The Dark Ages
A time of political unrest. A hotbed of violence. In 1195, pope Urban II introduced two terrible new concepts: a fear of ”otherness” (xenophobia). and the crusades. This horrible religious war lasted almost 200 years, but before that, their had been another war. The 100-year war only lasted 80 years, but crippled northern France and sucked the energy out of England. Over the last five weeks, we have been studying these ”dark ages” and seeing how their lives are similar to ours, and how their different.
In this blog post, I will be talking about:
1 the book of the lion
2 my project
3 how our life related to the middle ages
4 example of change and an example of continuity
5 our competencies
6 a conclusion
7 my research document
The book of the Lion by Michael Cadnum
One of the things that we did was read a book about the crusades. It was called The Book of the Lion by Micheal Cadnum. It has an average rating of three stars and it isn’t the best book I have read. But my opinion isn’t facts. What is the fact is that infantry would never be used as a front line defense and it is far from easy to kill a horse in combat. Another thing that is also fact is that the war hammers used by crusaders didn’t look like big mallets, but rather we’re a flat hammerhead at one end and a big curving spike at the other end. The book did teach me a fair bit about the mindset of a crusader, as well as how affective propaganda can be. The main character of the book is named Edmund and he narrates the story. You can clearly see how pope Urban’s “revelation” affected the people.
The reason that I mention this so much is that this teaches us about the life in the Middle Ages and helps us compare it to today
Proof about the war hammer: https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieval-weapons/medieval-warhammer/
Proof about he use of cavalry as strictly offensive: http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/topics/war/Crusader_Warfare.html
Proof about how hard it was to kill a horse in battle:
My project was called this changes everything: middle ages. Here was the driving questions:
What was life like in the middle ages? How does it compare to today?
Throughout the project, we learnt about four aspects of life in the middle ages: social life, political life, the economy and intellectual life. We went over the feudal system, how your class of society worked and how you were treated, how much money would affect your life and how was your education. During the end of the project, we were put into pair of two and had to research 5 examples of continuity form the middles ages (how things have stayed the same) and change (how things have differed).
How does life compare to
the middle ages?
vs
Life in the middle ages was hard depending on your social class. If you were born rich, then you’d stay rich. If you were born poor, you’d stay poor. If you were the king’s son, you’re expected to be king someday. If you’re a peasant’s daughter, you were expected to marry a farmer or tanner. Education was a right reserved mostly for boys and high born. If you were to spite the king or queen, their is no justice, only the king’s word and the executioner’s axe. It is different if it was a trial, which were often feats or combats.
Today, if you’re born rich you can easily become poor. If you’re born poor, you can become rich. Since most education is free, you don’t have trouble learning life skills. Your social status is no longer what family your born into, but who you become. Education is highly valued and monarchs no longer hold any real power in the western world. Today, we have an equal law. Many still take advantage of their power and money for their own gains, similar to the middle ages. Courts are also quiet similar, although they have different names. I feel like life has changed more then it have stayed the same. Our ways are quiet different.
Our continuity: religious violence
This was not my topic of continuity that I did through my project, but it is one that I have researched. I compared the Islamic extremist group ISIS to the crusaders. One of the examples of continuity that I found is that ISIS has several groups even-more zealous factions, similar to the knights templar or hospitaller, which were small ”cults” or ”sects” within the broader army. Another example, is the day of judgment. Both of these religious armies hold the day of judgment as their motivation, that they will be rewarded for what they are doing.
My information about the Islamic extremist group: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/03/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/isis
Our change: ranged weaponry (from the crossbow to the rifle)
The mechanisms for the crossbow can be described in this short video I made.
The standard lever action firearm, which is the type of rifle that we are using for the purpose of an explanation works like so: While the gif plays, we can see how the mechanism works. The lever covering the trigger guard is pulled forwards, which allows the spring mechanism of the magazine to push the bullet into the firing chamber. The magazine is what hold the bullets. It is often called a clip in Hollywood, but a clip is a very different thing. An important thing about fire arms is the so called three classes. Their is manual, where you have to work a loading mechanism. Their is semi automatic, which will automatically put a new bullet in the chamber, so it reloads for you. The auto will automatically reload and keep firing as long as your finger Is holding the trigger back. When compared to the crossbow, their is a drastic change in ammunition. The crossbow leaves behind no shell, whilst the bullet does. The bullet holds the gun power which propels the bullet out the tip of the gun. They’re left with an empty shell in the chamber and while the loading mechanism is worked, the empty shell will pop out the side.
My sources for the crossbow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow
My sources for the firearms: https://www.hunter-ed.com/montana/studyGuide/How-Do-Firearms-Work/20102704_700188488/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lever_action
https://www.britannica.com/technology/bolt-action
Our competencies
Comprehend: What literacy skills am I using to read, listen, and view texts for understanding? For me, this competency is about understanding the material that we are given, and how do we understand them? What techniques do we use to understand our reading and other materials?
We always had to write down notes and I tend to remember things that I write down more then things I read. And for reading, I have a tendency to read and re-read things that confuse me until they make sense. I often talk about things that I have learnt to great lengths to whichever pour soul has to listen. According to http://thescienceexplorer.com/brain-and-body/7-brain-hacks-learn-and-memorize-things-faster, this is one of the best ways to memorize and understand things.
Identify Continuity and Change: How are lives and conditions alike over time and how have they changed?
We demonstrated this through our project, in our keynote and even during in-class activities. During one of these activities, we were given a certain role in society and learnt how life was given your role in the middle ages. We also learnt about many examples of continuity, like the value of spices, or our courtly systems. We also learnt about how unequal society war back then, once compared to today.
In conclusion
Life in the middle ages was predetermined by your family’s social status and amount of money. It compares to today in two ways: how it has changed and how it is a continuity. I feel like our life had changed more, become more equal, but also more complicated and more technologically advanced.
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