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LONDINIA BLESS THIS PLACE! “I know histhry isn’t thrue, Hinnissy, because it ain’t like what I see ivry day in Halsted Street. If any wan comes along with a histhry iv Greece or Rome that’ll show me th’ people fightin’, gettin’ dhrunk, makin’ love, gettin’ married, owin’ th’ grocery man an’ bein’ without hard coal, I’ll believe they was a Greece or Rome, but not befur.” — Dunne, Finley Peter, OBSERVATIONS BY MR. DOOLEY, New York, 1902 “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project London HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON 61 CE The Romans were averring that they had invaded Britannia because Celts there had been supplying food to the revolting Germanic Celts of Gaul. Two of England’s largest armies were commanded by Queen Boadicea of the Iceni tribe. The Iceni Celtic practiced equality of the sexes, obviously, plus they used chariots in battle. This powerful redhead, before being killed, would besiege and destroy Roman London and nearly drive the Latins from England. NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT London “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON 1066 December 25, Christmas: Within three months of his victory over Anglo-Saxon ruler Harold II, William the Bastard of Normandy had constructed the great stone tower of the Tower of London, or White Tower as it later would come to be known after it had received its first coat of whitewash, on the north bank of the Thames River at the old Roman town of London. Having thus taken care of the most pressing business need, on this Christmas day he had himself crowned as the new King William I of England. Eventually he would get around to such sharp-pencil issues as separating the churchly court system from the temporal court system: READ THE FULL TEXT HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON (Initially the fortress there had been a simple timber-and-earth enclosure tucked into the south-east angle formed by the joining of the original east and south stone walls of the old Roman town of Londinium Augusta, the original structure being completed by the addition of a ditch and palisade along the north and west sides.) DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD. London “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON 1101 February 2, day (1100, Old Style): The Bishop of Durham, Ranulf de Flambard –who had as chief minister and administrator of the royal finances under the previous monarch King William II Rufus of England (ruled 1087- 1100) been made a scapegoat for the late king’s unpopular policies by being accused of extorting funds from the barons and the church, and who had been imprisoned on August 15, 1100 by order of the new monarch King Henry I– by lowering himself with a rope out of what is now known as the White Tower (it was not yet whitewashed) made himself the very 1st, but by no means the last, to escape from the Tower of London. He would be able to make his way to Normandy, where he would incite Duke Robert II Curthose to attempt an unsuccessful invasion of England — but after this trahison he would be restored to the royal favor of King Henry I and to his bishopric! HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON (Perhaps in the Tower they had been challenging him with Brussels sprouts, which in this period were being introduced.) Plant Name Place Brussels sprouts Brassica oleracea Northern Europe OTHERS Speaking of getting out of the pen before the end of a sentence, here’s something about the history of development of punctuation: From at least the twelfth century onwards there was a tendency among scribes who copied books to abandon earlier systems of punctuation marks in favour of a general repertory — a convention of punctuation familiar to us in the present day. (Nevertheless, there was no standardization in the forms of these marks before the dissemination of printing types.) ... As handwriting became more compressed during the course of the twelfth century, and the space between words decreased in size, the punctus [what we would call a period “.”] became the most common mark of punctuation. It was used to indicate all kinds of pauses, to introduce quotations, and to separate ... the punctus was generally used in combination with other symbols. These were the punctus elevatus [:] and punctus interrogatorious [?] from the liturgical repertory, and litterae notabiliores [this came to be our capital letters at the start of sentences]. — Malcolm Beckwith Parkes. PAUSE AND EFFECT: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF PUNCTUATION IN THE WEST. Berkeley: U of California P, 1993, pages 41-42 LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project London HDT WHAT? INDEX LONDON LONDON 1106 In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, a miracle occurred. A flame spontaneously appeared inside the tomb of Jesus (this miracle would re-occur on each and every Great Saturday to follow). Robert, Duke of Normandy, a prisoner of war, died in prison at Devizes. Robert, Earl of Mortain, a prisoner of war in the Tower of London, was released by a miracle of the Holy Rood and became a monk of Bermondsey. LONDON CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT London “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
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