Podcasts about pope john xxii

In this episode of The Soul Unleashed, we explore the eschatology, and the fascinating history and theology behind Pope Benedict XII and his influential papal bull Benedictus Deus, which defined the Catholic doctrine of the Beatific Vision. Diving into the question, “What happens when we die?”, we uncover the story of Jacques Fournier, the Cistercian monk turned pope, who shaped Church teachings during the tumultuous Avignon Papacy. From inquisitions in southern France to the Albigensian Crusade, this episode weaves together history, theology, and personal eschatology, offering insights into the medieval Church and its struggles for spiritual and political authority. Resources: Papal Bull entitled “Benedictus Deus” issued on January 29, 1336 (prior to the 10-day and leap year adjustments of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582) https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/benedictus-deus-on-the-beatific-vision-of-god-13139 Born Jacques Fournier (Frenchman) in 1285 Became a Cistercian Monk Bishop of Pamiers and conducted Inquisition trials 1326 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XII Elected by mistake on Dec 20, 1334, succeeding Pope John XXII. The majority of cardinals favored Cardinal Jean-Raymond de Comminges, the Bishop of Porto. “You have elected an ignoramus”. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02430a.htm He was the third of eight popes during the “Avignon Papacy” (1309-1377) 67 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon_Papacy This was followed by “The Western Schism” when there were Popes […] Episode: https://mikenicholas.com/181-what-happens-when-we-die-exploring-the-benedictus-deus-on-the-beatific-vision-of-god-and-pope-benedict-xii/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=181-what-happens-when-we-die-exploring-the-benedictus-deus-on-the-beatific-vision-of-god-and-pope-benedict-xii Podcast: https://mikenicholas.com/

Full Text of ReadingsTwentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 119The Saint of the day is Saint Louis of ToulouseSaint Louis of Toulouse’s Story When he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a Franciscan, a bishop, and a saint! Louis's parents were Charles II of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to Saint Louis IX on his father's side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother's side. Louis showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy. As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was 14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon's court as part of a political deal involving Louis's father. At the court, Louis was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his studies and in the spiritual life. Like Saint Francis he developed a special love for those afflicted with leprosy. While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to leave the king of Aragon's court. He renounced his title in favor of his brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis's request to become a Franciscan first. The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. “Jesus Christ is all my riches; he alone is sufficient for me,” Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer him correction—in public if necessary—and the friar did his job. Louis's service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table. Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers. His liturgical feast is celebrated on August 19. Reflection When Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be lived out by bishops. Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Michael Lofton addresses the objection that Pope John XXII admitted in Ne Super His that popes could teach heresy in their magisterium.

The Vatican's document "Dignitatis Infinita" is a statement on the nature of and the threats to human dignity. It is well worth meditating on during the Easter Season. The Fifth Sunday of Easter Jesus, at the Last Supper, said that he is the vine and we are the branches. We are rooted in him or we die. The body of Christ is Jesus' historic body, it is also the Church and it is also the Eucharist. Each roots the Catholic in the dignity that grace and God give. The Vatican's recent article on human dignity, Dignitatis Infinita, identifies the various modern challenges to the dignity. I explain further in the podcast at OVC. Music by St. Mark Choir pursuant to One License Annual License w/Podcasting # A-726294 Art: Public domain: The Man of Sorrows Italian last quarter 14th century Not on view A monk and a hooded figure, his back bared so that he can whip himself in penitence, kneel before a dreamlike vision of Jesus rising from his tomb. This plaque, with an inscription naming the society of Saint Dominic, was probably intended for private prayer by a member of a Dominican brotherhood. Focus on the crucified Christ and his suffering was widespread in the 1300s. Pope John XXII (reigned 1316–34) declared that the Imago pietatis should be evoked during the celebration of the Mass. Pope Innocent VI (reigned 1352–62) affirmed that devotion to the Instruments of the Passion would reduce punishment for sin after death; seen here are the vinegar-soaked sponge that was offered to Jesus on the cross and the lance that pierced his side.

In the later middle ages, the House of Wittelsbach, rulers of Bavaria and the Palatinate, competed with the Houses of Luxembourg and Habsburg for land, power, and the Imperial Throne. Time Period Covered: 1273 - 1410 Notable People: Ludwig IV the Bavarian, Rupert of the Palatinate, Rudolph I of Bavaria, Frederick the Fair, Pope John XXII, Pope Clement VI, Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, Emperor Charles IV

Michael Lofton examines Bishop Schneider’s new catechism Credo. He analyzes its section papal heresy and covers the examples provided from Pope Honorius, Pope John XXII and Pope Francis. Michael then asks some probing questions on why Bishop Schneider left certain key information out that he was directly given by Pope Francis.

Dr. Scott Hahn recently addressed the case of Pope John XXII and he raised it as an example of papal heresy. Did Pope John XXII teach heresy? Was this an act of his magisterium? Michael Lofton reviews Dr. Hahn’s comments and then examines the case of Pope John XXII.

Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 417The Saint of the day is Saint Louis of ToulouseSaint Louis of Toulouse’s Story When he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a Franciscan, a bishop, and a saint! Louis's parents were Charles II of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to Saint Louis IX on his father's side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother's side. Louis showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy. As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was 14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon's court as part of a political deal involving Louis's father. At the court, Louis was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his studies and in the spiritual life. Like Saint Francis he developed a special love for those afflicted with leprosy. While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to leave the king of Aragon's court. He renounced his title in favor of his brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis's request to become a Franciscan first. The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. “Jesus Christ is all my riches; he alone is sufficient for me,” Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer him correction—in public if necessary—and the friar did his job. Louis's service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table. Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers. His liturgical feast is celebrated on August 19. Reflection When Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be lived out by bishops. Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

Quilon, in present-day Kerala, became India's first diocese on 9th August, 1329. In response to Marco Polo's accounts about an extant Christian community there, Pope John XXII had dispatched missionary Jordan Catalani to oversee the region.  According to local legend, St. Thomas the apostle reached India around A.D. 50, where he established several churches. The story is not implausible, since the area enjoyed a long history of Middle Eastern migrations, due to its ideal conditions for spice trading. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explore why Westerners were perplexed by the disparate practices of the Quilons; discover what NOT to say when you're deposed by a medieval Muslim ruler; and uncover ‘the Goa Inquisition'... Further Reading: ‘The Surprisingly Early History of Christianity in India' (Smithsonian Magazine, 2016): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-christianity-came-to-india-kerala-180958117/ ‘Tried and True Traditions of Kerala's Christians' (CNEWA): https://cnewa.org/magazine/tried-and-true-traditions-of-keralas-christians-30926/ ‘When did Christianity come to India?' (Storytrails, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9M0wx5N24k #India #Medieval #Christian #Religion #Jewish Love the show? Join 

For the first time in 18 years, the Declaration of Arbroath - an iconic document in the story of the struggle for Scottish independence in the 14th century - will go on public display. Dated 6 April 1320, and written by the barons and freeholders on behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland, the Declaration asks Pope John XXII to recognise Scotland's independence and to persuade Edward II of England to end hostilities against the Scots. In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out more from Dr. Alice Blackwell, Dr. Alan Borthwick and Prof. Dauvit Broun.The Declaration of Arbroath is on display from 3 June until 2 July 2023 at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh: https://www.nms.ac.uk/declarationThis episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg.Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code DANSNOW. Download the app or sign up here.We'd love to hear from you! You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.You can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the first time in 18 years, the Declaration of Arbroath - an iconic document in the story of the struggle for Scottish independence in the 14th century - will go on public display. Dated 6 April 1320, and written by the barons and freeholders on behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland, the Declaration asks Pope John XXII to recognise Scotland's independence and to persuade Edward II of England to end hostilities against the Scots. In this episode of Gone Medieval, Matt Lewis finds out more from Dr. Alice Blackwell, Dr. Alan Borthwick and Prof. Dauvit Broun.The Declaration of Arbroath is on display from 3 June until 2 July 2023 at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh: https://www.nms.ac.uk/declarationThis episode was edited by Joseph Knight and produced by Rob Weinberg. If you're enjoying this podcast and are looking for more fascinating Medieval content then subscribe to our Medieval Monday newsletter here.If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android or Apple store. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meister Eckhart was a unique mystic who believed the spark of the divine existed inside every person and God was found within oneself, not outside oneself. A very popular 14th century theologian and preacher, Eckhart's teachings were ultimately deemed heretical by Pope John XXII, who put him on trial for heresy. Nevertheless, even though he died before his trial was completed, Meister Eckhart's loyal disciples continued his legacy for centuries.If you have any questions, you can email us at christianmysticismpodcast@gmail.com. Your question and the answer may appear in a future episode of the podcast.You can visit our podcast website HERE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

William of Ockham is best known today for the model of problem solving known as Ockham's (or Occam's) Razor. But the event that defined his life was an argument with Pope John XXII. Research: Lieberich, Heinz. "Louis IV". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Oct. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-IV-Holy-Roman-emperor Kilcullen, John. “Ockham's Political Writings.” “The Cambridge Companion to Ockham. Cambridge University Press. 1999. Republished online: http://publications.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/pubs/dialogus/polth.html Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Peter Lombard". Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Aug. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peter-Lombard Gál, Gedeon, O.F.M. "William of Ockham Died "impenitent" in April 1347." Franciscan Studies, vol. 42, 1982, p. 90-95. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/frc.1982.0011 Lambert, M. D. “THE FRANCISCAN CRISIS UNDER JOHN XXII.” Franciscan Studies, vol. 32, 1972, pp. 123–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44000287 Donovan, Stephen M. “Bonagratia of Bergamo.” Catholic Encyclopedia. https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/bonagratia-of-bergamo Nold, Patrick. “Pope John XXII's Annotations on the Franciscan Rule: Content and Contexts.” Franciscan Studies, vol. 65, 2007, pp. 295–324. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41975430 Knysh, George. “BIOGRAPHICAL RECTIFICATIONS CONCERNING OCKHAM'S AVIGNON PERIOD.” Franciscan Studies, vol. 46, 1986, pp. 61–91. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41975065 Spade, Paul Vincent. “William of Ockham.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. March 5, 2019. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ockham/ Vignaux, Paul D.. "William of Ockham". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Aug. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-of-Ockham See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode, AJ Langley (@medievalmystics) is joined by Delfi Nieto-Isabel (@delfinietois) speaks about the charismatic heretic, mystic, and incarnation of the Holy Spirit, Na Prous Boneta (c. 1296-1328). We talk about why she thought that Pope John XXII was the Anti-Christ, the age of the Holy Spirit, Peter John Olivi and apocalyptic theology, and the Holy Trinity as tiny men who jump on Na Prous! Subscribe and follow us on Twitter (@myfavmystic)!

Full Text of ReadingsThursday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 422All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Louis of ToulouseWhen he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a Franciscan, a bishop, and a saint! Louis's parents were Charles II of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to Saint Louis IX on his father's side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother's side. Louis showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy. As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was 14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon's court as part of a political deal involving Louis's father. At the court, Louis was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his studies and in the spiritual life. Like Saint Francis he developed a special love for those afflicted with leprosy. While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to leave the king of Aragon's court. He renounced his title in favor of his brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis's request to become a Franciscan first. The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. “Jesus Christ is all my riches; he alone is sufficient for me,” Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer him correction—in public if necessary—and the friar did his job. Louis's service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table. Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers. His liturgical feast is celebrated on August 19. Reflection When Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be lived out by bishops. Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media

“Account of the exalted Sultan Muhammad Uzbak Khan.  His name is Muhammad Uzbak, and Khan in their language means ‘sultan.' This sultan is mighty in sovereignty, exceedingly powerful, great in dignity, lofty in station, victor over the enemies of God, the people of Constantinople the Great, and diligent in the jihad against them. His territories are vast and his cities great; they include al-Kafa, al-Kirim, al-Machar, Azaq, Sudaq and Khwarezm, and his capital is al-Sara. He is one of the seven kings who are the great and mighty kings of the world. [...] this sultan when he is on the march, travels in a separate mahalla, accompanied by his mamluks and his officers of state, and each one of his khatuns travels separately in her own mahalla. When he wishes to be with any one of them, he sends to her to inform her of this, and she prepares to receive him.”   So the great traveller Ibn Battuta describes Özbeg, Khan on the Golden Horde, during his visit to that khan's camp. From 1313 until his death in 1341, Özbeg enjoyed the lengthiest of reigns of a Mongol ruler, second only to his distant cousin Khubilai Khaan. The powerful Özbeg would be long remembered as the mightiest of Jochid rulers, and his life was  a watershed for the Horde. After him, all khans were Muslims, and his life would be a model, the marker of the Horde's Golden Age. Yet, despite the proclamations of his excellence, tensions bubbled under the surface, and Özbeg's great power did not translate into great success. In today's episode, we take you through the transformation of the Golden Horde under Özbeg, looking specifically at islamization and urbanization. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   Özbeg was a son of To'rilcha, a grandson of Möngke-Temür Khan, a great-great-grandson of Batu, a great-great-great-grandson of Jochi, and thereby a descendant of Chinggis Khan. Özbeg's father To'rilcha had been a part of the four-wary princely junta that ruled the Horde from 1287 to 1291 under Tele-Buqa Khan. As one of the top princes of this union, and one of the sons of the prestigious Möngke-Temür Khan, To'rilcha had certainly been a powerful prince within the horde. It seems Özbeg drew much of his initial legitimacy from this, and retained a great distaste for his uncle Toqta Khan, who had To'rilcha and the other princes  killed in the 1291 coup with the aid of Nogai. Toqta then married Özbeg's stepmother, To'rilcha's chief wife Bayalun Khatun, and apparently exiled Özbeg to Khwarezm, which cemented Özbeg's hatred for his uncle. It's not surprising then that Özbeg is often accused of being behind Toqta's somewhat mysterious death in 1312. As we covered in our episode last week, the sources are contradictory over what immediately followed. Though Mamluk sources tend to have Toqta's sons predecease him, a number of other accounts have Özbeg battle one of Toqta's surviving sons. Regardless, by the start of 1313 Özbeg was duly enthroned as Khan of the Golden Horde, and if he had not done so already, made public his conversion to Islam.    Özbeg had a particular view on how to hold onto power, which involved executing a great number of potential rivals to the throne. At least one hundred princes and members of the military elite were killed in perhaps the largest princely massacre of the Mongol Empire and its successor khanates. The justification for many of the deaths was the failure of the given princes to convert to Islam, but this was almost certainly little more than an excuse to substantially trim the branches of the aristocracy. Özbeg wanted to ensure that there would be not only no rivals to his own position, but that only his own sons would be able to succeed him.   Certainly, islamization was a key part of Özbeg's reign. There can be no doubt over its spread amongst the Jochid elite from these years onwards, and accounts like Ibn Battuta not only stress the piety of Özbeg and his court, but how islamic institutions were now seeped into the actual administration of the Golden Horde. This ranged from readers of the quran accompanying the royal family everywhere, to Islamic qadi courts now operating alongside the initial justice system established by the dynasty, the jarquchi courts. From Özbeg's coinage, we know he took the Islamic title and name of Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, and in his contacts with the Mamluk Sultanate he expressed loudly the notice of his conversion, and his success in converting the nomads of his empire to Islam. The specific mentions of him killing shamans and Buddhist lamas also indicates an effort to actively uproot the old ways.   Yet there remains considerable evidence to continued religious plurality within the Golden Horde and for Özbeg himself. For example, at the very start of his reign he wedded his step-mother, Bayalun Khatun, a widow of both Toqta and his father To'rilcha. An experienced political player with many contacts, her support was important in Özbeg's ascension. Yet wedding his own step-mother was quite against Islamic law and practice. Here Özbeg's qadis conveniently found a loophole; as neither of her previous husbands had  been Muslims, neither marriage was thus legal, and hence technically Özbeg was not marrying his own step-mother. We can't know if that convinced anyone, but noone had the power to tell Özbeg “no.”    Moreover, we know that Özbeg did not seek to convert the Christian populations of his realm to Islam. The Rus' chronicles mention no effort on the part of Özbeg to do so, and only rarely do they even remark on his status as a Muslim. One of his earliest actions as khan, even in the midst of the most zealous period after his conversion, was going out of his way to welcome the Genoese back to Caffa, and in 1332 granted the Venetians right to build a quarter at Tana, on the mouth of the Don River. In quick order he confirmed tax exemptions for the local Franciscan community and gave them permission to build a cathedral in Caffa. Even when a nominal order went out banning the ringing of church bells, it seems there was little enforcement of it, given that this Franciscan cathedral continued to ring them according to other sources. These were not the only privileges they were granted, for the Franciscans were also given freedom to perform missionary activities deep within Horde lands. A Franciscan letter from 1320 indicates that their missionaries had reached as far as Bashkiria, only six years into Özbeg's reign.  A number of extant Franciscan letters survive speaking of the success of their missions due not just to Özbeg's tolerance, but of even his family. Özbeg's chief khatun after Bayalun's death was Taydula, who was specifically noted for her patronage of Christian communities. In fact, letters remain from Pope John XXII and Pope Benedict XII thanking Özbeg and Taydula for their favourable treatment of Christians in the Horde.   Though Christians received privileges from Özbeg, there is also references to his treatment of other religious groups. During his trip to the Golden Horde, Ibn Battuta met a Jewish person from Spain. Buddhist Uyghurs remained a part of Özbeg's court. And from other evidence too we know of the continued practice of non-Islamic beliefs well after Özbeg. The Golden Horde's powerful beylerbeyi, Edigü, who took power some fifty years after Özbeg's death, also made a name for himself having to stamp out Buddhism and shamanism. And in the fifteenth century a few eye witness reports, such as Johann Schiltberger, indicate a limited presence of traditional folk religions. In other lands of the former Golden Horde, such as in what is now Kazakhstan, the advance of Islam among the Kazakhs remains a topic of debate, with some arguing that it was not until late in the nineteenth century that the islamization was really complete among the nomads there. Özbeg, much like his predecessors Berke and Töde-Möngke, could make a show of the islamization of their states in diplomacy with the Mamluks, but nomads clung, often quite stubbornly, to their old ways.   Yet no mistake should be made; for Özbeg and his successors, their government was now Islamic, and there was no question about that. Özbeg's active promotion of Islam, and invitation of Islamic administrators to his cities and government did a considerable amount to promote the religion and bring more converts. Moreover, Özbeg actively had much of his support come from Islamic beys within the Horde, such as his powerful ally Qutlugh-Temür, the governor of Khwarezm. And the effort stuck. Every khan to succeed Özbeg seems to have been a Muslim. According to the Mamluk chroniclers ibn Taghriberdi and al-Safadi, Özbeg ceased to wear his hair in traditional Mongol fashion or to Mongolian hats. Contemporary accounts from the Ilkhanate written before the 1330s such as Wassaf and Qashani portray Özbeg as a pious Muslim, who strictly punished soldiers who harassed sufis. Özbeg's first embassy to the Mamluks arrived in Cairo in April 1314 and loudly proclaimed their lord's conversion to Islam. And of course Ibn Battuta, traveling and meeting Özbeg in the 1330s, present Özbeg unambiguously as a Muslim, albeit one who enjoyed large feasts and drinking during ramadan.  The image that comes across then, is a relatively adaptable monarch when it came to religion, who knew how to press hard when he could and thus promote Islam, but when necessary to remain flexible to local custom, and keep his empire running smoothly.  The fact that Özbeg would sit on the Jochid throne for thirty years speaks much to his success in these matters, compared to the very short reigns of many contemporary khans.    Of course, nothing can be said about Özbeg's islam without mentioning Baba Tükles. This famous sufi became, in legend, the man who converted Özbeg to Islam. The story goes that he and Özbeg's shamans were to hold a competition to prove whose religion was true by seeing who could survive inside a hot oven. The shaman, as most humans would, burnt to death, but when they checked on Baba Tükles, he was sitting comfortably in the oven wearing nothing but a suit of maille and reciting prayers. Seeing that they had opened the oven's entrance, Baba Tükles asked what the hurry was. Thus was everyone amazed at this miracle, and converted happily to Islam, mashallah.  This conversion narrative, masterfully explored in an excellent monograph by Devin DeWeese, became hugely popular in Turkic and Tatar accounts from the sixteenth century onwards. However, Baba Tükles is a mythic figure, not appearing until centuries after Özbeg's death. Sources contemporary to Özbeg name several other individuals, such as a Bukharan sufi named Ibn ‘Abd-ul-Hamid, as the leading men who converted Özbeg. Perhaps one of them became the inspiration for Baba Tükles, though no fourteenth century account references men burnt inside ovens.   After the massacres of the Jochid princes, Özbeg set about reorganizing the Jochid administration.  In short, the power of the princes was broken, and Özbeg ruled through the non-Chinggisid noyad. For Özbeg, these were the four ulus emirs, called also qarachu begs or ulus begs. Essentially, the four most powerful clan leaders within the Golden Horde not of the dynasty of Chinggis Khan. The head of these four was the beylerbeyi,  who acted like the viceroy of the khan. Essentially, these four men discussed and carried out policy with the khan, and their stamp or signature was necessary on all official documents. The origins of the institution are unclear. Similar institutions are recorded in the other khanates; in the Ilkhanate, we know that chancellery documents had to be signed off by the heads of the keshig day guards, powerful, prestigious and hereditary positions. There is some argument that the positions actually were always a part of the Mongol Empire, while others see it as an innovation of Khubilai Khaan, and during the detente between the various khanates after 1304, it spread to other khanates. In the Golden Horde though, the qarachu begs appear distinct from the keshig, and appears as a formal institution throughout all of its successor khanates. For Özbeg, his first beylerberyi was Qutlugh-Temür, the skilled governor of Khwarezm who had been such a stalwart ally of Özbeg in his rise to power. Until his death in the 1330s, Qutlugh-Temür was the number two man in the Golden Horde. Together they led an administrative transformation, redistributing lands, islamicizing parts of government and greatly strengthening the central might of the khan.  The Blue Horde, the khanate of the line of Orda east of the Ural River, was nearly totally subsumed in this period and lost its autonomy.    Özbeg's new government also fostered the growth of cities within the steppe. The urbanisation of the Horde in the Volga Steppes had been ongoing steadily for years. In a trade network based along the major rivers of the steppe, important camps of the khans and princes, or those few-existing steppe settlements, had flourished under the stability wrought by the Jochids. It should be noted that the nomads of the Golden Horde did not aimlessly wander from one side of the khanate to another. Instead, the entire empire was divided into appanages, and allotted to minghaans. A given minghaan, meaning a thousand men and their families, was given access to pastures and natural resources within that appanage to provide for themselves. When nomadizing, they travelled between these allotted pastures, and were forbidden from accessing those of another minghaan without permission or paying a fee. These minghaans were placed under the control of princes and the military elite, essentially like a feudal estate. What this meant was that the lands of the Eurasian steppe were kept remarkably stable, and no longer divided between warring factions where each sought to claim more land from another.   No longer concerned about raiding by Qipchaps, and rivers now marked by permanent ferries sponsored by the khans, merchants moved relatively freely across the steppes, paying taxes and tribute but able to make a tidy profit for a bit of work. With then came either imports from Europe, Mediterranean, Central Asia or China, to exports, such as grains, horses, glass, beads, pottery Siberian furs, honeys, horses and slaves, which travelled to the Rus', Ilkhanate, Mamluk Egypt and as far as India. Indeed, as the Horde's cities grew, so did its ability to manufacture goods for both internal and external trade. And industries grew around them to support these networks, either by importing the materials needed for manufacture, to feeding the employees and housing the merchants who transported it. A wetter climate in the early fourteenth century coupled with the careful control the Jochids kept of land allowances also allowed for a wider cultivation of farmland within the steppes to better feed growing settlements. Then these people's spiritual and entertainment needs had to be met, requiring the construction of mosques and other places of worship, market places, bath houses, manors for the elite and more, which made steady work for builders and stone masons.   Altogether this fostered a veritable explosion in the growth of the Horde's major cities during the reign of Özbeg, recorded both in written sources and the extensive archaeological work in the former Horde lands.  Well over a hundred such Golden Horde settlements are now known. The most important of these were along the lower reaches of the Volga River, towards the Delta where it meets the Caspian Sea. Here lay the Horde's capitals; the first of these was Sarai, founded by Batu after the withdrawal from Europe. Berke had apparently founded a settlement further upstream, and Özbeg moved the capital there. It is assumed it was to better lay out his desired city, and avoid the flooding which plagued old Sarai, for the Caspian Sea was rising every year of the 1320s. Hence, the new capital was called Berke's Sarai, or Sarai al-Jadid, “New Sarai.” While originally made up of a few hundred felt gers and a handful of permanent structures, these cities rapidly transformed. Felt gers were replaced with immobile homes, originally maintaining the same shape before over time becoming polygonal, then square. Most of the Horde's major cities followed a similar layout as evidenced by archaeological study; one or more main squares surrounded by large buildings, with streets radiating out from it in rectangular districts. They contained great complex manor houses for the nobility; numerous craft workshops, from bone carving, pottery, iron works, glass-blowing, brick making, bronze casting, and jewellery production, as well as bathhouses, mosques, madrassas, necropolises, and orchards.    The largest of the ruins is the site known as Selitrennoe, which scholarship currently associates with Sarai al-Jadid, the second capital of the Golden Horde. Its remains stretch over 7 kilometres along the Akhtuba River, a minor branch off the Volga, and 2 kilometres into the steppe, and at its height in the mid-fourteenth century some estimates give it a population of 75,000. Ibn Battuta visited the city in the 1330s, and his description is as follows:   “The city of [Sarai] is one of the finest of cities, of boundless size, situated in a plain, choked with the throng of its inhabitants, and possessing good bazaars and broad streets. We rode out one day with one of its principal men, intending to make a circuit of the city and find out its extent. Our lodging place was at one end of it and we set out from it in the early morning, and it was after midday when we reached the other end. We then prayed the noon prayer and ate some food, and we did not get back to our lodging until the hour of the sunset prayer. One day we went on foot across the breadth of the town, going and returning, in half a day, this too through a continuous line of houses, where there were no ruins and no gardens. The city has thirteen mosques for the holding of Friday prayers, [...]; as for the other mosques, they are exceedingly numerous. There are various groups of people among its inhabitants; these include the [Mongols], who are the dwellers in this country and its Sultans, and some of whom are Muslims, then the [Alans], the [Qipchaqs], the [Circassians], the Rus' and [Greeks]. Each group lives in a separate quarter with its own bazaars. Merchants and strangers from the two ‘Iraqs, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere, live in a quarter which is surrounded by a wall for the protection of the properties of the merchants. The sultan's palace in it is called Altun Tash, altun meaning ‘gold,' and tash ‘head.'”   The remains of the palace of Altan Tash have likely been identified, and what a magnificent structure it was. As the largest building found within the Golden Horde, the palace in its glory must have been over 32 metres long and over 40 metres wide. Made of fired brick and timber, its great hall alone was 5.8 by 9.4 metres across, with tiled floors and elegant, gilded polychromatic mosaics along the walls. Some 35 rooms have been identified, including a child's room where children's drawings were found carved into the plastered walls. Unlike the palaces of Qaraqorum or Khubilai's capitals at Shangdu or Dadu, the palace of Sarai was not influenced by Chinese design, but Islamic. Seljuq, Khwarezmian and Iranian influences are detected throughout the remains. Similar layouts and designs, albeit on smaller scale, are found in both Sarai itself and the other cities of the Horde.   While Özbeg continued to live in nomadic encampments travelling hither and yon across the Horde, he certainly stopped in Sarai when business demanded it, and he sought to ensure he lived in style. The lower Volga from New Sarai down to Hajji Tarkhan on the Volga Delta became the densest part of a  new urban network, with these major centres each surrounded by dozens and dozens of smaller settlements, pitted with orchards, farmland and surrounded by the endless grass sea where herds of the nomads still roamed. Typical of these settlements, is that before 1360 they were built without fortifications; no enemy would march across the steppe, and if he did he would have to face the Khan's horsemen. Only when the Horde fragmented, were there foes who could march on Sarai.   The growth of the Horde's cities was not caused by Özbeg Khan. Rather, it was a long running process which evolved out of several developments laid down by his predecessors. But Özbeg took advantage of it, and cultivated it. Or at least, his knowledgeable ministers did, and Özbeg supported them, happy to see goods and coins fill up his warehouses while leaving the trouble of collecting it to others. He actively encouraged settlement and trade, welcoming craftsmen, merchants and administrators from across the Middle East and Central Asia to bring their knowledge and wares to his cities. As already mentioned, he granted quarters in cities along the Black Sea to Italian merchants. On their ships the goods of the Golden Horde, particularly grains and slaves, could be sold across the Mediterranean, while desired imports were brought into his empire. From those port cities merchant caravans could travel east to the Volga cities like Sarai al-Jadid; there a merchant could exchange his wares and rest, before returning home, or travelling south to the Ilkhanate, or even eastwards into Khwarezm. Here Gurganj, once destroyed by Özbeg's ancestor Jochi, was restored to prominence and was the Jochid's chief city in the east, a staging point for those travellers going deeper into Central Asia, or perhaps even to Yuan China. Özbeg certainly maintained contacts with the Great Khans, and routinely requested the delivery of the tribute owed him from the Jochid's injü lands in China. Özbeg could take advantage of, and capitalize on, the development of the Jochid lands and the normalization of contacts with the other Chinggisid states. In short, he enjoyed the fruits of a tree grown generations before.  And at each ferry crossing, in each city, and each border, every passing merchant paid tax to the Khan of the Golden Horde, in coins minted in Jochid cities and bearing the names of the Jochid Khan. In this manner,  Özbeg became a wealthy man indeed.   It was a system reliant extensively on wider Eurasian trade networks; thus the Jochid economy would face a terrible consequence were something to happen to that network. But that's a matter for another episode. Having looked at the transformation of the Golden Horde, our next episode will look at the politics and campaigns of Özbeg Khan, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals Podcast to follow. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one. 

Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225 and died in 1274, he was canonized by Pope John XXII in 1323 and became Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Thomas was from Roccasecca near Naples-Italy. He was the seventh and youngest child of a wealth and very influential family. Against the wishes of his family at the age of nineteen, Thomas decided to join the Dominican Order, which had been founded only about 30 years earlier: the members of the new order were inspired to develop a "mixed" spirituality. The order was both active in preaching, and contemplative in study, prayer, and meditation. Thomas Aquinas attends the university of Naples and there he was introduced to the teachings of Aristotle, Averroes, and Maimonides. In 1252 at the College of St. James in Paris, Thomas started a teaching career to which was to involve him in every great intellectual conflict of the time. Beginning as a bachelor, he lectured upon the Scriptures and the basic theological textbook of the day. He enjoys great popularity as a teacher. One of his students later recorded that: Thomas introduced new articles into his lectures, founded a new and clear method of scientific investigation and synthesis, and developed new proofs in his argumentation; although the university required that a master in theology be at least thirty-four years old, Thomas, after a papal dispensation, was given his degree in 1256, when little more than thirty-one years old, and he was appointed to fill one of the two chairs allowed to Dominicans at the university. In1272 Thomas was recalled to Naples by his superiors to reorganize all the theological courses of his order. There at the university he lectures on the Psalms, and St. Paul, commented on Aristotle's, and worked on the third part of the Summa. (Summa Theologica) or Summary of Theology, often referred to simply as the Summa, which is the best-known work of Saint Thomas Aquinas, with more than 3 thousand pages It is a compendium of all the main theological teachings of the Catholic Church. Today the Summa is used as a guide for theology students, including seminarians and priests. The Summa shows the reasoning for almost all points of Christian theology topics with a cycle that start with: God, Creation, Man, Man's purpose, Christ, the Sacraments, and back to God. From the Summa first part II - the existence of God. Thomas Aquinas refers to Augustine who said: “since God is the highest good, He would not allow any evil to exist in His works, unless His omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.” St. Thomas replies this is part of the infinity goodness of God, that He should allow evil to exist and out of it produce good. Aquinas five statements about the divine qualities: God is simple, without composition of parts, such as body and soul, or matter and form. God is perfect, lacking nothing. That is, God is distinguished from other beings on account of God's complete actuality. God is infinite. That is, God is not finite in the ways that created beings are physically, intellectually, and emotionally limited. This infinity is to be distinguished from infinity of size and infinity of number. God is immutable, incapable of change on the levels of God's essence and character. God is one, without diversification within God's self. The unity of God is such that God's essence is the same as God's existence. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Averroes, and Maimonides are among the greatest religious philosophers of the Middle Ages. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/uirapuru/message

Full Text of ReadingsWednesday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 421All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is Saint Louis of ToulouseWhen he died at the age of 23, Louis was already a Franciscan, a bishop, and a saint! Louis's parents were Charles II of Naples and Sicily, and Mary, daughter of the King of Hungary. Louis was related to Saint Louis IX on his father's side and to Elizabeth of Hungary on his mother's side. Louis showed early signs of attachment to prayer and to the corporal works of mercy. As a child he used to take food from the castle to feed the poor. When he was 14, Louis and two of his brothers were taken as hostages to the king of Aragon's court as part of a political deal involving Louis's father. At the court, Louis was tutored by Franciscan friars under whom he made great progress both in his studies and in the spiritual life. Like Saint Francis he developed a special love for those afflicted with leprosy. While he was still a hostage, Louis decided to renounce his royal title and become a priest. When he was 20, he was allowed to leave the king of Aragon's court. He renounced his title in favor of his brother Robert and was ordained the next year. Very shortly after, he was appointed bishop of Toulouse, but the pope agreed to Louis's request to become a Franciscan first. The Franciscan spirit pervaded Louis. “Jesus Christ is all my riches; he alone is sufficient for me,” Louis kept repeating. Even as a bishop he wore the Franciscan habit and sometimes begged. He assigned a friar to offer him correction—in public if necessary—and the friar did his job. Louis's service to the Diocese of Toulouse was richly blessed. In no time he was considered a saint. Louis set aside 75 percent of his income as bishop to feed the poor and maintain churches. Each day he fed 25 poor people at his table. Louis was canonized in 1317 by Pope John XXII, one of his former teachers. His liturgical feast is celebrated on August 19. Reflection When Cardinal Hugolino, the future Pope Gregory IX, suggested to Francis that some of the friars would make fine bishops, Francis protested that they might lose some of their humility and simplicity if appointed to those positions. Those two virtues are needed everywhere in the Church, and Louis shows us how they can be lived out by bishops. Saint of the Day Copyright Franciscan Media

Our previous two episodes have taken you through an overview  of the history of  the Chagatai Khanate, the middle ulus of the Mongol Empire. From its establishment following Chinggis Khan's western campaign in the 1220s, through rebuilding efforts by Mahmud Yalavach and Mas'ud Beg, to the turmoil of the 1260s and 70s with the Mongol civil wars and then consoldiation under Qaidu and Du'a, then the many successions of Du'a's sons to the throne in the first three decades of the fourteenth century. At the end of the last episode, the sixth and last of Du'a's sons to rule the Chagatais, Tarmashirin Khan, was murdered in the early 1330s, killed in a rebellion led by his nephew Buzan, supported by emirs from the eastern half of the Chagatayids. Over the period we saw the slow spread of Islam among the Mongols and their khans, as well as a widening gap between the western half of the Khanate, in Transoxania, and the Eastern half, Moghulistan. Today, both of trends continue as the Chagatai Khanate descends into anarchy following Tarmashirin's murder, finally culminating in Emir Temur seizing control of the western half of the ulus  Chagatay in 1370, and forever changing the face of western Asia. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       Tarmashirin Khan's murder in 1334 had a significant impact on the Chagatai Khanate. The last in the long lateral succession of Du'a Khan's sons, his death essentially opened up the throne to any willing claimant. His antagonizing of the Mongols of the eastern half of the khanate, particularly through his Islamic policies, supposedly abandoning of the laws of Chinggis Khan and leaving them out of government, ensured his reign ended bloodily. The Mongol chiefs of the eastern half of the Khanate rose up behind Buzan, Tarmashirin's nephew, who had allied with other grandsons of Du'a. They invaded Transoxania hunting down and killing Tarmashirin and causing a flight of pro-Tarmshirin, Islamic Mongol chiefs to the Ilkhanate and Delhi Sultanate in India.    Buzan, according to most sources, was not a Muslim, though ibn Battuta wrote of him as a ‘tainted Muslim.' Most sources accuse him of being anti-Muslim and strongly pro-Christian, though it seems more likely he was just religiously tolerant, simply allowing Jews and Christians to rebuild their religious structures. It seems he wanted to rule in a more traditional, steppe based fashion, a strong counter reaction to Tarmashirin's rule.. At least he would have, if Buzan wasn't murdered only a few months into his reign by a cousin, Changshi, another grandson of Du'a. If we believe ibn Battuta, Buzan was strangled by a bowstring. The thing about violently overthrowing your predecessor, is that it does not leave a lot of the legitimacy that is needed to prevent you being overthrown in turn by the next power-hungry individual. What we start to see in this period is princes refusing to recognize the legitimacy of these new Khans, and deciding to remedy this by replacing these new Khans with themselves. So begins an exceptionally chaotic period in the Chagatai realm.       The new Khan of the Chagatais, Changshi,  did not take the throne because he was a supporter of Tarmashirin. Like Buzan, Changshi sought to bring the center of power back to the steppe and Almaliq, the traditional capital of the Chagatais, rather than having it based in the more sedentarized, Islamic Transoxania as Tarmashirin had sought to do.  He was apparently a devout Buddhist, ordering the construction of many Buddhist and temples and supposedly, ordering sculptures of the Buddha painted in mosques throughout the Khanate. Yet he also showed great favour to Christians, especially Catholic Franciscans. He was apparently cured of a cancer through the prayers of one Franciscan, and in response heaped rewards on them. Changshi had at least one of his sons baptized, taking the name of Johannes, and placed the Franciscan in charge of their education. A bishopric was established at Almaliq in the 1320s and flourished under Changshi. At Almaliq, Changshi also met with Nicholas, the newly appointed Archbishop of Khanbaliq, who was on his way to China. Changshi gave Archbishop Nicholas authorization to preach freely throughout the Chagatai lands, to repair and build churches and provided him lands on which to build a friary. News of Changshi's friendship to the Christians reached Pope Benedict XII, who sent a letter to Changshi in 1338. This was not the first letter between the popes and the Khans of Central Asia. In 1289 Pope Nicholas IV sent letters to Qaidu Khan; in 1329 Pope John XXII sent a letter to Eljigidei Khan in response to a message of friendship Eiljigidei had sent prior; and Benedict XII's letter in 1338 urged Khan Changshi to build stronger relations with Christianity and sponser the growth of the faith in his kingdom. Changshi never received the letter, for in 1337 he and his four sons were killed by his brother, Yesun-Temur.        Many islamic sources portray Yesun-Temur Khan as fanatically anti-Muslim and an absolute madman. Not just murdering his own brother, he was accused of cutting the breasts off his mother, among other unsavoury actions. Whether any of this is warranted is difficult to tell, as he may have been so strongly pro-Buddhist and continued Changshi's policy of sponsoring Christian missionaries that it left Islamic chronclers little good to say about him. There is circumstantial evidence of a somewhat capable administrator, demonstrated by survival of government documents from his reign from Turfan and an apparent increase in money circulation under him as well. He was challenged though by rounds of epidemics, particularly in the Issyk Kul region.       Things took another shift again when Yesun-Temur was deposed in 1339 by ‘Ali Sultan bin Uruk Temur. ‘Ali Sultan differed from his predecessors in two important ways: he was a fanatic Muslim, and was not a Chagatayid, but a descendant of Ogedai. The fact that an Ogedeid was even able to take the throne of the Chagatayids demonstrates the extent to which access to the succession had been opened up. ‘Ali Sultan's reign was brief, less than a year. In that time, the most notable action he did, other than usurp the throne, was unleash violent programs against the Christians in his empire. Those who refused to convert to Islam, be they Nestorian or Catholic, were to be killed. The Nestorian Christian community in the Issyk Kul region was almost totally exterminated by ‘Ali Sultan's effort, either by forced conversion or by the sword. The bishopric of Almaliq was destroyed, its clergy put to death on ‘Ali Sultan's order. The martyred Bishop, Richard of Burgundy, had only taken the post a year prior. The brief introduction of Cathololicism died out in the region by the end of the fourteenth century.    ‘Ali Sultan Khan's Ogedeid usurpation greatly undermined the integrity of the Khanate. In 1340 the Khan of the Golden Horde, Ozbeg, invaded the Chagatai Khanate, an invasion which only halted due to Ozbeg's death in 1341 but did nothing to unite the conflicting tension within the Khanate. Even before ‘Ali Sultan's death in 1340, it seems in the southern part of the western half of the Chagatai Khanate a great-grandson, or great-great-grandson of Du'a Khan, Muhammad bin Bolad, or Muhammad Bolad, declared himself Khan. Around 1342 Muhammad Bolad Khan briefly reigned in Almaliq, while in the western half of Chagatai power was taken by Khalil Sultan bin Yasawur, who may be the same figure as Qazan Khan, who may have also been Khalil Sultan's brother and co-ruled with him. By1343-1344, Qazan was the sole ruler of the Chagatai khanate, though whether he exerted much power in the eastern half of the realm is uncertain.   Qazan Khan, if you don't mind a minor spoiler, often appears as a “bad last ruler,”  in sources of the Timurids, a despot who preempted a final period of anarchy. Whatever the truth, he did usher in some stablization, and increased the power of the Chagatais over Khurasan, taking advantage of the collapse of the Ilkhanate into rival powers. He likely did little less in his reign except fight off rivals, with a particularly tough opponent in the form of Qazaghan, the chief of the Qara'unas. The Qara'unas were descendents of Mongols stationed in Afghanistan or who had fled there following the outbreak of war between Berke and Hulegu in 1262. They had remained a largely independent, rebellious force resisting efforts by the Ilkhanate and the Chagatai Khanate to bring them under control. Not until the 1290s did the Chagatais succeed in doing so, and the Qara'unas became a useful arm of the Chagatayid miltiary. Often, prominent heirs or brothers, especially under the reigns of Du'a and his sons, were placed in command over the Qara'unas. They were a major military element in the western half of the Chagatai Khanate, and once their chief, the ambitious Qazaghan, began challenging Qazan Khan, it was no easy task for the precariously perched Qazan. After some considerable effort, in 1347 Qazaghan finally killed Qazan, the final effective Khan in the Western Chagatai Khanate.    The Emir Qazaghan then became the true power in Transoxania, though as he was not a descendant of Chinggis Khan, he could not rule in his own right. Wisely, he continued to appoint puppet Khans who ruled in name only. These Khans were total figureheads, some not even of the line of Chagatai, but of Ogedai. Doing so was absolutely necessary. While there could be argument over the legitimacy of a particular Khan, if he was a good candidate or from the right lineage, among the Turko-Mongolian military elite it was still undebatable that the only legitimate ruler had to be  descended from Chinggis Khan; it was to the house of Chinggis that the right to rule the world had been given, and no Qara'unas chief, no matter how powerful, could claim that throne if he had not even a drop of Chinggisid blood in him.    While Qazaghan seized power in Transoxania and ushered in a brief period of stability, an important event happened concurrently in the eastern half of the Khanate. In 1347, as Qazaghan killed Qazan Khan, a descendant of Chagatai and grandson of Du'a named Tughluq Temur was also declared Khan. With now two major rival claimants for power, 1347 becomes the usual date in scholarship for the division of the Chagatai Khanate into two realms: Transoxania in the west, sometime still called the Chagatai Khanate, and Moghulistan east of the Syr Darya River.        Tughluq Temur was raised to the throne by a coalition of the powerful Mongol chiefs of the eastern half of the Khanate. Mentioned briefly in the last episode, these were the chiefs who felt out of power by the Khans more interested in sedentarized and Islamic culture, while at  the same time finding themselves under less and less direct influence of the Khan. The result was the chiefs who became more powerful and more dissatisfied with the ruler in the west. The usurption of power  by the non-Chinggisid Qazaghan and his appointment of puppet Khans was the final straw for these chiefs. Of the tribes in the eastern Chagatai realm, the mightiest were the Dughlats. A proud Mongol tribe, the Dughlat leaders made themselves rich through control of the altı shahr, the six cities in Turkish. These were the rich trade cities along the silk routes through the western Tarim Basin and eastern Turkestan; Kashgar, Yangi Hisar, Yarkand, Khotan, Ush-Turfan, Aksu.    The heads of these tribes, including the Dughlats, were qarachu, ‘blackboned,' or commoners. That is, they were not of the altan urag, not descendants of Chinggis Khan and like Qazaghan of the Qara'unas they could not claim the throne themselves. The head of the Dughlats, called the ulusbegi or beylerbey as the most powerful of the eastern chiefs, acted as a sort of spokesperson for them. The Dughlat, while the single most powerful tribe, were not strong enough to totally overpower the others and had to act in concert with them. Thus, in 1347 in cooperation with the other tribal heads, the ulusbegi Bulaji Dughlat, enthroned the 18 year old Tughluq Temur as Chagatai Khan, a blatant refusal to recognize Qazaghan or his puppet khans.   Both halves of the Chagatai khanate considered themselves the true heirs of Chagatai, and referred to the other with disparaging terms. To the easterners in Moghulistan, the westerners were qara'unas, a term which had connotations to the Mongols of half-breed, according to Marco Polo when he learned of them. They saw the westerners as corrupted  by sedentary culture ruled by a petty non-Chinggisid. To the western half in Transoxania, the easterners were jatah,  a term at its kindest reffering to ne'er-do-wells and rascals, and at its worst robbers and thieves. The westerners saw the east as little more than raiders, for such was their interaction with them.   Tughluq Temur Khan is often considered the first Khan of Moghulistan. Moghul, being the Persian word for Mongol, is generally what the scholarship uses to refer to Moghulistan's nomadic inhabitants to distinguish them from true Mongols, a reflection of the primary source usage where the eastern Chagatayids and their lands are the Moghuls of Moghulistan. While there is evidence for use of the Mongolian language in the chancellery of Moghulistan until the end of the 1360s, various forms of Turkic had replaced Mongolian in day-to-day life. Largely still nomadic, many still adhering to the old religion and seeing themselves as true Mongols, Islam had begun to spread among them. Thus it was not surprising that in 1354, Tughluq Temur converted to Islam. Islam was a source of legitimacy for him; there is some indication that Tughluq Temur was of some uncertain paternity, due to conflicting reports on the identity of his father, so converting to Islam was an additional means to shore up his position. Unlike ‘Ali Sultan, Tughluq Temur was no fanatic; he is still recorded asking for Buddhist Lamas from Tibet as teachers for him and his sons. He did promote Islam though and his conversion was an important stage for the spread of Islam east of the Syr Darya. Statements that everyone in the area became Muslim under him are overplayed, as it took many decades still for Islam to drive out the local religious beliefs, be they Nestorian Christianity, Buddhism or Mongolian shamanism.    Tughluq Temur's 16 year reign saw the most consolidation of power under a Chagatai Khan in years. He was aided in part by the death of the ulusbegi Bulaji soon after Tughluq's enthronement. Had Bulaji lived longer, he may have played more of a kingmaker role and controlled more of Tughluq Temur's actions. But Bulaji's death, and tensions within the Dughlat tribe, led to Bulaji's 7 year old son Khudaidad becoming the ulusbegi. Bulaji's brother, Qamar al-Din Dughlat, petitioned Tughluq Temur for the position as he had no support from other members of the Dughlats. Qamar al-Din was a man of violent temperament, and many of the emirs of the Dughlat seem to have desired greater freedom than they had been allowed under Bulaji. Tughluq Temur was of similar opinion; why place an ambitious man like Qamar al-Din as ulusbegi, who would certainly prove a hindrance to Tughluq Temur's power, when Tughluq Temur could instead have a malleable child in the position? And so Tughluq Temur ignored Qamar al-Din's petition and confirmed the enthronement of young Khudaidad, a matter which Tughluq Temur's heirs would rue dearly.   Khan Tughluq Temur continued to strengthen his position in Moghulistan, weakening the hegemony of the Dughlats and bringing other tribal heads to heel. He apparently killed a number of them, both those who refused to convert to Islam or resisted his efforts. By 1360, Tughluq Temur was the single most powerful Chinggisid in the entire former Mongol Empire, which placed him in a  very good position to take advantage of misfortune in Transoxania. The Emir Qazaghan had paid tribute to Tughluq Temur, in large part to pay him off against attacking Transoxania. Qazaghan was a capable enough figure, keeping control, if at times tenuously, on the various disparate elements of the region, until he was murdered in 1358. Qazaghan's son ‘Abd Allah took his position, but lacked his father's capability. As tensions from warlords in Transoxania and Khurasan bubbled up, among other poor decisions, ‘Abd Allah chose to halt the payment of tribute to Tughluq Temur. For the Khan in Moghulistan, this was all the excuse he needed. In 1360 and 1361, Tughluq Temur invaded Transoxania twice in order to oust ‘Abd Allah and reunite the Chagatai Khanate. ‘Abd Allah fled and was killed, and Tughluq Temur installed his son Ilyas as the regional governor. Many tribal leaders joined Tughluq Temur, while others fled, including Hajji Beg, the chief of the Barlas, a Turkified Mongolian tribe near Samarkand. One member of the upper echelons of the Barlas did not flee, and he was able to convince the conquering Tughluq Temur Khan to appoint him as head of the Barlas in Hajji Beg's absence. This was the first appearance of Temur, though you may perhaps know him better by the nicknames given to him later in life to refer to his limp: Aksak Temur, in Turkish, Temur-i-lang in Persian, which in English became Temur the Lame: Tamerlane. Temur was at this point 30 years old and given his first position of relative importance, one he soon surpassed.   Tughluq Temur Khan did not long enjoy his conquest, for like all good Chinggisid monarchs, he suddenly died in his early 30s in 1363. So powerful had he been though, that his descendants would continue to rule in parts of Moghulistan until the 17th century. Without his father's backing, Ilyas was driven out of Transoxania in 1365 by a coalition of forces under Qazaghan's grandson, Amir Husayn, and Temur of the Barlas. Back in Moghulistan, Ilyas was soon killed, perhaps by Qamar al-Din Dughlat. Either before or after Ilyas' death, Qamar al-Din had his revenge for Tughluq Temur's denial to make him ulusbegi. He launched a revolt, killed some 18 Chagatai princes and declared himself Khan. No puppet khans, no indirect rule, Qamar al-Din was the first non-Chinggisid to try and claim the title of Khan, and rule in his own right, since the Mongol conquests. If Qamar had thought he would find support for this action, he was sorely mistaken. Not even the Dughlat tribe themselves were willing to recognize Qamar's usurption, and few of the other tribes in Moghulistan did either. Qamar al-Din faced stiff resistance as warfare broke out across Moghulistan. For the next 25 years, Qamar al-Din fought enemies within Moghulistan and from Transoxania. The other sons of Tughluq Temur were sent into hiding to keep them out of Qamar al-Din's hands, and never did he enjoy a moment of stability until his disappearance in the 1380s. Only then would Tughluq Temur's son, Khidr Khwaja, be enthroned in 1389 as the Chagatai khan after a nearly 30 year interregnum.   The great consequence of Qamar al-Din's usurption is that it facilitated the rise of Tamerlane. After Ilyas was ousted around 1365, Qazaghan's grandson Amir Husayn had resumed power over the region, but was undermined by the power hungry Barlas leader, Temur. Despite having married Husayn's sister, Temur began conspiring with other regional powers, and when Husayn moved his capital to Balkh and fortified it, Temur convinced them that Husayn was their enemy, having moved his capital out of the traditional region and preparing to defend it against them. So, Transxonia revolted against Husayn, eventually resulting in Husayn's death. Now the figure of real power in Transoxania, Temur had carefully observed the failures of Qazaghan, ‘Abd Allah, Husayn and of Qamar al-Din. At a quriltai in April 1370, Temur oversaw the enthronement of a Khan of the Chagatayids, a descendant of Ogedai named Soyurghatmish. Temur himself only took the title of emir, and officially was a guardian and adviser to the Khan. Marrying a Chinggisid princess, Emir Temur also took the title of güregen, a son-in-law to the house of Chinggis Khan. However, Temur was the real power, and from 1370 he began to campaign against his local enemies. One of his first campaigns was against Qamar al-Din of Moghulistan. Though never able to catch Qamar al-Din, Temur repeatedly invaded Moghulistan, wreaking great destruction, taking thousands of prisoners and further undermining the fragile powerbase Qamar had. If there had been an actual reigning Khan in Moghulistan, perhaps a figure could have rallied the tribes to resist and defeat Temur early in his career. But Qamar's illegal rule ensured there could be no rallying behind his name, and Emir Temur only grew in might. Under him, the last vestiges of Chagatai rule in Transoxania were washed away.  Though a Chagatai Khan was appointed in Moghulistan in the last years of the fourteenth century, the Temurids never recognized them as such. Tughluq Temur and his successors were always the ulus-i-Moghul or ulus-i-Jatah, as far as Temurid historians were concerned. The fifteenth century became a century of Temurid rule, and it would not be until the 1500s that Chinggisids would again rule in Transoxania; but these were descendants of Jochi, not of Chagatai. The career of Temur and later history of Moghulistan is  a topic for a later series, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast to follow. If you enjoyed this and would like to help us continue bringing you great content, please consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one.

There's an urban legend that a pope in the the 13th century issued a papal bull or an official decree telling people to exterminate cats because of their association with the devil and witchcraft.Today we take a quick look at the history of the relationship between witchcraft, cats, and lots of popes to find out what really happened in the 13th century.Hear the full story on today's episode of Facts-Chology!If you have a question you want us to research, send an email to Factschology@gmail.comAnd if you like the show, give us a rating, leave a review, or subscribe!Sourceshttps://www.history.com/news/how-medieval-churches-used-witch-hunts-to-gain-more-followershttps://www.academia.edu/1061079/LUFF_R_M_MORENO_GARC%C3%8DA_M_1995_Killing_cats_in_the_Medieval_Period_An_unusual_episode_in_the_history_of_Cambridge_England_Archaeofauna_4_93_114https://museumhack.com/black-cats-black-death/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ritualistic-cat-torture-was-once-a-form-of-town-funhttps://allthatsinteresting.com/pope-massacred-catshttp://self.gutenberg.org/articles/Vox_in_Ramahttps://www.interesly.com/great-cat-massacre-middle-ages/https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/11/05/were-cats-really-killed-en-masse-during-the-middle-ages/Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/Factschology)

Join us as we explore God's ancient wisdom and apply it to our modern lives. His word is as current and relevant today as it was when he inspired its authors more than two and a half millennia ago. The websites where you can reach us are alittlewalkwithgod.com, richardagee.com, or saf.church. I hope you will join us every week and be sure to let us know how you enjoy the podcast and let others know about it, too. Thanks for listening. Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I'm your host Richard Agee. Last week we had a short history lesson on Epiphany, the church's celebration of the Magi's visits to Jesus in Bethlehem. I mentioned that initially, the church three separate events during Epiphany, the Magi's visits, Jesus' baptism by John, and Jesus' miracle at the wedding in Cana. The Magi's visits always took center stage during Epiphany since it marked Jesus' revelation to the Gentile world. As you can imagine, that revelation gives the rest of us, outside the chosen people of Israel, the opportunity to become part of God's family. Jesus' baptism very likely did not occur on January 6th. Still, as you may recall from last week, the early church chose January 6th to celebrate Epiphany, probably due to the liturgical reading from the first gospel circulated among the churches, the book of Mark. Those early gospel readers also believed Jesus was exactly two when the Magi found him, exactly thirty at his baptism, and performed the miracle at Cana exactly one year later. All three events, then, became part of the celebration during Epiphany. Again, the timing is improbable, considering the precise timing of all the other events in Jesus' life. Instead of being born in December, we can imagine Jesus coming during the lambing season in the spring, as the Lamb of the world. The Magi could travel in the fall and winter months to avoid the mid-east summer heat, but the probability of seeing Jesus on January 6th is indeed slim. And Jesus' first recorded miracle at the wedding in Cana likely occurred earlier than a year into his formal ministry. The reason we celebrate Epiphany, and formerly Jesus baptism and first miracle on January 6th seems solely an accident of where early Christians happened to read Mark's gospel message. So, now the bit of history in front of us regards the celebrations' separation timeline. How long has the church put Jesus' baptism as its own commemoration time? The answer surprised me when I did some research on the topic. For four centuries, beginning in the 1500s, Jesus' baptism didn't appear as a commemoration at all in the Roman Catholic church. Then, in 1955 Pope Pius XII wrote a separate commemoration for the Baptism of Our Lord as part of the Mass after Epiphany. He didn't specify any date to use the observance but suggested it be immediately after Epiphany. Pope John XXII revised the Roman Catholic church calendar, setting January 13thas the commemoration date. Not until 1969 did the Commemoration of the Baptism of Our Lord settle on the calendar as it is today, the first Sunday after Epiphany, a decree made by Pope Paul VI. Other liturgical churches followed suit, as many follow the lectionary established by the Catholic church. The church calendar provides observances for many events in Jesus' life that we, in the evangelical community too often overlook at our misfortune. Jesus' baptism is one of those. We read about it in all the gospels. Mark records it like this: This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King, the Son of God.  Isaiah the prophet told us what would happen before He came: Watch, I will send My messenger in front of You     to prepare Your way and make it clear and straight.   You'll hear him, a voice crying in the wilderness,     “Prepare the way of the Eternal One,     a straight way in the wandering desert, a highway for our God.”  That messenger was John the Baptist, who appeared in the desert near the Jordan River preaching that people should be ritually cleansed through baptism with water as a sign of both their changed hearts and God's forgiveness of their sins. People from across the countryside of Judea and from the city of Jerusalem came to him and confessed that they were deeply flawed and needed help, so he cleansed them with the waters of the Jordan. John dressed as some of the Hebrew prophets had, in clothes made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist. He made his meals in the desert from locusts and wild honey. He preached a message in the wilderness. John the Baptist: Someone is coming who is a lot more powerful than I am—One whose sandals I'm not worthy to bend down and untie. I've washed you here through baptism with water; but when He gets here, He will wash you in the Spirit of God. The Jordan River is the setting of some of the most memorable miracles in the Old Testament. On their journey through the wilderness to the promised land, the Israelites walked across the Jordan River on dry ground because God parted its waters. Elisha, one of the prophets of God, healed Naaman by telling him to bathe seven times in its waters. Partly because of miracles like these and partly because of a growing wilderness spirituality, many of the Jews in John's day are out to hear him and be ritually baptized in the Jordan's cool, cleansing waters. They are looking for God to intervene miraculously in their lives as He has done in the past. What they don't know is that God is about to intervene, for at that time Jesus leaves Nazareth and heads south.  It was in those days that Jesus left Nazareth (a village in the region of Galilee) and came down to the Jordan, and John cleansed Him through baptism there in the same way all the others were ritually cleansed. But as Jesus was coming out of the waters, He looked up and saw the sky split open. The Spirit of God descended upon Him like a dove, and a voice echoed in the heavens. Voice: You are My Son, My beloved One, and I am very pleased with You. (Mark 1:1-11 The Voice) In these verses, we learn some things. Baptism was necessary to Jesus as it began his public ministry. Another point we miss, but those Jews who knew their Old Testament did not, was the words Mark used to describe the sky opening. The Septuagint uses the same words here that it uses in Exodus 14:21 to describe God splitting the water in the Reed Sea for the Israelites to cross on dry land. The voice from heaven also gave public recognition that Jesus was the Son of God. Another point we miss, that again, the Jews present who knew the Old Testament well did not, was the pronouncement from the voice Jesus was God's beloved. Only twice in the Old Testament does God give that description to others, to King David and King Solomon. He described both as beloved when he continued his covenant with them and told them a king from their lineage would always sit on Israel's throne. Hearing the voice declare Jesus as beloved acclaimed him as Israel's rightful King. Jesus' baptism identifies him with Israel's exodus from Egypt and the kingly line of David. Why do we need to remember the event? First, it reminds us who Jesus is. When we look back and explore the words describing the “Angel of the Lord” who went before Israel as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, we find it is Yahweh. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, the word interchanges give us clues that, although God was never incarnate in the Old Testament, he did appear to men and women in a human form in the Old Testament. When God split the sky to announce his son, he reminds us Jesus, Yahweh in human form split the sea and led the Israelites to freedom. When God calls Jesus his My Beloved Son, God puts Jesus in a unique category. He not only belongs in the line of Abraham, God's chosen people to show God's image to the rest of the nations, but he belongs to the lineage of David. As God's Beloved Son, Jesus claims the throne of Israel and, by extension of God's covenant with David and Solomon, the kingship of all the nations of the world. We know who he is, God incarnate, King of kings, and Messiah through his baptism. Jesus' baptism also serves as an example to us. If Jesus felt baptism important as the beginning of his ministry, a demonstration of his death to self and life in God, certainly we should follow his example. Baptism doesn't save us, but it shows those witnesses around us and reminds us through the experience that we die to ourselves and become alive in Christ. Baptism will always be a significant milestone in the life of a Christian. This week, if you have been baptized, remember what it is for and rejoice in it. If you have not yet been baptized or were too young to know what it meant, consider being baptized. Baptism doesn't save you, but it is a pivotal event in the life of a Christian. We follow Jesus' example symbolizing giving up ourselves and living in him. You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn't, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day. Scriptures marked THE VOICE are taken from the THE VOICE (The Voice): Scripture taken from THE VOICE ™. Copyright© 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.  

We were featured once more as a guest on the Classical Theism Podcast (see Episode #37 for our first appearance), this time on two more papal objections – how an ecumenical council called by an emperor can still be legit, and why Pope John XXII wasn't a heretic. If you're enjoying The Popecast, please consider supporting us at patreon.com/thepopecast to get early access to new episodes and ensure we can continue to produce the show! SPECIAL THANKS to our friends at Catholic Balm Co. for sponsoring this episode of The Popecast. Check out their beard balms, lotion bars, and ESPECIALLY their brand new Petra Solid Cologne at catholicbalm.co (catholicbalm.co). Be sure to enter "POPE" at checkout to get 10% off your entire order!

This well known Catholic prayer dates to the early fourteenth century and was possibly written by Pope John XXII, but its authorship remains uncertain. The prayer takes its name from its Latin incipit, meaning "Soul of Christ". The Anima Christi was popularly believed to have been composed by St. Ignatius of Loyola, as he puts it at the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises and often refers to it. However, it has been found in a number of prayer books printed during Ignatius' youth and is in manuscripts which were written a hundred years before his birth. In the library of Avignon there is preserved a prayer book of Cardinal Peter De Luxembourg, who died in 1387, which contains Anima Christi in practically the same form as we have it today.  This prayer was so well known and so popular at the time of Ignatius, that in the first edition of his Spiritual Exercises he merely mentions it, evidently supposing that the reader would know it. In later editions, it was printed in full. It was by assuming that everything in the book was written by St. Ignatius that it came to be looked upon as his composition. Anima Christi, sanctifica me. Corpus Christi, salva me. Sanguis Christi, inebria me. Aqua lateris Christi, lava me. Passio Christi, conforta me. O bone Jesu, exaudi me. Intra tua vulnera absconde me. Ne permittas me separari a te. Ab hoste maligno defende me. In hora mortis meae voca me. Et jube me venire ad te, Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te, In saecula saeculorum. Amen It would mean a lot to me if you could leave a review on iTunes; The podcast has been downloaded over 50,000 times and we now have listeners in over 100 Countries. Ratings helps others find this podcast and I would love you to not only help share it by rating it but also by recommending it to your families and friends and also by sharing it on social media. Follow me on twitter @dylandrego or on instagram @dylan.drego and do not hesitate to drop me a line. We are living in dark times (in and outside of the Church) which now more than ever requires you and me, ordinary men and women to fight with all our might for the salvation of souls and our own sanctity. Prayer is the foundation that grounds us as well as the wings that draw us close to God. It is the beginning. Pope St. Pius X's reach was limited by the technology of his day, but what about us? What if we could gather, inspire and call upon a 1,000,000 families to pray the rosary everyday? If you have any prayers you'd like to request, or comments and/or suggestions - please email me at dylandrego@me.com. Know that if you are listening to this, I am praying for you. Please continue to pray with me and for me and my family. May everything you do be Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam. God Love You! Valete (Goodbye) https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-latin-prayer-podcast/id1202522527?mt=2 http://dylandrego.podbean.com

Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Medieval Gaelic: Roibert a Briuis; modern Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart Brus; Norman French: Robert de Brus or Robert de Bruys; Early Scots: Robert Brus; Latin: Robertus Brussius), was King of Scotland from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation, and eventually led Scotland during the First War of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland's place as an independent country and is today revered in Scotland as a national hero. His paternal fourth great-grandfather was King David I. Robert's grandfather, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne during the "Great Cause". As Earl of Carrick, Robert the Bruce supported his family's claim to the Scottish throne and took part in William Wallace's revolt against Edward I of England. Appointed in 1298 as a Guardian of Scotland alongside his chief rival for the throne, John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, and William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews, Robert later resigned in 1300 due to his quarrels with Comyn and the apparently imminent restoration of John Balliol to the Scottish throne. After submitting to Edward I in 1302 and returning to "the king's peace", Robert inherited his family's claim to the Scottish throne upon his father's death. In February 1306, Bruce, having wounded Comyn, rushed from the church where they had met and encountered his attendants outside. He told them what had happened and said, "I must be off, for I doubt I have slain the Red Comyn." "Doubt?", Roger de Kirkpatrick of Closeburn answered. "I mak sikker," ("I'll make sure," or "I make sure"). Kirkpatrick then rushed into the church and killed Comyn. For this, Bruce was then excommunicated by the Pope (although he received absolution from Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow). Bruce moved quickly to seize the throne, and was crowned king of Scots on 25 March 1306. Edward I's forces defeated Robert in battle, forcing him to flee into hiding before re-emerging in 1307 to defeat an English army at Loudoun Hill and wage a highly successful guerrilla war against the English. Bruce defeated his other Scots enemies, destroying their strongholds and devastating their lands, and in 1309 held his first parliament. A series of military victories between 1310 and 1314 won him control of much of Scotland, and at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, Robert defeated a much larger English army under Edward II of England, confirming the re-establishment of an independent Scottish kingdom. The battle marked a significant turning point, with Robert's armies now free to launch devastating raids throughout northern England, while also extending his war against the English to Ireland by sending an army to invade there and by appealing to the Irish to rise against Edward II's rule. Despite Bannockburn and the capture of the final English stronghold at Berwick in 1318, Edward II refused to renounce his claim to the overlordship of Scotland. In 1320, the Scottish nobility submitted the Declaration of Arbroath to Pope John XXII, declaring Robert as their rightful monarch and asserting Scotland's status as an independent kingdom. In 1324, the Pope recognised Robert I as king of an independent Scotland, and in 1326, the Franco-Scottish alliance was renewed in the Treaty of Corbeil. In 1327, the English deposed Edward II in favour of his son, Edward III, and peace was concluded between Scotland and England with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328, by which Edward III renounced all claims to sovereignty over Scotland. Robert died in June 1329. His body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey, while his heart was interred in Melrose Abbey and his internal organs embalmed and placed in St Serf's Chapel, Dumbarton, site of the medieval Cardross Parish church. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thehistoryexpress/support

Nicholas Flamel. Hermes Trismegistus. Francis Bacon. Pope John XXII. Sir Isaac Newton. What do they all have in common? Alchemy, of course! But who is the greatest of them all? The true Hidden Master? Tune in to find out.

On this day, Pope John XXII of Avignon was elected in 1366, and Frank Buchman, a founder of the Oxford Group, died in 1961. Our reading is by Cliff Ashby, "A Stranger in this Land." We’re proud to be part of 1517 Podcasts, a network of shows dedicated to delivering Christ-centered content. Our podcasts cover a multitude of content, from Christian doctrine, apologetics, cultural engagement, and powerful preaching. Support the work of 1517 today.

In this episode of Modern Church History, Msgr. Michael John Witt talks about Pope John XXII and the Name of the Rose. (January 24, 2019)

TRADCAST 024 (12 APR 2019) Contents Segment 1: Introductory comments; reading suggestions for new or potential converts; From the Jorge's Mouth: a critical review of some of Francis' recent utterances; modesty in dress and the beauty of femininity Segment 2: The pop traditionalism and drive-by theology of the recognize-and-resist traditionalists: the Ultramontanism objection / Steve Skojec / Michael Matt / Christopher Ferrara / Roberto de Mattei Total run time: 1 hr 24 mins Links to Items mentioned in the Show & Related Information Web Site: PapalEncyclicals.net Book: Anthony J. Mioni, ed., The Popes Against Modern Errors (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1999) Book: Fr. Felix Sarda y Salvany, Liberalism is a Sin (Rockford, IL: TAN Books, 1993). Also available online. Book: St. Charles Borromeo, ed., Catechism of the Council of Trent (Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2009). Also available online. Book: Fr. Francis Spirago, The Catechism Explained (Wentworth Press, 2016). Also available online. Book: Cardinal Peter Gasparri, The Catholic Catechism (Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., 1932) Book: Bp. Louis LaRavoire-Morrow, My Catholic Faith (Kenosha, WI: My Mission House, 1958). Also available online. Book: Fr. Anthony Alexander, College Apologetics: Proof of the Truth of the Catholic Faith(Charlotte, NC: TAN Books, 2012) Book: Fr. Francisco Radecki and Fr. Dominic Radecki, Vatican II Exposed as Counterfeit Catholicism (Wayne, MI: St. Joseph's Media, 2019) Novus Ordo Watch, “Now What?” — Being a Real Catholic Today Novus Ordo Document: Francis, Address to Young People at Ecumenical Meeting (Sep. 25, 2018), Zenit Novus Ordo Watch, "Francis denounces Converting the Orthodox as 'Great Sin Against Ecumenism'" (Oct. 1, 2016) News Article: Bernadette Reis, "Pope sends greetings to the Jewish community of Rome", Vatican News (Sep. 18, 2018) Catholic magisterial pronouncements: Henry Denzinger’s Sources of Catholic Dogma (1954 ed.) Book: Fr. Thomas Slater, A Manual of Moral Theology, vol. 1, 5th ed. (Burns Oates and Washbourne Ltd., 1925). Also available online. Blog Post: "New Papal Utterance: 'Being Angry with Christ is a Kind of Prayer!'", Rorate Caeli, Apr. 9, 2019 Church Document: Pope Pius VI, Bull Auctorem Fidei (1794) News Article: Carol Glatz, "Pope Francis: The Devil targets those who succumb to despair and negativity", Catholic Herald(Apr. 9, 2019) Book: Rita Davidson, Immodesty, Satan's Virtue (Little Flowers Family Press, 2015) Modesty Resources: Little Flowers Family Press/ Pope Pius XI's Legislation regarding Modesty in Dress/ Cardinal Joseph Siri's Notification concerning Men's Dress worn by Women/ The Requirements for Modesty in Dress/ Some Magisterial Directives Novus Ordo Watch, "The Truth about Pope Liberius and the 'Excommunication' of St. Athanasius" (Apr. 12, 2016) Novus Ordo Watch, "The Case of Pope Honorius I" (July 12, 2016) Novus Ordo Watch, "In Brief: The Facts on Pope John XXII" (Oct. 4, 2017) Novus Ordo Watch, "The 'St. Paul resisted St. Peter to his Face' Objection" (June 14, 2018) Novus Ordo Watch, "The Ultramontanism Objection" (Jan. 18, 2018) Catholic Encyclopedia: Entry “Ultramontanism”(1912) Blog Post: Steve Skojec, "'That’s Not Who We Are Anymore': Pre- and Post-Conciliar Catholicism Are Not the Same Religion", One Peter Five, Oct. 2, 2018 Novus Ordo Watch, "The Catholic Teaching on the Papacy" Church Document: Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Immortale Dei (1885) Novus Ordo Watch, "The Pope and the Antichrist: The Great Apostasy Foretold by Cardinal Manning" (Apr. 23, 2015) YouTube Video: "RESISTING FRANCIS to his FACE: Standing with Viganò", The Remnant (uploaded Oct. 22, 2018) Article: Elizabeth Yore, "Anatomy of a Coverup: An Open Letter to Pope Francis", The Remnant (May 25, 2018) Novus Ordo Watch, "The Impossibility of Judging or Deposing a True Pope" (Mar. 15, 2016) Article: Jason Morgan, "SEDEVACANTISTS IN LIMBO: A Response to Mr. Novus O. Watch", The Remnant (Mar. 21, 2019) -- Proof that original version contained heresy: SCREENSHOT(annotated) Novus Ordo Watch, "Missing the Forest for the Trees: The Remnanton Schism and Sedevacantism" (Nov. 9, 2018) Special Lenten Fundraiser 2019: Make a qualifying donation to Novus Ordo Watch by April 20 and get a reward! Article: Christopher A. Ferrara, "Can the Church Defend Herself Against Bergoglio?", The Remnant (Sep. 17, 2018) Novus Ordo Watch, "No, a True Pope CANNOT be Deposed: Reply to Br. Alexis Bugnolo" (Sep. 10, 2018) Article: Robert Siscoe, "Dogmatic Fact: The One Doctrine that Proves Francis Is Pope", One Peter Five (Mar. 18, 2019) Article: "Bp." Athanasius Schneider, "On the Question of a Heretical Pope", Rorate Caeli (Mar. 20, 2019) Article: Fr. Anthony Cekada, "The Errors of Athanasius Schneider", Quidlibet (Apr. 6, 2019) Blog Post: Christopher A. Ferrara, "Bishop Schneider's History Lesson", Fatima Center (Mar. 21, 2019) Lecture: Roberto de Mattei, "Pope Francis Five Years Later: Continuity of Rupture in the Church",Life Site(Nov. 29, 2018) Book: José Antonio Ureta, Pope Francis' Paradigm Shift (Spring Grove, PA: American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 2018) Novus Ordo Document: Francis, Apostolic Letter Mitis Et Misericors Iesus (Aug. 15, 2015) Novus Ordo Document: Francis, Apostolic Letter Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (Aug. 15, 2015) Church Document: Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Sapientiae Christianae (1890) Article: Cardinal John Franzelin, "The True Sense of the Vincentian Canon"(1875) Church Document: Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Casti Connubii (1930) Novus Ordo Watch, "The Francis Papacy Test" (Mar. 25, 2019) TRADCAST: Complete Episode List TRADCAST EXPRESS: Complete Episode List Support TRADCAST/NovusOrdoWatch by making a tax-deductible donation HERE Follow Novus Ordo Watch on Twitter Follow TRADCAST on Twitter Automatic Subscription Options for TRADCAST TRADCAST by Email (receive automatic notifications of each new episode by email) The TRADCAST RSS Feed (for use with any podcast service) TRADCAST on iTunes TRADCAST on Stitcher TRADCAST on Google Play TRADCAST on Soundcloud More Information at TRADCAST.org

Join Patti Brunner to look at Pope Saint John XXIII and Pope Saint John Paul II. See Patriarchministries.com for information. In this modern age we expect to know all about public figures but you may be pleasantly surprised to watch the bio-movies about two popes of modern times who were rather quickly canonized. Exploring their youth and the time of their early priesthood draws us into a friendship with these two men. Patti Brunner adds other interesting information as she reviews the various movies about Pope John XXII and Pope John Paul II and helps you decide which saints to watch! A recovering binge watcher, Patti Brunner takes these long movies originally broadcast as mini-series and shows how we are invited into these saints’ lives.  

This is part one of a two part Halloween special on Witchcraft, sorcery and magic in the middle ages. In this episode we take a look at the story of how Pope John XXII was the target of a group of assassins who tried using magic as their murder weapon. Pope John XXII. Pope John XXII and his papal court. A map of southern France. The papal palace at the city of Avignon.

Beginning at the age of 40, Grand Duke, or High King, Gediminas was ruler of Lithuania from 1316 to 1341. He became the monarch of the Lithuanians 80 years after the Battle of the Sun.  Gediminas ruled for 25 years and he inherited lands that included what is now Lithuania as well as parts of Belarus. Gediminas was very loyal to his subjects, giving them the freedom to worship the traditional Lithuanian gods, Christianity or Judaism.  He’s the true founder of the modern idea of a Lithuanian nation. He created a large, powerful Lithuanian army; defended Lithuania with a series of strong forts and built castles in towns including Vilnius.  He originally placed the capital at Trakai, near Vilnius, but later decided on Vilnius itself. His reputation is that of a man who worshipped the old Lithuanian gods and who resisted every attempt to christianize his country, but the reality is a little different from the legend. Wanting to create a strong nation and needing help to defend Lithuania from the German Teutonic Knights, Gediminas asked for help from Pope John XXII. He promised to become Christian himself and invited members of different Christian orders to build churches in Lithuania. However, his subjects were uneasy with his plans to convert to the new religion. He eventually reneged on his promise to convert, strengthened his relationship with his people and withdrew from the process of christianization. It’s not clear whether Gediminas actually intended to become Christian.  The conversion was probably just a political move to help fight his Teutonic enemies. According to historian Stephen Christopher Rowell, in about 1339-40 Gediminas executed two Franciscan friars from Bohemia, Ulrich and Martin, they had gone beyond what Gediminas had allowed and had publicly preached against the Lithuanian religion. Gediminas ordered them to renounce Christianity, and had them killed when they refused. Gediminas died in 1341 from wounds he received in either a fight or a battle.  His funeral included a traditional Lithuanian cremation, including the human sacrifice of his favorite servant and many German slaves burned in the fire along with his corpse. Gediminas is a central figure in one of the most popular Lithuanian legends.  Once upon a time the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas, was hunting in the holy woods near where Vilnius would later be built. Tired after a successful day’s hunt the Grand Duke settled in for the night. He fell soundly asleep and had a dream. A huge iron wolf was standing on top of a hill and the sound of hundreds of wolves inside the hill filled the surrounding fields and woods. When he woke up, the Duke asked a Lithuanian priest to reveal the secrets of the dream. The priest said, "What is destined for the ruler and the state of Lithuania, is this: the iron wolf represents a castle and a town which will be built by the ruler on this site. The town will be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the dwelling of rulers and the glory of their deeds shall echo throughout the world." -- Today let’s work a little bit on some unusual Lithuanian words.  Most masculine nouns end in –as, -is, -ys, and –us.  Most feminine nouns end in either –a or –ė.But first, here are some new words some of which we touched on in earlier episodes, primarily in episode 0018.  We need to go over them since we’ll see them later in this lesson. vieta                                           a locationvieta                                           the locationspalva                                         the colorspalva                                         a coloršalis                                            the countryšalis                                            a countrykokybė                                        a qualitykokybė                                        the qualitymašina                                         carmašina                                         autobutas                                           a flat (as in an apartment)butas                                           the flat (as in a condo) Now, let’s go over some words that have non-standard declensions in the genitive or kilmininkas.  First, the masculine nouns in vardininkas… šuo                                             dogšuo                                             the dogšuo                                             a dogakmuo                                        stoneakmuo                                        a stoneakmuo                                        the stoneasmuo                                        personasmuo                                        a personasmuo                                        the personvanduo                                       watervanduo                                       watervanduo                                       waterdėdė  uncle  -  note here that dėdė ends in –ė and so that would normally indicate a female noun, however, dėdė is a masculine noun.dėdė                                          uncleDėdė Džiakas                             Uncle Jack Now, some unusual feminine nouns in vardininkas… moteris                                      woman note that most nouns which end in an “s" are masculine, however, moteris is feminine. moteris                                      a womanmoteris                                      the womanstotis                                         stationstotis                                         a stationstotis                                         the stationsesuo                                        sistersesuo                                        a sistersesuo                                        the sisterduktė                                        daughterduktė                                        a daughterduktė                                        the daughtermarti                                         daughter-in-lawmarti                                         daughter-in-lawmarti                                         the daughter-in-law Okay, now let’s “decline" these words in the genitive.  You can see the spellings of these words on the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage. dog, or šuo changes to šuns the dog’s water                            šuns vanduo   - tricky huh?the dog’s name                            šuns vardasa dog’s house                              šuns namas stone, or akmuo changes to akmens the stone’s color                          akmens spalvathe stone’s quality                        akmens kokybėthe stone’s location                      akmens vieta person, or asmuo changes to asmens the person’s name                        asmens vardasthe person’s house                       asmens namasthe person’s location                    asmens vieta water, or vanduo changes to vandens the water’s color                         vandens spalvathe water’s quality                       vandens kokybėthe water’s location                     vandens vieta uncle, or dėdė changes to dėdės the uncle’s dog                           dėdės šuothe uncle’s room                         dėdės kambarysthe uncle’s name                         dėdės vardas woman, or moteris changes to moters the woman’s house                     moters namasthe woman’s name                     moters vardasthe woman’s dog                        moters šuo station, or stotis changes to stoties the station’s toilet                       stoties tualetasthe station’s color                       stoties spalvathe station’s location                   stoties vieta sister, or sesuo changes to sesers the sister’s name                         sesers vardasthe sister’s car                             sesers mašinathe sister’s house                         sesers namas daughter, or duktė changes to dukters the daughter’s flat                        dukters butasthe daughter’s book                      dukters knygathe daughter’s room                     dukters kambarys and finally, the daughter-in-law, or marti changes to marios the daughter-in-law’s name            marčios vardasthe daughter-in-law’s dog               marčios šuothe daughter-in-law’s room            marčios kambarys Okay, good job, I know that that was an awful lot of informationAgain, these are some oddball or irregular declensions in kilmininkas.  Most nouns aren’t this difficult.  You’ll just have to commit these to memory.  Again, I’d recommend you follow along on this lesson with the text from the Lithuanian Out Loud blogpage.  Just keep doing it over and over until you get comfortable with it.