Yesterday I glanced through a book on Subsidies but today I want to actually pull up the information that I need to really look at that book. It is a book on early subsidies. In the glance the name "Blake..." stood out several times as Blakedon and other spellings. Interesting all of that but does it help me to learn about Humphrey's parents. I decided yesterday that it was probably worth checking out although it is a bit early as it deals with the early Edwards - kings of England. What I really need is some tax subsidies for the late 1400s into the middle 1500s. This is the time of the Hundred Years' War between France and England. There was a lot of upheaval in both countries although mostly France but the repercussions in England were likely huge as well. As we reach into the 1500s then we have the end of the reign of Henry VII; the reign of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and then the golden age of Queen Elizabeth I. Humphrey died about the same time as Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne of England. So he was born in the turbulent times before the great gains of the Elizabethan era. With wars ongoing there should be a lot of Subsidies being charged against the English people and that is my aim to see what I can find.
This is Sunday and I am off to You-Tube Church. I no longer drive into the downtown these days although I could take the train but at 76 I am probably best sitting at home watching Church on You-Tube; I am out of the way then not creating any traffic problems or just being in the way. There is a lot of construction near my Church as I discovered on my last visit. It was wonderful being there. I have missed the Labyrinth and we met in the Church Hall where the Labyrinth is painted on the floor. It was pleasant to be there in that room. I was distracted often enough throughout the meeting as I remembered times spent there. However, the Celebration of Life for Edward is in preparation and I have written my Eulogy. It will be a quiet family celebration of Edward's Life and our parting with his ashes to place them in his niche in the Columbarium. It is respectful to our culture for us to do that but I must admit the Chinese tradition is most appealing. To be able to go and sit with the urn at home is a tempting way of life as one tries to guide oneself through the remainder of one's life.
It seems an eon ago now that I was a child in the midst of my family - the middle child of seven children. Both of my parents lived long after I married and reached adulthood all at the same time as I was twenty when we married. I listened to their counsel many times throughout my married life and could always see their point of view but they did lack knowledge of the knife attack on me which I did not share with them until much later in life and that sharing was a spontaneous moment when we were gathered together one day and it just popped out of my thoughts and mouth. It surprised me that I mentioned it and I have not mentioned it again. Although its effect on my youthful years was enormous it has gradually receded into my memory banks and does not get dusted off very often and remembered. It changes a person though to undergo such a watershed moment in time and sometimes that change is very hard to understand but in retrospect it is so clear.
We were a less violent society in those days (although certainly my childhood had a fear of nuclear war) and hence the impact was so much greater; now violence is all around us once again especially with the illegal war which is being waged by Russia against Ukraine where murder of civilians is an everyday event as the Russian military continues to intrude on the Ukrainian space. Saying this is a maternal land of Russia doesn't make it so. History doesn't support it; Ukraina Ice Refuge is an ancient land to many peoples including my own maternal DNA line. The end of the Second World War was a watershed moment when decisions were made; boundaries were drawn and we were meant to move forward supporting those changes which were echoed once again with the Fall of the Soviet Union when borders were once again redrawn and supported. Trying to turn the clock back to the time of Imperialism is a mistake and can only cause great grief to our world and is doing so. I support the peoples within Russia who are fighting this illegal war; they do not want to be part of it but are forced to watch as their beloved country attacks their beloved neighbour. One can only feel enormous pity for them and the time will come one prays when Russia will pull back and let the Ukrainians live.
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