Medieval History Paper

A Review of:
Mystics, Demoniacs, and the Physiology of Spirit Possession in Medieval Europe
Nancy Caciola
(Please see citation at the end of the review)

In medieval Europe an important debate of Christianity was the significance and meaning of spiritual possession. Spiritual possession could be viewed as divine from the Holy Spirit or demonic. In the article “Mystics, Demoniacs and the Physiology of Spirit Possession in Medieval Europe” author Nancy Caciola applies a different approach to examine the religious women of the middle ages. The approach that Caciola utilizes is different in the respect that she examines the way that the issue has been dealt with previously, and asserts her own conclusions. Her approach includes what she refers to as an internal and external approach. The internal includes the internal devotions and the mystics’ self-representations, and the external includes the communities and church representatives’ evaluations of the women. The ultimate aim of the article is to explore the process in which to determine if a woman is possessed divinely or demonically.
In the introduction of the essay Nancy Caciola starts with an illustrative example from the middle ages about a woman, Ida of Louvain. The woman was from a wealthy family, however she refused marriage and became a recluse. Ida saw a vision, in which a pauper entered her heart and lived there. This affects her demeanor, she began to dress in rags and covered with a mat and then goes out in the community that she lived, and paraded the town. Caciola uses this story because it exemplifies the issue that she is to deal with in the essay: was Ida divinely or demonically possessed? Caciola explains to the readers that the issue is internal/external dichotomy that is how the external behaviors, seen by others reflects the internal spirit that possesses the individual. This story also introduces Caciola’s purpose of the paper, dealing with the fact that there was an issue of confusion in the middle ages as how to interpret the increasing amount of women in the religious vocation.
Nancy Caciola endeavors to achieve the answer to this question in four parts of examination, which she outlines clearly in the beginning of the article. The first part of the article, under the heading of “A Protracted Disputation” deals with the issues of women who aspired to mystics were not always considered divine and that there was an increasing view that these women were considered increasingly to be demonically possessed. The second part of the article addresses the views of those living and writing in the Middle Ages and how they dealt with the issue of possession, named in the article “The Physiology of Possession”. The third part of the article “A Theoretical Excursus: Spirit Possession as Identity Formation” examines how social dynamics affect the discernment of spirits and describes the identity of a possessed person. The forth part of the article titled “Constructing Social and Religious Categories in the Middle Ages” addresses how the discretion of the mystics was actually used in their careers.
In the first section of the article titled “A Protracted Disputation”, Nancy Caciola lays out examples of women in the Middle Ages who claimed divine inspiration and super natural powers. She first qualifies her approach to examining these examples with three guidelines that she uses to interpret them. The first guideline of examination deals with how to read the hagiographical resources. The hagiographies address the accusations against the women, and emphasized the tendency of the meekness of their subject. The significance here is that there are clear examples of people questioning if the women are divinely or demonically possessed. The second guideline states that there are other sources that are important to look at such as preaching handbooks, encyclopedias and treatises that give alternate views. The third guideline given is to abandon the categorizing given to the women, and look to that only for evaluation of the source and not the individual being examined. This is why Caciola states that she will refer to the women as “inspired women” instead of “mystics” or “demoniacs”.
In this part of the article Caciola examines the women by using several examples, dividing geographically between the Low Countries or Northern Europe and the women of Italy and France, particularly from the Mediterranean. The first example of the women of Northern Europe is the Life of Christina Mirailis. The significance of this example is she did not have local reverence, and the fact that she was captured and bound shows that they did not believe that she was divinely possessed. In the examples given there are other signs that an individual was perceived to be demonically possessed such as fasting, insanity, exorcism and claims of being inhabited by a fetus. Caciola gives a pointed example of a woman named Sibylla was inspired and even generated a following after her. However, she was claimed to be a fraud, after being examined because of her fasting, and died in prison.
Caciola also gives examples of women from Italy and France such as Clare of Montefalco. Clare was accused of demonic possession because she associated with heretics and that the evidence of her heart bearing the passion of Christ was falsified by the nuns who examined her heart. Another example given, Catherine of Siena, who although showed charity to others, was accused by those she tried to help. Another example given is Angela of Foligno which shows the level of the accusations on the women, to the point that Angela began to believe and repeat the accusations. The intention of these examples is to show that the hagiographers of the women were themselves trying to discern the possession of the women.
The point of this section of the article is described by Caciola is to show that although it is perceived that these women were generally accepted by the people of their day and inspired followings and cults that actually these women were scrutinized. They led controversial lives and incited feelings of contempt and distrust among the people. The reason for this is that these women were living in urban centers and because they lived among the public they were scrutinized. These were women who did not live in convents, and the same characteristics that made them mystics also made the people suspect them.
The second part of the article titled “The Physiology of Possession” Caciola addresses questions about the discernment of spirits by medieval scholars and writers. It is an attempt of these scholars to distinguish divinely and demonically possessed. The first issue addressed concerns how possession occurred. The Medieval belief was that spirit possession occurred with entry into the body that was literal. From the point of literal entry, the spirit would then affect internal physiology and senses and eventually the spirit of the individual. Caciola then explains the common view of medicine and the different spirits. There is the “vital spirit” which maintained the functions of the heart. The “natural spirit” which based in the liver controlled the involuntary actions. The last of the spirits was the “animal spirit” which was the soul and resided in the brain.
Caciola points to the exorcism to understand the medieval concepts of possession. They believed that during the exorcism the demon leapt out of the individual being possessed through the mouth. This is similar to the belief of when an individual dies that their spirit leaves through the mouth also. Caciola points to a wrong assumption from these two beliefs which was demonic possession meant that the human spirit was replaced by the demonic spirit. This is proven wrong by the fact that entrance through the mouth had two destinations the heart or the digestive system. It was believed that only the Holy Spirit could enter the heart.
Caciola then describes the theories of different scholars of the medieval times. The first is Hildegard of Bingen who stated that the soul was off limits to demons but that they could confuse the soul. Rupert of Deutz stated that demons could enter the cavities of the body but only the Holy Spirit could enter the soul. Guillaume d’Auvergne asserted that although demons could not enter the soul they could control the senses and disconnect the soul from the body. All of these ideas were summarized by Thomas Aquinas who stated that the Holy Spirit worked from the inside, while demons worked from the outside of the soul, but could inhabit a person. Caciola also summarizes the beliefs by stating that the Holy Spirit enters the heart of an individual and joins with or replaces the human spirit, while the demons that possessed could only disrupt the spiritual system. This section of the article is ended by stating that although these theories seem systematic and an answer to the problems that the last two sections of the article will address why they were only partially successful.
The third section of the article titled “A Theoretical Excursus: Spirit Possession as Identity Formation” Caciola steps aside from the historical texts and patterns that they establish to look at the cultural dynamics of possession. First addressing the question of why women are predominantly the ones strongly possessed. Caciola first presents three different theories given by other scholars and then asserts her own opinion. The first two theories that she identifies are similar. The theories are offered by I.M. Lewis and Michel de Certeau views the predominance of women possession as a form of transgression or resistance because women are subordinate in society. Where the two men differ in their theories, Caciola asserts is that Lewis focuses on the elevated status of the possessed women, while de Certeau states that spirit possession was a way for women to establish themselves, especially concentrating on the voice of possessed spirit to speak through the woman. Mary Douglas asserts another theory which stated that the explanation of spirit possession is an issue of body control which in turn is a function of social control.
Caciola states that although these are good theories they do not address all the issues or fully explain the problem. Caciola then asserts her own theory to solve the problem which she calls the performative view. She explains that spirit possession can be explained as a form of identity formation that is dependent on three factors. The first is how the construction of the culture in which an individual exists forms identity and roles. The second factor is the self-representations of an individual and how they perform in the roles. The third factor is how the individual is observed by people, their “audience”. These three factors lead Caciola to a fourth element which concerns the surface of the body which identifies a person and affects their relationship with other people. As evidence of this, Caciola points to the fact that women were perceived as being more porous and easier to possess then men.
The fourth part of the article titled “Constructing Social and Religious Categories in the Middle Ages” is where Caciola looks at the careers of the spiritually possessed women and attempts to answer some questions. The first of these questions addressed how women, desiring to have an important role in the church, and as suggested to become a mystic, perceived the possession. Caciola believes that women fully understood that the possession was divine possession. The second question deals with the issue of medieval conceptions of differences between divine and demonic possession. The answer to this question evaluates the response of a woman to possession in order to determine the source of the possession. There are certain signs that effects of divine possession such as greater emotionalism, visionary focus, prophesy and somatic change.
The third question addresses the intellectual effect of the discerning of possession which in answer looks to the many theories given by medieval thinkers. However the practical use of the theories has little use in the actual cases. That is because there is not a clear system of discernment. There is not a clear way to internally discern and therefore being forced to evaluate externally led to problems. In the conclusion of the article Caciola addresses the fact that her final statement is a failed initiative, that although theories and methods were formulated to discover the source of an individual’s possession that they were not effective. She explains that the importance of this point is the debate and discussion of it, and not so much trying to come to a definite conclusion.
There are a few weaknesses in the article however they do not weaken the argument. The first of the weaknesses is her tendency to repeat herself in the article. Although this helps the reader to know what each section will be about, however excessive repetition could be avoided. While the outlining included in the article was helpful, there are some parts in which a point could be established then explained, without the need to summarize first. Caciola instead addresses all factor or questions, summarizes them, and then continues by explaining them in greater detail.
Another weakness, as previously mentioned, is contained in the last paragraph before her conclusion of the article explains that although there are theories that address the methods for the discretion of spirits, they are ineffective. Caciola then explains in the beginning of her conclusion the importance of the discussion. This could be better achieved if the explanation of the failed theories and the reason for their inclusion was contained in one section of the article. She would then be able the focus her conclusion on summarizing her argument and evidence presented in the article.
Caciola begins the article strongly with an example of a woman in the middle ages, possessed and bring the readers to the focus of the article. She then explains that most women who claimed to be possessed divinely in the middle ages were suspected to be demonically possessed. The use of the detailed example grabs the reader’s attention. In the introduction Caciola clearly lays out the purpose of the article and how she will address it in the article. The purpose of the article is to examine how to determine if a woman claiming supernatural powers is divinely or demonically possessed. Each of the sections of the article also in the beginning explains their issue to address and outline how Caciola will address the issue. The direct statement of purpose and the outlining help organize the article for the reader and provide a better understanding.
Caciola use of direct and specific examples strongly provides proof for her argument. One way that she achieves this is by using the hagiography of the women claiming supernatural powers in the middle ages. Beginning with Ida of Louvain, where she tells how the woman claimed to possessed and the reaction of the people around her. She uses the Life of Christina Mirabilis as an example of low local reverence for her, and signs that the people surrounding her thought that she was possessed because they bound her. Caciola explains how Christina first attracts attention by being resurrected at her funeral. Christina was obviously changed by this experience and exhibits strange behavior. Not only is this behavior observed by those immediately near her, but she wanders through the town, and eventually is hunted down and bound by her sisters.
Caciola uses other examples such as the example of Alpais of Cudot as an example of the perception of fasting as a sign of demonic possession. Other examples of women who were considered to be demonically possessed because of their fasting are Lidwina of Schidam and Catherine of Siena. To further establish this she quotes a writer of the fifteenth century Jean Gerson, who believed that these women were deluded by the Devil. This is the approach taken in the first section of the article, with many examples of women with claims of possession listed, and description of their lives as strength to her argument. The hagiographies intentions were to examine the women and give justification to their inclusion as a saint.
Caciola uses other sources besides hagiographies in the article. She also uses encyclopedia and treatises as well as preaching manuals. An example of this a passage from the encyclopediest Vincent of Beauvais which explains that there are three spirits contending for the soul of a person, angel, Holy Spirit and demons. This passage also asserts the point of the article that states that only the Holy Spirit can enter the soul. Caciola quotes an anonymous preaching manual states that the Holy Spirit lives in the heart while demons live in the intestines. She supports this quote with another source from Caesarius of Heisterbach called Dialogue on Miracles which also states that demon can enter the body. Caciola quotes further passages to prove this point. The use of these sources provides examples of who the issue of possession and discernment of spirits was a debate involving not only those petitioning for the women in the hagiographies, but also for secular Christian teachings.
Another source used by Caciola in the article is theological treatises in which she reveals theories of possession. Hildegard of Bingen maintained that the soul was always off limits to demons. While Rupert of Deutz theorized that demons could possess the caverns of the body and maintained the fact that only the Holy Spirit could enter the soul. Guillaume d’Aauvergne expands the theories of the previous mentioned by explaining why it appeared that a demon could control the soul of the possessed. He stated that a demon could take control of the individual’s senses and the connection between the soul and the body. Furthering this explanation is the example in the Summa by Alexander of Hales that demons tempt the soul of a person by relaying false information. The discussions of these treatises are important to Caciola’s argument in the following way. By discussing the theories for explaining spiritual possession, it is shown that this was an urgent matter in the Middle Ages. Also important is that though many were writing and discussing the issues they could not come to an definite or absolute answer.
In the conclusion of the paper Caciola uses the inability of answering the question of possession in the view of the Middle Ages by revealing that writers of the later Middle Ages will make a further attempt to further outline the discernment of the spirits. Writers Henry of Freimer, Henry of Langenstein , Pierre d’Ailley and John Gerson were able to make the connection between the external and internal manifestations of possession. These later writers of the Middle Ages theorized that one who was divinely possessed would behave and act in a certain manner, and this was the outward evidence. They claimed that one who was divinely possessed would demonstrate calm behavior and there would be openness to their heart and free access to the soul. Caciola asserts that these theories ushered in the appearance of manuals of exorcisms because they had a systematic way of discerning spirits. She continues in explaining that the exorcisms again focused on woman and that demonic possession was more closely associated with the female body. This ties the later theorist to the earlier theorists of the Middle Ages and the focus of women in spiritual possession.
In examination of the debate of spiritual possession and discerning the spirits of the possession, the article explains that there is not a complete answer to the problem. The inability to answer was experience by the writers and thinkers of the Middle Ages as well as contemporaries. Caciola examines the issue with the use of many different types of sources. She emphasizes that there is great importance in the debate of the problem, even if an answer could not be found. In the article Caciola attempts to look at the issue with a different approach, realizing that there are two methods of examination, an external and internal.

Article Citation
Mystics, Demoniacs, and the Physiology of Spirit Possession in Medieval Europe Nancy Caciola Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 268-306 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2696607

Midterm for Irish History

I am just posting this because it was something that I was proud of, and an example of my writing. Enjoy, lol.

The history of Ireland and Britain are closely entwined, making it essential to examine the relationship between the two countries to understand the history of each. In the eighteenth century, Britain controlled Ireland through political and economical means, to the extent that Ireland could be regarded as a colony. Britain asserted its influence over Ireland through the issuance of penal laws, which were laws that assured protestant ascendency and oppressed the Catholic majority. Although there were inadequacies with the penal laws, Britain demonstrated, in the eighteenth century, effective control of Ireland through further expansion in strength of the British Parliament.
The penal laws were also known as “Laws in Ireland for the Suppression of Popery”.[1] They addressed many aspects of Irish Catholic life such as: religion, marriage, voting, education, land and others.[2] The first penal law was enacted in 1558 during the reign of Elizabeth I and the last in 1759 during the reign of George II. [3] The first of the laws enacted addressed law professions, who were expected to take an oath to the monarch in order to practice in that profession[4] and that oath included an oath against transubstantiation, which was the belief that the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Christ, which is a Catholic belief. This would be against Catholics belief to take such an oath. An example of one such law, issued in 1691 stated,
“I, A.B., do solemnly and sincerely, in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do believe that in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper there is not any transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ at or after the consecration thereof by any person whatsoever.”[5]
The laws expanded to require that people in Ireland take the oath to do such things as to be in the military, sit or vote in Parliament, or be a guardian to a child.[6]
Britain enacted penal laws that affected other aspects of life for most of the Irish Catholics. One law excluded the education of any child in a Catholic school or university, and also prohibited education in Catholic educational systems in other countries.[7] The penal laws were used to disarm the Catholics. They were forced to surrender their arms or were subjected to a search and the weapons were seized by justices, mayors, sheriffs or officers.[8] Penal laws were issued that demanded that all officials of the papacy leave Ireland. According to the penal laws this included “all popish archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, deans, jesuits, monks, friars, and all other regular popish clergy.”[9]
The penal laws that were most efficient in suppressing the rights of Irish Catholics regarded land. Britain excluded Catholics from owning property, and ensured land would get in the hands of the Protestants. A penal law enacted in 1702 is an excellent example of what Britain intended. The penal law stated,
“To the end that none of the aforesaid purchased forfeited estates may ever descend to any Papist but shall remain to be held and enjoyed by Protestants for the strengthening of the English interest and Protestant religion.”[10]
Another example of Britain’s control of land is seen in the penal laws concerning inheritance of land. One of these laws clearly stated that “No papist shall inherit or take any other interests in land owned by a Protestant.”[11]
In his book, The Making of Ireland, historian James Lydon reports the following statistics concerning land ownership. In 1688, Catholics owned twenty-two percent of Irish land.[12] By 1702 that percentage had dropped to fourteen percent and in 1776 Catholics owned just five percent of Irish land.[13] The penal laws not only forced Catholics to forfeit previously owned land, but prevented landlords from leasing property to Catholics.
The penal laws were effective as a form of British control to some extent. The penal laws succeeded in withholding Catholics from legal professions. The penal laws prohibited Catholics from voting or sitting in Parliament. The penal laws with the Catholic restrictions made it difficult for Catholics to participate in politics. The second factor that made the penal laws efficient was the exclusion of land from Catholics. This is important because landlords, who did lease their holdings to Catholics, were in a position to influence the Catholics who could vote. There were not any secret ballots, therefore the vote could be controlled through coercion and other methods used by landlords and officials. In, The Making of Ireland, Lydon suggests that freeholders would not allow Protestant landlords to give leases to those whose vote they could not control.
The penal laws though effective in these important ways, were also ineffective in some ways, mainly because of the failure of the British to enforce these laws. Lydon shows the failure of this enforcement through statistics. In 1704 there were 1,089 priests and three bishops registered, and in 1731, there were 254 and 1,445 clergy, and by 1750 there were eight hundred clergy.[14] Lydon states that with a Catholic population of about 1,750,000 in 1731, there was one priest for every thousand Catholics.[15] These statistics come from a penal law forcing all clergy to register. Those who did register were expected to leave the country and those who did not register would be prosecuted. This means that the results would not be a true reflection of the amount, in fear of having to leave Ireland or fear of prosecution. However this showed that Irish Catholics were able to monetarily support their clergy and bishops, providing them places to stay in Ireland.
Another in inefficiency of the penal laws was that despite the efforts to exclude Catholics from most forms of political power, Catholics were still able to assert some influence. Lydon provides an example of this in The Making of Ireland. In 1731, a mayor had sheriffs search a place called “Black Street” which was known to be a friary, the mayor reported “‘could not find or discover any of the said friars’”.[16] Lydon adds: “But an entry for November 1731 in the Augustinian ledger tells us why ‘November 9… a bottle of wine for ye sheriffs’”.[17] This shows that local clergy bribed the sheriffs, so that they would not report them to the mayor and higher officials.
Another way that Britain controlled Ireland was economically. This was initiated by the war of succession between James II and William of Orange for the British crown. James II, who was Catholic, became king in1685 and passed laws ending the discrimination of Catholics and dissenters to gain support.[18] His actions caused him to lose most support in England, as the some of the British supported William of Orange, who was a protestant to become king. James II went to Ireland while William of Orange stayed in England with the support of Parliament. This war between the two came at a great cost to Britain and Ireland. William of Orange’s cost to Britain for the war was estimated at six million pounds.[19] James II caused detriment to the Irish economy because in order to pay for the war, he introduced brass money to Ireland. This in turn caused a financial crisis because it inflated the monetary system of Ireland.[20]
The result at the end of the war was that Britain needed to raise revenue. This caused laws to be initiated that raised the taxes in Ireland. Taxation was an important way for Britain to control Ireland. The penal laws addressed the issue of taxation, and tied the raised taxes to those who refused to take the oath of allegiance and against transubstantiation. The following penal law is an example:
“All persons, except women, children under 18, and persons paying no more than 2 shillings tax, who fail to take the oaths of allegiance, abhorrence, and the declaration against transubstantiation shall pay double the tax that they otherwise would be charged with.”[21]
The economy of Ireland was also controlled by British parliament. One example of their legislative action was the introduction of a bill in 1697 that suppressed the wool industry of Ireland and encouraged the linen industry.[22] The reason for this bill was that the Irish wool industry was threatening the English wool industry. In 1699, legislation against the export of Irish wool was approved.[23] This bill was not approved however without opposition that came from Ireland. Opposition came from William Molyneux, who was a parliament representative of Dublin University, came out in opposition of this bill. [24] He voiced his opinion in a publication called The Case of Ireland’s being Bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated (1770).[25] Molyneux stated in the publication “nothing should give a Superiority to one People over another in Trade, but superior Honesty, Industry and Skill; no Treaty can bind to the utter Ruin of either Party.”[26] Molyneux also opposed the taxation of Ireland from Britain, and maintained that taxation without consent or representation was unnatural.[27]
Another example of British control of the economy by parliamentary action over Ireland was the Copper Patent, which was granted to William Wood in 1722.[28] The copper patent was introduced as a solution to a problem with the shortage of silver coins in Ireland.[29] The Irish response, even of the Protestant ascendency, to this patent was not at all expected by the British parliament. Irish officials opposed the patents and a series of publications were issued to sway public opinion and the Irish revenue commissioners questioned the right of the London treasury. These reactions caused great concern for the British, because of the fear of revolution at the time. One of the publications opposing the Copper Patent came from Jonathan Swift, the Dean of St. Patrick’s in Ireland. These were called the Drapier’s Letters, and were written under the name of M.B. Drapier.[30] In these publications Swift appealed directly to the shopkeepers and urged them not to accept the newly minted money.[31] Swift explained the poor quality and worth of the new coins, and the damage that they would do especially since they be easily and cheaply counterfeited.[32]
British control in Ireland was effective and precise. There were exceptions to the penal laws, in the fact that the laws were not enforced thoroughly. The penal laws were sometimes not enforced thoroughly; however despite this inadequacy and the grievances voiced by some in the protestant ascendency, such as Molyneux and Swift, Britain still gained effective control of Ireland. Britain successfully used the penal laws and other parliamentary action as a powerful means of political and economic control.
[1] Schaffer, M. Patricia. LAWS IN IRELAND FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF POPERY commonly known as the PENAL LAWS. 26 March 2008. Regents of the University of Minnesota. 26 March 2008. http://local.law.umn.edu/irishlaw/intro.html.
[2] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[3] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[4] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[5] Schaffer, Penal Laws. English Statute 3 Will & Mary, c.2 1691.
[6] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[7] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[8] Schaffer, Penal Laws.
[9] Schaffer, Penal Laws. 9 Will III c.1 (1697).
[10] Schaffer, Penal Laws. English Statute 1 Ann c.26 (1702).
[11] Schaffer, Penal Laws. 2 Ann c.6 (1703).
[12] Lydon, James. The Making of Ireland. (New York: Routledge, 1998) page 217.
[13] Lydon, Ireland. Page 223.
[14] Lydon, Ireland. Page 222.
[15] Lydon, Ireland. Page 223.
[16] Lydon, Ireland. Page 225.
[17] Lydon, Ireland. Page 225.
[18] Lydon, Ireland. Page 207.
[19] Lydon, Ireland. Page 219.
[20] Lydon, Ireland. Page 215.
[21] Schaffer, Penal Laws. 9 Will III c.8 (1697).
[22] Lydon, Ireland. Page 229.
[23] Lydon, Ireland. Page 230.
[24] Lydon, Ireland. Page 229.
[25] William Molyneux, The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament in England, Stated, with a new Preface (London: J. Almon, 1770). Accessed from http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1769 on 2008-03-29.

[26] Molyneux. The Case.
[27] Lydon, Ireland. Page 229.
[28] Lydon, Ireland. Page 231.
[29] Lydon, Ireland. Page 231.
[30] Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal and Other Satires. (New York:Amherst,1995) Page 220.
[31] Swift. Modest Proposal. Page 221.
[32] Swift. Modest Proposal. Page 228.

School Starting

Thursday school starts. I am excited, mostly because I have been waiting all summer for school to start again. I think that maybe next summer I will try to take a class in the summer.

Preparing for this semester has been much easier than other semesters. I have almost all of my books purchased, and I have my notebooks. I will be ready for class.

This time I bought my books online. I don't know why I didn't do this before. Having them sent to my house, also made everything easier. And cheaper!

I am taking:
History of the Middle Ages
History of the Civil War
and Art History (the second part of the class I took last semester)

Looking forward to posting about my first day of classes.

Good Luck to all those who have started and are starting school again!

School countdown

Historical Archaeology

This is one of the classes that I am taking this semester, and I really like the class. I especially like being able to go on the field trips. So far we have had two field trips.

The most recent one was to the Governor Wisner Mansion. Built by Moses Wisner who was the governor from 1859 to 1861.

This is the dining room. We learned that most of the pieces were collected from outside sources. However the cabinet in the back with the ceramics in it, is an actual Wisner piece. The mansion had two bedrooms, a parlor, family room, and office. One thing that the home had the was unusual to Michigan was a summer kitchen.

The first field trip that we took was to the Troy Historical Villiage.

This was neat because it wasn't just one building to visit but several. The first was a log cabin. Then a vernacular Greek Revival Home, which means it was built in the style of Greek revival but by a local craftsmen. Then there was a one-room school house. Which is the red brick building that you can see in the corner of the picture above. The white building next to that was the General Store. Then there was a print shop and a wagon repair shop. Then a parsonage and a Methodist church. It was fascinating.

Back to School

I have officially started all of my classes, as of last night. All of my presumptions were wrong as usual, and my fears dissipated.

I don't know, I had this vision of walking into an auditorium, filled with desks, and starting classes. However I found myself in classes, that were typically smaller than my classes at the community college, and things went pretty well.

I am stepping out of my comfort zone too. Which happens to be a big step in my life. Normally, i look for a seat on a wall, and toward the back. This way i have less people sitting around me. Then I sit there waiting for the class to start, wondering if I am even in the right place. This semester I chose seats more in the middle of the classroom. I found that asking if i was in the right class, was a great conversation starter too. I met some new people. I guess that I didn't jump out of my comfort zone, but I am definitely crawling. Baby steps, right?

I have enjoyed all of my classes. I really missed school. As I have said in previous blogs, I missed the expansion of my mind. I do find that the classes are definitely stretching the mind, more quickly then previous semesters. More is required in the university, but I am enjoying the challenge.

My American History course, explores the end of the 19th century, which to me is an interesting time in our history. A nation struggling to reunify, after a brutal war, and the industries who took advantage of that. The expansion of American ideals, and possibilities. Yet through all of that, people who are struggling to make ends meet. It is completely fascinating to me.

The Historical Archaeology is also interesting. So far we have watched two movies, one about the vikings discovering America, and one about the Jamestown settlement. We have also had lectures. To me it is incredible to be able to look at the smallest artifact and be able to tell so much from a single item.

The Women's Studies class is interesting also. That met for the first time last night. So it is basically an introduction to the Professor and the course. She shared her life story with us which I found very interesting. I think that it takes a lot to stand before 35 students and tell your life story. She then had us take three things, from our purse or backpacks, and describe them. This was hard for me, since I had just switched purses and had cleaned out much of my stuff. My three items were, a notepad that I bought, that has my name and its meaning written on it, a picture of my friends baby, because I love children, and a bottle of tea that I was drinking. In a way these three things tell a lot about myself, so the exercise was very affective. It was neat to see the different things that people shared.

Oh!

I wanted to share a quote with everyone. It is something, that I don't know, it kinda makes you think.

"God is not who you think He is, He's who He said He is."

I hope that everyone is having a good day. Good Luck to all of those who have started school. Made God Bless each of you through your day!

God Bless,
Nicole

School is starting

Well in just just a few short weeks i will be starting school again. And how can i really explain how I feel.

I am nervous. This is a bigger step in my life. Going to a larger college, with more people. But i guess the thing that makes me nervous is that I don't know what to expect. I know this may seem silly, to those who are already in college and already made this step in your life.

I just want to make sure that i am prepared. So that is what i will be trying to do. Make sure everything is taken care of, and that i can start with out any problems.

Other than school starting, cant say that there is too many other new things in my life. There are a few. But why bore everyone, lol.

Alright i hope that everyone has a Blessed Day!