Leavenworth, Wa.

Hi Everyone!,

This week I was going to read and write about the history of France. It’s not even possible! There is so much history to discover here so I want to tell you about early poetry and music in France.
The French language has been known to be romantic since at least the year 1000 when, for the first time in Europe, poems and songs were written in the vernacular rather than in Latin. The lyrics were written about and to celebrate the wealth and power of kings, barons, princes and their women. These songs were meant to be read aloud or sung for as entertainment. Duke William IX’s poetry may have been influenced by Arabic and Hebrew love poetry and in turn provided a model for poetic forms that became popular (336). The poets of this time were called troubadours and what made their verse troubadour was the idea of Cortesia or courtesy which was the refinement of people that lived at court. Their attempts to achieve an ideal of virtue also made these lyrics troubadour (337). The theme of Troubadour lyrics were about equality between lovers and sometimes they preached that love was the source of virtue while others bragged about sexual conquests. These lyrics were all about the power of women since, at that time, there were many powerful females in southern France. Many were lords who owned property, had vassals (someone who received protection and land from a lord in return for loyalty and service) led battles, decided disputes and entered into and broke political alliances as their advantage dictated. Both men and women liked troubadour lyrics which praised the power that women had and also eroticized it. The language in southern France was called Occitan. The lyrics spread to northern France, Italy, England and Germany where Occitan was a foreign language then similar poetry began to appear in other vernacular languages. Eventually the lyrics began to focus on war, later called epics. Some focused on romances. These romances reached their peak of popularity in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Lancelot, by Chretien de Troyes was about the hero being in love with Queen Guinevere, the wife of his lord, King Arthur, and would do anything for her (338).

I got ahold of the president of a worldwide organization that promotes adapted physical activity. She has suggested that I contact the Special Olympics of Washington for information which I’ll look into. I am hopeful that she can put me in contact with more people that I can include in my survey. I sent out a bunch of letters, copies of surveys and return envelopes to schools in Paris this week. I hope to contact the schools while in Paris and get an invite to a few. I think it would be the highlight of my research to converse with real French people even though I can only speak with a translation book in hand.
I spent the weekend in Leavenworth, which is a town that is made to look like a town in Germany. I wonder if the residents of this town are friendlier than the real town that it is made to look like. The economy of the town is dependent on the pleasure of it’s visitors so maybe the reason that the people here are so pleasant and helpful is a bit false. Not that I’m complaining. The sky blue. This is a beautiful environment with smells of waffle cones baking, the sound of bratwurst sizzling and birds and people chattering.
Napoleon is buried in Paris and I plan on visiting his tomb. His father was a noble from Corsican and owned land but in 1795, at the age of 26, Napoleon was a penniless artillery officer (621). By 1799 he had become the leader of France (623). Once Napoleon gained full power his rule was more that of a military dictator (624). His great energy assisted him in overseeing many facets of the countries daily operations from politics and art to architecture and science (625). On land Napoleons armies remained invincible but England still ruled the sea (629). By 1812, under Napoleons rule, France controlled more territory than any other European ruler had since the Roman Empire. His downfall was the same as Aldof Hitler’s. He was fighting on two fronts (632). In October of 1813 Napoleon’s army was defeated at the Battle of Nations by Russian, Austrian, Prussian and Swedish armies (633). By 1815 he had regained power but was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. He lived out his days in the remote island of Saint Helen off the coast of West Africa (634).
The next time I write will be from Paris. I hope you all stay safe like your mother is watching. See you soon.