In this week's reading we concluded Leo Africanus. This section followed the same formula as all the other sections. Leo gets things going well for himself and all of a sudden he gets into trouble again.
Leo marries a woman, Maddalena, who is from a nunnery. She had to received permission from the Cardinal to leave before she was able to marry Hasan. Soon after shes gives birth to a baby boy. Around this time the Pope passes away. This is not a good thing for Leo. A new Pope replaces his him and is much more conservative than the previous Pope. The new Pope, Pope Adrian required people to shave, and is less accepting of non-believers and artists.
Leo gets sent to prison because he was caught with a pamphlet that went against the Pope. Apparently Leo was not the only one that didn't really like the Pope because while he was in jail, the Pope was poisoned. The Cardinal replaces him and soon after Hasan and his family attempt to move back to Tunis.
I guess my question is do you think the Pope had too much power. Does anyone else find it slightly ridiculous that someone can command you to shave a certain way?
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I think that the power given to the Pope was a little too much for one person to have. Having control over something like the proper way for a man to shave is ridiculous, and should not be tolerated. Yes, I believe the Pope should have a certain level of power but not enough to effect a person in the magnitude seen in Leo Africanus.
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