Following the Swiss victory in the Burgundian Wars, tensions between the cantons increased over the distribution of spoils of war. In 1481 they were on the bring of war between each other, but a mysterious advice from a hermit named Nicholas of Flüe brought peace! How? I explain.
Nicholas of Flüe used to be a brave soldier. He married when he was 30 and his wife gave him 10 children. However at the age of 50 he received a vision of a lily eaten by a horse which he interpreted as a call for giving up on worldly life completely, and he became a hermit!
Little is known about this part of his life other than as hermit he was greatly respected for his wisdom and piety. Called "brother Klaus", he was held in immensely high regard in Swiss cantons and beyond, people from across Europe came to seek advice from him!
So when in 1481 the Swiss cantons were at the brink of war and the Confederacy was about to fall apart, they sought advice from brother Klaus! A priest named Heini Amgrund visited this man of great wisdom and received counsel from him for the leaders of Swiss cantons.
Heini Amgrund returned to the Swiss Diet called Tagsatzung and delivered to them the wise words of counsel from Nicholas of Flüe. They listened to Nicholas' message and followed his advice. The delegates immediately reached a compromise. All the quarrels were put aside!
What was the advice that this myserious brother Klaus gave them? We will never know because it remains a secret to this day! We only have letters of gratitude from the cantons of Bern and Solothurn left. It will always be a mystery.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
16th century Romans developed an interesting tradition of "talking statues", attaching anonymous political commentary on statues.
The Pasquino was the first of such statues.🧵
The Pasquino is an old statue in Rome dating back to Antiquity.
It was one of many random statues in Rome until early 16th century when Cardinal Oliveiro Carafa decorated the statue with Latin epigrams on the occasion of the Feast of Saint Mark.
The Cardinal's actions unintentionally inspired ordinary Roman people to start writing satirical poems and attaching them to the Pasquino.
It is speculated that these were first only consisting of lowbrow humor, but they soon began including controversial political criticism!
From 1475 on, the Venetians recruited the stradioti light cavalry from the Balkans as borderland troops in Friuli to defend against Ottoman raids.
These were known for cutting off the heads of dead or captured enemies and wanted to be paid extra for every head they brought back!
In one instance during the Ottoman raid on the town of Spilimbergo in 1499, the stradioti were able to respond quickly enough and in cooperation with local Friulian militias killed around 100 Ottomans whose heads they brought to a Venetian commander, demanding to be paid!
The territory of Friuli was acquired by Venice relatively late in 1420 following the collapse of the state of the Patriarchate of Aquileia.
Friuli would become a troubled borderland of Venice and faced many powerful enemies to the east.
I keep thinking about this town of Mahdia in Tunisia.
It used to be an important port but brutal wars through history reduced it to a quiet fishing town.
It's a place of significance for Western history as the first successful crusade-like expedition was launched here in 1087.
The Mahdia campaign of 1087 was a huge success for Pope Victor III who was able to rally the rival Italian maritime republics of Pisa, Genoa and Amalfi behind the Christian banner to attack the hated Muslim port of Mahdia from where pirate raids were staged by the Zirids.
11th century saw the rise of the maritime Republic of Pisa which was punching far above its weight in terms of power.
The Pisans continuously clashed with the Muslims for control of the Mediterranean and were eventually able to bring the war to them, sacking Tunis in 1130.