days one-hundred twenty-three and four (13. 592)

Preoccupied with state funerals for the leadership killed during the onset of the war and American bread and circuses, Tehran and Washington have been mostly adhering to their armistice—although debates still remain unresolved concerning tolls for Hormuz and the Omani alternate route through the strait. Trump claims he extended the truce out of respect and charity for the former Supreme Leader and his family, though the US president interrupted his holiday schedule to speak with both Zelenskyy and Putin as efforts to end the war are seen as stalled and no closer to breaking the deadlock as the war is well into its fifth year, delivering from Mount Rushmore—there is still a movement within the GOP cult to add his visage to the monument—a relatively anodyne speech about American exceptionalism, the country’s spiritual-misguide, before veering into the sinister threat of Communism with rhetoric that rivals the Red Scare.

thüngen und gambach (13. 591)

 

Afterwards, we traveled to the market town of Thüngen, whose name is derived from the Old Germanic word Thing, þing, ding for an assembly place and placed on to a knightly family (see previously), on the river Wern. There is an ensemble of Schlosses including the old hospital palace and warehouse but in private hands, it was not really possible to get a good view of the castles from the street other than the Orangerie at the entrance.

Driving a little further on, we returned to a constituent community of Karlstadt, Gambach, just beyond the vineyards and hiked up a geological trail, populated with lizards and snakes though we didn’t encounter any, that showed the limestone strata of the epochs forming the hills now given over to viticulture. A top the Weinbau was a chapel and a Lourdes Grotto, constructed in 1958 for the hundredth anniversary of the Marian apparition in France and inspired by a local war veteran’s pilgrimage to the Occitan site in the Pyrenees (see also), grateful for surviving World War I and praying for intercession to stop the landslides that threatened to destroy the wine harvest, promising to build the shrine.

karlstadt am main (13. 590)

 

 

Next we travelled further into the Franconian wine-growing region of Main-Spessart to Karlstadt facing the Karlsburg, the village of Mühlbach hosting the castle ruins (destroyed during the Bauernkrieg in 1625) and harbour on the opposite bank of the river. The thirteenth century town on the eastern shore was founded by the bishopric of Würzburg to defend its territories against the marauding Counts if Rieneck, the streets of the Altstadt laid out like a chessboard.

 

We hiked up to the remains of the spur fortress, built sometime before the eighth century, perhaps at the direction of Charles Martel, situated on the broad rocky promontory overlooking the river and valley below, the landscape of fields, pastures and vineyards now dominated by huge silos where agricultural products are stored, staged and loaded onto barges.  Though I did not capture it in the best light, we appreciated the photogenic signage that the town had on display at the river bank, like they have for Amsterdam, Gdańsk, etc.

kloster schönau (13. 589)

 

Originally founded as a monastery dedicated to the Immaculate Conception in the late tenth century by ministerialis (a type of dependent knight, see previously here and here) by Philipp von Thüngen zu Heßlar with the support of the bishopric of Würzburg as a pilgrimage destination managed by Cistercian nuns of local nobility until the nuns were forced to flee during the Peasants’ Revolt and the last abbess, Veronika Geyer von Giebelstadt returned the property to the diocese, cloister Schönau was given over to a Franciscan friar in the early 1700s, remodeled in the Baroque style, which informs the look today, and acquired the relics of two catacomb saints from Rome, reinterred and adding to the its appeal for pilgrims, called Viktor and Antonius.

Slated for dissolution in 1803 as part of the securalisation of Church land  within the Kingdom of Bavaria, monks refused to abandon the site until only one was left in 1827, Brother Totnan Schech, surviving to an advanced age out of determination and witnessing the decree of King Ludwig I, restoring some still active Church property. Though repopulated back then, the site is today only home to two priests and one monk providing pastoral services to the community—with a hostel for visitors. Schönau is celebrating the recent eighth-hundredth anniversary of the order and as a reminder that St Francis invented the creche, there is a sixteenth-century historical Nativity Scene, not trying to be a costume-drama.

bicentenary (13. 588)

Culminating on this day in 1976, a decade in planning and preceded by numerous events, both sanctioned and unsanctioned by the US government including the Boston Oil Party, when objects symbolising the petroleum industry were tossed in the city’s harbour to promote environmental justice and declare independence from polluting corporations and Richard Nixon was hanged in effigy, elected representatives reenacted the first Continental Congress, a state visit by the Queen, the Freedom Train made a circuit of the nation and a time-capsule opened, America celebrated its the beginning of its third century, focused on themes of renewal and rebirth, recently have endure the Watergate scandal and the Fall of Saigon. The logo was designed by Bruce Blackburn, who also modernised the NASA insignia (see also here and here). The bicentennial parade in Philadelphia was lead by grand marshal Johnny Cash and the US space agency unveiled its first test vehicle in its line of space shuttles—originally to be christened the Constitution in honour of the anniversary but renamed Enterprise due to popular demand.   Fifty years on, the holiday will probably be marked with the end of the fourteenth and seventeenth amendments, reversing birth-right citizenship and direct voting for senatorial representation.

synchronoptica

one year ago: another cosmic interloper (with synchronoptica) plus One Big Beautiful Bill 

two years ago:  the introduction of the Caesar salad (1925) plus the waterfalls of Mount Cuvignone

three years ago: David Bowie’s Station to Station, My Country ’Tis of Thee plus forgotten American mascots

four years ago: an ancient nebula 

five years ago: occupied Austria plus local flora 

six years ago: American Top 40 (1970), Nixon’s Honor America Day plus the superlative of free

gemünden am main (13. 587)

 

For the long weekend, H and I returned to Gemünden on the Main river for an extended stay at a campsite at the confluence of the three chief tributaries. I wondered about the coat of arms, that seems to show an architecturally impossible cast with elevated turrets on the crenellated walls—though it’s meant to convey perspective, behind the greater tower—something which heraldry does not generally do, representing the hilltop ruin of Schloss Scherenburg and the other fortifications (see above) built by the Counts of Rieneck to collect tolls.

Officially (amtlich), we also noticed that it is rendered a.Main, like other towns in the area—rather than Gemünden ª/ Main or Gemünden (Main), which I am pretty sure it used to be—perhaps to avoid confusing computers, see previously. Despite being in the middle of the war-torn region of the Peasants’ Revolt (Bauernkrieg, 1524 to 1525), the town survived in part due to the revenue that the important navigable juncture brought. Gemünden’s strategic location on the waterway, however, caused it to be a target of Allied air raids during World War II, over sixty percent of the Altstadt destroyed but rebuilt according to its original character in the 1950s and 60s.

excommunicado (13. 586)

Despite warnings and pleas from the Pope addressed to the superior general of the Society of St Pius X (SSPX) that the unauthorised ordination of four bishops would be considered a schismatic act and result in excommunication for parties involved, the consecration ceremony proceeded, held in a field outside of Écône Switzerland, with an atmosphere, merchandising and social media influencers more befitting a happening like SXSW.  The Vatican, however, went further than anticipated, in excommunicating not only the bishops and those directly involved but the whole community of followers, reversing decades of concessions granted in hopes of repairing the rift. Not only are the newly defrocked denied holy sacrament, they cannot officiate weddings and funerals nor conduct masses for the estimated six hundred thousand parishioners who regularly attend services conducted by the priestly fraternity. Founded in 1970 by conservative archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (namesake the anti-modernist Pope Pius) in response to the reforms of Vatican II meant to make the Church more accessible, stopping mass in Latin in favour of delivering sermons in the local vernacular, improving inter-faith relations, expanding the role of deacons and other lay members, among other changes which the traditionalists oppose. Tensions with Holy See heightened when in 1988, Lefebvre consecrated the four original bishops without apostolic mandate and was excommunicated by John Paul II.

9x9 (13. 585)

hospitalithings: a quiet, meticulous observation of common objects found in lodgings—via Nag on the Lake  

aka vlogging: Hank Green interviews Ze Frank (previously) about the YouTube format he pioneered, advising discomfort to put ideas out into the world—via Waxy  

yes, yes, very good—thank you for self-identifying as a short-sighted rube and saving us the trouble: the US constitution us for simple folk still burdened by the belief that words have meaning  

llog: Victor Henry Mair, sinologist and frequent Language Log contributor has passed away, aged 83  

new posting: an interactive map charting the careers of civil servants managing the bureaucracy of the British Empire—via Map Mania  

alignment chart: a cross-over of Chekhov’s Gun, Schrödinger’s Cat, Occam’s Razor and Murphy’s Law

in an instant: the last Polaroid factory in the world is in the Dutch town of Enschede 

bilberry buns: a Polish pastry gets its own holiday  

ozzy’s ozzy is a unique case: observations from a celebrity impersonator cruise—via Kottke