Wikipedia Article Analysis: #3

I don't want to sound too demented for saying this, but I always take a fascination to things like horror movies, books, etc. So I chose to research the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre for the third Wikipedea Article Analysis. The search result was a good article describing the actual event, death tolls, and a lengthy analysis of the societal affect. Besides the obvious tensions between Roman Catholics and Protestants, the article focuses primarily on two major reasons for occurrence of this massacre: the failed assassination of Coligny and the unacceptable marriage between the queen's daughter Marguerite de Valois (a Catholic) and Henry of Navarre (a Protestant and future King Henry IV). The other main aspect of the article consisted of different reactions to the massacre from other countries--almost all of them condemning the event.



Listed Criteria:



1.) There are 2,838 words in the article.

2.) Exact search term: "St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre" Article title was the same.

3.) There was no disambiguation link.

4.) For the discussion tab, I found several entries explaining this page's relationship to other various "projects" such as the "religion project."

5.) There are over 1500 changes to this article. The most recent change was September 8, 08. The first change was posted on April 4, 06.

6.) Three external links are listed.

7.) Four references are listed.

8.) Nothing under further reading. But there were (as always) plenty of good pictures.



My final assessment of this article is that it was a great article. It was an interesting subject for me, and the article gave plenty of good clear information supplied with a ton of pictures and other links. I would definitely suggest this article for someone just wanting to know what this event was. The article would however, not be an adequate source for a research paper--even though it gives such a lengthy "societal perspective."

Week 13 Blog: Massacre

The massacre article interested me the most this week. Its hard to imagine the situation that occurred during the Massacre. I don't see how these people could have thought it would be alright to just kill all of the protestants. What if our leaders just one day decided to kill everyone that was pro choice (or vice versa)? Could you only imagine the types of violence that would follow a suggestion like that?

Another part of the reading that really struck me had to do with the way the reading began. --"So it was determined to exterminate all the Protestants and the plan was approved by the queen."-- It seems so un-excited. "So it was determined..." and "exterminate"? I guess the wording of the reading is irrelevant, it's not an artistic piece of fiction or anything, but it just seems so un-emotional or neutral. If I had been the one to write this, even if I was trying to bracket any sort of bias I might have, I still would have had to use the word "murder"--at least.

I wonder if there were many non-protestants that had a problem with the plan. Did they even know it was going to happen? Did the queen ever suffer any punishment for being so unjust?

Week 12 Blog: On the "Schleitheim Confessions"

This week I will blog about the "Scheitheim Confessions" because the reading seemed to be the most direct. In Knox's introduction to Early Modern (two weeks ago I believe), he urged us to focus on several themes--all of which were deeply tied to "change." The Confessions were actual written out "changes" to long withstanding practices and interpretations of The Bible. For example; after the Confessions, one would be baptised only after being able to make a conscious decision to accept Christ. Previously, people were baptised as infants. Another example is that regarding communion. Previously, all were encouraged to take sacrament, but after these changes took affect, only those who were baptised were permitted to take sacrament.

Its no wonder to me why so many religious wars happened during the times of these changes. Indoctrinated beliefs are hard if not impossible to change--especially when it concerns "the powers that be." Perhaps that is why there was never a complete resolution concerning the practice of Christianity.

Week 11 Blog: Reformation Vs Spiritualism

This weeks reading on the reformation got me thinking about today and how it seems that most of the people I know "reform" their own religions. During the times of the reformation, religion obviously had a much stronger influence on the beliefs of the people--but these people started to change their religions to either suit them better, or follow more accurately what they thought the bible meant. Today as I see it, people change their religions too, only it happens in a different way. Many of my friends denounce religion altogether--not because they don't believe in god, but because they don't want to follow any sort of religion. I realize that this option would not have existed during the times of the reformation. Nonetheless I think what happens is that these people struggle with the balancing of their "religious" and their "social" identities, and once this conflict happens they choose to believe in God, but not to follow his "written rules"--aka the bible. Many people today have undergone this sort of change. They say they don't believe in religion and call themselves spiritual. Of course not all spiritualists would fit into this category, but imagine if the people during the reformation had the ability to denounce religion--would they have become spiritualists? I think so.

Week 10 Blog: On "...Paternal Advice..."

The "Paternal Advice to a New Cardinal" article struck the most interest with me this week. It did so because the article really felt like a graduation speech. I guess in some senses it was like a graduation speech. The young Giovanni has been "accepted" to be a cardinal. I understand that being a cardinal is a bit more prestigious than going to college, but the implications are the same in that the boy now gets to "grow up" and begin a new level of study; and is also going to move off to a new city and begin to mingle with brilliant people. The way the father always exemplifies the importance of the boy, he always uses it to humble him. I though this aspect of the narrative was most appealing. At my graduation speech, the spokeswomen both complimented us for our achievement and cautioned us to always be respectful in our "higher" endeavours. I wonder how many cardinals may have been in Rome at any given time during that period.