#marian reforms

[duxfemina]

It's the late Roman Republic...

Now put in the tags what you selected and who you THINK it's referring to... Because I sneakily had at least two people in mind when I made each option and when the poll is over I'll reveal who I had in mind for each option

#roman history #ancient rome #roman empire #how often do you think about the roman empire #ancient history #julius caesar #pompey #augustus #pompeius magnus #caesar #the roman empire is my roman empire #lucullus #crassus #Marius #gaius marius #marian reforms #sulla #pompey the great #mark antony #brutus #Hamilton #and peggy #lepidus #marcus agrippa #sextus pompey #octavian #the Gracchi #Gracchi brothers

[ancientorigins]

The Roman legions were probably the main reason the Roman Empire was so successful. These incredibly organized military units marched all over the ancient world and remained in key colonies of the empire long after the last battle was fought. Roman legions, however, developed over time and as they evolved they became finely tuned parts of the war machine.

#legions #organized military #rome #Roman Empire #centurions #generals #army #conscription #Marian Reforms #Julius Caesar #warfare #Limes lines #Roman military roads #permanent army #Roman Military & Warfare #ancient #history #ancient origins

[natequarter]

wild that "edwardian"/"elizabethan"/"jacobean" and other equivalent terms for the reigns of monarchs seem mostly random. i think they should refer to the monarch of that name with the longest rule. why does "edwardian" refer to "vaguely early 1900s" and not edward iii

#(elizabethan/jacobean are not random they refer to the first monarch of that name #but edwardian. what is going on there #also people only ever use ricardian for the annoying fans and henrician/marian for the reformation/burnings)

[persephoneggsy]

film noir sebhawke but marian is the detective and sebastian is the femme fatale

#i wanted to draw this but my hand hurts lol #it could also work in the reverse (bc i will use any excuse to put marian in a sexy bombshell 1940s dress) #but also.... i want a not-quite-reformed sebastian being a sexy little shit #with his nice suits and cigarettes #distracting the cute private detective lady who's SUPPOSED to be investigating him for murder #sebhawke #(he didn't actually murder anyone it was... let's say petrice)

[racefortheironthrone]

I saw not long ago that the Duke of Norfolk is still a thing, and he's the #1 Duke outside the ones who are made up for being the King's close family, and he's a Howard descended from the guy who died at Bosworth and the Howards have been the top Catholic family in the UK for centuries. How did that work when Catholicism was illegal, and also BOTH the wives Henry VIII killed were members of that family? Why didn't Henry or a devout king take them out? Why didn't they go down with the Stuarts?

Great question!

The Howards have always had a remarkable talent for getting themselves into and out of trouble - the former because they were ambitious noblemen who aspired to high office and dynastic marriage alliances with the royal family, the latter because they were rich and powerful noblemen who were good at laying low for a while and coming up with a good plan b.

So to take Thomas Howard, his father and grandfather had gambled heavily on Richard III and lost almost everything when the Tudors came to power. However, Thomas managed to marry Anne of York, which gave the Howards a blood tie to the Tudors, and a route back into power as Lord Admiral. Highly successful military service against the Scots made Thomas an Earl and thereafter he was the Tudors' go-to military man in Ireland and France.

Then Thomas gambled again with Anne Boleyn, and when that ended disastrously, he very carefully made sure he ended up on the right side of things by presiding as judge over the trials of Anne Boleyn's "lovers." His prestige nevertheless took a hit and he had to spend some time away from court before eventually being recalled to deal with the Pilgrimage of Grace. (Notably, despite being the leader of the Catholic faction, Thomas had no problem with promoting his Protestant niece or brutally suppressing the Catholic Pilgrimage.)

After bringing down Cromwell, Thomas achieved his zenith of power by bringing about Henry's marriage to Catherine Howard. That gamble ended disastrously when Catherine's adultery was found out, leading to Thomas being exiled from court. He later found his way back into power, only to be thrown into the Tower along with his son and the rest of the Catholic faction when the Seymours came to power. And so it went.

As to the issue with Catholicism, the thing to keep in mind is the "middle way" that the English Reformation pursued. When the dust had settled between the conflict between Edwardian Calvinists and Marian Catholics or crypto-Catholics, Elizabeth I's settlement didn't quite outlaw Catholicism. Catholic "recusants," as they were known in the statues, were fined for not attending Church of England services, but a wealthy family like the Norfolks could afford to pay. Now, it wasn't exactly safe - Thomas' son Henry Howard the Earl of Surray got himself executed by Henry VIII due to his extreme political stupidity, and his son Thomas got executed for trying to overthrow Elizabeth I in favor of Mary Queen of Scots, and his son Philip died of disease in the Tower of London, where he had been jailed for being a Catholic and plotting with Jesuits, although Philip's son actually did quite well as a diplomat and courtier under James I in part because the two shared interests in collecting art.

And so it went...

#history #historical analysis #tudor england #english reformation #english history

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

The Growth of Political Violence in the Late Republic, According to Harriet Flower

On to the period of 133 to 80 BCE in Harriet Flower's Roman Republics! Flower rightly characterizes this period as one of escalating violence and a breakdown in trust in the republican system. However, I only partly agree with her analysis as to why.

The major events she discusses are:

The conflict between Tiberius Gracchus, the tribune Octavius, and Scipio Nasica Serapio. Flower sees all of them as violating republican norms and being in the wrong somehow, and I appreciate her impartiality here.

She sees the deaths of Gaius Gracchus and Saturninus as escalations in both the scale and kind of violence. Serapio acted as an individual on his own initiative; then the Senate as a collective body vs. the followers of Gaius Gracchus; then the violent gang that killed Saturninus apparently evading control by Rome's consul, Marius. In particular, she interprets Marius' withdrawal from politics as a military defeat as much as a political one.

I agree with her view that the Social War could either be classified as a civil war or an external one, and that the destabilization it caused directly fed into the wars of the Marians vs. Sulla. I particularly like her analysis of the tribune Sulpicius' actions, and how by supporting Marius' (irregular) appointment to the Mithridatic command Sulpicius hoped to advance his own legislative program. It connected a few more dots for me.

On the other hand, I think she overstates the impact of the Marian reforms. She characterizes the post-Marius army as mostly landless, partisan veterans who were willing to resort to arms because they couldn't hope for representation in the Centuriate Assembly.

But the property requirement for the army had been trending downward for decades; there was no sudden, drastic change in the army's composition and incentives yet. And as Flower herself notes, Marius had in fact secured pensions for his veterans, so what would they be agitating about?

Thirdly, it isn't actually clear whether such "client armies" were really more loyal to their generals than to the republic. Both Sulla and Caesar had to make appeals to their soldiers justifying themselves as defending the republic and delegitimizing their opponents before they could march on Rome, and several times Roman soldiers actually refused to fight other Roman armies, e.g. Cinna's men refusing to fight Sulla's, and many of Pompey's deserting to Caesar. It's not even clear whether Caesar employed veterans for violence during his first consulship, as all the allegations of it seem to come from later historians.

I'm not happy about Flower's implication, intentional or not, that poor and working-class veterans were more prone to violence and anti-republican behavior than wealthier veterans were, or that they would automatically follow their generals' power-grabs just for the sake of getting paid. I think there's a strain of classism that sometimes makes us overlook the "Roman mob" and soldiers as gullible and mercenary, rather than as having political values and voices of their own.

(My view here is particularly influenced by Erich Gruen's survey of working-class political life and veteran behavior in The Last Generation of the Roman Republic, and Robert Morstein-Marx's Mass Oratory and Political Power in the Late Roman Republic and Julius Caesar and the Roman People. Those books are interesting counterpoints for Flower's.)

#jlrrt reads #harriet flower #roman republics #the social war #historiography #classism

[portraitsofsaints]

Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

1761-1850

Feast Day: January 22

Patronage: Society of Mary, Marianist, Marian Sodalities

Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was born in France to a large Catholic family. In 1785 he was ordained a diocesan priest, then in 1790 came the French Revolution. He was considered an enemy of the state but clandestinely continued to minister to the faithful. Fr. Chaminade had to flee to Spain where his devotion to Mary grew stronger. Three years later he returned to France and formed small faith communities called sodalities to restore the faith. From this, the Marian Sisters, the Marianite priests, and the Society of Mary began. During his life, he was a teacher, reformer, and evangelizer. After a lifetime of health and financial difficulties, he died a natural death.

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

#Marianist #Marianists #saintart #Catholicsaint #BlessedWilliamJosephChaminade

[mariussuggestions]

Marian Military Reforms

#gaius marius #tagamemnon

[sistervirtue]

Where did the names for them came from and why those?

NOTE: i was going to answer this quickly but then fell down a rabbit hole of reading about medieval moldavian naming conventions for an entirely tangential reason to this ask and opened so many pdfs my computer crashed. :) enjoy

Lăcrămioara Strigoi and Leopold Lupei are both Romanian!

Lăcrămioara means "little teardrop"/is a diminutive of lacrima (related to lachrymose, ie; tears/crying/etc). Furthermore, it's the Romanian name for the plant Lily of the Valley, which is heavily associated with the tears of both The Virgin Mary as well as Eve.

You may also see me call him just "Mioara"-- which is pulled from her name, but also can be a diminutive of the Romanian form of "Mary", and also means "little lamb".

Given Lacramioara has tear-based corpse paint, and marian/plant/sheep themes, it's more than fitting!

As for Strigoi-- it's not an actual surname. It'd be kind of insane if it was. Strigoi are a Romanian folkloric creature generally agreed to be the origin of vampire myths (although in many they take on a description more akin to witches or warlocks). Admittedly, I didn't base a lot of her stuff on actual strigoi myth, but he's not actually a vampire-- just an angel that resembles vampires so as to better hunt them and other creatures of the night. so it's fine lol

Strigoi wasn't Lacramioara's original surname; from what I can glean, it's likely his name was "Lăcrămioara, of [Father's name]" or "of [village-- place pending, moldavian]", but I'm still tinkering with that, since sources are hard to find. I saw somewhere that most names up until the name reform were "given name, fathers name, grandfathers name," but im having trouble finding places where this is backed up. But for now, just consider the "strigoi" surname a title of sorts from Michael <3

as for Leopold, it actually means "Brave People"-- unrelated to the latin "leo". But of course, it can be shortened to that and resembles it, because I did still want to draw the leonine association. Lupei is, as a matter of fact, a real surname, meaning "wolf"-- but it also wasn't his original surname either. I wanted his name to sound important, and also I've just been DYING to use the name Leopold in something since I was a child for reasons related to Looney Tunes

If it matters, Leopold is originally from Wallachia. Fun fact.

Johnny Strings and Cross DeVille are both based on The Devil Went Down to Georgia, a song by the Charlie Daniels band. It tells the story of the devil, down on his luck and short on souls, who challenges a boy to a fiddling contest with the bet being that if the boy wins, he gets a fiddle of gold, and if he loses, the devil gets his soul. It goes without saying that this song is essentially theological canon to me.

Johnny Strings, however, in this incarnation, is a butch bisexual woman and the fiddle is now a golden guitar, since I wanted to take on a more rock-leaning inclination with it.

Cross DeVille is both a cross fox in his design-- but his name alludes to Crossroad Demons, which he is. I also used the DeVille just because I wanted him to give the impression of a fancy city boy

(as is Mephistopheles, who is the archetypal crossroads demon)

You may have guessed, but Godhead Death Sentence in general is meant to have a very campy tone to the world, so a lot of the names will be obvious allusions or puns, when I can do it.

#godhead death sentence

[wisteria-lodge]

for fun, a break down of how Octavius' legion would be organized in 'Night at the Museum'

LEGION I MUSEA:

(Assuming that this is a Roman Empire legion in in the boonies, cut off from communication with Rome... which is a very real late roman experience. And like, the Romans had an understanding of museums and giants so...)

Praefectus Castrorum (Gaius Octavius)

In the movie he gives his title as "General" (which is obviously not a roman title.) I went with praefectus castrorum, because he strikes me as a centurion who worked his way up, and not so much a posh boy/politician. However, he does have an unusual amount amount of power for a praefectus castrorum, because *normally* he would be answering to a Legate or a senior military tribune, more of a senator type in contact with Rome. A since he's a magically animated figurine, he's just not doing that.

Also, it seems fanon to equate Gaius Octavius with Emperor Augustus Ceasar? Which is weird, because "Gaius Octavius" is just a decently common Roman name. Augustus' father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were also all called Gaius Octavius.

5 cohortes (infantry + artillery)  (cohort = 80 men, lead by a centurion) 

These are would also be the guys responsible for building the catapults (love to see it) and any other contraptions that might be needed. Roman cohorts were essentially armed construction crews.

You would think that a centurion should be in charge of 100 men, not 80, and they were, before the Marian reforms of 107-86 BC, which is pre Roman empire, and Octavius talks about the Roman empire a lot.

1 sagittariorum (archer unit) (80 men, lead by a centurion)

1 Medices (Medics) (10 men) 

Quartermaster

Weapons instructor

Camp records-keeper

Standard Bearer

~ also, Octavius' sculpted nipple-cuirass is fine, and the way he's draping his cape is totally not.

Why on earth are you wearing that like an elizabethan half-cape? Pin it to your shoulders, or pin both sides to one shoulder like a normal person.

#night at the museum #natm #roman stuff #history stuff #fashion history #octavius natm #just a bit of fun

[duxfemina]

If you were going to pin the BEGINNING of the downfall of the Roman Republic on the actions of one Roman

#roman history #ancient rome #roman empire #how often do you think about the roman empire #ancient history #julius caesar #pompey #caesar #pompeius magnus #the roman empire is my roman empire #gaius gracchus #gaius julius caesar #gaius marius #marian reforms #tiberius gracchus #the gracchi #sulla #lucius cornelius sulla #marcus licinius crassus #crassus #Pompey the great #i will cry over every vote for Pompeius

[ladyofpembroke]

Just finished the gilded age finale!

So do we think that Ada’s inherited textile factory/company will only remain as a vague source of income, or if we will actually see more storylines relating to it?

I could see Ada selling it that way they get the money and never have to deal with it again. Or we could get similar plots on the exploitation of workers (in this case mostly children and women) that we got with Mr. Russell’s storyline but it also gives an avenue for our reform minded ladies (Marian and Ada) to address the inequalities.

Another interesting question is who would Ada’s heir be since she doesn’t have children? Most obvious candidates are Marian and Oscar which could create an interesting plotline too

#the gilded age #the gilded age spoilers #Ada brook

[catilinas]

Hi love your blog and your Cicero translations! I saw you mention the masters of rome series and I was wondering about your thoughts on McCullogh's portrayal of Caesar?

i’ve had this image on my phone since 2019

i am. not a fan. of her caesar. in fact her caesar characterisation, and more than that, the way it distorts the characterisation of everyone around him is one of the biggest problems i have with the series. like there are soooooo many good and nuanced characters in the first two books and then as soon as caesar is born + old enough to matter it’s like the caesargoggles descend and suddenly the boni as a political grouping only exists because they all are so so jealous of sexy caesar and his enormous dick. and colleen isn’t even subtle about it! i remember this one part where the bibulus-narrative-voice just like. tweets that out. like ok even if you’ve decided that must be the motivation of Several different characters. at least complicate their awareness of this?? but no. by that point only caesar gets that much interesting interiority.

it doesn’t help that i’m just. not that interested in caesar. at all. i just don’t care about him Other than as a ghost (a spectre of both marius and sulla! until his ghost becomes its own whole Thing for octavian! and i Do find colleen’s takes on a) octavian and b) octavian’s thoughts on #caesar’s spirit verryyy fun). whenever i reread bits of the series i find myself mostly skipping the caesar chapters which are unfortunately A Lot Of Them. and then when i Don’t the shift between the narrative voice of ‘ohhh caesar you’re so sexy and perfect and if only rome had accepted your perfect reforms’ and then like. clodius being batshit or something. just makes me miss sulla and His narrative voice! colleen’s caesar is most interesting when he’s having a Sulla Moment!!! or. ok i know i just said i don’t like how much he overshadows literally every other character by being so perfect all the time BUT i do actually enjoy the chapters on caesar’s childhood a fair amount. like marius and sulla both hate him he’s convinced of his own destiny he’s trapped in a fucked up little priesthood and he’s like 14. and You The Reader have the knowledge that like. that’s literally julius caesar. it Does compel me. especially against the other uhhh three? characters (servilia, cato, octavian) you get to see grow into their adult selves. but yeah it’s less interesting to me as Caesar Characterisation than as being a haunting by the marian/sullan period that then haunts these other characters.

um what else. i do respect colleen’s commitment to the ‘values his dignitas above his life’ Bit. love to see historical fiction that really Gets Into specific ancient values. even if it doesn’t always Quite succeed. big fan also of caesar having a very specific vision of what rome is / should be (although different visions of rome is like. the point of the series. caesar’s is just the one it focuses on a Lot) vs the part about how octavian sees caesar As rome and the consequences of that. it’s fun! there’s ghosts!

#is this coherent. i hope so because i’m not reading back over what i just wrote #i’m drinking water and going back to sleep augfhvgdgg ouch my Brain. #masters of rome #big c #beeps

[isadomna]

Family of Maria de Salinas, Lady Willoughby

Father: Juan de Salinas, nicknamed El Rico (The Rich), was a Spanish nobleman, wealthy merchant, banker, and secretary to Isabel, Princess of Portugal, in 1492 (daughter of the Catholic Monarchs).

Mother: Inés de Albornoz Tavira was a Spanish noblewoman of Portuguese descent, lady-in-waiting to Isabel, Princess of Portugal.

Siblings:

1- Inés de Albornoz traveled to England accompanying Katherine of Aragon as one of her maids-of-honor. She married to Juan Francisco Velez de Guevara of Stanyott, and returned to Spain after a few years living in England.

2- Juan de Salinas, Licentiate and Bachelor. Lived in Spain.

3- Francisco Alonso de Albornoz. Lived in Spain.

4- Teresa de Salinas, nun at the convent of Santa Clara in Vitoria, Basque Country, Spain.

5- Isabel de Albornoz, married to Ochoa de la Landa, banker of the court of the Catholic Monarchs.

Some of her siblings used their mother's surname, apparently a not uncommon practice in Spain. Her cousin Martín de Salinas El Joven was ambassador of Charles V.

Spouse: William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, was an English nobleman and the largest landowner in Lincolnshire.

Children:

1- Henry, died in infancy.

2- Francis, died young.

3- Catherine inherited the barony after her father's death. She was the fourth wife of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Her second husband was Richard Bertie, a member of her household. An outspoken supporter of the English Reformation, she were among the Marian exiles who left for the Continent. After her return to England lived at Grimsthorpe in Lincolnshire, and at court of Queen Elizabeth I. She had four children, Henry and Charles Brandon, and Susan and Peregrine Bertie.

#Maria de Salinas #Mary Willoughby #Lady Willoughby

[mythologer]

A fresco from the "House of Valerius Rufus" in Pompeii. This is a perfect example of how we know what Replican Legionary troops looked like (this individual is probably from a wealthy family due to the extravagant nature of his panoply, and the 'Lorica Musculata' torso armour, perhaps even 'Equite' being able to own and supply a horse) weapons, armour, shield, helmets and long 'ponytail' crests. Perhaps most importantly, the heavy useage of red, pink, white and gold fringing on his clothing. His helmet is classic, brimmed Montefortino type, highly polished bronze. Brass greaves on both legs, long spear (Marian reforms with Pilum, long shield etc. not in use yet) His paludamentum (cloak/cape) is white and the crest and embroidery work also follows the light red and pink theme. This is is at least very early 1st Century BC, most likely earlier. One of the men from XXI RAPAX that I posted earlier, had a near mirror image copy of this colour palette. Red and especially blue were the more expensive cours to produce, with Purple being only for the mega wealthy due to difficult manufacturing process involving boiling sea snails for over a month. Under the Principate, full clothing of purple was illegal except for the Emperor, to keep it exclusive. IMAGE: still insitu at Pompeii.

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

What was Julius Caesar's early life like? Did he really plot to overthrow the republic from an early age, as Suetonius and Plutarch claim? Robert Morstein-Marx says "No, Caesar's early years were fairly unremarkable for a middle-of-the-road politician."

He identifies several issues with our ancient sources:

Most of Suetonius' named sources for this period of Caesar's life can be identified as Caesar's enemies. And a large portion of controversies attributed to Caesar's early career stem from just two sources - Q. Lutatius Catulus, who held a deep personal grudge; and Cicero's De Consiliis Suis, which was written to discredit Caesar post-assassination, and which directly contradicts Cicero's own earlier speeches and private correspondence.

Plutarch aligns Caesar with a "Marian" party in opposition to the "Sullan" establishment. This feeds into the narrative of Caesar as part of a disruptive outsider movement opposed to the conservatives. But the Sullan party broke up by the time Caesar held office, and the Marian party had ceased to exist outside of Spain. Most of Caesar's "Marian" actions can be explained as part of a broader "reconciliation" movement in Roman politics in the 60s/70s, weren't terribly controversial (except for pissing off Catulus in particular), and he allied himself with several "Sullan" families and organizations, too.

Both Plutarch and Suetonius aimed to capture the essential character of their subject, and thus featured many anecdotes supporting a cohesive picture of Caesar's intentions and personality, from youth to death. Problem is, this narrative aim caused both them and future historians to minimize evidence to the contrary, and it doesn't allow for Caesar (or other historical figures) to be inconsistent, arbitrary, or to change their views over time, as real people usually do.

Morstein-Marx finds several anecdotes that appear to have been borrowed from other historical figures, distorted or taken out of context, and in one case a quote attributed to Caesar actually originated from Cicero.

Morstein-Marx points out that biographies can fall into circular logic: we know that in 49 BCE Caesar will cross the Rubicon and get involved in a civil war, so we look backwards in time for evidence that seems to explain, or at least fit with that fact. Stories like his envy of Alexander the Great's conquests, and his arrogance with the pirates who captured him, seem to match the picture of boundless, selfish ambition. And when Suetonius and Plutarch filter their narratives that way, and those narratives get further filtered into modern portrayals - well, you see how a person can get turned into a caricature.

Morstein-Marx points out a critical fact: Caesar did not know it was possible to break the republic, which had survived for over 400 years by that point. Even the dictator Sulla had attempted to reform and uphold republican traditions, not end them. Caesar probably wasn't plotting to make himself dictator from an early age for the same reason most elected politicians today don't consider that: it's out of line with their cultural values, and prestige comes from winning elections, not from ruling by force. Plus, in Caesar's case, his career was going great under the current system, so why overthrow it?

(Adapted from Robert Morstein-Marx, Julius Caesar and the Roman People, pp. 33-50.)

#jlrrt reads #caesarhell #robert morstein-marx #julius caesar and the roman people #suetonius #plutarch #jlrrt essays