The Second Millenium

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1610!

Using his telescope, Galileo discovers the four biggest moons of Jupiter. (Yes, I've seen them with a telescope). This proves that the Earth is not the only object that is orbited, strengthening the Heliocentric Theory.

More English settlers arrive in Jamestown, Virginia, finding only 60 survivors left. Later, they massacre the Paspahegh tribe, which had been friendly to the English when they had first arrived. By next year, the Paspahegh had disappeared forever.

After defeating a combined Russian-Swedish army, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupies Moscow.

The Manchu break off from China to form their own dynasty. By 1664, the Manchu have conquered China.

 

[Vince53]

Oh Thank Heaven for 1611. Literally. We're gong to be here a while.

The Dominican order establishes Saint Thomas University in Manila (in the Philippines), the oldest university in Asia. It currently has over 42,000 students.

Four different astronomers with telescopes discover sunspots. These are massive storms on the gaseous surface of the Sun

The great English explorer Henry Hudson, along with seven others, are set adrift by mutinous crewmen and are never heard from again.

Hundreds of armed, well-provisioned settlers arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.

Moscow suffers a major fire in an unsuccessful revolt against their Polish conquerors.

 

[Vince53]

And now, for the greatest event of 1611:

The King James Version is published.

Brethren, there is so much misinformation and accusations about the KJV that I'm going to be here a while with the historical facts.

The first edition was printed by a variety of printers. Some printed all the pages for their section of the Bible; some print shops were so small that portions of the first edition were printed by more than one printer.

The first edition was a "folio." It was printed on stiff, loose-leaf paper that was not bound into a book. It was printed ONLY for Anglican churches, not for lay people. It was printed on one side only.

The first edition refers to Ruth as "he," gaining the scornful nickname of "the he Bible."

Marginal notes were put in the center in order to make everything fit. These notes gave alternate translations and cross-references. The custom of printing KJVs with two columns on each page has often continued, with or without the margin in the center.

Under strict orders from King James, no commentary was included. The Apocrypha was included, although most KJVs today omit it.

After giving printers time to repair and replace worn plates, the second edition was also printed in 1611. Except for correcting the mistake in calling Ruth "he," the second edition is exactly identical to the first edition in every respect, AND there is no way to tell the pages apart.

You have never read or even seen a 1611 KJV.

¶ For God so loued þe world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.

 

[Vince53]

The KJV New Testament was translated from the Greek "Received Text." Is this an inferior text?

There are about 5,000 Greek manuscripts in existence, most of which contain only portions of the New Testament. So why do we say "about"? Can't they count them? Some manuscripts appear to be the same manuscript that has been cut apart. Some consist of lengthy quotes that are part of a theology discourse. Some are only fragments, while others are lengthy.

Of these 5,000 manuscripts, about 4,975 (99.5%) are either:
1) The Received Text
2) The Received Text with spelling errors (By far the most common)
3) The Received Text with modernized Greek words--these manuscripts were written centuries after the New Testament and use more modern Greek words that mean the same thing.

Of the 25 remaining texts, most of their differences consist of "shortenings"--phrases such as "our lord and savior jesus christ" are shortened to "christ," probably to save space, as parchment and paper were very expensive.

The two oldest Greek manuscripts appear to be rejects that were set aside as unfit for use. Full of bad spellings and shortenings, they are "the oldest and most reliable manuscripts" that are often used to attack the KJV. Claims like this boost the sales of modern translations, but they are inaccurate.

However, the Pershitta Manuscript, which does not include the book of Revelation, is older than these two. Written in Aramaic (not Greek) it agrees with the Received Text.

 

[Vince53]

The chief printer was so overwhelmed with the volume of work that he had sub-contracted to his rivals, and variations crept in. In 1612, copies of the KJV were being sold to the public in book form. New plates had been made for the smaller-sized books, and printer's mistakes, misspellings, deliberate word changes for certain areas, etc., appeared.

Two complete 1611 KJVs exist, and they were organized through purchases and donations. They are not from the same Bible, and it is impossible to tell if their pages are from the first or the second editions. And they contradict each other. WE HAVE LOST THE TEXT OF THE ORIGINAL KING JAMES VERSION--God did not preserve it, as He did with His Word.

And if I goe and prepare a place for you, I will come againe, and receiue you vnto my selfe, that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:3

 

[Vince53]

Perhaps to boost sales, the publishers of the New American Standard Version reported that the translators of the KJV were incompetent. Actually, they were so fluent in Greek and other ancient languages that they regularly read, wrote, and even taught in those languages.

No translation of the Bible, into any language and at any time has had a more competent group of translators than the KJV. Every single KJV translator, without exception, was more competent than every single NASV translator.

The Greek language was very well-known in 1611, and almost no new knowledge of classical Greek has emerged since then. And we saw yesterday that the KJV used the very best text.

However, there are mistakes.

 

[Vince53]

Despite using a perfect text and being the most competent group of scholars ever assembled to translate the Bible, there were mistakes.

In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asks his disciples "But whom say ye that I am?" It should be "who," and every KJV ever printed contains this mistake.

Jeremiah 32:5 looks like it should end in a period: And he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and there shall he be until I visit him, saith the LORD: though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper. But it should end in a question mark. Huh? The sentence begins in verse 3, and the entire sentence is a question. Verse 5 should end in a question mark. Many KJVs have corrected this mistake, and many have not.

The point? The KJV translators were not preserved from error.

 

[Vince53]

For the last time, we return to the history of the KJV.

There was so much fighting and lawsuits between the printers that the British government authorized Cambridge University and Oxford University to be the only official printers. And thus began a series of minor contradictions that lasted for centuries. A misspelled word here, a minor word change there, and these differences were continued by the university that started them. Sometimes, the two would print new editions in the same year that contradicted each other.

And now for some hatred. There have been several major revisions of the KJV, authorized by the British government. Almost all KJVs in use today are the 1769 revision. Then, various printers and companies made their own changes. In printing new KJVs, printers often purchased plates from older printings that were from different revisions. No joke, there are over 8,000 slightly different KJVs! Almost all of the differences involve spelling. Most of the rest involve word changes to words that mean the same thing. And a few are actual word changes to get a different meaning.

Heauen and earth shal passe away: but my words shall not passe away.

The KJV Only movement has flooded the internet with sites denying that there were any revisions. But if you simply type 1611 KJV online into any search engine, you will see that the KJV you have today is not the 1611 KJV.

 

[Vince53]

FINALLY! We've gotten to 1612.

Sweden bans commoners from holding any high office.

Edward Wightman, a first-class fanatic, becomes the last Englishman burned at the stake for heresy. His insistence that he was the Messiah, that the Church of England was evil, and that Jesus was only a man were only some of his doctrines. The real problem was that he was a powerful speaker and writer.

Matthias begins his unsuccessful eight yer reign as Holy Roman Emperor. A moderate Catholic, he reluctantly agrees to grant more freedom to the Protestants in order to strengthen his Empire. But hard-line Catholics opposed him, and when he died, they seized the Throne.

Galileo discovers Neptune but thinks it is a star. 234 years will pass before astronomers realize that it is a planet.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1613

Out of the chaos caused by famine and war, the House of Romanov takes over Russia. They rule until overthrown by the Communists in 1917. Under their incompetent rule, Russia will spend three centuries as a troubled, backward, isolated nation.

Galileo shows that the Sun rotates on its axis. (You didn't know that, did you?)


Workmen discover a buried tomb with the name "Teutobochus" inscribed. Inside, they find the skeleton of a man between 25 and 39 feet tall. Analysis shows the bones to be those of an elephant (there is disagreement over which species) and the original discoverers probably thought it was Teutobochus, a legendary giant ancient king.


Jamestown, Virginia, begins shipping tobacco to England.


Japanese ambassadors arrive in Mexico on their way to visit the Pope.


Arabs establish a small fishing village named "Kuwait." Today it is an oil-rich nation that ranks high in personal liberty among the Arab world.

 

[Vince53]

It's 1614 today.

In Indonesia, Aceh, a Moslem kingdom, sinks a small Portuguese fleet.


The Knights Templar are hanging on to existence, but they defeat an Ottoman invasion of Malta.


The last major revolt against the new shogunate in Japan begins. Next year, the Japanese government will destroy the clan leading the revolt. In an unrelated event, Japan bans Christianity.

 

[Vince53]

You're just in time for 1615!

Born into a Calvinist family, John Ogilvie converted to Catholicism at age 17. Eventually becoming a Jesuit priest, he sneaked into Scotland and secretly preached Catholicism (which was banned). After capture, he was tortured for over eight days but refused to reveal the names of Scottish Catholics. He was hanged, and a brief anti-Catholic persecution followed, but without any executions.

Moslem raiders destroy all the manuscripts and artwork at a Georgian Orthodox monastery, killing all the monks. Already a thousand years old but built out of rock, the monastery survives. After long use as a Soviet military base, it is once again a monastery, tourist attraction, and place of pilgrimage.

A Spanish whaling expedition lands in Iceland, and the sailors are slaughtered by the inhabitants. Sparce records show that three Spanish whaling ships were wrecked on the rocks, making the sailors criminals for being in Iceland illegally.

 

[Vince53]

Grab your muskets! It's 1616!

What? You've never heard of Cardinal Richeleu? He's the chief villain in the fictional "Three Musketeers," and this year he becomes the Chief Minister of France. A brilliant politician, he ruthlessly crushed opposition, strengthened the government, and even strengthened France's position in Canada.


With France's bungling King unable to throw off the rule of his mother, Richeleu rose to power as the King's most trusted advisor. The cardinal was removed from power once by the Queen Mother, but restored after he successfully negotiated an end to the civil war she started.


He provided military support for Protestants fighting the Pope, while persecuting Protestants in France. He survived another attempt by the Queen Mother to get rid of him--she was exiled from the government, while his power was increased. His extensive network of spies kept the nobility from rebelling, with one exception that was easily defeated.


During the Thirty Years War, Richeleu kept France mostly neutral while providing money to different sides. His efforts were successful in keeping the Habsburgs from surrounding France with hostile nations. When it was over, France had benefited more from the war than any other nation.


Historians regard him as a competent but ruthless patriot who persecuted his opponents but produced a powerful France. Widely regarded as a villain due to his portrayal in Three Musketeers films (over ninety of them), he is well thought of in modern France.

 

[Vince53]

So much happened in 1616 that we had to go back.

Galileo openly challenges the Catholic Church, insisting that the Sun is the center of the universe. Elsewhere the Catholic church forbids anyone to read the writings of Copernicus until they are corrected to state that the heliocentric theory in only a theory. Four years later, his writings are changed and scientists begin reading them.

William Harvey was not the first person to explain that blood circulates in the body--Servitus, who had been burned at the stake by Calvinists for trying to plunge Europe into a destructive war, had already figured it out centuries ago. But Harvey gets the credit because he now begins explaining and proving his theory.

After successfully defending his mother against charges of witchcraft (a sick woman had accused Kepler's mother of putting a spell on her) Kepler is also accused, but nothing comes of it.

English explorers in Canada sail so far north that their record holds for another 236 years.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1617!

Bohemia's new King begins a Catholic counter-reformation.

Sweden burns seven women at the stake for witchcraft.

Large armies from the powerful Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the powerful Ottoman Empire meet, but then they decide to negotiate. Poland loses more than it gains, but the Ottomans agree to stop raiding Polish territory. Both sides quickly begin breaking the treaty.

28 year old Mustafa I inherits the Throne of the Ottoman Empire. Why? He is mentally ill, and palace officials can continue to rule without him giving them any problems.

 

[Vince53]

1618 just rode in.

Dutch Calvinists conduct the Synod of Dort, in which Arminians are put on trial. Calvinists handle the defense, the prosecution, the entire panel of judges, and the testimony, with the "Guilty" verdict finalized before the trial begins. Arminians are not allowed to attend. The Synod endorses Irresistible Grace, a doctrine that no Protestant Reformer, including John Calvin, believed in.

The Thirty Years War begins. Fought mostly in Germany, it will devastate central Europe for three decades. It began as a civil war within the Holy Roman Empire between the Catholics and Protestants. It expanded to include the Habsburg Family's attempts to control more territory. About 8 million people, including civilians will die, the populations of Germany and Italy will decrease significantly, the Habsburgs will be stopped (though not destroyed), the Swedish Empire will begin, the Netherlands will keep its independence from Spain, Calvinism will spread into areas held by Lutherans and Catholics, and the Catholic Church will be weakened.

The first Dutch newspaper “Current Events from Italy, Germany, etc.” is published.

A massive rockslide destroys Piuro in southern Switzerland, killing about 2,427 people.

 

[Vince53]

It is now 1619, and...

Comets have always been difficult to understand. Telescopes showed that the tail of a comet always pointed away from the Sun. Johannes Kepler postulates a solar wind to explain the direction of comet tails.


Virginia begins importing African slaves. However, the law requires them to be set free after they have earned enough for their masters to pay their expenses.

The Manchu rebellion in China is so successful that the Manchu have seized large areas. China sends a a massive infantry force, including cannon and flintlocks, but the suffer a major defeat from the Manchu cavalry.

The Holy Roman Emperor chooses a bad time to die, leaving his nation leaderless in the face of the Thirty Years War. In the first major battle of the war, the Protestants lose. And then other major battles break out throughout the Empire.

The powerful Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth reaches its greatest extant.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1620, my friends.

The Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock. English Dissenters who had fled to the Netherlands, they had made a business contract with English companies to form a colony in Virginia. Blown off course and running out of beer, they land instead in the northern United States and establish the second-oldest US city: Plymouth, Massachusetts. Their kindly treatment of the Indians (who kept them alive the first few years) and their joint celebration of Thanksgiving, have turned them into beloved American legends.

The Banda Islands are ten islands in modern Indonesia that were the world’s only source of nutmeg and mace. The Dutch and English were in competition for the profitable trading rights, with the two going to warfare over these rights. This year, the Netherlands invades the islands, massacres about 13,000 of the 14,000 inhabitants, and imports slaves and criminals as laborers. This begins the Dutch conquest of Indonesia, which is later renamed "The Dutch East Indies."

The first English-language newspaper begins.

Both the modern violin and the merry-go-round are invented.

A fantastic thirteen day cold snap freezes the Thames River in England and kills many of the farm animals in Scotland.

 

[Vince53]

All right Son, it's 1621.

Pope Gregory XV begins his successful two year reign as Pope. A mediocre diplomat in poor heath, he made his vigorous young nephew a major cardinal, and the nephew solved a lot of problems. The Pope donated money for wars against the Protestants and the Turks, while keeping his own armies safe. He initiated Papal elections by secret ballot (still in force), reformed what corruption he could find, and stayed out of most European politics.


But with Europe embroiled in the Thirty Years War, Turkey invades eastern Europe. A combined Polish, Lithuanian, and Cossack army fights a thirty-seven day long battle that stops the Turks. No territory changes hands, and a peace treaty recognizes all current boundaries.


In the United States, friendly Indians approach the starving Pilgrims, show them how to plant crops in their new land, and sign the first treaty between Europeans and American Indians. Massasoit, who lived into his nineties, kept a half century of peace between the Indians and the Pilgrims.


During October, the Pilgrims and Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. It is not the first time that a Thanksgiving feast was held in the Americas, but it is the beginning of the annual Thanksgiving feasts that Americans still celebrate. Because wild turkey are so intelligent, they are hard to shoot, and so they were among the delicacies served. And the Indians astound the Pilgrims by putting dried corn into a clay pot over a fire and producing--popcorn!



Catholic invaders easily defeat Protestant defenders at the Battle of White Mountain. With Bohemia now firmly under control, the Holy Roman Empire forces Catholicism on them. Protestants are ordered to convert or leave, and most of them peacefully convert. 27 years later, the population had decreased from 3 million to 800,000, but not because of executions--the Empire had destroyed much of the farmland.


In France, the Huguenots revolt--again.

 

[Vince53]

It's still 1621, we're still eating Thanksgiving dinner, and we're going to introduce one of the guests-- Massasoit, "The Great Chief."

Massasoit was Chief of the Wampanoag Indians, as well as the Great Chief of the Wampanoag Confederacy. It is difficult to figure out the motives of this great American leader. There is no question that the Pilgrims would have died if not for him. Yet he steadily prevented the Pilgrims from converting his people to Christianity. He was a highly-travelled man who would later form an alliance with a colony in Connecticut, and he might have understood the potential of Europe's vast population and wanted to form strong alliances with them.

He sent Samoset, a subordinate chief who had learned broken English from English sailors to the Pilgrims, and he later brought them Squanto, a former slave who had lived in England for years and spoke excellent English. Squanto had returned to his native land to learn that his tribe had been exterminated by disease and he was the only one left.

Tensions increased as more colonists (not all of them as religious as the Pilgrims) arrived and demanded more land. Massasoit sold them steadily more land and worked to keep the peace. He kept his people out of two major Indian wars.

The Wampanoag ("Easterners") only numbered in the thousands, and they would later be decimated by disease. After Massasoit's death, the Pilgrims actually entered an Indian war on the side of their Wampanoag allies. But it was the Puritans, who came later and despised the Pilgrims, who stole most of the Wampanoag land. The Puritans did convert many of the Wampanoag to Christianity, and about 2,000 Wampanoag live in New England today.