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claimed to own a letter from Jesus himself. Pope Zachary was so worried about “Saint” Aldebert’s influence that he tried hard to capture him, and, when that failed, excommunicated
him. Aldebert went on for at least two more years, and seems to have died of natural causes.
    ***
    The inhabitants of the Melanesian islands in the Pacific have, since their first contact with Western travellers, developed the so-called
    “cargo cults”. Cargo refers in the islanders’ pidgin to goods of any kind given by visitors.
    First contact occurred with the arrival of the Russian Count Nikolai Mikiouho-Maclay in 1871. He was received as a god, due to the incredible nature of his
    transport, a Russian frigate, and his gifts, which were amazing to a culture that was still in the Stone Age. German traders and Christian missionaries only served to reinforce the natives’
    awe and faith. The basic tenets of the religion became set: visitors who give “cargo” are good, those who do not are evil, as they withhold what are seen as spiritual gifts.
    In 1940 the Americans built a military base on the Melanesian island of Tanna in the southern Hebrides. Cargo planes zoomed in and out leaving radios, canned
    beer and other Western necessities. The natives observed the American service men in uniform; and wishing to bring more planes and enjoy similar luxuries they improvised uniforms and spoke into
    empty beer cans, as they had seen the Americans speak into microphones.
    What began as adoration and emulation soon turned to dissatisfaction as their rituals failed to get the desired response. The faith changed its nature, becoming
    a conviction that the present Western presence on the island was of the wrong kind. Soon a messiah would come to give the natives what the Americans refused to give them. John Frum or Jonfrum was
    the name that the natives gave this messiah, although the reason is not clear. Some say that Frum is a corruption of broom, to sweep away the white man. Others put forward the simpler explanation
    that the name is derived from “John from America”. He is described as a small man with bleached hair, a high-pitched voice and a coat with shiny buttons.
    The cult persists in many different forms on each of the remote Melanesian islands. What began as simple worship of Westerners has developed into an entire
    liberation theology in a very short time: John Frum will one day arrive and hand over all of the “cargo” to the natives, while getting rid of the Westerners. After that the islanders
    would live on as normal, only richer and happier than before.
    ***
    Eudo de Stella
    Three centuries later, another messiah called Eon or Eudo de Stella was less lucky. He gathered hordes of disciples in Brittany, and organized his followers into a Church with
archbishops and bishops. Unlike Jesus of Nazareth, he had no hesitation in declaring that he was the son of God. AD 1144 was a good year for a messiah to acquire followers,
for an appalling winter caused multitudes to starve. Eon’s followers lived in the forest, and ravaged the countryside, living mainly by plunder. But in 1148, he was finally taken prisoner by
soldiers of the Archbishop of Rouen, and imprisoned in a tower, where he was starved to death. His followers refused to renounce him, and the “bishops” and “archbishops”
were burned alive in the now traditional Christian spirit.
    Tanchelm
    One of the most remarkable messiahs of the twelfth century, Tanchelm of Antwerp, was already dead by then. He seems to have started his career as a monk, then become a diplomat
working for Count Robert of Flanders, trying to persuade the Pope to hand over some of Utrecht to Count Robert. The Pope refused, and when Count Robert died, Tanchelm’s career as a diplomat
came to an end. He became a wandering preacher, making his headquarters in Antwerp.
    Tanchelm seems to have possessed what all messiahs possess: tremendous powers as a preacher and orator. We also have to