Van Gogh and Czanne, poets such as Mallarm, and novelists such as Proust all aimed for Wagnerian effects in their work. Championing the German Romantic in the wake of the Franco-Prussian War was an act of counter-cultural protest for many of these artists. But three decades into the 20th century, Wagner ceased to be an anti-establishment figure.What had been latent and not widely recognized in Wagner and his works soon rose to the surface and became indelibly associated with him. Writings such as Jewishness in Music and his private anti-Semitic comments had been known only in a few circles during his lifetime, and the idea that his dramas contained anti-Semitic caricatures was not yet a common interpretation.Photograph of Richard Wagner, by Pierre-Louis Pierson, 1867. Source: Wikimedia CommonsWhen the Nazis came to power, however, they celebrated Wagner as the pinnacle of German culture, thanks to his portrayal in the Ring of what they saw as the pure essence of the ancient German spirit. Music by Jewish composers was suppressed, and the Bayreuth Festival flourished. Winifred Wagner, who was married to Richards son Siegfried, was a personal friend of Adolf Hitler and often welcomed him to the Wagner residence at Bayreuth.This is why Wagner has remained a controversial figure. The question of performing his music in Israel is still highly contested. Meanwhile, the Bayreuth Festival continues to be a mecca for devotees, with an intimidatingly long waiting list for tickets.His ambition to transform music and drama completely was fulfilled, with his work still striking audiences as avant-garde and challenging. His Ring cycle was a clear influence on later epics such as Lord of the Rings, and the interest in mythology, which he helped revive, is thriving today.Some argue, therefore, that Wagners influence has been so broad and varied (he has even been reclaimed by Jewish artists, for instance) that he need not be solely associated with the darker side of his legacy. For others, he remains an eternally contentious figure.

The Mayan Codices are four prehispanic books written before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. The volumes were created by professional scribes using paper made of the inner bark of a fig tree. With no formal titles, three of the four codices have been named after the cities where they were stored: Dresden, Madrid, and Paris. Together with inscriptions found in temples and monuments, the Mayan codices are a tangible record of their culture, science, society, and politics.The Written Records of Prehispanic CivilizationMap: Maya Empire provided by TheCollector.comSince the 19th century, different rediscovered Maya monuments, temples, and drawings have been important in developing knowledge about this civilization. The Mayas settled in the Yucatn Peninsula, now Mexico and Guatemala, but expanded to areas of Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. The earliest evidence of this culture dates back to 2000 BCE; it lasted until the conquest of Hernn Corts in the early 16th century.Similar to the Egyptian civilization, knowledge about the Maya comes mostly from drawings and inscriptions left on rocks and ancient papers. The Maya writing method was the most developed in pre-Hispanic America, often compared to those found in Egypt or Mesopotamia. The Maya used inner bark surfaces to inscribe glyphs and different color inks made of carbon soot (black), hematite, lead and insects (red), and plants. Among all these pigments, Maya blue has been studied extensively by researchers because of its long-lasting brightness and unaltered properties. It was known to have been created using an indigo plant and palygorskite, a type of clay.Diego de Landas Destruction of Mayan HistoryImage of Madrid Codex showing the Maya blue by the Kislak Collection. Source: Library of CongressThe Maya Codices are the only manuscripts that survived the intense destruction undertaken by Spanish colonizers, as they believed that demons influenced the local knowledge and that it was a threat to the recently introduced Christian faith. For instance, in 1562, Friar Diego de Landa, a Franciscan bishop of the Archdiocese of Yucatan, sent by the Spanish crown to evangelize Indigenous people and one of the first Franciscans to arrive in the Yucatan Peninsula, ordered hundreds of Mayan objects and books be burned because he considered them to be evidence of demonic adoration.The region was part of Nueva Espaa, under the governance of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. During this time, Spanish conquistadors were granted the right to the land by the Treaty of Tordesillas, which permitted them to settle in the conquered Indigenous lands of Mesoamerica in exchange for converting Indigenous people to Catholicism and making them subjects of the Spanish Empire.In 1562, after discovering an Indigenous site of adoration in Mani, the capital of the Tutul-Xiu Maya dynasty, De Landa ordered its destruction and the burning of many codices. This event led to numerous deaths, with some people burnt in their houses, hung on trees, or lost to suicide. De Landa himself recounted in his Relacin de las Cosas de Yucatn (Yucatan at the Time of the Spanish Encounter) that the burning of the codices caused them [the people] much affliction.Photo of Maya engravings on rock by Eirka Porras, 2009. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAlthough the primary mission of the Franciscan order was to protect Indigenous people from the encomenderos (colonists), De Landa pursued the forced imposition of Christian beliefs, often involving physical abuse and torture. De Landa took on inquisitor functions to eradicate any traces of paganism and adoration of idols, often forcefully baptizing people before their conversion. He had not, however, received official authorization from Spain to exercise such actions, which led him to be put on trial in Spain.Moreover, when the Spanish arrived in the region, the production of the local paper used to produce the codices was banned, and it was replaced by European paper. This was used, for instance, to create the Aztec Codex Mendoza (circa 1541).The Dresden CodexImage of one page of the Dresden Codex, 1200-1250. Source: Library of CongressThe Dresden Codex is the oldest of the Maya codices (11th-12th centuries) and the oldest surviving book written before the arrival of the Spanish. It arrived in Spain after being sent to King Charles V by Hernn Corts. Later, the Royal Library of Dresden obtained it in 1793 from a private owner in Vienna. During World War II, the Codex suffered in the flooding resulting from the bombings of Dresden in 1945.It is believed that the Dresden Codex was written and drawn by the peoples of the Yucatn Peninsula because different symbols in the codex are also present in monuments of the region. The codex contains information related to local history and calendrical and astronomical knowledge related to the movements of the moon and Venus. It has also been important in deciphering Maya hieroglyphs.The codex has been reproduced several times by figures such as German naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt in 1810, Italian painter Agostino Aglio for Irish antiquarian Lord Kingsborough in 1826, German historian Ernst Frstemann in 1880, Mesoamerican archaeologist J. Eric Thompson in 1972, British Mayanist Ian Graham in 1959, and the Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt in Graz, Austria, in 1975. The codex is available for download from the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies FAMSI website and is currently exhibited in the Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany.The Madrid CodexImage of the Madrid Codex aka Tro-Cortesianus exhibited at the Museo de Amrica in Madrid, Spain, 1250-1450. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAlso known as the Codex Tro-Cortesianus, it was split in two when transported to Europe. The first part was rediscovered in 1866 by French Catholic priest and ethnologist Brasseur de Bourbourg in the archive of Spanish lawyer Juan de Tro y Ortolano. De Bourbourg also discovered Diego de Landas book Relacin de las Cosas de Yucatn. The first part of the codex is also known as the Codex Tro because of its former owner.The second part of the codex was owned by a Spanish collectionist named Juan Ignacio Mir, who, after being unable to convince the British Museum and the Imperial Library of Paris to buy the piece, sold it to the Archaeological Museum of Madrid in 1875. The second part of the codex is known as the Codex Cortesianus because it is believed that it was also Corts who brought it to Europe.In 1888, the French ethnologist Lon de Rosny discovered they were part of the same piece, which was ultimately dubbed the Codex Tro-Cortesianus. The piece is exhibited at the Museo de Amrica in Madrid, Spain. The codex was created between 1250 and 1450, and its origins are debated between the regions of Campeche and Tulum. Similar to the Dresden Codex, this piece holds information about calendric events, horoscopes, and astronomical tables. Representations of agriculture, hunting, apiculture, and disease are also present.The Paris CodexFinal pages of the Paris Codex, 13th century. Source: Bibliothque Nationale de FranceAlso known as Codex Peresianus, this manuscript originated in the Yucatan Peninsula around 1250-1450. The National Library of Paris acquired it in 1832. However, French ethnologist and orientalist Lon de Rosny, who found it in the aforementioned library in a pile of abandoned documents next to a chimney, formally exhibited it to the world in 1859. The document is made of 22 accordion-folded pages, which when unfolded reach 1.45 meters (4 ft. 9 in.) in length. The manuscript is believed to be a copy of an original 3rd-9th century codex made during the 13th century.The codex contains information about the Mayas religious rituals, prophecies, and cosmogony. It also contains a calendar of 364 days, similar to the one used today. An online version of the codex can be found in the online library of the Bibliothque Nationale de France. The physical copy is stored in a fragile state in the institutions installation in Paris.The Grolier CodicesPicture of some fragments of the Grolier Codex by Enrico Ferorelli, 13th century. Source: TheConversationAlso known as the Codex Maya of Mexico, this collection illustrates the figures of different deities and is believed to have been used as a calendar to calculate Venuss movements, a theme also present in the Codex Dresden. It dates from the 13th century and was discovered in the late 1960s when a collector named Josu Senz traveled to the region of Palenque. There, he found eleven manuscript fragments. In 1971, he took them to the Grolier Club of New York, a private society of bibliophiles, where they were exhibited.Some researchers, however, have not been wholly convinced of its authenticity because of its pictographic style, which differs from the other three codices, and because of the absence of Maya blue ink. Despite some hesitation, it is widely considered authentic today.The Maya TodayImage of the Dresden Codex by NGS LABS. Source: National GeographicThe Maya codices remain historical pieces that reveal the ancient history of a civilization that, although diminished during colonial times, still survives in Mexico. Despite the process of mixing different ethnicities after the arrival of Europeans and African slaves during the 16th century, there are still 10 million Maya people living in the areas of Guatemala, Mexico, Belize, and Honduras today. Many live in conditions of poverty and are subjected to difficult social conditions in their countries.In contemporary Mexico, Mayans live in Yucatn, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, and Tabasco. These communities often dedicate their lives to agriculture, fishing, and handicrafts. Their religious practices present syncretisms with the Catholic religion, expressed, for instance, in their Easter celebrations.Scientists are still deciphering the Maya codices, reconciling the inscriptions with archaeological research about Mayan architecture and found objects. While these artifacts provide valuable insight into Mayan history, its important to remember that the Mayan culture is still alive in the traditions, language, and beliefs of the surviving communities in the region.

Pierart dou Tielt, manuscript illumination in the Tractatus quartus by Gilles li Muisi, Tournai, 1353. (MS 13076-13077, fol. 24v). Source: National Public RadioThe Black Plague is one of the most devastating pandemics the world has ever experienced. A common question about the scourge is how long it lasted. The answer, however, is not simple as the plague did not have a clean start and end date. This was because it was not one single occurrence but a continuous event that kept re-emerging for several hundred years. It began with a sudden, violent outbreak that spread to various continents. The disease was finally countered using modern medicine.When the First Wave BeganThe Dance of Death, from the Nuremberg Chronicle, by Michael Wolgemot, 1493. Source: WikimediaThe most documented timeline of the Black Plague is often referred to as the Black Death and was the most lethal period. During the first outbreak which occurred from 1347, the disease spread across Europe and North Africa with shocking speed and devastation. In Europe, the worst of the destruction took place over about four years.The sickness is believed to have spread in Europe following the arrival of twelve trading ships from Genoa in October 1347. They docked at the harbor at Messina, Sicily. However, they did not just carry cargo, they were infested with the disease and had sailors on board who were already dead or dying from the malady. The bodies of the infected sailors were covered in dark swellings. The marks called buboes, gave the disease its name the bubonic plague. From the port, the infection spread across the land.How Did the Disease Spread?Lithograph of a woman in rags drawing a cart of plague victims, by J. Moynet, 1852, after L. Duveau. Source: Wellcome CollectionThe disease spread in numerous ways. However, fleas living on black rats reportedly carried the bacteria Yersinia pestis and are believed to have been responsible for the initial spreading of the disease. The fleas jumped from rats to people, passing on the illness. At the time, rats were everywhere in the cities and ships. This aspect made them the perfect carriers. By early 1348, the plague had ravaged major ports in Italy before moving to France. It crossed into England that same year and then spread across Europe, reaching Germany, Scotland, and Ireland by 1349. By 1350, it had moved as far as Scandinavia and Russia.Peasants engaged in threshing, from Luttrell Psalter. Source: British Library, LondonThe cost in human life was hard to grasp. Historians believe Europes population dropped by about 30 to 60 percent. It is reported that between 25 and 50 million people died due to sickness in the first wave. The desolation left farms without workers and farm produce to rot due to a severe shortage of labor. The situation led to an almost complete breakdown of the known world at the time and led to the collapse of the feudal system in Britain at the time.When the Second Pandemic BeganTwo men discovering a dead woman in the street during the Great Plague of London by Herbert Railton, 1665. Source: Wellcome CollectionThe first deadly wave subsided around 1351, but the plague itself was not gone. The bacteria simply kept spreading among Europes rodent populations. What came next was a long era of emerging outbreaks that lasted for nearly four hundred years. That said, the outbreaks were less severe when compared to the initial wave.Several major plagues marked the long period of reoccurrences. The Italian Plague that lasted between 1629 and 1631 killed about a million people. The Great Plague of Seville in 1649 wiped out half the city, and the Great Plague of London that occurred between 1665 and 1666 killed around 100,000 people. More outbreaks came later, like the Great Plague of Vienna in 1679, and the European epidemic in Marseille that occurred between the years 1720 and 1722.Why Did the Plague Slowly Fade in Western Europe?Plague in Bronze Age Eurasia. Source: Science DirectThere was no single reason for the drop in new infections. Some peoples immune systems, for example, simply adapted to overcome the infection. People and societies also put measures to prevent new infections. Cities in Italy, for example, created the first public health systems that placed travelers in quarantine. A change in the parasite dynamics was likely even more important. The brown rat, for example, began to replace the black rat which was notorious for spreading the disease across the continent. Brown rats are known to be shy and tend to stay away from peoples homes. The simple change disrupted the deadly chain of rat to flea to human disease transmission.Who Discovered the Main Cause of the Disease?The bacterium Yersinia pestis, the cause of the Bubonic Plague. Source: CDC / Courtesy of Larry Stauffer, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory / Wikimedia CommonsIn 1894, during an outbreak in Hong Kong, a scientist named Alexandre Yersin found the bacterium that caused the sickness. It is now named Yersinia pestis in his honor. A few years later, scientists were able to prove that fleas were responsible for spreading the disease. The discovery was a great turning point that led to the development of antibiotics such as streptomycin which changed the course of the plague by providing an effective treatment for the disease. Since then, the disease ceased to be a significant threat to humanity.

Witchcraft has existed in almost every culture throughout time. Due to the great mixing of customs in Latin America during the colonial period, a new form of witchcraft, or brujera, was born, blending the traditions of European, Native American, and African cultures. Accusations were often used to oppress women, but the practice of witchcraft could also empower them. Though witchcraft has largely fallen out of practice, there are still some cultures that participate in magical rituals today.The Mixing Pot of South American MagicWitchcraft: The Devil Bringing Medicine to a Man or Woman in Bed (?), woodcut, 1720. Source: Wellcome Collection, JSTORBrujera, or witchcraft in Spanish, has come to describe a multitude of practices descended from European, Native, and African belief systems. These practices were most often seen during the years of the colonial period when tensions between Spanish and Portuguese colonizers, Native Americans, and enslaved Africans were high. Those who practiced witchcraft were targeted by the Inquisition and made to atone for their sins of heresy, either through repentance or torture. Though accusations of witchcraft were often used to suppress women who were underrepresented, in some cases, the practice served to protect non-European women within these colonized areas.Though accusations of witchcraft are no longer the death sentence they were in the colonial period, there are still some isolated groups that take part in this dying practice. However, because of increased research on traditional healing and spiritual beliefs, some younger people are beginning to show a revived interest in learning about the magic of the past.Hechicera vs Brujera: Healing and WitchcraftA Distressed Young Woman Protests Her Innocence and Prays before the Judge and the Counsel of the Spanish Inquisition, aquatint by Jazet after S.J.E. Jones. Source: Wellcome Collection, JSTORThe Spanish colony of Mexico was one of the places where brujera began to develop from a mix of Catholic faith and Indigenous herbalism. This practice was divided into two related but distinct categorieshechicera (sorcery), which encompassed natural and herbal magic, and brujera, which involved consorting with demons. Though the Inquisition paid little attention to so-called witchcraft in Mexico and often only asked for repentance as punishment, accusations of witchcraft ran wild. Anything from an incurable illness to dead livestock could be evidence of a witch, or bruja. The targets of these accusations were usually lone women, especially widows and spinsters, as well as midwives. Women were seen as lustful, fickle, and imperfect, which made them the perfect target for the temptations of the devil.One notable Inquisition case in Mexico was the trial of Isabel de Montoya between 1652 and 1661. She was the daughter of a mulatta woman and made a living as a cook, healer, and midwife. After being accused of witchcraft, she was jailed for three years. Isabel claimed she had learned her trade from another mixed-race woman who showed her how to cast spells to tame a violent husband or to bring luck to clients. Most of the implements she used in her trade were simplebeans, pieces of coal and silver, various herbs, and chocolate. Interestingly, during her trial, Isabel admitted that she would occasionally give her clients a spell that would cause the opposite effect to the one desired. After her trial, not much more was heard of Isabel de Montoya, and she disappeared from the record just like other accused witches.Brazils Witch AfflictionThe Mulatto Woman, Albert Eckhout, 1641. Source: JSTORColonial Mexico wasnt the only place where witchcraft thrived and was condemned by the Catholic Church. Since the very early explorations of Brazil, Portuguese colonists had asserted that the type of spirituality practiced by native Brazilian shamans was nothing more than magic. It was in Brazil in 1591 that Paula de Siqueira confessed that she had been learning spells in order to win the love of her husband. This confession was followed by a handful of other witchcraft accusations, all leveled at Brazilian women.Brazils colonial period saw a rapid increase in the types and prevalence of witchcraft being practiced among its female population. This increase in witchery was accompanied by a rise in religious dogma that persecuted anyone who practiced it. Brazilian witchcraft was different from the Mexican variety in that it often integrated African religious elements into its core. However, like Mexico, the Brazilian Portuguese distinguished the feiticeira, or sorceress, from the bruxa, a woman who had a pact with the devil. From the 1500s to the 1600s, Brazil hosted multiple visits from the Portuguese Inquisition, hoping to weed out anyone who was participating in acts that went against the beliefs of the Catholic Church.Directorium Inquisitorum by Nicolaus Eymericus, 1376. Source: Munich Digitization CenterIn the manual for Inquisitors, magic, and witchcraft were listed as some of the most grievous sins, and those who had witnessed them were obligated to report it to the Inquisition. Records state that at least 700 Brazilians came forward during these proceedings, either to confess to witchcraft or to notify inquisitors about suspected magical activities. Many of these women had simple explanations for their involvement in witchcraftthey wanted a man to love them, to catch a thief, or to rid themselves of a pesky son-in-law. Those who wished to report heretical acts stated that witches had cursed their children, causing them to develop strange marks and illnesses that eventually left them dead. Those who were accused could expect to be imprisoned, whipped, or executed. Meanwhile, those who had confessed and shown remorse were given mercy and expected to repent.Guatemalan Magic: Reclaiming Female PowerWitchcraft: A Bewitched Woman Vomiting, woodcut, 1720. Source: Wellcome Collection, JSTORThe magic that Guatemalan women practiced during and after the colonial period was distinguished by its violence. In a time when many native Guatemalan and African women were subjugated by Spanish colonial men, witchcraft gave them a way to create fear in the hearts of their abusers. One example of such violence is a story told by Padre Jos de Quevedo in which he claimed two women used witchcraft to attack him due to an ongoing dispute. In his story, he was awoken by the spirits of two women, Lorenza de Molina and Mari de Santa Inz, who bound and blindfolded him before viciously beating him. He asserted that he awoke the next morning in his bed covered in wounds. Through their supposed witchcraft, Lorenza and Mari had taken control of a mans body in a reversal of the typical control a colonial man had over a Native or African woman.In another case, one woman claimed that her servant had been targeted by a witch and had taken to throwing up objects as strange as pieces of cloth, teeth, cigars, hair, and charcoal. Bodily fluids were another common theme in Guatemalan magic, often used to evoke love from a man or to sway someone in the magic users favor. However, this magic could also incorporate healing aspects, usually practiced by those who called themselves curanderas. Due to a lack of licensed doctors in New Spain, it was often these women who acted as healers for the community. However, due to the preconceived notions surrounding their gender and non-European status, these women were mislabeled as witches rather than healers or doctors.Demonic Possession: An Excuse to Misbehave?A woodcut of a priest healing a possessed woman, Pierre Boaistuau, 1566. Source: The National Library of Medicine.Along with the purported cases of witchcraft during the Inquisition came claims of possession. In a strange twist of events, it was often nuns who fell victim to these demonic afflictions. One such example is that of the Mexican nun Margarita de San Jos, who wrote a letter that proclaimed herself a Jew and a servant of the devil. Another interesting example is that of seventeen-year-old Juana de los Reyes, also from Mexico, though not a nun. She claimed she was possessed by a demon named Mozambique who, through the orders of witches, impregnated her. Later investigation after the birth of her child revealed that her pregnancy was actually a result of incestual violence. However, recent research has suggested that claims of possession gave women a chance to act out in ways that were not socially acceptable at the time. Women who were possessed could scream, vomit, use obscenities, and wail without facing any social consequences. In these cases, the devil or demons were blamed for her actions, and she was rewarded with a kind of freedom that women did not have at that time.Illness and WitchcraftUru-Chipayas, Uros Floating Islands, Lake Titicaca, Peru, MRB, 2016. Source: FlickrThere were often times in both Europe and the colonial Americas when the spread of certain diseases was blamed on the work of witches. However, such fears were not solely of European origin. Anthropological studies on the Tzeltal Maya, Kamayura, and Uru-Chipaya people found that individuals suffering from epilepsy are perceived as being either under the attack of a spell or witches themselves. Amongst the Kayamura, epilepsy is referred to as teawarup and is the result of an animal spirit taking revenge on a hunter. The Chipaya people call epilepsy tukuri and believe it is caused by a witch entering the body in a burst of wind through the nose. The only cure for this among the Chipaya is an animal sacrifice, followed by the consumption of dried insects. Meanwhile, the Tzeltal call epilepsy tub tub ikal, and believe it to be caused by an internal battle between the persons spirit animal and other bad spirits that seek to do them harm.Sorcerers of Today, the YanomamiYanomami Indian Shaman Adjusts His Feathers for Dancing, Brazil, Chris Steele-Perkins, 1990. Source: JSTORFollowing the colonial period, instances and accusations of witchcraft in Latin America began to slowly fizzle out. Catholicism gradually came to replace these practices in most regions. However, in many areas of the nearly impenetrable Amazon rainforest, the practice of magic and sorcery has continued. This is the case for the Yanomami people of South America, who live deep in the Amazon of Venezuela, near the Orinoco River. The shamans of the Yanomami practice assault shamanism, sorcery, and other forms of dark magic that are meant to inflict pain and suffering on their enemies. The shamans, who are called shapori by the Yanomami, use their spirit helpers, known as hekura, to create spells that can either heal or harm a target. These shapori can both heal and cause death and are often engaged in constant retaliatory magic with Yanomami shapori from other tribes. The core beliefs of the Yanomami center on their conception of the world as composed of five celestial and terrestrial discs within the stomach of a boa constrictor. On the lowest level, or disc, exist the ancestors of the Yanomami, amongst whom are powerful and malicious sorcerers. Only the work of the shapori can protect the living Yanomami from the dangerous hekura that come from below.

The Vikings were not prolific writers. They have left behind no written historical treatises, religious texts, or even administrative documents. The Norse sagas and mythologies were written down in the post-Viking age, when the spread of Christianity saw Latin script adapted to produce Old Norse prose. But the Vikings do seem to have been widely literate, using a runic text known as Futhark to create highly visible monumental inscriptions and to inscribe personal objects. What do these surviving inscriptions tell us about life in the Viking Age? Read on to discover nine revelations from the Viking runes.1. The Runes Were an Ancient Scandinavian TraditionSvingerund Runestone, c. 1-250 CE, the oldest known runestone in Norway. Source: Viking Ship Museum, RoskildeIn 2021, archaeologists working with the University of Oslo trekked to a field in eastern Norway, where they found graves and a runestone. Known as the Svingerund Runestone, the reddish-brown sandstone carried the inscription: Idibera. The meaning is unclear; it may be the name of one of the people buried nearby, but scholars are uncertain if it is a first or last name.Radiocarbon dating of associated grave materials suggests the stone was inscribed around 1-250 CE, making it the oldest dated runestone. The inscription is written in Elder Futhark, the Germanic runic text that predated the Young Futhark runes used in the Viking Age.2. The Runes Had Magical ApplicationsStentoften Runestone, Sweden, c. 500-700 CE. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAccording to Norse myth, the god Odin learned the power of the runes by hanging himself from the world tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, pierced by his spear, until their secrets were revealed. He shared those secrets with mankind, giving them the runes both as an alphabet, but also as a magical toolkit. Many of the sagas describe heroes performing rune magic. Getting it right was important, and one Viking poet admonished: Let no man carve runes to cast a spell, save first he learns to read them well.The Stentoften Runestone was found at Blekinge, Sweden. Dating to 500-700 CE, it also used Elder Futhark and appears to contain a curse. It says that the master of the runes concealed here nine bucks, nine stallions, and runes of power to result in insidious death to whoever breaks, presumably, the entrance to a nearby burial mound. It was also found on the ground with the inscription facing downwards and surrounded by five sharp, larger stones forming a pentagram.3. Runemasters Created Monumental InscriptionsThe Rims Stone. Source: National Museum of Denmark, CopenhagenRunestones have been found in many shapes and sizes. Inscriptions vary in length and content. A variety of geometric and animal designs adorn these stones. Time has taken its toll on many. The most dramatic impact of the centuries has been the loss of color. Remnants of paint sometimes survive, indicating that they were once brightly colored.Runestone from Gotland. Source: Swedish History Museum, StockholmVikings gave credit where it was due. Most runestones start by telling the reader who commissioned the runestone, and also credit the rune carver. For example, a stone from Sklby reads: Bjrn and Igulfast and Jon had this bridge built in memory of Torsten, their brother. pir cut the runes. A study of runestones from the Mlar Valley reveals that a person (likely persons) by the name of pir received credit for some fifty surviving runic inscriptions. Rune carving could have been a family profession and was probably carried out in workshops with multiple craftsmen.The Glavendrup Stone, Denmark, c. 10th century. Source: National Museum of Denmark, CopenhagenAdvances in technology provide archaeologists with high-tech means of assessing similarities and differences in carving techniques on different runestones. Using 3D-scanning and multivariate statistical methods, scholars assessed runestones from Denmark. They found that specific rune carvers were associated with specific families.4. Harald Bluetooth Was a Rune TrendsetterMonument raised in honor of Queen Thyra, Jelling, Denmark, c. 950 CE. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAround 950 CE, Gorm the Old raised a small stone memorial to his wife, Queen Thyra. The stone was carved with several lines of runes and two snake heads. The runes read: King Gorm made these runes in honor of his wife Thyra, the pride of Denmark.Colorized version of a runestone raised by Harald Bluetooth at Jelling, c. 970 CE. Source: UNESCOAround 970 CE, Gorms son Harald Bluetooth decided to continue the memorial tradition. At Jelling, he had an elaborate runestone erected in memory of his father and mother. The inscription on the larger stone also contains a bit of bragging from the king: King Harald ordered these monuments made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother; that Harald who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian. Most Danish runestones date to between 975-1025 CE, so Gorm and Harald are often credited with getting runestones trending in Viking Age Denmark.5. Cultural Transitions Are Reflected in the RinesRunestone raised by a woman named Unna, Sweden, c. 11th century. Source: Swedish History Museum, StockholmWhile most Viking runestones were erected during the pagan period, they continued to be erected as the Vikings started to convert to Christianity. A runestone from Sweden known as Unnas stone reads: Unna had this stone erected for her son sten, who died in christening clothes. God help his soul.Another runestone from Denmark reads: Svinnraised this stone in memory of Bsi, his sonwho was killed in battle at tlengia. May Lord God and Saint Michael help his spirit. Saint Michael was an archangel frequently depicted as a warrior, which may have explained his appeal in the Viking world6. Inscription Celebrated the Raiding LifestyleThe Haerulf Stone, Jutland, Denmark, c. 10th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsWhile we refer to Vikings today, Medieval Scandinavians would have called themselves Danes, Swedes, or Norsemen. Viking means pirate and refers to the Viking practice of raiding other communities for wealth and slaves. A runestone erected in Upland, Sweden, provides an example of the treasure and bragging rights associated with the Viking lifestyle: Ulv took three gelds in England. The first was that which Tostig paid. Then Thorkell paid. Then Cnut paid.But sailing and traveling abroad were dangerous endeavors in the medieval world. Runestones show that many died abroad. In Gripsholm, a mother named Tola had a stone made for her son, Harald. The stone read: They went gallantly far for gold and in the east fed the eagle. They died in the south in Saracenland.Two sisters in Fagerlt lost their father in a similar manner. They commissioned a stone for their father, Eskil, that read: He offered battle on the eastern route before the war-fierce one had to fall. A runestone raised by Sassurr for his father, Hallvarr, reports that the man drowned abroad with all the seamenMay this stone stand in memory. Those left behind in Scandinavia ensured that the Vikings who fell in battle abroad would be remembered as fierce, brave warriors for generations to come.7. Runes Could Also Record Official BusinessJelling Stone, Denmark, c. 970. Source: Wikimedia CommonsVikings often traveled to raid, trade, and conquer. Inscriptions on runestones provide anecdotes of other official voyages. In Sweden, brothers Skli and Folki had a runestone erected for their brother Hsbjrn. The runestone reveals that Hsbjrn traveled to Gotland to collect taxes from the island. He fell ill while away, but was not forgotten by his family.Runestones also recorded property transfers. A particularly long runestone from Hillersj, Sweden, records the traumatic relationships and losses of a woman named Geirlaug and how they impacted her inheritance. The runestone notes that her first husband drowned, then her first son died. She lost several other children during her second marriage, except for a daughter, named Inga. Ingas husband and child died, so when Inga died, Geirlaug inherited her property.8. Personal Objects Were Also Inscribed with RunesViking age comb case inscribed with runes that read: Thorfast made a good comb. Source: British MuseumVikings erected hundreds of stone memorials, but also left runic inscriptions on other objects and in other places. In 1964, a dramatic discovery was made in the Hagia Sophia. Across the marble floor of the famous mosque in Turkey, a runic inscription was found reading: Halfdan carved these runes. Millions of feet had passed through that mosque for centuries before the inscription was recognized as Norse and translated as a Halfdan was here type message.Similar inscriptions have been found at places throughout the Viking world documenting the travels of Scandinavians far from home. Names were commonly carved into objects such as necklaces and other accessories. Runes also documented gift exchanges. On a bronze mount, one Viking had the following message inscribed: Gautvid gave this scales-box to Gudfrid.9. Runic Inscriptions Sometimes Contained RiddlesThe Rk Runestone, Sweden, c. 9th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsLet the one solve who can is a common dare to readers inscribed on runestones, and many scholars are still striving to solve the recorded riddles.In Sweden, the Rk runestone was erected toward the end of the 9th century CE. Carving runes was hard work. Many inscriptions run on the shorter side, with just a couple of sentences or even fragments of information about the deceased, their family, and the rune carver. The Rk runestone, however, is not a quick read. With 760 runes, it is the longest runic inscription.A leader named Varinn raised the Rk in memory of his son Vamoth. The long inscription also contains several riddles that scholars continue to ponder. One of the riddles reads: Let us say this as a memory for Odin, which spoils of war there were two, which twelve times were taken as spoils of war, both from one to another? Another reads: Let us say this as a memory for Odin, who because of a wolf has suffered through a womans sacrifice? Over the years, scholars have put forward different solutions to the riddles, suggesting that they relate to a Viking leader or perhaps to the sun. Viking Age runestones continue to intrigue and shed new light on the people, politics, religion, language, and the arts in the Norse world.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is getting a free story DLC set in Saudi Arabia As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases and other affiliate schemes. Learn more. A new, free Assassin's Creed Mirage DLC will deliver an extra story chapter to Ubisoft's 2023 action-adventure game "later this year." The...