Thursday, February 22, 2018

Damn, Girl-Tamar of Georgia, King of Kings

Crowned co-ruler at age 18, Tamar (sometimes spelled 'Tamara') reigned over Georgia's¹ golden age, and expanded the kingdom to its greatest height. She would reorganize the Georgian Orthodox Church, defeat multiple attempted internal coups, and send an Turkish invasion packing. A woman of faith, Tamar credited her religion for her battlefield successes, and performed extensive charity work. She was canonized shortly after her death, and is seen as a Georgian religious and national hero. However, behind her piety was a shrewd woman more than willing to fight for her throne and people.

Image result for king tamar of georgia
Tamar
Tamar was the only child of King Giorgi III and Queen Burdukhan. George, like his daughter, had to deal with scheming relatives. When his nephew Demma attempted to dethrone him, Giorgi had Demma blinded, castrated, and thrown into prison. Giorgi dealt with other insurrectionists in a similarly brutal manner-with breaking kneecaps as his preferred method of chastisement. Due to the instability of his kingdom, Giorgi had his 18 year old daughter crowned co-ruler.

Giorgi's main reason for this was to ensure the stability of Georgia during his lifetime and after his death. He hoped that if the restless Georgian nobility saw that he had a stable dynasty in place to succeed him, they might calm down a bit. Additionally, he was giving the patriarchal Georgians time to get used to the fact that there next ruler would be a woman, something that had never happened in Georgia before. While many nobles protested, Giorgi quashed their protests saying, "One knows a lion by its claws, and Tamar by her actions." While there is little known about Tamar's childhood, this praise from her father suggests that she was more than suited for her role.

Giorgi died six years after his daughter's investment, leaving Tamar to govern the country by herself. Historians disagree about the beginning of Tamar's reign. Some sources claim that she had a very smooth ascension, aided by the fact that the Georgian people had had a chance to get used to the idea of her rule. Other's claim that she was met by insurrection--insurrection that she quickly quashed.

Image result for king tamar of georgia
Tamar holding court
Following her second crowning, Tamar's first order of business was to marry in order to produce an heir. She left the choosing of a spouse up to her council. They chose a Russian prince Yuri, the son of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky of Vladimir-Suzdal. Yuri had a reputation as a warrior, and the council believed that he would be good for their queen and country. However, Yuri thoroughly disproved them not shortly after the wedding vows were said. He was thoroughly dissolute--engaging in extramarital affairs, torturing and murdering Georgian Muslims, and abusing alcohol. He publicly berated Tamar for not bearing him a son, and was prone to violent outbursts. He was such an awful husband that Tamar divorced him after only three years. In a merciful move her father would certainly have disapproved of, Tamar sent him packing off to Constantinople with a generous allowance--kneecaps intact.

Georgia was a largely Orthodox country at the time. This makes the fact that Tamar was able to obtain a divorce quite extraordinary, given that divorce is, to this day, largely contrary to Orthodox doctrine. Tamar was able to obtain a divorce not only because of Yuri's widespread unpopularity, but because of her own special relationship with the church.

Following her ascension, Tamar convened a Synod, and set about reforming the Georgian church. She was already known for her piety, and made several changes that reflected this. In addition to this, she also saw that the bishops and clergymen who didn't like her were defrocked. Every powerful clergyman in the church was Tamar's man, and she used this to her benefit.

With Yuri out of the picture, Tamar was free to remarry, and remarry she did. Her next husband was Davit Soslan, an Alanian Prince. He was chosen for her by her aunt Rusudan, who reportedly told Tamar that Davit was "Hewn from stone, and reared on wolf's milk." Davit, unlike Yuri, lived up to his reputation. He was handsome, supportive, and an able military man. Tamar installed him as Consort, and quickly had two children.

After the births of her children, Tamar set to conquest. This was largely to keep the Georgian nobles busy elsewhere, and not conspiring with her ex-husband to dethrone her. Despite his exile, Yuri attempted to dethrone Tamar twice, but was soundly defeated.

Image result for georgian kingdom
Georgia at it's height
Under Davit's leadership, the Georgians were able to take parts of Armenia, Shirvan, and Azerbaijan. Tamar's success made her Muslim neighbors nervous, and they sent a unified force after her under the leadership of the Rum Sultan, Rukn al-Din. Rukn was a lovely man. In his initial letter to Tamar he informed her that all women were feeble minded, and that, should she convert to Islam, he would make her his wife. Should she retain her religion he would make her his concubine. The letter was so insulting that one of Tamar's courtier's hit Rukn's courier hard enough that the courier passed out. When the courier finally came to, Tamar sent him back with a message that she didn't care to be married to Rukn, at that she would defeat him. True to her word, Tamar sent him packing.

In addition to her expansionist endeavors, Tamar also focused on developing and reviving Georgian culture. She had monasteries and churches built, and it was under her that a monastic town was carved into the cliffs of Vardzia.

Tamar died of an unknown illness in 1213. Her final resting place is a mystery, with rumors that she is buried in the Gelati Monastery or in Jerusalem. As mentioned, she was canonized shortly after her death, and she is still celebrated in the Orthodox churches. She was succeed by her son, Giorgi IV Lasha, who was later succeeded by her daughter, Rusadan, another female King of Kings.



¹No, not the Georgia in the United States, the Georgia in Central Asia.



Sources
Queen Tamar: the Confident Female Ruler of the Georgian Golden Age
Queens Regnant: Tamar of Georgia--the First Female Ruler
St. Tamar, Queen of Georgia
Tamar of Georgia-Queen of Kings
Queen Tamar

Monday, February 12, 2018

Finnish Wife Carrying Competitions

You've heard of the Caber Toss, you've heard of Camel Jumping, but have you heard of Finnish Wife Carrying?

Starting in the small village of Sonkajärvi in Finland, Wife Carrying started out as a celebration of local history, and turned into a global sport. Every year in July, couples from around the world flock to this small Finnish town to compete in a grueling obstacle course. The obstacle course includes two dry obstacles, and one wet obstacle. Throughout the course one partner (usually the husband) must carry the other partner on their back. If the partner being carried is dropped the carrier has to pick them up, and keep going. Though Wife Carrying is a somewhat serious sport, it is, by no means, serious. The winner of the competition gets the weight of the wife in beer, and prizes are given out for the best costumes.

The competition celebrates the legend of Rosov Ronkainen, a notorious thief from the 1800s. Rosov was notorious for stealing women and food from local villages, and he required all men involved in his band of robbers to complete difficult obstacle courses while carrying heavy weights on their back--presumably to make it easier to kidnap women.

Today, Wife Carrying is more about building the relationship between couples than preparing for pillaging. Competition requires a great deal of trust and communication between partners, and is a fun way for couples to spend quality time together.


The event is inclusive of LGBT and single people, so long as you have a partner you can participate. There are qualifying events around the world which determine who is allowed to compete at the world championships. Those interested in competing can find the world championship website here.


Sources
2016 World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland Captured in Incredible Pictures

Friday, February 9, 2018

Damn, Girl-Hildegard of Bingen

Though armed with only a scant education, Hildegard of Bingen would go on to be the world's first known composer, a prestigious scientist, and a legendary prophetess. A true renaissance woman, it's difficult to know which of her achievements is most influential today. She revolutionized music, wrote medical textbooks used well into the renaissance, and proposed the idea that people, like plants, could inherit traits from their parents--some 700 years before Gregor Mendel did his experiments with pea plants.

Image result for Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard was the tenth child of Hiltebert and Mechthild, most likely members of the local nobility. The custom at the time was to give up the tenth child as a nun or monk to the Catholic Church, and as such Hildegard was sent to a Benedictine cloister at Disibodenberg, where she was put into the care of Jutta von Spanheim, a distant relative, and abbess of the cloister.

Hildegard suffered from illness as a child, and living in the austere Benedictine cloisters didn't help her. The damp, poor sleep, and lack of food and sunshine saw that Hildegard was bedridden for much of her childhood. In addition to her illness, Hildegard also had visions that she believed were sent from God. She was cautioned by Jutta to keep her visions quiet, and Hildegard did so for most of her life.

Image result for liber scivias
Page from the Liber Scivias
When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard succeeded her as prioress. Under Hildegard's leadership, the atmosphere at the cloisters became more relaxed. The sisters were allowed to wear their hair uncovered, and encouraged to step out into the sunshine. Hildegard was still having visions, and five years after being installed as prioress she had a vision so intense that she was prompted to confide it to her mentor, Volmar the Monk. Volmar encouraged Hildegard to record her visions, and with Volmar's help Hildegard began working on her first book, the Liber Scivias.

As a visionary, Hildegard had a fine line to walk. She had the challenge of recording what she saw, while not verging into heretical territory. Proposing new religious ideas, while easier for a nun than a common person, was still a risky venture, and could cost Hildegard everything should she be denounced as a heretic. Luckily for Hildegard, her visions were accepted by the pope of the time, and she was encouraged to keep writing.
Hildegard began to build up a reputation as a mystic. Her study of local medicinal methods saw her praised as a great healer, and she composed music for her nuns to sing. In 1150 Hildegard founded the convent of Mount St. Rupert in an effort to get away from the hoards of people who made pilgrimages to see her. Taking Volmar as well as a few sisters and novitiates with her, Hildegard started writing in earnest.

Because her education had been scant and interrupted, Hildegard relied on Volmar to help her with the actual physical writing. Her exact process is unknown, but it is speculated that Hildegard either wrote everything out on a wax tablet, and then Volmar put it to parchment, or that Hildegard simply dictated to Volmar. After the initial putting of words to paper, Volmar had his monks make copies of Hildegard's words. Though it took ten years, the Liber Scivias was finished in 1158.

Image result for volmar the monk
Hildegard and Volmar
The Liber Scivias was disseminated throughout the Catholic countries, and Hildegard began working on her next book of visions, the Liber Vitae Meritorum. The visions contained in her books pertained to the workings of the universe, and how the earth, air, sun, moon, and stars were all connected. In addition to her books of visions, Hildegard also began working on medical textbook, which put forth the idea that boiling drinking water was a good move.

In addition to her writing, Hildegard also traveled Europe preaching pacifism, and promoting orthodox religious ideals. She founded another convent, and corresponded with hundreds of people from all across Europe, including kings and popes. She was so well loved that when she died at age 81 she was immediately dubbed 'St. Hildegard', though she was not formerly canonized until 2012.

Hildegard is best known today for her music, but her religious and medical writings have seen an increase in popularity in recent years too. Several biographies and novels have been written about her, and her song cycles have been recorded hundreds of times by classical vocalists. She is much beloved in the Catholic church, and the convent that she established still stands today.


Sources
Saint Hildegard, German Mystic
Hildegard of Bingen
Hildegard of Bingen: Life and Music of the Great Female Composer

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

The Hatpin Panic

The turn of the century saw a great increase in mobility for women. Women were no longer relegated to the parlor and kitchen--they could leave the home unaccompanied. They began riding public transport and taking jobs outside of the home. However, with this new mobility and freedom came the new threat of street harassment and aggression.

Image result for hatpin panicThe harassment of women on the street continues to  be a problem to this day. Today it's called cat-calling, around the turn of the century it was called 'mashing'. It's more or less universally detested by every woman, and nearly every woman has a story about being harassed on the street. The fight against street harassment continues in government halls and online forums, but in the late 1800s/early 1900s women took matters into their own hands. Instead of trying to solve things with words these ladies stabbed the offenders with their sword like hatpins.

The hatpin was a common accessory at the time.  Large hats, festooned with ribbons, fake flowers, and wax fruit were the fashion, and to keep the millinery concoction on their heads, women secured them to their heads with steel pins known as hatpins. The average hatpin was around 9 inches in length, had a sharp point on the piercing end, and jewels, feathers, or filigree on the other. Hatpins had to be sharp in order to get through the fabric of the hat, and, due to the size of the hats, were often quite lengthy.

Women were, essentially, wearing knives in their hair. However, there are no recorded instances of women having used them as such until 1903 when Leoti Blaker, a young Kansan visiting New York City was accosted on public transportation. When an elderly man attempted to take liberties with her person, Leoti stabbed him 'in the meat of his arm', driving the man away. Leoti later stated to newspapers that “If New York women will tolerate mashing, Kansas girls will not.”

Image result for hats 1912
The typical headgear of an early 20th century
woman
Leoti's move against her harasser was only the first recorded of such instances. Stories about women defending themselves and others from attackers with their hatpins began to crop up around the country with increasing frequency. One woman in Chicago stopped a train robbery, one in New York stopped a man from stealing the payroll of an entire company.

With the popularity of the hatpin as a weapon of self defense, and the publication of self defense manuals for women, women were protecting their rights to exist in public spaces, and this was making the men of the time uncomfortable. Editorials in newspapers started cropping up about how women were 'attacking defenseless men', and that to avoid street harassment women should perhaps dress more modestly, or, better yet, not leave the house. Legislation to regulate hatpin length was introduced in several cities, and motions to ban them outright were discussed.

Admittedly, there had been some hatpin accidents. More than once another man or woman had suffered injury from being jostled against a lady's hatpin, and women had been known to stab policemen and police horses while resisting arrest. However, the rate of accidents was much lower than stated in newspapers of the day. Newspapers, especially the Chicago Tribune, stirred the public into a frenzy that would later become known as 'The Hatpin Panic' or 'The Hatpin Peril'.

This trend of using a hatpin for self defense spread to the United Kingdom and Australia, who all had a 'hatpin panic' too. While some legislative measures were passed, the hatpin panic ultimately died with the onset of World War One. Because of metal shortages, women no longer wore large hatpins, and after the war large hats went out of fashion. Bobs and cloche hats became the norm, and the biggest female threat to society became the flapper, not the hatpin.


Sources
The Hatpin Peril Terrorized Men Who Couldn't Handle the 20th Century Woman
With Daggers in Her Bonnet: The Australian Hatpin Panic of 1912
Early 1900s Women Had an Ingenious Method for Fending Off Gropers
When Men Feared 'A Resolute Woman, With a Hatpin in Her Hand'

Monday, February 5, 2018

Caligula Never Made His Horse Senator, but He Did Conquer the Sea

Caligula, the third and most infamous emperor of Rome was a colorful character. He was sadistic, grandiose, and possibly insane. He enjoyed dressing as gods and demi-gods, and had the faces on statues of dieties replaced with his own likeness. His cruelty has seen that he's gone down in history as one of the baddest of the bads, but he certainly left us with some fantastic stories.

Image result for caligula
Bust of Caligula 
The most famous stories about Caligula involve his horse, Incitatus. The most popular story, that Caligula intended to appoint his horse consul, is most likely untrue, and likely the result of Romans taking Caligula's jokes that his horse could do a better job as consul than the actual consul too seriously. However, it is undeniable that Caligula loved his horse. He had a marble stall erected for Incitatus, and an ivory manger made for him to eat out of.

Caligula aspired to be a great military conqueror like his great-grandfather, Augustus. Unfortunately, he was insane, and lacked the attention span for real warfare. He took his armies on several pointless campaigns in Gaul. When he reached the Gaulish coast to prepare for an invasion of Britain, he had his soldiers collect seashells to show as proof of him having 'plundered the sea'. Then, instead of invading Britain, he turned his army around and went back to Rome, displaying the shells as booty.

By far the biggest, and most costly, of Caligula's whims was his decision to bridge the Bay of Naples by tying hundreds of ships together. Caligula did this so that he could ride his horse (remember Incitatus?) across the bay, galloping back and forth across the bay several times.

Superficially, the reign of Caligula is a terrifying and hilarious footnote on the history of Rome. However, beneath the surface lingers questions about Caligula's mental health and how much of his supposed cruelties were made up after his death.


Sources
The Roman Empire in the First Century-Caligula
Caligula-Ancient Encyclopedia
Caligula: Historical Background
Caligula-History Network
Caligula: Roman Emperor

Thursday, February 1, 2018

Damn, Girl-Omu Okwei, Captain of Robbing Industry

Okwei was a people-person, a trait that she used enormously to her advantage. Rising from having almost nothing to become the wealthiest woman in Nigeria, she built  relationships with both native Nigerians and the British which led to her being crowned Omu, or Queen. Her political expertise and excellence in this position ensured that she would be the last to ever hold the title.

Okwei surrounded by her family
Okwei was the daughter of Prince Osuna Afubeho, a wealthy warrior. As was the practice of the time, Prince Osuna had many wives, all of whom were expected to provide for themselves through trade. Given that daughters were unable to inherit the property of their fathers, Okwei's mother insured that her daughter had a solid background in trade so that she would be able to provide for herself.

At age nine, Okwei was sent to be apprenticed to her maternal aunt in the Igala tribe. Nigeria was, and still is, a country with hundreds of tribes, each with unique languages and customs. At the time, the Igala language was very important for trade, and during her apprenticeship Okwei not only learned how to do business, but the language that would open a lot of doors for her. By the time she returned home at age fifteen, she was successfully trading in vegetables and poultry.

In 1889 Okwei married Joseph Allagoa, an influential brass trader. Okwei's family disapproved of the match, given that Joseph's family did not share the same royal status of Okwei's family. Okwei, however, didn't care, and married Joseph anyways, despite the fact that her family withheld her dowry.

Image result for nigeria tribal map
Tribal and linguistic divisions of Nigeria
The dowry was an important part of marriage for an Igbo woman of the time. Because women could not inherit their father's money and property their dowry was the only way for them to build up a successful trading business after marriage. A dowry was essential for being self sufficient, and for having a successful marriage. Marriages in which the wife was not successful in her trading endeavors, and in which she did not contribute to the family financially, rarely prospered.

Despite her lack of capital, Okwei started a business in palm oil trading--a highly lucrative product at the time. She was able to make use of her husband's business connections to start building her empire, and though they divorced not a year after marrying Okwei was able to use those contacts throughout her life.

Okwei and Joseph divorced in 1890, and Okwei had custody of their son, Frances. Okwei continued her trading business, and in 1895 married again, this time to Opene of Abo, the son of a successful and wealthy trader. Okwei's family once again disliked the match, this time because of Opene's lack of work ethic, and once again Okwei ignored their protests and married despite her lack of dowry. Opene's lackadaisical attitude towards working, and his willingness to support Okwei in her trading endeavors suited her just fine, and they, reportedly had a very happy marriage, having one son, Peter.

Shortly after her second marriage, Okwei went into business with her mother in law, Okwenu Ezewene. Though Okwei later dissolved their partnership, Okwei was able to add less perishable items to her inventory. During this time Okwei diversified her stock to include cotton goods and tobacco-items in particular demand.

Image result for palm oil
Unprocessed palm oil
By 1904, when Okwei dissolved her partnership with her mother in law and became an agent of the Royal Niger Trading Company, Okwei was making an astonishing amount of 400 tickets a month. The ticket system was put into place by the British colonial government because of a lack of universal currency in Nigeria at the time. Many tribes refused to trade in British pounds, preferring to trade in traditional cowrie shells or iron rods. British merchants, on the other hand, refused to accept cowrie shells and iron rods as payment. The ticket system was put into place as a compromise. Each ticket could be converted into a certain amount of oil or other goods, but ultimately amounted to about one pound sterling.

Okwei continued to grow her trading empire by starting to trade in clay and iron goods. She also grew her network of trade contacts by marrying off her maids and foster daughters to European shop owners, translators, and government officials. This, combined with her honest and open attitude, endeared her to Africans and Europeans alike.

Image result for nigerian cowrie shells
Cowrie shells-the traditional currency of the Igbo
The palm oil industry--Okwei's bread and butter--collapsed during World War One, as the main market for palm oil was in Germany. Okwei changed her trade focus from selling palm oil to selling ivory and coral beads. Ivory was valuable to Africans and Europeans alike--used for ornamental accents in Europe, and ceremonial jewelry in Africa. Okwei not only exported and sold ivory, but she also amassed a large selection of ceremonial ivory jewelry which she rented out for a profit.

In 1918 the ticket system was abolished, and a new currency--neither pound sterling nor cowrie shell--was introduced. By this time the Nigerians had started to trust the old currency (the pound sterling), and were suspicious of the new money. Because the British paid them in new currency Nigerians turned to money changers to buy goods locally. Okwei set up a business as a money changer, taking advantage of local suspicion to pay two shillings of old currency for every five shillings of the new.

In addition to money changing, Okwei also set herself up as a landlady and a money lender. She owned some sixteen houses--fifteen of which she rented out. She provided business loans to local businesswomen, and invested in her local market. Her vast wealth also made it possible to import goods directly from England--a costly and risky venture made less risky by Okwei's vast fleet of personal trading trucks and canoes.

While she was certainly a shrewd businesswoman, Okwei was also a respected member of the community, and the core of her family. She supported her sons and their wives in their endeavors, and was often the calm, impartial mediator in family disputes. She was devoted to her traditional way of life, refusing to become a Christian and keeping up her devotion to her native religion. This, along with her support for tribal government led to her being elected Omu.

Image result for onitsha nigeria
The Onitsha market--still located on the land leased out
by Okwei.
The Igbo system of government at the time consisted of an unrelated king and queen. The king was in charge of the men, foreign relations, and most warfare, while the queen was in charge of the women, the economy, and the markets. Both were appointed positions, usually given to people who were greatly respected. Okwei took her duties as Omu very seriously, and was such a good Omu that the title has never been awarded to another woman out of respect for her legacy.

Much like Andrew Carnegie or J.D. Rockefeller, Okwei rose from poverty to become a millionaire. It would be easy to classify her as a captain of industry because of the money she poured back into her community, or as a robber baron because of the high interest rates she charged her debtors, but in reality she falls somewhere in the middle. While her methods were not always ethical, Okwei contributed enormously to the Nigerian economy, and helped pave the way for the modern female entrepreneur in Nigeria.


Sources

Omu Okwei, The Merchant Queen of Ossomari--a Biographical Sketch by Felicia Ekejiuba
Women in the Economy of Igboland, 1900 to 1970: A Survey by Gloria Chuku
Okwei of Ossomari (1872-1943)