The economic and administrative aspects of the Ottoman Empire were very advanced for the time.  These were two very complex systems with much detail to them.  The administrative system reminds me of systems today because they used such things as taxation, the ruling hierarchy (the sultan, the divan, etc.), and the military system.  Obviously, there were many differences as well.  The Ottoman Empire included slavery and highly regarded religion.  There were many Christian slaves, but they did not seem to be like ordinary slaves.  Instead of being kept at the bottom of the food chain they were given semi-important jobs, especially in the military.  Islam was very important to them, and Muslims got special treatment by the people in power.  The vakif, or Islamic charitable foundation, was also very interesting to me because it was so advanced and so similar to organizations today.  It supported great architectural works and funded programs like soup kitchens, hospitals, libraries, gardens, etc.  I never realized how interesting and amazing this culture was.  Sadly, this reading is the extent of my knowledge on the subject now.  I had never read or learned anything about the Ottoman Empire before, but I am eager to learn more now.

This essay is interesting because it reveals truths about Christian history and Islamic history that were unknown to me.  One could have guessed that religions Islam and Christianity did not see eye to eye back then, as they still do not fully today.  And as we know, there have been many wars fought over religious beliefs.  I did not realize that Christianity was so prejudice against Islam though, because today the Church teaches to accept all faiths and respect them.  Also, it is interesting that the first threat the Christians felt about Islam did not have to do with religion at all, but more with politics.  It makes sense that Christians and Christian leaders would feel militarily threatened by Islamic people because society revolved around the religious aspect of life--religious leaders were political leaders and therefore military leaders.  Christians were afraid that Islamic forces would be able to take them over.  Christians also wanted to just "wait out" Islam because they did not think it would last, one reason they did not think about its religious consequences.  Only later did they consider the spiritual threats that Islam produced.  Another reason they did not see them as a threat was due to the fact that they thought Muslims were just pagan idol-worshipers and barbarians.  They had a total misunderstand of the faith, and that is obviously what Dante believed when he wrote about Muhammad in The Inferno.  Now that all that history has sunk into my brain, I do not find that where Dante placed Muhammad odd at all.  Obviously, a Christian strong in his faith, Dante would not have agreed with what he believed Muhammad and the Islamic religion stood for.

A prominent theme in the stories for today is lust.  I say lust rather than love because many of the stories are about cheating on a wife or husband, having sex out of marriage, and even violating the sacrament of holy orders to have sex.  I also feel that these stories attach a bad stigma to sex.  In one story, a man lies about being deaf and blind to have sex with nuns.  He then realizes how horny they are themselves, even more than he is.  All they want to do is have sex.  Another story is about a woman who cheats on her husband and hides him.  Then he tells her about some other woman who has done the same thing.  It is a very ironic situation, and the woman's plan backfires on her.  The husband finds out, but they work it out.  Another very weird story involves  a wife, a gay husband, and their lover.  They both cheat on each other and eventually decide to have sex with the same man.

In other stories we have read sex is also pretty prominent, but I think many of those other stories also center around love.  I do not take "love" from the Decameron, just plain sex.  An example of just sex in another story we have read is in the Odyssey.  Odysseus has sex with Calypso a lot.  She is a wild and lustful creature.  When Odyssey has sex with her, its not out of love.  He still loves his wife Penelope at home and will always be true to her and choose her above all.  Calypso just seduced him continuously.

Most of these stories, like many that we have read, focus around religion.  In the Mediterranean culture, religion is obviously very important.  It has a lot of history there, so it makes much sense that it would be a common issue to write about.  I feel that Boccaccio does not view religion very highly.  He has this perception that it is very corrupt, which I am sure it was, and I know it still can be today.  Boccaccio obviously believes in God, but he criticizes religion.  In one story he speaks of this terrible man who lies to a priest and ends up being remembered like a saint because of his lie.  I think this is a reflection of how Boccaccio believes religion is a lie. People lie, make mistakes, and do selfish things to get themselves ahead.  He sees people do so, and get away with it.  The corruption of the church at the time was raging, and people like Boccaccio were outraged, but found a way to make it humorous.  Through his irony, he portrayed his feelings in a way that people would enjoy reading.  Another story that supports my theory that Boccaccio felt religion itself was a joke, is that of the three rings.  It shows he obviously believes in one God, but not in one organized religion.  The message of this story is exactly as it states: followers of each faith believe theirs to be true and correct, but no living human knows for a fact what is true and real.  For this reason, we must respect every religious group.  We cannot prove what is the true Law, but we can have convictions in our own faith and follow our own rules without contempt for other religious groups.

For Kempe, being in such sacred places gives her a flood of emotions.  She has some pretty extreme reactions to these places.  Since she has her "cryings," her emotions are already wild.  She cannot control them, no matter how hard she tries.  When she visits these places she sobs and weeps so loud.  In these moments she truly cannot help herself.  This trip is not just about getting to her destination. The whole trip is her destination. Every stop along the way is important to her, and even when she is not in the presence of some sacred place, she still has the powerful emotions that she gets in those places.  She basically sobs the whole trip.  Her fellow pilgrims even get annoyed with her--"After she rode on an ass to Bethlehem, and when she came to the church and the crib where our Lord was born, she had great devotion, much conversing in her soul, and high spiritual comfort, with much weeping and sobbing, so that her fellow pilgrims would not let her eat in their company."

Mandeville writes about what he finds interesting in other cultures and religions.  They are all so different, and different intrigues most people.  Whether its a good or bad different, people like weird things.  When Mandeville writes about these things I think he intends to keep the readers interested, so he writes about some of the more extreme things he sees.

The portrayal of love in this reading is different than how love is seen in other poetry we have read.  In most of the other poetry, they see love as something that can be harmful as well, but for different reasons.  The troubadours and trobairitz find love to be troubling because it is basically unobtainable.  They believe that love causes pain because others do not love us back, do not show us the respect we deserve, and/or feel lost without their love.  Poetry before that brings out feelings that love is blind and changes who we are and it can be destructive or for the better.  In the sense that love can be destructive, this poetry falls in line with other poetry we have read.  The author thinks that love causes us to sin, and therefore we are ruined/bring our own downfall upon ourselves.

I think the Archpriest has some skewed images of what love is, and this idea of what "love" is to him makes the reader consider what anything really means.  After all words are just arbitrary names.  People assign words to things; they do not naturally have them.  After reading thing I began to think that everything is in the eye of the beholder.  However you see it, is the way it is (to you).  He sees love as an evil when I do not.  He thinks that love fuels all things, but he is just assigning the word "love" to so many different feelings.  He talks about love causing tragedy and despair.  His reasoning?  We love our faith, we love people, we love money, we love material possessions, etc.  But if someone were to ask me why these tragedies occur, I would not put love in my answer.  I would delusions, greed, selfishness, hate, etc.  Its all about how you look at it.  The way the archpriest sees things may be right.  The way I see things may be right.

Song 5.
"Mother of God, blessed are those who trust in you, for they will never lack for your great mercy as long as they obey and offer thanks to you," is the theme of this song (and is within in the song as well).  This is the most prominent theme in the song.  It is basically what the whole story is about.  Throughout the story, this beautiful woman is plagued by misfortunes and mainly malicious acts by others.  These other people generally try to hurt the empress, Beatriz, because she is so beautiful and rejects them.  While Beatriz is trying to do the right thing, she is always getting hurt because of it.  She gets lied about and punished for sins she did not commit.  Every time she faces death for something she did not do (out of virtuousness, may I add), Holy Mary saves her.  Finally, Mary also ends her suffering by giving her a special herb to cure lepers and finally helping her reach a point of peace in life where she no longer holds malice towards those who hurt her.  Mary is a savior in this story.  She is powerful and benevolent.  This story does not include social or political commentary, but focuses on religious issues.

Song 6.
The main and important theme of this song is if you are faithful and praise Holy Mary, she will reward you.  The boy simply sang her song and had faith that since he did so she would be there to help him and his mother.  When the time came and her help was needed more than ever, she gave it.  When the boy was murdered, she protected him and brought him back to life, saving him his life and his mother grief.  Mary has the role of protector in this song.  She looks after those who are faithful.  There are social aspects and religious aspects.  These may or may not turn into political aspects.  The boy was murdered by a Jew which is social and religious and even political.  The Jew was displeased with the song the boy sang because it was dedicated to the Holy Mary.  This would be prejudice.  I found it intriguing how violent this song was.  For being about such a peaceful, loving, and kind figure (Mary), it contained much gore and violence.  I also do not agree with the ending when the people kill the Jew or Jews (I'm not sure if its just one or more) because Mary would never agree to something like that.  She is forgiving and merciful.  Is this only to those who she likes? Those who are faithful and loving back?  I have never seen Mary as a figure to be like that, only giving when she gets.  I just think Mary would have stopped the violence and reminded the people to be forgiving.