Category: HISTORY

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.

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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.

In 622, the city of Medina became the first Islamic community led by Muhammad, the first Islamic leader.
Muhammad was born in 570, near the Ka’ba shrine –that is believed to be an alter the Abraham made- in the city of Mecca. A while after his birth, his father died then, his mother died when he was six years old. After the death of his mother, he was orphaned by his uncle then, at the age of twenty-four, he married a rich widow and, became a successful merchant. It wasn’t till he was the age of forty when he had his first vision. He claimed that his vision told him he was the prophet for a new religion and, that he needed to prophecy to the world. But his hometown didn’t accept this new, strange religion –they were pantheists- in fact, his own household kicked him out and, was some tried to assassinate him. So, he fled to the city of Medina and started to prophecy there. At that time, Madina was at a poor state so, when they heard about this new religion, the quickly accepted it. Later, Muhammad became leader of Medina. War broke out between Medina and Mecca for religious reasons shortly after Muhammad had control of Medina. Medina, captured Mecca and banned pantheism and made official religion, Islam.
In 632, Muhammad led a journey, known as the first Islam pilgrimage, with many other Muslims, from Medina, to the Ka’ba shrine in Mecca. Now, this shrine is the holiest Islamic place and, is inside a mosque in Mecca for protection. Today, every Muslim goes on pilgrimage Muhammad took at least once in his or her life. At the end of the pilgrimage, Muhammad gave his famous farewell sermon –at the time he didn’t know it would be his last. A few months later, in 632, he became very sick and died.
After Muhammad’s death, Islam began to spread very quickly and, today it is the second largest nation and, religion in the world today.

King Arthur and Early English Tribes
Great Britain now is not what is was then. In fact, the Romans called the early English tribes, Barbarians. Great Britain was originally inhabited by a tribe known as, the Britons. But, at the decline of the Roman empire, the Angles tribe invaded and gained power leading to a strong hold on Europe in the 5th century. At this time, another tribe from the coast of Germany known as the Saxons, invaded the islands such as modern-day Great Britain. The Britons had many invasions from the Angles and the Saxons that turned to 12 major battles but, eventually they made peace with one another. Also, the Saxons and the Angles started intermarrying with each other and became the Anglo-Saxons. The accounts of the 12 major battles fought by the 3 English tribes are found in THE HISTORY OF THE EARLY KINGS OF BRITAIN by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
It is believed that Geoffrey was the creator of the legendary King Arthur because, he frequently points to this heroic king several times. Geoffrey said that King Arthur killed 960 mean at the battle of Badon Hill. Even though we don’t know if King Arthur is actually real or not, he still to this day, is a heroic figure.
The Britons and the Anglo-Saxons lived in peace until invasion of the Normans in 1066 AD. The word “England”-the great kingdom we know today- comes from the early Angles.

When the Polos were in China, a very important Scottish character was born. He would soon pave the way to Scottish independence.

William “Braveheart” Wallace was born in 1270. We don’t know much about his background other than he was a land owner. When he was a child, Scotland was ruled by Alexander III. This Scottish king ruled with peace and stability. It was a wonderful time in Scotland but, when he passed, his very young granddaughter took heir to the throne.

She was young so, there was ,what I call, “mini kings” to help her rule the land but, she soon passed leaving no true heir. Many families tried claiming the throne but this turned into a huge argument. The “mini kings” suggested that Edward I of England be king but, the people did not want an English king so instead, they choose John Balliol as their king.

John Balliol was a very weak king. In fact, Edward I pressured him to abdicate the throne at first, John didn’t but eventually, Edward became King of England and, Scotland.

The people of Scotland were outraged and William Wallace who was less than thirty years old, raised an army against their new “king.” First, they went to the city of Lanmark and burned it, killing the English sheriff there. Then, Wallace led his little army to defeat the strongholds of the English border. The English army had met them there near the Stirling and Fourth river. The Battle of Stirling Bridge had begun but Wallace’s men were outnumbered. but, due to Wallace’s great battle strategies, the Scots won the battle. They then headed for Stirling Castle and defeated the English there.

Wallace was knighted for his bravery and became the guardian of the kingdom. But, four months after this, Edward himself invaded Scotland for a second time. So, the Scots went to war again but this time secretly followed the English army and attacked them at their weak points. This worked but, Edward finally found the chance to get them back. His men had found where the Scots were camping. The English then attacked them and defeated the Scottish army and Edward I was crowned King of Scotland in 1304. Wallace managed to escape and lived as a refugee for one year.

In 1305, Wallace was captured and tried in Westminster Hall. Sadly, he was convicted of treason and was about to face his horrible death. He was dragged across the streets, hung to a bar and cut into pieces while he was still alive! It was quite sad and horrifying. The pieces of his body were placed all around Scotland as a warning to the Scottish people.

This warning didn’t seem to work though. This just influenced the Scottish heroes that would soon rise up. And that is just what William Wallace would have wanted.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo is one of the greatest explores in history and is famously known for his book, “The Travels of Marco Polo.”

Marco Polo’s story really begins with his father and uncle. They were two merchant brothers from Venice. While on a merchant trip in the middle east, they blindly walked through a battle zone and were taken captive. But, the famous Chinese emperor, Kublai Khan’s men recued them because they knew the Khan had always wanted to meet men from Europe. In that time, no European man had been to China so, this was a big thing. When the brothers arrived in China, the were marveled at everything and the Khan treated them like royalty. But, the time came when the brothers had to leave for Venice. Before they left, Khan asked them a favor for, letters from the Pope, 100 holy men to teach his people and, oil to anoint himself. The two brothers did what he asked when they got back and, Marco’s father got to meet his son for the first time.

Marco Polo was born in 1254, probably in the city of Venice. When Marco was just seventeen, him, his father and, his uncle left for a journey back to China. It took them two hard years to get there but, they made it. The Khan had a huge welcome for them and let them have anything they wanted! He was also very fond of Marco. In fact, he liked him so much he made him his take part in his Rivy Council in 1277. While Marco was there, he toured much of China and explored the land while writing about it. He was amazed at the wonders. Then, after seventeen years later, after arriving, the Polo family saw how the Khan got old and weak. They realized that if a new Khan rises, they may not be able to go home so, they asked the Khan if they could leave. At first, the Khan didn’t let them. Who wouldn’t want his favorite subjects to go? But then, the Polos made a deal with the Khan. They would help escort a Mongol Princess on her way to marry a Persian Prince. After doing this, they started on there way home but, it was a very rough adventure and it took them two years to get back to Venice.

When Marco was in Venice, he got married and had children. Then, war broke out and Marco became a galley ship captain. While at war, he was captured by the enemy. While in prison, he told the stories of his adventures in China. There was one prisoner there who was greatly moved by these stories and wrote them down in a book. After the war was over he was released and went back to Venice and published his book.

“The Travels of Marco Polo” was not a big hit when it was published in fact, people call it “The Million Lies.” Nobody believed Marco Polo, they just thought he was making up a fairy tale.

Marco Polo never went back to China but, I’m sure the Khan never forgot him. It wasn’t until long after his death when people actually believed Marco Polo’s adventures for themselves when someone else actually went to China himself.

Marco Polo is still remembered today as one of the greatest explores today and he helped inspire the pathway of Christopher Columbus’s travels.

Thomas Aquinas was a Christian philosopher who sought out to apply Aristotelian logic to theology .
Thomas Aquinas was born in Italy in 1225 to a Count and Countess. He began his education when he was only five years old at a university in Naples. There he was influenced by the writings of Aristotle and by the new order of monks, the Dominicans. And so, at the age of nineteen, he joined the Dominican order. His parents were not pleased at all with this act because their other sons were great warriors, not monks. They were so mad that they even kidnapped Thomas from school for two years! Eventually, Thomas’s mother realized that Thomas would become a monk again no matter how hard they convinced him not to so, she helped him escape without the public (And her family) knowing. After he “escaped,” he rejoined the monks just like his mother thought he would.
Awhile after Thomas rejoined, he decided to write about Christion theology in a systematic way using Aristotelian logic and thinking. His most famous work of these writings is “Summa Theologica” which, he never got around to finish it. Another thing that Aquinas is known for is how he greatly influenced the church by using Aristotle’s logic to study scripture. He had also taught a new connection between science and theology, for example, he had argued that, based solely on the evidence in nature, man can logically prove that there is a Father.
Thomas Aquinas was one day hit by a tree limb and fell ill. Soon after, he died while reciting Song of Solomon in 1274.
The work of Thomas Aquinas influenced much of the thinking we have today. For example, philosophers began promoting the idea that logic and man’s senses could tell him what he needed which, was a distortion of Aquinas’s ideas. The focus on man’s thinking continued into the time of the Renaissance and, is still continued today.