Friday, October 9, 2015

History: The Year is 1657

I've uploaded year 1657 to the TSP Wiki...

http://tspwiki.com/index.php?title=1657

Here are some one liners...


A Humble Petition and the Lessons of Liberty -- The English Parliament wants to make Cromwell a king, but he is still trying to figure out how to make England a republic. So is John Locke. Locke's thoughts on this subject will become very helpful to the Founding fathers of the United States in later years.

Spanish Christians Suddenly Become Jews in England -- The expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290 is now ended by allowing Jewish Christians to practice their Judaism once again.

Coffee, Tea, Table Knives and Fingers. The Possibilities Are Endless -- A list of table manners and foods that are being introduced this century.





A Humble Petition and the Lessons of Liberty

Some members of the English Parliament want to make the Lord Protector Cromwell into a King so they have quickly thrown together something called "The Humble Petition and Advice." It is a second constitution for England, and it is designed to appeal to Cromwell, while limiting his power, and reducing the army. England is currently a republic, but most British citizens feel uncomfortable with the new arrangement. The British Civil War did not set out to create a republic and Oliver Cromwell had no plan for one. As a consequence, everyone is uncertain what to do. The old British institutions still serve a purpose and are maintained while Cromwell figures this thing out. He rejects the title of king and also rejects the idea of individual voting. That has always led to disaster in the past. Unfortunately he is going to run out of time. By next year he will be dead. His son, Richard, will take over, but the son is not the father. Richard Cromwell will be deposed. After that, the only thing certain will be chaos. [1] [2] [3]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
Oliver Cromwell was driven by God's will and watching for signs from the Divine. I'm not mocking him. I run my life in a similar manner, but I'm not trying to build republican institutions from scratch that way either. The Founding Fathers of the United States had concrete ideas on how to build a republic. They benefited from Cromwell's mistakes and from the ideas of John Locke who was in his mid-twenties when Cromwell was Lord Protector. [4] [5]
Freedom of Men under Government is, to have a standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the Legislative Power erected in it; a Liberty to follow my own Will in all things, where the Rule prescribes not; and not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, Arbitrary Will of another Man: as Freedom of Nature is, to be under no other restraint but the Law of Nature.
-- John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government, Ch. IV, sec. 21 [6]

Spanish Christians Suddenly Become Jews in England

Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell has been trying to attract Jewish commerce and banking to England and thus deny the same resources to the Spanish Crown. He begins negotiations in 1655 by allowing one Jewish diplomat to come to England. Officially speaking, Jews have been forbidden from England since the year 1290. (Unofficially, Jewish advisors, spies and doctors to the king have been around the whole time.) This official exception for the purposes of diplomatic negotiations creates an uproar. Clearly Cromwell will never be able to allow boatloads of Jews to come to England. However, everyone knows that not all Spanish Christians currently in England doing business are actually Christians. Some of them are Jews who are practicing Christianity. Cromwell tacitly allows these Christian Jews to practice their Judaism in England (as long as its not too noticeable). This avoids an official debate and public spectacle of Jews arriving in England with their luggage. With a wave of his hand, the Jews have suddenly appeared! After 367 years of exile, the first Jew is allowed to buy land in England. [7] [8] [9] [10]
My Take by Alex Shrugged
This requires a little more explanation. Some Christians from Spain were actually crypto-Jews or secret Jews. In 1492 the Jews had been expelled from Spain and later Portugal. The choices for those Jews were to leave, convert to Christianity or be burned alive. Many converted to Christianity but secretly maintained many Jewish practices and identity. So, in 1657, some Spanish and Dutch "Christians" were in fact Jewish and when given a chance to practice their Judaism more-or-less openly, they did so. Thus Cromwell created a Jewish community almost instantly. In the modern day these secret Jews still exist... mostly in Texas. They are no longer considered Jewish but they keep themselves separate from the Christians and marry only amongst themselves. I have met some of these crypto-Jews in Austin who have made their way back to synagogue and have now converted to Judaism. [11] [12]

Coffee, Tea, Table Knives and Fingers. The Possibilities Are Endless

* Coffee is served in France this year. [13]
* Chocolate drinks are served in England! [14]
* Tea was introduced to England in 1650. [15]
* Table settings are introduced so that you no longer have to "bring your own silverware."
* Table knives are blunted on one side because Cardinal Richelieu didn't like guests picking their teeth with daggers. [16]
* People will stop drinking directly from the soup bowl... eventually. [17]
* The King of France still eats with his hands in 1657.
* The 1st book on probability and game theory is published. [18]
* And the former Queen of Sweden has done something outrageous... again. [19]

This Year on Wikipedia


Year 1657, Wikipedia.

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