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:

http://www.rosenweinshorthistory.com/

Talk to you all soon

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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_(comics)

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!

http://www.knhcentre.manchester.ac.uk/continuingeducation/certificateinegyptology/

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

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.

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:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Westphalia

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.