King Arthur and his round table of knights and ladies were legends that had been circulating in English lore for a long time, passed down by word of mouth long before recorded history. There may or may not have been an actual King Arthur. More than likely, he is a composite of any number of heroes of the fourth and fifth centuries AD.

Sir Thomas Malory's style made the stories enduring tales of romantic adventure and Chivalry. He painted word pictures of fierce conflict and realistic violence with a gentle sometimes, whimsical humor, possibly reflective of his own shadowy life.

There was a Sir Thomas Malory who was born in England, fought in the army in France, and was in the parliament as a Knight of the Shire in 1445. He became embroiled in political plots that landed him in jail a number of times on a laundry list of offenses. He did receive a pardon for some of those charges. He escaped twice, but ultimately spent much of his later life in prison. Whether this was the same Malory as the writer of Arthurian chronicles is not known for certain.

Records assert that with nothing better to do during his incarceration, someone named Sir Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte d'Arthure . Perhaps there really was an historic King Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon. Malory's fanciful narratives center on the virtuous king, his beautiful wife, Guinevere; a whole array of heroic knights, Lancelot in particular, and the code of fellowship of the Round Table. The table being round in shape signified that there was no one at the head of the table, thus, no one of higher rank than any other at the table. The love triangle of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot as well as the knights' Quest for the Holy Grail have inspired stories ever since. The evil son, Mordred, Arthur's nemesis, and Merlin the Druid Wizard, round out the principal cast of characters.

William Caxton (1422-1491) was the first printer in England. He learned the art of printing in Cologne, Germany and is credited with producing the first book printed in English. In a sense, he became the first publishing editor in England. Over a twenty-three year period, he was instrumental in translating and publishing a vast body of works. In the process he standardized the language into literary form. Caxton wrote the preface and, using the title of the last story, published Malory's works into twenty-two books collectively known as Le Morte D'Arthure.

Richard Wagner, the German composer, wrote Lohengrin and Parsifal among quite a few other operas. Both of the title characters were Knights of the Holy Grail, the cup that Christ drank from at the Last Supper. They have all kinds of adventures. Lohengrin rescues Elsa, a damsel in distress, and her father gives her to Lohengrin in marriage. The famous "Wedding March" is from that scene.

One proviso to the marriage is that Elsa never asks her husband what his name is or he will have to leave. Why? Nobody knows or cares to ask why. A nasty jealous busybody persuades Elsa that, good grief!, a woman should at the very least know her own husband's name! Right after the ceremony Elsa asks him his name and he reveals that he is Lohengrin, Knight of the Holy Grail. In the most dramatic and climatic scene of the opera, Lohengrin glides away in a boat drawn by swans. Elsa is weeping, she is sorry she asked and the whole crowd of wedding guests on stage are singing their opinions.

Well, there was a very famous tenor named Leo Slezak. He was about six feet, six inches tall and had an imposing stage presence as well as a magnificent voice. At one performance of Lohengrin at that climatic moment, the stagehands goofed and the swan boat sailed slowly right on by while Slezak was singing his dramatic story. At the end of his aria, when he realized what had happened, in full medieval costume, he strode to the front of the stage and said, "What time's the next swan?" Brought down the house.

Walter Slezak, Leo's son, was a well-known Hollywood actor in innumerable movies, usually as a character actor. That story was in his autobiography. The book was entitled, "What Time's The Next Swan?"

Turns out in the knights' legends, Lohengrin was the son of Parsifal. Parsifal is another opera traditionally performed at Easter Time. Tristan of Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde was also a knight.

Updated, Harrison Ford as "Indiana Jones" in the movies is a modern version of the old knight's tale of the Quest for the Holy Grail. Indiana Jones is an "anthropologist" now instead of a "knight". They are always rollicking adventures!

Of late, Dan Brown has put an intriguingly different spin on the quest for the Holy Grail in his novel, "The Da Vinci Code."

Chivalry evolved around the knights in service of their feudal lords during the Middle Ages. It originated in France but quickly spread throughout Europe and widened the gulf between the classes of nobles and non-nobles. The knights belonged to a mounted fighting class. They developed a code of morality around the ideals of courage, honor and faithfulness to their lords as well as superior fighting skills.

The Spanish author, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra wrote the charming story of Don Quixote , a somewhat addled knight with a heart of gold. This delightful tale was made into the musical, The Man from La Mancha, with the lovely theme, "The Impossible Dream".

An almost identical social structure developed during the mid-eighteenth century in Japan. The Chivalric code of Bushido produced a warrior aristocracy known as the Samuari.

In Europe, the sons of a noble or landowner would be apprenticed about age seven or eight to beg in rigorous training and discipline. Not all of them succeeded. At the end of the apprenticeship, they were inducted into knighthood in an elaborate ritual with much pomp and ceremony. The expenses of armor, weapons, horses and other equipment pertaining to knighthood, including their squires, were born by their families. Sons of modest means could never hope to become knights.

Few people knew how to read in those days, including the knights and nobles. They developed heraldry, a system of a colorful coat-of-arms to display on their shields. The design on the coat-of-arms was unique to each family.  This helped identify the knight in his heavy, concealing armor when he was participating in tournament games and jousts as well as in battle. Passed down from father to son, heraldry became and is today a useful tool in tracing a family's genealogy.

Originally, the knights were savage fighters. The Church tried to tame their ferocity by encouraging their loyalty to their feudal lords to extend to God and the Christian virtues of faith and charity. Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary helped to promote protection of the weaker female, the knight's lady. Respect for women, courtliness, gallantry and courtesy reached a peak in twelfth century France. This was an enormous step, elevating the status of women from their traditional social standing as chattel in a male dominated world.

Remember way back in the Hunter/Gatherer days when societies switched from maternalistic to paternalistic?  After how many eons of "progress", Chivalry made the first baby step toward equality of status for men and women.  Attitudes firmly engrained are almost impossible to change though and it is still an uphill struggle for the sexes to reach equivalent but complimentary standings.

The Church tried valiantly to promote monogamy, not always with much success.   Thus, the chivalric code extended to the behavior of women. A lady was expected to be modest, demure, helpless and above all, virginal. A lady who was married was still a virgin as long as she did not enjoy the marriage bed, albeit technically no longer a virgin.

This attitude, shared by both men and women, effectively divided women into two categories; "good girls" and "bad girls", the "Madonna and the Whore." It still kept legal wives at home minding the children while the men were free to party and to have more fun with mistresses. It was similar to the Persian, Greek and Moslem practices with wives and concubines.

Some knights going off to the Crusades got a little carried away with the emphasis placed on protecting the virtue of their ladies. Knowing they might be gone for possibly years, they came up with "chastity belts", complete with a lock and key. The knight took the key with him. The belts were cumbersome devices with spikes to prevent intrusion or temptation. Some pretty ridiculous mental pictures leap to the imagination!

Chivalry placed a much stronger distinction on offspring; the legitimate and the stigma of "bastard". It also caused plenty of problems in the bedroom up until present times.

The famous or infamous Le Demi-monde , the half-world, grew out of this attitude, especially in France. The private and shadowy parallel society of the courtesan and her entourage came to be common knowledge. Alexander Dumas fis , the natural or illegitimate son of Alexander Dumas pere, wrote the penetrating novel and play, La Dame aux Camelias later presented in English as Camille .

Dumas fis knew well the disgrace of the accident of his birth as he suffered the taunts of "bastard" all his life. Guiseppe Verdi adapted the story of the "fallen woman" and composed the celebrated opera, La Traviata that contains some of the most poignant music ever written.

It is silly and sad that the state of a woman's virginity should still immediately identify her even by her honorific, Miss, Mrs., and now Ms. I am reminded of the tired definition of an "old maid" as a woman who has never been married or anything .

There are three kinds of love: Agap é , from the Greek word meaning love. Agap é is God's altruistic love for humanity that is reflected in our love and caring for our fellow human beings . Familial Love is the love we have for members of our family; mother, father, husband, wife and children. Sexual Love is the physical expression of love between adults. The ideal of mature love is to have all three. Sexual love may wax and wane over time. Agap é and Familial Love sustain the connection of sexual love when absence or illness of the beloved prevents consummation. Thus, making love is infinitely more mutually satisfying than just having sex.

The chivalry of knighthood began to decline after the thirteenth century with the expansion of the military into infantry, cavalry and more effective means of waging war. Chivalry became more of an affectation of the aristocratic courtiers and was associated with public ceremony and display. The knights were no longer needed on the battlefield. This held true as well in Japan with the Samuari once the Shoguns had unified the country.

In modern times, chivalry came to mean the social conventions of "ladies" and "gentlemen". Strange as it may seem, with all its quirks, the Age of Chivalry was a monumental step of advancement in the progress of civilization. Despite the rigid ritualistic aspects of it, in the diluted form of contemporary society, it advanced the art of living with good manners and politeness. The attitudes of Chivalry that still prevail are expressed with beautiful poignancy in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Soliloquy" from their musical, Carousel.

During the Crusades, religion and war united, giving sanction for the protection of pilgrims and hope for the ultimate conquest of the Holy Land in service of the Savior. Indulgences were granted to both knights and pilgrims. Two orders of knights were established for these purposes and flourished into the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. (1) The Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, (the Hospitalers). And , (2) the lengthy name; the Order of the Poor Knights of Christ or the Order of the Temple of Solomon, (the Templars).

The Knights Templar was established about 1118 as a military religious order to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to visit the Holy Land. They adopted the rule of the Benedictine Order and soon grew in size. It gained papal sanction in 1128 with the help of the French St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Young nobles from all over Europe joined the Order and in time, thanks to gifts and land, it became extremely wealthy and powerful. As a purely private chivalrous and military order, it soon attained fame for its daring deeds during the Crusades against the Saracens, (Moslem Arabs from what is now Saudia Arabia.) The "uniform" of the Templars was easily recognized. They wore long, white, sleeveless mantles inscribed with a large Red Cross over their coats-of-mail.

The Crusades took place from 1095-1291. The Holy Land was under the political control of the Moslems. Imbued with religious fervor, the pilgrims/crusaders took off to free the Holy Land from the "heathen". The Moslems did not care that much about having all those "infidels" around anyway. There were eight Crusades, including a Children's Crusade, for heaven's sake!

Some 30,000 youngsters of an average age of twelve were recruited and left Germany in 1212, followed by 20,000 from France. Many of them died along the way, some were sold into slavery but a few did make it as far as Genoa, Italy. They appealed to Pope Innocent III who counseled them to go home. None of the Crusades was successful. We mortals commit such folly over such absurdities!

The Templars and the Hospitalers grew to be deadly rivals. With their enormous wealth and organization throughout the continent, the Templars became the bankers of Europe. Their mission was no longer solely military and usury was no longer illegal for Christians. Commanderies of knights, their men-at-arms and chaplains were very influential in England, France and Spain. Each Commandery had its own Superior, subordinate only to the Grand Master of the Order.

The special privileges afforded the Templars by the popes made them less than popular with secular priests who considered the knights to be too worldly. The Templars had a luxurious lifestyle that bordered on licentiousness. Their great wealth and financial dealings resulted in suspicion and ultimate hatred. King Philip IV of France was especially envious of their holdings and power. In 1307, a disgruntled former member charged the Templars with heresy and immorality.

King Philip enlisted the aid of Pope Clement V and investigative proceedings followed. Torture of the knights succeeded in eliciting confessions of horrendous deeds. The pope and the Council of Vienna quelled the order in 1312. The trials continued for two years, most of its "evidence" being extracted in the confines of the dungeons until The Grand Master, Jacque de Molay, and a number of others were burned at the stake in 1314.

The Templars property was seized and claimed by the their old arch-rivals, the Hospitalers. However, most of it actually ended up with Philip IV and King Edward of England. This was about the time the Inquisition was coming into full swing as widespread policy. It was not uncommon for anyone who had a beef with another to report that person to the proper authorities for questioning in the dungeon regarding heresy. A tough charge to prove or disprove.

I imagine there are quite large number of us these days that wouldn't mind if a few people were burned at the stake! Of course and fortunately, Amendment VIII of the Constitution prohibits any such thing as cruel and unusual punishment.

The Knights Templars are still around - sort of. Templars are part of the fraternal Masonic organization. In modified form it probably originated in eighteenth century Scotland or Ireland. It is doubtful that there are any direct ties to the old Order of the Knights Templar other than name. The Masons have been popular in all English-speaking countries since the beginning of the nineteenth century. To become a Templar, a member must have reached the "Royal Arch Degree" of Masonry and of course, subscribe to Christian principles. In a sense, the Templars and Masons are the granddaddies of fraternal lodges.

The Masons or Freemasons as they are also known have an interesting history somewhat shrouded in mystery, alluding to the stonemasons who built the Temple of King Solomon in antiquity. Those skilled artisans were gifted in geometry and architecture. Some of their illustrious members have been Mozart, Josef Haydn, Voltaire and Goethe in Europe and George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the United States.

The Masons and the Shriners, who are also part of the Masonic organization, engage in extensive charitable work. They are staunch supporters of medical research, public school education and are quite generous in any number of other charities. To become a Shriner, a member must already be either a Knights Templar or Thirty-second Degree Scottish Rite Mason. The full name of the Shriners is "The Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine."

One time when we were in Banff, Canada we stumbled on to their " First of July" celebration and parade. The Shriners were in the parade wearing a Fez on their heads, colorful pantaloon pants with scimitars tucked into their belts and turned-up pointy shoes. These costumes reflect the Arabic influence that the Knights Templar picked up on their crusades. Many of the knights spent years in the Holy Land trying to wrest it away from the Moslems.

An auxiliary Masonic organization for women is the "Order of the Eastern Star". The boys are the "Order of de Molays", the girls are the "Rainbow Girls". When I was in high school, I was a "Rainbow Girl". A girl was invited to join by an active member. The inductee went through a lengthy initiation ceremony and had to promise never to reveal the "secrets" of the order to anyone but other members. It is not likely that anyone would care about those "secrets" except people who didn't know what those "secrets" were.

There was a meeting every Monday night at the Masonic Lodge. About an hour's ritual opened the meeting, a short business meeting and another hour's ritual closed the meeting. I imagine the adult organizations have much more extensive business meetings however. The Rainbow Girls' functions were mostly social, such as formal dances. We each had a sorority type pin with a little chain on it to wear on our sweaters.

During World War II, we did fold bandages for the war effort on a regular basis. Back in those days, they did not have mass-produced bandages like we do today. We girls were given big rolls of gauze. We cut them and then folded them in specific ways into specific sizes. We had to wash our hands thoroughly and wear a white nurse-type kerchief on our heads to keep our hair from getting onto the bandages.

The Ice Age, the Stone Age, the Iron Age, the Bronze Age, jumping ahead to the Golden Age, then the Dark and Middle Ages, the Renaissance Age, the Industrial Age and the "Now What Age"? These are all designations of the rise of human civilization based on humanity's ability to learn how better to achieve goals. It is only in history we look back and name an Age. Just as in nature, there is the birth of one followed by the death of the previous one. In reality, there is no doubt an overlapping of gradual deterioration that heralds the coming of the next age. And where are we now? In the Atomic Age? Technology Age? Or are we on the cusp of a Wondrous Age of Accomplishment we cannot even imagine right now.

The early people of Britain, mostly Celts, were so called "pagans"; with "druids", "witches", "wizards" and such. When the Romans subjugated the British Isles in the first century AD they brought their religion of Roman mythology and of course imposed it on the people. They were never successful in conquering Scotland and Ireland, which was a mixed blessing. It saved a lot of bloodshed and the indigenous people were left alone to continue their culture and religion.

The Celtic political system, if one could call it that, consisted mainly of tribal councils or clans, usually at odds with each other with no cohesive unity. They remained "barbarians". Hence, they were not exposed to Roman law and institutions as well as any number of advanced organizational skills the Romans brought with them.

As we know, Constantine the Great was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. His reign marked a turning point in European history since he was largely responsible for the fact that Christianity became the predominant religion in the Western World. Constantine was born in what is now Serbia between 274 and 280 and lived until 337.

When the Roman Empire collapsed, Christianity remained in England yet the old Celtic religion re-emerged.

Way, way back in prehistoric times, there were Aryan-speaking people called Indo-European who lived around the Caspian Sea.  They fanned out in all directions, migrating to Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Hitler, in his ignorance, tried to convince equally ignorant people that the "Aryan Race" was pure and superior to all other "races".  Some present day "white supremacists" still cling to that belief.  Please note below what ultimately became of the so-called purity of the "Arian Race.". 

The Celts were prehistoric warlike people that probably originated somewhere between the Rhine and upper Danube River region in southeastern Germany during the Bronze Age, about 1200 BC. The so-called La T è ne Period of the Celts in the Iron Age lasted throughout the last five centuries BC. Around 500 BC they settled in England and Ireland from France. They spread and colonized all over Europe and the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Greece, Asia Minor and into southern Russia. In the third century they turned up fighting as mercenaries in Greece, Egypt and the Asian part of Turkey. In 390 BC the Celts defeated the Roman army and sacked Rome. The Romans later drove them back north of the Alps.

The Celts had quite a highly developed culture, language and body of literature. Their La T è ne Era gave its name to a creative art period. Their colonies gave rise to the great cities of Phoenecia and Carthage. Although they were not the first to invent and then develop speech sounds into subsequent written language , the Phoenicians advanced it and spread it throughout the Mediterranean through trade and colonization.   (See Appendix A.)

The Celts kept meticulous records of their genealogies. They did not have a specific culture at that time because they were split and scattered into many diverse tribes with different dialects. Thus, they never formed what is generally known as an empire.

The Greeks called them Keltoi ; the Romans, Gauls, and described the Celts as remarkably tall and muscular with light coloring. The Celts built the first known fortified castles in Europe. Evidence of their great wealth has been found in their elaborate burial mounds especially in northwestern Europe. The wooden lined chambers contained all manner of artifacts. Interred with their chieftains were found gold jewelry, helmets and ornamental swords inlaid with amber.

Competing German tribes and Roman advances gradually drove many Celts across France and into the British Isles. As most cultures did then, the Celts practiced polygamy. They had a curious custom. The king/chieftain had the duty/privilege of deflowering the bride on her wedding night before the bridegroom did. Rank does have its privileges! This practice was adopted throughout Europe and was known as the Droit du Seigneur.

Their society was divided into three classes: the king/chieftain of the clan and Druids, the warrior aristocracy, and farmers who were freemen. Slavery did not exist with these Celts and was rare in subsequent centuries of their descendants. The Druids handled the duties of religion and the law. They also educated the children of nobles and tended to the sacred oak groves. The early Celts did not have temples. Before St. Patrick's arrival, along with other gruesome human sacrifices, the Druids offered up the firstborn child of every family on a stone alter in the oak woods.

The Celts had an active social life that revolved around feasting, drinking home brewed barley beer, music, dancing, and lengthy story telling of their legends and genealogies. The wild imagination of the Celts told stories of leprechauns, fairies and the magic powers of the Druids. They were also quarrelsome, which inhibited protracted and concerted effort. This may account for why they never built an empire despite their widespread migrations.

Here are several interesting little tidbits. On the other side of the globe, separated by time, huge landmasses and vast oceans, the early Hawaiians had a similar culture with the exception of a written language. They migrated to the islands in either 400 AD or sometime in the ninth or tenth centuries, depending on which research source you want to believe. As a kind of dedication in laying the stone foundation for their heiaus, temples, the kahunas, priests, buried a slave alive at each corner in sacrifice to their multiple gods.

The Hawaiians also enjoyed the luau, a feast with music, dancing and chants chronicling their genealogies in numerous very lengthy verses. The luau actually began as a religious ceremony and only men danced the hula. In recent times, although some men still do a version of the fire dance, the tourists find pretty girls in ti leaf skirts more appealing.

All over the islands are legends about the Menehunes , "the little people" who built temples, roads and fishponds overnight. If the work were not completed by morning, it remained unfinished, so the fanciful stories go. Like the leprechauns, the Menehunes were also something of mischief-makers.

Another curious anomaly. The headdress of the ali'i , the Hawaiian king, was not a crown of any kind but a helmet made of prized yellow feathers with a crest almost identical to the metal helmets worn by Persian warriors and later, the Roman Centurions. They were shaped like exaggerated Mohawk haircuts. It could be that both the ali'i and the centurions took the idea from the comb of a rooster. Although why a leader would want to make himself look like a chicken is beyond me! The accouterments of fashion are always a mystery.

The Hawaiians had no written language. Hawaii is known to be the most isolated island nation on earth out in the middle of the Pacific. There is no imaginable possibility of contact between Hawaiians, Celts and Roman Centurions. The human psyche works in strange but often, parallel paths.

Meanwhile, back in the British Isles, during the fourth and fifth centuries, the Romans were being attacked from all directions. The undefeated Scots and Celts of Ireland raided from the west and the Picts from the north. The east and south were beset by Norse, Angle and Saxon pirates. The Romans had only a few legions to ward off the invaders. By 409, the Romans had little control and by 577 were gone.

The traditional story is that in the fifth century, the British King Vortigern requested that the Angles and the Saxons come fight against the Picts and Scots. But it is more likely they came as invaders. The Angles and Saxons were given or took land as a reward for their efforts and they moved into Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries after most of the Romans had left.

Saxons were Teutonic (German) people who originally lived in Schelswig, an area in the lower part of the Danish peninsula. They, along with the Angles and the Jutes, had notorious reputations as raiding pirates in the North Sea during late Roman times.

The Angles came from eastern Schleswig and the Jutes from the northern part, Jutland.

The Saxons established a large number of kingdoms in southern England; the East Saxons settled in Essex, the West Saxons, Wessex and the South Saxons, Sussex. The Wessex kingdom emerged as the most powerful and in time incorporated the others. Alfred the Great was a Wessex king from 878 to c. 900. Both the Angles and the Saxons were influential in the gradual growth of the English language and culture that survive today.

The Picts and Scots were both Celtic people who lived in the central and northern highlands of Scotland during Roman times. The name "Scot" is a Celtic word meaning "wanderer". The Picts were savagely dangerous raiders on the Roman territory and, later, against the Saxons, especially during the fifth century. In the ninth century the Scots defeated the Picts. As a separate people, the Picts lost their identity as they were integrated into the language and customs of the Scots.

The Britons were Celtic refugees from the Angles and Saxons. Some of them were enslaved, while others fled to Wales and Scotland.   A large number of Britons settled across the English Channel on the coast of France that would eventually bear their name - Brittany.

Legend says that King Arthur defeated the Saxons and went on to conquer Ireland, Iceland, Norway and Gaul (France). He also encountered 900 enemies, that's nine hundred, whom he took on at the same time and dispatched single-handedly with his Excalib u r sword. Maybe so, maybe not, who knows? Wadda guy!

The reality of daily life can be pretty boring.  Fanciful tales that are made up are usually much more entertaining.

The Picts, Celts, Scots, and Jutes are often still referred to as "barbarians" in history books. Yet the Angles, Saxon, Britons and later, Normans mingled their blood of "barbarians" to such an extent that one day they were fighting fierce battles and the next they were raising families. All together, they produced the people known today as the English.

From the Indo-Europeans to the Celts to the many other peoples who traveled far and wide, it is safe to say that there is really no such thing as a "pure" ethnic culture or race at this point in human history.  There has always been and no doubt always will be far too much "fraternizing with the enemy du jour."

St. Patrick was sent to Ireland in 432 to convert the people. Again, In 597 Pope Gregory I sent a small group of Augustinian monks to continue re-Christianizing England. They established monasteries especially in Ireland. The monks there are credited with transcribing and illustrating a vast body of manuscripts. These works preserved that knowledge to this day even though down through the ages many libraries were destroyed on the European Continent. The Irish monks of the seventh century produced the priceless manuscripts, the Book of Kells and Lindisfarne Gospels .

The dual between the power of the Christian Priests and the Celtic Druids battled on for about five hundred years! It wasn't settled, until the eleventh century. Wherever Christianity spread, it had to adapt to that country's temperament. In Ireland, like its people, Christianity became above all, passionate. It embraced the mystical aura of the island nation itself. The Irish Celts cheerfully transferred the magic powers of the Druids to the Priests; Bible parables to the stories of their own.

In Spain, the Christian Celts, called the Basques, responded to the Moslems and other invaders of their territory with the same stubborn resistance that the Irish Celts did toward the Romans and Anglo-Saxons. The indomitable spirit of the Celts to retain their identity is unstoppable.

All those eons since the Celts first traversed the length and breadth of Europe in the Bronze and Iron Ages, they were quietly and sometimes noisily continuing to enhance their culture, especially in art, music and literature. The Irish Celtic society was a hierarchy of families. Several families comprised a "sept". Several "septs" made up a clan and several clans, a tribe. Some tribe members were descended from a common ancestor denoted by the prefix "O'", meaning grandson. Other families used the prefix "Mac", meaning son and attached it to the family name.

During the tragic potato famines of 1845-46-48, rather than starve to death as a million of their countrymen did, the Irish emigrated to the United States by the thousands. When they were looking for work, especially in the Boston area, they were greeted with signs in business windows that read NINA. No Irish Need Apply.

Never mind. These hardy people persevered and went on to delight the world with their wit, poetry and music. Among their many distinguished descendants, three of them even became distinguished Presidents of the United States. The cream of every culture eventually rises to the top. Everyone is an Irishman on March 17, St. Paddy's Day.

From the end of the eighth century until early in the eleventh century the Atlantic Coast and England came under attack from the Scandinavians and "Northmen" whom the English lumped together as Danes. These raids ended with the conquest of England.

Thus began the short line of Danish Kings:

Canute (Cnut, Knut), born 994?, reigned from 1016-1035.

Harold I (Harefoot), born?, reigned from 1035-1040.

Hardecanute (Harthacnut) born 1018?, reigned 1040-1042.

Canute, the King of Denmark and Norway, came as a Danish conqueror and died an Englishman. He converted to Christianity and married the widow of the former Anglo-Saxon king. He was an able statesman. The Danes brought with them to England a mystical love of the sea and a dangerous lure for adventure.

Harold and Hardecanute were the son and grandson of Canute. They were both so inept that the Saxon Kings were restored. The Saxon King Edward the Confessor reigned from 1042-1066 and his son, Harold II was killed in the Battle of Hastings.

After the Romans had abandoned the British Isles, they were forced to retreat from Gaul also. Western Europe was then wide open to the Franks of Germany for unification by conquest. During the same time frame as Empress Irene in the Byzantine Empire, Harun al-Rashid, the Islamic Monarch of the Thousand and One Nights stories and a little later than Tsuan Tsung in China, Charlemagne or "Charles the Great" (742-814) rose to power. He was twenty-nine and of the House of Carolingians. That Dynasty reigned from 614 - 987.

Charlemagne was a formidable figure, standing at six feet, four inches tall. Following his predecessors, in his lifetime he had four wives, five or more mistresses and eighteen children. His birthplace is unknown although his native tongue was German. He could speak Latin and understood Greek, but never learned to write with much proficiency.

He set out to conquer and Christianize Bavaria. And that he did! He personally led some fifty-three successful campaigns. Next he waged eighteen bloody campaigns with the German Saxons fighting as fiercely as he did. The defeated Saxons were offered Christian baptism or death. Charlemagne beheaded 4500 Saxons in one day. He outdid King Arthur!

If someone kills one person, he is called a murderer and is either executed or sent to prison. If someone kills ten people, he is declared a lunatic and sent to a mental institution. If someone kills a hundred people, or a thousand or more, he is hailed as a hero! If someone goes around talking about peace and love, he gets himself crucified. Now, how does any of this compute on the logic scale?

Charlemagne's first incursions into Spain were not successful. The Celtic Basques, who had held off the Moslems, did not welcome the Franks. In fact, they ambushed the army in the Pyranees' pass of Navarre and butchered most of the men. Several hundred years later the Frankish Hruodland of that battle became the hero of France's epic poem, Chanson de Roland , "The Song of Roland". Charlemagne did go back and subdued much of Spain however. Remember Carcassone? When he retired from war at age sixty-three his Christianized Empire, except for the British Isles, stretched from the Baltic to the Adriatic Sea.

As remarkable as Charlemagne's achievements on the battlefield were, his genius was better served as an administrator. Some of his major accomplishments were in the areas of justice, such as the jury system we have today. He established a Magna C harta for the people four centuries before England did the same for its aristocracy.

With trade restricted by the raiding Viking pirates in the north and west, the Moslems in the south and east, the ports of Western Europe were effectively closed. The kingdom turned inward to sustain itself. Always the forward-looking king, Charlemagne had a dream to build a canal to connect the Rhine and the Danube Rivers. With the completion of the canal connecting the Danube and Main Rivers, his dream was finally realized in 1992, some eleven hundred years later! My husband and I have had the privilege of sailing on a river cruise all across Europe from Vienna to Amsterdam.

Appalled at his own poor literacy, Charlemagne threw himself into establishing schools for the lay people to learn to read and write; freemen and serf alike, as well as the clergy. He organized schools throughout his empire.

Charlemagne promoted learning in the monasteries that greatly increased the number of Bibles, all in Latin, of course. He was instrumental in reforming script in common usage in the handwriting of many languages today. The number and level of books and scholars grew by leaps and bounds all over Europe. He organized the curriculum that loosely still remains worldwide in grammar, rhetoric, logic and the sciences of mathematics, astronomy and music.

His schools were the very first free and general educational systems in history since the priests who conducted the schools were forbidden to charge for their services.

Charlemagne brought scholars from all over Europe to man the schools. The system did not produce many great writers but did raise the level of common literacy and paved the way for what would become the fine European Universities. And it did enhance the quality and standard of living for the people. However, it never occurred to him to educate half of his people - the female of the species.

Charlemagne built several palaces. Aachen, his favored capital, was home to his special one. It stood very near the current border between Germany and France. The chapel there was patterned after the Byzantine models. It withstood over a thousand years of storm and strife only to be reduced to rubble in World War II.

A devout Christian, he gave generously to the Church, even to the point of placing two-thirds of all his personal estate to the Church in his will. He acceded to the clergy their wishes and made it law for the people to tithe ten percent of their income from the land to the Church. Then he turned around and obliged the bishops to support many of his governmental programs with "gifts".

In almost every sense, he served the Church, but used it for his own purposes. This character trait was typical of Charlemagne. He instituted a law that decreed that abandon infants and children become slaves of whoever found and raised them. He continued laws against the Jews that were overtly discriminating yet shielded them for their usefulness as merchants, farmers and financiers. His personal doctor was a Jew.

The Holy Roman Empire had shrunk to little more than the Vatican itself. Italy was governed by small clusters of autonomous city-states. (Venice and the Lombards, etc.) The prestige of the papacy was slipping away to the power of Byzantium. The Eastern Patriarchs had for some time been paying more homage to the Byzantine Emperor than to the pope in Rome. As a matter of fact, the title of "Holy Roman Emperor" had been traded back and forth in a power struggle between Rome and Constantinople since Valens in 364 and Zeno 474.   Zeno was last of the Roman Emperors in Constantinople and the first purely Byzantine Emperor.

With little security for even physical safety, someone in the Vatican came up with the idea of transferring the title "Holy Roman Empire" from Constantinople to the power, stability and prestige then enjoyed by Charlemagne's Europe. A divided Empire of the East and Empire of the West could leave Europe wide open to further conquest by the Arab Moslems . It didn't hurt that Irene was the empress at that time, so there was no "emperor" in Byzantium anyway, right?

The Vatican still considered the Greek or Eastern Orthodox Church a schism. If all of Europe could unify under the magical name of "Holy Roman Empire", then perhaps the civilizations of the ancient world could be Christianized and the Arab Moslems defeated. The cultures of the Persian, the Greeks and Asia Minor would be under the Christian political umbrella, and that could only help to bring Europe further out of the Dark Ages. A grand scheme if they could pull it off!

As we have seen, by extension, religious leaders must have the patronage of the political authority for the faith to gain support of the populous; i.e. Persia's Zoroaster - Vashtpa; Manes - Shapur I; Mazdak - Kavadh I; Christianity, Constantine - Pope Leo III;  Hus - Wenceslas; Luther - the Prince Elector of Saxony; Church of England - Henry VIII; Russian Romanov Dynasty - Patriarch Philaret and his son Michael.  "Cuius regio eius religio - the religion of the region must be that of the ruler."₈

One notable exception is Mohammed and Islam.  His was what we would now consider a "grass roots" effort in which he emerged as the religious and political leader after he defeated the Quarish in his razzias turned jihads - Holy Wars.

I t wasn't until The American Founding Fathers, principally Thomas Jefferson, broke the mold and wrote the Constitution with no provisions for a formal state religion and guaranteeing religious freedom.  France followed suit in 1793 in a considerably more violent and bloody revolution from within.  The predominant informal state religion stayed in both countries however, with their inherent predispositions.

Getting back on track with Charlemagne, i n 795, Leo III was selected Pope. The Vatican disliked him and through a series of intrigues, managed to unseat and send him to prison. He escaped and found refuge at Charlemagne's Court. Charlemagne then marched to Rome and reclaimed the papal throne for Leo. In return, the pope crowned Charlemagne the "Emperor of the West" in 800.

The title gave Charlemagne enormous power as the divinely appointed leader of all Christian people. The Priest-King, ruling over the Church-State, was in the position of wielding spiritual as well as temporal authority throughout the empire. Thus, the Franks became the major force of power in Europe in 800. The Holy Roman Empire once again grew to be the single political head in concert with the Church. This bold concept was the cornerstone that ushered in the idea of the Divine State and the Divine Right of Kings that would continue until the collapse of the Hapsburg Dynasty of Austria during World War I.

The Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople and the Islamic Caliph of Bagdad eventually recognized Charlemagne's title. Charlemagne went so far as to offer Empress Irene marriage in order to cement the two empires. Irene fell from power so that was that.

Ultimately, the Turks defeated the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church split permanently from the Roman Catholic Church. The Holy Roman Empire was never able to subdue Arab Moslems in the Middle East. However, Charlemagne's gifts to the European Continent can never be underestimated.

It is a curious dichotomy that throughout history, great leaders accomplished heroic strides in the advancement of their people; yet they were equally capable of horrendous cruelty in order to maintain their power.

This account is thoroughly sanitized compared to the detailed descriptions of daily life in all of Europe during Medieval times. Despite the advances made by Charlemagne, all classes of the people lived in abject squalor. They seldom bathed. They were disease-ridden with vermin and rodents as everyday companions. Plunder and ravage were the order of the day. For the most part, the people were ignorant and superstitious. The days of the lawlessness of Old West movies look like a Sunday school picnic in light of the brutality of those times despite the heroic efforts of the Church.

"The legacy included evil as well as good. We have not fully recovered from the Dark Ages: the insecurity that excites greed, the fear that fosters cruelty, the poverty that breeds filth and ignorance, the filth that generates disease, the ignorance that begets credulity, superstition, occultism - these still survive amongst us: and the dogmatism that festers into intolerance and Inquisitions only awaits opportunity of permission to oppress, kill, ravage and destroy." ₉

The sheer force of Charlemagne's intellect and energy held his empire together. After his death, it slowly disintegrated into petty little kingdoms. The borders of Europe were continually being reshuffled by the whims of invaders or nobles. This still happens around the world today, doesn't it? When the last Carolingian King Louis V died without an heir, the nobles and bishops elected Hugh Capet King of France. The independent duchies were often more powerful than the king.

In the same way that Charlemagne unified the Holy Roman Empire by armed conquest, the House of Capet (987-1328) brought France together as an independent country. The French Capetian Dynasty held sway either directly or collaterally from Hugh Capet (c. 938-996) until the French Revolution in 1792. Remember Philip IV who helped bring down the Knights Templar and made off with much of their riches? He was of the Capet House.

Incidentally, the House of Such-and-so or Dynasty of Such-and-so is the designation for the surname or family name of the kings. By custom, the kings were and are always called by their given names. Further, intermarriage between royal families all over Europe has always been common practice.

For a century the Scandinavians, Norse and "Northmen" collectively known as Vikings made frequent raids especially along the coasts of Normandy, France and England. Their superior skills at shipbuilding and their large and swift crafts gave them a commanding lead over the seas. These raids that continued for months at a time gave Charlemagne headaches right along and extended into the Capetian Dynasty. On a number of occasions, the Vikings conquered and settled in various parts of Europe. And of course they also made it all the way to America long before Columbus.

The Vikings built large fleets and often wintered in northern England and Normandy, France. The local nobles were forced to pay them tribute to circumvent plundering attacks. In the process, the Viking expeditions turned into colonization that contributed to the already diverse gene pool. The Vikings, also known as the Norse, in Normandy became enthusiastic Christians. By the mid-eleventh century, however, the Viking age was over.

William I , also known as William the Conqueror, was the illegitimate son of Robert, the Duke of Normandy. There is some evidence that Robert was legally descended from one of the many Viking raiders. There is a touching story of how Robert became enamored with a Danish maiden, Harlette, the daughter of a tanner. He loved his mistress tenderly and the son she gave him was dubbed William the Bastard. In remorse for his sexual transgressions, Robert left for Rome to receive absolution from the pope for his sins. He died en route but before he left he acknowledged and named his young son as heir to his title of Duke.

William didn't have a prayer of becoming King of France because of his illegitimacy. In fact, after Robert died William fought, literally by force, with the nobles for twelve years to establish his claim of authority as Duke. Finally he succeeded in squashing the nobles objections in 1047. William was an ambitious fellow.

William visited his cousin, Edward the Confessor, King of England. Edward the Confessor, by the way, began the construction of Westminster Abbey. Edward promised that when he died, William would succeed him as King of England. Harold, Earl of Wessex and brother-in-law to Edward, promised to support William as king. But when Edward died, Harold reneged and claimed the throne for himself. Of course this infuriated William.

William garnered the support of his overlord Henry I, King of France, as well as the blessing of Pope Alexander II. William was determined. He invaded England, won the decisive Battle at Hastings and became King of England. This was the well-known Norman Conquest since William was from the province of Normandy on the Western Coast of France across the English Channel from England.

The Norman Conquest was an important event that changed the course of English history. It brought England into the main stream of European development and bound the country closer to the continent. The Normans brought a political genius superior to that of the English way of dealing with governmental problems. William introduced into England the more advanced and systematic form of Feudalism that he was familiar with in France.

The effects on the Church were probably as great or greater in England than they had been in France. William was always a brave fighter and effective general, but he turned out to be an excellent administrator too. He gave England a peaceful and centralized efficient government.

England was always and still is to a certain extent somewhat aloof from Continental Europe. Initially the distance of the English Channel cut England off from the continent except by boat. Language is also an important factor. It is a long tradition. Note that England dragged her feet in joining Europe in the Euro currency.

William was the first of the four Norman kings:

William I, the Conqueror, born 1027, reigned 1066-1087.

William II Rufus, born 1056?, reigned 1087-1100.

Henry I Beauclerc, born 1068, reigned 1100-1135.

Stephen, born 1097?, reigned 1135-1154.

Stephen died without an heir. Henry I's daughter, Margaret claimed the throne for her son, Henry II. Margaret was married to Geoffrey Plantagenent. Thus the House or Dynasty of Plantagenent was established. There were eight Plantagenent kings.

Henry II was a most effective king. Among many other organizational reforms, Henry II introduced to England the judicial procedure by adapting the continental jury system of trials for both criminal and private litigation. It was also in the field of law that Henry II came into conflict with the Church.

He forbade appeals to the papal court, made all relation to the Church's land holding on a par with the nobles, and asserted the right to control the bishops. This caused a big flap with his recently appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas á Becket. The controversy lasted six years until á Becket was murdered by some of Henry II's partisans. The Church retaliated by making á Becket a saint. This is a very famous story that has inspired many books and a few movies.

Richard I the Lionhearted was the oldest surviving son of Henry II. So by blood, anyway, he was more French and possibly Viking than English. A Plantagenent King, sometimes better known by the French name Richard Coeur-de-Lion , Richard I was born in 1157 and reigned for only ten years from 1189 to 1199.

Henry II's governmental agencies functioned so well that Richard found it necessary to come to England only twice during his reign, each time for only a few months. The rest of the time he spent with the Third Crusade on the continent and in the Middle East. In 1192 he was captured and held for ransom for over a year in Durnstein Castle in Wachau, the "Nibelungen Region" of Austria.

This region is the focal point of Richard Wagner's epic "Ring" Cycle of operas, the crowning achievement of his musical genius. He not only composed the music but also wrote the libretto.

There was a curious duality to Richard Wagner' personality. As a person he was abrasive, devoutly anti-Semitic and amoral. He deserted his own and stole his best friend's wife. He was always heavily in debt and barely one step ahead of his creditors and debtors prison. And worst of all, he was an unsufferable bore. Yet he composed some of the most beautiful and soul stirring music ever written. Another strange dichotomy.

Sir Walter Scott published a novel in 1819 entitled "Ivanhoe". The book revolves around the author's favored theme - how best do defeated people go about accommodating themselves to their conquerors. Cedric, a Saxon father disinherits his son, "Ivanhoe", the hero of the story. Cedric is outraged because Ivanhoe has been in league with the English monarch , Richard Coeur-de-Lion , who is, of course, Norman.

The Knights Templar and King Richard's evil brother, John, capture Ivanhoe, Cedric, and the beautiful Jewess, Rebecca. The Saxons led by the Black Knight, Robin Hood and his band of merry men defeat the wicked villains. The Black Knight turns out to be King Richard who frees Rebecca from being burned at the stake, banishes the Templars and in the end Cedric and Ivanhoe are reconciled. They all live happily ever after.

This charming story has been played out in movies innumerable times. It is interesting that Richard the Lionhearted usually rides into the scene of rescue on his white steed wearing a helmet and the long white sleeveless mantle with the big Red Cross inscribed on it on over his coat-of-mail, the traditional "uniform" of the Knights Templar. Accuracy in the re-telling of history more often than not becomes a little convoluted!

Taking the long view of history, it seems as if the human race is comprised of a bunch of very slow learners! When two groups get together for one reason or another, they invariably vie for dominance. Xenophobia, the fear and/or hatred of foreigners or strangers, sets in. The word xenophobia itself is derived from Greek words that are the origin of the concept. So they start fighting. Sooner or later they either kill each other off or get tired of fighting.

Over the centuries they get to know each other, intermarry and get along fine until the next group of strangers comes along. They hide behind religious or political affiliation to justify sometimes dastardly behavior. But sooner or later they have to resolve differences and actually become buddies. Wouldn't it be nice if we could skip all the xenophobia and fighting and go straight to buddie-buddie. It would save a lot of grief, destruction and resources .

"We shall have to remind ourselves at every step that our tastes are the fallible product of our local and limited traditions and environments; and that we do ourselves and foreign nations injustice when we judge them, or their arts, by standards and purposes natural to our life and alien to their own."₁₀

We humans are capable of descending to the depth of cruel depravity toward each other. We can also ascend to great heights of altruistic achievement. I am reminded of the words of Teilhard de Chardin, "The fires of hell and the fires of heaven are not two different forces, but contrary manifestations of the same energy." ₁₁