zaterdag 16 juli 2011

my laptop is slowly dying, so I am not quite sure for how long I will be able to post here before I have to buy another one. In the meantime I sort of did not finish Bettenhäuser. I became aware of the fact that I have not practiced German enough the past couple of years to understand it. I guess I will have to buy some German newspapers first in order to get back in shape on that one.

The book I lent this week at our local library is a blessing though it even has its own websit:


Talk to you all soon


vrijdag 8 juli 2011

Het Oude Egypte

I have the annoying habit of (trying) to read two or more books at the same time. Next to Bettenhäusers dissertation, I indulged myself with a book on egyptology. It is a dutch translation of an english book. This makes it easier to read for me, I can not yet stand reading two books in a foreign language at the same time. The book by Silverman (or at least its translation) is set up quite simply. In just 2-3 pages per chapter it shortly describes an aspect of egyptian daily life and thoughts. I usually read just 1-2 chapters every evening before going to sleep.

Egypt....I used to watch the (french?) tv-series Papyrus, when I was still a kid...my first encounter. Secondly I am a great fan of ancient religious stories, such as about Horus, Osiris and Isis.


Anyway so much history....so little time. Although I doubt Egyptology will be my field of specialism in the future. I guess you will have to be in Egypt for extended periodes of time. At the moment, I think my family should be more important to me than my academic career LOL.

Just found out that there is an online course in egyptology!


Maybe something to think about for after my MA (so that shoudl be in about 10 years :O.

donderdag 7 juli 2011

List

So my idea is to make a list here and add when I am thinking of reading and after having read a book. The list will grow ofcourse

Still to read

John Tosh: the pursuit of history (2009)
Friso Wielenga: Nederland in de twintigste eeuw (2009)
The Cambridge illustrated history of Warfare
B. Rosenwein: A short history of the Middle Ages
Th.F.X. Noble: Western Civilization beyond boundaries

Reading

David P. Silverman (translated): Het Oude Egypte (2004)
E. Bettenhäuser: Die Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel auf dem Westfälischen Friedenskongress 1644-1648 (1982).


Familiy-arities

So I started Bettenhäuser later last night. Immediately I was struck with names of famous people (at least to me they are): Amelie Elisabeth Gräfin v. Hanau-Münzenberg, Landgraf Moritz, Landgraf Wilhelm VI, so that was recognisable to me and helped a lot when I read the book. Of course it is a dissertation, so it does not really read like any childhood bedtimestory. Still when there are some familiarities it is easier to comprehent. The dissertation starts of with a description of the country Hessen-Cassel and the familiy of the Landgrave in the period leading up to the Marburger Erbfolgestreit. It goes on with a description of the several alliances Landgräfin Amalie Elisabeth was in with France and Sweden. That's basically as far as I got last night.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marburger_Erbfolgestreit#Marburger_Erbfolgestreit

The second familiarity I found (or knew to find) in this book was the name of one of the 4 delegates to the Congress of Westphalen (not in Münster bot in Osnabrück): Nicolaus Christoph Mü/u/ild(e)ner (well, it IS the 17th century, so no-one really knew how to write his or her name correctly or rather there was not yet a register with the rightname of the individual set-up). The line of his descendants probably did not die out completely, there are still some people in the Hannover area of Germany whom I suspect to descent of(or is it from?) him. Most of the descending lines however as far as I have been able to research, died out (1). Anyway, he is mentioned about 4-6 times in Bettenhäuser. He replaced one of the originale delegates, who was injured in a fall. I have not come yet to the description of NCM's heroic acts, but I will keep you posted.

(1) to prevent further "pollution" in this blog I will just state here that I am preparing a publication on the ancestors and descendants of Nikolaus Christoph Müldner.

woensdag 6 juli 2011

Getting started

So I guess I could say I am getting started right after my new beginning. First, let me tell you which book I am reading at the moment. It is the 1982 dissertation of Dr. Erwin Bettenhäuser (1911). He received his Mainz University promotion when he was 71. This does encourage me. I hope to get my PhD before my 71st birthday though.

His dissertation is on the Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel auf dem Westfälischen Friedenskongress 1644-1648 (The Landgraviate of Hessen-Cassel at the Congress of Westphalen (aka Congress of Münster in the Netherlands) . I have to admit this book was on my wishlist because of the fact that someone who bears the same familyname as I do (though I am not a direct descendant) was on the hessian-cassel delegation during this Congress. At the same time, I am very much interested in the history of my native (historic-)country, Hessen-Cassel so I guess this is a good book for me to pick up where I left of sometime ago.

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about:

So at the moment I have this problem that the part of history I am most interested in, played quite a distance from where I live today. This means that should I need anything more then just literature, I will either have to travel quite some distance (costs) or have the sources scanned and send to me, which will not be much cheaper I guess......bummer, but still 2-3 more years to go before I start on my BA....

New beginnings

Studying history. I am so excited I can hardly wait. So why a blog then? Well, partly because I would like to practice my writing skills in English, partly because here I would like to set up a place where I will think about what I have read and write something about it.
Maybe not as interesting for you, maybe it proves to be just that on occasion -) Please forgive my occasional smileys, I am a product of the chat-era.