population,” Eagle said.
“Okay,” Mac said. “And what could be the problem? Columbus already found the New World. He’s back. Everyone on his ships knows where they went.”
“That’s what you have to find out,” Dane said.
“Thanks,” Mac muttered. Then he tapped his chest. “What’s with the outfit?”
Edith answered. “ Devotio Modema. Modern Devotion. A call for religious reform.”
“So I’m a modern devoted monk?”
“Not exactly,” Edith said. “ Devotio Modema was actually a rather unique movement. On one hand, it wanted to go back to the basics. A life emphasizing humility, obedience and simplicity.”
“Picked wrong guy for that,” Roland said, scoring one for the Vikings.
Edith faltered, but then pressed on. “But it was also very progressive for its time. You’re dressed as most monks were at the time, but the cross on your belt is different. Not a crucifix, not metal, just a simple wooden cross that each member made themselves. And lay people could be part of it. Men and women. Actually, it gave a space for women, which was almost unprecedented at that era. And—”
“Enough.” Dane cut her off. “He’ll get all that information and more in the download.” Dane began writing the fourth year on the chalkboard.
Moms and Eagle exchanged glances, concerned about Dane’s abruptness.
15 March 493 A.D. RAVENNA, ITALY
Dane tapped the chalk on the line. “The last year for the first King of Italy, Odoacer. The man to whom the final Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, surrendered his crown.”
Edith spoke up. “By normal historical convention the end of the Roman Empire was that event between Odoacer and Romulus Augustus in 476. Odoacer negotiated with the Byzantium Emperor, Zeno, who granted him what remained of the Western Empire as his fiefdom. But when Odoacer didn’t completely bend to Zeno’s control, he sent the Ostrogoth King, Theodoric, to handle it. Legend is that Theodoric betrayed Odoacer at a banquet where they were to work out how to rule jointly, then cut him in half.”
“That’s symbolism,” Eagle said.
“Nice guy,” Roland said.
“That change of power was significant.” Edith said. “Odoacer at least paid lip service to a Roman Empire. Theodoric shifted that emphasis to Italy. He also began consolidating all the various Goth tribes, including the Visigoths who had sacked Rome earlier.”
“Okay,” Roland said. “And?”
Dane spread his hands.
“Why am I going to this Ravenna place?” Roland asked. “Shouldn’t it be Rome?”
Edith shook her head. “Odoacer moved his capitol to Ravenna. Interestingly,” she added, looking at Moms, “that’s the city where Caesar made his decision to cross the Rubicon half a century earlier.”
“ ’The vicissitudes of fortune’ ” Eagle quoted, “ ’which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave’ .”
“The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire,” Edith said admiringly. “Edward Gibbon.”
“Love at first quote,” Mac said, in a very low voice, but Scout still gave him a look.
Edith didn’t notice. “Gibbon blamed Christianity a great deal for the fall of the Roman Empire. His major objection was its intolerance to other faiths, an implicit Roman policy that allowed their Empire to last so long and cover so many different cultures and faiths. Once Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the foundation of the Western Roman Empire began to erode. But he also established Constantinople, which would lead to the Empire splitting into east and west.”
“Gibbon had a valid point,” Eagle said. “Intolerance for those who worshipped differently began to spread. Anti-Semitism and—”
Dane cleared his throat. “Bottom line is that Theodoric had Ravenna under siege for three years and had the upper hand. He finished Odoacer on that day.”
He added a fifth line.
15 March 1917 A.D. PETROGRAD,
“Okay,” Mac said. “And what could be the problem? Columbus already found the New World. He’s back. Everyone on his ships knows where they went.”
“That’s what you have to find out,” Dane said.
“Thanks,” Mac muttered. Then he tapped his chest. “What’s with the outfit?”
Edith answered. “ Devotio Modema. Modern Devotion. A call for religious reform.”
“So I’m a modern devoted monk?”
“Not exactly,” Edith said. “ Devotio Modema was actually a rather unique movement. On one hand, it wanted to go back to the basics. A life emphasizing humility, obedience and simplicity.”
“Picked wrong guy for that,” Roland said, scoring one for the Vikings.
Edith faltered, but then pressed on. “But it was also very progressive for its time. You’re dressed as most monks were at the time, but the cross on your belt is different. Not a crucifix, not metal, just a simple wooden cross that each member made themselves. And lay people could be part of it. Men and women. Actually, it gave a space for women, which was almost unprecedented at that era. And—”
“Enough.” Dane cut her off. “He’ll get all that information and more in the download.” Dane began writing the fourth year on the chalkboard.
Moms and Eagle exchanged glances, concerned about Dane’s abruptness.
15 March 493 A.D. RAVENNA, ITALY
Dane tapped the chalk on the line. “The last year for the first King of Italy, Odoacer. The man to whom the final Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, surrendered his crown.”
Edith spoke up. “By normal historical convention the end of the Roman Empire was that event between Odoacer and Romulus Augustus in 476. Odoacer negotiated with the Byzantium Emperor, Zeno, who granted him what remained of the Western Empire as his fiefdom. But when Odoacer didn’t completely bend to Zeno’s control, he sent the Ostrogoth King, Theodoric, to handle it. Legend is that Theodoric betrayed Odoacer at a banquet where they were to work out how to rule jointly, then cut him in half.”
“That’s symbolism,” Eagle said.
“Nice guy,” Roland said.
“That change of power was significant.” Edith said. “Odoacer at least paid lip service to a Roman Empire. Theodoric shifted that emphasis to Italy. He also began consolidating all the various Goth tribes, including the Visigoths who had sacked Rome earlier.”
“Okay,” Roland said. “And?”
Dane spread his hands.
“Why am I going to this Ravenna place?” Roland asked. “Shouldn’t it be Rome?”
Edith shook her head. “Odoacer moved his capitol to Ravenna. Interestingly,” she added, looking at Moms, “that’s the city where Caesar made his decision to cross the Rubicon half a century earlier.”
“ ’The vicissitudes of fortune’ ” Eagle quoted, “ ’which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave’ .”
“The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire,” Edith said admiringly. “Edward Gibbon.”
“Love at first quote,” Mac said, in a very low voice, but Scout still gave him a look.
Edith didn’t notice. “Gibbon blamed Christianity a great deal for the fall of the Roman Empire. His major objection was its intolerance to other faiths, an implicit Roman policy that allowed their Empire to last so long and cover so many different cultures and faiths. Once Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, the foundation of the Western Roman Empire began to erode. But he also established Constantinople, which would lead to the Empire splitting into east and west.”
“Gibbon had a valid point,” Eagle said. “Intolerance for those who worshipped differently began to spread. Anti-Semitism and—”
Dane cleared his throat. “Bottom line is that Theodoric had Ravenna under siege for three years and had the upper hand. He finished Odoacer on that day.”
He added a fifth line.
15 March 1917 A.D. PETROGRAD,
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