Tag: History

Today was our last day to tour in Paris, and it was a full day.

After beginning at Rue Cler, we made the short walk to Les Invalides, which is, among other things, a museum of French military history.

Les Invalides’s collection of suits of armor was fascinating. I was struck by the difference between the 16th century French and German armor.

The French were beautifully and ornately engraved with various patterns and precious metals. The Germans were well-designed but lacked any aesthetic value and were completely utilitarian. It reminded me of our hotel rooms on the trip.

We stayed in 5 star hotels in France and Germany. Our French rooms were beautifully decorated with many decorative touches. Our room in Germany was large, clean and functional but with little or no thought given to aesthetics.

Also, located at Les Invalides is the tomb of Napoleon. The tomb is bizarre in it’s size. My thought was it was a big tomb for a small man with a big ego. Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 10”

Today we visited the Basilica of Saint Denis, the church where almost all the French kings–Charlemagne is one exception–are buried.

Those buried here include Saint Denis (the first Christian martyr in Paris), Clovis, the first Christian king of the Franks, Charles Martel (Charlemagne’s grandfather) and Pepin the Short (Charlemagne’s father), as well as King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

As with many saints, the true story of Saint Denis’s love for Jesus and willingness to die for Him has been overshadowed by a silly story about Denis picking up his head after his beheading and carrying it for ten kilometers, all the while preaching.

It’s silly legends like this (the story didn’t show up in literature until hundreds of years later) that cause people to reject Christianity and the resurrection as a collection of fairy tales.

Perhaps it was this sort of thing that caused the people of the French Revolution to reject Christianity.

If you’ve traveled in France you have seen or heard of the destruction caused by the revolutionaries to churches and anything having to do with religion or royalty. Ah, the fruits of atheism and the Enlightenment–love, reason and tolerance–and they can all be seen in the French revolution.

Unfortunately, the French revolutionaries stayed true to form at the Basilica of Saint Denis, digging up the remains of Saint Denis and most of the kings and having them thrown into a mass grave outside the church. After the revolution the remains were returned to the church, but because they could no longer be identified they were buried together in a common tomb in the church.

Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 9”

Yesterday, after leaving the castle of Godfrey de Bouillon in Belgium, we drove 2 hours to Aachen, Germany, where Charlemagne’s palace once stood, and the church he built still stands.

We began the day with a walk to the city centre where Charlemagne’s palace and church were located.

Aachen’s old town is a beautiful remnant of the Middle Ages, with restaurants and shops bordering narrow cobble stone streets.

At the center of the old town is it’s 8th century church.

We began, however, in the museum next door because it houses some of the most important remnants and possessions of Charlemagne.

By remnants, I mean parts of Charlemagne. The gold bust you see in the pic contains Charlemagne’s melon, and a gold reliquary in the same section of the museum contains a bone from Charlemagne’s wing.

This is all very macabre for sure but if you love history it’s fascinating to realize you are seeing the actual bones of Charlemagne.

Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 8”

If you are like me, most of what you were taught in school regarding the motivation for the First Crusade is wrong.

It’s wrong because it is based on biased anti-Christian Enlightenment writers like Gibbon and Voltaire.

Voltaire, for example, wrote that the crusaders were motivated only by “the thirst for brigandage” and that “Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.”

We have enough contemporaneous accounts of the First Crusade that we can be certain of the dates and locations of the key events.

What has always troubled or fascinated historians is more illusive because it resides in the hearts and minds of those who participated in the crusades and that is their motivation.

Rodney Stark, in his book, God’s Battalions, argues persuasively that the First Crusade was a just and noble cause. Continue reading “Carolingian & Crusader Travel Journal: Day 7”