then, Salvatore has written

many novels: including a

Star Wars novel, known as

Vector Prime.

The american fantasy

author Robert Anthony

Salvatore (also known as

R.A. Salvatore) was born in

1959 in Leominster,

Massachusetts. He began

reading at a very young

age, and eventually began

writing himself. He

developed a manuscript

known as Echoes of the

Fourth Magic, which he

sold to the company TSR.

They did not publish it

right away though, but

asked him to write a novel

set in the Forgotten Realms

campaign setting for the

dungeons and dragons role-

playing game. He agreed,

and wrote his first

published novel: The

Crystal Shard, which was

the first novel in the

Icewind Dale trilogy. Since

R.A. Salvatore

The Father of Fantasy

J.R.R. Tolkien (John

Ronald Reuel Tolkien) was

born in 1892 in Bloemfon-

tein in the Orange Free

State in South Africa. He is

the most recognised fantasy

author of all time, for the

entire fantasy genre, as we

know it, stems from him.

He has written several nov-

els, the most notable being

the Hobbit, and the Lord of

the Rings trilogy. He also

wrote the Silmarillion

(though it was not pub-

lished until after his death

in 1973) which is a collec-

tion of stories set in the

same world as the Hobbit,

and the Lord of the Rings.

Due to J.R.R. Tolkien„s

death, his son, Christopher

Tolkien had to complete the

Silmarillion, by writing in

gaps left by his father.

Did you know?: The

Hobbit was written for

Tolkien„s own children.

Authors: Helgi Gunnar, Rúnar Gerard og Óttar Andri

Literature Helgi Gunnar Jónasson

E=ˈhist(ə)rē2

Inside this issue:

Literature

Physics

History

Howard Phillips Lovecraft (H.P. Lovecraft) was born in 1890, in the New England city

of Providence, Rhode Island. His father was Winfield Scott Lovecraft, and his mother

was Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft, the daughter of Whipple Van Buren Phillips, an

american buisnessman. When Lovecraft was three years old, his father succumbed to a

mental illness, and was institutionalized in Butler Hospital, where he died in 1898.

Young Lovecraft was raised by his mother, two aunts, and his maternal

grandfather, Whipple Van Buren Phillips. They resided in the family home, which

happened to contain a library His grandfather encouraged him to read, and even told

him his own stories of Gothic horror.

Lovecraft was frequently sick in his youth, and was thus unable to attend school

properly. He is also believed to have suffered from night terrors. He read alot while he

was sick at home, and developed a love for chemistry and astronomy. He later went to

Hope High School.

Lovecraft„s grandfather died in 1904. His passing had a great impact on young Lovecraft and his

family, for they were forced to move to smaller quarters.

In 1919, Lovecraft„s mother was committed to Butler Hospital, the same mental institution where her

husband had died. She died there in 1921, after suffering from Hysteria and depression.

It was but a few days later that H.P. Lovecraft met Sonia Greene, a shop owner. They fell in love, and

married some time later. He befriended people who encouraged him to submit stories to Wierd Tales, a pulp

magazine. He submitted a few stories, though they were heavily criticised by many readers.

Some time after the marriage, Sonias„ buisness went under, and she took ill. Lovecraft did his best to

support her with regular jobs, but was lacking in proven marketable skills. Lovecraft was offered a job as an

editor at Wierd Tales, but reclined, for he did not wish to move to Chicago. Farnsworth Wright became the

editor instead of Lovecraft. Lovecraft continued to submit stories to the magazine, but they were more often

than not rejected by Wright.

Sonia got a job which required her to travel constantly. Lovecraft moved into a small, singe room

apartment in Red Hook, which was burglarized, leavng him with nothing except for the clothes on his back. It

was some time later that her wrote the outline for „„The Call of Cthulhu„„, whe story was not published until

Lovecraft„s friend, Robert E. Howard (which is best known for creating Conan and Solomon Kane) convinced

Wright to publish it.

In the last decade of his life, Lovecraft wrote many stories, including his first and only novel: „„The

Case of Charles Dexter Ward„„ and the novella: „„At the Mountains of Madness„„. He was, once again, forced to

move to smaller quarters, for his inheritance had dwindled to almost nothing in his last years. The suicide of

Robert E. Howard, his friend, affected him deeply as well. In 1936, Lovecraft was diagnosed with cancer, and

began suffering from malnutrition. He died in 1937, 46 years of age, after suffering immense pains. He was

buried in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.

Did you know?: Lovecraft was able to recite poetry at the age of three, and could write his own

In the article „„C. T. Hsia, Who Brought Chinese Literature to the West, Dies at 92,‟‟ by William Yardley, we

learn that C.T. Hsia passed away. He had an interest in English literature and wrote several books in his life-

time.

C.T. Hsia, a scholar who helped to introduce the West to modern Chinese literature, died on december

the twenty ninth, ninety two years of age. His death was confirmed by his wife Della.

Hsia came to the united states in 1947, in order to study English literature. He had initially planned

to return to China afterwards but due to the purging of dissent and Western influences there by Mao Zedong,

who was settling into power, he decided to stay in America, where he later became a teacher.

He wrote the book: “A History of Modern Chinese Fiction, 1917-1957,‟‟ which contained English

translations of Chinese novels, each of which he discussed using close textual analysis. He also wrote the

book: „‟The Classic Chinese Novel.‟‟

C.T. Hsia will most assuredly be missed, for he helped to introduce the West to modern Chinese liter-

ature, and thus expanded the world of literature.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft

Hsia Chih tsing died

Literature is everything

that has been written

throughout history.

E v e r y t h i n g f r o m

newspaper articles to the

egyptian „„Book of the

Dead„„ can be considered

literature, though they

obviously do not belong

in the same category.

L iterature i s

divided into three main

genres: prose, poetry and

drama. Prose is the most

common of the three, for

it is a written version of

the spoken language, and

can be anything from a

newspaper article to a

full lenght novel. Poetry,

on the other hand, is

writing where words

form rythmic patterns.

There is such a thing as a

prose poem, which

combines elements from

both prose and poetry.

Drama is a type of

l it erature that is

p r es ent ed t hr o u g h

acting.

W h e n a n

individual sits down and

writes something on a

sheet of paper, be it a

grocery list or a full

lenght novel, they put a

piece of their mind into

it. That is literature; a

translation of the mind

into words. I think it is

fascinating how a person

can imbue their writing

with a p iece of

themselves, and thus, in

a s e n s e , a t t a i n

immortality, for what

they have written will

most likely continue to

exist throughout the

ages.

Allegory: Likening an object, person or action to something that lies out of the

narrative.

Alliteration: When neighbouring sounds are repeated.

Allusion: A brief reference to something.

Anagram: When a word is created by transposing letters (wierd => wired).

Analogy: The comparison of two pairs.

Contreversy: A matter that is desputed over.

Catalogue: A list of books in a library.

Wiseacre: Someone who pretends to have vast amounts of knowledge.

Defining Literature

The Ambassador of Young People’s Literature

In the article „„Kate DiCamillo to Be Ambassador of Young People‟s Literature,‟‟ by

Julie Bosman, we learn that Kate DiCamillo is to be appointed the position of Ambas-

sador of Young People‟s Literature. We also learn that she is a very successful author,

having written several books.

The position of Ambassador of Children„s Literature was founded in 2008 by the

Library of Congress and a few other groups. A new ambassador is chosen every two

years, and the latest is Kate DiCamillo. Her role is to encourage young people to read.

Kate DiCamillo is a very successful writer, and has written across several genres

and age groups. She had secret ambitions to become a writer, though she did not write

until she was more than thirty years old. She began writing short stories for adults, and

then began writing children„s books.

Her first book was ‟‟Because of Winn-Dixie‟‟ and revolved around a dog who

was adopted by a young girl. Her second book was ‟‟The Tiger Rising‟‟ and revolved around a group of children

that try to a tiger who had been imprisoned. She also wrote the book ‟‟The Tale of Despereaux‟‟ which was a

fantasy story about a mouse named Despereaux Tilling.

Her ability to relate to children, and her contribution to literature as a whole, leaves little doubt that

she is an excellent fit for the position of Ambassador of Young People‟s Literature.

Page 3 Literature Helgi Gunnar Jónasson

There are many

careers available to those

educated in literature, such

as professional editing and

teaching. There are many

schools all around the

world that teach about

literature: the University of

C h e s t e r , N e w c a s t l e

University, and University

of Brighton to name only a

few.

Getting Interested In Physics

From the moment every single human being enters grade school or even from birth,

one is introduced to a lot of different subjects and/or different applications and jobs.

These are the steppingstones, which lead us to our interests and character because

although humans get the genes from their parents the character does not descent into

the next generation. Rather it is formed by the interactions the young child has, up

until it‟s adult stage.

With that said, the reason I chose such a, which some consider, boring subject is a result from the 17 year

environment I grew up and interacted with. Although I can‟t prove it for sure why I‟m fond of physics, I can however

interpret that it had something to with my father being a pilot. Since I was 3 months old I have been flying in airplanes

and still do so very frequently. My father worked for a Luxembourgish Cargo Delivery and Shipment company and

therefore me , my father and mother lived in Luxembourg. He was allowed to bring his family with him to one of his tours

(a series of flights over the world, but always ending in the same location as to where it started) and so he did. So I got to

explore the world, but I always seemed to be more interested in the flights rather then the adventures. I was astound, that

such a colossal piece of machinery was able to lift me and itself of the hard surface of the ground and into the sweet winds

of clouds and blue skies.

That magnificent phenomena is only possible due to one thing: Physics. Physics is the ultimate rulebook to how

every movement and state of everything exists, what it does how it is affected. Although it often collides with other

sciences like chemestry, it is still (in my perspective) the all and everything of the world and its existence. Physics focuses

on objects and the forces that affect it. It doesn‟t explain why the object/lifeform does it, if it´s a lifeform and moves on its

own, but rather how the much force the muscles would have to produce to get it moving.

There are many possible career options that involve physics. The most obvious one being, a physicist, but there are

also a lot of different types of engineering careers, which one can only qualify for by knowing almost everthing about

physics or having to specialize in a certain field of physics. With that said, when one is learning physics, one often has to

specialize in a certain field of physics like thermodynamics, radiation, quantum mechanics etc.

Did you know? - Cargolux, the company my dad was working for, was founded by Luxair, Salin and the icelandic

aviation company Loftleiðir.

Interesting subject words Motion : The action of moving or being moved. Equilibrium : A state in which opposing forces or

influences are balanced Phenomena : A fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. One whose cause or

explanationis in question. Acceleration : the rate of change of velocity per unit of time. Frequency : the rate at which a

vibration occurs that constitutes a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio

waves and light).

Physics Óttar andri óttarsson

Explanation Of Acoustics

Acoustics is the particular branch of physics, which concerns itself with the production, control, transmission,

reception and effects of sound (sound effects). The origin is derived

from the study of mechanical vibrations and the radiation of these

vibrations through mechanical waves. Acoustics has a ceratin vital

role in almost every area of life, namely art. Music is a perfect

demonstrative tool of acoustics, artists all over the world have

experimented on creating different sounds using different

“instruments”, which apply the physical aspects of acoustics. Many

of said artists didn‟t know of the term nore did they have the understanding of the physics of these sounds and

melodies which they were experimenting with, simply because the worlds understanding of physics wasn‟t

develloped enough. Of course today we know why we hear sound and how it travels through air or other

materials.

Acoustics is also applicable in specialized technology in fields such as geology, atmospheric and

underwater phenomena. An easy example of the underwater phenomena is using sonar technology to

determine sizes and shapes of obstacles underwater without seeing their outside surface. The waves are

transmitted into the ocean/water and then some of them repel back to sensors on the same device which

transmitted the waves. Then the machine makes a virtual image of the suroundings based on which waves

came back, how quickly and if there were disruption in the waves. Like previously explained, acoustics are

sound waves, which vibrate. They follow specific physical principles, which they share with all other types of

waves. They are transmitted with a certain frequency and strength.

Our ears and the ears of other life forms have the ability to hear and distinguish certain wave

vibrations. These are interpreted as sounds.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/4044/acoustics

Did you know? - Old people don’t hear high frequency sounds, which children hear without a problem.

Galileo Galilei Galileo Galilei is one of the most famous physicists to have ever existed. He was born on the 15. February 1564 and

died on the 8. January 1642. Galileo lived in Italy and alongside physics he had several other professions, they were

mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. He is known for being the “father of science”. Probably his most well-

known discovery was when he was asked by his king to measure how much gold the kings crown was made of. It had

such a peculiar shape it didn‟t work to measure and calculate it geometricly. One day though he took a bath and

noticed how the water rose when he sat in the water and he figured out that he could calculate mass by measuring

the rise of the waterlevel when an object is slowly put in to it. He then burst out the word: “EUREKA” as he ran

through the streets naked.

Did you know? - 100 years after Galileo‟s death, his body was being moved for a reburial and a fan of his clipped of

his middle finger and now it is on display in a museum.

“To

catch

the

Page 6 Newsletter Title

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton is one of the “founding fathers” of modern day physics and mathematics. Born on the 25.

December 1642 and died on the 20. March 1727, he was a brilliant english mathematician and pyhsicist, and is

widely known. He is said to be one of the most influential scientists to have ever roamed the earth and he is a vital

key figure in the scientific revolution. Among his astounding achievements

are theories and thoughts Isaac wrote down in his book Philosophiæ

Naturalis Principia Mathematica (“Mathematical Principles of Natural

Philsophy”). Due to his theories things which were once considered magic

or act of God or even just something that just existed started to make sense

and could be categorized and calculated. For instance the act of pushing a

wheelchair could now be understood on a physical level. You can calculate

how much you would have to push it so it would start to move, how much

to keep it moving and how much the friction of the wheels, wind resistance

etc. influenced these factors.

The most famous laws, which he “invented”/theorized were

Newton‟s Three Laws of Motion. The first one being the one where every

object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion

unless an external force is applied to it. The second one being that the relationship between an object‟s mass m, its

acceleratioon a, and the applied force F is F = ma. Acceleration and force are vectors. In this law the direction of

the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector. The third and final law is probably the

most famous one: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Did you know? - Isaac Newton was not expected to live because he was born prematurely.

Albert Einstein

Ahh the goofy old genius: Albert Einstein. Born in Germany on the 14. March 1879 and died on 18. April 1955

was a theoretical physicist with an abnormally high IQ. Einstein developed the general theory of relativity,

which is one of the two foundations of modern day physics. He is very well known and even people in very

remote places would recognize his name to some extend.

His formula for relativity: E = mc2 is the most famous equation to have ever existed. E meaning energy,

m meaning mass and c meaning speed of light. But the formula does not make much sense to someone who

Did you know? - After

divorcing his first wife in

1919 , he remarried his

cousin Elsa Loewenthal,

who was related to him on

both sides of the family.

doesn‟t know

what relativity means. Relativity is the dependence of various physical

phenomena on relative motion of the observer and the observed objects,

especially regarding the nature and behaviour of light, space, time and gravity.

Using Einsteins formula one has the ability to make the natures of the previously

mentioned phenomena interact in a mathematical manner.

Einstein received the “1921 Nobel Prize in Physics” for the services he

served to theoretical physics, namely the discovery of the law of the

photoelectric effect.

Page 7 Literature Helgi Gunnar Jónasson

Classical Mechanics

In this summary I discuss classical mechanics as explained the article to which there is a link at the bottom. First

mentioned in Sir Isaac Newton‟s Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), but commonly known as the

Principia, classical mechanics became the first “branch” of Physics and therefore is the foundation for every other

branch. Classical mechanics is the study which fovuses on the motion of bodies, including non-moving/resting bodies.

The study is a founding toolbox for other sciences like Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology and Engineering. So in order to

become employed in any of the former mentioned fields, one (most likely) has to learn the in‟s and out‟s of classical

mechanics.

The study is also of great significants outside of the science realm. Classical mechanics takes part in the better

understanding of the universe and pokes holes in religions which made humankind seem to be the all and everything of

the universe. It made the world more modern and things started to make more sense due to it. Unexplainable things

which were once called magic is now known to us as simple physics. The remarkable people, who had their influence on

the discovery of all this, were Galileo, Kepler, Descartes and Sir Isaac Newton (chronological order in comparison with

time).

In the article there are mentioned the following motions which all fit into the term classical mechanics. Those

motions are Translational motion (motion, which a body shifts from one point in space to another), Rotational motion

(motion, where the body changes orientation with respect to other bodies in space, said body doesn’t change it’s

position), Oscillatory motion (motion, which continually repeats in time with a fixed period) and Circular motion

(motion, where a body rotates or orbits around another fixed body, like the Earth around the Sun). Some of these

motions can be combined with other types of motion. For example: A properly bowled bowling ball takes use of both

rotational and translational motion. Also not all the before mentioned types of motion are entirely distinct. Circular

motion contains, with in itself, both rotational and oscillatory motion.

Statics is a subdivision of mechanics which is the study of forces which act on bodies at rest in equilibrium.

This subdivision is vitally important in contructing buildings, espacially high and complex buildings. Engineers use

statics to calculate how the building should be constructed, so that it doesn‟t collapse.

http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/301/lectures/node3.html

Did you know? - The leaning tower of pisa, once stood upright. It was build on loose soil and therefore moved. Now it is

being kept like this and not restored because of it’s importance in the history of mankind.

History Rúnar gerarg ragnarsson

The Crusades ✠

Struggle for the Holy land 1095 – 1291 By: Rúnar Gerard Ragnarsson

In the beginning of the year 1099 beside the walls of Jerusalem the burning hot from the sun

shines over the first crusading army that came from Europe to the Holy City. There stand over

1500 french knights and 15.000 soldiers. Its walls are told to be unbreakable. Heat and thirst

makes the crusaders suffer and their time is running out. An egyptian army might come at their

back at any time and if so happens, all is lost. The soldiers are full of despair, they have been

four years on their way to the city and survived so many wars.

This is one of the story of the crusades which took great part in history in the Middle East,

Europe and Africa. As the crusaders are often looked at like some „brutal savages who killed

everyone who did not convert to christianity“ in the media, movies and sometimes even taught

in classes makes many college students ignorant about them and their cause which shaped

Europe as it is today. The Crusades are often pictured as a series of bloodthirsty religious wars

comparable to modern-day jihad terrorism. However, while there certainly were misdeeds

performed during the Crusades (like in most wars), the larger issue is whether or not the Church in

general or even the Crusades in particular were at fault for such acts.

The Crusades generally refers to the set of seven distinct campaigns over a 150 year period (A.D.

1099 to 1254) that were destined to liberate the Holy sites from Muslim control. Since the birth of

Islam under Muhammad, Muslims had fought to bring the world under their control. After a few

centuries of conquest, though, Islam had spread to North Africa, the Middle East, Asia Minor, and

into Spain. By the 11th century, the Turks had taken control of Palestine and closed Jerusalem to

both Jews and Christians. The Muslim invaders attacked Constantinople and were headed into

Europe, before the first Crusade was called by Pope Urban II in 1095 to defend the Christian West.

Did you know ? The crusaders made a banking system that we still use

today such as creating the idea of the check and the credit.

Piligrims who were traveling to the Holy land or other places, would deposit money in a local

templar treasury, in return a paper that showed the amount of the deposited. The templars

charged 10 % for this service.

But as the templars have vowed themselves into life of poverty, how could the templars reconcile

the riches with their beliefs ?

The individual knight took vow of poverty so they themselves did not own any property, they

themselves were not wealthy, but the order was allowed to hold that money in order to conduct

its own buisnesses, such as supporting the church, the crusader cause, helping the poor and the

sick and keep their hospitals working.

The 9 Crusades Timeline : It is not clearly known how many crusades there were

in the middle ages, but one of the nine main campaigns in the middle east can be counted:

1th Crusade.(1096 – 1099) Pope Urban II inspired the crusade which was in 1095. Army

under the rule of Godefroy from Bouillon from France won a great victory by capturing the

Holy city Jerusalem in 1099. Also called: The peoples Crusade – freeing the holy lands which

was also led by Count Raymond IV of Toulouse and proclaimed by many wandering

preachers, notably Peter the Hermit.

2th Crusade.(1144-1155) Ludwig French king and Conrad II, German Emperor, went to a

crusade to defend the crusader states in the Middle east. They tried to win the city of

Damascus but were ineffective.

3th Crusade.(1187-1192) Saladin, won Jerusalem in 1189 and then the third Crusade began

with Richard the Lionheart king of England, Philip II of France, and Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick I to try recapture Jerusalem. They won some battles but they did not capture it

but were successfull in making a truce with Saladin and then peace prospered for a while.

4th Crusade.(1202-1204) It was meant to win Egypt but instead was Constantinoble

attacked. Unable to cope with the loss of Jerusalem, Pope Innocent III energetically preached

for crusade. He succeeded to raise an army of crusaders who, however, never made it to the

Holy Land. On their way to Jerusalem, they captured the Adriatic city of Zara for Venice and

shortly thereafter got involved in the struggle for the Byzantine throne. Then an Italian emperor

sat on the throne of Byzantium.

5th Crusade. (1217-1221) Despite the infamous failure of the Fourth Crusade, the Popes

continued to preach for military expeditions to the Holy Land. However, they chose to start their

campaign in Egypt. In 1219, they captured the port of Damietta and were offered all the holy

cities in return for withdrawing from Egypt. The march to Cairo failed and the crusaders were

forced to return home.

6th Crusade.(1228-1229) The Sixth Crusade was a major success for the crusaders. At the same

time, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II who led the campaign was at the time under

excommunication. Shortly after arriving to the Holy Land, Frederick II entered into negotiations

with the Egyptian sultan who agreed to cease Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem and other holy

cities to the Christians.

7th Crusade.(1248-1254)

The Seventh Crusade was launched by the French king St.Louis IX who decided to recapture the

Holy Land by conquering Egypt first and defend the crusader states. Louis IX succeeded to

capture Damietta but he failed to capture Cairo. In addition, he was taken captive while trying to

return to the port of Damietta. A ransom was paid and the French king was released. He received

a letter that his mother died and returned to France.

8th Crusade.(1271-1272) In 1270, the French king Louis IX decided to give it another try and

launched his second crusade. However, disease broke out among the troops shortly after landing

and the French king who got ill himself died shortly thereafter.

9th Crusade (1271 – 1272) The last in the series of military expeditions that sought to recapture

the Holy Land from the Muslims was launched by Prince Edward of England In 1271, he landed

in Acre and tried to win support for his cause but lack of interest and news from England about

his father’s illness prompted him to return home. With Prince Edward’s departure, the attempts of

the Christian Europe to capture the Holy Land finally came to an end.

Salah ad-Din (1137 – 1193) Saladin was sultan of Egypt and Syria during his life, he was known

for being a strong opponent of the crusades movment of the west. In the times of the crusades, he was a new and

powerfull sultan from Kurdish clan and had at last achieved his goal as ruler in a fight against his rivals. He was

feared by christians and on July 1187, with a great army, Saladin marched to the kingdom of Jerusalem and

fought against the king Guy from Lusignan near Hattin mountain.

The crusaders desperately tried to defend their holdings that they had held for almost 100 years, but Saladins

numbers were to great. Saladin won the battle and also took Jerusalem, the stubbornes of the crusaders and their

courage made Saladin make a treaty that everyone, could visit Jerusalem in their piligrimiges without being killed but

owned by the muslims.

St.Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270) King of France, born at Poissy that is near

Paris and a member of the House of Capet and worked with the parliament of Paris in order to

improve the professionalism of his legal administration. He was very pious man and is the only

canonised king of France. When he was 15, his mother brought an end to the Albigensian Crusade

in 1229. Louis took part in the seventh and eight crusade. Louis who decided to recapture the

Holy Land by conquering Egypt first and defend the crusader states.

Louis succeeded to capture Damietta but he failed to capture Cairo. In addition, he was taken

captive while trying to return to the port of Damietta. A ransom was paid and the French king was

released. He received a letter that his mother died and returned to France. In the

eight crusade he died of a disease. The Muslim sources for the Seventh Crusade are unanimous in

agreeing that Louis IX was a just, intelligent, good man. Louis IX is one of those rare rulers in

history who is revered by absolutely everyone he encountered, including his Muslim enemies.

Pope Urban II (1042 – 29 July 1099) Pope Urban was born in Otho de Lagery, he was pope from 12

March 1088 to his death in 1099. He is best known for making the modern-day „Roman Curia“ which supported the

church and starting the First Crusade (1096 – 1099) Here is a part of his speech that would change the world:

„Let those who have been accustomed unjustly to wage private warfare against the faithful now

go against the infidels and end with victory this war which should have been begun long ago. Let

those who for a long time, have been robbers, now become knights. Let those who have been

fighting against their brothers and relatives now, righlty fight barbarians.“

This united Europe to a one cause against a old common enemy that was threatening the whole of

western christendom and its continent. Now was the time of repentance, time for war and defence

of the weak. Instead of wars against fellow christians and other europeans, people across europe,

who did not know each other and where enemies suddenly were brothers fighting under one

banner, the cross.

Words: Medieval/ Miðaldir, Crusade/ Krossferð, Religion/ Trú, Pope/ Páfi, Seldjuk/ Tyrki

Why I chose the Crusades ?

Since I was a child, I always heard typical fantasy stories of proud knights saving the princess from the claws of a

dragon. It always reminded me of the crusades I have heard of, even though the very story of a princess and a

dragon comes from St.George who was a roman knight defending a town/city in northern Africa defending the

empires borders from a big crocodile. I am very enthusiaistic about history, especially ancient, medieval history and

the Crusades take great part in it and later on. It played a major role in wether big parts of europe would be in hands

of muslims to this day and one thinks what would be of our culture if it were not the crusades who kept them at bay.

Growing up in a catholic family which is rare in Iceland, makes you also want to dive deep into something about

the history of catholicism a.k.a. history of europe (western christendom) and know somethin about our heritage.

The Crusades are also very interestingly misunderstood part of history among young people or people who havent

introduced themselves on this matter and therefore often look at them as evildoers because of the media and movies

such as the movie directed by Ridley Scott, Kingdom of Heaven. They dont deserve this title as being „religous

fanatics“. It is clear what their cause was: it was to defend the weak, the poor the sick, defend the piligrims on their

way that were often slaughtered by raids and build hospitals in these lands and re-take lands that have been captured

by the muslims, relics and sacred places and take the Holy land that according to them was rightfully theirs. So

looking at the Crusades as an aggresive force is not really the case, they were a defensive force who has been

sleeping for too long and their time was now or never. To know about the Crusades can be very

handy if you are working as a group leader for tourists Europe and Asia Minor,

because they where such a big event in our history. You will know the story behind

all the things you see in those places. Most history teachers have probably studied

the Crusades and to be one (at least in our part of the world) you should at least

know the basics of the Crusades. If not for work, this is also good if you have

interest in medieval history and to have some knowledge of this where in some

parts in the Middle East they are still talking about it, as it was yesterday so it is a

very sensitive issue.

Bibliographies: Ragnheiður Gyða Jónsdóttir. 2013. „Sagan Öll“ Birtingur útgáfufélag,

Lyngás 17, 210 Garðabær.

David Nicolle. 1988. „The Crusades – Essential Histories. Osprey puplishing

Oxford.

http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/crusades_timeline.htm