Month: January 2019

The Black Death

The Black Death was a very deadly plague that killed almost 60% of the English population. It began in 1348 and ended in 1353.

Symptoms of the black death were: Boils, vomiting, fevers and chills. The plague was very contagious and 1 out of 3 people had it and died. When people did die, their bodies were burned but, this made the plague spread even quicker because others breathed in the smoke from the fires.

Doctors in that time were not like the ones we have today. They also didn’t know how what the plague was so, they didnt know how to treat it. They tried very dangerous practices but, this didnt help at all.

Some people had thought that the plague was judgment from the Father so, the did very cruel things to themselves, like whipping themselves in front of everyone thinking that it would make things better but, this made things even worse.

The Black Death had a huge affect on the economy of Europe. For example, men were to weak to plant crops that people started to starve and there was more deaths.

The plague finally died of around 1553 and it took even longer for Europe to go back to normal.

Joan of Arc

Also known as the Maid of Orleans, Joan was a French hero who fought for French freedom.

Joan was born a peasant girl in a small lovely town. But, when she was twelve years old, she started claiming that there was Saints calling her. She even claimed that she saw them. Finally, she claimed that the angels told her too help retake France for the king.

At first, everyone thought she was crazy and it took her three tries to be able to talk to Charles VII! At this time, Charles wasn’t completely the king of France yet but, he was pretty much considered king. Finally, Charles decided he would talk to her.

She impressed him with her bravery, speech and faith and so, he agreed to let her lead an army to attack the city of Reims. But, before she was allowed to do this, her faith was tested by Catholic priests.

After gathering her army, she rode to the city and retook it! Since Reims was the French coronation city, Joan encouraged Charles to be crowned there, and he did. Thanks to her, the French had a King again!

A while later, she led another army to try to defeat the English but, she was not successful and she was captured by the English. After she was held captive, it was agreed that she should die. And so, she was burned at the stake.

After her death, Joan of Arc became a saint and a famous French hero.

A long time ago, the church practically had power over everything but, they didn’t speak the real truth. Thankfully, there was men who really believed and spoke the real truth. Probably one of the greatest of these is, Martin Luther. But, there was a man two hundred years before him that did about the same things as he did. His name was John Wycliffe.

John Wycliffe was born in the 1320s in a well off – family. He was well educated and got a bachelor’s degree in theology at Oxford University.

Wycliffe had never agreed with what the church was doing and promoted against, indulgences, how the pope had power over everything, how the church was not simple like it was supposed to be, etc. Of course, this would highly offended the church but, he didn’t care.

John Wycliffe also saw that the priests were the only ones who got to read the bible. This was a huge problem for many reasons. First, the bible never said that the priests were the only ones allowed to read it. Second, the church could make things up because no one knew it wasn’t in the word. There were many other things but these were the main problems. So, John Wycliffe translated the Latin bible into English so all could read it and understand it.

This was a very good thing but sadly, he died before it was finished. On the brighter side, his friend finished and published it! This made the church even more furious so, many years later, John Wycliffe and his followers, the Lollards, were convicted of craziness so to speak. They then unburied Wycliffe’s body and burned his bones. His ashes were then scattered in a river.

The church thought that they could get rid of the real truth but, this didn’t stop men like Martin Luther to keep fighting for the truth. Now days, we can read the bible and know the Father’s word because of the men who fought for the truth.

Please give me feedback to help me improve!

Medieval Castles
After the famous medieval battle of Hastings, William the Conquer took over all of England. After being crowned, he introduced castle building.
Originally, castle building was a Norman thing and in England, the royal family and nobles had large fortified homes, not castles. It wasn’t until the Norman conquest of England castles become an English thing.
William built the very famous Tower of London shortly after his crowning. At first, the Tower of London was a symbol of Norman oppression but now, it is a very famous English landmark. Why did he build it? Well, the people of England did not like the idea of foreign rulers over them so, they had many riots against their new Norman king so, William needed a way to protect himself from the angry English people. So, he built the Tower of London. The Tower of London was a house for the royal family, a prison, an armory and a treasury. It was besieged several times but, has heeled its ground.
Over time, the English people were so out of order that William the Conquer built many smaller castles throughout England to protect the nobles who governed different parts of the land. That is why there is several small castles through out England that are either in ruins or are not livable.

Part two: Parts of a castles
The first castles were made of wood and earth materials. But over time, stone was added for strength. The Normans built in the Motte-and-Baily style.
The Keep- The strongest part of the castle that was usually on top of a Motte.
The Motte- Was a man made mound of earth that usually had a keep on the top of it.
The Bailey- The strong surrounding walls
The Curtain Wall- Surrounding walls that surrounded the Bailey
Gate Houses- They were attached to the Curtain Wall and were a way to get into the castles.
The Mott- A very steep ditch that surrounded the castles walls and was sometimes filled with water. You wouldn’t be able to get into the castles unless the drawbridge was down.

The development of the castle was continued all across Europe over several centuries. Castles were very important in England and, progressively became more of sybols of status than a defense.

Alfred the Great was a great Saxon King and a Christian Hero. He is also the only English monarch to be called “The Great.” When he was four years old, he was anointed king by the pope of Rome even though he had three older brothers. But, over time his brothers died and he was crowned king in 871. His reign got off to a shaky start because, the Danes invaded Wessex. Luckily, Alfred eventually held the Danes off. Meanwhile, the Danish king, Gurthrum, converted to Christianity in a peace treaty. Some of this was Alfred’s responsibility but it was very profitable because, this strengthened the ties between their two territories. Because of this, it made the country of England. In 886, Alfred marched on to London and reclaimed it. This act unified Southern Europe. Alfred the great is famous for several things, reorganizing the military, establishing a fleet of Longships, writing a 120 chapter long law code and, reviving education -which is his greatest achievement. He believed that every man – poor or rich- should receive an education. He found it important that for his country to succeed, it would have to rely on a good Christian education and faith. Alfred dealt with a lot of illness throughout his life which lead to his death in 899. He was succeeded by his son, Edward. It wasn’t till history writers in the 16th century added “the Great” to his name.

Best known as bloodthirsty barbarians, the Vikings weren’t like we think they were.
The Vikings were a Germanic tribe from Scandinavia that actually weren’t barbarians as we think. The term “barbarian” came from the Romans. The Romans thought of anyone who wasn’t Roman, a barbarian. And since that they had a lot of problems with the Viking people, they were best known as barbarians. in old Norse, Viking actually means, “Seamen” and “Expeditions” not, “Crazy persons.”
The most thought of item when someone says “Viking” is, their boats. The Vikings made two types of boats, the Longships and Knarrs. The Longships were for transporting warriors. Even though they are known as warships, they weren’t actually used for sea warfare. They were also used for expeditions and, trade. They were shaped the same front and back, expertly designed and, were propelled by wind power and/or oars. The Knarr ships were merchant ships that were much deeper, wider and shorter. They were primarily powered by wind but, had a few oars just in case.
The Vikings created their own alphabet that is mostly found on runestones. Runestones are a number of things such as, gravestones. They also told what the purpose of what the stone was, who erected it and the relation to the raiser and, the deceased.
The Vikings were a pagan culture who’s gods influenced us today. For example, Wednesday was named after Odin, Thursday after Thor and, Friday after Freya. Also, Thor is a Marvel superhero.
Every member of a Viking tribe was required to have a weapon which, typically revealed their social status… The Vikings typically used Axes which was unusual at the time because, axes were like the old fashioned weapon at the time. They used swords as well but, not as much as axes. They did use bows and arrows but, that was less honorable. The Vikings fought in a very unorganized, chaotic fashion.
The Vikings were usually blue eyed and had either red or blond hair.
They were primarily farmers but, could have also been, metalworkers or jewelers. They depended mostly on livestock and, in the summer, they had vegetables and grains.
All though they did plunder and raid, they were actually very clean and tidy people at home and, took pride in this. Also, Vikings didn’t have helmets with horns on them. That would have been to impractical.
The Vikings greatest legacy is the many colonies and settlements that they started throughout Scandinavia, Russia and, even North America.