Author: admin

Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in the village of Domremy in
North Eastern France. Her parents were peasants, and Joan never attended school.
Like all children of the working classes in those days, she helped with chores
from an early age. She was deeply religious and spent hours praying in the
church.

From a young age she claimed to hear the voices of St Michael
(the Archangel) and two saints, St. Catherine and St. Margaret.

When Joan was born, England and France had been at war for
about 100 years. The details of the war are extremely confusing, but the
relevant part is that they were, at that time, fighting over who should be King
of France.

The English had won lands in North Western France. Henry V
was King of England and Charles VI was King of France. All French Kings were
crowned in Reims, a city in the Northern part of France controlled by the
English. After the English won the land they signed a treaty with France. The
agreement was that Charles could remain King of France, but that when he died,
Henry would rule. Unfortunately Charles and Henry both died within a very short
time of each other. Charles had a son, (also named Charles, later known as
Charles VII). Henry also had a son (later known as Henry VI) whom the English
claimed should be King of France due to the agreement between the two countries.
When his father died, Charles, at that time known as the Dauphin, quickly
claimed the throne for himself. The French people refused to accept that he was
King until he had been crowned in Reims. The English were determined that would
never happen, and started trying to take even more French land. The Duke of
Burgundy, a French Duke, was helping the English. He wanted to eventually take
the crown for himself, or at least gain more land. With no King in charge, the
French were losing and it looked fairly certain that they would eventually
control all of France.

Into this stepped Joan. The voices, which until then had
given her only general guidance, began telling her she must save France from the
English. She was instructed to go to the leader of the French Army, telling him
she could lead France to victory and have Charles crowned. She was seventeen
years old at the time.

With the help of a local baron, she found her way to Charles.
She managed to persuade him that she truly heard voices, and that God would help
her get him crowned. Although it is unclear why Charles believed her, legend has
it she told him things that only he could have known. Charles was convinced that
Joan and the voices were genuine, and he agreed to give her a small army. He
also gave her a suit of white armor and a sword.

The English had recently captured Orleans, a city about 80
miles from Paris. This is where Joan started her mission. She led her small army
against the English, and was wounded. Her men, seeing her bravery and
determination to fight on, were inspired. They retook the city of Orleans for
France. Joan became known as the maid of Orleans. The French rallied behind Joan
and supported her. With their help she won several more battles. The English
were losing ground quickly, and Reims once again belonged to the French.

Charles could now be crowned King of France. Joan and her
Army escorted him to the cathedral in Reims, where he was crowned, in July 1429.
Once he was crowned Charles decided that he ought to negotiate with the English
and the Duke of Burgundy. Joan and her voices, however, had different ideas. She
was determined to fight on and rid France of the English forever.

Joan continued to fight but began to lose battles. She was
captured by the troops of the Duke of Burgundy in 1430, at the Battle of
Compeigne. The Duke sold her to the English. The English could not admit that a
teenage girl had beaten them in battle. They needed to prove that she had used
trickery, sorcery and witchcraft to do it. She was imprisoned in a dungeon and
tortured. The English wanted her to admit that she had lied about the voices.
They also wanted her to agree to remove the men’s clothing, which they said
was against the Churches ruling. Joan refused and remained in prison.

Charles no longer had any interest in Joan, she had given him
what he wanted, the French crown. Now she was just a nuisance and an obstacle to
him negotiating with the English. He made no attempt to rescue her or buy her
back from the English. Joan remained in prison, growing weaker and more tired
daily.

She finally agreed to remove the soldiers clothing and signed
a statement that she had been wrong. In return she was supposed to be allowed to
visit the church. The English had lied. Remember that she could neither read nor
write. She probably had no idea what it was that she was admitting to. She again
insisted that the voices had been real, and put her soldiers clothing back on.
They now had the proof they needed to have her tried and convicted of heresy and
witchcraft. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. Because she was
found guilty of being a witch, she was to be executed by fire. She was 19 years
old.

On May 30, 1431 she was burned at the stake. Charles did
nothing to save her, and neither did the French people, who only shortly before
had claimed she was a heroine. After her death Charles decided that it wasn’t
a good idea for people to believe she had been a witch or heretic. That would
mean that he had been wrongfully crowned. He set about having her name cleared.

Thirty years after her death the Pope claimed she had been
wrongly accused and that she was not guilty of any crime against the Church or
God. She was eventually canonized in 1920, becoming St Joan. The church never
stated whether or not her visions and the voices she heard were real. She was
made a Saint because she was convinced that God had ordered her to do what she
did, and she followed those orders. Her absolute faith in God and obedience of
what she believed were His instructions are what made her a saint.

Papyrus reeds played a very important part in the life
of the Ancient Egyptians. This plant, found along the banks of the Nile River
grew easily in the fertile soil, and often reached a height of as much as ten
feet.

It had many uses, the most well-known being in the
production of a form of paper known as papyrus. It was also used for making
rafts, boxes, sandals, baskets and everyday household items.

Once the Ancient Egyptians had developed
a form of writing, they needed something to write on. They wrote on tablets
of clay and walls, but neither of these was convenient for storage, nor for
sending messages.

No-one knows how they came up with the idea for papyrus
paper, but they did. Making the paper took time but wasn’t difficult.

First, they gathered the reeds from along the banks of
the Nile. The stems were needed to make the paper. The thick outer layer of the
stem was removed. Next, they cut long thin strips from the stem. The strips were
full of sugar, and in order to remove some of the sugar they soaked them in
water for about three days.

The strips were then pounded to remove more sugar and
laid side-by-side. Each strip slightly overlapped the one next to it. The
remaining sugar acted like a glue, and stuck the strips together.

A second set of strips was laid on top of the first. This
layer was perpendicular to the first layer. They were then pounded again, to
stick them together.

All that remained was to dry them out. Although this
sounds like the easiest part, it was probably the most difficult. The water
needed to be removed, but the layers needed to be held together. They were
probably laid between sheets of cotton, or similar absorbent material. The
entire thing was then placed under a heavy weight.

Once the sheets were dried, they were polished with a
stone. Then they were ready for use.

Stonehenge is probably the world’s best-known megalithic site. A megalith is a standing stone monument. Situated on Salisbury Plain in Southern England, it has been associated with all sorts of astronomical and religious myths. On June 21, each year thousands of visitors collect for a festival to mark the summer solstice, or mid-summer.

It consists of a three circles of stone, within each other, surrounded by a circular ditch. The site was built in stages.

The First Stage: 2800 B.C.

The first stage was probably begun in about 2800 B.C. This is the outer, circular ditch, with a raised embankment. It measures about 330 feet across. Just inside the ditch are 56 holes, evenly placed around the circle. They are called Aubrey holes, after a 17th century historian, who discovered them. These holes probably contained wooden posts, which have long since disappeared. A pathway, leading up to and into the circle, was probably built at the same time, but may have been built later.

The Second Stage: 2000 B.C.

During this stage of construction, a double circle of about 60-80 stones was placed in the middle of the circle formed by the ditch. These stones are called “blue stones” and a few remain today. They are the smallest stones used at the site, but they still each weighed about 4 tons. They came from the Welsh mountains. Although no one knows for sure how they got there, it is thought they were transported mostly on barges, using the sea and rivers, and barely had to travel over land at all. For some reason, this circle of stones was never completed and was partly replaced with a horseshoe arrangement of larger stones. The larger stones are called sarsens and are sandstone blocks, from an area about 20 miles from the site. There were ten upright stones, arranged in five pairs, with a huge horizontal stone across each pair. These stones weigh up to 50 tons each, and were transported by land. It is estimated that each stone took 600 men to move!

The Heel Stone

At this time the heel stone was also placed. It is the considered the most important stone at the site, weighing 35 tons. It has a pointed top, and its placement has been the cause of a lot of the theories surrounding the site. During the summer solstice (midsummer day) if you stand in the center of the circle, you will see the sun rise directly over the pointed tip of the heel stone.

The Third Stage: 1800 B.C.

During the third stage the builders built an outer ring of huge sarsens, each weighing about 35 tons. There are 30 stones, and across the top of them all, forming a complete circle, there were horizontal stones.

The Theories

There have been many theories over the years as to who built the site and why. Probably the most famous one is that the Druids built it as a place of worship. The problem with this theory is that there were no Druids in England at the time it was built, and the Druids preferred places with trees for their worship.

Another theory is that it was some sort of religious site where human sacrifices were made, but this theory is the weakest of all, since no human remains have been found there. There is some evidence that ashes of cremated bodies were placed in the Aubrey holes, but much later than the original time the site was built.

Another, and the best theory, is that it was some sort of astronomical observatory. The sun rises directly over the heel stone on midsummer’s day. It is not very likely that this is a coincidence. The problem with this theory is that over the 5000 years that it has stood, mid-summer’s day has changed, and so has the position of the sun. However, people have estimated that 5000 years ago, mid-summer’s day was June 24, and that the sun would have risen over the heel stone then. Other calculations show that it could have been used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, and perhaps even as a daily calendar.

We will probably never know exactly why the site was built. One thing is certain, though. It was built for an important purpose, since no one would have gone to so much effort just for fun!