Middle Ages

Time Periods

History

Government

Day 1 - How Middle Ages Began

Lecture

• before Rome - native people of Europe were Celts and other tribes like Vandals, Franks, Angles, Saxons

• some lived in northeast Europe in the wilderness where Rome could not conquer

• some were nomads

• Druids (DROO-ids) were Celtic priests and judges who worshipped nature

• to Romans, Druids & all tribes were "barbarians" or uncivilized primitive people

• Germans overran Roman Empire

• other tribes (Anglo-Saxons) overran England

  • came from Northern Germany

  • came in small groups across the English Channel

  • mixed with local people

• in AD 476 warriors attacked the city of Rome and ended the 800 year empire

• next 1000 years became known as Middle Ages (called Medieval in Latin)

• after fall of Roman Empire tribal chiefs began battling for land, wealth, and power

• over time the warlords gave themselves titles like duke, earl, marquis (mar-KEE) and baron

• mightiest became kings

• rulers built fortresses called castles

• without Rome many common people went back to their old tribal ways, worshipping pagans

United Streaming

Civilizations: Fall of Power

• Barbarian Threats (04:13)

• The Birth of Medieval Europe (03:18)

Timeline 6.5.1 & 6.5.7

Have students create a timeline of the Middle Ages

Make a Medieval Clock (an hourglass)

Students need:

 two equal sized bottles

 enough sand to fill one bottle

Remove labels and clean bottles. After drying fill one with sand. Tape the second bottle onto the top of the first. Time how long it takes for the sand to pour from one bottle to the next.

Day 2  -  Charlemagne (mightiest tribal warlord) & the Holy Roman Empire

Lecture 6.6.2

• other tribes left Germany and made headquarters at Aachen on the Rhine River

• conquered the south

• their King (Clovis) became a Christian

• later Franks had a king called Pepin the Short

• made the Frankish Kingdom even bigger

• had son in 742 AD named Charlemagne (6'4" tall)

• Charlemagne made the Frankish Kingdom even bigger (covered what is now France)

• Charlemagne and the Pope made a deal to support each other

• in Rome Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne the Emperor in year 800 AD

• they were trying to make the old Roman Empire come back therefore named the new empire the Holy Roman Empire

• when Charlemagne died the kingdom fell apart

  • Charlemagne pushed the arts

  • brought many learned men to Aachen

    • one Alcuim came up with the idea to used lowercase letters, spaces between words and punctuation (before Latin was written in all capitals with no spaces)

  • built college there - Charlemagne could not read or write, but respected education

• soon everyone speaking Anglo-Saxon

Show Students Pictures

The Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World

pages 18-19 Charlemagne's Empire & The Holy Roman Empire

Students color Charlemagne from DOVER History of the Sword Coloring Book

Day 3 The Vikings & The Norman Conquest

Lecture 6.6.2 & 6.6.3

• Viking started invasion after German invasions

• came from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark

• came to loot

• used long thin boats moved by sails and oars which were fast in hit-and-run raiding

• first came in small numbers

• later came in fleets

• would set up winter quarters somewhere and raid from there

  • one base Normandy (in France)

  • another in western England

• in Normandy Vikings set up a government and mixed with Frenchmen (called Normans)

• had a Duke named William (William of Normandy)

• William had idea to become King of England - decided to invade England

• built a fleet of ships with small sail and no oars to go down wind

• while William getting ready for raid on England Vikings attacked England

• Harold was king of England

• big battle of Stamford Bridge - Harold won

• William waited for wind to be right

• in September 1066 AD the ships were loaded with men, arms and horses

• traveled to England and landed on sandy beach just three days before the Battle of Stamford Bridge

• after the battle of Stamford Bridge Harold rushed back to London to gather more troops

• went to Hastings to meet William

• Battle of Hastings fierce - Harold killed and William won

• William now King of England over the Anglo-Saxons - William was lucky that the wind was right & Harold's army was small and tired
   

• William spoke French

• people of England spoke Anglo-Saxon

• over the years the 2 languages mixed

• later when new word needed borrowed it from Latin (which many words had been borrowed from Greek)

• this is how new English language came to be
   

• after William crowned he declared the land in England belonged to him

• kept several large estates, gave Norman barons and knights large portion of land

• result many English nobles moved down a step on the feudal ladder

• rule was a monarchy (rule by one person)

Show Students Pictures

The Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World

pages 12-13 Vikings at Home

pages 14-15 Vikings Abroad

pages 16-17 Anglo-Saxon England

page 20 The Norman conquest

United Streaming

Horsepower: Harnessed for War

• William the Conqueror and Chivalrous War in the Dark Ages (Begin segment at 3:30, end at 6:00.)

Have students make coat of arms banners or a tapestry.

During the early Middle Ages warriors had a hard time trying to identify who they were fighting in battles and tournaments. The knights of the 1100's decided to solve this problem by creating special designs called Coat of Arms for their shields. The knight picked almost any design he liked including pictures of lions, dragons, eagles, falcons, crowns, diamonds, and other shapes. Coat of Arms were later added to tunics and shoulder guards wore by the knights. They were also embroidered or woven onto banners that were carried by the knights into battle.

Fathers passed down their Coat of Arms to their oldest sons. Younger sons wore a version of their father's Arms. The rule was that the younger son had to change the design somewhat. If the warrior died without a male heir, his daughter was allowed to combine her father's Coat of Arms with her husband's. 

Show pictures of the Bayeux Tapestry (One famous tapestry is the Bayeux Tapestry. Woven into the tapestry was pictures of the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The pictures and words on the tapestry were embroidered with colored wool onto linen. The tapestry is over two hundred feet long and about twenty inches wide.

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

Day 4 Feudal System

Lecture 6.4.4 and 6.4.5

• Feudal System way of government

• king needs help running government so gives jobs to his friends and relatives

  Nobles (King or Lord)

  • carry out laws

  • collect taxes

  • command army

  • in return the friends and relatives get large estates

  • people were nobles (dukes, barons, counts)

  • swore oath to king (means never fight against the king)

  • these nobles might fight a war, give money, or advice

  • nobles gave king a place to stay when he traveled

  Serfs

  • worked the land for the nobles (manor)

  • serfs bound to the land

  • not a slave, but if noble sold land the serf went with it

  • most of time life was only work for serf

  Free Men

  • usually in trade

United Streaming

Living History: Living in Medieval Europe

• Castles and Lords (04:05)

• Feudalism: The Medieval Way of Life (05:08)

Have students use computer to make Feudal System Pyramid.

Example

Day 5 Joan of Arc & the Hundred Years' War

Lecture 6.6.2

• after Normans conquered England, French and English kings fought many wars over who owned land in France

• longest was Hundred Years' War (1337 - 1453)

• a series of wars between England and France, and all fighting occurred in France

• began with Edward III of England who thought he should be king of France

• by 1360 England ruled a larger portion of France (lost most of it over next 40 years)

• 1429 French made a comeback

• peasant girl named Joan of Arc believed God had commanded her to drive the English from France

• drove the English out of Orleans

• Joan of Arc was captured by opponents of the French king and turned over to the English King Henry VI, who burned her at the stake for being a witch

Show Students Pictures

The Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World

page 21 The Hundred Years' War

United Streaming

Animated Hero Classics: Joan of Arc (27:55)

The Story of Joan of Arc (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

Day 6 Life in the Middle Ages - Castles

• first castles were built as the lord's headquarters

• provided shelter for the lord and his army

• In case of attack they also provided a place of safety for the villagers who lived nearby

• first kind of castle in Europe was a low tower. It was usually two stories high. The castle had a living hall above storerooms.

• Before William the Conqueror became King of England in 1066, there were only about six castles in England.
• William started building dozens of motte-palisade-bailey castles as soon as he became king. Because they were built so quickly the castles were built of wood.

motte-palisade-bailey style castle

• a large ditch  was dug in the shape of a circle.
• dirt from the ditch was piled in the middle of the circle to form a large mound or motte
• At the top of this mound was a wooden fence called a palisade
• Inside the palisade was a tower
• Inside this tower was the home of the lord
• Both the motte and the palisade were surrounded by a high protective fence called a bailey
• Inside the bailey were other castle buildings such as the stable.

• To get into the castle a person had to cross a bridge over the ditch or moat. Then he had to climb ladders to reach the top of the mound to enter the house.
   

• Because of the danger of fire many lords began gradually replacing the wooden fences with sturdy stone walls called curtains.

• At the corners of the stone walls gatehouses called barbicans were built.

• Stone towers called keeps replaced the wooden towers.

• On top of the keep battlements were added. Battlements were walls with high places to hide behind in case of an attack. The battlement also had low places to look out or shoot through when at battle. The high places were called merlons and the low places were called crenels. Slanted stone called plinths were added at the base of the keep to strengthen them.
   

• A building was attached to the front of the keep. It served as an entry hall. To enter the keep a person must pass through a doorway which had a large sliding door called a portcullis. The portcullis was made of large logs or iron bars. The portcullis hung of chains over the doorway. It was closed to keep unwelcome guest out of the keep.

• As time went by keeps became larger. The earlier keeps were square or rectangular. Later many were built in a round shape. This round shape made the keep easier to defend. After the round keep proved so valuable castles began building round gatehouses. These replaced the square ones at the corners of the stone walls. Stairs were also added to the keep replacing the earlier ladders.
   
• The largest room in the keep was the great hall. It was usually two stories tall. The keep often had to be entered by climbing ladders. The ladders could be removed during an enemy attack. In the great hall were long wooden tables and benches where the people who worked in the castle sat while they ate. At one end of the great hall was a raised platform called a dais. This is were the king and his family sat during meals.
• Because the great hall had thick stone walls and only narrow slits to let in sunlight it was often dark, cold, and drafty.
• The number of castles in Europe increased until by the year 1300 over 500 castles were in England alone.
• During the 1300's many of the castles were so large that they were completely self sufficient. Castles included mills, bakeries, stables, smithies, mews for hawks as well as comfortable living quarters for the lord and his family.

United Streaming

Elementary Video Adventures: Times Medieval

• Castles (10:25)

Elementary Video Adventures: Landmarks of Civilization

• Castles of the Rhine (07:20)

Assemble Castle

Day 7 The Church & Martin Luther

Lecture 6.6.3

• by late Middle Ages gods of the Romans, Greeks, and Celts were replaced with one god

• Christianity became universal faith in almost all Europe

• in Middle Ages the Pope ruled the Christian Church

• clergy included bishops, priests, nuns, and monks

  • monks - lived in monasteries, devoted lives to prayer, produced well-educated men

  • monks kept Greek and Latin cultures alive by copying books by hand

• church was rich and powerful (strong church authority)

• collected its own taxes

• part of taxes went to help poor

• most of taxes went to build beautiful churches (large cathedrals)

• first were built in Roman style (round domes and arches)

• later built in Gothic style

  • high ceilings

  • tall towers

  • pointed arches

  • made of stone
     

• Martin Luther born in Eisleben, Germany, November 10, 1483

• became a monk and then a priest in the Roman Catholic Church

• By October 31, 1517 Luther was ready to publicly challenge the Catholic Church

• nailed a list of ninety-five points that he was willing to debate on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg

• because of the invention of the printing press it was sold everywhere

• this started a massive movement that led to a series of revolutions in Europe

Video

Elementary Video Adventures: Times Medieval

• Part 3 "Making a Stained Glass Window"

Read to Students Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World

United Streaming

Protestant Reformation (1517-1565), The

• Martin Luther 1483-1546 (07:47)

Craft Project

Make a mock stained glass window.

Day 8 The Byzantine Empire
 

Lecture

• in 330 Constantine moved his capital from Rome to the Greek city of Byzantium splitting the Roman Empire into two

• this kept the capital safe during the barbarian invasion - Byzantine remained intact after Western Rome conquered

• Constantine renamed capital city Constantinople (still call the empire Byzantium)

• Religions in this region

  • Roman Catholics

  • Byzantine Christians called Greek Orthodox
     

• Byzantine Empire kept old Greek writings

• Byzantines used arch and dome in churches
   

• Byzantines often at war

• always fighting nomads

• in 527 under Emperor Justinian the Byzantines tried to get the western Roman Empire back

• under the great general Belisarius they got a lot of it - began conquering land

• Justinian order a code of laws written - took old Roman codes and added to them

• became known as Justinian Code (served as the law for hundreds of years)

• when Justinian died they lost the land they had conquered

   

• Byzantines great traders - grew rich

• in 1095 Byzantine emperor asked the leader of the Christian church (the Pope) to help in a holy war against the Turks

• first on many Crusades

Day 9 The Crusades
 

Lecture

• Jerusalem (holy town to Jews, Christians, and Muslims)

  • Jews interested because had temple there

  • Christians interested because Christ taught there

  • Muslims interested because Mohammed left for heaven there

• not easy for Christians to get to Jerusalem

• might get robbed or killed by Muslims who controlled the region

• Byzantines having trouble fighting the Turks (Muslims) asked the Pope for military help

• Pope Urban II held a big meeting in 1095 AD

• his idea was that Christians (Roman and Greek Orthodox) should set Jerusalem free

• Pope saw this is a chance to unite Christian Europe

• said killing Moslem better than killing each other

• could find loot

• if killed fighting Moslems, your sins forgiven

First Crusade (People's Crusade)

• kings and dukes decided to wait

• one army of Crusaders got together right away

• led by Peter the Hermit

• good speaker

• they crossed the Rhine and headed for Constantinople

• stole everything that wasn't nailed down

• in Hungary they got into a quarrel and killed 4000 Hungarians

• finally reached Constantinople

• Emperor took one look at them and ferried them across to Asia

• they murdered a few Christians

• caught up with Turks

Second Crusade

• better organized

• leaders were dukes and counts mostly from France

• Emperor ferried them across the channel from Constantinople

• crusading soldiers won some battles and moved toward Jerusalem

• took the towns of Edissa and Antioch

• took Jerusalem

• massacred the Moslems and Jews

• dukes and counts set up little states

• most of the money came from robbing Arab caravans

• some little states were fighting with one another

• states lasted because the Arabs could not agree on how to go about things
   

• leader came Sultan Saladin

• Saladin attacked Jerusalem

• took it and drove the Crusaders to the coast

• crusaders had nothing left but the city of Tyre

Jerusalem fell back to the Muslims in 1187

Third Crusade

• lead by Richard the Lion-Hearted

• failed to capture Jerusalem

Fourth Crusade

• gathered at Venice

• Venetian were jealous of Byzantines because Byzantines had big trading business

• crusades suppose to got to Egypt

• Venetians talked the other leaders into attacking Constantinople

• crusaders sacked it

• carried off everything of value

• held Constantinople for 47 years

• finally Byzantines got it back

United Streaming

World History: The Medieval Era

• CRUSADES TO THE MIDDLE EAST (07:45)

Show Students Pictures

The Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World

• pages 42-43 The Crusades

Day 10

Bubonic Plague

• almost half of people in Western Europe died from Bubonic Plague

• called "Black Death" because turned skin dark gray

• carried back from China by sailors in 1347

• spread to England in 1 year

• horrible swift death

  • aching limbs

  • vomiting blood

  • lymph nodes swell until burst

  • enormous pain

Magna Carta

Brain Pop http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/worldhistory/magnacarta/

• in 1215 nobles were able to get King John to sign the Magna Carta

• Magna Carta said that a noble had to be tried before a jury of his equals

• no more secret trials

• said the king could not start new taxes unless the nobles agreed

• it limited the power of the king

• did nothing for the people only the nobles

Worksheet from The Middle Ages: A Study Unit to Promote Critical and Creative Thinking page 75 The Magna Carta: Facts and Opinions

Test

True or False

1. ____________ The tribes that invaded the Roman Empire were mostly German.

2. ____________ Charlemagne got together with the Pope to bring back the old Roman Empire.

3. ____________ The Vikings came out of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

4. ____________ After Charlemagne was crowned emperor of Roman Catholic Pope, he spread Judaism over the new Holy Roman Empire.

    

Fill in the blanks about William of Normandy using the words below.

5. William thought it would be a good idea to become King of __________________.
6. William's ships had one small sail and no ___________________.
7. William won the battle because he was _________________________.
8. William fought the _____________________ and won.
9. William's new form of government was a _______________________.

Multiple Choice

10. When Rome fell, the Byzantine Empire
    1. fell apart too
    2. kept going
    3. moved to Rome
        
11. The Magna Carta was
    1. art
    2. written laws
    3. a famous war

Use the timeline to answer the next questions

 Check each event that could be placed on this timeline.

12. ____________ founding of Christianity

13. ____________ building of the Parthenon in Ancient Greece

14. ____________ plague in Europe

15. ____________ the founding of Rome

16. ____________ development of city-states

True or False

17. ____________ Jerusalem has been a town of interest for three religions.

18. ____________ The Muslims didn't make it easy for the Christians to go to Jerusalem.

19. ____________ Pope Urban II decided that the Christians should free Jerusalem.

20. ____________ The Crusades were fights to get Jerusalem back.

21. ____________ The main purpose of the First Crusade in 1096 AD was to established colonies.

22. ____________ The first Crusade was better organized than the Second Crusade.

23. ____________ Many of the Crusades were pretty horrible and bloody.

Check the sentences that are true about the feudal system of government. Correct the sentences that are incorrect by crossing out the mistake and writing the correct word or phrase to make the statement true.

24. ____________ Cities were smaller.
     

25. ____________ The king lived in the center of the city in a castle.
     

26. ____________ The nobles swore an oath of loyalty to the king.
     

27. ____________ Serfs were very rich.
     

28. ____________ If the noble sold the land, the serf went with it.
     

29. ____________ Merchants had the most power during the Middle Ages.
     

30. ____________ Serfs lived on a manor.