“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”

Posted on September 30, 2019 by selenammoon

Two men became rulers 121 years apart on September 30.

The first was King Henry IV of England (April 1367-March 20, 1413), known as Henry Bolingbroke, in 1399. His parents were John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and his mother was Blanche of Lancaster, who were third cousins through their great-great grandfather King Henry III of England.

Henry IV succeeded his cousin King Richard II (January 6, 1367-February 1400). Richard was the son of Edward, the black Prince, son of King Edward III, who died a year apart, making Richard king at age 10 in 1377. As he was a minor, his uncle John of Gaunt ruled until he came of age. But once Richard came of age, he made several unpopular decisions, including gathering some unwelcome favourites, and asking Parliament to fund a war with France. Parliament demanded that Richard’s favourites be dismissed, which Richard refused and provoked Parliament to impeach his chancellor, the Earl of Suffolk and create a commission to oversee his activities. Richard declared these acts treasonable, and Parliament and his opponents outlawed his closest friends in 1388. Some were executed and Richard submitted to the demands of the five ‘Lords Appellant’.

For eight years, Richard appeared to get along with Gaunt and the Lords Appellant, but was actually forming a stronger royalist party. In 1397, he arrested and tried three of the appellants. Two were murdered and one was exiled.

In September the following year, Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, to former appellants quarreled and were banished. When Henry Bolingbroke’s father John of Gaunt died in February 1399, Richard confiscated his estates and exiled him for life.

In May, Richard left to campaign in Ireland. While he was gone, Bolingbroke invaded England, rallying nobles and commoners. When Richard returned in August, he surrendered. In September, he abdicated and Bolingbroke became King Henry IV. In October, Richard was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he died the following February.

King Henry IV’s reign was also turbulent. He had to consolidate his power bu crushing rebellions in Wales and Scotland, and waging war with France. Like Richard, Henry asked Parliament for funds, which were granted, but he was accused of mismanagement and Parliament eventually acquired power over royal expenditures and appointments.

But his troubles were far from over. As Henry’s health declined, two factions appeared, one headed by his favourite Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, and the by one of his half-brothers and son, Prince Henry. The King’s uneasy relationship with his son lasted until he died. Prince Henry succeeded his father as King Henry V, who became “one of the greatest warrior kings of medieval England” who won the Battle of Agincourt.

King Henry IV was the subject of one of many of William Shakespeare’s plays about English royals. Henry IV Part I was published in 1598 and Part II in 1600.

Sultan Suleyman I (April 27, 1495-September 7, 1566) was proclaimed sultan of the Ottoman Empire on September 30, 1520. He was the son of Sultan Selim I and Hafsa Sultan who reigned for forty-six years and was given the appellations “the Magnificent” or “the Great” by Europeans and “the Lawgiver” (kanun) and “lord of his century” by his subjects.

Suleyman’s father Selim emphasized his education. His first teacher was his grandmother Gulbahar Hatun. At seven, Suleyman was sent to his grandfather Sultan Bayezid II in Istanbul where he studied history, science, literature, and theology, war tactics and techniques. He returned to his father until he left to be the governor of several provinces.

When Sultan Selim I succeeded his father, Suleyman went to Istanbul as his father’s regent while serving as governor of Saruhan province. After Selim I died Suleyman succeeded him.

Suleyman is called “the lawgiver” because he made the final revisions to what became known as the “Ottoman laws.” The kanun refers situations that are not covered by the Shari’ah or laws derived from the Qur’an. Mehmed the Conqueror collected the laws and divided them into two sets, dealing with government and military organization, and taxation and treatment of peasants. Suleyman revised the codes, but kept them almost identical to its original form, but he created the final version.

Suleyman territory picture: Chapter 27: The islamic Empires

Suleyman was also a conqueror, who acquired vast territory, conquering Rhodes, most of Greece, Hungary, and part of the Austrian Empire, which nearly included Vienna. He nearly invaded Rome, and though he never occupied them, claimed them for himself. Under his reign, the Ottoman empire stretched from the western Carpathians and the Persian Gulf, almost to the Caspian Sea and the Straights of Gibraltar. He also helped any Muslim country threatened by European expansion.

While conquering vast territories, Suleyman also built up his empire, including bridges, mosques, and palaces. Istanbul became the center of art, music, writing, and philosophy, making this the most creative Ottoman period. However, this was the high point of Ottoman culture and history. Under Suleyman’s successor, his son Sultan Selim II Ottoman power began to decline internally and externally.

Suleyman died the day that the Ottomans conquered Szigetvar in Austria. However, his death was kept a secret for over a month. He was the longest-reigning Ottoman sultan.

His body was taken to Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. But during his journey, his organs were removed and said to have been buried in a golden coffin under the encampment where he died. This tomb was found in 2016 during an archaeological dig.

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“Mushrooms were the roses in the garden of that unseen world”

Posted on September 15, 2019 by selenammoon

September is National Mushroom Month,established on November 28, 1990 with the Mushroom Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act of 1990. But it did not become effective until January 8, 1993 to give the Council time to establish rules. The Council collects information on mushrooms import and production in the US, Puerto Rico, and D.C. totaling over 500,000 pounds annually.

Mushrooms were revered worldwide. Ancient Egyptians believed they bestowed immortality and were decreed food for royalty. Commoners were prohibited from touching them. Russia, China, Greece, Mexico, and Latin American civilizations had mushroom rituals and they were believed to produce super-human strength, find lost objects, and lead the soul to the gods.

King Louis XIV is believed to be the first modern European mushroom cultivator. They were grown in special caves near Paris. The English found it an easy crop to grow and experimented. However, when they tried to bring mushroom cultivation to the United States, they failed as the spawn deteriorated during travel. So, the United States began growing its own. In 1903, Louis F. Lambert, a French mycologist in St. Paul, Minnesota and his company the American Spawn Company produced the first “pure culture virgin spawn.” In 1930, the Census Bureau found 516 mushroom growers, 350 of which were in Chester County, Pennsylvania. By 2012-3, the National Agricultural Statistic Service found that the number had decreased to 298. There are over 38,000 varieties of mushrooms including over 3,000 in North America.

Kennett, PA is the self-proclaimed Mushroom Capitol of the World, which produces around 65 percent of the nation’s mushrooms. It is also where the annual Mushroom Festival is held during the second weekend of September in Kennett Square. The festival began as informal annual dinners in the early 1980s and when Mushroom Month became official, the governor of Pennsylvania formalized the Mushroom Festival.

The Mushroom Council’s website provides information on mushroom varieties and recopies. Mushrooms have no fat or cholesterol, low sodium, calories, and carbohydrates, but are high in antioxidants, vitamin B, and vitamin D – the only produce to produce vitamin D naturally – which was only discovered recently.

Here are some of the mushrooms in the area. A local mushroom farm grows shiitake and oyster mushrooms (pictured).

My family’s shiitake mushrooms

Here are some of the mushrooms I’ve seen recently. I would love it if any mycologists could tell me what some of them are! I’m assuming the white ones in various sizes are the same species at various stages.

September is also National Honey Month, initiated by the National Honey Board which collaborated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1989. They chose September to coincide with the end of the honey collection season in the United States. There are 20,000 bee species, 4,000 native to the United States. One worker bee produces 1.5 teaspoon of honey in a lifetime and it takes around 22,700 bees to fill a honey jar. Americans consume about 1.3 pounds of honey per person annually.

In 2012 archaeologists discovered “the world’s oldest bee” in a ceramic jar in the country of Georgia, estimated to be 5,500 years old. An 8,000 year-old cave painting in Spain depicts honey harvesting and it has been used as medicine and food worldwide.

Despite Utah’s state emblem featuring a beehive and its nickname being “The Beehive State,” in 2016, it was not among the top 10 honey-producing states. They were: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, California, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, Michigan, Louisiana, and Georgia.

Honey comes in a variety of colors and flavors, including blue and purple. States in the southeastern United States produce purple honey

Here are some pictures of local bees and honey.

Scientists have recently begun to experiment to see if mushrooms can save the declining honeybee population, because mushrooms can help the bees fight off the varroa mite infection.

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A World of Wonders Revealed

Posted on August 31, 2019 by selenammoon

Empress Theodora Porphyrogenita (980-August 31, 1056) was the youngest daughter of Emperor Constantine VII (960-1028) and Empress Helena of Byzantium. She was “born in purple”, referring to babies born while their parents reigned. Her elder sisters were Eudokia, who became a nun, and Zoe (c. 978-1050), who would become regent or co-emperor to five emperors between 1028 and 1050, while Theodora co-reigned with two emperors and ruled alone for a year.

At sixteen, she was her father’s first choice as a bride for the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. But he died before they could be married. After that, Theodora lived in the gynaeceum, the women’s quarters in the inner section of an ancient Greek house.

After her uncle Emperor Basil II (976-1025) died without children, her father became Emperor Constantine VIII. But he did not have any sons and wanted Theodora to marry Romanos Argyros, who would succeed him. Theodora defied him, on the grounds that his wife had become a nun so that Romanos could marry into the imperial family and that they were third cousins. Constantine forced Zoe to marry Romanos in 1028.

After Constantine died, Romanos and Zoe ruled until Romanos died in 1034. Zoe remarried and her husband became Emperor Michael IV until he died in 1041 after which, Zoe ruled alone for a short time. In 1042, Zoe and Theodora became co-empresses for two months, with Zoe as the senior empress and Theodora as the junior. The pair curbed selling public offices and focused on administering justice. Zoe replaced incompetent rules with officials who gained their position through merit. Still jealous that her father had favored Theodora, Zoe tried to force Theodora back to the monastery, but the Senate overruled Zoe and demanded that the sisters rule jointly. This lasted for two months. Zoe married for a third time, to Constantine, who became Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos.

Zoe died in 1050 and Constantine IX in 1055, allowing seventy-year-old Theodora to assert her right to rule. She became sole empress. During her short reign, there were no conspiracies and the empire prospered, without plundering or warfare. But her reign was short. In 1056, she died of an intestinal disorder. As she was childless and the last member of her dynasty, she chose her former military finance minister as her successor and he became Emperor Michael VI Bringas. But after she died, conflicts arose between the noble families who wanted the throne, which lasted until Alexios I Komnenos took the throne in 1081, beginning the Komnenian dynasty.

Though many coins were issued for Zoe’s uncle, father, husbands and some for Theodora, there were only a few for her sole reign in 1041 and her co-reign with Theodora in 1042.

The Honorable Mrs. Mary King Ward (April 27, 1827-August 31, 1869), was an Irish astronomer, microscopist, artist, and entrepreneur. She was born in Ballylin in County Offaly, Ireland, the youngest of four children of Reverend Henry and Hariette Lloyd King. Her maternal aunt Alice was the mother of the famous astronomer William, third Earl of Rosse.

As a child, she became interested in insects and when she received a microscope as a teenager, she studied plants and insects. King was also a talented painted and draughter and her illustrations appeared in scientific publications. She also wrote educational children’s books on how to use a microscope and telescope.

She married the Honorable Henry Ward of Castle Ward in northern Ireland. His elder brother was Lord Bangor. The couple had eight children.

Despite her accomplishments, she is best known for how she died. At 42, she returned to Birr for a memorial service for the 3rd Earl of Rosse. While riding a steam carriage which her cousin Charles Parson had built, she fell from the car when it turned sharply. She died instantly. This is said to be Ireland’s first motorcar accident.

An inquest occurred the following day at Birr Castle, where the jury deemed it an accidental death. Mary Ward is the great-grandmother of English actress Lalla Ward, who played Romana on the BBC’s Dr. Who.

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“As there are no precedents for women to enter the Imperial University, this is a serious incident that must be discussed thoroughly”

Posted on August 16, 2019 by selenammoon

On August 16, 1913, Tōhoku Imperial University (now known as Tōhoku University) became the first Japanese university to admit female students. The university allowed four women to take the entrance examinations at its discretion. The Ministry of Education sent a letter, stating that, “As there are no precedents for women to enter the Imperial University, this is a serious incident that must be discussed thoroughly” and demanded an explanation. The university ignored their demands and accepted three of the four, Chika Kuroda (March 24, 1884–November 8, 1968), Raku Makita, and Ume Tange. They became the first female baccalaureates and spent several years as junior assistants and graduate students. Chika Kuroda and Ume Tange received their degrees in chemistry and Raku Makita in mathematics.

Japanese Women in Science and Engineering: History and Policy Change

Kuroda graduated from the Women’s Department of Saga Normal School and taught for one year before going to the Division of Science at the Women’s Higher Normal School and went on to enroll in a graduate course there. She completed the course two years later and became an assistant professor at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School (now Ochanomizu University), before continuing her studies at Oxford. After returning to Japan, she became a worked for her mentor Rikoh Majima at Riken as a non-tenured part-time researcher, working with safflower pigments. In 1929, she became the second woman to received a Doctor of Science degree in Japan, the first being Kono Yasui who received hers from Tokyo Imperial University in 1927.

Her research on onion skin pigment contributed to developing Keruchin C, a drug to treat high blood pressure.

Japanese Women in Science and Engineering: History and Policy Change

After graduate school, Tange went to the United States where she received her Ph.D. in agriculture from Johns Hopkins University in 1927. On returning to Japan, she became a professor at her alma mater, Japan Women’s University and worked at Riken under Umetaro Suzuki researching vitamins.

Japanese Women in Science and Engineering: History and Policy Change

Makita also returned to her alma mater Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School to and joined the faculty. But she resigned her position when she married Heizo Kanayama, a Western-style painting artist.

Tōhoku Imperial University had the highest female enrollment among the imperial university system and women were in the law, liberal arts, and science departments. In 2001, the university established the Gender Equality and Multicultural Conviviality to promote gender equality, and adopted the Tohoku University Declaration for Gender Equality the following year and incorporated the Tohoku University Gender Equality Encouragement Prize, also known as the Sawayanagi Prize, named for the first President of Tohoku University, Seitaro Sawayanagi, who was instrumental in the allowing the first female students to enroll.

In 1999, the Kuroda Chika Prize was established to encourage female researchers in their scientific research and careers. 45 have been awarded over the last 15 years. The prize is awarded by the Aoba Society for the Promotion of Science, a group of mainly Faculty of Science alumni, which honours a female graduates who have produced outstanding achievements during their scientific doctoral studies. This prize is awarded to female students selected from the whole doctoral cohort across the Graduate School of Science and the Graduate School of Life Science at Tohoku University. This prize was founded in 1999 to encourage female researchers in their scientific endeavors and careers, and 45 female students have been awarded over the last 15 years.

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“How fond and inconstant I were if I should prefer my mother to the title, let all men judge.”

Posted on July 29, 2019 by selenammoon

July 29 was apparently a popular day for royal marriages and coronations.

From the British Library

Mary, Queen of Scots (December 8, 1542-February 8, 1587) was born less than a week after her father King James V of Scotland died. He and his army had been fighting the English when they were defeated at the Battle of Solway Moss. He collapsed on December 6 and died on December 15.

She was heir to Scotland but also a great-niece of Henry VIII of England through his sister Margaret Tudor, giving her a claim to the English throne.

To secure an alliance between England and Scotland, Mary was initially arranged to marry King Henry VIII’s son Prince Edward, but the Scots refused. King Henry attacked Scotland again and Mary was sent to France in 1548 to marry the French prince the Dauphin, to secure Catholic allies against the English Protestants. They married in April 1558 when they were around fifteen. Francis inherited the French throne in 1559 when he was 15 and Mary was 16. However, Francis was not strong and he died in December 1560 after only 17 months and Mary returned home to Scotland. By the time Mary returned, Scotland was in the middle of a Reformation. While Mary looked for Catholic husbands, including Don Carlos, heir to the Spanish throne,

But, Elizabeth I wanted Mary to marry a Protestant and proposed Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, her favourite courtier. Neither Dudley nor Mary wanted the match and Dudley proposed Henry Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, a Catholic. Mary and Darnley were cousins through their grandmother Margaret Tudor and more distantly related through King James II of Scotland. They were married on July 29, 1565.The marriage was a disaster.

Mary ruled alone and did not give Darnley any authority. His constant demands to be crowned King of Scotland in his own right alienated Mary and the nobles. He became a drunk, and, jealousy of Mary’s secretary and favourite David Riccio, he and several others murdered Riccio in front of Mary in Holyrood House. She was six months pregnant with the future King James VI of Scotland at the time.

Their son, the future King James VI of Scotland and I of England, was born on June 19, 1566 and baptized a Catholic, alarming the Protestants. Darnley’s behaviour worsened after James was born and the marriage did not last much longer. He and his men were found murdered at Kirk o’Field, Edinburgh on February 10, 1567. The house he was staying at was blown up, but Darnley’s body was found in the garden after the explosion. He had died of strangulation. How involved Mary was has never been determined.

Mary’s third husband was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was accused of murdering Darnley but found not guilty. Shortly after he was acquitted, Bothwell forced Mary to marry him. The Lords of Congregation did not approve. After Mary failed to repress a rebellion by Scottish peers, she was not only imprisoned in Leven Castle but also forced to abdicate in favour of her one-year-old son James who became King James VI of Scotland. The family was never together again as Bothwell fled to Dunbar and died in sane in Denmark in 1578.

Meanwhile, Mary escaped from Leven Castle in May 1568 and gathered a small army that was defeated at Langside by Protestants. Mary then fled to England, hoping that Elizabeth would help her. Instead she became a pawn and was imprisoned in various castles for the next 19 years. Eventually Mary was found guilty of treason when incriminating letters of her plotting against Elizabeth were intercepted.

Mary was executed in 1587. Her son became King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England after Elizabeth died in 1603, uniting the countries. In 1612, he had Mary’s body exhumed and reburied in a place of honour at Westminster Abbey, and moved Elizabeth to a less prominent tomb nearby.

National Portrait Gallery

King James VI of Scotland and I of England (June 19, 1566-March 27, 1625) was crowned King James VI of Scotland on July 19, 1567, exactly two years after his parents were married. Without his parents, James was the pawn of four regents who tried to control him. The only constant was his tutor George Buchanan, who raised him to be a Protestant and unsuccessfully tried to teach him to hate his mother.

Two years after Queen Elizabeth signed the death warrant for his mother Mary Queen of Scots, James married Anne of Denmark. The couple had three sons and four daughters of whom three survived infancy: Henry, Prince of Wales, Charles I and the ‘Winter Queen’, Elizabeth of Bohemia. They were happy at first, but eventually drifted apart.

On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died and named James her successor, allowing James to achieve his ambition of ruling England. He went to England to claim the crown. Though he wanted the two countries to be completely united, Scotland retained its parliament, Church, and educational systems.

Two years after James became king, on November 5th 1605, the Gunpowder Plot to kill James and his government was foiled. Guy Fawkes was caught with barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords.

The Gunpowder Plot, to kill James and his government on the 5th of November 1605, was foiled. Guy Fawkes was caught with barrels of gunpowder beneath the House of Lords.

In 1606 James granted a charter to establish a colony in North America, named “Jamestown” in his honour. It became the first permanent British settlement in America. When Pocahontas visited England with her husband John Rolfe in 1616 she met King James.

Though he was king of Scotland, he only returned once, in 1617. The following year, he forced through the Five Articles of Perth, to bring Church of Scotland government and worship into line with the Church of England. However, after strong opposition, he did not enforce the articles and made no further attempts to change the country’s religion

Royal Wedding

On July 29, 1981, Charles, Prince of Wales (Born: November 14, 1948) and Lady Diana Spencer (July 1, 1961–August 31, 1997) married at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. He is the eldest child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. She was the youngest daughter of John and Frances Roche Spencer, then the Viscount and Viscountess Althorp. Diana was born The Honourable Diana Frances Spencer and received the style Lady Diana Spencer in 1975, when her father became the 8th Earl Spencer. Diana was named for an ancestor also Lady Diana Spencer, later the Diana Russell, Duchess of Bedford, and her mother Frances.

The Spencers had a long history with the royal family. Viscount Althorp was Equerry to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. Her maternal grandmother Ruth, Lady Fermoy and paternal grandmother Cynthia, Countess Spencer were ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II’s mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Lady Diana and Prince Charles married at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981. An estimated 1,000 million watched or listened to the broadcast – at 750 million, it was the most popular program broadcast on TV – and hundreds of thousands lined the route from Buckingham Palace to the Cathedral. There were around 3,500 guests at the church. The day was declared a national holiday. There were even children re-creating the wedding.

Diana was the first Englishwomen to marry an heir to the throne in 300 years, since Anne Hyde married the future James II, Diana’s ancestor. On their marriage Diana became Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales.

The couple had two sons, Princes William in 1982 and Henry (Harry) in 1984. They divorced in 1996 and Diana continued to be a member of the royal family as mother of the heir to the throne. After the divorce, Diana became Diana, Princess of Wales, without the style of ‘Her Royal Highness’. She died on Sunday, August 31, 1997, after a car crash in Paris.

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