NBA Quiz: (1) Who is the only player to be selected for the
official All-NBA first team 11 times (picked by writers and
broadcasters since 1946-47), more than any player in history?
(2) 28 players have scored 20,000 or more career points,
ABA/NBA combined. 4 of these players have career scoring
averages below 20 ppg. Who is the lowest at 14.5? Answers
below.
Black Death (The Plague)
According to the definitive chronicler, Gabrielle de” Mussis, the
Black Death (or plague) spread throughout Asia in 1346, making
its first contact with the West, around 1348, at the Genoese port
of Caffa on the Black Sea. It was here that the Tartar armies
engaged in one of the earliest examples of biological warfare by
lobbing Black Death corpses into the besieged city. The disease
was then carried by ship to Messina in Sicily and then Genoa,
spread by sea and overland. In fact, the Black Death of 1348
spread at the rate of about 8 to 12 miles a day.
But the question you”re undoubtedly asking about now is, hey,
what about the rats? Well, it probably wasn”t spread by rats, after
all. First, modern plagues depend on a slow and inefficient set of
circumstances involving rats that harbor the bacterium passing it
on to rat fleas that then transmit the disease to humans only as a
last resort, after killing off its local rodent populations. But none
of the sources of the Black Death leave signs of a rodent epidemic
preceding the human disaster. And aside from the speed of the
plague in 1348, much faster than would have been possible with
rats, there was the issue that the Black Death inflicted high
mortalities in cold climates such as Greenland and Norway, where
rat and flea densities are much lower than in the European and
tropical countries where it originated.
But until successful DNA analysis of buried plague victims can be
carried out, it will not be known for sure what this mysterious
disease may have been, and if it can happen again today. [I seem
to recall a recent news story where scientists are exhuming bodies
believed to have been infected with the plague in Europe for this
very purpose]
The Role of Children
Medieval scholars once believed that children were not
particularly valued during the Middle Ages except as an economic
commodity. What has been taken for coldness or indifference
toward children was more likely a practical regard of their future.
Assuming that the child was born healthy (and often the mother
died in childbirth), life expectancy was not high. Many children
succumbed to disease. One reason farm families in particular had
so many children was that they needed extra hands and knew that
life expectancy was low.
Because children were needed to help out economically, they
often had to grow up quite quickly. They became apprentices at
the age of seven, and a boy generally reached full maturity at the
age of 12. As there was no NBA at this time, however, their
career opportunities were limited.
The Hundred Years” War
This was actually a series of wars fought by England and France
in the late Middle Ages. The wars, consisting mostly of sieges,
raids, sea battles, a few land battles, and long periods of tense
truce, lasted from 1337 to 1453. During most of this time, the
English had the upper hand with the main fighting and destruction
taking place on French soil. At the end of the conflict the French
made a comeback, driving the English from all of France except
the port city of Calais. [It has never been ascertained if the
importation of Jerry Lewis movies to France led to the reversal in
fortune of the English].
The war arose from problems created by the French territories
claimed by the Norman and Angevin rulers of England who had
large feudal holdings in France which they could not control
successfully. The immediate cause of the war was the rivalry
between Edward III of England and Philip VI of France. Edward
resented Philip”s support of Scotland and in 1337 proclaimed
himself king of France, a title already held by Philip; release the
hounds!! Part II, Wednesday.
Battle of Crecy
Now you have to be a military historian to probably appreciate
this but this account gives all of you a chance to play with your
cereal as you line up the competing forces.
Crecy was an important battle (August 26, 1346) in the early
stages of the Hundred Years” War. It was also an important
battle in the history of medieval warfare. The decisive impact of
British archers undermined the long-standing superiority of the
mounted knight.
The Battle was part of Edward”s invasion of Normandy
undertaken on July 11, 1346 in support of a rebellious Norman
faction. Edward marched his 10,000 troops north from
Normandy, and settled into a defensive position at Crecy on the
coast of the English Channel. Philip had heretofore wisely
avoided battle against the tactically superior English, but at Crecy
his army numbered twice the English forces, and his nobles
insisted on battle.
[Get out your cereal] The English deployment had three lines:
the first line was composed of archers on the wings, the second
line had archers in the center with dismounted men-at-arms on the
flanks; and the third was a reserve of dismounted men-at-arms.
The French deployed in two lines, with Italian crossbowmen (or
was it Italian crossbows) at the front and knights in the second
line.
The battle began with a duel between the English archers and the
Genoese crossbowmen – mercenaries hired by Philip to counteract
the British archers. The French lacked protection and were
outshot by their British counterparts. The crossbowmen fled in
disorder, and were trampled underfoot when their impatient
knighted comrades charged. [Now at this point I could make a
lame joke about the Italian crossbowmen, but I really don”t think
it would be appropriate]. Confused and without support, the
French knights were cut down by the English archers and men-at-
arms. In the battle, 1,500 knights were killed, including the elite
of the French nobility.
[Source for all of this material is “The Encyclopedia of the Middle
Ages,” by Norman T. Cantor]
Top 3 songs for the week of 11/15/75: #1 “Island Girl” (Elton
John) 32 “Lyin” Eyes” (The Eagles) #3 “Who Loves You” (Four
Seasons).
Quiz Answers: (1) Karl Malone (2) Robert Parrish.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday. More Middle Ages excitement.
