news from late April 2013

The big news of the last couple weeks in economics is the very late report of the failings of that Rogoff-Reinhart paper of some years ago telling us a high US debt to GDP ratio was a bad thing. Yet, the DFM will still continue unnecessarily. The surprise to me is that the story gets traction at all in this recession teetering gloom-apocalypse-starring the 'era of austerity'. The IMF has noticed, the big banks have noticed and the US media have begun to. When will Congress?

Bill Moyers has Glenn Greenwald on his show on the follies of war and also talks about the shuttering of whistleblowers under Obama.

Last week Congress had an open hearing on drones and their use. Here is an American Yemeni testifying, the one that spoke on the Chris Hayes show.

The press surrounding the documentary on the spread of the mercenary empire being built by Erik Prince is increasing. Jeremy Scahill of the Nation was all over talking about it as it is based on his book. He was also on Democracy Now and Mark Mazetti was on Jon Stewart.

Face of Janus: Looking Back, Facing Forward

Fifteen months ago, near when I started jotting down what I noticed or thought noteworthy in the news, I also felt pulled to make notes on the other things I was looking intently at. That initial impulse has changed, as more of the kinds of things I commonly read in history studies gets posted here, while less of the current news gets included.
The last couple months especially I've focused on the chronology of some, early, very tenuous points in the narratives of Spanish expansion in the Caribbean and Mesoamerica. Certainly one of the biggest stories in the European Renaissance period. Also a unique and still wide-ranging context has been generated I think for this period over the last year with these jottings in all the pieces I've used from the fantastic translations of Marin Sanudo.  I owe the researchers of that some kind of debt for introducing me to so many levels in the intricacies of the city and of that singular view, from Venice, as an international hub.

But the world around Venice, more and more, was being picked up and set into motion by Spanish interests and concerns throughout the sixteenth century. In Italy, at first with the Borgia popes and later with Charles V and Phillip II, kings of Spain and numerous 'Spanish' Holy Roman Emperors thereafter.  Also, the Spanish Inquisition took root and spread in this same period. The 'crusades' against heretics and rebellions (like that of Hans Behem) and corruption and depravity of so many kinds, the advent and spread of Lutheranism etc., all give various forms of insight into the changing nature of culture itself. Not forgetting to point out how, so often, things stay the same.

So it is that I see less in current news today that seems important enough to write down, than I did a year ago. This is simply because I see less of a willingness among those who might be able to help, to actually help, due to the usual suspects. Congress, their lobbyists and some in the media, mostly. A year ago I spent a great deal of time looking at the ripple effects of the collapse of the housing markets and prior to that, the failures of the credit markets. Last year there was still some possibility of federal, state and local legislature or governing regulations of some sort that may have led to indictments, prosecutions etc. for the persons or bodies who helped set those calamities in motion. The various political stalemates in Washington and state houses across the country has made these mostly, merely, inspirational hopes, however. Without prosecution for malfeasance and fraud, injustice will remain the norm and be tacitly encouraged. Like the story of the recess appointment of Richard Cordray as director for the Consumer Finance Protection Board and the subsequent hamstringing of oversight and regulation that it was created to start to work on. But that's just one example.

Many of the statutes of limitations for fraud et al. with regard to the 2008-9 economic collapse will soon be exceeded or in other cases, already have. Stories in the energy sector, like the Keystone XL pipeline, the problems at the San Onofre Nuclear Plant or the storage pools etc. in Hanford, WA (especially after the disaster of the nuke plants in Japan two years ago), are being willfully ignored in Congress (if not always in the media), just as is the issue of the melting of the polar ice caps, the rising of sea levels and, say, the destruction of the coral reefs off Australia are. This is all true, but others talk about these issues, so I feel I don't have to, so much.

Also, with immigration now seen as a positive issue for the Republican party, some sort of forward motion is likely to occur in that area. Similarly, the states have taken on gay marriage and medical marijuana as issues that maybe aren't so bad after all, and which also, incidentally seem to split the 'libertarian demographic'. So there's that.

On the other hand, security, foreign wars, personal freedom, class, the flows or cessations of information. notions of sovereignty and religious concerns all weigh heavily in modern times as well as in the time we call the renaissance.
These will continue to remain my primary focus here ... Until Further Notice.

Heiress Abducted: Sanudo Diaries: April 28, 1518

After years of war, and the subsequent lack of funds, some take matters into their own hands in contravention to laws, tradition, social order and norms of civility. Marin Sanudo reported that a ten year old girl, an heiress to a wealthy family in Brescia was kidnapped and sent to a monastery  in 1518.

Editor's note: "The abductors were a powerful provincial family, important to the Venetian government as military leaders, and the heiress's stepfather was equally well connected in Venice." p. 132

It should be noted that this occurred as the War of The League of Cambrai was drawing to a close. The previous winter a motion had been made to send funds to Brescia, Cremona, Bergamo and other recently retaken - and historically Venetian - holdings on the Terraferma. After many years of war, many places needed money. But, Emperor Maximillian had died in January 1518 and so the reason to send funds and shore up those holdings, as a buffer against the Emperor was less urgent. One can easily imagine prominent locals deciding they needed those funds any way they could gain them.

Sanudo Diaries: April 28, 1518 (25:368)  "A wealthy young girl, a member of the Cavrioli family, was living in the country. Her mother is married to one of the Averoldi who has two sons, one of whom has [married] the girl's sister. The second son wants this girl, who is ten years old, with her mother's permission. But the Contin Martinengo, who is a condotierre in our army and the son of Count Vetor, who was made a member of our nobility, went to the house where she was ..., with a number of other armed men, as is recounted in the letter.... he abdcuted the girl while distracting the mother with chitchat and took her to Brescia. He placed her in a certain monastery of Santa Iulia, where some of his relatives are nuns, with the idea of giving her in marriage to a brother of his.... The mother then came to Brescia to the Venetian governor to lodge a complaint about this insult, and the governor immediately had the girl brought to him. He kept her in the governor's palace --- days, then had her taken to another monastery to keep her very safe under his protection. He then wrote a report to the Venetian government about what had occurred.
Thus there was a great debate today in the Council of Ten with the zonta because a bill to send a state attorney to Brescia had been posted." pp 132-3

Editor's footnote: "Under the date of 29 April 1518 this case begins to appear in the Council of Ten's records.... with an order to keep the young count and one of his relatives, Teofilo, from leaving Venice without permission. At the same time a message was sent to the authorities in Verona to restrain two others of the Martinengo clan. ... The abduction, under the guise of a social visit, is similarly described in the judicial record: ..." under the guise of a social visit, they violently seized and carried away the respectable girl Franceschina, daughter of the late Girolamo Caprioli and the said Marina...." p. 133

This case would continue through the spring and summer.

The Editors note that a more detailed account of this case can be found in Labalme and White : "How to (and not how to) get married in sixteenth-century Venice"; Renaissance Quarterly 52: 1999, 66-68.

All quotes as Sanudo Diaries or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll,  editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008

An Envoy From Moctezuma Returns, late April, 1519

When this 'governor of Montezuma' left the company of Cortés on or after Easter, 1519 -- nobody says it happened the same day -- he seemed also to do so in a hurry, according to Díaz and as the messengers of Montezuma told in the Nahua tale found in the Florentine Codex. The 'First Letter' account says he just left. Díaz also gives certain other details about this man.
For one thing, as Diaz said, they later found out he and Pitalpitoque were governors of "... Cotastan, Tustepeque, Guazpaltepeque, Tatalteco, and other towns they had recently subjugated." The Editor helpfully corrects 'Cotaxtla' for 'Cotastan' and there is a town by that name upriver from modern-day Vera Cruz. Díaz also remembers the story of Cortés asking this Teudilli to take the specially-made chair to Montezuma and ask him when they could meet. "Tendile accepted the gift and said that his lord Montezuma was such a great lord that he would be pleased to know our great king and that he would take him that present quickly [the chair] and would return with a response." [p. 59]

"With Tendile gone, we came to understand that, besides being an Indian of great importance, he was the fastest runner his master Montezuma had. He went quickly and told the entire story to his lord, showing him all the painted sketches he had brought and the present Cortés had sent him. It is said that when the great Montezuma saw it, he was amazed, and, on the other hand, he was very happy, and when he saw the helmet, and the one his Huichilobos had, he was sure that we were those people his ancestors said would come to rule over this land. Here is where the chronicler Gomara says many things that are not accurate." [p. 60]

One chapter ends and another begins with Díaz mentioning that while Teudilli left, the other governor Cuitlalpitoc stayed in camp for several days, as more chieftains came and offered gifts, giving a snapshot of this pattern occurring over several days.

All quotes from from Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012
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The messengers of Montezuma according to the tale remembered by the locals, as it was set down in the Florentine Codex kept at a fast pace on the trip back to Tenochtitlan.

"They arrived in great haste at Xicalanco, took a hurried meal there, and then pressed on until they came to Tecpantlayacac. From there they rushed ahead and arrived in Cuetlaxtlan. As on the previous journey, they stopped there to rest. When the were about to depart, the village official said to them: "Rest for at least a day! At least catch your breath!"

They said: "No, we must keep on! We must report to our king,  Motecuhzoma. We will tell him what we have seen, and it is a terrifying thing. Nothing like it has ever been seen before!" They left in great haste and continued to the City of Mexico. They entered the city at night, in the middle of the night.

While the messengers were away, Motecuhzoma could neither sleep nor eat, and no one could speak with him. He thought that everything he did was in vain, and he sighed almost every moment. He was lost in despair, in the deepest gloom and sorrow. Nothing could comfort him, nothing could calm him, nothing could give him any pleasure. 

He said: "What will happen to us? Who will outlive it? Ah, in other times I was contented, but now I have death in my heart! My heart burns and suffers, as if it were drowned in spices...! But will our lord come here?" " [pp. twenty-eight - twenty-nine]

quoted from  The Broken Spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico, translated, edited with an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla, expanded and with a postscript, Boston, Beacon Press, 2006.

After Mass, An Exchange: Spaniards In The New World, Easter 1519

It was Easter, 1519. After Mass, both Bernal Diaz and the 'First Letter of Cortés' say that a local chieftain returned bringing many gold and other precious items of great worth to offer to Cortés. He was a person of some significance but what that might mean is obscured by the treasure he brought. Diaz says he was a chieftain sent from Moctezuma and called him Tendile (and the Editor corrects that to "Teudilli"), but there is no name or reference to the Aztec leader in the 'First Letter' account. That 'First Letter' for this story has the chieftain place the items on a white cloth and then, after thanks from Cortés, leaves. From this point, the 'First Letter' talks about the desires of the men to establish a colony outside of the support of or for the benefit of Velazquez. Instead, this colony would be for the benefit of the king, as told here. The language of that 'special pleading' will be looked at later on.

But Bernal Diaz gives us quite a story. The details of the many items given, the sequence of events, the altar Cortés had made as a gift, the official painters who made portraits of Cortés and his men, of the effect of the cannons on these locals, the show of horses on the dunes, the gifting of a rusty helmet, the request for that helmet to be returned with gold, all are written out. This too in some ways conforms to the Nahua tale, and also to typical encounters in Yucatan, except for this encounter taking place on land and not on the ships and, probably, three days later. As example of the focus of our narrator Bernal Díaz: "Cortés ... ordered that an altar be made, the best that could be done at the time, and fray Bartolomé de Olmedo, who was a great singer, sang the mass, the father Juan Díaz assisted, and the two governors and other chieftains of their company were at the mass." [pp. 57-8]

The 'two governors' were called by Díaz illustrious, and Teudilli specifically was called, 'a man of business'. After they ate, Cortés withdrew with the interpreters and these two  'servants of the great Montezuma'. Díaz even gives a tiny bit of 'dialogue'.

"... and he told them we were Christians and vassals of the greatest lord in the world, the emperor don Carlos, who has many great lords as vassals and servants, and that we came to these land by his order, because for many years don Carlos has known of them and of the great lord who rules them, and he wanted to have that great lord as a friend and tell him many things in his royal name; also ... he would be pleased ... to trade with him and his vassals, and he would like to know where his lordship rules so that they might meet. Tendile replied somewhat haughtily, "You have just now arrived and you already want to speak to him. Receive this present now that we give you in the name of our lord, and then you will tell me what might suit you." He then pulled many beautifully worked, rich pieces of gold from a ... basket, ... things amazing to see, other things that I do not remember, and a lot of food.... Cortés received it graciously and with smiles, and he gave them twisted beads...." [p. 58]

 "Tendile ... brought with him great painters ... to paint from life the face, expression, body, and features of Cortés and all the captains and soldiers, as well as the ships and sails, horses, doña Marina, and Aguilar, even the two hounds, the cannons and balls, and our whole army, and he carried the paintings to his lord. Cortés then ordered the artilleryman to have the cannons well loaded with a good load of powder so that when they were fired, there would be a huge noise." [p. 59]

It was Teudilli that saw the rusty helmet and remarked it looked like something "... left to them by their ancestors in the lineage from which they came, and they had put that one on their god Huichilobos..." which the Editor corrects in the footnote as Huitzilopochtli, identified as "the tribal deity of the Mexica, the god of war and associated with the sun." [p. 60]
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Meanwhile, in Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma anxiously waited for the return of his messengers.

All quotes from from Bernal Díaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

Before Easter, After Landing at San Juan de Ulúa: 22-3 April, 1519

After arriving at the point called San Juan de Ulúa, Cortés & Co. spent the next couple days beginning to build a base for operations and negotiating with the local leaders. 
After announcing their arrival on Holy Thursday and dropping anchor, giving gifts to the locals but not going ashore, Bernal Díaz then speaks of making camp, continuing in this way.

"The next day, Good Friday, we disembarked our horses and artillery in some hills and dunes of sand that were there, very high, because there was no flat land, only sand beaches. They pointed the cannons as seemed best to Mesa the artilleryman, and we made an altar where mass was then said. They made huts and bowers for Cortés and the captains, and some three hundred soldiers transported wood, from which we made our huts, and the horses were put where they would be safe; this is how we passed that Good Friday." [pp. 56-7 *]

On the other hand, the so called First Letter of Cortés, ostensibly written by the council of Vera Cruz and addressed to the King of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, speaks only of giving gifts and instruction to the locals on this day.

"On the following day the captain, with a great part of his men, went ashore, and found there two chieftains to whom he made certain gifts of his own garments; and he spoke with them through his interpreters, giving them to understand that he had  come to these parts by Your Royal Highnesses' command to tell them what they must do in Your Service, and to this end he asked them to return to their village and call forth the chieftain or chieftains who were there to come and speak with him. And so they might more surely come, he gave them for the chieftains two shirts, gold belts and two doublets, one of satin, the other of velvet, and for each a scarlet bonnet and a pair of breeches, and thus they departed with these gifts." [p.23†]

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For the next day,  Díaz continues with a nearly cheerful patter.

"The next day, Saturday, the eve of Easter, many Indians arrived, sent by a chieftain, a governor under Moctezuma, whose name was Pitalpitoque [Editor's footnote: "Cuitlalpitoc."], whom we called Obandillo. They brought axes and worked on the huts of the captain Cortés and the others nearby, and they put large coarse cloths on top of them to keep out the sun, for it was the Lenten season and very hot. They brought hens, maize bread, and plums, which were in season, and it seems to me they brought some gold jewels then, all of which they presented to Cortés, and they said that the next day a governor would come to bring more provisions. Cortés thanked them very much for it, and he ordered that they be given certain things as barter, with which they were delighted." [p. 57 *]

The account in the 'First Letter' mentions the encounter with a local chief but does not have him bearing gifts. Instead it is Cortés who does the gifting.

"A little before noon on the following day a chieftain arrived with those from the town and spoke to the captain, who made him understand through the interpreters that he had come to do them no harm but to make know to them how they were to be Your Majesties' vassals and must henceforth serve and give of what they had in their land, as do all who are such. He replied that he was very content to be so and obey, and it pleased him to serve them and to have such high princes for sovereigns, as the captain had made them understand Your Royal Highnesses were. Then the captain told him that as he had shown such good will toward his king and lord he would soon see the favors which henceforth Your Majesties would bestow on him. So saying, he had him dressed in a shirt of fine Dutch linen, a coat of velvet and a gold belt, with which the chieftain was very happy and contented. He told the captain to wait there while he returned to his land, for on the following day he would bring things of his own that we might more fully appreciate his will to serve Your Royal Highnesses; and so he took his leave and went." [p.24 †]

 From this vantage it looked liked Cortés was making promises he couldn't keep. A 'brilliant piece of special pleading', indeed.

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* from Bernal Diaz de Castillo: The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

† from Hernán  Cortés: Letters From Mexico, translated, edited and with a new intro by Anthony Pagden, as a Yale Nota Bene book, Yale University Press, USA 2001

Joss Fritz In Speyer: Rebellion Aims Quashed: as of April 22, 1502

In a quick study, Michael G Baylor says in his intro that the case of Hans Behem was the first in a "mounting series of localized revolts" in Germany [p. 8]. His book The German Reformation and the Peasant's War: A Brief History With Documents gives, in example, a document that shows some of the characteristics of one of these local revolts. This document was edited and translated for English by one Gerald Strauss in his book, Manifestations of Discontent in Germany on the Eve of the Reformation (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1971).

Baylor continues saying simply, "Several of these disturbances adopted as their name and sign the Bundschuh, the bound (laced) shoe that was a symbol of the peasantry, and took place in the Upper Rhine region in the empire's southwest...." [p.8]
The shoe was a symbol of their (often illegal) organizations and generally, the peasant's plight and desire for reform.

In 1502, Joss Fritz, whether he was a real person or just a name used by the authorities to have someone to blame "... organised a peasant rebellion in the bishopric of Speyer to protest the bishop's exactions. " [p. 35]
The church needed money for the church, the Emperor needed money for wars and inflation had been going up. More coin was being imported but trade was advancing and causing disparities and tensions between merchants, landlords and serfs. But it was the church, the local authority that wrote things down and remembered these disturbances. They had to gain confessions from the participants to make legal cases against them. So they tortured them.

Baylor also mentions that for Joss Fritz, the "... plan was to attack the city of Bruchsal and towns and castles in the principality of Baden. The slogan on the rebel's flag summarized their fundamental aim: "Lord, stand by Thy divine justice"; in other words they wanted to do away with all human laws and to be subject only to godly law, a demand that later resurfaced in the Peasant's War." [pp. 35-6]

According to confessions extracted from over a hundred members of this conspiracy [Baylor's term], the aim was to overthrow the 'yoke of servitude' and to force the issue through the use of arms, as soon as they could organize and gain confidence in using those arms. [p. 36]

The following then are some of those confessions from that same Gerald Strauss book listed above.

"They confessed that they had decided among themselves to come together at dawn on  [April 22] Friday, the day before St George's day, to launch their assault on the city of Bruchsal. And they would have succeeded in their objective, due to the number of sympathizers among the citizens, had a chance occurrence not prevented the plot from being carried out."

Editor's footnote: "According to Gerald Strauss, a conspirator divulged the plans for the conquest of Bruchsal during confession. Notified by the priest, the authorities arrested the ringleader and suppressed their followers with the common punishments  for treason of death for men and exile for women and children." [p. 37]

Baylor tells us the scribe that wrote these down was hostile to the cause. This is a part of the record.

"They chose Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, and St John as patron saints. In order to have a secret sign of recognition, they decided on the following password: One conspirator asks another, "What is your name?" The other, if he belongs to the conspiracy, replies, "The priests are to blame." Oh, the sinfulness of the peasant mind! What a bane it has always been to the clergy!"

"During and after torture they confessed that it was their intention to annihilate all authority and government. They had decided that, as soon as their number had grown large enough, their bands would fall upon anyone opposed to them and kill without mercy all those who dared resist."

"They said that they had decided to attack first the city of Bruchsal in the bishopric of Speyer, where, they boasted, half the inhabitants were sympathetic to them. Having gained Bruchsal, they planned to proceed, armed, against the Margraviate of Baden and devastate everything that lay in their path." [p. 36]

"They had resolved to pillage monastic and ecclesiastical possessions, also the property of the clergy, and to divide the booty among themselves. They wished to humiliate the servants of the Church and to reduce them in number by killing and driving out as many as possible." [pp. 36-7]

"Such great confidence had they in their endeavor that they took it for certain that, once the war had broken out, no subjects would resist them; they believed, on the contrary, that peasants, burghers, and townsmen would freely join their association out of the love of liberty which all men share."

"They confessed that they had decided among themselves to take by force of arms all the freedoms they desired and would henceforth refuse to tolerate any man's dominion over them. They would no longer pay interest, remit tithes or taxes, nor pay tolls or dues of any kind. They wished to be completely quit of all duties and tributes." [p. 37]

"They demanded that hunting, fishing, grazing, lumbering, and every other thing that had become a princely prerogative be returned to the public so that a peasant might hunt and fish whenever and wherever he had a mind to, without being hindered or oppressed by anyone." [pp. 37-8]

"... Whoever undertook to resist them would be killed mercilessly as a disobedient and seditious enemy of divine justice." [p. 38]

all quotes from Michael G Baylor, The German Reformation and the Peasant's War: A Brief History With Documents, Boston, NewYork, Bedford/St Martin's Press , 2012

Fleet of Cortés Arrives at San Juan de Ulúa, April 21, 1519

Sent by the 'judiciary and municipal council of the very rich villa of Vera Cruz' in July of 1519, what is commonly called the first letter of Cortés has little to say about the first approach at San Juan de Ulúa.

"... we reached the port and bay which is called San Juan, where ... captain Juan de Grijalba had traded [1518].... As soon as we arrived, the natives of that land came to discover what caravels those were that had reached their shores, but as the day was already much advanced, and it was almost night, the captain remained in the ships and ordered that no one should land."

This comes midway in that first letter, after the negotiations and attempts at religious correction at Tobasco, and that having followed in their chronology as well, the battle at Cintla.

Bernal Díaz expands the story a little but not by much. Beginning his chp xxxviii,

"On Holy Thursday, 1519, we arrived with the entire fleet at the port of San Juan de Ulúa, and as the pilot Alaminos knew it well from when we came with Juan de Grijalva, he immediately ordered us to anchor in a place where the ships would be secure from the north wind, and they put their royal standards and weather vanes on the flagship." [p. 56]

The north wind along the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico would continue to be a problem for ships. Nothing anybody could do about that.

"About a half hour after we had anchored, two very large canoes, which they call pirogues, arrived. In them were many Mexican Indians, and when they saw the standards and the large ship, they knew that was where they had to go to speak to the captain. They went directly to the ship, went aboard and asked which was the tatuan, which means "ruler". Doña Marina understood ... so she pointed to Cortés. The Indians paid their respects to Cortés, as was their custom, and they said to him that he was very welcome, that a servant of the great Moctezuma, their lord, sent them to find out who we were, what we were seeking, and that if we needed something for ourselves and the ships to tell them and they would provide it." [p. 56]

This does parallel the story given by the locals in many respects. But not all.

"Cortés answered through the two interpreters ... that he was very grateful, and he then ordered that they be given something to eat, wine to drink, and some blue beads. When they had drunk, he told them we had come to see them and to trade, we would be no bother to them at all, and they should approve of our arrival in their land. The messengers went back delighted." [p. 56]

quotes from The True History of the Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

Messengers of Moctezuma Meet Cortés, April 21, 1519

There is a story in the Florentine Codex telling the occasion when the messengers of Moctezuma brought gifts to the Spaniards. These were the ones made at the command of Moctezuma to 'welcome them home to Mexico'. In the version of Bernal Díaz, this encounter seems most likely to have occurred on Holy Thursday, 1519, as the fleet of Cortés arrived at San Juan de Ulúa. But he doesn't mention the gifts offered. Cortés also mentions the arrival but not the encounter.
So it seems very worthwhile to quote the episode at length from each of the records, but especially the Nahua story as that is the most extensive.
The messengers were very intent in their actions understanding how important this encounter should be.

"They placed the baskets in the same canoes in which they rode, in order to keep them under their personal vigilance. From Xicalanco they followed the coast until they sighted the ships of the strangers.

When they came up to the ships, the strangers asked them: "Who are you? Where are you from?" 

"We have come from the City of Mexico."

The strangers said: "You may have come from there, or you may not have. Perhaps you are only inventing it. Perhaps you are mocking us." But their hearts were convinced; they were satisfied in their hearts. They lowered a hook from the bow of the ship, and then a ladder, and the messengers came aboard.

One by one they did reverence to Cortes by touching the ground before him with their lips. They said to him: "If the God will deign to hear us, your deputy Motecuhzoma has sent us to render you homage. He has the City of Mexico in his care. He says: 'The god is weary.'"

Then they arrayed the Captain in the finery they had brought him as presents. With great care they fastened the turquoise mask in place, the mask of the god with its crossband of quetzal feathers. A golden earring hung down on either side of this mask. They dressed him in the decorated vest and the collar woven in the petatillo style -- the collar of chalchihuites, with a gold of disk in the center.

Next they fastened the mirror to his hips, dressed him in the cloak known as "the ringing bell" and adorned his feet with the greaves used by the Huastecas, which were set with chalchihuites and hung with little gold bells. In his hand they placed the shield with its fringe and pendant of quetzal feathers, its ornaments of gold and mother-of-pearl. Finally, they set before him the pair of black sandals. As for the other objects of divine finery, they only laid them out for him to see.

The Captain asked them: "And is this all? Is this your gift of welcome? Is this how you greet people?"

They replied: "This is all, our lord. This is what we have brought you."

Then the Captain gave orders, and the messengers were chained by the feet and by the neck. When this had been done, the great cannon was fired off. The messengers lost their senses and fainted away. They fell down side by side and lay where they had fallen. But the Spaniards quickly revived them: they lifted them up, gave them wine to drink and then offered them food. 

 The Captain said to them: "I have heard that the Mexicans are very great warriors, very brave and terrible. If a Mexican is fighting alone, he knows how to retreat, turn back, rush forward and conquer, even if his opponents are ten or even twenty. But my heart is not convinced. I want to see it for myself. I want to find if you are truly that strong and brave."

 Then he gave them swords, spears and leather shields. He said: "It will take place very early, at daybreak. We are going to fight each other in pairs, and in this way we will learn the truth. We will see who falls to the ground!"

They said to the Captain: "Our lord, we were not sent here for this by your deputy Motecuhzoma! We have come on an exclusive mission, to offer you rest and repose and to bring you presents. What the lord desires is not within our warrant. If we were to do this, it might anger Motecuhzoma, and he would surely put us to death."

 The Captain replied: "No, it must take place. I want to see for myself, because even in Castile they say you are famous as brave warriors. Therefore, eat an early meal. I will eat too. Good cheer!"

With these words he sent them away from the ship. They were scarcely into their canoes when they began to paddle furiously. Some of them even paddled with their hands, so fierce was the anxiety burning in their souls. They said to each other: "My captains, paddle with all your might! Faster, faster! Nothing must happen to us here! Nothing must happen...!" " [pp twenty-five - twenty-eight].

 And they continued to rush the news back to Moctezuma.

The date for this seems right because it is the one time, as far as I can tell, early on in the dealings with the locals that Diaz mentions them approaching in large canoes with them at anchor and then also, coming aboard ship with Cortes. But Diaz does not mention the presentation of the items of special worth. Neither does Cortes. These stories came in Diaz with the arrival of Tendile on Easter Sunday which would be the 24th of April, that year. Perhaps these initial messengers that came aboard were of a different group without strict instructions and the gifts from the Aztec leader. But to me it very clearly shows, if we can see anything at all, how very different understandings coming into this encounter seemed to blow right past each other in their intentions toward each other, with understandably different take-away's or understandings of what just happened.
The story of Diaz for this arrival and encounter are simple and straightforward. Cheerful, even.

________________________________________________________

all quoted from  The Broken Spears: the Aztec account of the conquest of Mexico, translated, edited with an introduction by Miguel León-Portilla, expanded and with a postscript, Boston, Beacon Press, 2006.

Some International news, as of 18apr13

• Some updates on the massive 7.8 earthquake Monday in Iran near the Pakistan border where hundreds are probably dead.
• the same day a bomb in Peshawar, Pakistan killed at least seventeen at a ANP campaign rally for elections in May. The Pakistan Taliban claimed credit for this attack, citing the secular ANP as 'legitimate targets'.
• a wave of bombings across Iraq come before elections there this Saturday, killing forty and wounding 250. On Tuesday, the government said it hung 21 convicted al-qaeda affiliated terrorists.
• Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu was in London this morning for Margaret Thatcher's funeral. He spoke to the bbc saying Israel would do what it needed to whether in Syria or Iran. He said they weren't there yet but are well on their way to having enough enriched uranium for a bomb. Meanwhile the southern Israeli town of Eliat was hit by rockets from a militant Salafi group on Tuesday. No one was hurt but it's airport is closed and tighter security measures put in place.
• Drone attack destroys 'Taliban base' in South Waziristan Pakistan, with at least five killed, yesterday.
• Bomb in Bengaluru, India aimed at opposition party center, wounds 16, eight of whom are policemen.
• US sends 200 troops to Jordan to help with refugees or to deal with clearing chemical weapons in Syria.
• more predictions of depression for Europe ; but is all this international austerity based on a math error in projection? Could this be the biggest 'Doh!' of all? This paper lays out the case.
• The election in Venezuela is contested. Amidst claims that Henrique Capriles was presenting false evidence that he says points out the irregularities of several vote tallies, the Supreme Tribunal Chief in Venezuela has issued warrants for Cabriles' arrest. He's the leading opposition candidate and the one the US would rather see win.
• Oh yeah, new bird flu has killed 83 people and nobody knows how this will play itself out.
• didn't mention North Korea

After Tobasco, Cortés Sails On: April 18, 1519

On the Monday following Palm Sunday in 1519, April 18, Cortés and his fleet left Tobasco and sailed west. Bernal Díaz tells this at the end to his ch xxxvi, that those who went before pointed out places they remembered from the previous voyages.

"Sailing along in good weather, those of us who knew the course said to Cortés , "Sir, there's the Rambla," which in the Indians' language is called Ayagualulco [translator's  footnote: "where the water goes around."]. When we arrived at the site of Tonala, which is called San Antón, we pointed it out. Further on, we showed him the great Río de Guazacualco [translator's  footnote: "place of the serpent pyramid"]. He saw the very high snowy mountains and, later, the mountain range of San Martín. Farther on we showed him the split rock, which is made up of some large rocks that jut out into the sea, and they had a landmark on top, something like a seat. Farther on, we showed him the Río de Alvarado, which is where Pedro de Alvarado entered during Grijalva's expedition [the year before in 1518]. Then we showed him the Río de Banderas, which was where we had bartered for the sixteen thousand pesos [translator's footnote: "pesos worth of low-grade gold items of diverse craftsmanship"; the year before], and then we showed him the Isla Blanca, and we told him also where the Isla de Verde lay. Close to land he saw the Isla de Sacrificios, where we had found the altars during Grijalva's expedition and the sacrificed Indians. Then with good fortune, we arrived at San Juan de Ulúa on Holy Thursday, after midday." [pp 51-3]*

It was on this short trip as they passed by these different points and beach sections along the coast that Díaz tells the story that Puertocarrero came and said to Cortés,

"It seems ...these gentlemen who have come two other times to these lands are saying to you, "Behold France, Montesinos;/ Behold Paris, the city;/ Behold the waters of the Duero / where they go down to the sea." And I tell you now to look at the rich lands around you, and know how to conduct yourself." [p 53]*

He assured them he would know what to do if God gave them the good fortune of  Roland, the legendary Frankish hero who called for aid from the emperor with his oliphant horn. J H Elliott in the essay I quoted from the other day expands on this reference to the lines of poetry above as a reminder that what they were doing would need the sanction of a king.

"The lines came from the ballad of Montesinos, who was exiled from court because of a false accusation by his mortal enemy, Tomillas. Montesinos, the innocent exile, was seeking permission from his father to return to court in disguise and take service with the king, in order to avenge his wrong. If Montesinos were Cortés, then Tomillas, his enemy, was Velázquez; and Cortés could hope to resolve his difficulties, as Montesinos resolved his, by taking service under the king. "He who take the king's pay," continued the ballad, "can avenge himself of everything." Cortés promptly responded in kind, with a quotation from another ballad about another exile: "God give us the same good fortune in fighting as he gave to the Paladin Roland."

Success in arms, and resort to the highest authority of all, that of the king himself -- these were the aims of Cortés, and his fellow conspirators as they prepared in April, 1519, to compound their defiance of  Velázquez, by a landing which would mark the real beginning of their attempt to conquer an empire." [p xvi] †

This Puertocarrero would return to Spain in July carrying gold items made by Moctezuma's order and a fifth of booty acquired so far, to present to the new king, in the name of the new municipality of Vera Cruz, and what is now called the First Letter of Cortés, in hopes of persuading the king to grant license for further colonization.
And meanwhile, Moctezuma fretted about what would happen next, what to do, what it might mean.
________________________________________________________

* All quotes from The Conquest of New Spain translated with an introduction and notes by Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. 2012

† All quotes from the Introductory Essay of J.H. Elliott, ""Cortés, Velázquez and Charles V", printed in Hernán  Cortés: Letters From Mexico, translated, edited and with a new intro by Anthony Pagden, as a Yale Nota Bene book, Yale University Press, USA 2001

April Shows another Face of Cruelty: news from mid April 2013

• On Monday afternoon, April 15, bombs exploded killing three and wounding 180, in Boston, MA near the finish line of the city's famous annual marathon. Everyone has been praising the city worker's excellent response to the disaster. The President has said it was by definition a terrorist act since it was a multiple blast timed, first one and then after a moment, another. No answer as to who or why it happened has been determined. By Wednesday night, Chris Hayes on his new weeknight show gets you up to date and turns the mirror back on the media botching it.
• Within a couple days reports came from the statehouse in Mississippi and then at the Capitol in Washington, of letters having arrived, containing Ricin, a lethal poison. The letters were postmarked April 8. A suspect has been apprehended. No one was hurt.
• Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Senate held a vote on expanding background checks for gun buyers. It was defeated 54-46 due to the filibuster rules currently in place. Sen. McConnell from KY, leader of the minority in the senate won this round and I hear posted this on his facebook page.
• Last night, a fire in a fertilizer factory spread and blew up some vats of ammonia, in West, TX near Waco. The fire has been extensive with at least 5 and maybe up to 15 dead and 120 hurt with that number expected to increase.
• The wife of  a former Kauffman County, TX justice of the peace has been charged along with her husband in the murder of a former District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife and another Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse. It's now reported that the accused, Eric Williams wanted revenge for being fired from his job for stealing office computers. And got his wife to do it.
• Meanwhile there's this budget mess.
• The Daily Show w/Jon Stewart seemed especially relevant last night. 
• Kansas State budget gets rated worst budget in country. Leaders don't treat the state economy like an experiment! Scientists don't either.
• Here's a graphic on 1.185 million gallons of oil spilled in 13 spills in the last 30 days and why

The Needs of Hernán Cortés: spring 1519

 According to Dr. John H Elliott in his Introductory Essay for Anthony Pagden's standard English translation of  Letters From Mexico, Cortés was from a generation with

"... an exalted view of the royal service, and of Castile's divinely appointed mission. Both the divine and the royal favor would shine on those who cast down idols, extirpated pagan superstitions, and won new lands and peoples for God and Castile. But there was a wrong way, as well as a right way.... Cortés had seen with his own eyes how captains and soldiers whose sole concern was the quest for gold and the capture of slaves and booty had destroyed the islands and peoples discovered  by Columbus only a generation ago. The extension to the New World of a style of warfare reminiscent of the war against the Moors in medieval Spain had made a desert of a paradise and had left even the Spaniards themselves shiftless and discontented.... [spoke to] the lesson already learned by Cortés -- that conquest, to achieve any long-term success, required intelligent colonization." [p xvii]

 But Cortés knew this wasn't his charge. He was supposed to explore, trade and find out if there were any survivors from Grijalva's expedition of the year before in the Yucatan, at most. Yes, Velázquez had rescinded that order to explore and trade and Cortés had left anyway. But it seems, Cortés figured that, if he came back with more than was expected and made his own petition to the king, that perhaps his plea to settle and colonize could be granted, in effect, over the heads of the ministers, his direct bosses, in Cuba. It was a big gamble, especially since there were many who went with Cortés that remained loyal to Velászquez and were keeping an eye on not just Cortés, but also, any way they might be able to better secure a future for themselves.
When Velázquez realized that Cortés had left with all these men and ships, a dispatch was sent to Spain to explain to the new king how Cortés had resorted to treachery and treason and that sadly he could no longer be trusted. After all, Velázquez sought these lands for his own colonization.  Indeed, not only had he petitioned the local representatives of the king, the Hieronymous governors of Hispaniola, but now had sent agents back to Spain and could depend on the influential bishop of Burgos Juan de Fonseca, his wife's uncle and formerly, the councillor responsible for the Indies under the former monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella.
So it was understood that Velázquez was well connected and was going through the steps of ensuring his future preeminence. But so were all the other Spaniards there in the Caribbean.
Dr Elliott says that as soon as Cortes knew of the very existence of Moctezuma, a single, solitary leader of this entire region of Mesoamerica, he knew he had to capture that man and get him to 'acknowledge the superiority' of the king of Spain. [p. xii] All else would follow from this, he hoped. So he had to make his efforts both real and symbolic, to win by force of arms, deception, the projection of power and, in time, persuasion: in the jungles; among his compatriots that he fought with, directed and punished, in turn; among the pagan natives that none of them understood; as well as with the agents and councillors at court back in Spain.
Cortés says he wrote a letter detailing the break from Cuba and Velázquez, the first tentative approaches in Yucatan and then, the establishment of the Vera Cruz settlement. His claim was that the men under him demanded they establish this settlement. He knew it was in contravention to orders from Cuba but as he also rightly guessed, a king might know a bit about the necessity of keeping underlings happy. As J.H. Elliott says,

"It was the soldiers, eager to convert a trading expedition into a military and colonizing enterprise, who had demanded a change of plan; and Cortés, after due deliberation, had accepted their demand as conducive to the royal interest." [p. xxi]

 But we don't know exactly what Cortés wrote when he arrived in Mexico, if indeed he did, as that letter has never been found. What we do have is a letter from 'the municipal council of Veracruz', newly established and sent from there in July 1519 along with Cortés' agents to plead his case back in Spain. This is the letter, frequently called the 'First' letter of Cortés and which, Dr Elliott tells us should be read not as history,

"... but as a brilliant piece of special pleading, designed to justify an act of rebellion and to press the claims of Cortés against those of the governor of Cuba." [p. xx]

So in this crucial period when Cortés had to act fast and accomplish much in a short time and against all the rules, for God and king, he also had to set his mind to how best to make his case to the young Flemish king that he didn't know, half a world away.

All quotes from the Introductory Essay of J.H. Elliott, ""Cortés, Velázquez and Charles V", printed in Hernán  Cortés: Letters From Mexico, translated, edited and with a new intro by Anthony Pagden, as a Yale Nota Bene book, Yale University Press, USA 2001

Hot topic: Venezuela gets a review in US media: news from 12apr13

"Ding Dong the witch is dead!" has been the response for many after the news of the death of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which topped most news accounts this week. But another recent death has given rise to a familiar and yet still partly hidden country that deserves a fresh look. I say hidden because it's so rarely reported on here.

NPR is in Venezuela this week to cover the presidential elections there on Sunday. It also looks to show some of the wider context of the country in the wake of the death of its long-time leader, Hugo Chavez. All week, pieces on the country, the region, oil interests, the state economy, how images are sold for political gain, the future of 'Chavismo', humor, books, music, all accumulate.
And it's all laid out by topic and even in segments of varying length depending on how much time one can spend listening.

• music for campaigns, 4 min audio; sounds and views from the street, 7 min audio
• a quick view into three contrasting stories from 'Ordinary People' in Venezuela, 9 min audio
• an 8 min audio intro that sums up the mood mid-week and another 5 min piece a wrap-up from Caracas at week's end
• It gets more complicated as you consider how Chavez changed how stories are told, even the wildly popular telenovelas, 4 min audio
• An interview with a biographer of Chavez, 8 min audio
• a 12 min audio piece from 'Tell Me More' on the region in the wake of Chavez' generous subsidy of oil and it's possible demise with him
• Neal Conan on Talk of the Nation spends about 15 min on Venezuelan candidates and then continues with Pakistan
• Brazil is having a problem with inflation, 4 min audio
• Why no Venezuelan novels? No translators:  return of the Venezuelan novel?, 5 min audio
• Chavez partisans will likely take down GlobalVision, the media counter to Chavez and his partisans, after election, 4 min audio
• Venezuelan humorist gets kidnappers to talk politics, 6 min

Meanwhile, back in the states, the search continues for 'long-form' journalism, with green shoots appearing online.

Notary reads Confession, Sentence Handed Down: Case of María González, 1512

The notary, Cristóbal de Prado relates that he was the one reading the prior confession of María González, back to the woman herself on March 26, 1512 by order of the inquisitors, in Toledo. It's not hard to imagine a wooden hearing room, a few tables and chairs, a door that the inquisitors enter through and another for the accused. A few days later, on the 30th of March, the accused is brought in to the hearing room, the notary is ordered to read her confession again so that she could hear the words said  back to her, then the sentence of torture was read. When the woman was to be tortured, the confession she gave then is excerpted at length. The language of the notary is precise and defines it's own purpose carefully and even, it's proper place in the hierarchy, mentioning when and where and who and why. This inquisition process had been sharpened and expanded on for over thirty years and by this time looked very efficient.  By it's own measure of course.

"... the reverend lord inquisitors -- the licentiate Alonso de Mariana and Francisco de Herrera, apostolic and ordinary inquisitor -- were in the hearing of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, in my presence, Cristóbal de Prado, notary. They ordered Melchor de Sayavedra, the prison warden, to bring María González to the hearing. When María González was present, the lord inquisitors told her that she had been admonished many times to declare the truth about what she knew, about herself as well as other people, and to declare her accomplices, and still she has not wanted to speak the truth. Thus it was \necessary to treat her with all the severity of the law. They ordered me, the said notary, to read the following sentence in María González' presence." [p. 51]

...

"Given the circumstantial evidence and suspicions that result from the trial against María González, and the fact that she has been silent about the people who participated with her in the crimes of heresy which she has confessed, we find that we must order her put to the question of torture. The torture shall be given according to our will until such time as she declares the truth about accomplices and participants in the said crimes. And so we pronounce and order by these writings.

This sentence was given and pronounced by the lord inquisitors on the aforesaid day, month, and year, María González being there and in my presence, the notary." [p. 52]

The inquisitors were convinced of the truth and they insisted the only way the accused's crimes could be set right is if first, she admitted what they already judged was the truth. The next step after reading the sentence was to begin the torture.

All quotes from The Spanish Inquisition 1478-1614: An Anthology of Sources, edited and translated by Lu Ann Homza, Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc. 2006

"It was a Big Mess, A Really Big Mess": news from early apr2013

Old mild, middle of the road Bill Moyers has become quite the champion of the common man in these trying times. He brings attention to the very real widespread problem of US judicial courts being overwhelmed by cases. In the current environment this means people don't get proper representation before the courts today, if you can't afford to pay by yourself. He says 'And justice for all', does not describe our current reality.

DHS routinely surveils law abiding citizens, in these times. A whistleblower defense group has organized to represent those who point out when GOV fails. Like John Kriakou or these guys.

A hunger striker at Guantanamo has a story, gets a hearing.

The left have increased the banging of the drums about the unnecessary cuts to SocSec/Medicare that Obama put in his budget. This article has another look at the foolishness of austerity measures in the face of increasing poverty. The billionaire that has been pushing for restructuring of SocSec/Medicare is deceptively called 'center-left' by the New York Times.  Someone that Obama is likely to read , Ezra Klein, has come out and said the obvious again that Medicare should be expanded not reduced. NY and MA state AG's say it's time for Fannie/Freddie chief Ed de Marco to GO. Insurance companies continue to show trends away from the projections of the ACA. Fox&Friends tell striking workers to get two minimum wage jobs instead.

State Policy Network: another new umbrella Co. for ALEC to do it's work, writing state legislation etc.

Today's song is called, "Big Mess", from the 2000 compilation RecomboDNA, c. DEVO.

Quinnipiac poll says support for gun control remains high. NRA certified Gun Safety Instructor shoots himself while demonstrating gun safety. NRA know how to make their critics shut up, by remaining under heavy guard at all times and frisking and rough-handling journalists in the capitol and at the National Press Club.

A flow chart to help persuade climate change deniers.

Mid-week, EXXON was given control of airspace over the region where their tar sand pipeline blew up in Arkansas as they struggle to control the spread. This ban extends to press, of course. Another pipe, this one near Houston, TX and owned by Shell has blown and thousands of gallons of crude oil are heading for the Gulf of Mexico.

Authorities Set In Motion Plans Against Drummer of Niklashausen, late June 1476

After the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1476, the hordes of pilgrims continued to flood through Wurzburg. The city (probably in late June) took the measures of ensuring water and food for those passing through and without, for the meantime. Better to leave the gates open and let them leave and be on their way in time. Pilgrims also were allowed to cross the bridge on the Main River without having to pay the regular toll. Again, better to let them be on their way rather than 'stuck' in the city, for too long. Especially if things got out of hand or especially, if there were problems of violence.
The previous year and even the current one saw a number of anti-semitic pogroms all over Germany and arising from Italy. Some Christian boys were found dead and the age-old story that accused Jews of doing it for misunderstood reasons had caused violent uprisings and sometimes these were encouraged by Christian authorities like Bishop Rudolph in Wurzburg. Wunderli points out,

"Bishop Rudolph was easily caught up in the anti-Semitic hysteria and [he] ordered the expulsion of all Jews from the diocese of Wurzburg. But he never carried out his own order. When the hysteria died down, Jews were still in the diocese and little had changed." [pp 84-5]

It would make sense, Wunderli argues, if the Drummer of Niklashausen would include Jews, from their associations with money, merchants and holders of goods 'not held in common', as prime targets for such a populist outrage. But this was not the case. There is no such record, Wunderli says, of any part of the uprising as directed in any way against the Jews of the region. A silence of the record, he further argues, that places more of the onus against Jews into the lap of the christian authorities rather than the peasants and pilgrims of Niklashausen. As he says, the evidence suggests,

" ... that the many debts of peasants in the countryside were not to Jews, but to landlords in the form of sharecropping as credit. Perhaps only the elite used Jewish moneylenders for credit.... For the peasant-pilgrims, the enemy was the elite of Christian society, not Jewish moneylenders, who also were victims of Christian authorities." [p 85]

Later, June 18 in fact, the scribe for the town council reported that one Burckart Metzler "had heard alarming murmuring among the pilgrims that they would kill all the priests. If the report was correct, then ... [this] was turning into the authorities' worst nightmare." [pp 85-6]

The next day this witness was called and the authorities convened in the cathedral chapterhouse. After ensuring there was enough food, buckets for water, lest there be food riots or fire in the city, and munitions available to keep order, the witness was questioned closely. He had been trying to get women to offer contributions to buy candles to offer to the Virgin at Niklashausen. Another witness said that women came to  him to purchase candles from his wife who was a candlemaker. These women also bought a banner, he said, with the image of a pair of crossed keys. [pp 86-7]

Next, the great Midsummer festival that culminates in the Birthday of John the Baptist was celebrated. Bonfires were common all over Germany, as were processions of peasants in the fields with torches. Many places would set a great wheel on fire and roll it down a hill. In Wurzburg the authorities gathered in the bishop's castle and made a traditional show of fending off the summer dragons. Flexible sticks hung from the windows of the castle when waved around with fire at their tips could look like a dragon breathing fire from the city below.

In the final days of June, Wunderli tells us the town councils of Wurzburg and Mainz gathered to come up with a strategy in ending this pilgrimage and dealing with its leader. They wanted to jail, interrogate and condemn him and they had to do it legally. But all they could get were secondhand accounts. They needed quality witnesses whose testimony could be used in court. More pilgrims were headed to Niklashausen to hear a great sermon he was to make on July 2. So as the authorities wanted to have him excommunicated so too, anybody hearing, feeding, aiding or believing him in any way would also be excommunicated. No one was to preach without a license from the bishops. Portable altars were also banned. [p88]
They also instructed some notaries to go to hear him, in secret and write down any self-damning thing he might say. There were also questions about a Dominican friar who may have been there and a local Beghard hermit in the area. [p. 89] They also expressly forbade anyone singing any of the songs like:

"Oh God in Heaven, on you we call, Kyrie Eleison. Help us seize our priests and kill them all, Kyrie Eleison." [p. 90]

______________________________________________

all quotes from  Peasant Fires: The Drummer of Niklashausen by Richard Wunderli, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1992.