July 31 - Of Public Punishment and Flowers

Posted on July 31, 2019

Freedom of the press is an important thing - especially when used to let people know that the rich or powerful - and especially the rich AND powerful! - are doing shady things to grab even more money or to keep their power.

And freedom of religion is also super important. Of course governments should not insist that all of their citizens worship one or more god or goddess, in one particular way! Of course citizens should have the right to believe in any or no religion, and if they hold religious beliefs, they should be able to do any lawful activity to practice those beliefs.

But back when author Daniel Defoe was living (1659 - 1731), these freedoms weren't as obvious. Back then, many, many rulers had and used the power to punish people for criticizing their decisions, and most nations had a state church (temple, etc.) or official religion; many - but not all - nations required its citizens to belong to the state church (etc.) and punished or discriminated against those who didn't. 

Defoe was an Englishman, and in 1702 the King of England, William III, died and was replaced on the throne by Queen Anne. She immediately began to punish what was called "Nonconformists," people who didn't belong to or believe in the Church of England.

One of the people Queen Anne moved to punish was Defoe. He had written a lot of political pamphlets, and one satirized those who pushed for everyone to belong to the Church of England. In other words, he used what should have been his right to freedom of the press to criticize those who go against freedom of religion. It was a sort of pro-rights "two-fer." 

Daniel Defoe was arrested for "seditious libel" - in other words, publishing criticism of the government. He had three punishments: he had to pay a fine, he had to stay in prison until the fine was paid, and - on this date in 1703 - he had to be locked in a pillory.

A pillory was a device set up in a public square. It had three holes meant to secure the head and two hands. It was supposed to be all about public humiliation plus uncomfortable, even painful, corporal punishment.

The public was encouraged to insult, laugh at, or taunt whoever was locked into a pillory. Even more, the public was encouraged to throw yucky stuff at the prisoner. You know, slop water, rotten vegetables, mud, dead animals, the guts from a butchered animals, even poop.

This picture shows yucky stuff, including dead
animals, being thrown at several prisoners
locked into multiple pillories.

Once in a while, the jeering, mocking, pelting public got too carried away, and the prisoner in the pillory would get badly hurt as people threw stones or bricks at him or her. 

Now, supposedly, when Daniel Defoe was put into the pillory for criticizing the government, he was a hero to the general public. Instead of pelting him with disgusting, foul-smelling stuff, people threw flowers. Or so the story goes.

One thing is for sure: most people who get put into the pillory had a worse reputation after the public punishment. But Defoe ended up becoming more respected and more famous after his punishment.

By the way, if you think to yourself, "I've never heard of him - I don't know how famous he could be!" - have you ever heard of his book Robinson Crusoe?

Also on this date:

Anniversary of the first U.S. patent  

World Ranger Day

Author J. K. Rowling's birthday

Uncommon Instruments Day

Kevlar inventor Stephanie Kwolek's birthday

Hawaiian Flag Day

Upswing of the Revolution in the Republic of the Congo

 

Birthday of mapmaker Heinrich Kiepert

 

National Avocado Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

February 1, 2012 - Robinson Crusoe Day

He spent 28 years on a remote tropical island, a castaway who had to deal with cannibals, pirates, and mutineers before he was finally rescued and brought back to England.

He is also a fictional character!

In 1719 Daniel Defoe published a book that he named The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un‐inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pirates. (We sensible modern types just call it Robinson Crusoe!)

The book was probably inspired by the real-life adventures of the Scottish castaway Alexander Selkirk, who lived for four years on a Pacific Island off the coast of Chile. Defoe probably based his fictional island on the Caribbean island of Tobago, because the latter is a short distance from South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco River, and is in sight of Trinidad. However, the island that Selkirk really lived as a castaway, which used to be named “Mas a Tierra,” was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

Why is today considered Robinson Crusoe Day? Was February 1 the fictional birthday of Crusoe, or the real-life birthday of author Defoe? No. Was it the anniversary of the first publication of the book? No. Actually, February 1 was the date of the 1709 rescue of Alexander Selkirk. To commemorate the rescue on this day, we are urged to be adventurous and self-reliant every day.

• To hear the story of Robinson Crusoe, go to Candlelight Stories. (There are also quick summaries and illustrations offered on the website.)

• For some resources and activities to celebrate this day, check out Living Life at Home. 

Also on this date:

Imbolc in Celtic cultures 

Malaysia's Federal Territory Day 

May 8, 2010

Happy Birthday, Henry Baker

On this day in 1698, Henry Baker was born in London, England. He is known for three things:

(1) Baker developed a new way to teach the hearing- and speech-impaired (known then as “the deaf and dumb”). He was able to make a lot of money with his system.

(2) He was the father-in-law of the novelist Daniel Defoe. Defoe wrote the book Robinson Crusoe, which is considered by many to be the first novel written in English. (Why only considered by many, and not all? Because different scholars have different definitions of the word novel.) Robinson Crusoe is a book about a castaway on a remote tropical island who meets Native Americans and mutineers and has all sorts of adventures before finally being rescued—28 years later!

Baker and Defoe started the Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal together.

(3) Baker introduced the microscope to the general public with several publications, including The Microscope Made Easy. Science popularizers are important because they increase interest in and understanding of science in the general population, which often encourages young people to study science. Baker won a medal for his microscopical observations of salt crystals.

Baker's interests were varied. We can celebrate him by trying a variety of activities ourselves.

• Have you ever wanted to learn sign language? ASL (American Sign Language) and BSL (British Sign Language) are complete languages, each with its own grammar. (By the way, the two languages are quite different.) Here are some resources to try them out: ASL video dictionary and text dictionary ...and ASL lessons here and here.

For BSL: an introductory video, short dictionary and resources.

• Read about castaways and mutineers: a short version of Robinson Crusoe is available here. (NOTE: It's a two-part story, with the second part's link near the top left.) Here is the complete version, free online or for download.

What would you do if you were shipwrecked? Write a story. Maybe you can get rescued in 28 days, rather than 28 years!

• Look through a microscope at a human hair, a drop of pond water, a thread, a leaf.

If you don't have access to a microscope, learn how to use a compound microscope, and look at four different items with four powers per item, on this virtual microscope website.

Here's a very fun virtual electron scanning microscope.