Trent 1475

This book was a whirlwind of accusations, torture, and faulty information.  When I first began, I wondered how an entire town - most of whom seemed to be on good terms with, if not friends with, the Jewish community of Trent - could turn against them so suddenly.  It brought to mind the movie Chocolat, where a mother and daughter moved to a small French town and opened a chocolaterie where they sold delicious confections that seemed to have magical healing properties.  The mayor tried to turn the town against them, proclaiming them to be ungodly and dangerous.  However, unlike Trent, the townspeople realized that the mayor's accusations were unfounded.  In Trent, the trial ended in the deaths of most of the Jewish community and the martyrdom on Simon, the little boy who was found dead.

Although I could understand the mob mentality of the Trentini, I could not understand how other towns or higher up authorities could allow the horrors of Trent to occur.  Although there was an investigation, it was long after the initial accusations, and it was not as effective as it could have been.  

Another thing that surprised me was that the body of Little Simon Martyr was kept in St. Peter's until the 1960's, mostly because I visited the basilica this June.  It was odd to think that I had been where the body of the little boy who had caused so much trouble and heartache was kept for nearly 500 years.

Goffman v Erikson

For homework we were instructed to read two texts on stigma: Stigma by Erving Goffman and "On the Sociology of Deviance" by Kai Erikson.  Although both of these were written on the same topic, I found them to be quite different.  For the most part, it seemed to me like Goffman focused on stigma at a more personal level; he gave multiple examples of a variety of individual's experiences living with a stigma.  He elaborated on the way stigmatized individual were treated by members of society on a microscopic level.  Erikson, on the other hand, seemed to focus on stigma on a more macroscopic level: how to determine if an individual has a stigma or not, how that stigmatized individual is treated by society as a whole, the role of the stigmatized in society.  By reading both texts, I felt I was able to gain a more rounded knowledge of stigmas and how they can affect individuals and societies.

Mandrake Root

When we were talking about mandrake roots in class, two things popped into my head.  The first was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, where they repotted mandrakes in Herbology class.



The second thing was Pan's Labyrinth.  Pan tells Ofelia to place a mandrake root in a bowl of milk underneath her pregnant mother's bed to ease her pregnancy.



images from http://wortsandcunning.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/the-magical-herbs-of-harry-potter/ and
http://wortsandcunning.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/the-magical-herbs-of-harry-potter/

Two Birds With One Stone

So... in my search to find a youtube video of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition skit, I came across this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSe38dzJYkY

Not only does it demonstrate (sort of, but not really) the Spanish Inquisition, it also reminded me of the way torture was used in Trent 1475.  Not the actual techniques, which were much harsher than pillow poking and a comfy chair, but the way that the victim didn't know what they were supposed to be confessing to, so they had to endure more torture until they learned what their torturers wanted them to admit to.

The Four Humors

Last week in class, we talked about the four humors.  So... I googled it to find out exactly what they were.  And here is what I found:

The four humors are vital body fluids which must be kept in balance to ensure good health.

blood - air
phlegm - water
yellow bile - fire
black bile - earth

Let's go into them in a little more detail, shall we...

Blood- the Sanguine humor.  It is the nutrient-rich hemoglobin portion of the blood which carried the vital life force and promotes happy feelings of joy and wellbeing

Phlegm- the Phlegmatic humor.  It is composed of all the clear fluids in the body which protects the body by expelling waste and such and makes one lethargic and sensitive.

Yellow Bile- the Choleric humor.  It carries little nutrients and is a yellowish residue which lives in the gall bladder (so of course it aids with digestion) and "provokes, excites, and emboldens the passions."

Black Bile- the Melancholic humor. It is a brownish grey sediment (platelets and such) that has barely any nutrients and has a cooling, solidifying effect on the body, which makes one pessimistic and depressed.

all credit goes to http://www.greekmedicine.net/b_p/Four_Humors.html for the information