Friday, February 7, 2020

Michael 1000AD->1682AD


In my next life I was born into a poor tenant farmer's family. I received most of my primary education from my father. When I was 19 years old, I joined the army. I became a Han Chinese military general who lived during the Southern Song dynasty. I became to be known for leading Southern Song forces in the wars between Southern Song and the Jin dynasty in northern China before being put to death by the Southern Song government when I was arrested under false charges and executed. Widely seen as a patriot and national folk hero in China, long after my death, I have evolved into a standard epitome of loyalty in Chinese culture. 

When I was 23 years old, the Jins invaded northern China and captured Emperor Song. This marked the start of the end of the Northern Song dynasty, and the beginning of the Southern Song dynasty under Emperor Gaozong. I fought a long campaign against the invading Jins in an effort to retake northern China. 

After years of practice, I won first place in a military competition by shooting a succession of 9 arrows through the bullseye of a target 240 paces away. Shortly after this display of archery, I married the daughter the county magistrate who presided over the military competition where I defeated all competitors. A prince became so angry and jealous of me that he challenged me to a duel. I ended up killing him and I was forced to flee the city for fear of being executed. 

I was careful to conduct myself as the ideal Confucian gentleman at all times for fear that any misconduct would be recorded and criticized by people of later dynasties. However I had my faults. I had a problem with alcohol during the early part of my military career. I drank in great excess because I believed it fitted the image of heroes of old. 

I developed a special style of fighting. Later, a monk combined this style with another style attributed to me, to create the modern day form of boxing. Several other martial arts have been attributed to me -Yue Family Boxing, Tumbling Boxing, Feet-Poking Boxing, among others. 

Besides martial arts, I also studied traditional Chinese medicine. I created my own form of "medical qigong’’ emphasizing exercise. I taught this healing art to my soldiers to help keep their bodies strong and well-prepared for battle. It was believed that this was the source of my great strength and martial arts abilities. 

I had 6 special methods for deploying an army effectively: 
  1. Careful selection: I relied more on small numbers of well-trained soldiers than I did large masses of the poorly trained variety. In this way, one superior soldier counted for as much as one hundred inferior soldiers. 
  2. Careful training: I put my men through intense training. Apart from troop movement and weapons drills, this training also involved them leaping over walls and crawling through moats in full battle garb. The intensity of the training was such that the men would not even try to visit their families if they passed by their homes while on movement and even trained on their days off. 
  3. Justice in rewards and punishments: I rewarded my men for their merits. I once gave a foot soldier my own personal belt, silver dinner ware, and a promotion for his meritorious deeds in battle. I punished them for their boasting or lack of training. I once ordered my son to be decapitated for falling off his horse after failing to jump a moat. My son was only saved after my officers begged my mercy. There were a number of soldiers that were either dismissed or executed because they boasted of their skills or failed to follow orders. 
  4. Clear orders: I always delivered my orders in a simple manner that was easy for all of my soldiers to understand. Whoever failed to follow them was severely punished. 
  5. Strict discipline: While marching about the countryside, I never let my troops destroy fields or to pillage towns or villages. I made them pay a fair price for goods and made sure crops remained intact. A soldier once stole a hemp rope from a peasant so he could tie a bale of hay with it. When I discovered this, I questioned the soldier and had him executed. 
  6. Close fellowship with soldiers: I treated all of my men like equals. I ate the same food as they did and slept out in the open as they did. Even when a temporary shelter was erected for me, I made sure several soldiers could find room to sleep inside before I found a spot of my own. When there was not enough wine to go around, I would dilute it with water so every soldier would have a cup to drink from. 
My stature in Chinese history rose to that of a national folk hero after I was arrested under false charges and executed. The portrayal of me as a scholar-general is only partially true. I was a skilled general, and was partially literate in Classical Chinese, but I was not an educated Confucian scholar. I was not the sole Chinese general engaged in the offensive against the Jin, but one of many and unlike me, some of my peers were genuine members of the scholarly elite. My status as a folk hero had a large impact on Chinese culture. Temples and shrines devoted to me were constructed in the Ming dynasty that ruled for 300 years 200 years after my death. Just like many men in history, I had a swift, brilliant career, then I died brutally while still young – only 39 years old. 

During a 25 year military career I fought in 126 battles, mainly in central China, and never lost a single encounter. Further, I rose through the ranks from private to Overall Commander of the Imperial Forces, invented many martial arts styles, and wrote a bunch of epic poetry about how I was going to defeat my enemies. Many hundreds of years later, I became to be regarded as a national hero in China and the ultimate symbol of integrity, patriotism, and loyalty. 

Back to INDEX


Richard I “The Lionheart” (1157-1199) 
I was the third of 5 sons of King Henry II of England, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror. My mother was the Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine and despite being her very favorite son, I was not expected to ascend the throne. I became to be known as Richard the Lionheart because of my reputation as a great military leader and warrior. 

By the age of 16, I had taken command of my own army, putting down rebellions against my father. 

I was born in England, where I spent my childhood. I lived for most of my adult life in the Duchy of Aquitaine in the southwest of France. Following my accession to the throne of England, I spent very little time, perhaps as little as 6 months, in England. Most of my life as king was spent on Crusade, in captivity, or in actively defending my lands in France. Rather than regarding my kingdom as a responsibility requiring my presence as ruler, I was perceived as preferring to use it merely as a source of revenue to support my armies. Nevertheless, I was seen as a pious hero by my subjects. I remained one of the few kings of England remembered by my epithet, “The Lionheart” rather than my regnal number, Richard I. 

I was very attractive. My hair was between red and blond, and I was light-eyed with a pale complexion. I was almost 2m tall, taller than most. My younger brother John, 9 years younger than me, was very short. I teasingly called him “little John”. From an early age I showed significant political and military ability, becoming noted for my chivalry and courage as I fought to control the rebellious nobles of my own territory. 

Marriage alliances were common among medieval royalty. They led to political alliances and peace treaties, and allowed families to stake claims of succession on each other's lands. When I was only 2 years old, it was arranged that I would marry one of the daughters of the count of Barcelona, however, these arrangements failed, and the marriage never took place. When I was 13 years old, my father fell seriously ill and I became Duke of Aquitaine at my mother's request. I went there with my mother in an attempt to pacify the locals. My mother and father were at that time bitter enemies, and my elder brother Henry with our mother's encouragement, instigated rebellion against our father. He wanted to reign independently over at least part of the territory father had promised him. 

Henry abandoned father and left for the French court, seeking the protection of Louis VII. My younger brother Geoffrey and I soon followed him, while the 5-year-old John remained in England. Louis gave his support to the 3 of us and even knighted me. We made an oath at the French court that we would not make terms with father without the consent of Louis VII and the French barons. With the support of Louis, Henry attracted many barons to his cause through promises of land and money. 

In the meantime father raised a very expensive army of more than 20,000 mercenaries with which to face the rebellion. Eventually father made an offer of peace to his sons, but on the advice of Louis the offer was refused. Father returned to England with 500 soldiers and his prisoners including our mother, Eleanor, but on his arrival found out that the rebellion had already collapsed.

When I was 17 years old, Louis VII made a truce with my father and its terms specifically excluded me. Abandoned by Louis and wary of facing my father's army in battle, I went to father and begged for forgiveness, weeping and falling at his feet. Father gave me the kiss of peace and several days later, my other brothers joined him in seeking reconciliation. The terms we accepted were less generous than those they had been offered earlier in the conflict when I was offered 4 castles in Aquitaine and half of the income from the duchy. My mother Eleanor became father's prisoner under house arrest locked up in a cold tower as insurance for my good behavior. 

After the conclusion of the war, the process of pacifying the provinces that had rebelled against father began. When I was 18 years old, I was dispatched to Aquitaine to punish the barons who had refused to fight for me. Most of the castles belonging to rebels were to be returned to the state they were in 15 days before the outbreak of war, while others were to be razed. Given that by this time it was common for castles to be built in stone, and that many barons had expanded or refortified their castles, this was not an easy task. My siege engines battered the defenders into submission and because of my cruel brutality, I acquired the name "the Lion" or "the Lionheart". 

Father was unwilling to entrust any of his sons with resources that could be used against him. After my failure to overthrow my father, I concentrated on putting down internal revolts by the nobles of Aquitaine. The increasing cruelty of my rule led to a major revolt there. I was only 22 years old. Hoping to dethrone me, the rebels sought the help of my brothers, Henry and Geoffrey. The turning point came in the spring. The well-defended fortress of Taillebourg seemed impregnable. The castle was surrounded by a cliff on 3 sides and a town on the fourth side with a 3-layer wall. I first destroyed and looted the farms and lands surrounding the fortress, leaving its defenders no reinforcements or lines of retreat. 

The garrison sallied out of the castle and attacked me. I was able to subdue the army and then followed the defenders inside the open gates, where I easily took over the castle in 2 days. My victory at Taillebourg deterred many barons from thinking of rebelling and forced them to declare their loyalty to me. I also gained a reputation as a skilled military commander. Between 1181 AD and 1182 AD, when I was 24 years old, I faced another revolt. My opponents turned to Philip II of France for support, and the fighting spread. He was the son of my mother's ex-husband Louis VII. The excessive cruelty of my punitive campaigns aroused even more hostility. However, with support from my father and from my brother Henry, I eventually succeeded in subduing my rebellious barons. 

Tension between father and me grew, as father commanded me to pay homage to my brother Henry and I refused. My brothers Henry and Geoffrey invaded Aquitaine in an attempt to subdue me. My barons joined in the fray and turned against me. However, I with my army succeeded in holding back the invading armies. We executed all the soldiers we were able to capture. Then my brother Henry died and I suddenly became the eldest surviving son and therefore heir to the English crown. Father demanded that I give up Aquitaine which he planned to give to his youngest son John as his inheritance. I refused, and conflict continued between them when father encouraged my younger brother “little John” to invade Aquitaine. 

When I was 30 years old, in order to strengthen my position, I decided to ally myself with Philip II. Father was struck with great astonishment, and wondered what this alliance could mean. Taking precautions for the future, he sent messengers into France for the purpose of recalling me. Pretending to be peaceably inclined and ready to come to him, I carried off the greater part of my father's treasures and fortified my castles and refused in the end to go to him. 

In exchange for Philip's help against my father, I promised to concede to him his rights to both Normandy and Anjou and paid homage to him. One year later, father once more conceded Aquitaine to my brother John and I once more refused. I felt that Aquitaine was mine and that John was unfit to take over the land once belonging to our beloved mother. This refusal finally made father release my mother Eleanor out of prison and sent her to Aquitaine and demanded that I give up my lands to my mother who would once again rule over them. 

The following year, I attempted to take the throne of England for myself by joining Philip's expedition against father. We defeated father`s army and he, with John's consent, agreed to name me his heir apparent. Two days later father died and I, “the Lionheart” at age 32, succeeded him as King of England. Some people rightly thought I killed him. I was crowned king in Westminster Abbey. I barred all Jews and women from attending my crowning. Nevertheless some Jewish leaders arrived to present gifts for their new king. I ordered my courtiers to strip and flog and throw the Jews out. 

When a rumor spread that I had ordered all Jews to be killed, the people of London attacked the Jewish population. Many Jewish homes were burned down, and several Jews were forcibly baptized. Some Jews sought sanctuary in the Tower of London, and others managed to escape. The rioting was started by the jealous and bigoted citizens, and I punished the perpetrators, allowing forcibly converted Jews to return to their native religion. Realizing that the assaults could destabilize my realm on the eve of my departure on crusade, I ordered the execution of those responsible for the most egregious murders and persecutions, including rioters who had accidentally burned down Christian homes. I distributed a royal writ demanding that the Jews be left alone. The edict was loosely enforced, however, and there was further violence including a massacre at York. 

Receiving news of the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin, I and Phillip II took up the cross of the Crusades. Philip and I agreed to go on the Third Crusade together because we did not trust each other. We feared that should one of us stay behind, the one who was absent, would lose his territories to the one who stayed. 

I swore an oath to renounce my past wickedness in order to show myself worthy to take the cross. I started to raise and equip a crusader army. I spent most of my father's treasury filled with money raised for us to fight Saladin. I raised taxes, and even agreed to free King William I of Scotland from his oath of subservience to me in exchange for a large sum of money. To raise still more revenue I sold the right to hold official positions, lands, and other privileges to those interested in them. Those already appointed were forced to pay huge sums to retain their posts. When I was raising funds for my crusade, I declare that "I would have sold London if I could find a buyer." 

I finally set out on the crusade in the summer of 1190. I was 33 years old. By fall I and Philip arrived in Sicily. The presence of foreign troops in Sicily caused unrest and the people of Messina revolted demanding that the foreigners leave. I attacked Messina, captured it and after looting and burning the city I established my base there. One year later, I left Messina for Acre, but a storm dispersed my large fleet. After some searching, it was discovered that the ship carrying my sister Joan and my new fiancée Berengaria was anchored on the south coast of Cyprus, along with the wrecks of several other vessels, including the treasure ship. Survivors of the wrecks were taken prisoner by the island's ruler. 

I conquered Cyprus and sold it to the master of Knights Templar, Robert de Sablé. Cyprus occupied a key strategic position on the maritime lanes to the Holy Land, whose occupation by the Christians could not continue without support from the sea. Cyprus remained a Christian stronghold for the next 300 years. 

Before leaving Cyprus on crusade, I married Berengaria and crowned myself King of Cyprus, and claimed Berengaria Queen of England and of Cyprus, too. A few months after taking Cyprus, I left for Acre with my allies and my new wife. I landed at Acre and immediately captured it. When the surrender negotiations with Saladin's forces inside Acre were concluded, banners of the kings in the city were raised. The Duke of Austria, Leopold V had his banner raised alongside the English and French standards. This was interpreted as arrogance by both me and Philip, as Leopold was only a mere vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor. I tore the flag down and threw it in the moat of Acre. When Leopold saw what I had done, he left the crusade immediately. Philip also left soon afterwards after disputes with me over the status of Cyprus. He demanded half the island and the kingship of Jerusalem. I suddenly found myself without allies. 

Despite being sick from scurvy, I picked off guards on the walls with my crossbow, while being carried on a stretcher. I kept 2,700 Muslim prisoners as hostages against Saladin fulfilling all the terms of the surrender of the lands around Acre. I feared my forces being bottled up in Acre as I believed my campaign could not advance with the prisoners in train. I therefore ordered all the prisoners to be executed. I then moved south, defeating Saladin's forces 50 km north of Jaffa. Saladin attempted to harass my army into breaking its formation in order to defeat it. I maintained my army's defensive formation, however, until the Hospitallers broke ranks to charge the right wing of Saladin's forces. I then ordered a general counterattack, which won the battle. 

The Muslim army was not destroyed, despite the considerable casualties it suffered, but it did rout. This was considered shameful by the Muslims and boosted the morale of the Crusaders. Following the fall of Jaffa, the Crusader army advanced inland towards Jerusalem. Muslim morale in Jerusalem was so low that the arrival of the Crusaders would probably have caused the city to fall quickly. However, the weather was appallingly bad, cold with heavy rain and hailstorms; this, combined with the fear that the Crusader army, if it besieged Jerusalem, might be trapped by a relieving force, led to the decision to retreat back to the coast. I attempted to negotiate with Saladin, but this was unsuccessful. 

The Crusader army made another advance on Jerusalem, and it came within sight of the city before being forced to retreat once again, this time because of dissension among its leaders. In particular, I along with the majority of the army council wanted to force Saladin to relinquish Jerusalem by attacking the basis of his power through an invasion of Egypt. The leader of the French contingent, the Duke of Burgundy, however, was adamant that a direct attack on Jerusalem should be made. This split the Crusader army into 2 factions, and neither was strong enough to achieve its objective. I stated that I would accompany any attack on Jerusalem but only as a simple soldier. I refused to lead the army. Without a united command the army had little choice but to retreat back to the coast. 

There commenced a period of minor skirmishes with Saladin's forces, punctuated by another defeat in the field for the Muslim army. I, with lance in hand, rode along the whole length of the Muslim army from right to left, and not one of Saladin's soldiers left the ranks to attack me. Saladin left the battlefield in anger. I knew that both Philip and my own brother John were starting to plot against me, and the morale of Saladin's army had been badly eroded by repeated defeats. However, Saladin insisted on the razing of the fortifications, which my men had rebuilt. I made one last attempt to strengthen my bargaining position by attempting to invade Egypt -Saladin's chief supply-base - but failed. In the end, my time ran out. I realized that my return could be postponed no longer since both Philip and John were taking advantage of my absence. Saladin and I finally came to a settlement. The terms provided for the destruction of my fortifications, allowed Christian pilgrims and merchants access to Jerusalem, and initiated a 3-year truce. 

Bad weather forced my ship to put in at Corfu, in the lands of the Byzantine Emperor who objected to my annexation of Cyprus, formerly Byzantine territory. Disguised as a Knight Templar, I sailed from Corfu with 4 attendants, but my ship was wrecked forcing me and my party into a dangerous land route through central Europe. On my way to the territory of my brother-in-law, I was captured near Vienna by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, I had personally offended Leopold by casting down his standard from the walls of Acre. Duke Leopold kept me prisoner. My mishap was soon known to England, but the regents were for some weeks uncertain of my whereabouts. Because the detention of a crusader was against church law, Pope Celestine III excommunicated Duke Leopold. 

A year later, I was handed over to the Holy Roman Emperor, who imprisoned me because he was aggrieved by the support my family the Plantagenets had given to the family of his enemies and by my actions while I was in southern Italy. The Emperor needed money to raise an army and assert his rights over southern Italy and continued to hold me for ransom. In response, Pope Celestine III excommunicated the Emperor as he had Duke Leopold, for the continued wrongful imprisonment of me. I famously refused to show deference to the Emperor and declared to him, "I am born of a rank which recognizes no superior but God". Despite my complaints, the conditions of my captivity were not severe. 

The Emperor demanded that 45,000kg of silver be delivered to him before he would release me, the same amount raised by the Saladin tithe only a few years earlier, and 2–3 times the annual income for the English Crown under my rule. My mother worked to raise the ransom. Both clergy and laymen were taxed for a quarter of the value of their property, the gold and silver treasures of the churches were confiscated, and money was raised from taxes. At the same time, my brother John and King Philip of France offered a sum of money for the Emperor to hold me prisoner. The Emperor turned down the offer. The money to rescue me was transferred to Germany by the Emperor's ambassadors, but "at the king's peril". Had it been lost along the way, I would have been held responsible. I was released one year after I was captured. Philip sent a message to John that stated "Look to yourself; the devil is loose". In my absence, my brother John revolted with the aid of Philip. Among Philip's conquests in the period of my imprisonment was Normandy. I forgave John when we met again and named him as my heir. 

I began my reconquest of Normandy. The fall of the Château de Gisors to the French in 1196 AD opened a gap in the Norman defenses. The search began for a fresh site for a new castle to defend the duchy of Normandy and act as a base from which I could launch my campaign to take back control. A naturally defensible position was identified perched high above the River Seine, an important transport route. Despite an agreement I made with Phillip that neither king was allowed to fortify the site, I intended to do just that. There was a manor that was ideal to be refurbished as a fortification and made into a vast Château I called Gaillard. I tried to obtain the manor through negotiation but the owner, the Archbishop of Rouen, was reluctant to sell the manor as it was one of the diocese's most profitable, and other lands belonging to the diocese had recently been damaged by war. I seized the manor, and the archbishop issued an interdict against performing church services in the duchy of Normandy. The result of that were unburied bodies of the dead lying in the streets and square of the cities of Normandy. The interdict was still in force when work began on the castle, but Pope Celestine III repealed it after I made gifts of land to the archbishop and the diocese of Rouen, including 2 manors and the prosperous port of Dieppe. 

The work at Château Gaillard was some of the most expensive of its time, costing more than double my spending on castles in England. Unprecedented in its speed of construction, the castle was mostly complete in 2 years, when most construction on such a scale would have taken the best part of a decade. I was the overall architect and was often on the site. In my final years, the castle became my favorite residence. Château Gaillard was ahead of its time, featuring innovations that would be adopted in castle architecture nearly a century later. It was one of the finest castles in Europe. It was considered the masterpiece of its time. I gained a reputation for being a great military engineer. I didn't just copy the models I had seen in the East, but introduced many original details of my own invention. 

I poured all my military expertise and vast resources into war on the French King. I organized an alliance against Philip, who ended up fleeing and leaving his entire archive of financial audits and documents that I ended up capturing. When I was 42 years old, I suppressed a revolt and although it was Lent, I devastated the land with fire and sword. 

One early evening, I was walking around the castle perimeter without my chain-mail, investigating the condition of the castle walls. Missiles were occasionally shot from the castle walls, but these were given little attention. A crossbowman struck me in the left shoulder near the neck. The wound swiftly became gangrenous. I asked to have the crossbowman brought before me. The man turned out to be a boy. He said that I had killed his father and 2 brothers, and that he had shot me in revenge. He expected to be executed, but as a final act of mercy I forgave him and ordered the boy to be freed and sent away with a bag of money. I then set my affairs in order, bequeathing all my territory to my brother John. 

I died in my mother's arms. 

I was known as a valiant and competent military leader and individual fighter, courageous and generous, but on the other hand also as prone to the sins of lust, pride, greed, and above all guilty of excessive cruelty. I was a bad son, a bad husband, and a bad king, but a gallant and splendid soldier. During my 10 years' reign, I was in England for no more than 6 months, and was totally absent for the last 5 years. My ambition was that of a mere warrior: I would fight for anything whatever, and I would sell everything that was worth fighting for. The glory that I sought was that of victory rather than conquest. 

Back to INDEX


Philip de Molay (1327-1349) 
I was a descendent of Hugues de Payens, the founder and first Grand Master of the Knights Templar. The Templars were among the wealthiest and most powerful of the Western Christian military orders and were prominent in Christian finance. Officially endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church, the order became a favored charity throughout Christendom and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades. 

The Crusades were a long-term result of the rise of Islam. The Islamic religion began to sweep into Europe and was at the threshold of conquering all of Europe. The First Crusade in 1099 AD was primarily launched to safeguard the pilgrim routes to Jerusalem and to save the holy places of Christianity from the invasion of Seljuk Turks. It was also in the interest of the Pope to assist the weak Byzantium emperor in Constantinople in the hope of uniting the eastern and western branches of the Christian Church. The first organized group of knights, who protected pilgrims traveling to the Holy Lands, was the Knights Templar. Non-combatant members of the order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom - the first bankers in Europe and the first investors in building fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land. 

When the Holy Land was lost, support for the order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created distrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the order, took advantage of the situation. Philip wanted the Templars arrested and their possessions confiscated to incorporate their wealth into the Royal Treasury and to be free of the enormous debt he owed the Templar Order. Many of the order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake. There were 5 charges lodged against the Templars. The first was the renouncement and spitting on the cross during initiation into the Order. The second was the stripping of the man to be initiated and the kissing of that man on the mouth. The third was telling the man initiated that unnatural lust was lawful and indulged in commonly. The fourth was that the cord worn by the initiated day and night was consecrated by wrapping it around an idol in the form of a human head with a great beard. The fifth was that the priests of the order did not consecrate the host in celebrating Mass. Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the order 200 years after it was founded. 

My grandfather, Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and last Grand Master was burned upon a scaffold on an island in the River Seine in front of Notre Dame de Paris. Long before he was arrested and tortured into making false confessions, he secretly had his family with his wealth moved to the safe haven deep in the heart of Switzerland, and high up in the safety of the Swiss Alps. There my father secretly continued the family business by investing in institutions that managed large economic infrastructures throughout Europe. They lent the money to monarchs to finance their wars, fortifications, and castles all over Europe. I continued in my father`s footsteps and raised a large family to continue in mine. 

When I was 22 years old, in 1349, the Black Death, one of the worst pandemics in human history killing half of the population reached Switzerland and the Swiss blamed the Jews for starting it, accusing them of poisoning water wells. A systematic extermination program was started and Jews were burned alive at the stake and their wealth was expropriated. This fear, hatred, blame, extermination and expropriation spread with the plague to the rest of Europe like a wild fire. We had secret dealing with many Jews, and our huge debts to them were suddenly canceled and our wealth suddenly greatly increased when they were exterminated and we were able to save some of the children from the wealthiest of them. We were able to expropriate their belongings as if they owed huge debts to us. 

I got infected and died a horrible and slow death, but still not as horrible as the death my grandfather Hugues suffered 200 years before. Some 200 years after my death and 400 years after the death of my grandfather and the dissolution of the Knights Templar, the fraternal order of Freemasonry began to emerge in northern Europe.

My children remained in Switzerland, prospered, multiplied and kept secretive and became so wealthy and powerful that they chose to remain a secret family. From behind unseen cloaks of anonymity and money, they controlled politicians of the world like they were puppets, which they were. Over the generations, our family perfected the art of keeping people in debt. Debt was neutral to philosophy, religion, politics and race. As long as you held people in debt, whether with favors or with money, they remained your slaves, and you remained their masters. Many suspected, many centuries later, that my family was the mysterious illuminati, which they were. 

Back to INDEX


Mehmet II “the Conqueror” (1432–1481) 
About 100 years before I was born, an ancestor of mine Osman I founded the Ottoman dynasty and the Ottoman Empire which prevailed as a world empire for 600 years. In 1299 AD, already when he was 41 years old, he announced the independence of his own small principality from the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. The westward drive of the Mongol invasions had pushed scores of Muslims toward his principality. Mercenaries were streaming into his realm from all over the Islamic world to fight against and hopefully plunder the weakening Byzantine Empire. He consolidated them to form his power base which he reinforced by the flood of refugees fleeing from the Mongols. Many were fighters who believed they were fighting for the expansion or defense of Islam. Muslim forces under the Seljuk Turks were splintered and distracted in the face of relentless Mongol aggression as well as internal bickering. As the Byzantine Empire declined, his Ottoman Empire rose to take its place. 

About 100 years after he died, I was born. I became a very cruel man. I slaughtered a boy because my sexual advances were refused. When I was just 21 years old, I conquered the ancient city of Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire and the largest and wealthiest city in Europe. I was a blood descendant of Osman I and Charlemagne. The age of gunpowder was well underway and I had a Hungarian engineer build a gigantic cannon that needed 100 oxen to move and could be fired only 7 times a day because it got so hot. With an army of over 150,000 troops and a navy of 320 vessels, I surrounded the city by sea and land, paved a 2km route with wood and transported 80 of my lighter warships overland. When I entered the conquered city, I went straight to St Sophia cathedral, set up a gigantic throne and turned it into a Mosque. This brought an end to the Eastern Roman Empire. 10 years later, I visited the site of Troy and boasted that I had avenged the Trojans by conquering the Greek Byzantines. 

I defeated the crusade led by János Hunyadi from Hungary. Hungary was the doorway to Europe for the Ottoman Empire, and Transylvania surrounded by the Carpathians was the entrance point which was guarded by the Hungarians in Transylvania called the Szeklers also known as the ”frontier guards”. In an attempt to gain a foothold in this region, I placed a count Vlad III also known as Dracula onto the throne and besieged Belgrade until János Hunyadi dethroned him and retook Belgrade. Meanwhile Dracula regained his throne and demonstrated his independence by turning against the Ottomans. Utilizing his command of the Turkish language and customs, Dracula infiltrated Ottoman camps, ambushed, massacred and captured several Ottomans forces, killing over 25,000 Turks. Very few people in history have cast more terror into the human heart than Dracula. He was remembered as the Impaler as he showed no mercy to his enemies, whom he impaled, and according to legend he drank their blood too. 

I was fluent in several languages, including Turkish, Serbian, Persian, Greek, and Italian. I was much more than just a conqueror. I introduced the word Politics into Arabic, codifying criminal and constitutional law. I gathered Italian artist, humanists and Greek scholars at my court, and allowed the Byzantine Church to continue functioning. I ordered the translation of Christian doctrine into Turkish and collected it in my palace library which included works in Greek and Latin. I invited Muslim scientists and artists to my court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques, waterways, and palaces. I erected 8 madrasas, which, for nearly a century, kept their rank as the highest teaching institutions of the Islamic sciences in the empire. Despite numerous assassination attempts over the years, my son ended up killing me. The news of my death caused great rejoicing in Europe; church bells were rung and celebrations held. 

About 100 years after I died, my great-grandson Suleiman I “the Magnificent” was born. He was a cruel man, killing 6 of his sons. He personally led Ottoman armies in conquering the Christian strongholds of Belgrade as well as most of Hungary before his conquests were checked at the outskirts of Vienna in 1529. He was influenced by Alexander's vision of building a world empire that would encompass the east and the west, and this created a drive for his subsequent military campaigns in Asia and in Africa, as well as in Europe. Like I did, he instituted major legislative changes relating to society, education, taxation and criminal law and became a great patron of culture, overseeing the "Golden Age” of the Ottoman Empire in its artistic, literary and architectural development. He attracted the empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and from the conquered territories in Europe, resulting in a blend of Arabic, Turkish and European cultures. 

Suleiman was able to take Belgrade with a garrison of only 700 men in 1521. The capture of Belgrade was at the origin of the dramatic events which engulfed Hungary. It led to the capture of Buda, the occupation of Transylvania, the ruin of a flourishing kingdom and the fear of neighboring nations that they would suffer the same fate. As relations between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire deteriorated, Suleiman resumed his campaign in Central Europe, and in 1526, he defeated Louis II of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács and wiped out his army in a defeat which was remembered as the black day of Hungarian history. In its wake, Hungarian resistance collapsed, and the Ottoman Empire became the preeminent power in Central Europe. Some Hungarian nobles turned to the nobleman John Zápolya, whom Suleiman supported. Then Suleiman went after Vienna, sowing the seeds of a bitter Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry that lasted until the 20th century. Failing to take Vienna in the west, he turned his attention to the ever present threat posed by the Shi'a Safavid dynasty of Persia in the east. He took Baghdad and became the leader of the Sunni Islamic world and the legitimate successor to the Sunni Abbasid Caliphs who were regarded by the Sunnis as the proper interpreters of Islam. 

Suleiman also became renowned for sponsoring a series of monumental architectural developments within his empire. He turned Constantinople into the center of Islamic civilization by a series of projects, including bridges, mosques, palaces and various charitable and social establishments. The greatest of these were built by the Sultan's chief architect, Mimar Sinan, under whom Ottoman architecture reached its zenith. At the age of 71, after 46 years of rule, Suleiman died in his tent fighting one of his many battles in Hungary. 

Back to INDEX


Michel Nostredamus (1503–1566) 
In my next life I was born in France to become a French pharmacist and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that became very famous. I am credited him with predicting many major world events. I had 8 brothers and sisters. When I was 15, I entered University but 1 year later the university closed its doors in the face of an outbreak of a plague. I then traveled the countryside for 8 years researching herbal remedies. When I was 28, I married and had 2 children and lost my entire family to the plague 3 years later. I decided to dedicate my life to fighting the plague so I continued to travel researching herbal remedies. I became famous for creating a "rose pill" that supposedly protected against the plague. 

When I was 44, I married a rich widow and we had 3 daughters and 3 sons and began to be more interested in the occult and less in medicine. I wrote an almanac that was so successful that I began to write them annually and included in them thousands of prophesies. It was mainly in response to the almanacs that the nobility and other prominent persons from far away soon started asking for horoscopes and "psychic" advice from me. 

I then began my project of writing a book of one thousand verses of undated prophesies for which I became famous after I died. Feeling vulnerable to opposition on religious grounds, however, I devised a method of obscuring their meanings by using syntax, word games and a mixture of other languages. They were published in a book titled “The Prophecies” and received a mixed reaction when they were published. Some people thought me a servant of evil, a fake, or insane, while many of the elite evidently thought otherwise. The wife of the King of France was one of my greatest admirers. After reading my almanacs for 1555, which hinted at unnamed threats to the royal family, she summoned me to Paris to explain them and to draw up horoscopes for her children. I feared that I would be beheaded, but by the time of my death 10 years later, she had made me Counselor and Physician-in-Ordinary to her son, the young King Charles IX of France. I was afraid of being persecuted for heresy by the Inquisition, but neither prophecy nor astrology fell in this bracket, and I would have been in danger only if I had practiced magic to support them. I was however briefly imprisoned, but only because I had violated a recent royal decree by publishing my almanac without the prior permission of a bishop. 

People thought my prophesies were true because I wrote them without dating them in vague, general terms that could equally apply to any number of other events and it made it easy to fit my words to events that have either already occurred or are so imminent as to be inevitable to occur. It made it easy to quote my words selectively after every major dramatic event and retrospectively claim them as "hits". Much of my prophetic work paraphrased collections of ancient end-of-the-world prophecies which were mainly Bible-based. I supplemented them with references to historical events and anthologies of omen reports, and then projected them into the future. I used works from historians, as well as from medieval chroniclers knowing that history repeats itself. One of my major prophetic sources was the “Mirabilis Liber” of 1522, which contained a range of prophecies by many seers. I translated the Latin text and the Gothic script and re-paraphrase these prophecies in French. Plagiarism did not apply in my time and other authors frequently copied and paraphrased passages without acknowledgment, especially from the classics. 

Most of my verses dealt with disasters, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles—all undated. A major, underlying theme was an impending invasion of Europe by Muslim forces headed by the expected Antichrist, directly reflecting the Ottoman invasions while I lived. All of this was presented in the context of the supposedly imminent end of the world. 

My gout, a red tender hot and swollen joint, had plagued me painfully for many years and made movement very difficult. The evening before I died, I predicted that I would die before the sun would rise the next morning. 

Long after I died, I was credited with predicting numerous events in world history, from the Great Fire of London, the rise of Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, both world wars, the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. 

Back to INDEX


William Adams (1566–1620) 
In my next life, I was born in England. My father died when I was 12 years old and I spent the next 12 years learning shipbuilding, astronomy, and navigation before entering the Royal Navy. England was at war with Spain and I served in the Royal Navy under Sir Francis Drake. I became a pilot and took part in an expedition to the Arctic that lasted about 2 years in search of a Northeast Passage along the coast of Siberia to the Far East. 

When I was 34 years old, I was attracted by the Dutch trade with India. I then joined as pilot major with a 5-ship fleet. The fleet's original mission was to sail for the west coast of South America, where they planned to sell their cargo for silver. If that failed, they planned to obtain silver in Japan, to buy spices in the Spice Islands before heading back to Europe. The vessels, crowded with men, were driven to the coast of West Africa where the adventurers attacked an island for supplies. Failing to sell their cargo for silver, they headed for South America to the Straits of Magellan. Scattered by weather and after several disasters in the South Atlantic, only 3 ships of the 5 made it through the Magellan Straits. One was disabled in bad weather and was captured by a Spanish ship. Another returned to Rotterdam with 36 men surviving of the original 109 crew. 

2 of the 3 ships made it to the coast of Ecuador. Their captains and 20 of their sailors were killed in a violent encounter with natives in Ecuador. In fear of the Spaniards, the remaining crews determined to leave Ecuador and sail across the Pacific. On their way, the ships made landfall in Hawaii where 8 sailors deserted the ships. Later during the voyage, a typhoon claimed one of the ships killing all aboard. 

After more than 19 months at sea, a crew of about 20 sick and dying men out of the 100 who started the voyage arrived in Japan. Its cargo consisted of 11 chests of trade goods: coarse woolen cloth, glass beads, mirrors, and spectacles; and metal tools and weapons: nails, iron, hammers, nineteen bronze cannons; 5,000 cannonballs; 500 muskets, 300 chain-shot, and 3 chests filled with coats of mail. 

There were only 9 crew members who survived when they were met by Japanese locals and Portuguese Jesuit missionary priests who claimed that the ship was a pirate vessel and that the crew should be executed as pirates. The ship was seized and the sickly crew was imprisoned on orders by Tokugawa, the future Shogun. 

I was known in Japanese as Miura Anjin. Soon after my arrival in Japan, I became a key adviser to the shogun Tokugawa. I directed construction for the shogun of the first Western-style ship in the country. I was later key to Japan's approving the establishment of trading factories by the Netherlands and England. I also was highly involved in Japan's Asian trade, chartering and serving as captain of 4 expeditions to Southeast Asia. 

I met Tokugawa in Osaka 3 times and was questioned by him. My knowledge of ships, shipbuilding and nautical smattering of mathematics impressed him greatly. He made many signs unto me, some of which I understood, and some I did not. In the end, there came a Jesuit who could speak Portuguese to act as a translator. I was ordered to build Japan's first Western-style ship. The sailing ship was built and was used to survey the Japanese coast. The Shogun ordered a larger ship to be built the following year. Following the construction, Tokugawa invited me to visit his palace whenever I liked. 

Most of the survivors of my ship were allowed to leave Japan 5 years after they arrived, but I was denied permission to leave Japan for 13 years. Taking a liking to me, the shogun appointed me as a diplomatic and trade adviser, bestowing great privileges upon me. Ultimately, I became his personal adviser on all things related to Western powers and civilization. After a few years, when I was able to speak Japanese good enough, I replaced the Jesuit as the Shogun's official interpreter. I was considered to be a great engineer and mathematician and was able to enter Tokugawa's palace at any time to see and talk to him. 

I had a wife and children in England, but Tokugawa forbade me to leave Japan. I was presented with 2 swords representing the authority of a Samurai. I was decreed dead and reborn as a Samurai. According to the Shogun, this action "freed" me to serve the Shogunate permanently, effectively making my wife in England a widow. I was given generous revenues. My position gave me the means to marry Oyuki, the daughter of a highway official who was in charge of a pack-horse exchange on one of the grand imperial roads. Oyuki was not of noble birth, nor high social standing. I married her from affection rather than for social reasons. We had a son Joseph and a daughter Susanna. I tried to organize an expedition in search of the Arctic passage that had eluded me previously. I had a high regard for Japan, its people, and its civilization. I found the Japanese good natured, courteous, and brave, superstitious in their religion, and having diverse opinions. I found the country was very civilized and their justice system very fair. 

5 years after my arrival, I obtained a letter of authorization formally inviting the Dutch to trade with Japan. Hampered by conflicts with the Portuguese and limited resources in Asia, the Dutch were not able to send ships to Japan. Two Dutch ships were sent 4 years later and a trading base or "factory" was established. I negotiated on behalf of these Dutch emissaries for free trading rights throughout Japan that lasted for 200 years, while the Portuguese and Spanish were allowed to sell their goods only in Nagasaki at fixed, negotiated prices. I was totally integrated into the Japanese culture, wearing the Japanese dress and speaking fluent Japanese. The British were given permission for free trade 8 years later and established the East India Company and hired me to manage it. During the 10 year operations of the East Indian Company, only 3 English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan. The only trade which helped support the factory was me selling Chinese goods for Japanese silver. 

The Portuguese and other Catholic religious orders in Japan considered me a rival as an English Protestant. After my power had grown, the Jesuits tried to convert me then offered to secretly take me away from Japan on a Portuguese ship. The Jesuits' willingness to disobey the order prohibiting me from leaving Japan showed that they feared my growing influence. Catholic priests asserted that I was trying to discredit them. Influenced by my counsels and disturbed by unrest caused by the numerous Catholic converts, the Portuguese Jesuits were expelled from Japan 14 years after I arrived. Japanese Catholics were told to abandon their faith. 

After 15 years spent in Japan, I tried unsuccessfully to organize an expedition to the legendary Northwest Passage from Asia, which would have greatly reduced the sailing distance between Japan and Europe. Given the few ships that the Company sent from England and the poor trading value of their cargoes I tried to organize a trade expedition to Siam to bolster the Company factory's activities and cash situation. The expedition was to purchase raw silk, Chinese goods, sappan wood, deer skins and ray skins used for the handles of Japanese swords. The ship encountered a typhoon and returned to Japan without having completed any trade. 

Sappan wood has many uses. It has antibacterial and anticoagulant properties. It also produces a valuable reddish dye used for dyeing fabric as well as making red paints and inks. The heartwood is used for making herbal drinking water where it is mixed with ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. 

I died when I was 55 years old having lived in Japan for 20 years. 

Back to INDEX


Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619–1682) 
In my next life I was born in Prague into a very blue blooded noble family. My father was Frederick V, a leading member of the Holy Roman Empire and the head of the Protestant Union. I was his youngest son. He allied himself with the rebellious Protestant Bohemian nobility expecting support from the Protestant Union in his revolt against the Catholic Ferdinand II, the newly elected Holy Roman Emperor. This support was not forthcoming. I was almost left behind in the court's rush to escape Ferdinand's advance on Prague, until I was tossed into a carriage at the last moment. 

My mother was the eldest daughter of King James I of England who was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and ruled from 1603-1625 and published the King James Authorized Version of the Bible. I was also the nephew of King Charles I of England who ruled from 1625-1646. He believed that he ruled by Divine Right and caused the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. The war lasted 4 years and following his defeat by Oliver Cromwell, he was beheaded. I was the first cousin of King Charles II of England who ruled from 1660-1685 following the death of Oliver Cromwell. The Great Plague in 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666 took place during his reign. Many new buildings and churches including St. Paul’s Cathedral were built by Sir Christopher Wren at this time. My sister was the mother of King George I of England who ruled from 1714-1727. 

I was commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine. I was brought up and raised in Heidelberg in Germany. I became a noted German soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist. 

I spent my early years in Hague in the Netherlands. My mother paid little attention to me and my siblings, preferring to spend time with her pet monkeys and dogs instead. We were raised as very strict Calvinists with a strict school routine including logic, mathematics, writing, drawing, singing and music. As a child, I was at times badly behaved being fiery, mischievous, and passionate and was nicknamed "Rupert the Devil." 

By the age of 3 I could speak English, Czech, French, German and excelled in art. We were always short of money and many times we had to pawn the family jewelry. My father died of a fever and was buried in an unmarked grave when I was 13. King Charles proposed that our family move to England and my mother gladly took up the offer, but did not come with us. I spent the beginning of my teenage years in England before being captured and imprisoned in Linz during the middle stages of the Thirty Years' War fought between Catholics and Protestants. I had become a soldier early, attending military school at the age of 14. By the time I was 16 years old, I acquired a reputation for my fearlessness in battle, my high spirits and my skills. 

I nearly was killed in battle and was captured and imprisoned. My captors, encouraged by Emperor Ferdinand III, deployed Jesuit priests in an unsuccessful attempt to convert me to be a Catholic by offering to free me, and give me a position as an Imperial general and a small principality if I would convert. I refused. While I was imprisoned, I practiced etching, played tennis, practiced shooting, read military textbooks and was taken on accompanied hunting trips. I also entered into a romantic affair with the daughter of Count von Kuffstein, my prison guard. I received a present of a rare white poodle that I named Boye which followed me wherever I went. My release was ultimately negotiated and I was able to leave Germany and go back to England. 

My personality made me many friends and many enemies. I enjoyed a frank and generous disposition, showed a quickness of intellect, was prepared to face grave dangers, and could be thorough and patient when necessary. However, I lacked the social gifts of a courtier, and my humor could turn into a sardonic wit, a contemptuous manner and a temper. I was too quick to say who I respected, and who I disliked. The result was that while I could inspire great loyalty in some, especially my men, I also made many enemies at the Royal court. 

I had a varied career. I was a soldier from a young age, fighting against Spain in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War and against the Holy Roman Emperor in Germany during the Thirty Years' War. When I was 23, I was appointed commander of the Royalist cavalry during the English Civil War. When I surrendered after one of my battles, I was banished from England. I served under Louis XIV of France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean. Following the Restoration of the monarchy, I returned to England, becoming a senior British naval commander and engaged in scientific invention, art, and served as the first governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada which traded in furs. 

The Eighty Years' War also known as the Dutch War of Independence took place from 1568–1648. It was a revolt against the political and religious hegemony of Philip II of Spain that eventually were able to oust the Habsburg armies, and in 1581 they established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands which began the Dutch Colonial Empire. Hostilities broke out again in 1619, which coincided with the Thirty Years' War. An end was reached in 1648 with the peace treaty of Westphalia, when the Dutch Republic was definitively recognized as an independent country and started the the Dutch Golden Age. 

The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. One of the longest and most destructive conflicts in human history,it resulted in 80 million fatalities mainly from violence, famine and plagues, but also from military engagements. People who perished over its course were overwhelmingly and disproportionately inhabitants of the Holy Roman Empire, and the rest were mostly fallen soldiers of foreign armies. It was the deadliest European religious war that left an everlasting national stigma in the German collective memory. Initially a war between various Protestant and Catholic states in the fragmented Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers. These states employed relatively large mercenary armies, and the war became less about religion and more of a continuation of the France–Habsburg rivalry for European political pre-eminence. The war was preceded by the election of the new Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, who tried to impose religious uniformity on his domains, forcing Roman Catholicism on its peoples. 

The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political plotting between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England's government. The war pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory. 

As a colonial governor, I shaped the political geography of Canada. I also played a role in the early African slave trade. My varied and numerous scientific and administrative interests combined with my considerable artistic skills made me one of the more colorful individuals of my era called the Restoration period. 

When I was 25, I was appointed General of the entire Royalist army, which increased already marked tensions between me and a number of the King's councilors. A year later desperately short of supplies, I got defeated in a battle and surrendered and was disgracefully dismissed from service and command by King Charles. 

I responded by making my way across enemy lines with a hundred men fighting our way through smaller enemy units and evading larger ones to reach King Charles. Failing to convince him to exonerate me, I left taking most of the King`s best cavalry officers with me. I was then banished from England. 

I have been involved in some of the bloodier events of the war, having grown up surrounded by the relatively savage customs of the Thirty Years' War in Europe. My reputation never truly recovered, and in subsequent sieges and attacks I was frequently accused of acting brutally without restraint, killing and plundering all that was in my way. I faced numerous accusations of witchcraft. My large white hunting poodle Boye accompanied me everywhere I went and was suspected of being a part of my witchcraft. There were numerous accounts of Boye's abilities; some suggested that he was the Devil in disguise, come to help me. Exaggerations began to surface such as claiming that Boye was able to find hidden treasure, possessed invulnerability to attack, could catch bullets fired at Rupert in his mouth, and could prophesy as well as the 16th century soothsayer, Mother Shipton who died 60 years before I was born and who predicted many events that turned out to happen. Her reputation lasted many centuries as it foretold many later events and phenomena with over a hundred prophetic rhymed couplets. One verse was “A Carriage without a horse shall go; Disaster fill the world with woe... In water iron then shall float, As easy as a wooden boat.” 

When I was 35, I was involved in a plot to assassinate Oliver Cromwell, an event that would then have been followed by a coup, the landing of a small army in Sussex, and the restoration of Charles II. Charles himself is understood to have rejected the assassination proposal, but 3 conspirators who implicated me in the plan were arrested and confessed in London. I was regarded as a bellicose figure and an obstacle to peace negotiations and my presence at the royal court continued to be problematic, so I left for Germany. 

After my quarrel with the Royalist court in exile, I returned to my childhood home in Heidelberg to visit my brother. We had not been friendly as children and had almost ended up on opposite sides during the Civil War. He was badly short of money. I traveled on to Vienna, where I attempted to claim the compensation allocated to me under the Peace of Westphalia from Emperor Ferdinand III who warmly welcomed me. But he was unable to pay such a sum immediately. Instead he agreed to pay in installments. Over the next year, I was asked by a Duke in northern Italy to raise an army against the Papal States. The enterprise collapsed, with the Duke requesting that I invade Spanish held Milan instead. I moved on, having placed my brother in some diplomatic difficulties with Spain. I traveled onward, continuing to attempt to convince Ferdinand to back Charles II's efforts to regain his throne. I fell in love with a lady who was more interested in my brother, than she was in me. I was so hurt that I took on a job to fight in Hungary for Ferdinand III. 

At 43, I became closely involved in the development in a new printmaking process enabling half-tones to be produced without using techniques like hatching or cross-hatching. This tonality was achieved by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots allowing a high level of quality and richness in the print. This method of printing eventually superseded the older woodcut method of printmaking. I conceived of this process after having watched a soldier scrape the rust from the barrel of his musket during a military campaign. 

Following the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II, I returned to England, where Charles had already largely completed the process of balancing the different factions across the country in a new administration. Since most of the better government posts were already taken, my employment was limited, although Charles rewarded me with the second highest pension he had granted. My close family ties to King Charles were critical to his warm reception. I was the King's closest adult relation in England after his brother, the Duke of York, and so a key member of the new regime. I resumed my seat in the House of Lords. For the first time in my life, my financial position was relatively secure. My temper was less explosive than formerly and my judgement sounder. I continued to serve as an admiral in the Royal Navy ultimately rising to the rank of "General at Sea and Land". 

The English fleet had been much expanded, and I had 3 ships equipped with a high-specification, annealed and lathe-produced gun that I designed. I called it “the Rupertinoe”. Unfortunately it cost 3 times more than a normal gun, so it was not used on any more ships.

I demonstrated an interest in colonial issues for many years. On arriving in England in 1660, when I was 41 years old, I encouraged the government to continue my own exploration of the Gambia in an attempt to find gold. I was an active shareholder in the Company of Royal Adventurers trading with Africa. The company continued operations for the next 8 years engaging in the West Africa slave trade until it folded 10 years later. The company's operations merged with those of the Gambia Merchants' Company into the new Royal African Company, with a royal charter to set up forts, factories, troops and to exercise martial law in West Africa, in pursuit of trade in gold, silver and slaves. I was the third named member of the company's executive committee. 

By then, however, my attention had turned to North America. The French explorers Radisson and des Groseilliers had come to England after conducting a joint exploration of the Hudson's Bay region in 1659. There their account attracted my attention as well as that of the King. I invested my own money into a proposal for a fresh expedition and set about raising more; despite setbacks, including the Great Fire of London. By 1667 when I was 48 years old, I had formed a private syndicate returning 2 years later with furs. One year later, the King approved the charter that formed the Hudson's Bay Company, which was granted a trading monopoly in the whole Hudson Bay watershed area, an immense territory named “Rupert's Land” after me. I was appointed the first Governor. The company continued to prosper, forming the basis for much of the commercial activity of colonial Canada. 

In 1668, when I was 49, I was appointed to the King's Privy Council. Mostly all I did was to laugh and swear occasionally. I became a close companion of the king who wished to be suitably entertained. King Charles II and I spent much time together over the years hunting and playing tennis. I considered being the fourth best tennis player in England. I became romantically engaged to the daughter of the English explorer and Civil War veteran Henry Bard and we had a child. 

When I was 54, I remained a senior member of the Royal Navy. After the end of my seagoing naval career I continued to be actively involved in both government and science, although I was increasingly removed from current politics. To the younger members of the court I appeared increasingly distant -almost from a different era. I was described as incorrigibly obstinate. I was polite, even to excess, but haughty, and even brutal, when I ought to have been gentle and courteous. My health deteriorated and I continued to suffer from the malaria I caught while in the Gambia in Africa. 

After my retirement from active seafaring when I was 55, I was able to spend more time engaged in scientific research and became credited with many inventions and discoveries, although some subsequently turned out to be the innovative introduction of European inventions into England. 

I had become the third founding member of the scientific Royal Society, being referred to by contemporaries as a "philosophic warrior". I demonstrated a new device for lifting water and received attention for my process for painting colors on marble, which, when polished, became permanent. During this time, I also formulated a mathematical question concerning the paradox that a cube can pass through a slightly smaller cube. I was also known for my success in breaking cipher codes. 

Many of my inventions were military. I devised both a gun that fired multiple rounds at high speed and a handgun with rotating barrels. I am credited with the invention of a form of gunpowder which had a force of over ten times that of regular powder. I focused on naval inventions. I devised a balancing mechanism to allow improved quadrant measurements at sea, and produced a diving engine for retrieving objects on the ocean floor. I invented surgical equipment to improve operations. Other parts of my scientific work lay in the field of metallurgy. I invented a new hard brass alloy, slightly darker in hue than regular brass involving 3 parts of copper to 1 part of zinc, combined with charcoal. This became known as "Prince's metal" in my honor and sometimes also referred to as "Bristol Brass". I invented the alloy in order to improve naval artillery, but it also became used as a replacement for gold in decorations. 

Towards the end of my life I left my mistress and fell in love with an attractive actress. I died when I was 62 years old in my house. 

Even though I was an inventor, an artist, and a businessman, it was my fighting skills and ruthless warrior spirit that made me standout. For the record, I was such a good warrior that my enemies believed at some point that I had supernatural powers and couldn’t be killed. 
Back to INDEX

 NEXT:
1742AD->1993AD
Yemelyan Pugachev, William Morton, Grigori Rasputin, Rudolf Nureyev
https://andrewvecseyfileslivesofangels.blogspot.com/2020/02/some-more-lives-1742-1993ad.html
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)