THE AGE OF CHIVALRY: A Fortunate Find
I'm reading a book called The Age of Chivalry, published by the National Geographic Society. I got it at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago for $1.99 (shameless promotion). At first I picked it out because, of course, of its title but also because of its two tone red cloth textured cover with gold-colored inlay in calligraphy on the side. Turning to the front I was even more intrigued by a gold-colored inlay of a slender knight in crusader-style armor holding his hands together in front of him in a praying or "namaste" position and who appears to be standing on a small lion. I opened it and flipped through it a little. It was like a National Geographic article from the late sixties (which I used to love to read as a teenager), but longer, and about the history of the middle ages. I thumbed through rich photographs, illustrations, and reproductions of ancient art. I put it back once after looking at it, thinking that I probably wouldn't read it, but I kept thinking about it as I looked around the store for some serving trays and for a small gift for my son. Eventually I wandered back to the book section and decided to buy The Age of Chivalry after a little more inspection and deliberation. Contrary to my pessimistic prediction, I have been reading it and I've been finding it mostly pretty fascinating and even important (at least a little) in helping me to understand some of the events surrounding the state of religions and the creation of Christianity in the early days of "Christendom" in Europe and surrounding areas.
Something that I found especially interesting in reading The Age of Chivalry today was in reading about the "circus factions" during the early part of Justinian's reign as emperor of Byzantium in the 6th century. There were two political parties, the Blues and the Greens, who started out as sports' fan clubs for chariot races at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
The Age of Chivalry's describes the Blues and the Greens like this: "The Blues, representing religious orthodoxy and conservatism, had the blessing of the upper classes. The Greens, more radical, enlisted the mob's support," (p.30, The Age of Chivalry, 1969, National Geographic Society) (Sounds a little like the political party climate of the U.S. two party system. I wouldn't say that the democrats are that "radical", though, but they are more attuned to the common peoples' needs, at least in theory, but that is another story!). According to this text, the opposing parties , divided into sections by party, would yell their ideas and complaints at the emperor in his box at sporting events at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, where chariot races were held for the viewing pleasure of sometimes 50,000 spectators. According the book, the Blues and Greens helped guard the city and formed a municipal militia. The Age of Chivalry also says that they defended the city from Barbarians at least a few times but that they also terrorized the streets! "Rowdy youths of the Blue party, sporting weird haircuts 'in the style of the Huns' and purple striped tunics with immense sleeves, delighted in attacks upon citizens," (p. 32). I'm getting kind of A Clockwork Orange vibe here, aristocratic young punks, dressed in strange clothing, dedicated to violence exacted upon average citizens for no apparent reason. As near as I can tell from my scant research, a "Hunnic" haircut, to a Roman, was basically a mullet. I saw some recreations of Hun appearance on a website where they were shown to have had haircuts that were mohawks on top and mullets in the back which would have been awesome in its connotations for the history of the haircuts of the modern punk movement but I'm not sure how accurate these recreations were-- but I digress. Maybe I'll write more on the haircuts, later.
Apparently there is some controversy about whether the Blues and the Greens actually formed a militia and whether they incited violence or were simply glad to join in violence once it had broken out. I found a book for sale on Amazon called Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium by Alan Cameron, which, according to a reviewer on Amazon, is the "ultimate source on the subject. The author reviews every primary source we have on the factions and in the process, challenges some off the most common theories associated with them," (Florentius, Jan. 10, 2007, http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Factions-Byzantium-University-monograph/dp/0198148046). So maybe the Blues and the Greens weren't quite as outrageous as The Age of Chivalry makes them out to be, but I still think they were pretty bizarre and are worth learning more about. The idea of them sitting in a "stadium" on opposing sides and yelling their opinions at Justinian is just pretty hilarious to me. I wonder if he heard any that he liked and decided to incorporate them into his affairs of state. (Imagine if we could do that today with our president!) I would think that things might have escalated pretty quickly during these events and could have easily gotten out of hand but (if these events actually took place) maybe there were guards who had a way of keeping people from getting too rowdy, like whacking someone with the broad side of a sword or flinging a spear at the offending rabble if someone started hurling vegetables.
I am excited to continue with The Age of Chivalry and I'm glad I went back and picked it up from the Goodwill bookshelf. I look forward to discovering new historical oddities and atrocities within its pages. Admittedly, there is probably some revision, I imagine there would be in just about any history book, but, such as with the story of the Blues and the Greens, the book is getting me started in whetting my appetite for these records of events while the handy internet is always there to help me to confirm and deny what I learn.
Something that I found especially interesting in reading The Age of Chivalry today was in reading about the "circus factions" during the early part of Justinian's reign as emperor of Byzantium in the 6th century. There were two political parties, the Blues and the Greens, who started out as sports' fan clubs for chariot races at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
The Age of Chivalry's describes the Blues and the Greens like this: "The Blues, representing religious orthodoxy and conservatism, had the blessing of the upper classes. The Greens, more radical, enlisted the mob's support," (p.30, The Age of Chivalry, 1969, National Geographic Society) (Sounds a little like the political party climate of the U.S. two party system. I wouldn't say that the democrats are that "radical", though, but they are more attuned to the common peoples' needs, at least in theory, but that is another story!). According to this text, the opposing parties , divided into sections by party, would yell their ideas and complaints at the emperor in his box at sporting events at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, where chariot races were held for the viewing pleasure of sometimes 50,000 spectators. According the book, the Blues and Greens helped guard the city and formed a municipal militia. The Age of Chivalry also says that they defended the city from Barbarians at least a few times but that they also terrorized the streets! "Rowdy youths of the Blue party, sporting weird haircuts 'in the style of the Huns' and purple striped tunics with immense sleeves, delighted in attacks upon citizens," (p. 32). I'm getting kind of A Clockwork Orange vibe here, aristocratic young punks, dressed in strange clothing, dedicated to violence exacted upon average citizens for no apparent reason. As near as I can tell from my scant research, a "Hunnic" haircut, to a Roman, was basically a mullet. I saw some recreations of Hun appearance on a website where they were shown to have had haircuts that were mohawks on top and mullets in the back which would have been awesome in its connotations for the history of the haircuts of the modern punk movement but I'm not sure how accurate these recreations were-- but I digress. Maybe I'll write more on the haircuts, later.
Apparently there is some controversy about whether the Blues and the Greens actually formed a militia and whether they incited violence or were simply glad to join in violence once it had broken out. I found a book for sale on Amazon called Circus Factions: Blues and Greens at Rome and Byzantium by Alan Cameron, which, according to a reviewer on Amazon, is the "ultimate source on the subject. The author reviews every primary source we have on the factions and in the process, challenges some off the most common theories associated with them," (Florentius, Jan. 10, 2007, http://www.amazon.com/Circus-Factions-Byzantium-University-monograph/dp/0198148046). So maybe the Blues and the Greens weren't quite as outrageous as The Age of Chivalry makes them out to be, but I still think they were pretty bizarre and are worth learning more about. The idea of them sitting in a "stadium" on opposing sides and yelling their opinions at Justinian is just pretty hilarious to me. I wonder if he heard any that he liked and decided to incorporate them into his affairs of state. (Imagine if we could do that today with our president!) I would think that things might have escalated pretty quickly during these events and could have easily gotten out of hand but (if these events actually took place) maybe there were guards who had a way of keeping people from getting too rowdy, like whacking someone with the broad side of a sword or flinging a spear at the offending rabble if someone started hurling vegetables.
I am excited to continue with The Age of Chivalry and I'm glad I went back and picked it up from the Goodwill bookshelf. I look forward to discovering new historical oddities and atrocities within its pages. Admittedly, there is probably some revision, I imagine there would be in just about any history book, but, such as with the story of the Blues and the Greens, the book is getting me started in whetting my appetite for these records of events while the handy internet is always there to help me to confirm and deny what I learn.
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