They started in 1095 and ended in 1271, but the word we use today only came into existence after 1760. The word? Crusade. In 1570 France, it was croisade. It comes from the Latin cruciare, “to mark with a cross.” In this case, Cross. The Latin base is crux. At the Council of Clermont, Pope…
Category: Religion
The Year was 165 BCE
That was the year the Jews reclaimed the Temple. Three years earlier, they had been attacked and lost, Judaism was outlawed and the Temple was trashed. Then, with Judas Maccabeus leading them, the Jews fought and won,regaining their land. It was the 25th of the month of Kislev. They cleaned out the Temple and wanted…
The Year was 1441
O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum… We know this is Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas tree…and in fact the Christmas tree comes from early German Protestant celebrations of Christmas. But where did the Lutherans get this idea of decorating greenery in the middle of winter? The Vikings made green bows part of their celebration of mid-winter, perhaps…
The Year was 588
Khadijah was the daughter of an extremely successful caravan merchant. When she was 32, her father died and she inherited the business. Khadijah, now wealthy, received endless marriage proposals, but she had already buried two husbands. Not wanting to go through that a third time, she swore she would never marry again. A few years…