//------------------------------// // Chapter 1; An ordinary history class session // Story: The Student // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// Professor Charles Roux watched his students trudge through the door. A few of them were huffing and puffing; there were some narrow windows in which to get from one class to another on time, though thankfully the number of students who had to run from class to class - or at least from their previous class to his - seemed relatively few. He reviewed his schedule for this class. Today was the second day, after introductions, for the class. Today the real learning would begin. The class was Introduction to Medieval History. The Late Romans would be the main focus for the discussion this day. "Welcome," he said warmly. "This is the second day of class; we did introduction and set out the syllabus last time. Make sure you're ready to take notes, this is the first real lecture for this class." "Oh, I'm sorry," a light voice interrupted. Charles turned to see a tall gray unicorn step into the classroom, about as tall as he was. Ah, my first pony student, he thought. Equestria had been teleported from their own world to this one just a few years ago. The initial meetings had gone relatively well, but many ponies had been put off by the history of human violence. Their Princesses had set strict regulations on humans being able to enter the country, and for now only ambassadors and their entourages were allowed in. They had no such regulations for ponies who wanted to go out. Perhaps it was because the Equestrian leadership had thought that no one would want to leave, but some few had, and a number had either taken up jobs in human countries or were enrolling as students at colleges. "Sorry I'm late," the unicorn said; from the sound of her voice, she was a mare. "My alarm clock's battery went dead, and I overslept." "That's fine, you're here now and haven't missed anything," Charles replied. "Please sit down, miss...?" "Silver. Silver Mane," she answered. "I apologize for missing introductions for the class." "Basically, we went over the class syllabus and what I expect from the students in the class. If you want to learn more, look up my after hours on the syllabus. But we have to start the class now." "Of course," she said, looking at the seats. "Um, do you mind if I just sit without a chair?" "That's fine, but we do have a schedule to keep. Please try not to block the views of any of the other students when the lecture begins." Silver Mane walked over to a desk near the back of the room. She levitated the chair out of the way and sat on her haunches with the desk in front of her. Charles, using the overhead projector, brought up a map of Europe, chiefly one of the late Roman era. It showed directions from which barbarian invasions came as well as significant cities and battle sites. "Now, the Roman Empire, in Late Antiquity, was very much in decline. We see many problems that simply were not dealt with, or not dealt with properly. By this time, Rome was ruled by an Emperor, though there was no codified system as to how the succession was to be handled, which is one reason why there were civil wars. Another reason was that generals would become popular with their own armies and would use that popularity to try and become Emperor themselves." "But beyond these rulership issues, there were deeper problems. Due to the wide use of slavery in the Roman Empire, technology stagnated; after all, why invest in new technology when you could force unpaid labor to do everything? The Romans are widely admired for their architectural achievements, such as the aqueduct, but they could have done so much more if the wealthier citizens had been more willing to invest in newer technologies. Hero of Alexandria - Hero was literally his name - tried to build steam doors, which would have been interesting if the idea had gotten off the ground. But because people could just pay slaves to open their doors for them, this wasn't implemented." He used the short stick in his hand to point to northern Italy. "At the same time, the plantation system of Italy - Latifundia is what the Romans would have called them - was largely used to grow cash crops, for the plantation owners to make money. As a result, food had to be imported." He tapped a button on the remote for the projector, which now brought up the image of a coin from Late Antiquity. "There was also the problem of inflation. The ancients used hard coin and not paper, but inflation could still happen; all one had to do was, instead of making a coin purely out of gold or silver, to paint a layer of the more valuable metal in question over a less valuable one, such as copper. As a result, more money was minted, but it was less valuable and prices reflected this. It didn't help that the coinage was debased a number of times, which only damaged the economy further." He clicked again; an artist's rendition of a barbarian warrior showed up. "What may have been the biggest issue was that this was the time of wandering tribes. Now, I use the word "tribe" loosely; these groups were often made up of numerous ethnicities and languages. We have the Huns, Vandals, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Burgundii, and many more wandering around, and the Romans didn't have enough soldiers to patrol or guard the entire frontier; individual forts could just be sidestepped by any tribe wanting to enter. And since Roman wealth, despite the problems I mentioned a moment ago, was greater than that of poor, nomadic tribesmen, they wanted a share of it, whether by trade or through force. The Roman solution was to negotiate contracts with some of these tribes; 'we'll let you stay in this borderland region of our empire, and in return, you defend that area from other barbarians.' I think most of you can see the problem with this, but we have the advantage of hindsight over those from seventeen-hundred years plus years ago; the Romans may not have been able to think of a better idea when their border could otherwise simply be crossed at will whenever a roving band of warriors wanted to raid and loot." Charles took a moment to breathe. In that moment, the mare's hoof went up. "Yes?" "Why not make friends with these so-called 'barbarians?'" Charles breathed out through his nose for a moment. "Because those 'barbarians' were invading with full intention to kill and plunder; if people are invading and destroying your land, I don't think you would be thinking of friendship and harmony with them. And, furthermore, the foederati system - the very contract system I was talking about - was pragmatic, not idealistic. The Romans would never have wanted to rely upon other peoples for their own defense if they could have helped it; their very identity as a people was too dignified, too nationalistic, too expansionist, too militaristic, for them to have relied upon the foederati if they could have thought of any other system. It must be said that most societies existing at the time put a high emphasis on martial issues; warriors, or soldiers, had much respect from their civilizations, and most civilizations would have been more than willing to conquer another that was weaker than theirs. That's the way it's been up until arguably a hundred years ago." Silver Mane's shod hoof fell, but quickly rose again. "And why did they enslave other humans? Other sapient beings?" "Because until a couple hundred years ago, slavery was the norm... everywhere, I might add. Slavery has been present if every society; it may have been enslavement through raids, force or trickery, or a person may have been enslaved in order to fulfill a debt, or they may have been prisoners of war who were made slaves in order to weaken the military of the nation they belonged to. Miss Mane, I know that this knowledge is distressful; slavery is something I personally detest, as do most people I know today. But it was, as I said, the norm for a very, very long time in just about every inhabitable area of the globe. And, if you'll forgive me, I do have to finish this class by 12:30, so I must continue." "My apologies." The mare's hoof fell, and remained upon her desk. "Anyway, the Roman system was in a state of decline when the Third Century Crisis hit. This was an era of invasions, civil wars, and emperors being assassinated. It was, in short, a state of chaos. 'Barbarians' invaded in the north, while the Sassanid dynasty of the Persian Empire attacked from east. You had popular men, namely generals, marching on Rome and ousting the previous emperor and declaring themselves in charge. Five emperors died within six years, and out of twenty who reigned during the crisis, only two died peacefully. "Eventually, a man named Diocletian took the throne. After the, er, suspicious death of Numerius, who his troops had been tasked with guarding, he would end up winning a short civil war and taking the throne. He made numerous reforms, such as fixing market prices, re-dividing the provinces to be more efficient. The biggest reform was to split the Empire into a Western half and an Eastern half. Each would be governed by an Augustus, aka an emperor, who would appoint a Caesar to succeed him. When one Augustus died or retired, the other would retire, and the two Caesars would become Augustus and would each appoint a Caesar. This was done to fix the problem of succession; the so-called "Five good Emperors" previously had managed to set up systems of succession, but none of them had codified the succession into law. "Furthermore, Diocletian was, in numerous respects, a tyrant. He persecuted Christians, who were then a religious minority in the Empire. Roman Emperors were worshipped by the common people, and the worship of multiple gods was the norm; Christians, believing in only one God, rejected both, and were hated by many common Romans. In particular, the refusal to worship Emperors was seen as treason, and the only religion that was allowed to believe in only one God, Judaism, had long since been legalized, whereas Christianity was not. Ultimately, the persecutions would fail to destroy Christianity, which would become legalized in 313 and become the state religion in 395. "Additionally, Diocletian's edict banning price gouging made profiteering and speculation punishable by death. His plan for succession only worked once, when Diocletian retired; after that, no Augustus would step down according to Diocletian's plan. Rome's economy would continue to spiral out of control, and price freezing led to black marketeering by many Romans in order to try to turn some kind of profit. Even after the Third Century Crisis ended, civil wars, economic woes, and continued 'barbarian' invasions continued until a Germanic king named Odoacer went to the child emperor of Rome, Romulus Augustus, and basically told him to scram, that Odoacer himself was now ruler. This moment, in 476 AD, has traditionally been marked by historians as the end of the Roman Empire, although Odoacer and the man who would kill and succeed him, Theodoric, would attempt to keep a semblance of Roman practice and of being Roman for some time." Charles stopped talking for a few seconds. No questions, even from the mare. "The end of the Western Empire was something long coming. Romulus' banishment was really just the last domino to topple. With the failure to fix Rome's economic and social problems, a collapse was imminent." "What about the Eastern half?" the unicorn asked, after raising her hoof again. "The East would remain independent, under its own Emperors, until 1453, when the Turks conquered the city of Constantinople. However, it must be said that Christianity there would diverge from the Latin traditions even early on, leading to an as-of-yet permanent split. That wasn't the only break off; Greek would become the main language of the East, with Latin preserved mainly in the West in the successor states that 'barbarian' kings set up within the now defunct Western Empire; we actually have some of these 'barbarian' rulers to thank for the preservation of the Latin language; as Odoacer and Theodoric realized, speaking Latin and maintaining some Roman practices gave them a sense of legitimacy, and Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus was actually backed by the Eastern Emperor. The East would also maintain a very good trade network, which allowed its economy, for the time being, to flourish even as that of the West spiraled. Naturally, what we called the Eastern or Byzantine Empire would continue to call itself the Roman Empire, despite the increasing use of Greek, all the way up to the destruction of the state as previously mentioned in 1453. In fact, Emperor Justinian would briefly reconquer Rome, even though by that time the once proud city had just between five hundred to a few thousand people still residing there; famine and a general population loss combined to reduce the city to a shadow of its former self." He took another brief rest again, using the remote to flip the picture to one of a post-Western Empire map. "Here are the 'barbarian' kingdoms that took hold in the west," he said, pointing them out. "We see the Franks having control of most of today's France, the Ostrogoths taking Italy, and Visigoths in Spain, with Britain split between various peoples. The Franks in particular would be very significant in centuries to come. The Ostrogothic kingdom would collapse, and be replaced by the Lombards, with the Pope taking Rome and surrounding lands and the Byzantines managing to hold onto bits of Italy after most of Justinian's conquests were abandoned." "There has been a tendency to refer to the era between 476 and the mid 700's as the Dark Ages. Part of this is because we don't know as much about this period as we do the eras before and after it, part of it is because there is a common idea that things generally got worse, especially since Roman technology was largely not able to be copied by the invaders, including aqueducts and other engineering marvels. To a certain extent, this is true. There was a decline in technology, especially in engineering, but for most people a lot remained the same, especially in places with a large Roman presence. Also, it must be said, the life of the average peasant changed little between the traditional end of the Roman period all the way up through the 1700's; people were born, lived, worked, and died, mostly within a few miles of their home village; for them, life was always a struggle, and not just through the Dark Ages. Also, the Eastern part of the Empire continued to flourish despite the fall of the West." "Then why do people think the Dark Ages were as dark as they're made out to be?" a man in his early twenties asked. "At least in part, it's due to the Renaissance writer, Petrarch, who made a comparison between the age he was living in, the Early Renaissance, with Late Antiquity and the period between it. In his eyes, there was a bright Classical Era, followed by what we would call the Dark and Medieval Ages - a time of strife, destruction, and all-around bad things, according to Petrarch - and then a rebrightening, or rebirth, as Renaissance literally means. His view certainly impacted how we view this 'Media Tempestas,' which was his term for the Medieval Era. His view was not uncommon, and it is the one most people take. In my opinion, upon more careful study, it is not wholly correct. As I said, there was a decline in some areas, but decline, death, and war were far from the only things that happened, in the Dark ages or the Medieval period. In many areas, knowledge was preserved, and in many cases we have Christian monks to thank for this; Latin's survival, the preservation of old texts, and, of course, the Holy Bible. "There were also individual scholars and educated men throughout the worst of the period who kept knowledge alive, and there would be a number of renaissances - the Carolingian and Ottonian Renaissances in particular - that would predate what we today call the Renaissance. Furthermore, the people of the Dark Ages, and the Medieval period for that matter, could only build upon the generations before them, whether their predecessors were Roman, 'barbarian,' or otherwise, the same as us. The Renaissance, like ages before it, was not a spontaneous combustion, but a slow build-up, overlapping with the Late Medieval period. The same applies to Late Antiquity and the Dark Ages; it's not like everyone was building aqueducts and building marble columns and then suddenly, boom, everyone's in the dirt and poor with 'barbarians' everywhere... it was something long in coming." He glanced up at the clock. "Five minutes early, but I'll call it for today, ladies and gentlemen. I hope the notes you took were helpful. Next class, we will start off with a very short quiz to make sure you've actually read and understood the online assignment, so keep your brains exercised and read A Medieval History, 250-1500*, pages 1-20, between now and our next class." Roux shut off the projector and began to gather his materials together. A couple students - human students - asked him a few basic questions, which he answered briefly. Good to know some of them are interested in the subject. Of course, he thought with a mental sigh, some of them probably just want a degree, and this class helps fill out what they require for that degree. He turned to leave the room. "Professor." "Hmm?" He looked up to see Silver Mane standing before him. "Yes?" "Sorry for startling you. I hope I can ask a few questions." "Well, please be fast. I do have another class to be at in fifteen minutes, and I need to stop off at my office real quick before then." "Okay. Well, why have there been so many wars in your past." Charles sighed. "These reasons for that are many. I would personally say it is part of the consequences of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, as per Judeo-Christian faith." She continued to look at him. "I would also point to the ambitions, good and bad, of military and civil leaders, to greed for power and riches, to resource scarcity, to nationalism and ideology, to the many differing cultures and yes, at times religion." "I do worry that this world may not be a peaceful home, if that is the answer I have to take home." "It's not the only one. There have been plenty of peacemakers as well. And dark days teach valuable lessons. The devastation caused by the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 helped persuade people to never use them in anger again, or at least to this day. The sinking of the Titanic, as terrible as it was, saw new safety regulations that helped prevent later shipping accidents from being so devastating. And some wars need to be fought; dictators such as Hitler, Mussolini, and the military rulers of Japan would never have stepped down from power voluntarily; we had to fight them in order to bring the threat these governments brought to the world to an end." "Alright. What about things like slavery and apartheid and anti-Semitism? Why do humans seem almost hard-wired to hate and exploit one another?" "I would point back to the Garden of Eden again, but there are material reasons why people do so. Slavery provided convenient income for those who could afford them, mostly the aristocratic elites who more or less ran most ancient states, including the world's first democracy and republic, Athens and Rome respectively. I know how you feel about slavery; it disgusts me too, along with most people in this day and age. As for anti-Semitism, many have hated Jewish people for putting the Lord Jesus to death, for being different than the people around them, for being wealthy bankers who often had great wealth... one of the sentences I most hate hearing, or seeing online come to that, is the phrase, 'The J-w cries out in pain as he strikes you;' it makes me want to reach through and grab the person on the other end if that were possible. And as for apartheid, that can be attributed to dominant attitudes of colonizing states between 1492 and 1917; many people assumed, wrongly, that the conquered peoples must be inferior peoples. And that's not just something the West is guilty of; many nations who conquered thought of the defeated as inferior. Indeed, the Chinese name for their own country is Zhongguo, meaning 'Middle Kingdom;' their concept of the world was that of the one true civilization - China - being surrounded by inferior barbarians. If the Chinese weren't so inward focused and isolationist, they could have conquered most of the world by now, if not the whole thing." He paused again. "And what I will say next will no doubt disturb you, Miss Mane; from my studies, I know that Diamond Dogs take ponies prisoner and use them as slaves when they can. I know that many ponies are automatically suspicious of anything or anyone new. I also have no doubt that the pegasi in particular, in addition to the thestrals, were warlike, and the Hearthswarming pageant always emphasizes that aspect of the pegasi." Silver Mane took a step back. "How do did you come to know that?" "Some of the ponies who come here are historians, and bring Equestria's knowledge with them. And one Christmas Eve I took one of my pony student's invitation to a pageant. So, if you forgive me, I think your own people face or have many of the same problems as we do. I must also note that I've also met a few members of other species, such as dragons and griffons, and they've confirmed that, even during Equestria's 1,000 plus years of peace, the other nations still battled each other from time to time, all showing the very same inclinations that ponies are all too willing to accuse us of. Prior to Equestrian Unification, I have no doubt your civilizations had the exact same issues as ancient human states, and even afterward to sharing similar prejudices to human nations that conquered other peoples and built empires." "You... give me a lot to think about." "That's a scholar's job; to think, teach others to think, and spread knowledge, so that one day their student's may exceed their teachers. And a historian's job in particular is to teach the truth about history." "Aren't there different views on history? Which is to say, aren't there situations where there are two or more opinions where none of the sides involved are deliberately lying?" "Oh, yes. The number of such debates is too many to count. I've squabbled - in a friendly way - with Mr. Johnson over whether George Washington was a Great General, and with Ms. Peters over whether a Union victory in the American Civil War was inevitable. Those kinds of debates bring us closer to the truth, while sharpening and exercising our minds in the process." "And don't you debate the Catholic chaplain on the campus about the doctrines of the Christian religion?" "Know about that, do you?" he replied, a cheeky wink in his eye. "Yes, we debate each other on Catholicism and Baptism. But unlike in many previous centuries, that debate remains friendly, and we have our little jokes. One I like to ask him every so often is whether the Catholic/Calvinist debate was predestined, or a matter of tradition." The mare chuckled. "I suppose you have a point. I would like to ask one more thing before I go." "One more is about what I have time for." "Right. Why do you think there's only one race - the human race - on the earth that is sapient, and not multitudes of others?" "I don't have that answer, miss. You'd have to ask God about that one, not me. From faith, I'd say that it was always meant thus on this world." "And what about my world?" "I don't have the answer to that either, though I'd answer the same from faith as before.. And that's technically two questions. Sorry I don't have the answer to either of them." He looked up at the clock. "And I've got to be going. See you next class, Miss Mane. Don't forget the assignments." "I won't, thank you." ---------------------------------------------------- Silver Mane made her way to her dormitory room, unpacking her saddlebags via levitation. She looked at her schedule and then at her syllabus. She wouldn't have another class for half and hour, and she could be there quite quickly. She had some time for a break. She sat down on her bed - which she had reinforced using magic - and sighed with relief. Her first day was going well, her alarm clock not withstanding, and the first class had been... revealing, to say the least. Her major would be in human history, with a minor in human culture. She was a mare with a mission; find out about humans, their history, and their culture, and return to Canterlot once she had her degree. What the Royals would do then... depended upon the information received. She looked in the mirror. So far, her disguise had held; to everyone else, she appeared simply as a very tall unicorn, one approaching the size of a horse in human lands. She had ditched her usually hoofwear for regular, run of the mill horseshoes, ones that were nailed to her hooves. It had felt odd, but they worked well once she'd gotten used to all four of her hooves having permanent attachments on them; they certainly kept those same hooves from cracking on the bricks and cement of the campus. She wondered how the rest of her family would react once they got news of this class back to them; there were certainly disturbing bits in there, and she wasn't all that confident they would take it well. Not that there wouldn't be good news; far from it. But most ponies looked upon the new world they found themselves in with suspicion, and on the surface human history was filled with bad things... very bad things. The thoughts of her family made her shed a tear. She'd be away for a few years, except for a visit here and there. From what she'd seen, no other ponies were on the campus, so there was no one she could really talk to, not at the moment. She reminded herself that this mission was very important. It would have major repercussions on human-pony relations. Keep it together, Celestia...