Time Travelers Dateline: 07/08/99

Our first group of brave time travelers has returned from their forays into the Middle Ages. Here are their responses to our Time Trip Survey via email and the form. Thank you, Ron, Sara, and Spvrivs for your replies!

What date would you go back to, and what would you do?

1066
I would follow William & his gang of Normans from Bayeux to the Sceptred Isle.
     1066 has changed so much of what has happened in the world since then both this side & that side of the Atlantic
     Though Im Irish & Shawnee by ancestry -- Williams assault on England was probably exceptionally determinate in making both me & this 20th century culture exactly what it is
     Id like to see it up close -- the cupidity & stupidity, the faith & hypocrisy & everything else on both sides -- the Normans & Briton
      Id like to see the lost crown & where it fell

What would you bring from the future?

• Grateful Dead discs & a CD player -- maye "Ripple" would change William's heart -- tongue firmly in cheek
• recorders -- both video & audio
• good maps
• granola
• dry boots
• rose hip tea
• my dog -- who would understand me -- I dont think either my Norman French or British would pass muster

Would you tell anyone you're from the future?

No
if I could Id like to be a witness of history -- not a participant -- I want to know history not change it

Would you try to change history?

No
its already done what its going to do -- Creation has set limits & Id hate to second guess the Creator

Ron Dunning

See our Norman Conquest links for more about William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.

What date would you go back to, and what would you do?

1483-1484
I would spend time at the Tower of London. I would use the cloaking device (for as long as necessary) to find out who murdered the Princes in the Tower. I would also try to find some way to prove to people, once I returned to the future, that I knew who murdered the princes. It would be enjoyable to find the solution to such a puzzling mystery.

What would you bring from the future?

I might bring some books with me so that I can figure out how to live normally, so that I will be able to figure out who various people are, and so that I can find my way around.

Would you tell anyone you're from the future?

No
There's no reason for me to do so. Besides, if I use the cloaking device, no one will know that I am there in the first place.

Would you try to change history?

No
I just want know what really happened, I have no interest in altering that.

Sara

For more information about the controversy surrounding Richard III, see your Guide's feature, The Slandered King.

What date would you go back to, and what would you do?

AD 800
One week before the day of coronation of Charles the Great
      The first week I would watch the Charles's arrival to Rome, preparations for his coronation, then I would talk to normal people and ask them whether they know about the forthcoming(?) coronation and what they think about it and about Charles.
      The seccond week I would watch the coronation and festivals related with it. I would like to participate in the festivals. After the festivals (if they would not last longer than one week) I would watch the people again to see how the festivals changed their morale.
      I would not avoid dealing with people - I would like to meet and talk to as many people as possible. Of course, I would not tell anyone that I am from future (they would be able to kill me). I would like to investigate their mentality.
      And one more think - I would try not to use the translating machine. I would use my knowledge of Latin.

What would you bring from the future?

Nothing.
Or... maybe a dictionary (for a case I would need some Latin word). But I would try nobody to see it.

Now I wanted to write that I would also take some money (copies of their coins) but I realized that it would not be a good idea (I would not want to change anything) so I would try to earn some money there by work.

Would you tell anyone you're from the future?

No
They would want to kill me.

Would you try to change history?

No
Because if I changed history there would be a chance that I would not be able to go back. At every moment there are millions of possibilities of what will happen and the deeplier in history the more possibilities of another stage are in "future". If at the m0 moment there are n possibilities, at the next (very near) moment m1 there are already n*n possibilities. Just if we consider one second as one moment we get n*exp(60) possibilities. Of course there are several ways to one possibility in a distant (relatively) future but other possibilities are so many that the chance of a particular moment being the same when the history has been changed as it has not been changed is very, very small.

So if I changed the history there would be a possibility (very many possibilities) that nobody whom I know would be here when I come back (even Uncle Harry and his TempTer so I could not go back).

Spvrivs Asidivs

Visit our Carolingians links and your Guide's feature, What Made Charles So Great? for more about the redoubtable Charlemagne.

Some very interesting responses have been posted on our forum. Please visit the thread "Time Trip" to hear from other time travelers. (Remember, you can read messages without posting by entering as a Guest.) And if you haven't already, I hope you'll become a time traveler too! Visit our Time Trip Survey to see how you can particpate.

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