WHAT A STORY!!!!!! This should be NEW WORLD-EPISODE 1! Is it all true? Randy Cabell ----- Original Message ----- From: <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 9:02 PM Subject: JOHN SMITH'S "LOVE LIFE" > According to the book, THE GLORIOUS SCOUNDREL, by Noel B. Gerson, John > Smith > was in Graz in southern Austria in 1602/3 looking for work as a mercenary. > He landed work with the Earl of Volda-Meldritch who was one of the > Hungarian > Protestants taken into the service of Archduke Ferdinand. According to > Gerson, the Earl was impressed with John Smith's cunning and his facility > with other languages and hired him as his lieutenant on his personal > staff. > With Meldritch, Smith ended up fighting Turks in Transylvania where he was > given the title of Captain by Meldritch in honor of his ferocity in > fighting > the Turks. The way that Smith became a Turkish slave was this: > After their initial victories against the Turks Smith with Meldritch's > corps > pressed further into Transylvania to scout out the enemy's territory. > They eventually got too far ahead of the rest of their army and got into > some skirmishes with some Crimean Tatar troops who were ferocious > descendents of of the Mongol hordes that had centuries before invaded > Finland and Hungary. Thousands of these men and three Turkish dragoons > were > sent north to fight Meldritch. > Fighting with the Turks, interestingly,were two regiments of Janissaries > which were fighting units made up entirely of former Christian slaves that > had been subjected to such harsh and complex psychological stresses that > (a > la Stockholm syndrome) had become completely converted to the > Islamic/Turkish cause. Meldritch and Smith were vastly outnumbered by the > Turks who had been stalking them as they crossed the Transylvanian Alps > and > then trapped them at the narrow valleys of the Oltu River, a branch of the > Danube. Meldritch & Smith fought until they ran out of ammunition. They > were never able to take the offensive and finally attempted to escape. > Meldritch avoided capture but most of the corps were killed and a few were > taken captive. John Smith, of course, being one of those taken prisoner. > The > prisoners were marched south, through the Alps, chained together, almost > naked, to Tchernavoda, a large town on the Danube at the southern border > of > Transylvania which was the winter quarters for the Turkish army in Europe. > It was there that Smith was placed on the slave market and purchased by a > pasha named Timor for three gold pieces. He was chained and taken to > Adrianople. > In Adrianople Smith ended up as a gift to Lady Charatza Tragabigzanda, a > Turkish noblewomen betrothed to Timor. > Lady Charatza had some odd ideas, however, about what to do with John > Smith > and one of the ways in which she amused herself was by having him dress as > a > woman and perform the duties of a serving maid. Smith was relieved that he > had not been forced to join her staff of eunuchs. During this period he > became friends with another English slave: A woman named Elizabeth Rondee > who had become a slave when the sailing ship she and her parents had been > traveling aboard while returning to England from Portugal where her father > had been a British diplomat was attacked by Moslem pirates. She had seen > both of her parents murdered and she had ended up a slave in the house of > Lady Charatza. > OK. Now. The part about his love life. Apparently, Lady Charatza and John > SMith became lovers. > Fearful that they would be caught, they decided to part and John SMith was > sent back to Timor where he was treated like any other slave, that is, an > iron collar around his neck; living in slave pens and doing hard labor. > In February, 1604 after Timor caught him sleeping in a haystack and > started > to thrash him, John Smith beat Timor to death and decided that the time to > escape was at hand. Dressed in Timor's clothing and with Timor's pistol, > scimitar, short knife and horse he rode toward Russia. Once inside Russia > he > continued until the town of Rostov as seaport on the River Don where Tsar > Boris Godunov maintained a strong garrison. Upon entering Rostov Smith was > taken prisoner and marched to the Governor, Baron Reshdinski a fascinating > man who was both cultivated and contradictory....he spoke Greek, Turkish > and > Latin as well as Russian and read French. A lover of music and fine food > and > collector of portraits painted on porcelain, he also enjoyed entertaining > his dinner guests by having a serf tortured during dinner. > Luckily for John Smith, Reshdinski took a liking to him and took him under > his wing. Smith was treated as a guest and it was there that John Smith > fell > in love. The object of his affection was the Governor's niece, Lady > Camallata whose likeness is still seen in the Kremlin where porcelain > portraits show her to be a delicate blonde beauty. She became Smith's > constant companion and during his three months in Rostov, she taught him > to > speak Russian! John SMith claims in his writings, TRUE TRAVELS, that he > lost > his heart to her. He claims that he asked her to marry him and return with > him to England. She was a true Russian, however, and could not leave her > homeland. Never forgetting her, John Smith dedicated the first edition of > his first book to her: A TRUE RELATION. > Jamestown and the kindly Powhatans must have been a piece of cake for > Captain John Smith after all of this. > Thus endeth the first lesson. > Deane Mills > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Stephan A. Schwartz" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 9:44 PM > Subject: Re: New World Movie > > >> Your Smith characterization was fascinating. Thanks. >> >> -- Stephan >> >> >> On 8 Jan 2006, at 19:36, Melinda Skinner wrote: >> >> > There is so much wrong with the film from a historic point of view, >> > but John Smith was in his 20s. >> > From the age of 19, he had been a soldier who fought in wars in >> > eastern and western European (as a mercenary), was captured and a >> > slave to the Turks, escaped to travel and sail with pirates, and >> > was an all-around "adventurer" to say the least. By the time he >> > got to Jamestown, he may have been "old" as far as experience goes, >> > but he was only 27. >> > Pocahontas was probably 10 or 11-- most likely having a shaved head >> > and wearing little more than a few decorations on her body except >> > in cold weather; Smith never wrote nor claimed any "romance" with >> > Pocahontas. (As a matter of fact, one noted English historian >> > speculated that, since Smith had been captured by the Turks-- and >> > it was their general practice to castrate their adult, male >> > captives-- and there is no record of Smith having any relationship >> > with any female-- his sexual ability may well have been seriously >> > diminished, if not nonexistent.) >> > I have seen scenes of the film but haven't seen the whole thing. I >> > have heard >> > that it is beautiful to behold (and should help tourism to >> > Virginia) but WAY off the real story. Too bad they didn't cast a >> > heartthrob as John Rolfe so he could have had the steamy scenes >> > with Pocahontas. >> > -Melinda Skinner (educational writer/researcher, among other things) >> > >> > -------------- Original message ---------------------- >> > From: Louise Bernikow <[log in to unmask]> >> >> In a message dated 1/3/06 1:25:46 PM Eastern Standard Time, >> >> [log in to unmask] >> >> writes: >> >> >> >> >> >>> From the previews, it is a perpetuation of the John Smith-Pocahontas >> >>> "romance" which never happened...she was a child and there are >> >>> indications >> >>> that >> >>> John Smith made up the story to make himself look like a hero! I >> >>> direct >> >>> interestedJoh >> >> >> >> From beginning to end, it's a dumb distortion of everything we know. >> >> Farrel/smith is in his early 20's! The "naturals" attack j-towne >> >> fort with >> >> pocahontas >> >> inside. they have bizarre body/face paint, unlike any pics i've >> >> ever seen. the >> >> "maids" who come-glimpsed mostly in the background-are middle-aged. >> >> pocahontas has a kind of english nanny (not the clergy) turning >> >> her into an >> >> english >> >> lass. she is received at court by king and queen. and on and on. i >> >> can't imagine >> >> why malick has done this- the history is so much more interesting, >> >> the >> >> story/characters here have no responses we can read (except for >> >> the mooning love >> >> story and I think p. looks polynesian, not native am. ) so there >> >> is no insight, >> >> no >> >> real emotion, no understanding. >> >> weren't there people on this list who worked as historical >> >> consultants on the >> >> film? would love to hear from them. >> >> it does look filmed at the Jamestown restoration. true? >> >> Louise Bernikow >> >> >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >> >> instructions >> >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html >> > >> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >> > instructions >> > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html >> >> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions >> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html