Why live near a Volcano?

Every now and again I catch up on the news of the world.  Way too often I seem to hear about some small village (or city for Pete's sake) endangered by the eruption of a volcano.  Now, we generally know where these things are (new spouts are naturally not part of this line of thinking).  We know what they can do.  What the fuck, people?
    I couldn't say if many of the folks living around volcanoes go in for the whole, "fiery mountain god" kind of idea, but unless you're sacrificing virgins on a daily basis, I'd imagine you could move a fair distance out for safety's sake.  Go ahead, take a road trip up to the fiery mountain once a quarter.  No need to perch on the slopes or hang in the shadow of.  Ten miles out is close enough.  If the ground quakes, you know you've done something wrong.
    There must be some good reasons for staying.  Why else would you risk fiery death or pyroclastic flow?  "We may have a dozen feet of volcanic ash dropped on us from time to time, but the view is just spectacular!"  It just doesn't scan.  Ah, time to make the research.  

Aden, with Portuguese fleet. in Braun & Hogenberg.1590

To the geology!

Simply put, volcanoes occur in areas of the planet's surface where the underlying hot stuff escapes to the surface.  These can be:

1) subducted plate boundaries, like the Pacific Ocean's "Ring of Fire,"  where oceanic crust is forced down into the hot mantle, melting at depth and forcing its way back to the surface.  

2) spreading centers, like the mid-ocean ridge in the Atlantic, where plates move away from each other, leaving a gap for lava to leak to the surface.  

3) "hot spots," like the Hawaiian Islands (you can visualize the rotation of the plate by the arc of the island chain) create volcanoes emerging from point sources, which have a number of possible explanations (hey, give these guys a break, it's not like you can see this stuff happening).  

Thematically related, though rather different, "mud volcanoes" are a horse of a different color (which you can read more about on the webpage noted below).  Moving on  

The last essential (to this blog post) point of interest, is that the material that erupts from these volcanoes varies in composition, depending on whether it's spitting out pure mantle material (which isn't homogeneous) or melted crust material.  The molten rock will also melt the "country rock" that it passes though, further altering the composition.

oooh rocks!

This might not seem like a benefit to many people, but without these, it's tough to find places to live in the Pacific Ocean (and other bodies of water).  Plenty of landmasses are built entirely out of volcano (see: Islands, Hawaiian).  When they eventually start sinking back into the sea (well, erosion helps) you get your guyots, and later your atolls (which are very handy for nuclear tests).  These are nice places to do some snorkeling and see all the pretty fishies around the reefs.  Atolls can also shelter lagoons and islands, perfect for shipwrecking sailors.
    Volcanoes can also be the high ground in the middle of a relatively flat region.  It's always important to have a good view of the surrounding countryside.  Basalts also make great foundations if you don't want your walls to be undermined.  While most sane people wouldn't build their castles on the top of an active volcano, it's not always possible to know.

Trosky Castle, CZ

you also get Dirt!

Yup, mineral-rich soil seems to be the best reason for tempting fate by living in the shadow of a volcano.  While fresh lava flows and ashfalls are hardy hospitable to growing things, after a fair bit of weathering, it provides quite a fertile home.  Volcanic soils (generally andisols) are very high in Iron, Aluminum, and Silicon, which in this form are easily accessible to plant life.  These soils are well drained, but hold water readily, allowing plants to recolonize quickly after volcanic ashfalls.  

    Depending upon the climate, all kinds of things are grown in volcanic soils.  In the USA, the Pacific Northwest has some pretty damn productive forests sprouting from the stuff.  Tropical areas grow fruit, coffee, and rice as major cash crops.  Italians are still producing wine from grapes harvested on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius.  Tobacco, a notorious soil depleter, is also popularly grown in the stuff.    

Final thoughts...

Mount Vesuvius has had eight major eruptions in the last 17,000 years, which seem like pretty good survival odds for the locals (sorry Pompeii), considering that the soil in southern Italy outside of the Naples region is otherwise very poor (limestone bedrock).  When you have to choose between scratching out a living in the "safe" zone, and living the high life in the shadow of fairly unlikely doom, it seems like an easy choice (until your luck runs out). 

Notes
Cascades geo - tellurianstudies.weebly.com/geology-how-the-cascade-mountains-were-formed.html
Mid Ocean Ridge -oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05galapagos/background/mid_ocean_ridge/mid_ocean_ridge.html
Hawaii - sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110629091644.htm
Volcanic soil - volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/soil.htm
Mud volcano - hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/2005/05_10_13.html

Soils - volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/soil.htm
Growing things - http://blogs.agu.org/magmacumlaude/2011/02/02/foliage-vs-geology-plants-on-volcanoes/
Mount Vesuvius - geology.com/volcanoes/vesuvius/
Wines on Mt. Etna - http://www.winewordswisdom.com/wine_reviews/mount-etna-wines.html
Ash Fall agricultural effects - http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/agric/
Atolls - education.nationalgeographic.com/encyclopedia/atoll/

Goliards (I can hear the collective, 'huh?')

This Summer, the lady and I took the opportunity to attend the Philadelphia Renaissance Faire (largely in part to see "The Mountain", but also 'cause we dig that kind of thing).  During our visit, we were lightly scandalized and heavily entertained by The Creepy Bard's performance.  During the show, he mentioned that none of the songs he performed were, in fact, from the Renaissance.  They were 19th Century (I seem to remember. It was hot), as there were no available tunes from the time-period to be sung.  Well, this idea started me off to research (eventually).  Today's are the first fruits. 

http://www.britannica.com/art/minstrel

Primogeniture is a concept that kinda sticks in the craw for any of us younger sons.  We all understand that land is equivalent to power in the the olde tyme version of ruling the world and divvying it up would counter that, but you'd think that Papa could spare a little for the younger ones.  Unfortunately, younger sons had to find some other way to make a living than the old fashioned one.
    When making alternate career choices, the aristocracy had few options.  They might end up as their brother's strong rights arm (or join a mercenary company), maybe go into business (heaven forfend!), or go to university.  University could lead a couple of different ways, but for most nobility it led to the Church.  While this might have been right up some of those spoiled little brats' alleys, it appears that it wasn't for all of them.  To add insult to injury, there were never enough positions for all of these graduates (apparently some things never change), so what were they to do?  It is in these disaffected youths that we find the roots of the goliard.
    While the word eventually evolved (14th C) to simply refer to a minstrel, the goliard began as a cleric.  Granted, these gentlemen do not seem to have ever been apprised of what being a cleric entails, as they engaged in all forms of debauchery.  Apart from being drunks, gamblers and womanizers, these younger sons widely employed the literary arts to criticize the Church (as well as devising tunes to laugh and drink with).  Their satires mocked Pope, monastery, and parish alike, for their improprieties.  Some goliard works are collected under the title "Carmina Burana".  While some of these "high-spirited youths" eventually moved on and joined the establishment, the goliards as a group were heavily censured by the Church, eventually having their privileges as clergy removed (which they then wrote songs about as well).
    Literary works were only a part of why their privileges were revoked, however.  Goliards, being unemployed, tended to wander about, acting as tutors and itinerant preachers (sometimes teaching naughty words to traditional hymns, in Latin).  They are reported to have been regular disturbances at church services, keeping themselves entertained and poking fun at the establishment.  Politically they were active as well.  Some goliards were connected to student disturbances at the University of Paris, connected to the intrigues of the papal legate.  It was the goliards' ability to connect with and rile up the populace that seems to have been most responsible for their eventual fall.
   

Ah, so there is some music preserved from the time.  Unfortunately for us, this stuff is in Latin.  One of the reviews I encountered for a collection in English accuses the translator of being ham-fisted to make the rhyme and meter work properly.  Translation is always an art of compromise, but in art it is doubly difficult.  This part of the search will have to continue.
    As for those who wish to apply the goliard (or the concept) to their work, they are an interesting case.  While they were a rebellious lot, they seem to have been trapped within their own system (those who wanted more than to simply gamble, drink, and chase the ladies).  Their effectiveness was limited by their erudition, writing only in Latin.  They lacked the courage to make a true break with the Church, like later reformers would.  Longevity may be ascribed to there being an abundant supply of second sons and the difficulty in keeping track of all of them in that specific time and place as they wandered the countryside.  
    The presence of a similar group in a Fantasy setting is reasonable.  Primogeniture is a commonly held tenet in most Fantasy worlds.  Robin Hobb uses it as a focus in her Soldier Son trilogy.  Any time there are roles defined by birth you will get backlash.  If all second sons of the nobility really did become an officer in the military, how top-heavy would that organization be?  Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians, as my mother would say.  
    Employing them as a true template is simple.  They are a fine example of grumblers.  They are tolerated by the Church, probably because they have political connections, but only up to a point.  Once the Church brought the hammer down, the goliards disappeared quickly enough.  However, they did have all the tools available to overthrow the system.  They had a knowledge of the inner workings of the church and its doctrines.  They had a working relationship with the masses.  They had some political connections.  If they had ever gotten truly organized they could have been a dangerous group.  Enter the hammer.

 

Notes

The Creepy Bard - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGyNOV2-TrX35r6vOvwg7MXt2t2aATU6H

Britannica Entry - http://www.britannica.com/art/goliard

Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliard

The Cambridge Songs - https://archive.org/stream/cambridgesongsgo00breuuoft#page/n15/mode/2up

Another Blogger - http://everything2.com/title/Goliard

Carmina Burana (lyrics) - http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/orff-cb/carmlyr.php

a poem from the Archpoet - http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/golias1.asp

more verse - http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/goliard.html