St Crispin, St George, and Harry the King

 

Apropos of a recent story told at the Anvil regarding St George's defence of Englishmen during the Great War, we should pause to recall St Crispin's Day.

It was on 25 October 1415 when Henry V met the Constable of France, Charles d'Albret on the fields near Agincourt in the North of France. An English victory to be sure, but probably better immortalised by the Bard in the eponymous play where King Harry rouses his troops thus:

What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmorland. No, my fair cousin:
If we are marked to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It ernes me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace, I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more.
Rather proclaim it presently through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart. His passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the Feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a-tiptoe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall see this day and live t'old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint Crispian":
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars
And say "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now abed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Henry V, IV, iii.

 

A splendid speech this, nearly making Your Fair Editrix go berate the nearest Frenchman just on principle, but I digress.

 
 
Thus the memory of Harry and his happy few lives on to the modern day, and rightly so. Unfortunately the Saint(s) involved in the day-naming here have not been so well-spoke of late.

 
 
My sources (E.B.) expert in Celtic mythos tell me that Crispin and his twin brother Crispinian may have been syncretisations of Lugh (Mercury from Caesar's description from his Gallic histories). Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course, but by the modern era, the Bishop of Rome had these two fellows demoted a bit, so there are not many recent St Crispin's Day festivals, nor greeting cards.

Fortunately in the East, Crispin and Crispinian are still honoured as Saint-Martyrs, and in the Anglican West they still rate a commemorative day.

So, on this day, this happy day, let us who were not there raise a glass to King Harry and his Brothers, and while we're at it, toss back a wee bit for old Crispin and Crispinian.

Update in Anthropology, and an Editorial

 

Bones of the Romanovs.

The BBC have reported that Russian scientists have made preliminary identification of remains found in July, stating that they were highly probably those of Alexei and Maria, children of the last Tsar, Nicholas II.

The remains were found in Ekaterinburg, the location of the execution of the Royal Family. The remains of the family, along with their servants, were found in 1991, in a concealed pit north of the city. Two individuals were missing from the original site, however: the Tsarevich Alexei, and one of his sisters.



The identity of the remains was aided by DNA testing from members of the British royal family. Recall that the Tsarina Alexandra was Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, is the grandson of Alexandra's elder sister Victoria, Marchioness of Milford-Haven; Philip provided the DNA sample for comparison.

The new finding should bring some closure to this question, that of the missing Tsarevich and his sister. In 1998, the then-identified members of the family were laid to rest in the St Catherine Chapel in the St Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg. Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia may now be joined by their lost kin.


Russian Victoriana.

For a Caledonian readership, perhaps more well-versed in the names and faces of the British Empire, a few points of reference are in order. Queen Victoria's progeny were found throughout the European noble houses; one of the well-known manifestations was the spread of haemophilia from her gene defect.



Several extant photographs show the Queen with her granddaughter Alix and Nicholas Romanov.


Alix in Coburg Summer 1894 with (left, seated) Kaiser Wilhelm; her fiancé the Tsarevitch Nicholas; Queen Victoria


Queen Victoria, Tsar Nicholas II, Alix and Olga, Prince of Wales, Balmoral 1896


"Tsar-Martyr".

After word spread of the execution of the Tsar, a popular cultus that developed around Nicholas. The so-called Tsar-Martyr was invoked in prayer and featured on icons. A hagiography is detailed here, with numerous accounts of supernatural events associated with Nicholas.




In 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (one of the portions of the Church formed in exile after the Bolshevik revolution) elevated the Tsar and his family to sainthood, as 'passion-bearers' (страстотéрпец, strastoterpets) -- not martyrs in the Western sense, but rather ones who faced their end with faith. After 8 years of further debate, the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate recognised the family as passion-bearers as well. This was not without some dissension; Nicholas' legacy of rule was not entirely glowing, and arguably contributed to the downfall of the Russian Empire. Proponents argue that, his policies notwithstanding, his personal piety was exemplary.


An editorial.

Somewhat out-of-character, I will offer a few thoughts on this recent update to the Romanov history. There are a few historical events which, when I learned of them in childhood, seemed to have a particular indelible and resonating quality. The murder of the Romanovs was one of those. No one wishes to dwell on disaster or evil, but there was just something about the story that begged for re-telling and re-reflection.* The tragic ending of the lives of the Tsar and his innocent family in a cellar at the hands of a Bolshevik firing squad is one of those pieces of history that cannot be un-seen, once seen in the mind's eye. Part of me has always been deeply moved and troubled by the image of the haemophiliac Tsarevich, the innocent Grand Duchesses, and the non-Russian-born Tsarina sharing the fate of the head of the Empire. Even if one reckons the Tsar's fate to be similar to that of a captain of a sinking ship, the fate of the rest of the family was an unusually cruel one.



So, on to the canonisation, and the associated difficulties. The despicable slaughter of the Romanovs holds just as much weight as that of all the nameless who suffered during and after the revolution. There were many more Anastasias than the Grand Duchess killed by the Bolsheviks and the Soviets. Does one slight the nameless when one reverences the now-sainted Romanovs? I would like to think the two are separated, the so-called New Martyrs and the royal passion bearers. Certainly they are separated theologically**, but on a humanist level, perhaps the Romanovs serve as a touchstone, a symbol, of the brutality of one group against another.

Regardless of my reader's spiritual and/or religious beliefs, I would put forward that, with this new reminder of the events of 1918 in Ekaterinburg, we strive to remember all such victims of violence -- and there are no lack of examples, from one's doorstep out to the ends of the earth.

I appreciate the reader's indulgence in matters more philosophic than scientific in this editorial, and will return the Proceedings towards more science in the near future.


--
* Note the particular interest in the stories surrounding the loss of 1490 lives in the North Atlantic when Titanic sank.
** Theology is quite beyond the scope of this periodical. Interested readers may contact me directly for references to the appropriate sources.

Loch Avie and the Terrain Disaster

Nicholas K, Bellambi E. Unexpected loss of terrain data in a Caledon duchy. Proc Royal Soc 2007;8.


ABSTRACT
Caledon Loch Avie suffered a data casualty on Friday, August 10, during a period of ongoing unusual server performance. One of the authors (EB) witnessed a whole-scale disruption in the Loch Avie terrain. Land elevations were affected across the sim, with some locations receeding over 1 metre. Three woman-hours of terraforming was required to return the Loch's landscaping to normal.

BACKGROUND
While the reader is likely familiar with the typical SL behaviour after client updates and on busy weekend times, the usual set of errors has not, to date, concerned sim structure, but rather, the classic shoe-bum attachment and loss of inventory.

After an uneventful period in-game, EB discovered that across the Loch, terrain elevations had been altered. Land permissions had not been changed, and were re-confirmed to have public terraforming disabled. A check of the estate tools revealed no change to the sim-wide water level, or terrain features.

FINDINGS
The damage consisted of widespread lowering of certain -- but not all -- locations in the loch, and affected both the major land division (Loch Avie proper) as well as the Inbhir Abigh ("Inveravie") sub-parcel at the southwest corner.

The most obvious indicators of a change in terrain were objects now above the ground level which once were at ground level. More subtle changes involved ground on the railroad tracks, and changes in shape to the mountains.

Approximately three hours of terraforming was required to return the Loch to the closest pre-event state possible. The 'revert' land tool proved very useful, though there were significant differences in pre-event and original terrain due to two duchesses' worth of ownership.

CONCLUSIONS
Caledon Loch Avie's terrain was diffusely changed by an unknown mechanism. Repairing the damage was made easier by using the land reversion tool, and by looking at objects to gauge the amount of change that had occurred. Sim owners could increase the ease of terrain recovery by using the terrain data file upload and download features in the estate menu (though neither author has any experience with such). Sim rollback would be another, if drastic, option to investigate.

The cause of the mishap is unknown. Given the fact that the simulator terrain data is an integral part of the sim, and not under the control of the asset server, such a fault would suggest something amiss with the computer on which Loch Avie is simulated, and not a client-side or asset server-side problem.

The Society will continue to serve as a clearinghouse for any future information on such events. Readers are invited to share any information as it may become available.

Found on the desk of Mme Nicholas.

 


Telegram to Dr Beaker Honeydew.




Volcano elevation, on Sir Adso's stationery.






Laboratory notebook page 2237: seismographic analyses of the event.





Laboratory notebook page 2238: geometaphysigorical data.





Draft of a note to BardHaven.

As requested, I have located seven mobile seismographs suitable for portage by penguins. I am sure that this is not part of an elaborate joke, though, honestly, I had my doubts at first.

I have rec'd information from the captain of the vessel Aronnax that he is inbound to the Cay, and should arrive within a day. Unfortunately, your first choice of vessel, the Argonaut, was unavailable, as her captain is still a bit -- how shall I put it plainly -- perturbed at the Society's last fling (or expedition; I won't be pedantic about it). And your second choice, the Arktik is currently employed by the Tsar's academicians at the Pole.

I am happy to vouch for Lady Darkling's credentials, given your question of yesterday. Her dossier in our files is in proper order.

Lastly: the geometaphysigorical data (a few sheets enclosed) are troubling. Honeydew is unusually quiet on this question, and Krogstad has been avoiding the subject altogether, even when prodded. And I do not have to explain my skills at prodding to you, I assure you.

Looking forward to reports of your endeavours, I remain, &c.

KN

Oneirocritica.

Interest in the analysis of dreams goes back to antiquity.  Despite this, such analysis has not yet benefited from the scientific method, which explains my normal disinterest in discussions of dreams.

However ... I came across this poster for the Saint Petersburg Zoological Gardens (in a crate of materials from the Rodina), and I could find no other explanation for it than "A Dream Inspired after a Late Night of Caledon and Whisky".

The caption: "1903 г. С.П.Б. Зоологическiй Садъ"

("S.P.B. Zoologic Gardens")

I defy anyone to look at this poster, and not find themselves, or some personal interest, depicted.  Look -- isn't that Mr Pearse there in the back row?

До свидания! Dasvidanya!

Update in Ægyptology.

Update in Ægyptology
~ or ~
Raiders of the Lost Queen.

In a case of 'real life imitates Second Life', recent reports have been making the rounds concerning the discovery of Hatshepsut's mummy.

Why, Hatshepsut's mummy is where it has been since last year: the second level gallery of the Royal Society offices!


Fig 1. The Queen's exhibit.

We obtained the Queen's mummy via a, er, circuitous route (1), and put her on display as the centrepiece of our Ægyptology exhibit. Oh, and she also doubled as our Hallowe'en décor last October.

In any event, while we at the Society have had no doubts about the location of the first female Pharaoh, our colleagues in the real world have had more difficulty.


Fig. 2. "Eva, Hatshepsut. Hapshetsut, Eva."

Overview of Hatshepsut and her context.
While the interested reader is directed to a wonderful synopsis of the life and times of the Queen, I shall provide a shorter version of the story.

Hatshepsut was Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt during the New Kingdom, XVIII Dynasty, and unique in that she was the first Queen of Egypt to adopt the well-known (and male title) Pharaoh. She was known as a great ruler, responsible for building campaigns, and prudent domestic policy.

Disappearance.
Unfortunately, after her death, her successor (and prior co-regent) Thutmose III apparently in an Orwellian mood, had her name and likeness eradicated from, well, pretty much wherever it existed.

So, to her mummy. Her tomb has been no secret. Located in the Valley of the Kings, and labelled KV20, her tomb contained her two sarcophagi, but not her mummy (2). So, where did she go?

Clues appear.
Perhaps due to the aggressive grave robbing going on in the Valley of the Kings, later priests took it upon themselves to gather up the royal mummies from their original tombs, and secret them away to more obscure locations. One such cache, TT320, contained an astounding collection of royals (3). Despite the site's contents spanning the XVII to the XXI Dynastic periods, Hatshepsut was absent. Her liver however was present and accounted for: a canopic jar bearing her name, complete with mummified liver, was part of a collection of artefacts in TT320 belonging to the Queen.


Fig. 3. Canopic container. Liver not visible.

Now, another tomb, KV60, was found to contain two mummies, but not much else of value, having been looted in antiquity. One mummy was lying on the floor, partially unwrapped, and unidentified (4). The other rested in a sarcophagus bearing the name of In-Sitre, the Royal Nurse of Hatshepsut's court (5). One theory holds that Thutmose III moved his former Queen out of her tomb, demoting her to a B-list site. Ironically, this shuffling may have saved the Queen for posterity, rather than succumbing to loss at the hands of tomb raiders, if I may coin a phrase.

Finding the Lost Queen.
Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, and a modern-day champion of Ægyptology (6) recently announced a solution to the identity of the unidentified mummy on the floor of KV60. A funerary box associated with Hatshepsut, upon CT scanning, showed a tooth removed from a mummy, and given the requisite rites due a post-mortem piece of a Pharaoh. Dental examinations of the tooth, and of the KV60 mummy provide an exact match. Dr Hawass alludes to further mitochondrial DNA sequencing evidence to link the mummy to that of Ahmose Nefertari, Hatshepsut's grandmother.

Summary.
The argument for Hatshepsut as the unidentified KV60 mummy is well-made, though I will anxiously await Dr Hawass publishing his data in a peer-reviewed journal. Should the mDNA conclusions pass muster, then it would seem that we indeed know where this great Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt is. Regardless, her works and legacy remain.

(Now, if I could only figure out where that golden box-thing in the crate in the corner came from, the one that Prof Krogstad brought back from that particular trip to the Levant ... )


Footnotes.
(1) Provenance of our mummy: the Royal Society's Hatshepsut was liberated from a shady antiquities dealer in Cairo, portaged by camel caravan to Jerusalem, then Acre, then (following the crusaders' route) Nicaea, Constantinople (not Istanbul), and then (via a series of misadventures too long to present here) eventually to Sankt Pitrbyurg, by a Baltic route over to Denmark, then (following Beowulf's route) to the United Kingdom. Then things became confusing, and, really, it's not that important at this point. See me after class for more details.

(2) KV20: Thutmose I and Hatshepsut. www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_834.html

(3) TT320: A cache of royal mummies, moved to the location presumably to protect them against further grave robbery. Hatshepsut was not among those represented.
http://www.tt320.org/

(4) The unidentified mummy in KV60: http://anubis4_2000.tripod.com/mummypages2/UnidentifiedB.htm

(5) KV60: http://www.thebanmappingproject.com/sites/browse_tomb_874.html

(6) Dr Zahi Hawass discusses his findings: http://www.guardians.net/hawass/hatshepsut/search_for_hatshepsut.htm

A report on initial experience with sculpted prims.

 
 
Nicholas, K.   "A report on initial experience with sculpted prims."  Proc Royal Soc  2007; 2 (advance communication ahead of printing).


Abstract.
Availability of sculpted primative constuction allows for a greatly-expanded repertoire of objects for the builder. Preparation of the sculpted prim is nonintuitive, and requires additional methods and skills that may not be readily available. Further work is suggested to improve access to sculpting methods. Proceeds from the sale of the developed sculpted-prim glassware should go towards future research and development of sculpting methods.


Background.
Constructing a primitive object (prim) has to this point required little in the way of preparation or skills beyond that required for day-to-day existence. Linden Lab have added an option to transform a prim into a unique shape based on a map of sorts (Fig. 1). Construction of this map is nonintuitive, and requires what appears to be a fair amount of mathematics
to translate a three-dimensional representation into this color-based map.

Fig. 1. Color-map of an object.

Methods available to perform this conversion require a knowledge of three-dimensional artistry, and an investment in the tools. One tool requires a L$ 1,820,000 capital outlay (1). Less-costly tools are available, with varying degrees of utility, and are detailed elsewhere (2).


Methods.
Using the "Rokuro" software (3), a series of maps were created to model common laboratory glassware (the first objects available for study). Eleven items were created; five were solid objects, and six attempted to recreate the hollow nature of actual glassware (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Hollow versus solid objects.

The object maps were loaded on to the beta grid for testing. All objects were given a standard glass texture (without any alpha channel), set to 30% transparency, with low reflectivity and "brightness" bump-mapping settings (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Texturing parameters.
(See text for 'A' and 'B' discussion.)

Results.
Creating the object maps via the lathe tool took on the order of 5 to 10 min per object, trending towards the lower end as the author gained facility with the method.

Figure 3 shows the different effect seen with hollow ("A") and solid ("B") prims. At a uniform level of transparency, the solid prims provided a more life-like outer appearance, with the hollow objects showing a penumbra, and the solid objects presenting a clearly-defined outer edge.

Figure 4 shows the glassware on a different background; figure 5, with different lighting (sunrise), and figure 6, at night, using only ambient lighting.

Fig. 4.

Fig. 5.

Fig. 6.

Conclusions.
Simple sculpted primative construction is within the ability of the average-to-advanced builder, using very specific tools, and and access to the beta grid for testing. Glassware emulation produces reasonable results, though the correct, hollow representation of vessels produces a somewhat-indistinct outer edge. No attempt was made to optimise texture methods, and it is acknowledged that texture map creation for sculpted prims is difficult (4). Further research is required to maximise the utility of sculpted prims; furthermore, more available (and accessible) tools for builders are required.

Advertisement.
All of the glassware will be on sale at the offices of the Royal Society, in Tamrannoch, Caledon. These will be priced at below-upload-cost, with the set of 11 pieces sold at L$100. Naturally, proceeds from the sales will fund futher sculpting methods.

Acknowledgements.
The author is supported by a new-materials grant from the Duchy of Loch Avie (LA-21-003), and by viewers like you. She has no industry support or conflict of interest to disclose.

Footnotes.
(1).   Autodesk Maya (ex-Alias|Wavefront, ex-Silicon Graphics) was sighted at US$ 6999. Linden Lab's current officially-suported sculpted prim import pathway (singular) is for Maya.
(2).   Building forum, secondlife.com. Accessed repeatedly, often to little avail.
(3).   Jewell, Y. Rokuro (lathe) http://www.kanae.net/secondlife/ Accessed 25 May 2007.
(4).   Krogstad, A. Personal communication.