Eclipse Saros 134, returning officially on 21st. January 2019 for the 27th. time, unleashed its first energies on 1st. April 1550.
Since then, on each return it spreads preservation.
Other keywords for preservation: perpetuation, conservation, protection, safekeeping, safeguard, defense
Note for new visitors.- In Energies of the Eclipses you will find how in Los Bosques eclipses are related to daily life, history and centuries.
In practice, preservation to safeguard, as it can be observed in patterns to be mentioned.
Although the official date of the first eclipse in Saros 134 is 1st. April 1550, its energies already emanated since November 1549.
On those dates, Pople Paul III died and until February 1550 when Pope Julius III was elected, the cardinal’s meeting, the Conclave, unfolded.
The Catholic Church, back then, was also the government of the Papal States, confronting empires, estates, monarchies and other factions involved, and disputing who commands who. Simultaneously, it confronted the progress of other religions disputing its supremacy.
Those disputes stand out at the Conclave, which not only lasted longer than it should, but it also went into history as an event of waste on costs, luxury and over-tolerance.
There, not only the presence of cardinals and members of the curia was seen, but also special envoys, counselors, ambassadors and other.
Plenty of strategists, strategies and stratagems. Results were manipulated, intense negotiations, pressure groups or lobbies as they are called today, tactics deployed that even today would raise several eyebrows.
The document “Sede Vacante 1549-1550” by Prof. John Paul Adams gathers primary sources on the comings and goings of the Conclave, reflecting what was mentioned. Some excerpts to illustrate:
“The Conclave had been due to begin on November 19, but the three French cardinals in Rome requested additional time for their associates to arrive. The late start of the Novendiales made the delay possible. It also gave plenty of extra time for ambassadors to communicate with their sovereigns and for Cardinals to receive instructions from their patrons.”
“On the 29th, Don Diego Mendoza, the Imperial ambassador was received in audience by the Cardinals during one of their General Congregations. He announced that Charles V would not accept the removal of the Council of Trent to Bologna.”
“In a letter of November 30, 1549, however, just as the Conclave was opening, Serristori wrote to the Duke of Florence that, if the Imperialists and the followers of Farnese did not agree on one of the four candidates, Álvarez, Pole, Sfondrati and del Monte, then the Imperialists were going to have to unite with the French and make Salviati pope.”
“On December 2, at the General Congregation, it was decided that the votes would be given publicly. After that decision, Cardinal Carafa lept up with a series of accusations against Cardinal Pole for heresy… This caused the cardinals to begin to reexamine the matter of a public vote. A secret ballot might allow them to vote their real feelings and real loyalties. Twenty of the forty-one cardinals were finding themselves voting for someone else than the person they really wanted (at least according to the Imperial Ambassador).
“When the French Ambassador heard of the results of the first scrutiny, he immediately presented himself at the Gate of the Conclave. He spoke with the Master of Ceremonies (probably Giovanni Francesco Firmano), who was the outside Guardian of the Gate, and informed him that he had news that the French Cardinals, who had not yet appeared, had embarked at Marseille and had travelled as far as the Island of Corsica, where they were detained by bad weather and by the locals, who wanted to assure themselves as to who the travellers were and where they were going. The Ambassador requested that the Cardinals postpone the next ballot until the end of the week to give the French Cardinals time to join the Conclave. He also threatened that, if the Cardinals insisted on proceeding with the election, he would lodge an official Protest in the name of the King of France and claim that the Election was invalid. His story of the journey of the Cardinals was in fact a lie, and his threat to reject an election nothing but a bluff. The Ambassador, in truth, had not heard of the Cardinals since they had left Moulins. Likewise, he had no present intention to attempt to invalidate the Election, though he had heard that the Cardinal of Trent, Cristoforo Madruzzo [medal at right], had instructions from the Emperor to enter a Protest if the wrong person were elected pope.”
In sum, the Conclave was the scenery between preservation efforts of Charles I of the Spain Empire and V of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire who wished a Christian Europe, and England, trying to preserve the progress of the Protestant Reform.
The first one did not accomplish a Christian Europe as he wanted, but was able to preserve at that moment the power of the Spanish Empire; the second, preserved the progress of the Protestant Reform.
These religious battles, which are closer to political battles to preserve power, eighteen years later with the return of this eclipse would emerge again.
In 1568, the Edict of Torda, considered in the history of religion freedom the first in Europe, established by the Principality of Transylvania to preserve political stability with the Ottomans and to preserve States from religious influence, recognized different conceptions for preaching, no more accusing due to religion, nor threatening or depriving anyone due to confession.
The same year, the Treaty of Adrianopolis or Edirne ended a 25 year war, after five moths of negotiations between the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires, accepting to pay the last one thirty thousand duques and granting authority on Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. In that way, peace was preserved form Turkish incursions, at least for a few years.
The second return of this eclipse, in 1586, the Treaty of Berwick betweeen Queen Elizabeth I of England and King James VI of Scotland. It was a preservation pact to guarantee mutual aid in case of invasion from foreign forces, both protestants and threatened by Catholic powers from Spain and France. To a point, this preserved the image of Elizabeth I who would soon execute Mary of Scotland, her cousin and mother of James VI, and for the last one, preserved his succession to the throne.
The third eclipse return, in 1604, the Treaty of London between Spain and England to preserve their States ending a war battled since 1585. In this treaty is also included, preservation for Protestantism and Catholicism.
Although England conditioned that Spain ceased its attempts to restore Catholicism in their territories and renounce to appoint a Catholic king, Spain stipulated guarantees of English tolerance with Catholicism.
For Spain, it was more important to end with the support of England to the Netherlands (in turn rebelled since 1568 and trying to preserve from Spanish dominion) stipulating in the Treaty that the support would cease as well as English commerce between Spain and Holland, this would open the English Channel, as well as end with pirates.
The last three returns of Eclipse Saros 134:
1964 – The 21st. of November Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church is promulgated. It emerged from the third period of the Second Vatican Council and to this day there is an open debate whether changes brought were the result of reformations within the church, or, if social movements of the 60’s influenced them. The answer would not change the need to renew if its authority and stance was to be preserved.
The Lumen Gentium changed many things, here just a few examples. The church, it stated, was “a mystery”. From then on, masses would no longer be held in Latin, priests would pray and interact with the people, protestant songs were intoned and some disputed protestant participation while the constitution was drawn, although it was denied. On this constitution the virgin emerged as the centre axis of the church.
Changes disputed within Catholicism even today. Anyway, it was preserved and is still here.
1982 – On the 27th. of November, the Pope reminded cardinals for the second time that week that the Holy See lived out of charity and admonished for the irresponsible handling of received contributions. This as part of the events four months before that led to the closure of the main private bank of the Catholic Church, Banco Ambrosiano. Doing so, the intention was to preserve the Catholic Church and deepened the task to separate her from those events, in spite that they had already accepted to pay losses but without accepting liability.
2001 – On the 7th. of November, ballot results for the United States Presidential Election were disputed and recount of votes was ordered for the State of Florida. On the 12th. of November, the Supreme Court of that country orders to halt the recount and grants victory to George Bush versus Al Gore.