Reclaim the Middle Ages

Father De Smet among his Native American friends. Before they bent the knee Arab style, Belgians had priests seeking out the lost among the Native Americans. 19 June 1868: Father Pierre-Jean De Smet is sent to pursue peace between the United States and the Sioux Indians in present-day Montana. Born in Belgium in 1801, Father De Smet became a Jesuit priest in 1821 and then moved to St. Louis, Missouri, in 1823 with the ambition to become a missionary to the Native Americans. He studied their languages, customs and traditions, in order to be fully equipped to spread the Gospel in the manner best understandable to them. He started with the Potawatomi villages in Iowa, with the full preparation for missionary work taking him about seven years. He established St. Joseph’s Mission in Iowa and made use of all his skills to reach his targeted people both with the Good News of God’s salvation and with a helping hand in their daily struggles. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet.

Lord Mayor of London, William Walworth, striking rebel Wat Tyler Once upon a time, London had Lord William Walworth as Mayor. Now there is Sadiq Khan… 13 - 15 June 1381: Wat Tyler brings the Peasants’ Revolt to London, marching into the city at the lead of his peasant army, burning and looting as they went. In true irreverent peasant style, government building were destroyed, prisoners released (Bastille much?), a judge and other prominent Londoners beheaded. They say each hardship is a blessing in disguise, and the Black Death was so to the surviving peasants. With nearly one third of the English people dead from the illness, the remaining labour force was scarce, thus much more expensive. The inevitable social changes did not sit too well with the traditional feudal system though, which needed the natural course of events to adapt to an emancipated peasantry. In true irreverent peasant style though, the protesters had no time for that, starting the revolt in late May