Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

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The gem of this castle complex is the old castle church, the Schlosskirche.  Irish missionaries arrived here about 500 AD - a Carolingian church, think Charlemagne era, was built in 762 AD.  This church probably dates from 900-1000 AD. S, but the square tower could be from the original church, ee ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/spiez-castle-church?source=ge

Schlosskirche, Tower, Castle Church, Spiez Castle complex, Swizerland

Early churches also served as refuges. Many had no windows, or very narrow ones at a higher height, not easy eye level, suitable for archers.

Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Frescoes inside Schloss Kirche, or the Castle Church, are faded - Christ Enthroned - but lighting is provided.  Just put on the spotlights for yourself.  Turn the lights out when you leave.

Frescoes, Schloss Kirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Narrow doors also were a defensive measure in many early castles and churches.  Persons in armor had a difficult time passing through, and had to go single file.  Meanwhile, on the other side, waited the ....
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Narrow interior door, Castle Church, Schlosskirche, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

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See the dim insides, with no windows at eye level.  All the light just tumbles in at the altar.

Altar area view, Spiez, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Dignitaries had to be accommodated. 
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Bishop's Chair, the "Cathedra", or for other dignitary, Schlosskirche, Castle Church, Spiez Castle, Switzerland

Here, the Bishop's Chair, we believe. The enclosed foot and leg space would keep out drafts. No heating. Look at old pews as well - often high backed, with partitions and doors to the aisle.

But most of the oldest churches did not provide pews - just straw on the floor of a large milling-around area, where people stood, not sat. Later there may be individual chairs to move about.

Choir stalls, however, may have seating, including fold-up seats with little shelves you could arrange your behind upon, and look as though you were standing but you were really just butt-balancing.  People in the choir and doing the services were not free to leave at any time.  They needed support.

Crypt:  Always ask for one. The crypt here was locked.  Those tend to look alike, so we did not mind. Go down the old stairs, see the niches, the big coffin-holders, the sculptures on top of those within. Was this one different? We'll never know. In Germany, many crypts served as good bomb shelters.

This I hesitate to identify as part of the view from the Schlosskirche, because I am not sure. Is this later Murten, another town to the far west?  Need to check.  The Schlosskirche is on Lake Thun, with a lovely view of the little harbor there.  Spiez or Murten? We think this is Lake Thun, despite the lower mountains to the other side. But the roof tiles look Murten. Will get back to you.
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Spiez Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Spiez, Castle at the Town on Lake Thun

The castle complex here at Spiez is located for maximum views of the lake, mountains and countryside. The castle itself, here (see the church at another post) shows the transition from defense to residence, old tower, later stately mansion. Rooms originate in the 1200's through the 1700's, but the castle itself dates from the 10th-11th Centuries. Fortified colonies here date to 1000 BC.

The name:  More Celtic connections - the name of the town came from the Gaelic word for corn, says this site. See ://www.swissqualityhotels.com/hotels/Switzerland/spiez/about.asp?_lang=en/ *

* Corn? We thought that crop was North or South American?

Spijates and Spiez.  The word is "spijates". Have to look that up.  Just did.  Can't believe all you read. Spijates here is defined as "thorn" and not corn at all.  And it is indeed Celtic, not Gaelic. See http://www.epinions.com/review/trvl-Dest-Europe-Switzerland/trvl-review-7D6D-9EC060-394B064F-prod1/  Isn't Gaelic later than Celtic?  Yes. Celts were all over Europe before being shoved into the British Isles, and finally the remotes of Ireland and Scotland. See their history at ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html

For looks at the relationship of Gaels and Celts, see ://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/  There are six languages in the Celtic group. Gaelic is English for a cluster of three of them:  the Irish, the Manx, and the Scots.

Spiez Castle, residence side, Lake of Thun, Switzerland

Spiez Castle, Tower, Lake Thun, Switzerland

The tower is Romanesque with 13th Century Graffiti, we now learn, but did not see.  Is that it above the window, preserved? This site calls it medieval castle with baroque style, but that can't be right.  Centuries separate medieval from baroque. Fine to say originated as medieval, later redecorated in baroque.  See //www.interlaken.ch/erlebnisse/sommer/kultur/schloss-spiez.html?L=3

Castle Thun at War; Metalwork. Castle Chillon. Armor for Women and Men, Castle Defenses

Part III. Women in War 

Men in War

Metalwork, War, Culture

Without the forge, the smith, there could have been no weapons or defenses as effective as were developed in medieval-renaissance times.  Look at the detail work on the mechanisms, the suits of armor for both women and men here at the Chillon Castle.  The woman's is (obviously) third from right. Room for the busty-chesty (not quite Rubenesque, who would have come later) and with an efficient, tidy, defined waist. 

Woman's armor, among the men's, Chillon Castle, Switzerland, 3d from right.

How was the metalwork done. Forges used to be commonplace. See a forge, for farm implements - like scythes - at ://www.beautifuliron.com/vienna_techmuseum.htm/. For a history of medieval technology, see ://www.engr.sjsu.edu/pabacker/history/middle.htm/  It sounds like a short step from the sharp heavy blade of the scythe to the fine steel of the sword, but the differences in tempering, honing, took centuries. Locks, bolts, hinges, not just the swords and armor, all needed for survival. Anything could be a weapon. See ://www.medieval-castle-siege-weapons.com/weapon-of-medieval-times.html/

Iron bolt, door, Thun Castle, Switzerland

The sword - mastery of it began in childhood, with gradual strength building so that the young adult and adult eventually had the shoulder, back, core and arm, hand and wrist strength to wield the 4-foot blade, length estimated here.
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Medieval Sword, looks about 4-foot in length, to handle. Thun Castle Museum, Switzerland.

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Castle stairs as a defense.  The coiled stairs to the tall towers wound up to the right, so that the attacker coming up the stairs (assuming a right-handed assailant) could not swing his sword from his strong side.  The defender, however, looking down at the attacker, had the room and advantage of a full right-arm swing at him.  Ropes were used to thread through as railings, so that if attacked, the rope could be severed and not interfere with the sword's action. A metal railing would obstruct.

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Castle tower staircase, winding up to the right.Thun Castle, Switzerland. The defender above had full arm swing down, for the sword. The attacker's right arm, as he fought his way up, would be constricted. 

Armor.  Armor that covered the entire body was designed for equestrian use. Thus, it is logical that a woman could play that part as needed, and did. Some armor has a female appearance.  It takes time to recognize it, however, because we are not taught that role in history classes. It takes seeing. Then do the research and find that it was so.

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Woman's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland.

Other armor has no such suggestion, just accommodations for different body types.  These do not look at all female.
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Suits of men's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland

Now look back at the woman's armor, in its position next to the man's at Thun Castle Museum.  The two are intentionally juxtaposed to show the difference. See Women and Knighthood in the Middle Ages at http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/

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Armor for the woman, front angle in context with armor for the man; Thun Castle Museum, Switzerland

Women in war.  Not unusual. Done as needed, and done as the skills and interest warranted.  Then quietly slipped out of the history books as her cultural role became as constricted as the castle coiling staircases, deny the one trying to get up.

Medieval Female Knights.

There were female orders of knights.  See Women Knights at ://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/wom-kn.htm/.   Read about the Order of the Hatchet in Catalonia (Spain) 1149 AD - and the women who defended Tortona against the Moors.  A dame so admitted to the order received benefits, tax exemptions, "and took precedence over men in public assemblies." They were called cavalleros or knights - the author suggests using cavalleras,

Read on there about the Order of the Glorious Saint Mary in 1223, where women of Bologna were granted the rank of militessa. Pope Sixtus dissolved this group in 1558.

On and on.  Netherlands, England, military orders, the female grand-cross. Modern military orders include the French Legion of Honor where the women are called "chevaliers".  Take a day with the heraldica site.  Order thee some armor, lass.

Castle Thun, Schloss Thun, Switzerland

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Thun Castle was built in about 1195. Celtic tribes had lived here until their defeat in 58 BC, that defeat beginning in France with Roman victories, and then extending to Switzerland. The Celtic lands were vast, and culture was longstanding, but they left no written records. Their word for fortress, something like "dun", or "dunum" at this site, became Thun. See ://home.att.net/~long.hair/steffi/thun/thun.html/

View across, Castle Thun, Switzerland

The Romans were pushed out in about 400 AD, Irish priests came and converted folk in the 500's AD and then two groups battled it out:  the Latin-speaking Christian-Burgundians; and the German-speaking Allemani. Enter the French, after a time of this and that with the Charlemagne group, and more centuries of jockeying. See the steffi site above.

Locks, door to prison in tower, Castle Thun, Switzerland

The dynasties and fighting would take pencil and paper and a graphic outline and time line to absorb. Ultimately, Bern and the Germans assumed a greater role in governing the area.

Thun, Manacles, prison in tower, Schloss Thun, Castle Thun, Switzerland

In 1322, during an inheritance dispute, one royal brother, Eberhard, wounded his competing royal brother, Hartmann, and had him hurled from the parapet. See ://home.att.net/~long.hair/steffi/thun/thun.html/.

View down, Schloss Thun, Castle Thun, Switzerland. Brudermord from here?

Brudermord. The Brother Murder.

Enjoy this site for more photos, see ://www.tompgalvin.com/places/ch/thun.htm/.

Architecture for the Elements and Uses: Heavy-Duty Chalets, Balconies, Recesses

The weight and blow of the snow can be difficult to imagine in the fall or summer months in Switzerland.  But the architecture is a reminder of the practical need to deflect the elements, hold up the tons, keep windows clear.  The size of the front overhang tells the story. See the supports needed to hold and protect that overhang from yet more weight. Read about the development of the architecture at ://www.mountainpassions.com/culture_environment/mountain_chalet.htm/.

The Workhorse Chalet, Switzerland

The balconies are useful for drying clothes, and even storing fruits and vegetables, says the Origins and Architecture site.  In the mountains, roofs can be timber planking combined with thatch and/or slates of limestone, or spruce tiles.

Seasoning over generations.

Long-seasoned (aged) wood, old spruce, with the tannin that darkens with age, would be held back and used for roofs only when the seasoning had made them strong enough. In some cases, wood would be stored for the roof use, at the lowest level where the firewood was, the big logs facing out, for generations before being put in place.
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 Chalet-balcony principles, town residence, Thun, Switzerland

Here are some interiors of classic chalets. See ://www.mountainpassions.com/living/chalet_abondance.htm/  There, see the wood stacked at the lowest level for fireplace use (accessible from inside), and the logs being seasoned, facing out.  The wood-stacking added a layer for insulation as well. Mosses and lichens stop up the drafts inside.

Einigen, Kirche, Church and Legend; Lake Thun

There are twelve churches on Lake Thun, and this, St. Michael's,  is apparently the "mother" church, see //www.myswitzerland.com/en.cfm/destinations/nature/offer-About_Wedding-Wedding_Chappels-308480.html/ It was built in 1223, see http://www.ywam-einigen.ch/?p=region/.
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Einigen Kirche, Einegen Church, Lake Thun, Switzerland

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Read the legend of the Duke Strattlingen, his patron, the Archangel Michael, and the miraculous return of the Duke to his wife just before she was to be remarried (he had given permission years before, if he did not return to claim her), and the building of this church in thanksgiving.

See that and more legends at Legends of Switzerland, at google books at page 116 give or take; at ://books.google.com/books?id=k_8YAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=Einigen+church+Switzerland&source=bl&ots=phhulMRaoO&sig=i_5dN8MsqNbdgMDHNnoQoFYqzDU&hl=en&ei=60MdS_KGJYzjlAfK1e3xCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CBcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=&f=false/.

Oberhofen Castle, Lake Thun, Switzerland

Castle Oberhofen, Schloss Oberhofen, Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland

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Oberhofen am Thunersee

Drive around Lake Thun, going the high road, not the easy coastal lake road, and find Oberhofen - dating from the 13th Century, passed into the hands of the Austrian Habsburgs, then the Bernese from the north (also German-speaking), other comings and goings and, ultimately a museum, and now an independent foundation again. See ://www.schlossoberhofen.ch/en/home/history/; remembering that schloss means castle.

Oberhofen Castle, Tower Detail, Lake Thun, Switzerland

There are parks and gardens along the lake, Lake Thun. The castle is a branch of the Bernese Historical Museum. See also ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/top_attractions/attractions-museums/castle-oberhofen-museum-and-park.html/ Oberhofen am Thunersee. We even tried to find more of its history using the non-English, and find little. Still looking. Who were the original people?

Schloss Oberhofen, Gated Entryway, Lake of Thun, Switzerland; Castle Oberhofen

Minaret ban, Switzerland. Height; and Vista Preservation; not Xenophobia

Articles and comment about the Swiss ban on minarets.  These can be really high.  Here is one, a mosque with its minaret on Gibraltar, the minaret at least double the height of the mosque below.
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Minaret, mosque, Gibraltar

The articles against the Swiss ban on more minarets focus so far, mostly, on outrage: that Switzerland would restrict how people worship; that it is intolerant and closed.  See overview at the Harvard Law Review, at ://www.hlrecord.org/opinion/switzerland-s-minaret-ban-about-more-than-xenophobia-1.951293/  Does the Swiss ban really signify a high degree of fear and uncertainty. No.  It is pragmatic.

• Pragmatism.  

Minarets are no more necessary to religious practice than steeples.

Focus instead on the pragmatic impact of minarets on the practice of the religion.  Is it necessary.  No.  No more than our steeples are. What role does the minaret really play in the practice of the religion: it is no more symbolic than a steeple is. And the practice can go on without it. See role of the minaret at Swiss Minaret Ban, Narrow Tourist Vista Purpose.

Minarets do impact negatively on the tourist industry on which Switzerland substantially relies. How about the pragmatic impact of the proliferation of minarets on an industry on which Switzerland relies:  the tourism industry, the photographic opportunities, the lure of pretend.
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Thun Castle, view from tower, Switzerland

Interlaken, for example, is more Eastern-Indian-Other foreign than Swiss, it appears in walking about, and the experience is just that: global, great food, international, but not "Swiss" if that is important to you.

This idea of preserving the history, the tourism (that brings in money) also applies to Austria, and Northern Italy, the other angles of this most recent regional trip. Our photos and desire to return depend on fantasy. Is that worth preserving? Maybe not.

What if there had been minarets or other religious symbols dotting the landscape above roof level at Castle Bruck, Lienz, Austria;

Bruck Castle, view, Lienz, Austria

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or Turin, Italy, a city with a vast eastern and middle eastern population - just follow the trolley lines to the center, and go through vast markets.

• Fostering some "Pretend" in our lives
  

People make all kinds of things up to get by. Religion and romance and regret (the real Three R's) are full of it.

The "Pretend" involved here, in this minaret issue, is that you live or lived in this castle, yodeled on that hillside, were watching Heidi, or learning of William tell, or there when the Romans were, at Avenches or other places with Romans in Switzerland, or you were in a medieval canton, a renaissance or baroque church as it was being constructed.  I am a princess, yes, I watched from this window as my knight rode ever nearer.  Nuts, yes, but fun. Disney is made of fantasy.

I may well have had my own armor, yes, I did.  Take that, you stereotypers.

Women and men's armor, Thun Castle, Switzerland

• Promoting photography, scenic vistas.  Would we have taken this picture or that, if there had been a minaret there.  

 Probably not. Minarets are counter-old history. They are modern amalgamation symbols in modern countries with diverse populations.  Switzerland is modern and a mix, but its broad ethnic diversity should not hinder its tourism industry that profits on the old.

So: as tourists, we would have tried to move to another angle if a minaret had appeared in the lens, to avoid the intrusion of another culture's modern symbol when we were indulging our fantasies, much as we also avoid power lines and tour buses and Big Macs.

• Xenophobia?

Fear of the new, different, strange to oneself? See ://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/xenophobia/

Not necessarily.  We see banning minarets as a desire for the experience we paid for:  the imagination, the fantasy, the beauty of the old scenes, untouched by the modern. Learning history. Is that worth anything? Maybe not. Maybe the new economic order (why don't steeples get allowed in the east?) makes minaret construction necessary. Are they needed to worship? No.

• The minaret, to the West, means Our Failure, Mistake, Blunder with Repercussions Centuries Later

Think of it.  What do minarets really mean to our Western culture?  Failure. Ours. Failure. Our failure.  The Crusades were the biggest religious, theological, political, and humanitarian mistake of that era.

Crusades: A Curiosity Now. But See Crusades as a Religious, Theological, Political Disaster Then. Also now. Templars at Malbork, Poland.

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We are still living the Crusades' repercussions. Minarets as symbol.

• Resolution.  

 So, why not allow new minarets at a height and in a location that will not disturb the photo-scenery industry - that is pragmatic - and no more until there is an exchange: western people's steeples can shaft as high in eastern and middle-eastern lands as they would have minarets shaft in the west.

Fair and balanced. Use zoning, height limits, placement, and a tourist's perspective if you want that. Ban entirely, okay since a feature of architecture is only that.

History-fantasy. That is what tourism thrives on. Why not. The minaret, the steeple, don't overblow what either means.

Interlaken: The Golden Pass RR, Changing Demographics.

Interlaken. 

Interlaken is a venerable, old Grand Tour Town between Alpine lakes, with famous peaks - the Junfgrau, the Eiger and the Monch nearby.  Some like railroads to get there - The Golden Pass Line, the narrow-gauge railway takes the scenic route from Montreux through Gstaad to Interlaken, see ://www.roughguides.com/website/travel/destination/content/default.aspx?titleid=86&xid=idh558351960_0160/; and ://www.switzerlandflexitours.com/goldenpass-line.html/. You can also take a scenic railway Jungfraujoch Top of Europe.  We were running out of time, and will do that next time.  Be careful of the high altitudes if you have heart and blood pressure problems. Go to the NYT Archives, Sunday January 19, 2003 at Travel section p. 11 for a fine overview and photos. The Aletsch Glacier is there.

You will probably not stay in Interlaken, however.  It has changed.
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1. Getting there: The Way to Interlaken. In the old days, passage was treacherous: carriages, horseback, mules and donkeys. Here are some donkeys.
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Donkeys, farm en route Montreux to Interlaken, Switzerland

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We like the drive. There were more switchbacks, indecipherable signs to the smallest possible destinations rather than a big town on a map that would have been more helpful, but finally we found Gstaad and the ski resort, farms, cliffs, valleys, and - exhausted - Interlaken.

2. The beauty. 

Here is the gorgeous view to Lake of Thun, from above Interlaken, the high cliffside route toward Thun, the town.

Lake of Thun, high cliff road Interlaken to Thun (town)

Switzerland is in the news lately with its recent ban on construction of minarets.

3. Now:  Fast forward to Current events, balance of interests. Minarets.

What is the place, in such a place as Interlaken, of tradition and whether tradition should be maintained at the expense of other people's desired architecture for their places of worship.  Would minarets here add to, or not, the breathtaking sight.

3,1.  Pro: a blanket ban on minarets preserves traditional views that lure tourists, foster a local and national economy, establish identity for its people sharing its history. 

3.2.  Con:  a ban on one group's desired architecture may be too broad.  Why not go a lesser route, to impose height restrictions.  Minarets are not necessary to the worship, but, like steeples, evolved and serve secular as well as religious-symbolism purposes.

3.3.  Require reciprocity.  As soon as the homelands of the newer people will foster steeples and churches for Western worship styles (United Arab Republic, for example, permits none) in their countries, then figure out a reciprocal fostering for Eastern worship styles in Western countries.
.Lake Thun, Interlaken, Switzerland

4. How to weigh the issues.

These height/zoning restrictions do not denigrate the Eastern religion, but instead balance the interests of vacationers from other cultures who may want, or do want, to settle, set up their own communities; against the nation's established tourism and the views that produce it.

Explore the issue. See it at ://www.myswitzerland.com/en/destinations/resorts/holiday-destinations-in-switzerland/interlaken.html/. The Bernese Oberland. Aljazeera is wrong to frame the issue as mere misogyny.  See ://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/ 200912281637353840.html/  It is more like Connecticut restricting home construction on mountain ridgelines - have your home, but preserve the view for the rest and, in Switzerland, a country dependent on photography and tourists, for its economic health.  Or allow steeples unrestricted in other countries.  Would that be fair?

5. Back to Interlaken itself.

Even Rick Steves says not to come here. Or of you do, you will probably stop briefly then move on, as we did.  It is a haven for backpackers, and a multitude of ethnic groups those styles of shops etc. have changed the town completely.  That need not be a bad thing financially because it looks like the town is prospering, with well-heeled visitors.  But it changes what the town means. 

• The name of this town, Interlaken, means between two lakes, here the Lake of Thun and the Lake Brienz, in lovely Alpine Switzerland.  The name used to mean large Victorian hotels, the Grand Tour of the Uppers,  a town where carriageways and private passages by horse and mule (luxury along the way, of course) and trains converged;  with the ladies in large hats with huge wooden trunks (the domed steamer trunks were preferred and indicated status, because they had to be at the top of the stack, in the baggage rooms, deep in the steamers coming over the oceans, and were retrieved first; the flat-topped steamer trunks were for others, or for less important accoutrements/ The trunks opened to reveal a side for hanging things, and the other, had drawers for the bloomers).
  
• We were here in the 1960's - a different family era.  It is little like that now, perhaps for the good, but the issue here is an industry.  Do a search on Maps - there are no easy roads over to Interlaken - either you take the autobahns going like huge pentagrams from urban center to urban center, Lausanne to Bern and down: or you go over the mountains and through the woods, and after a while, with all the beauty, it gets to be a slog.

6.  For us, see Interlaken, but do not expect it to be "Switzerland."  

We did the heavy narrow road sneak past the blind turns up and over from Vevey, Montreux, Villeneuve - across, not up easy and down. Dan and I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the big hotel, still there, tablecloths, people discreetly bowing hither and yon, old days. Go outside, and that atmosphere is no more.

Now, Interlaken is a skeleton.

It has the bones.  It offers excellent food, fast service where you may want that, but only the shape is there:  Lake Brienz on one side, this little isthmus that is Interlaken, and Lake Thun on the other. The old hotels are still there, but the street levels that used to house fine watches and couture is immigration central, are now fast food, trinkets. Vacation central for all parts of the world. 

Enjoy it as the east-west global vacationer magnet that it is.  For the old Swiss Switzerland of the Grand Tour, head elsewhere.

Black and White at Chillon Castle: The Bath, Vincent Freischling, and Bernese Governors

 The Frustration of Heraldry

Where can you find a castle better than Chillon, one so manageable in size, and so varied in what has been preserved.  We wonder about the "preservation" of the obvious (to us) modern Santa Claus, instead of even a traditional Saint Nicholas, in the heraldry, but move on to the prevalence of blacks. And learn little.

Regardless, get comfortable, be sure the linen is laid in the tub to prevent splinters, have a monk (isn't that a tonsure?) and a lady nearby; emerge from the soak, and consider:

Chillon Castle, Switzerland, the Duke Emerges From His Bath

Heraldry and portraiture with numerous black faces or black and white themes at Chillon, some blurry because I messed up:

Chillon Castle, black figures, unknown reference

Motto: "Learning to observe is learning to respect." Whom from, pray tell?

Who is this Vincent Freischling. There is a Freischling in Austria, but that is east of Linz. We see no Vincent at the Freischling history site, at ://www.freischling.info.at/english/history/

Chillon Castle, Switzerland, Vincent Freisching? Black and White in Heraldry. St. Vincent?

 What is the black ram?  Nothing like it at this coats of arms site: ://www.rollintl.com/roll/grcoat.htm/  Black in heraldry is "sable," see ://www.luz-herald.net/free/pimbley/Pimbley%27s%20Dictionary%20of%20Heraldry%20-%20B.htm/ but still no clue.

There is Saint Vincent, and the Cathedral in Bern is St. Vincent's, see ://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g188052-d244410/Bern:Switzerland:Cathedral.At.Munsterplatz.St.Vincent.Munster.Kirche..html/ We see no connection with his biography at ://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=326/.  Who is that?

Chillon Castle, Black and White heraldry (blurred - life is tough)

Why the half dog white and half dog black. Just whim of Bernese governors?  See ://www.planetware.com/montreux/chateau-de-chillon-ch-vd-chill.htm

Chillon Castle Santa. Black Madonna. Heraldry on Walls. And Religion on Ceilings.

Finding Santa Claus, and a Black Madonna, in Unexpected Places.
Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Join a tour, have to keep up. But, if you go on your own, you can stay as long as you like, and find things. Here, start looking at frescoes, wall and ceiling paintings, and heraldry. Some things bowl you over.

A. We found Santa Claus.

Yes. He is not at the North Pole.  He is on Lake Geneva, Chillon Castle heraldry room, confronting a big black bear -  possibly a Bern image, but what about Santa? Or is that a black dragon?  The heraldry Griffon, perhaps, also spelled "Griffin" - see ://www.isidore-of-seville.com/griffins/9.html/. Or Gryphon.  There are littler cute griffins or gryphons showing below, black against red griffins there?  Who prevailed:  it looks like the red griffin is bottom up. It looks like waves around, or big winds, black and white again and the red Santa. For heraldry, start at ://www.heraldicsculptor.com/heraldry.html/.

Back to Chillon:  Find a clue:  "Frederic de Gingins."  Who? This is really odd.

Santa Claus in Heraldry, Frederic de Gingins, at Chillon Castle, Switzerland. Santa here. Yes, Santa.

First, Santa:  No clue from our fast look-ups. But it is there. Hoax?

1.  Frederic de Gingins as Baron de Gingins, whose name apppears beneath some unusual (anachronistic?) heraldry in the heraldry hall at Chillon Castle, Switzerland.  He is in a google book now, at "Historic Studies in Vaud, Berne and Savoy; from Roman Times to Voltaire, Rousseau and Gibbon" by an English General Meredith Read (family connections to America, Virginia; Civil War era accomplishments noted) at ://www.archive.org/stream/historicstudies00readgoog/historicstudies00readgoog_djvu.txt/  This is full of Gingins references - skimmed for Santa or a Saint Nicholas or something, did not find.  But long long history of Ginginses.

All that is fine, but when and why and how the Santa? As a Vaudois nobleman, he is listed as Frederic Gingins-La-Sarra, 1790-1863, or La Sarraz (see Author Index at ://fmg.ac/MGR/Indices/Sources/Authors/Links/G.htm/), a historian specializing in medieval times who sometimes went beyond his documents to make something what he wanted it to say, see ://1911encyclopedia.org/Switzerland/. Antoine-Charles de Gingins.  Ancestry.com has an 1859 geneology you can order. Is Santa home? Part of the Sires de Montfaucon comtes de Montbeliard.   

2.  There is a "Christmas Market" in Montreux, town just down from Chillon Castle (is it in Montreux?), but that looks modern, but then again so does this odd Santa, see ://switzerland-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/visit_the_romantic_montreux_christmas_market/  The heraldry is a hoax? Ok. Here is a long history of Switzerland: at ://1911encyclopedia.org/Switzerland/ No mention.

3.  This is not St. Nicolas of Myra, patron saint of children, see ://www.civicheraldry.co.uk/ecclesiastical.html/ and there are no ecclesiastical hats or flock hooks here either. See also ://www.civicheraldry.com/page/7297/  Swiss civic heraldry is indexed at ://www.civicheraldry.com/region/switzerland/ Have not been through them all.

B.  And a Black Madonna at Chillon.  

We found a Black Madonna. This time, up high.


We have seen free-standing paintings of Black Madonnas, and statues.  There are many, and varied in explanations and places in Europe, and, we understand, elsewhere in the New World.  See, an outdated, but good for a start, our collection at an earlier time at Europe Road Ways, Themes, Black Madonnas. 

Here we find our first Black Madonna painting on a ceiling, a ceiling fresco, or, perhaps, it is just a painting there.  Fresco, on the other hand, is a special technique, that means painting on wet plaster so it lasts a long time - we don't know which this Chillon ceiling painting is.  Fresco:  see the Italians who were especially good at it, at  ://www.italianfrescoes.com/frescoTechnique.asp.

Here is the Black Madonna we found at Chillon Castle:

Black Madonna, ceiling (fresco or painting?) Chillon Castle, Switzerland (and black child)

What is the history?  We cannot find it. But there are many other black figures at Chillon, and black-white motifs. Being researched. We see reference to a Madonna da Vico at ://www.archive.org/stream/santuarioofmadon00rossuoft/santuarioofmadon00rossuoft_djvu.txt/, but an Images search of Madonna of Vico shows nothing like this.  Even Dorothy Dix in 1926 makes no mention of this in her travel journal from the US to Eastern Europe, this part at Chillon, see ://library.apsu.edu/dix/lettersanddiaries/diary1926.htm/.

Comment, approach audience from stage: Are we at the point in travel like, with news, all we can get is people's rehash on tours of what someone else said or did. Look at fact content anywhere.  Where are facts. Nowhere to be found.  We get opinions and views in place of news, and in places that are labeled "news" and aren't p they are opinions and propaganda.

Nuts. As with art. Where are the facts.  Here, in art, same thing. We get tours with see this, see that, and the people do, click the same pictures, and leave.  What about all the rest?  The things that are there, but ignored, and who knows what they are. Enough. Somebody pick up on these, however, because they are fun.

Chateau or Castle Chillon: Innards, Furnishings, Ladies in Armor?

 Castle Basics
Chillon

Join us going through rooms and ins and outs of the Castle at Chillon. The top "teeth" on the battlements are called crenellations: archers and other defenders behind getting some protection, ducking frpom cover to cover. It also is a common sense kind of minimal fencing. See ://architecture.about.com/od/buildingparts/g/battlement.htm

Security checkpoints, Castle Chillon, defenses.

Castle interior design did not include closets.  People used wardrobes - large and bulky; or these movable chests that could then be packed and sent on with the owner to the next castle stop.  To the equivalent of Miami for the Season, or perhaps to the next place where tolls were being collected and books had to be audited.
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Clothing chests, or other household goods, wooden-carved, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Some chests are religious in theme, others secular. As today,  it all depends on your predilection. Here is Adam and Eve, the snake now morphed into a female representation, when the Bible says the Snake is a "he."  All to suit the increasing masculinization of the Church?  Start trashing the ladies?  Above is a contemporary merchant kind of dress on the people represented.

Religious theme: Adam and Eve and, oh, no, a female snake (the Bible says the snake was a "he"); all the better for dogma, my dear. Castle Chillon, Switzerland

This kind of wardrobe - armor - would not fit into the chests. Women in armor.  Look at the shape, second from the left.  Then fast forward to other collections of armor, say, at Thun, Switzerland.  Unh-hunh. Amazing how a cultural need to box in a group succeeds just by never mentioning. Let the evidence just slide by, so nobody's antennae are set in that direction. Is that so?

Women in War. Woman's armor? Chillon Castle collection, second from left, Switzerland

Firebacks are familiar but have a longer history than we may think.  A fireback is a cast iron backer that deflects and absorbs and radiates back into the room the heat, away from the rock stone fireplace, where such heat can lead to cracking over time.  Let the fireback crack first.  See ://www.fireback.com/ for American colonial firebacks.  Can't remember the theme of this one: should have made a note.

Fireback, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

How to keep warm.  Small fireplaces had iron firebacks to reflect heat back into the room.  Beds had constructions available for curtains, and little roofs to them of solid wood instead of just fabric canopies for additional warmth.  We were told that the mattress, just a few inches of something, sat directly on a wooden platform.

Bed, Chillon Castle, Switzerland; portable. Guide said Duke took furnishings with him castle to castle.

Roofs served many functions inside and out:  here, outside, the roof to the battlements were solid, for weather-proofing, as well as to withstand invaders' weapons and fire arrows. Hurling weapons at each other, including setting fire to them and then firing them off, has a long history among enemies, see History of Rocketry at ://www.spacearium.com/special/spaceline/spaceline.org/history/1.html

Roofed battlements structure, post and beam, Chillon Castle, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

The roofing was not only protection for the fighters beneath, but also could deflect a fire weapon into the courtyard where somebody else could cope.

Medieval post and beam structure: here on battlements.
Large medieval fireplace with overhang, not heat-efficient, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

In fireplaces, even the huge ones, most heat went straight up.   It took the later wood-burning stove, or coal burning, with its ducts leading hot air to different floors and rooms, to make large places livable without an active fireplace in each room. See Europe Road Ways, Themes, Wood-Burning Stoves.

Chillon Castle, Chateau de Chillon, Switzerland

 Chillon - A Small Castle

Lake Geneva

Castle Basics

Smaller castles, used for residence and defense, can be known as "chateaux" - or, a single one, a chateau.  Use a variety of names when researching a castles - add chateau.

Castles on the water, on peninsulas, or on islands, are particularly lovely. Water all around, or on three sides, is a military advantage to the defender. Some manufactured the defensive advantage of water by creating moats (many of those old moat areas are now gardens, or just depressions left when watercourses changed, or drained.

Chillon is still on its island in Lake Geneva, firmly built out of the rock foundation already there. Was it a peninsula? There is a bridge now.

Now:  a tour of some of the main rooms, courtyard, staircases, little doors for going where you don't want people to know you are going.... and the necessaries. Necessarily included.

Castle Chillon, an island now bridged, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Before electricity lighting up the water, it was easy to glide over to climb in. Bars on windows was a common sense defense, and did not signify a prison area inside.

Chillon Castle, View from the Prison at water level,above an unloading dock, Lake Geneva, Switzerland

Pilfering: keep the keys on the manager's hip. Or was this a prison cell?  

 Courtyard and fortified storage area, perhaps prison off and on, Castle Chillon, Switzerland

Round towers came later as a defensive measure, and signify a newer addition.  Read an online discussion of the development at ://www.castlesontheweb.com/quest/Forum12/HTML/000483.html/. Apparently, the rectangular form persisted well after the 1200's. Some used the round form as a kind of trademark. And Romans used a rounded front sometimes.

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 Outer walls, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Escape hatches or hiding places.  We saw many floor-level indications of spaces beneath, with only the need for a crowbar in the iron ring to lift it.

 Escape hatch or treasure storage? Put a rug on top. Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Shapes of doors indicate function:  where it is desirable to keep armed people out, make the door too narrow for armor.  Where it is desirable to let someone in after hours, or to leave one's own chamber after hours, make a little door suitable for a quiet in and out. Or, let the person slip away to the pottie and back.

 Passageway door, to area between walls;  too narrow for armor, just slip in and slip out, Castle Chillon, Switzerland. Boudoir? Council room? We recall boudoir. Check for us.

Our idea of staircases folding into the attic is not a new one.  Here are folding castle stairs.

 Folding stairs, castle defense, Castle Chillon, Switzerland

 Courtyard staircase to battlements, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

A covered staircase was not only for weather, but also to shield from arrows, to a degree. Lattice-work allows a look at whoever is trying to climb up from the other angle.

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 Tower-top prison room, with manacles, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Prisons were not always below ground.  We saw prison confinements at the tops of towers.

 Castle toilet. Garderobe. A one-holer, lookig down to lake. The necessary. Chillon Castle, Switzerland. Also useful for invading climbers. Look before you sit.

Life's necessities.  Castle toilets. Garderobes. /.  See ://www.jamesmdeem.com/castlepage.toilets.htmThe idea of a one-holer or two-holer is not new.  In Sicily, see the sizable square room with one-holers all in a row on each side.  A family affair, no problem, and a special slot in Sicily at the Roman Villa for the handy stick on which a piece of disposable cloth or wool was attached for cleanliness, then let go, and the water flowed beneath - running water. Our medievals were not so pampered here in the towers.

  Chimney pots, baffles for cinders from fireplaces, Chillon Castle, Switzerland>

Letting ash fly into the air from the kitchen fires was dangerous, with wooden shingles on many roofs.  Chimney toppers, known as chimney pots, baffle the embers' flight enough for them to cool and die, flameless.

 A two-holer, more Necessaries, Chillon Castle, Switzerland (with guard)

Was this bar there originally? Perhaps, because it was possible - and considered a fine invasive maneuver - to grapple your way up the wall and into the castle this way.  Here is a Museum of Toilets, at ://www.sulabhinternational.org/pages/museum_toilets.php/  Here is Plumbing Information, including Turkish, Crusader, etc.  Go to ://www.theplumber.com/toilets-world.html/. Flatrock.org has more, but this is enough.

 A two-holer with arrow slit above for defense when not otherwise in use, Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Chillon Castle tourist who thinks sensible castle plumbing is fun

Persuasion techniques.  Many castles have their old torture equipment around.  And the various Madame Tussaud's wax museums recreate it all.  This table, however, was different. Its pieces move and extend and contract and twist about.  Un-Cheyney us, please.

 Not fun. Torture table. Chillon Castle, Switzerland

Who was it from the US who put in an order a few years ago from the Chillon Grisley Catalogue? In 1348, Jews were accused of poisoning the water supply and causing Plague that broke out in Villeneuve. They, along with accused Christian accomplices, were tortured at Chillon. See ://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/lake_geneva/chillon.history.html/  But the site says they were tortured in the dungeon - the dungeon at Chillon is above water level, so the window is not inconsistent. First cause:  lack of understanding;  first resort:  go torture somebody.