At least three times in the Time Patrol series, either the narrator or the viewpoint character reviews the state of the world at a particular past date. We will consider the other two occasions later. Volstrup goes into minute detail about the world in 1137:
Europe is astir and all the world;
Lothair's imminent death will spark civil war in the Holy Roman Empire;
Louis VII, having acceded in France and married Eleanor of Aquitaine, will begin "...a series of disastrous blunders" (p. 274);
in England, Stephen and Matilda clash violently;
in Iberia, the coronation of an ex-monk as King of Aragon will result in union with Catalonia;
but, meanwhile, Alfonso VII of Castile proclaims himself Emperor of all Spaniards;
trans-Baltic raiders ravage Denmark;
John II of the Eastern Empire tries to regain Antioch from the Crusaders;
Muslims press against the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem;
the Egyptian Caliphate is divided;
Arabia has splintered;
Persians wage dynastic war;
Kievan Russian principalities fight;
Afghan conflict delays the Muslim conquest of India;
Kin Tatars conquer northern China but Sung rulers retain the South;
Taira and Minamoto clan feuds divide Japan;
something is happening in the Americas - but Volstrup is interrupted;
in 1198, Innocent III will become Pope and Time Patrol milieu HQ will commence in Rome - if history proceeds as it should.
A world astir.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
AD 1137 was certainly a busy time in world history! It reminds me of our own busy and chaotic times, with the chief differences being far faster travel and communications. Such as ME in the US commenting on the blog of a Briton in the UK.
What I remember about Louis VII of France was that he was a decent, well meaning man who simply wasn't really up to coping with either powerful vassals or, later, Henry II of England.
Ad astra! Sean
The Genpai War -- the Taira-Minamoto feud -- was very crucial to the future of Japan. That was the Samurai takeover, when the military elite really seized power from the declining Imperial institution and the Court nobility, the end of the Heinan age. The consequences would echo down Japanese history for a long long time.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, that kind of military usurpation of power from the monarchy and the old aristocracy was crucial for Japan. And we see Poul Anderson touching on that in the "Lady in Waiting" chapter of THE BOAT OF A MILLION YEARS.
Ad astra! Sean
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