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In 1486 an ambitious Dominican monk and an inquisitor Heinrich Kramer decided to write an extraordinary manuscript. He wanted to prove in his work the existence oft witchcraft and that the majority of those who were practicing witchcraft were women. Kramer’s document was supposed to serve as some kind of manual for authorities who would hunt witches, find them in local population and “deal” with them accordingly.

As a web analyst I tried to review Kramer’s advertising and marketing “campaign”. The guy was a master crook of his times. Here is what he did.

He spent over a year to complete his project and as a result produced an infamous, opportunistic treatise named “The Hammer of Witches” (in Latin, Malleus Maleficarum). Kramer understood that he was too insignificant for Catholic church, so he decided to add the illustrious name that would give his manuscript credibility. So he added as a co-author the Inquisitor of Germany Jacob Sprenger without the permission of the latter.

After theory comes practice. Thus, equipped with this diabolical manual Kramer tried to unleash a huge anti-witchcraft campaign in his local area but was blocked by authorities. The ambitious Dominican monk added the papal bull on witchcraft as the preface for his book to make it look as the sign of approval from the Pope of Rome. But this did not help him much either.

In search of powerful endorsement Kramer submitted his book to the review of the University of Cologne but failed again. The theologists of the University condemned The Hammer of Witches as unethical and illegal work. This did not prevent Kramer to insert a fake endorsement from the University in his creation.

Undoubted forgeries in the book made Catholic church to ban it completely in the 1490. However, even the Church could not prevent it to become the bestseller of the ignorant masses of the Medieval Europe.

Witch hunters and inquisitors loved The Hammer of Witches and used it as guidance extensively. Up until 1669 it was published almost forty times in multiple editions and was translated in all major European languages.

One of the most interesting forgeries in the medieval times is the so called manuscript Canon Episcopi. This infamous document played a sad role in the birth of inquisition and witch hunts that took place all over Europe. I found about it in the archives of my web analytics company.  Canon Episcopi was first mentioned in the beginning of the 10th century by religious scholars who assumed that it was written during the some religious council of Anquira in 314.  Needless to say, that such a council never happened. In fact, the manuscript was some kind of Frankish composition. It did not prevent Catholic church from treating Canon Episcopi  as a canon law for centuries until the views on European witchcraft began to change dramatically.

So why this manuscript added fire to the later witch craze of medieval Europe? The Frankish author described in it Pagan worship of the Roman goddess Diana. In several paragraphs he was telling the audience that some women became the “instruments of Satan” by fooling other people about their participation in goddess Diana’s wild hunt. In their stories during certain specified nights they would travel on the backs of the animals great distances, serving goddess Diana and obeying her orders.  The author concluded, that thanks to these “wicked” women stories, people leave Christian faith and fall into pagan error.

Anonymous author called this worship as superstition and phantasm, but, medieval theologians used it as a link to non-existent witchcraft beliefs of their own times. This allowed Catholic church to create a theological position of witchcraft based on this pre Christian descriptions of pagan beliefs. Religious scholars did have very vivid imagination, so they did their best to reconcile Canon Episcopi with their own views on witchcraft that they considered both real and effective.

In the middle of the 15th century through the ways unknown to us, famous organist Antonio Squarcialupi got hold of truly invaluable manuscript. On his death bed Antonio passed this manuscript to his nephew, then the latter passed it to his inheritors. So the document was still in the family until it found its way into the estate of Giuliano de’ Medici, who gave it to the Biblioteca Palatina in the early 16th century. And at the end of the 18th century the manuscript passed into the ownership of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

Although the manuscript still says in gold letters that its owner is Antonio Squarcialupi and even bears currently his name as the Squarcialupi Codex, originally, it had nothing to do with him. The manuscript was compiled in the Florentine monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, probably in the beginning of the fifteenth century. At least this is what the archives of my local web analytics company claim.

What’s so special about this document, you may ask? Well, first of all, it is the single largest primary source of music of the early Italian Renaissance that took place in the 14th century, known to the experts and specialists as Trecento. This treasure contains of 216 parchment folios, richly illuminated and in good condition. All complete pieces of music are preserved. 353 compositions in the Codex are all secular and belongs to the famous composers of the Trecento such as Francesco Landini, Bartolino da Padova, Niccolò da Perugia, Andrea da Firenze, Jacopo da Bologna, Lorenzo da Firenze, Gherardello da Firenze, Donato da Cascia and others.

The document is priceless. Imagine, that somewhere in the 27th century new generations of people would discover something similar, like all-star catalog of all truly famous composers of the 20th century. And that would be the only book around at this distant future!

In the next blog entry I will tell you about the other part of the heritage that is called Rossi Codex and some mysteries related to both manuscripts.

One of the most famous forgeries of the Dark Ages was the manuscript called the Donation of Constantine. I found this story while going through some internet research for my local web analytics company. This fake Roman imperial edict was evidently devised in the second part of the 8th century for the Pope of Rome Stephen II.

The Donation of Constantine t was used by Catholic church for centuries as the support for its territorial claims.  It believed blindly in the authenticity of the famous manuscript. Only in the second part of the fifteenth century, with the revival of Classical scholarship and textual critique, the Church had begun to realize that the document could not possibly be genuine.

In the forgery Roman emperor Constantine allegedly grants to the Popes of Rome dominion over lands in Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa, the city of Rome and the entire Western Roman Empire. The manuscript tells that all these territories are presented a gift of the first Christian emperor to the pope Sylvester.  All these named lands were a one gigantic “present” from the grateful emperor to the pope  for instructing him in the Christian faith, baptizing him, and even miraculously curing Constantine of leprosy.

Pope Stephen II was a shrewd diplomat. He successfully used the forgery to create the foundation of the Papal States. He crossed into Gaul with this manuscript and presented a copy to the new king of Franks Pepin the Short. Pope managed to gain king’s support against Lombards who occupied former Byzantine territories in Italy and threatened to push the Pope out of Rome. In 756 Pepin and his Frankish army forced the Lombards to surrender their conquests to the pope of Rome. These lands would become the Papal States and would be the basis of the Papacy’s secular power for the next eleven centuries.

Over the years the popularity of Varangian Guard in Byzantium grew so much, that these mercenaries and former pirates received a very prestigious title in the empire that can be translated from Greek as Great Companions. The Varangian guard was stationed primarily around Constantinople. Most of the guardsmen relied on their long axes as their main weapon, although they were also skilled swordsmen and archers as well. They were also famous for their penchant for drinking.

In 989 general Bardas Phocas rebelled against emperor Basil II. According to the true historic facts, Basil with his fierce Varangian guard landed at Chrysopolis to meet the  rebels face to face. Sources say, that as soon as the rebellious general saw what he would have to deal with, he turned blue in the face and died of a stroke in full view of his opponent. Seeing that Bardas was lying dead on the field, his troops turned and fled,  while being pursued by Vikings who were cheerfully hacking adversaries to pieces.

After the successful invasion of England by the Normans the guard began to see increased inclusion of Anglo-Saxons and Danes.  Thousands of them started arriving to the Byzantine empire and enrolling into service.

Overall, Varangian guard was quite a peculiar and and unusual bunch of people, whose loyalties  lay with the position of Emperor, not the man that sat on the throne. In 969 an  Emperor Nicephorus II was assassinated in his palace. A servant had managed to call for the Varangian guard while the Emperor was being attacked, but when Vikings arrived he was already dead. Without any hesitation they instantly knelt before the emperor’s murderer John Tzimisces and hailed him as Emperor.  Their logic was the following: they would defend the late emperor if he was alive, but now that he was dead there was no point avenging him. Besides, they had a new master in the house.

Varangian Guard ended its existence in 1204. It happened  during Fourth Crusade, when the army of knights attacked Constantinople. In fact, Vikings turned out to be the only part of the Byzantium army that successfully defended part of the city. Contemporary sources say that the fighting was very violent and there was hand to hand fight with axes and swords.  After the capture the Varangian Guard was disbanded.

Since the times of the Roman Empire, praetorian guard very often played an infamous role of replacing one ruler with the other. Especially, if the new guy promised to pay the praetorians more. This practice survived even after Roman Empire split in two and new Byzantine Empire was created.

In 976 Bazil II became the ruler of the empire. He had the utmost distrust for his native guardsmen, whose loyalties shifted all the time, so he was seeking the solution to protect himself and avoid fatal consequences. And he found it: he hired Vikings, mostly of Swedish origin, to become his personal bodyguards. This new force became known as the Varangian Guard. As the years went by, new recruits from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway kept a predominantly Scandinavian cast to Varangian Guard up until the late 11th century. That kind of “employment” became so popular in Scandinavia, that special medieval law was created there stating that no one could inherit the estate of a recruit who was staying in Byzantium.

Over the years, Varangian Guard proved itself to be an irreplaceable special force of Byzantine emperors. And they had one of the greatest and unique perks for their service. When the Byzantine Emperor died, the Varangians had the unique right of running to the imperial treasury and taking as much gold and as many gems as they could carry. This privilege known in Old Norse as “palace pillaging” enabled many Varangians to return home as wealthy men. And, in return, it encouraged even more Vikings to enlist in the Varangian Guard.

Everybody knows a novel by Daniel Dafoe that is known as Robinson Crusoe. This book had been all-time bestseller at the times when there was no such word as “bestseller” itself. In fact, by the end of the 19th century, no book in the history of Western literature had spawned more editions, spin-offs, and translations than Robinson Crusoe. There had been more than seven hundred such alternative versions, including children’s versions with mainly pictures and no text. Hundreds of adaptations in dozens of languages, had been published - from The Swiss Family Robinson to Luis Buñuel’s film adaptation.

But there are several historical facts unknown to general public. First of all the full title of the book was not Robinson Crusoe. When the novel was published in April 25, 1719 it had the following title: The Life and strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself.

In Hollywood movie adaptations of the novel somehow Robinson Crusoe is a cast away somewhere new African continent, this Friday is of African origin. But in the book Robinson Crusoe was most certainly based in the Caribbean. Since author mentions that the Crusoe’s island was almost in the mouth of the river Orinoco, it was probably the island of Tobago, since that island is near the mouth of the river Orinoco, and in sight of the island of Trinidad.

And this is what modern public most definitely don’t know. Daniel Defoe wrote a sequel to the first book which had another long title: THE FARTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE; Being the Second and Last Part OF HIS LIFE, And of the Strange Surprizing Accounts of his Travels Round three Parts of the Globe. Written by Himself.

But wait! Here is more… There is even the third book written by Daniel Defoe with the title Serious Reflections of Robinson Crusoe. That book had really nothing with the adventures of Robinson as the first two books. It represents a series of moral essays. What has that got to do with Robinson, you may ask? Well Daniel Defoe just attached the name Crusoe to increase sales of this book and to attract the attention of the readers. .

People usually say, that there is no such thing as luck. And even if there is luck, it is always greatly aided and abetted by the application of intelligence and the acquisition of reliable information. Yet, the story that I am going to tell you shows that throughout history there were some people who were haunted by luck, even if they may not really deserve it.

But here comes Timothy Dexter, an American businessmen, who nicknamed himself as “Lord”. He was born in the middle of eighteen century in Massachusetts, never went to school and through his whole life never learned to spell. There was nothing distinguished about him. Since his childhood he was a farm laborer and at sixteen he became an apprentice for a leather dresser. He did not have a penny to his name until he was twenty one. And things started magically to change for Timothy.

He managed to charm and marry a very rich widow and subsequently buy a big house. Somehow everybody disliked him. He did not get respect from others who considered him an ignoramus and wished him bad luck. But he did not care and made the next move. At the end of the War of Independence European currency was worth nothing. The only buyer of it was Dexter who stored bags of useless then paper. But when the bad times were over and trade with Europe resumed, it turned out that this was not a stupid move at all. Timothy became a nouveau-riche.

He decided that he was a genius in business and bought two ships. His first big business action was to buy warming pans and send them to West India. His captains sold them all and made and made big profit. It turned out that locals needed ladles for their booming molasses industry. Timothy was so excited that his next business move was much weirder. He sent woolen mittens to the tropical places in the Caribbean. All the cargo was sold out almost instantly by Asian merchants who bought them for export to Siberia.

It seemed that Dexter always lucked out. Any other businessmen would end with financial disaster in the ventures similar to his. It all was just pure luck. Judge for yourself. Some people gave Timothy a bad advice trying to ruin him completely. They advised him to send his ships to sell coal in English city of Newcastle, that had rich coal mines of its own! And he did accordingly and amassed a fortune after his cargo arrived during a miners’ strike which had crippled local production. Thus, a popular English idiom “Selling coal to Newcastle” was born.

Any venture that Timothy undertook would bring him unimaginable profits. He would come out with huge money each time when, for example he sold bibles to India or stray cats to Caribbean islands. Once by mistake he stored a lot of whalebone and still got huge profits by selling it as the support material for female corsets.

At the age of 50 he decided to retire from business. As an aftermath, he wrote a book about himself. In this book he complained about his wife, politicians, clergy, and the like.
He called his work A Pickle for the Knowing Ones or Plain Truth in a Homespun Dress, and it contained almost 9 thousand words and 34 thousands letters. But there was not a single punctuation mark in the whole book! So what do you think happened?

You are right, his book became a bestseller of those times. Following the success of his book, the second edition was immediately published, where Dexter added only one additional page of punctuation marks. His advice to readers was to use these punctuation marks at any place of the book, as they please. Overall, there were eight editions of his book published one after another.

If you like books and movies about pirates and their adventures you probably heard the name Tortuga many times. In the last movie trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean island of Tortuga was showed to us as a haven for pirates. In famous writer Sabatini’s  book series about Captain Blood and the movies based on it, Tortuga is also mentioned as the main base of pirates operations. So what exactly is Tortuga? What is its history and where this island is located?

Nowadays it is a quiet island that belongs to Haiti. A little bit over 20 thousand people live on its small territory which is about 180 square kilometers. It is very mountainous and full of rocks. Yet, it is hugely dense of lofty trees that grow upon the hardest of those rocks. Basically, in translation into English it means a Turtle Island. And it has a very wild history, as it was a major center of Caribbean piracy in the seventeenth century.

Tortuga is one of the first islands that Columbus discovered during his very first voyage into the New World. The island got its name in 1493 from Columbus’ sailors because its shape reminded them of a turtle. Spanish colony was set up there and thrived for over a hundred years until it became a part of a dispute between France, England and Spain. Tortuga was changing hands for a while until the island was divided between French and English settlers in 1630. It still did not prevent Spaniards to reconquer the island a couple of times during 17th century, but there were pushed out by settlers in 1638.

This is exactly the time when English, French and Dutch pirates moved in to this island. The situation soon spiraled out of control. One can only imagine what was going there. A decade later a French governor of Tortuga made the situation even worse when he brought on the island almost two thousand prostitutes hoping to bring some harmony there. Boy, he was wrong!

Naturally, our famous pirates were not unemployed, there was a constant demand from France and England for able and ruthless sailors that could be used as a striking force. Infamous great pirate Henry Morgan was on the rise when he started recruiting his sailors from Tortuga for his great and cruel expeditions against Spanish colonies. France was also trying to bribe the pirates, so it could create a stronghold in the Caribbean.

The fun for the pirates ended with the Treaty of Ratisbon in 1684 signed by major European powers. The piracy in the Caribbean grew to such extent that part of this treaty is dedicated to the united decision to put an end to piracy in and around Tortuga. And several years earlier English parliament forbade pirates to sail under foreign flags. The punishment for disobedience was death in the gallows.

Most of the pirates, especially those who had families did not want to end their life dancing on the rope, so they had to join English fleet and hunt their own pirate buddies who were still sailing under the flag of a Jolly Roger. That was the end of the free pirate life on the Turtle Island.

We all know about the deeds of Alexander the Great, one of the greatest heroes of antiquity. We know the details of his death too. But what happened after?

There were various stories circulating in ancient Greece at the time. According to one, Alexander’s body was placed in pure gold sarcophagus. This sarcophagus was in turn placed in a gold casket and covered with a purple robe. The second story tells us that the coffin with Alexander’s body was placed together with his armor in a gold carriage with a vaulted roof.

But there is more. Another legend tells us that there was an attempt to preserve Alexander’s body. A clay vessel with is body was filled up with honey. Evidently, each of former Greek generals wanted to get it. Ptolemy outsmarted them all and stole Alexander’s corpse and brought it to his capital Alexandria. He put it on a display, for everyone to see. One of the latest rulers of Egypt Ptolemy IX desperately needed money. For him Alexander’s tomb was all you can eat treasure. Without thinking twice, he melted the gold sarcophagus of Alexander and made a lot gold coins.

Trying to cover his tracks, Ptolemy IX put Alexander’s body in a glass sarcophagus instead. It did not work, though. Citizens of Alexandria were furious and could not forget Ptolemy’s unforgivable deed. They started riots. In the end, greedy Ptolemy IX was killed, which served him right.

But, wait, there is even more. It seems that Alexander’s body was kept on display till late antiquity. There was one nasty looter related to this story. It was no one else but Roman emperor Caligula who robbed Alexander’s tomb, stole his armored breastplate and wore it in Rome. Well, as we know, Caligula also ended badly.

It was around two hundred of our era when finally emperor Septimius Severus closed Alexander’s tomb to the public. His son, emperor Caracalla was a big fan of Alexander the Great and often visited his tomb during his rule. After that, history loses track of Alexander’s tomb. The details are pretty vague and unverified.