grade 6 humanities: unit 1

MEDIEVAL

UNIT QUESTION

How is the 21st century different from the Middle Ages?

AOI

COMMUNITY and service

- The concept of community

- - Individuals in communities

- - Different communities

Key Concept: History repeats itself.

TIMES

grade 6 humanities: unit 1

D Organization and Presentation:

Communicate useful information.Structure work in clear paragraphs.

Explain information in full.Keep track of sources and

produce an effective bibliography.

cycle i homework.Create a cheat wheel explaining each of the Humanities marking criteria. Use pictures, examples or keywords to make it a useful reference for use on projects and assessment tasks. Include the following information/instructions for each criteria:

A Knowledge:

Use vocabulary correctly. Cite facts and examples.

Describe events or concepts clearly and in detail.

Develop full explanations.

B Concepts

Systems Time

ChangePlace and SpaceGlobal AwarenessF o r

C O N C E P T S AND SKILLS, draw a

picture that explains each subcategory or wr i te a keyword that will help you r e m e m b e r w h a t t h e

concept or skill is referring to.

C Skills:

Analytical SkillsDecision-Making Skills

Investigative SkillsTechnical Skills

What do we already know about the Middle Ages?

What do we want to know about the Middle Ages?

What do we think it is important to know more about?

STAR

TER!

Use your History Skills Notebook!

Evidence from a dustbin.

Historians can find out a lot about how people lived by looking at their rubbish.

Here are some things found inside a dustbin. Study each item and then answer the questions.

i. How many people live in the house?ii. How old do you think they are?

iii. What do the people do for a living?iv. What has happened in the house recently?

v. Anything else you can say about the house?

Intro Activity: What is History?

“The medieval period in history was between the 5th and 15th centuries. Also called the Middle Ages, it was a time of change in Western Europe. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire to invading German tribes. Western Europe broke into many separate kingdoms.

Trade collapsed, people made their living from the land, and the feudal system began. The early Middle Ages are called the "Dark Ages" because the learning and

culture of ancient Greece and Rome almost disappeared. The medieval period ended when the

Renaissance swept across Europe.” - The Topic: Medieval Times

Overview! %

HINT!Remember the

information from this overview. It will help you with your first IN -C L A S S

ASSESSMENT!

C1D1Medieval soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtRpGszvINw

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=WGfeFOh5ugI

F i l l in the blank

s p o t s w i t h in format ion f rom y e s t e r d a y ’ s

class.

“The medieval period in history was between the 5th and 15th centuries. Also called the Middle Ages, it was a time of change in Western Europe. It began with the fall of the Roman Empire to invading German tribes. Western Europe broke into many separate kingdoms.

Trade collapsed, people made their living from the land, and the feudal system began. The early Middle Ages are called the "Dark Ages" because the learning and culture of ancient Greece and Rome almost disappeared. The medieval period ended when the Renaissance swept

across Europe.” - The Topic: Medieval Times

Overview! %C1D2

1

C h e c k o ut t h i s i n t e r a c t i v e

t imel ine to get a sense of how far we have transported ourselves back in time.

bbc.co.uk/schools/

primaryhistory

WHEN?2

But what did all this look like?

See the next page for an activity designed to help

us find out!

REFLECTION RESPONSE:Historians disagree about what the Middle Ages were

like. How do the two collections of sources help to

explain why historians have different views of the Middle Ages?

What did the Middle Ages look like?

Take out your Medieval Realms Textbook.Do not open it (yet)!

You will be assigned as Group A or Group B.

If you are in Group A, open to Pages 2 and 3 in your textbook.If you are in Group B, open to page 4 and 5 in your textbook.

Look at the pictures on your assigned pages and read all the text.Complete the questions from the Activity Box.

Upon completion, we will share our ideas.Have a page ready in your notebooks with a line down the middle and two sides labelled “Group A-” and “Group B-”.

Think o f o u r

tr a s h c a n

h i s t o r y lesson!

Using the cartoons and write-ups provided, create a timeline of the Middle Ages.

i. Cut out and arrange all the time statements in order. ii. Stick down the timeline, snaking it across and around a sheet of A3 paper.

Add the provided images where they fit. Add your own images for the remaining images.

Highlight important names of people and events!

Measly Middle Ages Timeline

Activity!

Which

Humanities Concept are we learning in this activity?

Review FOR ASSESSMENT

Learn the following dates: * Romans leave*410 * First viking attack*793 * Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex*871 * Alfred the Great dies*899 * Canute becomes king*1017 * Normans invade England*1066 * Domesday Book*1086 * Start of the Crusades*1099 * Magna Carta*1215 * Henry III trouble with barons*1264 * Crusaders driven out of Holy land*1291 * Start of Little Ice Age*1303 * Floods*1315 * Start of the Hundred Years War*1337 * Black Death*1349 * Joan of Arc dies*1431 * End of Hundred Years War*1453 * War of the Roses*1459 * Battle of Bosworth*1485 * Christopher Columbus discovers America*1492

Attention!< ; >

We will have an in-class assessment on _______ testing your knowledge of these

dates, Use your timeline to study for this quiz. You will be

required to match dates with events and/or events with

dates.

Marking CriteriaA Knowledge:

Correctly match the dates and events.Show an understanding of what actually

happened.

B Concepts: TimeShow an understanding of the chronology of the

Middle Ages.

Watch the Video!!

Watch it!

1. Take note of a few of the advantages that William’s Norman army had.2. What were the preferred weapons in The Battle of Hastings?

3. Who won the Battle?4. What happened after the Battle?

5. When was William crowned King of England?

Battle of

HastingsStarter

Let’s try to answer the 5 W’s for the Battle of Hastings . . . Who, Why, What, Where. . . WHEN?You have two minutes to try to

answer these in your notebooks.

You are a Norman Spy, sent to check out the situation in England because your leader wants to invade. With a partner read the text from Sources 1 and 2. Using this

information, create the chart from the Activity box in your notebook, and fill it in.

Afterwards, write a report for King William.

I Spy With My Norman Eye . . .

Now do pages 18 and 19!

A Day in The Life of A Norman!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVMvl05hCrI

Open up your Medieval Realms Textbooks.

See Pages 8 and 9.

See for yourself!

http://www.bayeuxtapestry.org.uk/Bayeux26.htm

In your HISTORY SKILLS notebook, answer these questions:

1) What is the Bayeux Tapestry?2) What kind of historical source is it? Do you think artistic sources

are the best for learning about history? Why/why not?3) Is it reliable? Is it biased?

The Bayeux Tapestry“The Bayeux Tapestry (actually an embroidery measuring over 230

feet long and 20 inches wide) describes the Norman invasion of England and the events that led up to it. It is believed that the

Tapestry was commissioned by Bishop Odo, bishop of Bayeux and the half-brother of William the Conqueror. The Tapestry contains

hundreds of images divided into scenes each describing a particular event. The scenes are joined into a linear sequence allowing the viewer to "read" the entire story starting with the first scene and progressing to the last. The Tapestry would probably have been

displayed in a church for public view.

How can we know

t h i n g s happened this

way?

History is written by the victors and the Tapestry is above all a Norman document. In a time when the vast majority of the population was illiterate, the Tapestry's images were designed to tell the story of the conquest of England from the Norman perspective. It focuses on the

story of William, making no mention of Hardrada of Norway nor of Harold's victory at Stamford Bridge.” - Invasion of England, 1066

Pretend you are a British scribe assigned to record one of the following parts of the Battle of Hastings in a tapestry:

- the beginning of the battle (Harold and his army of about 5000-7000 defending William’s approaching army of 7000 at the top of the hill)

- the strategic “retreat” of the Normans (two times small sections of the Norman battle pretend to flee and turn around to swallow up the Brits who chase them)

- the death of King Harold (according to the Bayeux tapestry he was struck in the eye- what do you think the Brits would have said!?)

ACtIVItY

THINK! How might a British scribe tell the story different from a Norman scribe?

This might help...

Imagine you lost an important football match. Then, you had to write about the game in the next day’s paper.

You had missed some important shots and your best friend had let in three bad goals. How are you going to report on these events to “save face”?

History Skill! ESSAY

WRITING%

A good essay has the

following things:

An Introduction- THAT LISTS

YOUR MAIN POINTS

A Body- TRY FOR THREE

PARAGRAPHS

A Conclusion- SUMMARIZE AND

SAY SOMETHING INTERESTING!

Follow these steps!

i. Choose your topic- make it into a sentence.

ii. Gather research to support your topic.

iii. Look at all your research notes and choose 3

main supporting points.iv. For each point, expand

by writing two or three sentences proving it true.

v. Conclude- Review your 3 main points and end

on a fresh idea.

H W Cycle 3Due: Day 5 : T h u r 8 Sep.

Topic:

SUPPORT

POINT 1:

SUPPORT

POINT 2:SUPPORT

POINT 3:

Conclusion:

Copy this planner into

your notebook and fill i t o u t u s i n g t h e informat ion in your M e d i e v a l T i m e s

Notebook.

Add Information:againbesidesmoreoveranotherfor insurancetogether withandlikewiseas wellfurthermoreadditionallyalong withalsofor exampleequally importantfurtherfinally

Contrast two things or show a difference:butotherwiseeven thoughconverselyeven soyethowevercounter toon the other handas opposed toin the meantimeon the contraryneverthelessstill

Emphasize:gainindeedto repeat trulyin factto emphasize for this reasonwith this in mind

Conclude or Summarize:

in shortfinallyin summaryin conclusionconsequentlydue toall in allas a resultaccordinglyto sum upthus

Use these words to connect ideas or transition sentences.Remember to follow al of these words with a COMMA.!

Transition aNd connecting Words for essAy-writinG!

#$%

Let’s find out:

How was the feudal system in Medieval Europe

organized?

The feudal system was a

government based on agreement between the king and his baron/noble.

The PlayersKing

noblesKnights

Villeins/ peasants

F i n d a description of

e a c h o f t h e s e feudal “players” on

the next page.

How did William

Keep Control Over England?

feudal system players

H I E R A R C H Y : D is t r ibu t ion o f power/authority.

The King

The King was in complete control under the Feudal System. He owned all the land in the country and decided who he would lease land to. He therefore only allowed those men he could trust to lease land from him. However, before they were given any land they had to swear an oath to

remain faithful to the King at all times. The men who leased land from the King were known as Barons, they were wealthy, powerful and had

complete control of the land they leased from the King.

Barons

Barons leased land from the King which was known as a manor. They were known as the Lord of the Manor and were in complete control of this land. They established their own system of justice, minted their own money and set their own taxes. In return for the land they had been given by the King, the Barons had to serve on the royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service when he demanded it.

They also had to provide lodging and food for the King and his court when they travelled around the country. The Barons kept as much of their land as they wished for their own

use, then divided the rest among their Knights. Barons were very rich.

How did William

Keep Control Over

England?

Knights

Knights were given land by a Baron in return for military service when demanded by the King. They also had to protect the Baron and his family, as well as the Manor, from attack. The Knights kept as much of the land

as they wished for their own personal use and distributed the rest to villeins (serfs). Although not as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite

wealthy.

Villeins

Villeins, sometimes known as serfs, were given land by Knights. They had to provide the Knight with free labour, food and service whenever it was

demanded. Villeins had no rights. They were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their Lord's permission before they could marry.

Villeins were poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EgWb_89Uow

How did William

Keep Control Over

England?

Your group will be provided with cutouts of different “feudal” system c h a r a c t e r s . D r a w a d i a g r a m r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e feudal “hierarchy” and place the characters on the diagram to show where they belong. Write their title and a small explanation of their role and responsibilities.

How did William

Keep Control Over

England?

Grants land to:

Provide food and service when demanded.

King

Baron

Knights

Villeins

Grants land to:

Grants land to:

Provide protection and military service.

Provides money and knights.

Maybe it worked something like this??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygLvyDdewU

How did William

Keep Control Over

England?

T i m e M a c h i n e Journal!

I magine that you are

whisked by a time machineback to eleventh-centuryEngland. You land in one ofthe fields on a manor ownedby Lord Snootville. Thefirst people you encounterare William and his son,Christopher. They areplowing ground to getready for spring planting.You are horrified to seeChristopher yoked like anox and straining to pull theplow through the thick,black soil. When you laterask “why?,” you are toldthat they are too poor toshare an ox with anotherserf family.

After the shock of your meeting wears off, you begin to tell William and Christopher about all the wonders of the modern age. They are, of course, flabbergasted by what you tell them,

and at first they believe you might be associated in some way with witchcraft. When you assure them that you are not a witch or w rlock and that you are indeed from the twenty-first century, they inch closer and plead with

you to tell them more.Suppose you were limited to seven things that you could tell William and Christopher about life

in the twenty-first century. What seven inventions, developments, or wonders would

you relate?

HW INfo!

UHH

Dad. . .

What’s an

Eye.Pod??!!

Think about the Unit Question . . . Write a paragraph about it in your notebook and try to answer it based on the information we have gathered so far. Discuss t h e F e u d a l S y s t e m i n comparison with our modern form of government and the Manor System verses modern society.

Then answer the question in one summarizing sentence and copy it on to a cue card for display.

Part 2

7 thingsIn your notebook, t e l l W i l l i a m a n d Christopher seven modern inventions, deve lopments, or wonders from the 21st century.List them and explain each.

Then copy these “7 Things” onto a cue card for display, with a brief explanation beside each.

Part 1

InstructionsDo the following two

activities. Both should be done in your

notebooks first, and then copied onto a cue card or piece of art paper cut into a

small square.

HW Cycle 3

Assessment Task 2

Write an Essay about the feudal system.You will need to write a paragraph for each “feudal system character (King, Noble, Knight and Peasant).

Your topic statement (or thesis) will be:

“The Feudal System was a medieval hierarchy based on land

ownership.”

Each paragraph will focus on a different level in the hierarchy and discuss who this character received land from, and what he had to give in exchange for land.

MARKING CRITERIA:A C SKILLS D ORG AND PRES

TODAY:Use the Essay Writing

Planner to begin planning your essay.

You should start by filling in information for each paragraph.

Note: You will need to have 4 Body Bubbles, instead of only

3.

DUE DATE:

6.6 Date 3: Thursday 22

September, 2011.

Cockerington, Aschil and Ulgrin has three carucates of land and one bovate...There is land for six teams. Ilbert, the bishop’s man, had two teams, there is demesne

and 7 villeins ... and 27 sokeman, having 3 teams . There are 80 acres of meadow there,and 60 acres of wood, and 2 parts of a mill rendering two shillings. Then [in the time

of King Edward, the Confessor] it was worth 60 shillings; now the same.

Extract from the Domesday Book

Come up with a modern translation!

What questions would the Commissioners have had to ask to get the information they needed?

What can you learn about peoples’ lives in Norman England from this source?

How do you think that William aimed to use the information from the survey? See the Background

Information sheet for more details.

Household Survey FormComplete the information below based on your home:

W o r k w i t h your assigned group to f i l l out your a n a l y s i s c a r d

activities.

Complete the information below based on your home:

Task One: AgeWhat is the mean average age of all the people in your households?You work this out by adding up all the numbers you have and dividing by how manyages you added together. For Example:• You have the ages 70 years, 50 years, 42 years, 11 years and 9 years• You add 70 + 50 + 42 + 11 + 9 = 182• Then divide 182 by 5 (the number of ages added together) which equals 36.4• Your average is 36.4

Task Two: AccommodationUsing the data you have collected, work out how many of each different types ofaccommodation you have in your group, for example you may find your group has twoBungalows, four cottages and one flat in a block. Produce a bar graph to show your results.Which is the most common type of accommodation in your group?

C l a s s r oom Census!

Imagine that you are a monk who has just spoken to a freeman and a Saxon Lord about how they feel about the Domesday survey taking

place. As that monk, write a short paragraph for the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

entitled: ‘Local reaction in The Anglo to the Domesday survey’. Begin your paragraph with the phrase: ‘In the year of our Lord ten

hundred and eighty-six’.

Answer t h e s e

questions in your groups!

- What words does the author use to describe William?– Do you think that he likes William?– What words does he use to describe the people of England?– Do the people of England sound happy or unhappy?– Why might this author have disliked William?– How would farmers have felt about the Domesday survey?– How would Saxon nobles have felt about the Domesday survey?

i l l u m i n a t e d

manuscript #

What kinds of

documents do historians care

about?

Illuminated Manuscript!$ make

you own using

the paragraph

you

wrote for the

Anglo-Saxon Chr

onicle!

youtube:

Did you know?!

Two-stage processIlluminated manuscripts were produced in monasteries by a series of scribes. It is thought that onewould do the writing while another would draw the intricate design and decoration of the first letter.

VellumThey were produced on vellum which was made from animal skin such as calf, goat or sheep.A whole sheepskin was required for a large manuscript. To create vellum, the skin went througha process of scrubbing and washing so that it was exceptionally smooth, then it was stretched

between posts hammered into the ground and left in the sun to dry. This is why it ended up

a pale yellow colour.

GlitterThe word illumination comes from the Latin ‘lit up’ which explains the use of bright and sparkling

colours. Expensive colours such as gold (made from gold heated and banged into a thin layer like a leaf), silver (made from silver leaf like gold or ground down into a powder) or blue (made from semi-

precious stone lapis lazuli) were used very carefully and mainly concentrated in the first letter.

m a n o r i a l system

C1D5

Let’s find out:

What was daily life like for the peasantry and nobility on the medieval European manor?

$ Look at page

s 6

to 9 in your

“Medieval Minds

” book!

I n pairs discuss

and record the answers in the Think boxes on Pages 6,

7 and 9.

Activity!

Beg in p re p a r i n g y o u r

Conference findings! Do the activity labelled “Step 1” on Page 9 of your M e d i e v a l M i n d s

Workbook. Follow the instructions.

Homework!

C1HW2

Keywords! +Fallow – Empty Crop Rotation – farming system used on the manor Cruck-House – typical peasant’s cottage Manor – an area of land owned by a lord

village life The land that was owned by the lord was called the manor. A manor consisted of a village with land around it. The villeins lived in the village, which was surrounded by three large fields. Each field was divided into long strips. A villein would farm strips in each of the fields. This made sure that everyone had a share of the good land and the bad land. The strips were divided by mounds of earth or by rocks. Each year, the villeins changed the crops they grew in each field. This was called crop rotation. Have a look at the table below to see how it worked.

Every year, one field was left fallow, or empty, so that the soil could get its goodness back. Strip farming meant that villeins had to work together. A whole field would be sown and harvested, and each villein worked closely with his neighbour to get his work done. The other land around the village was also important. Villeins collected wood from the woodland, their animals grazed on the common land, fish could be collected from the river, which was also used for washing and cooking. The land around the village supplied the villeins with nuts, berries and mushrooms.

THINK ABOUT IT!

Do people still live like this today, even

though we are no longer living in the

“Dark Ages”?!

C1D5

Stories from the M i d d l e Ages.

If you are a peasant, go to this website. Imagine yourself in the story. Write down three things you understand about life as a peasant

during the Middle Ages.

http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/manorialsystem.html

If you are a noble, go to this website. Imagine yourself as a medieval

noble. Write down three things you understand about life as a noble during

the Middle Ages.

http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/nobility.html

Homework task!

You will be assigned one of the characters from this website:

http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/ma/mahome.htm

Read the whole page of information for your character. On a sheet of white A-4 paper, draw your character and

tell us 10 important things about your character in summary

points.

# See Sophia tonight for more

information.

C1D5

Medieval Manor Activity

You will be assigned a group and a character card.You will either be an Apothecary, a Blacksmith, a Miller, a Mason, a Goldsmith or a

Spicer.

Using the map provided to your group. Decode which town to set up your business in. One student in the group must be the secretary- List the benefits/reasons for the town

you have selected.

After 10 minutes, we will share our ideas as a class.

Two students must be speakers- Speaker 1 must explain your group’s character (Who are you, what do you do?). Speaker 2 must identify the town selected and read the list

of benefits/reasons.

As other groups present, write down the name of their character and a brief description of what they do in your notebooks.

C1D5

Manor Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0AnUM1tt54

The Luttrell Psalter Film: A Year in the Life of a Medieval Village

The Luttrell Psalter:

In the 14th Century Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, Lord of Irnham, Lincolnshire commissioned an illuminated manuscript ... A book of psalms to be illustrated to the highest standard by the finest artists Sir Geoffrey

could find ... Artists who perhaps looked to the village of Irnham to inspire their poetic and symbolic imagery ...

“This celebrated manuscript, commissioned by a wealthy landowner in the first half of the 14th century, is one of the most striking to survive from the Middle Ages. Painted in rich colours embellished with gold and silver, with vitality and sometimes bizarre inventiveness of decoration, this manuscript is unlike virtually any other.” Online Gallery, Sacred Texts

See It! http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/luttrellpsalter.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Ra2t3S8jp8w&feature=related

the church!WATCH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdA8DMISJ1o

D r a w t h e C h u r c h Hierarchy and f o l l o w t h e s p e a k e r s directions when t a k i n g y o u r notes.

Define:ClergyPope

CardinalsArchbishop

BishopsParish Priests

Heresy

Answer:How was the medieval church structured and how did the church influence medieval life?

Your next class will begin with a quick 15 minute

pop quiz asking you to define and/or answer the

following:

Political Discourse: Nursery Rymes

What is political discourse?Write down the definition in your notebook.

HINT:Discourse =

At one time, it was quite dangerous to criticize the government. An offended king or queen would have your head removed from your shoulders. There was no

freedom of speech, so those who did have complaints often hid them in happy little rhymes. The adults would make up silly little stories, using common people and common daily things, but those people and things stood for the nonsense that was going on at court. It was the only safe way to poke fun at the nobles.

Those rhymes still exist today, but for the most part, we’ve forgotten their beginnings.

Let’s look at a few. %

Georgie Porgie pudding and pieKissed the girls and made them cry.When the boys came out to play

Georgie Porgie ran away.

Georgie Porgie is believed to be about George Villiers, an English duke who lived in the early 1600s. He was quite attractive and had very few morals, so he was always getting into romantic trouble. The common people loved to make fun of the nobles who couldn’t

remember to whom they were married.

We still do that today, don’t we?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s menCouldn’t put Humpty together again.

Humpty wasn’t an egg as is usually pictured, but a cannon used in an English civil war in 1648. The cannon was perched on a wall, but the wall crumbled under fire and the greatly

feared weapon broke. The “king’s men,” or the people loyal to the crown, lost that battle due to the loss of the cannon called Humpty Dumpty.

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie.

He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum and said, “What a good boy am I.”

In the 1530s, King Henry VIII, who had left the Roman Catholic Church, started breaking up the great monasteries of England and taking their land and riches. One monastery tried to bribe the

king by sending him paperwork that gave him the titles to 12 large castles and pieces of land. The paperwork was hidden inside a pie. That was normal at the time because thieves were everywhere on the roads. The messenger was named Richard Whiting, not Jack Horner, but it is believed he

stole the title to the best piece of land. The monastery was eventually destroyed, but that one piece of land was never retrieved, and Richard Whiting was never caught. He was a “good boy.”

Mary, Mary quite contraryHow does your garden grow?With silver bells and cockleshellsAnd pretty maids in a row.

This one refers to Bloody Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII. She wanted to return England to the Roman Catholic Church and she had anyone who disagreed tortured or killed. The garden in the rhyme is really a graveyard. Silver bell was a nickname for a thumbscrew. Cockleshells were also

an instrument of torture, but they were connected a bit lower than the thumb. A guillotine was commonly known as “the maid.”

We are going to consider the time between 1096 and 1291, which spans about 200 years. Stop now and think about that period of time. Has Christopher Columbus sailed yet? How long has it been since the fall of Rome? Is most of Europe Christian yet, or is it still peopled by the Celts and pagans? Has the bubonic plague struck Europe yet? What’s happening, by your best guess, in the American continents at this time? Is it the time of Robin Hood or Boyz in the Hood? Don’t move on until you know where you’re standing.

The year 1096 in medieval Europe was neither the gentlest nor the most intellectual. That’s not to say that people were stupid, but they certainly were very naive. They believed the priests of the Roman Catholic Church who told them they were sinners and that life was tough and was meant to be — that they were paying for Adam and Eve’s disobedience a long time ago. They believed that the misery of this life would be erased in the second life everlasting after they had died. They didn’t have much food; they didn’t have much schooling; they certainly didn’t have much in the way of breaks in life. They did have the church, and the church ruled their lives and gave them hope.

Making the church angry, then, was serious business. The church gave (and sometimes sold) the forgiveness that medieval people needed to get into heaven. A torturous and evil hell was a very real thing to these people. They were already living it; they certainly didn’t need more of it after death. So the people listened to the church and its holy fathers and tried to do as they were told.

Also during these 200 years, people followed the principle of primogeniture. This meant that the oldest son inherited all the land and riches. Standing around in their armor, doing not much else but grumbling, were a bunch of nobles’ second, third and fourth sons. They couldn’t even go about causing problems by using their superior advantage to spread misery because the church had made rules about when and where they could fight. A bunch of strong boys with sharp toys looking for a place to rumble: sounds like trouble!

The leaders of the church didn’t like all these unemployed knights getting into trouble. They also didn’t like the idea that the church and Christendom (the geographic areas that followed Christianity) were basically split into two parts. Years ago, the eastern part of the Roman Empire divided off and returned to following Greek ways of life. This division was called the Byzantine Empire and its capital was Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire had slightly different rules and very different lifestyles from the Roman Empire, even though both empires’ people were Christian. The Byzantines were much more civilized than the barbarian-influenced western area. Rome’s pope and the church leaders of the western region wanted to bring both sides together under the leadership of the pope, but there was no easy way to do that.

Bingo! The Turks were threatening Alexis Comena, who was the emperor of the Byzantine Empire. The Turks had pushed their way across and through several civilizations, had overrun Jerusalem and were now knocking on the door of Comena’s empire. Comena wrote to Pope Urban II, leader of the western church, and asked for help. The pope took all these bored, misbehaving knights and promised them heavenly forgiveness and lands (except for the eastern half of Christendom) if they would reunite Europe and the church under the western pope’s influence. He was a man with a plan; however, the best laid plans often go astray.

As you learn about the Crusades (the word means “war of the cross”), you’ll see that this period is the beginning of a long and hard conflict between Muslim and Christian people. The Crusades led to quiet and almost unnoticed changes in the Christian world. However, those changes turned out to be very important in changing the medieval world into the Renaissance world.

The people who came back from the Crusades adopted new fashions, manners, foods, spices, cultural outlooks, learning and weapons. But the people who waited behind changed as well. They became less trusting of the church and its motives and people. They began to question. They also were given their first opportunity and permission to ignore the desires of their lords and masters. The world was changing; it just didn’t know it yet.

Source: “The Middle Ages: Introduction to The Crusades” [Online] Available <http://westernreservepublicmedia.org/middleages/crusade_intro.htm> October 17, 2011.

ACTIVITY!$

Each group will be assigned a specific crusade.You will have to write nursery rhymes with themes and characters that allude to stories about

the historical people of the Crusades.

After you have come up with a few, write them on a poster board.In the middle of the board, have a section which explains the important details of your crusade.

Write a nursery rhyme! (aka. political discourse)

- It talks about a bit of history

- It turns major players into common folk

- The evilness or stupidity of subject’s actions are hidden but still understandable in a story that

doesn’t seem as awful as what is really happening

- It possesses a happy rhythm and rhyme that makes the story easy to remember

- It includes a fun children’s picture that helps hide the true meaning

Following are elements necessary for a good, old-fashioned nursery rhyme:

Bishop Adhemar led the first official crusade in 1096. He was in charge of five different armies, each led by its own noble. In battle, the former barbarian soldiers now were Christian crusaders who were disciplined

and steady. They managed to win against incredible odds. At one point, 30,000 crusaders, led by a warrior named Bohemond, held off 360,000 Turks. Some say that had to do with the fact that the Turkish kingdom

and armies were in a state of upheaval as they fought among themselves. The Turks were never very cohesive; many rivalries existed. At a particularly low point of battle, the Christian crusaders found what they believed to be the holy lance, the lance that pierced the side of Jesus when he was crucified. This

miracle renewed their spirit and they continued their conquests.

Before the crusaders could reach the walls of Jerusalem, the Turks who had overrun it were expelled by another group called the Fatimid Muslims. The Fatimid Muslims had been friendly and accepting of

Christian people, but the crusaders had come too far to be calmed. Even though the Fatimid Muslim people offered to share the city that is holy to both religions and give Christians easy access to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, the crusaders decided to change the holy war against the Muslim Turks into a holy war

against all Muslims and the entire Islam religion.

The Christian crusaders broke through the walls of Jerusalem using battering rams and siege towers. Once inside, they killed and disgraced the dead bodies of 70,000 Muslims and Jews who were living there.

Jerusalem was officially a Christian city. The year was 1099.

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Christians were in control of the Holy Land, but as the years passed, they became spoiled and lazy. When they did go back to central Europe, they brought with them riches, fine spices, exotic jewelry, beautiful

women, wonderful fabrics and tales of adventure and land to be taken. On top of that, the newly seated pope, Paschal II, was preaching that more armies must go to reinforce the conquests earned by the First

Crusade. According to Paschal, the fight against the Muslim people was not over, so many groups formed to continue and support the battle. Two of those were monks called the Knights Templar and the Knights

of Saint John.

The Knights Templar were formidable and holy killers who vowed to protect all crusading travelers. They answered only to the pope and had very strict rules for themselves. Still, they managed to become very rich because nobles and common people who couldn’t crusade but wanted the church’s blessings gave

them money. The Knights Templar wore long, white robes with red crosses over their armor.

The Knights of Saint John were better known as the Hospitallers because they originally worked in a hospital and cared for travelers. They, like the Knights Templar before them, turned to violence and war to further the interests of Christians in the Holy Land. They also became very wealthy. They wore black robes

over their armor and had white crosses sewn to their sleeves.

A Muslim leader named Zengi managed to overtake a large Christian city called Edessa. He killed all the invading western Christians, but spared the eastern, or Byzantine, Christians. Still, his act scared the western church. Pope Eugenius III announced that a new army must be raised. The year was 1144.

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The Second Crusade was only talk and tales until a very persuasive speaker named Bernard of Clairvaux started selling the idea. He spoke of the “horrors” of the Holy Land falling into unbelievers’ hands and

promised that God would reward the souls of those who fought for him. Bernard’s power of persuasion was amazing. People listened and vowed to follow.

In 1145, two kings, Louis VII and the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, amassed their armies and headed for Jerusalem. Almost 1 million people were involved in the Second Crusade. The crusaders changed direction for an unknown reason, and instead of attacking the Muslims who overthrew Edessa, they

attacked the only Muslim friends the Christians had, who lived in the city of Damascus. This strategy only helped to unite all the Muslim nations together against the Christians.

Once the crusaders were outside the walls of Damascus and the city’s Muslim people sent notice of surrender to them, the victorious crusaders milled about a bit and then left. They never even entered the

city and to this day no one knows why. They packed up and went home. The only thing they accomplished was to make the Muslim nations more solidified.

Years later, a Sunni Muslim of Kurdish descent built his own army. Historically, he is known as Saladin. His hope was to further the unintended result of the Second Crusade by joining all Muslim forces together

under one leader. He conquered all of Egypt and then officially took back Jerusalem from the Christians knights who conquered it. To make his point, he didn’t harm the common Christians but he allowed the

captured Christian knights to be beheaded by people unskilled in the art. It took a great many chops and swings, and the unfortunate people bled to death before the heads were finally removed. Jerusalem was

once again a Muslim city. The year was 1149.

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Pope Gregory VII said sinful people were the reason Jerusalem had fallen into Muslim hands again. He taxed the common people to build up enough money to send out a third crusading army. These crusades must have been quite a headache for the poor commoners. As all this was happening, King Richard ruled England, but he didn’t care much about his country. He used his title to raid the churches and countryside and then in 1189 left on the Third Crusade. King Phillip of France and his armies joined him along the way.

They decided to go by ship rather than by land as the ones before them had gone. Along the way, King Richard conquered Sicily and Cyprus with brutal ease. This built up his reputation and earned him the

name Richard the Lionheart.

Eventually the French armies under King Phillip returned home and Richard went on by himself. He conquered the city of Acre, sending word that he wanted to meet with Saladin. Saladin didn’t respond

quickly enough, so Richard took 3,000 captured Muslim men, women and children to a hillside within view of Saladin and had the innocent people slaughtered to show the Muslim warrior and king the power of a

Christian warrior and king.

The two great leaders fought on against each other in many different cities and became respectful enemies. It is said that Richard could ride in front of the army of Saladin unarmed and not be attacked

because those warriors had too much respect for his abilities. Eventually Richard the Lionheart and Saladin drew up a truce. Some of the Holy Land went to the Christians and some to the Muslims. Saladin still held Jerusalem, but he allowed Christians to make pilgrimages freely. The agreement was only for three years only because Richard believed he could return and retake Jerusalem. He never did. The year was 1192.

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The Fourth Crusade was launched in 1202 at the command of Pope Innocent III. He couldn’t get anyone to listen to him until he threatened to excommunicate anyone who didn’t agree. A tax was imposed on all

Christendom, and French and Venetian armies gathered their forces.

The Venetians were having a hard time getting enough money or supplies, however, so they convinced the French army to join them in the destruction of a Christian seaport called Zara. They earned the money they

needed, but they also earned a sentence of excommunication by the pope.

Remember, Byzantine was the eastern half of Christendom and the pope would have very much liked to have had it under his control. Word was sent from Byzantine and its capital of Constantinople that the emperor there had been deposed and blinded by his brother. The pope declared that if the crusaders

would get involved in that battle and return the throne to the correct brother, all would be forgiven. So the Venetian and French Christian crusaders forgot about the Muslim people and went to attack the Christian

capital of Constantinople instead.

Eventually, the combined forces conquered Constantinople with the use of special bridges. The bridges attached to the masts of ships and then to the city walls. Crusading soldiers were able to invade the

watchtowers simultaneously and quickly overran the entire city. The crusading army did a bit more than chase the bad brother off one of the city walls to his death. They also murdered and raped the Christian people of Constantinople including the nuns; burned down libraries containing the only copies of ancient Greek texts; removed all the gold, jewels and holy relics from churches; and melted down ancient Greek

statues for their metal. Needless to say, the people of that area weren’t too interested in merging their form of eastern Christianity with the western kind they saw in the crusaders. Byzantine was no longer. (The

eastern Roman Empire declined, but it held out until 1453.) It was renamed Romania, and the eastern and western church factions never were united. The crusaders never did get near Jerusalem. The year was

1204.

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The Crusades until now haven’t been very successful or what we would call very Christian. It is important to remember that in that time, there were sincere attempts at reforming the world in the name of God.

Most of the crusaders then believed in the right and goodness of what they were doing. Some, however, saw the Crusades as a get-rich scheme. When independent pride and greed got in the way, things went

sour. Eventually, someone came up with the idea that simple goodness and innocence were necessary for this crusade idea to work. That person was a German youth named Nicholas.

In 1212, 30,000 children looking for adventure, truly believing and just wanting to escape home followed Nicholas across the Alps and toward the sea, where they hoped to be able to sail to the Holy Land.

Instead, those who survived the trip were gathered by a Norwegian man, who sold them into slavery and prostitution.

A similar group of 20,000 French children followed a boy named Stephen. When they reached the sea, they were permitted to board seven ships. Two of those ships sank and the children drowned. The other

five docked in Africa, where the children were immediately sold into slavery.

This hopeless and sad tale didn’t kill off the crusader fever. The pope announced that anyone could join a crusade without permission. Peasants didn’t need to ask the permission of their lords; they could just go.

And despite what happened to the children, many did long to make the journey. The year was 1212.

 

Children's Crusade

In 1215, the church divided up Europe into taxation sections and imposed new taxes to support the crusades. Each person was responsible for paying a penny a week — a huge sum at that time. In 1217,

the Fifth Crusade was outfitted and ready to leave. The army planned to enter Jerusalem by way of the sea and then across the Nile River.

At this time, the Muslim world was ruled by Saladin’s nephew, al-Kamul. He offered the crusaders an unbelievable deal — they could simply have the Holy Land, no questions asked. The pope, however,

wanted them to hold out for all of Egypt, too. He knew that Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II was headed in that direction with an army.

Frederick never showed up, though. The crusaders were led into Egypt by a Roman Cardinal named Pelagius. They camped on a flat area between two threads of the Nile River, which they were unaware was

a flood plain. The Muslims knew. They opened the barriers, and the Fifth Crusade washed away in the night. The year was 1221.

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Remember the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II from the previous crusade? He was the one who never showed up. It turns out that he had gotten far enough east to adopt some of the eastern and Arab habits. He read the Koran; he studied Islam; he smoked hashish; he even kept a harem. Despite the warnings and

anger of the pope, Frederick never really got all bothered about fighting for Jerusalem. It seems not too much at all bothered him. He even made friends with the leader of the Arab/Muslim world, al-Kamul.

Al-Kamul was having a bit of trouble. His own brother was trying to take his power. Al-Kamul told Frederick about it and finally, in 1228, Frederick decided to go fight. But he was going to fight for the Muslims and al-

Kamul. He was supposed to be fighting against them.

By the time Frederick arrived with his army, the brother issue had been handled. The two leaders sat down and talked. They decided the Christians could have everything they wanted regarding Jerusalem, as long as Muslims were still allowed to worship there. In return, the Christians would promise to help the Muslims

if they needed it in fighting the advancing horde of Mongols who were coming from the east.

Jerusalem was once again open to Christians and Muslims both, but the pope was still so angry at Frederick, he excommunicated him and the whole city of Jerusalem. The city was open, but now no

Christian could travel there and still be considered a Christian. The year was 1228.

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The pope, who still was furious with Frederick, announced a new crusade in 1248. The twist was that this time it was against Frederick himself, the guy who made it possible (and impossible) for Christians to go to Jerusalem. Christians were once again taxed to pay for a march to Jerusalem. They were getting a bit tired

of it all, to say the least.

The new and Seventh Crusade was led by Louis IX of France. He was a good and Christian man who decided to attack when he heard that Turkish Muslims had overrun Jerusalem and slaughtered countless innocents. Even the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers couldn’t fight against these wild men. The Holy

Land was completely Muslim now and no Christian was safe there.

Despite King Louis’ good character and plans, his armies were no match for the Muslim armies. It didn’t help that much of Louis’ army was dying of dysentery. Some historians say it was so bad that men simply cut holes in the back of their britches. That had to make “turning tail” and running a bit awkward, but King

Louis was forced to retreat and regroup. The Seventh Crusade was over. The year was 1254.

 

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King Louis of France wasn’t ready to give up. In 270, he negotiated with those scary hordes, the Mongols, mentioned in the Sixth Crusade. He figured Christians and the Mongols could combine forces and finally

drive the Muslim people out of the Holy Land. He knew that in them he had a great weapon.

But the Muslims had a great weapon, too. There was a practice at the time of abducting young Russian slaves, forcing them to convert to Islam, bringing them into the Muslim world and training them to become extremely cruel warriors who would protect the most important leaders. These slave children were raised without any mercy, so they knew none. They were called Mamelukes and they were some of the meanest people in all of history. At one point, an Arab Muslim leader had tried to get rid of his protective Mameluke warriors and they got rid of him instead. That’s how Qutuz, the Mameluke Muslim, came to power. Qutuz

and his army easily decimated the feared Mongols. Now that’s just scary.

King Louis was on his own now. His Mongol surprise wasn’t going to work. On top of that, he found only 10,000 people willing to march in the Eighth Crusade. When the crusaders’ ships landed in Africa, King

Louis died of a stomach problem and the final crusade collapsed. He was later canonized as Saint Louis. In the meantime, the Mamelukes killed off all Christian knights and people anywhere in the Holy Land. It

was over. The Arab nations ruled the land that had been fought over for so long. The year was 1291.

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Black Death- Use your Medieval Realms Textbook to read the story of Alice and Stephen. Answer the Activity Questions on Pages 73 and 75.

Activity

2:

You must write the ending of Alice and Stephen’s tragic story. You will work in groups of 4/5 and present

your masterpiece in the following lesson.Make it factual!!