Ex Mediis Aevis, Scientia

I've decided that in the interest of being able to discuss the blog in the third person easily, without having to actually spell out the blog name every time (Got Medieval is far easier :), I'll be using the abbreviation EMAS. I think it should make things a little easier to understand and, perhaps, a bit nicer on my writing style. Just as an FYI more than anything else. You may now resume your regularly scheduled reading.

Quick note on the name

To dispense with the inevitable "what does it mean?" questions, let me explain the name of the blog and its relevance to me. The motto of the Apollo 13 mission to the moon (ex luna, scientia - from the moon, knowledge) was a play on the Navy's motto ex scientia tridens (from knowledge, sea power). The Apollo 13 motto later became the basis for the motto of Starfleet Academy in Star Trek (Ex astris, scientia - from the stars, knowledge). Being a fan of both science (in all its forms) and Star Trek (in most of its forms), it made sense to play upon the motto with ex mediis aevīs, scientia* which means - from the middle ages, knowledge.
It is often said (but, apparently, rarely believed) that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. As an example, we've now had three separate modern presidencies who've tried "voodoo/trickle down/Bush" economics. And in each case we've had a recession (this most recent the worst since the Great Depression). I'd say that not only are the stewards of our country (presidents) not learning from history, but we (the American people) are certainly failing to learn as well.
What do the middle ages have to teach us? What knowledge can we glean? One main lesson is our relationship with the world around us. For instance, historians were not overly surprised at what happened in Iraq following the downfall of Saddam's regime. Power vacuums are a common theme in history, as strong leaders are succeeded by weaker leaders. Sometimes a person's "cult of personality" is what keeps a country together (as was the case in Iraq). Without a strong individual to curtail the internecine strife between Shi'ite and Sunni, the religious and political differences were bound to explode in a firestorm. And they did. These kinds of things are often ignored by the "power elite" because they fail to fit their worldview. Which is sad, because they're really not obtuse if you look at it in the right light (and yes, hindsight is always 20/20, but some of these things are just that obvious).
So I hope to bring a little enlightenment (ha, ha - historian joke) to the middle ages and, perhaps, to your understanding of it. There are reasons why the world is why it is today - and that's because everything up to today made it that way. The middle ages are just a slice of that perspective, but the foundation for much of the Renaissance and enlightenment were laid by those "masons". And the world today is nothing if not the sum of its yesterdays.

* This was originally ex medius aevus, scientia, but I've since found a fantastic Latin website - Numen - that helped correct my spelling. It can actually provide you all of the forms of basic nouns, which is simply incredible. Yay technology! Still not definite on whether it should be singular ("middle age/era") or plural ("middle ages"), so it's staying plural for now.

Obligatory Initial Post

So it's become somewhat obligatory (and, I'm sure, cliche) to have a "first post" post, so here's mine. Let me provide a little background about what this blog covers and, probably more interesting to you, the potential reader, why I am remotely qualified to be doing this.
Several years ago I was a graduate student at the University of Colorado (CU) at Boulder in the Early Modern British History program. I was studying the Wars of the Roses, the noble civil war in the 14th century. I had always fostered a strong attraction, however, to the Norman period in English period (William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionhearted, John, et al) and, associated with that, the Crusades. CU didn't offer a medieval program, just early modern to modern, so I figured I'd get my master's at CU and then transfer somewhere else to get my Ph.D. in medieval history. The preparatory classes to take a medieval program, even in English or British history, were pretty significant - at least 3 semesters of classical (Roman) Latin plus French (at least enough to be able to read modern French) and then additional extracurricular work to learn ecclesiastical Latin (the version used by the Church in the middle ages) and Norman French (which is different than medieval French). Unfortunately, I had to drop out to do the whole "work" thing (which is where my other blog about Otto Von Productions comes in) to pay bills and such. The trouble was that I had relatively marketable skills in software engineering that made it difficult to let go of the corporate teat called a salary. I decided instead to focus on becoming independently wealthy. Or, failing to win Powerball, to generate enough residual income from a self-employment standpoint that I could return to school and get my degree.
Well, far too many years have passed to make my return to school an easy one. My grades, while good, have aged likely too far to be useful, and my GRE scores are nearly a decade past expiration. The skills I learned in grad school, though, are still fresh and I continue to read the journals, books, and other accoutrement of medieval studies. My Latin's pretty rusty these days, but I'm hoping that with some extra effort over the coming months that I'll be able to bring that back up to snuff (although I was only ever a B+ student in Latin, so be forewarned). The things that have never left me are my desire to learn and desire to teach. And to correct fallacies. I cannot tell you how many things I've read or heard about the Templars or the Freemasons or some "esoteric agenda" dating back to King Solomon or whatnot - and they're almost (all) bunk.
I hope that you'll find the journey a lot educational, a fair bit iconoclastic, and a little humorous. Okay, a lot humorous. But I hope you'll come along and enjoy the ride through the middle ages and even some modern day stuff.