INTRODUCTION

“In the reign of the good Christian Tsar Peter (927-969) there was a priest called Bogomil (meaning ‘worthy of God’s compassion’, ‘beloved of God’, ‘worthy of God’s mercy’), but in reality, Bogonemil (meaning ‘unworthy of God’s compassion’), who preached heresy in the country of Bulgaria”. This was written by Cosmas the Presbyter in his 10th century Discourse. He is talking about the beginning of one of the most influential and elusive of all medieval heretics, the Bogomilism. The themes and principles of the teachings of the priest Bogomil, mark a clear break from the great heresies of the ancient world. The emergence of Bogomilism was the result of a complex mix of religious and social developments. The Bulgarian King Boris (852-889) negotiated with both the Pope in Rome, and the Byzantine Emperor. Western missionaries were sent into the Balkans, who preached Latin Christianity. The Byzantine Emperor and the Byzantine church recognized the threat of western interference in Bulgaria, so eventually they convinced Boris to convert to Orthodox Christianity. The wars between Byzantines and Boris’ successors only made things worse, and the rise of monasticism with a new style of monastic life, which to many was not welcome, and the boyars’ rejection of Christianity complicated things even further.

ORIGINS, TEACHING AND RELIGIOUS FACTOR

The first mention of this heresy is in a letter from Patriarch Theophylact Lecapenus between 940 and 950, though he does not mention it by the name Bogomilism. He described it as a mixture of Manichaenism and Paulianisam. Cosmos identifies the founder as pop Bogomil. The title “pop” was used for ordinary village priests, so it is likely that Bogomil was a simple priest. Cosmos tells that Bogomil rejected marriage, lived a celibate life, and it is probable that he lived simply, in according with the teachings of the Gospels. Bogomil must have been a successful preacher, judging by the growth of the movement. He attracted a substantial following, especially among the peasantry. Bogomil’s dualist faith; a doctrine that includes two gods, one good and one evil. Bogomilism considered the material world as a place of evil, refusing the physical pleasures and the material aspects of cults in the Orthodox Church, the water in baptism and the bread and wine of the Eucharist. They claim the devil as creator of humans, the sky, sun, stars, air, churches, cross, etc. The devil was given the name Mammon, that corresponds with the biblical passage, “One cannot serve God and Mammon”.

According to Cosmos, Bogomils beliefs were based on the scriptures; for example, the Gospel according to Matthew, where the devil says to Jesus, “All these things I will give you, if you will fall down to worship me” (4:9). They believed that the devil offered Jesus things in the world that he had created. They used John’s Gospel too, “Now the ruler of the world is coming, and has no power over me” (14:30), which they took to mean that the devil was the lord and creator of the world. Bogomils didn’t honor the saints and denied that miracles were performed by them through the power of the Holy Spirit. In accordance with the belief that the devil rules over the world and everything in it, they believed that the miracles were performed by the devil to trick mankind. They also followed a strict code where they didn’t honor any holy icons and condemned those functions of man that brought him into close contact with matter, especially marriage, the eating of meat, and the drinking of wine.




During the 11th and 12th century, Bogomilism spread over many European and Asian provinces of the Byzantine Empire. The growth of Bogomilism resulted in trial and imprisonment of prominent members from this sect in Constantinople and public burning of their leader, Basil. In the second half of 12th century, this sect spread westward. The Serbian ruler Stefan Nemanja was obliged to summon a general assembly of his subordinates to find a solution to deal with the heresy. Roman Catholic authorities reported the Bogomil heresy in Dalmatia and Bosnia. By the early 13th century, the dualistic communities of southern Europe, consisting of Paulicians and Bogomils in the east and the Cathari in the west, formed a network stretching from the Black Sea to the Atlantic. Once the Ottoman had conquered most of southeastern Europe in the 15th century, obscurity descended upon the sect. Traces of a dualistic tradition in the folklore of southern Slavs are all that remain today. The village of Bogomila, the river and mountain Babuna in Macedonia (Bogomils are also mentioned by the name of Babuni in some sources) and many others, are a reminder of the most powerful sectarian movement in the history of the Balkans.

Sources:

John Anthony McGuckin The encyclopedia of Eastern Orthodox Christianity (John Wiley & Sons, 2010)


Michael Frassetto Heretic lives: Medieval heresy from Bogomil and Cathars to Wyclif and Hus (Profile Books, 2011), 9

BEGINNING

Origins of the Teutonic Order date back to 1190 in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem as hospitallers to aid Christians on their way to pilgrimage in the Holy Land. At first they were a small gathering of knights and paid mercenaries serving to protect their hospitals established in Acre and as a crusading army later on during their purging of heresy in pagans in the Baltics. Their motto was “Help, Defend, Heal” and they were recognized for wearing white surcoats bearing a black cross. Their armaments would mirror that of the Knights Templar, bearing the best armor and weapons gold could buy. The most notable detail was their great helmet adorned with horns.

Mexican GP, October 21-23 1966.
The Formula 1 circus moved to the country of the Aztecs for the 9th and last race of a season, that its outcome was sealed definitely by the implementation of three-liter engines, rather than the 1.5 liter engines which were in effect last year.
Both Lotus and BRM were half prepared ahead of the rule changes, contrary to Ferrari and Cooper (with the latter signing collaboration with Maserati).

The big surprise came from Brabham, which thanks to the absolutely reliable Repco engine, gave Sir Jack the opportunity to make history, being the one and only driver until today who won the title with a car that carried his last name.
Despite the fact that both Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships had been already won, the finale in Mexico was of great interest.
Apart from the champions Brabham, who wanted to close a dream season with a win, Lotus, Cooper and Honda, winner of the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix had also possibility to win the race and even BRM couldn’t be considered out of contention.



The only team who was surely out of contention to win the race was Ferrari, which had been hit by internal issues, decided not to take part in the last race, in a try to restore the team’s leadership ahead of next season.
The main exhibition of the internal issues of Scuderia was the departure of number 1 driver, John Surtees, before of the Le Mans 24 hour race.
The bad relations between the Briton and team manager Eugenio Dragoni got irreversibly worse, after the latter’s decision to exclude Surtees from the team’s lineup of the most famous endurance race: Surtees asked for explanations, Dragoni answered that considered him unready to take part and then the divorce was inevitable.



Having been the 1964 world champion and one of the best drivers on the grid, he didn’t spend time to find a new drive, when Cooper secured his services for the rest of the season.
2nd place at the German GP and 3rd at the US GP put Surtees on 3rd place of the standings ahead of the Mexican GP, with 19 points, whilst his team-mate Jochen Rindt was 2nd with 22.
Ahead of the last race of the season, the battle between the two Cooper drivers for the 2nd place of the standings was an open case, in which Surtees had a secret “weapon” that the Austrian did not have, a weapon that justifies the name of the article.
After the necessary introduction, it’s time for the main story.



As mentioned above, Surtees had agreed with Cooper until the end of the year.
Before the US GP, Yoshio Nakamura, head of Honda, approached Surtees to offer him a race position for 1967.
The deal closed fast, but included apart from the typical things (contract length, wages) a technical advantage, which Surtees would use at the Mexican GP.



Being at 2.300m above sea level, Hermanos Rodríguez circuit had different oxygen levels compared to other circuits.
Nakamura had special knowledge on the adjustment of the air-fuel mixture on high altitude thanks to his work experience on the creation of aircraft engines and evolved a special mixture adjustment for Honda, which was the decisive factor for the team’s first Formula 1 win, by the hand of Richie Ginther, at the 1965 Mexican GP.
That particular adjustment of the air-fuel mixture was the thing that Nakamura revealed to his future driver and Surtees shared information with his mechanics. The result was a comfortable pole position that the Briton converted to a win which gave him finally 2nd place in the Drivers’ championship.



So, Cooper won the race with crucial help from the technical know-how of the fellow contender Honda, with the great Japanese engineer inaugurating a perfect relationship with John Surtees: contrary to Eugenio Dragoni, he treated him exceptionally during their admirable two-year collaboration (1967-1968).

Open wheels as well as open cockpit (open-wheel and open-cockpit series) are, admittedly, the most distinct and fundamental features that distinguish a F1 type of car from a Prototype of endurance racing.

Even though closed wheels were never a field of controversy for F1 fans, the same cannot be said about closed cockpit, that became, with a multi-year delay since its ‘’experimental’’ usage, a rather controversial choice.

The reasoning behind the introduction of the closed cockpit, was, is and will always be the improvement of the driver’s head protection, undoubtedly the most vulnerable security place of the cars nowadays.
The solution of a cockpit cover (canopy) is believed to be able to prevent or at least limit the possibility of such serious accidents, which either had a tragic outcome (like the cases of Henry Surtees, Dan Wheldon, Justin Wilson and Jules Bianchi) or resulted in a serious injury like Felipe Massa’s, from happening again.


On the other hand, those against the adoption of a closed cockpit, bring up the issue of the ‘’distinct difference’’ with the Prototypes as a traditional and fundamental principle that separates the two types of racing cars, as well as the possible delay that the driver might have from getting out of a car in case of an accident, due to the cockpit cover.


That’s it however with the presentation of this confrontation; it’s time to write down the history of closed cockpit in single-seater racing, a solution that was tested by Auto Union and Mercedes before World War II, only for it to return post-war in the US and then in Great Britain.





So in 1955, Sumar Racing Team, in preparation for the Indy 500 race, placed on the cockpit of their car Kurtis-Kraft, a cover made of Plexiglas and also covered the wheels, hoping that these excessive modifications on the car (named Sumar Special) would result in an improvement of aerodynamic performance and straight line speed, so that driver Jimmy Daywalt would have the chance to fight for the victory.
However, reality proved to be very different: during free practice, a handful of laps were enough for Daywalt in order to point out that his visibility was limited due to the dust on the Plexiglas and that he could not check tyre wear as the wheels were covered.


Before qualifying, Sumar removed not only the cockpit cover, but also the bodywork that resembled a sportscar.
Daywalt qualified 17th while driving the most ‘’naked’’ car in the history of Indycars.
He stated that it was the most difficult drive of his career, but in the race he managed a remarkable, considering the circumstances, 9th place.



In F1, closed cockpit made its appearance 3 years later.
Every car had a distinct type of windscreen during those days and the great Frank Costin, designer at Vanwall and one of the first to thoroughly study the subject of aerodynamic performance, made an attempt to see the possible aerodynamic gains of a closed cockpit during free practice for the 1958 Italian GP.



The fact that almost no fresh air was getting into the cockpit with Moss reportimg that ‘’he was being cooked’’ when driving the car and that the sound of the engine was multiplied because the cockpit was a closed chamber so it had nowhere to go, made Costin abandon the idea, only temporarily though.



That temporariness lasted for 9 years.

In 1967, Costin designed Protos F2  providing it with, among other stuff, a closed cockpit.
F2 that, apart from the closed cockpit, had its chassis made by plywood took part in the Formula 2 series of that year as well as in the German GP of Formula 1, since the organizers allowed F2 specifications cars to take part in order to fill the grid up.



During the Italian GP of the same year, Jack Brabham and Ron Tauranac, also a pioneer duet in terms of car design, tested their own version of a closed cockpit.
‘’Black Jack’’ tested a version of BT24 with a semi-closed cockpit (there were gaps for fresh air to get in) in free practice – but again, aerodynamic gains were not as expected so the idea was abandoned.



So far, it is conceivable that the closed cockpit solution was exclusively tested for aerodynamic reasons - despite the lack of safety levels, the protection parameter was not met with particular thoroughness.
The mandatory use of a second roll cage in 1976 seemed theoretically a sufficient solution, while 1985 saw the introduction of pre-season crash tests.

In June 1985, McLaren tested their solution of canopy at Silverstone, as the great John Barnard wanted to increase the aerodynamic efficiency.



Since the death of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger, there has been an increase in driver protection, which has led to extremely high levels of safety.
But as much as understanding the effort to minimize the risk of driver head injury is, the introduction of Halo or some other solution in the years to come does not negate the fact that the "uniqueness" of the open-cockpit element is lost and that a unattractive touch is added to the car.
The ban on the use of cranes similar to those used in Japan's 2014 GP should be a priority: and in order not to eliminate the open cockpit, a revision of its construction specifications by the introduction of a windscreen would be a much more 'acceptable' solution: Indycars are already headed towards this direction, which not only preserves the open cockpit, but also is historically acceptable.

Even though many people have not heard of it, the Alfa Romeo 177 is one of the most important cars in the long racing history of Alfa Romeo.

The 177 took part in only four races without achieving a win or even a significant result, however it signaled the return of Alfa Romeo to the Grand Prix World, with an all-Italian project which encompassed the car, the chassis, the engine and of course, the driver.

Alfa Romeo withdrew from Grand Prix racing in 1951 after winning the World Championship with Nino Farina in 1950 and with Juan Manuel Fangio in 1951 driving the Tipo 158/9 Alfettas.

During the '60s, several minor teams used Alfa Romeo engines but it was in 1970-1971 when the firm officially returned to F1 circuits, only as engine provider to McLaren and March, though.




In 1976 Alfa Romeo agreed to supply engines to Brabham until the end of 1979 season.
However, the temptation to return to Formula One with a car built entirely by the italian marque was very strong for the Milanese management.
So, in 1977, Ettore Massacesi, the general manager, gave the order to Autodelta to develop a new F1 car.
Autodelta was the racing department of Alfa Romeo and its new workshop was situated at Settimo Milanese, a small town near Milano.
Carlo Chiti was chosen as the technical manager for the development of the new Alfa Romeo racing project.



The new car was powered by the Chiti designed Alfa twelve-cylinder boxer engine used by Brabham in 1976.
This engine, called Type 115-12, in its last version was able to produce 520 hp at 12000 rpm.
The chassis used an aluminum monocoque with the engine mounted in a semi stressed configuration.
The front suspension was composed by unequal length wishbones, and a balance arm connected to vertical groups of shock-absorber was combined with progressive coil springs inside the body.
The rear suspension also used upper and lower wishbones, with a set up very similar to the front.
Adjustable anti-roll bars were used front and rear.
The car used four ventilated disc brakes, with Lockheed double-piston brake calipers and Ferodo pads.
The front discs were mounted at the wheels and the rear mounted inboard near the differential.
Weight was just at 600 kg (1322.77 lbs.), the chassis had a wheelbase of 2740 mm (107.87 in), front wide track of 1660 mm (65.35 in) and rear track of 1610 mm (63.38 in).
Two fuel tanks were mounted in a lateral position, and held 200 liters.



When it was designed, the 177 was unquestionably an advanced single-seater.
Unfortunately the only chassis built, serial number 177-001, was not ready until May 1978 and for a number of reasons was not able to make its debut until the 1979 season.
In that same period, Colin Chapman introduced firstly the Lotus 78 and secondly the 79, cars that established the use of the ground effect design.
This completely changed the engineering of Formula 1 cars, and the Alfa Romeo 177 became virtually obsolete before its debut; the reason why the car did not make any significant impact.
Despite of being upstaged by the new Lotus, the first entirely new in-house Alfa car since 1938 would serve to ensure the return of Alfa to Grand Prix racing.
The development continued and on May 30 , 1978, the 177 was tested at Balocco, the Alfa Romeo’s test track, with Vittorio Brambilla at the wheel.
In this first test the body was still unpainted and used Pirelli tires.



In August of the same year the Pirelli tires were substituted by Goodyear ones while testing in Paul Ricard, with Vittorio Brambilla and Niki Lauda.
Autodelta hoped that the car would be able to make its debut at the Italian GP, held on September 10.
However they found the results were negative and the debut was postponed.
Brambilla participated in Monza, driving for Surtees.
During the race, his TS20 was involved in the multi-car accident which took the life of Ronnie Peterson and caused severe injuries to the ''Monza Gorilla'' – the Alfa test driver could not be able to race for almost a year.
So, during the winter season, the development of 177 continued with Giorgio Francia and later with the young Bruno Giacomelli, who both did not have experience in Formula 1.



Finally, the car made its debut at the Belgian GP on 13 May 1979.
Giacomelli recorded a 1.23.15 and qualified 14th.
Unfortunately, during the 21st lap, the Shadow DN9/B of Elio de Angelis arrived too fast in the corner and crashed into the rear end of Giacomelli's 177, resulting in retirement.
About six weeks later on July 1st 1979, the team took part in the 2nd race for that year, the French GP.
Engine problems during the qualifying limited Giacomelli to 17th place.
After a disappointing race, the Italian finished in the same position as he had started.



Some time later, Brambilla returned in action at a private test hosted at Hockenheim, with encouraging results.
However, the team was not present at the official practice.
On the 9th of September 1979, Alfa Romeo participated in the home race at Monza with 2 cars, with the 42-year-old Brambilla restarting his career on the same track where, an year before, he had been seriously hurt.
During the weekend, the Italian fans gave to the team and the 2 compatriot drivers an unforgettable reception.
Brambilla took part with the 177, qualified 22nd and finished at the 12th place.
Autodelta entered the brand new 179 for Giacomelli, with which the Italian started 18th but retired.



A week later the 177 ran its last race at Imola in a non-championship Grand Prix at Imola, dedicated to the memory of Dino Ferrari.
During the qualifying, Giacomelli and Brambilla took turns with the 177 but for the race the car was driven by Vittorio, as Giacomelli ran with the 179.
At the swansong of 177, Brambilla started from 6th place and finished ninth, a lap behind the winner.
The first Alfa F1 car after the return to the sport was not successful, however it established the base for a project that unfortunately, was not properly developed.