Ahh, the good old days. When life was mostly simpler. Much better than the 1990's, or even the 1890's.
If you remember...
"From the Fury of the Northmen, O Lord, Deliver Us."
Those pesky Magyars invading the Holy Roman Empire every year--and the conversion to Christianity by King Stephan!
You remember the Pax Ecclesiae; no more attacking random clergy members.
Norse raids every summer!
You remember hearing about a new land across the sea, a land of vines and Skraielings.
The beginning of the construction of the Al-Hakim Mosque.
You remember the devastating raids of Al-Mansour the Moor, and his sack of Santiago de Compostela!
Poor Aethered Unread!
The Glories of the Byzantine Rite, and the richest city in the world.
BREAKING NEWS: VLADIMIR OF KIEV BAPTIZED! POPE DISTRAUGHT AT THE RUS ACCEPTANCE OF THE EASTERN CHURCH
You remember the glorious reign of the White Death of the Saracens, and his successor, John I Tzimikes.
You remember Mahmud of Ghazni.
You also remember the coronation of Basil II, and the beginning of his war in Bulgaria.
You remember the brutal murder of Nikephoros, the deaths of Otto II and Al-Uqlidisi, and the rise of the Song Dynasty in China.
You remember how Basil II lifted the Saracen siege of Aleppo by mounting his entire army and transferring it across Anatolia in sixteen days.
You read Cicero in secret late at night in the Monastery.
School? Pah, that's for Monks!
You remember reading the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, as they were written.
You remember all those crazy Bogamil heresies.
You were devastated when you learned that the Fatimid Caliph had leveled the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You rejoiced when you heard he disappeared in the desert.
Sylvester II- Holy Man, or Possessed by the Devil?
"CRISIS AT HAND! CUMAN INVASION!"
You remember a time when everything was handwritten.
You remember the Book of Kells.
One Word: Danegeld
Two More Words: Greek Fire.
You wore rags in the west, or perhaps, if you were lucky, silk in the east.
You remember Basil before he became the Bulgarslayer.
You knew the lives of all your local nobles, but didn't know anyone more than 20 miles from your home village.
Games? Don't be silly, it's time to bring in the harvest.
The only Horror stories were those of demons affecting the Saints.
Quills and ink, and a wax-sealed missive.
You remember the Normans settling in Normandy.
You remember constant fights between nobles in Europe, and how they would make you into a serf.
You remember a time before the Normans took over everything.
You thought Svyatoslav might take over the world, and feared his pagan might.
You hoped that Byzantium would destroy all the Saracens.
You remember a time before the Black Death.
You got married when you were 15 years old.
When we were younger:
When the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium were Allied.
Before the Crusades, and the Reconquista.
When Lent meant something.
When women knew their place in the household, unless they were Byzantine Empresses.
Before the Peace of God and the Truce of God.
Back when you walked uphill both ways to Church (in the mud, or snow, depending on the season).
Back when there were no longbowmen.
When oil's only use was in Siege Warfare.
When we used the town crier to hear news.
When Ibn Sina was still alive.
When the Vikings were still Pagan.
Way back.
The Steppes, a sea of horrible horsemen, set to take over the world and destroy Christendom. In league with the Vikings and the Saracens.
Guilds-the only way to do business.
Before Castles were made of stone.
Fighting one another until you were too injured, and then you died from infection.
Spanglehelms.
When the Bible was only in Greek, Slavonic, Latin, Ge'ez and Coptic...
Before full plate armor.
Getting the privilege to serve a nobleman.
Drinking wine and beer with every meal.
Byzantium was the Center of the World.
Or what about:
Cordoba and Constantinople-the biggest cities in the West.
The *REAL* original European dynastic order.
Theophano and Otto II's glorious wedding
Arabic commentaries on Aristotle.
Wearing shoes! Terribly exciting.
The two most exciting days of the year: Pascha and Nativity.
When a Byzantine Nomisomata was more money than you had EVER seen before, shining in gleaming gold.
Go back to the time when:
Mistakes were corrected by killing the person who made them.
Knights were not in shining armor--just rusty chain mail.
The Khazars: the only Jewish state in the Middle Ages.
It wasn't odd to never leave your village. And when someone did, you heard about it EVERY DAY for the rest of your life.
Being old referred to anyone over 13.
When Feudalism ruled Western Europe.
Before we realized all this would eventually disappear.
Before we realized the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church would split in two, and then into about 9,084 protestant denominations.
Before we realized how it’s lame to be so nostalgic of something that ended only six years ago.
Taken from a Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2265578733
But very very funny.
If you remember...
"From the Fury of the Northmen, O Lord, Deliver Us."
Those pesky Magyars invading the Holy Roman Empire every year--and the conversion to Christianity by King Stephan!
You remember the Pax Ecclesiae; no more attacking random clergy members.
Norse raids every summer!
You remember hearing about a new land across the sea, a land of vines and Skraielings.
The beginning of the construction of the Al-Hakim Mosque.
You remember the devastating raids of Al-Mansour the Moor, and his sack of Santiago de Compostela!
Poor Aethered Unread!
The Glories of the Byzantine Rite, and the richest city in the world.
BREAKING NEWS: VLADIMIR OF KIEV BAPTIZED! POPE DISTRAUGHT AT THE RUS ACCEPTANCE OF THE EASTERN CHURCH
You remember the glorious reign of the White Death of the Saracens, and his successor, John I Tzimikes.
You remember Mahmud of Ghazni.
You also remember the coronation of Basil II, and the beginning of his war in Bulgaria.
You remember the brutal murder of Nikephoros, the deaths of Otto II and Al-Uqlidisi, and the rise of the Song Dynasty in China.
You remember how Basil II lifted the Saracen siege of Aleppo by mounting his entire army and transferring it across Anatolia in sixteen days.
You read Cicero in secret late at night in the Monastery.
School? Pah, that's for Monks!
You remember reading the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, as they were written.
You remember all those crazy Bogamil heresies.
You were devastated when you learned that the Fatimid Caliph had leveled the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. You rejoiced when you heard he disappeared in the desert.
Sylvester II- Holy Man, or Possessed by the Devil?
"CRISIS AT HAND! CUMAN INVASION!"
You remember a time when everything was handwritten.
You remember the Book of Kells.
One Word: Danegeld
Two More Words: Greek Fire.
You wore rags in the west, or perhaps, if you were lucky, silk in the east.
You remember Basil before he became the Bulgarslayer.
You knew the lives of all your local nobles, but didn't know anyone more than 20 miles from your home village.
Games? Don't be silly, it's time to bring in the harvest.
The only Horror stories were those of demons affecting the Saints.
Quills and ink, and a wax-sealed missive.
You remember the Normans settling in Normandy.
You remember constant fights between nobles in Europe, and how they would make you into a serf.
You remember a time before the Normans took over everything.
You thought Svyatoslav might take over the world, and feared his pagan might.
You hoped that Byzantium would destroy all the Saracens.
You remember a time before the Black Death.
You got married when you were 15 years old.
When we were younger:
When the Holy Roman Empire and Byzantium were Allied.
Before the Crusades, and the Reconquista.
When Lent meant something.
When women knew their place in the household, unless they were Byzantine Empresses.
Before the Peace of God and the Truce of God.
Back when you walked uphill both ways to Church (in the mud, or snow, depending on the season).
Back when there were no longbowmen.
When oil's only use was in Siege Warfare.
When we used the town crier to hear news.
When Ibn Sina was still alive.
When the Vikings were still Pagan.
Way back.
The Steppes, a sea of horrible horsemen, set to take over the world and destroy Christendom. In league with the Vikings and the Saracens.
Guilds-the only way to do business.
Before Castles were made of stone.
Fighting one another until you were too injured, and then you died from infection.
Spanglehelms.
When the Bible was only in Greek, Slavonic, Latin, Ge'ez and Coptic...
Before full plate armor.
Getting the privilege to serve a nobleman.
Drinking wine and beer with every meal.
Byzantium was the Center of the World.
Or what about:
Cordoba and Constantinople-the biggest cities in the West.
The *REAL* original European dynastic order.
Theophano and Otto II's glorious wedding
Arabic commentaries on Aristotle.
Wearing shoes! Terribly exciting.
The two most exciting days of the year: Pascha and Nativity.
When a Byzantine Nomisomata was more money than you had EVER seen before, shining in gleaming gold.
Go back to the time when:
Mistakes were corrected by killing the person who made them.
Knights were not in shining armor--just rusty chain mail.
The Khazars: the only Jewish state in the Middle Ages.
It wasn't odd to never leave your village. And when someone did, you heard about it EVERY DAY for the rest of your life.
Being old referred to anyone over 13.
When Feudalism ruled Western Europe.
Before we realized all this would eventually disappear.
Before we realized the one Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church would split in two, and then into about 9,084 protestant denominations.
Before we realized how it’s lame to be so nostalgic of something that ended only six years ago.
Taken from a Facebook group - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2265578733
But very very funny.
