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Poetry Tuesday ...
At the beginning of my lifejournal, I had tried to post a daily poem, but I stopped the habit pretty soon. However, maybe, I can still make it once a week.
Today, I was in the mood for Christian Morgenstern's friendly and thoughtfull silliness. Of course, parts of the subtlety gets lost in translation, but well ...
Vice-versa:Ein Hase sitzt auf ( Read more... ) -
Music Monday ... isn't it?
I guess Music Monday is a good way to re-enter the realm of my livejournal, after the long hiatus. A few days before, I stumbled over this video in some other journal, and I was immediately reminded how much I love that song. (For some reasons, it touches me even more when I'm in a hormonal down. Don't ask me why!) It's been years since I've last ( Read more... ) -
Last Travelogue of the Semester: Johannes de Montecorvino
So, my semester of medieval travelogues is done, since last Thursday. Since I tortured the students with the original latin text, the discussion was much less animated than I would have liked to. However, the reading of the latin text went much better than I would have thought.
The source of this last class were the letters John of Montecorvino ( Read more... ) -
Last weeks Travelogue: Benjamin of Tudela
Thence it is six days' journey to the great city of Rome. Rome is the head of the kingdoms of Christendom, and contains about 200 Jews, who occupy an honourable position and pay no tribute, and amongst them are officials of the Pope Alexander, the spiritual head of all Christendom. Great scholars reside here, at the head of them being R. ( Read more... ) -
Khan Mönke has a Sliver Tree: William of Rubruck, part 2
So, class was really fine. They made a partly average, partly really good presentation. One of the students did a great analysis of a religious disputation at the court of Great Khan Mönke, described by William of Rubruck. The discussion was lively.
In preparation for the class, I also read the description of Great khan Mönke's court in Karakorum ( Read more... ) -
And now: yurts, described by William of Rubruck (medieval anthropology)
Several times, I have proclaimed my love for William of Rubruck's Travelogue. I learned about this Travelogue, when I wrote a paper about the Dwellings of Eurasian Nomads. The reason why I love this part about the yurt so much is the perspective and the way how the monk describes what he sees, step by step, without judging yet.
W. W. Rockhill: ( Read more... ) -
Let's sing ... as Renaissance (wo)men
I wanted to post this since quite a while. It's William Byrd's Ave Verum. It's very introspective, but this kind of music is the reason why I can not find it in myself to think religion as something that limits people's minds. The beauty of the music inspired by the religious feelings of the composer can at times take my breath away.
My favorite ( Read more... ) -
John of Plano Carpini: Travelogue
So, I'm done with the first read-through. Tomorrow, I can look up the footnotes in the library. The Travelogue alone is even available in an English translation: (Excerpt from: The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World, 1235-55, as narrated by himself, with two accounts of the earlier journey of John of Pian de Carpine ( ( Read more... ) -
Christmas or whatever else
Well, I just recycled the picture I used in 2003, because it is a very nice picture that makes me smile every time I see it. And I need making myself smile, because this year feels pretty much like wasted time for a lots of reasons. Anyway ...
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The day
This morning, I was invited for breakfast with the student council of the Historical Seminary. It was rather nice, but of course, as usual, I'm in doubt if I didn't appear: too boring, too out-spoken about my personal experiences, too shy, too socially repressed - It sucks having so many self-esteem issues. ;) But all in all, I really like them, ( Read more... )