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Garth Holman

World-History | Medieval Knights - 1 views

  • Knights might have been professional soldiers but that didn't mean they had to act like one. In the early days of feudalism, knights often ate at the same table as the lords and ladies of the manor
  • They often belched, spit, and put their feet directly on the dinner table. The refined ladies and lords were appalled. So, a code of honor was drawn up that we now call Chivalry.
    • Garth Holman
       
      So Chivalry comes as a way to correct their personal bad behavior. 
  • This stems from the Medieval Knights Code of Chivalry and the Vows of Knighthood.
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  • There were at least 17 rules to the knights code of chivalry and vows of knighthood. The most important were to serve God, serve their liege lord (the King), be courteous to all women (though what they meant was all women of the noble class), and to defend the weak. Other rules included to fight for the welfare of all, to live by honor and glory, and to refrain from the wanton giving of offence; basically, don’t act like ye olde arse.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Rules for the knight to follow. 
  • this was meant to defend the elderly, women and children, but of the upper class. Knights were often brutal to peasants and it was considered acceptable because of the low social status of the peasants. 
    • Garth Holman
       
      Poor Peasants? 
  • From this, came rules like if a woman was of equal or higher status, he should stand when she enters a room and sit only after she does, the best foods at a meal should be offered to her, and when walking on the sidewalk, the man should walk closest to the street. This was to protect the woman from getting spattered with mud and the contents of chamber pots (buckets that were used as toilets) that were thrown out windows. It was a way to show that the gentleman honored the woman to have the poop hit him instead.
  • nights kept their skills sharp by competing in tournaments known as jousts where two heavily armored horseman race at another at high speed
  • Medieval tournaments brought knights and lords together in friendly competitions to show off their skills at hand to hand combat, horse back riding, and of course, jousting
  • A head shot for example was the most damaging but also the most difficult target, and therefore was awarded the most points.
  • Cash prizes, called a purse, would be given to the winners and this was the best way to move up the social ladder if you didn't get a chance to show off your skills on the battle field. 
    • Garth Holman
       
      Maybe you can win the "PURSE" in your blog! 
  • To become a knight was a long and difficult path.
  • sent to live in the castle with his Lord where his training would begin around the age of seven
  • road to knighthood he was known as a page. A page's training involved learning to ride a horse and receiving religious instruction from the priest of the manor. And, when he wasn't riding or praying, a page spent his days running errands and serving the ladies of the manor. He would also be taught to dance, sing, and play a musical instrument which were considered honorable qualities for a knight to have.
  • a page would be promoted to the role of squire. A squire worked directly with his knight. The squire learned skills from his knight (who was also his Lord) such as sword fighting and hand to hand combat. The squire pretty much acted as personal assistant to his knight, polishing his armor, caring for his horse, and even waiting on him at meal times. During times of battle, it was the job of the squire to help his Lord into the armor and look after him if he was wounded. He also had the awful task of cleaning out the armor which, after a long day on the battle field would be covered in all sorts of bodily fluids.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Like pee He he!
  • "I promise on my faith that I will in the future be faithful to the lord, never cause him harm and will observe my homage to him completely against all persons in good faith and without deceit." -A Typical Oath of Fealty
    • Garth Holman
       
      NOTE: loyalty, homage, never cause harm, good faith.  You had to be a trustworthy to be a knigh! 
  •  
    Learn how a Knight becomes a knight and how Chivalry impacts you!
Garth Holman

Untitled - 2 views

  • Warlike Games of the Nobles; the Tournament. So eager for war and adventure were the nobles that times of peace seemed dull. Even hunting, of which they were very fond, was not exciting enough. So they had "tournaments." These were simply play-wars in which knights contended, either in single combat or in opposing troops.
  • Galleries were erected from which the ladies might view the combats and applaud their champions; and high nobles and even kings in splendid costume eagerly attended. The knights in their shining armor, with colored streamers fluttering from their lances, made a gallant picture.
  • One of them was "chivalry," which taught that every boy of noble birth should strive to be a true "knight" and every girl a "lady."
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  • A true knight was a brave warrior who feared nothing, who was always ready to fight for the poor or the unfortunate, and who would never do a mean or underhand thing. To perform a gallant feat of arms, or to help any one in distress, he would gladly risk any danger and never ask for pay. A true knight must be a good Christian and serve the church. But most of all he was to select some noble lady for whose sake he would win renown and whose smile would be his highest reward.
  • chivalry marked out for each young noble what he was to learn. At about the age of seven his training began. Usually he was sent by his father to the castle of his lord or to that of some other famous knight. Here he became a "page." He waited constantly upon the lord and his wife, and by the ladies of the castle was taught courtly manners and perhaps how to play and sing. But when he grew strong enough for more active tasks, perhaps at fourteen or fifteen, he became a "squire." He now attended more especially upon the lord. He must care for his horses, keep his arms bright, and go with him on his campaigns. Meanwhile, under the direction of his lord, he practiced constantly in the use of arms, learning to ride, to wear the heavy armor, and to wield the lance. The older squires fought beside their lords in battle.
  • The giving of "knighthood" was an impressive ceremony. After bathing and arraying himself in the required costume of red, white, and black, the young man was required to watch for a whole night before the altar of a church in which his weapons and armor had been placed. In the morning he attended mass and then, in the presence of all his family, friends, and vassals, advanced to his lord and knelt. The lord drew his sword and with the flat of the blade smote the young man on the shoulder, saying as he did so, "In the name of God,’ St. Michael, and St. George, I dub thee knight. Be brave and loyal." Then the newly made knight arose joyfully, and leaping upon his horse showed his skill in riding and in the use of his sword and lance. The ceremony ended with a great feast.
Garth Holman

Castles in Medieval Times - 0 views

  •      Large stone castles were built in Europe from about the 1100’s to about the 1500’s. These huge buildings served not only to defend the country from foreign invaders but as the basic tool in preserving the king’s and the nobles’ power over the land. The social system was very rigid in the Middle Ages.
  • Under Feudalism, the basic social structure in this time, all land was held by the king. The king gave pieces of this land to various high nobles, in return for their help in fighting his wars or in putting down rebellions. Not only did the higher nobles have to fight for the king themselves, they had to supply a certain number of lesser lords and other knights to help fight also. These higher nobles then gave some of their land to lesser knights, in return for their help in battle. Below all the knights were the serfs, who actually farmed the land. They gave a portion of their crops each year to the lord who ruled over them, in return for use of the land and protection.
  • castles as symbols of their power for all to see.
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  • A man’s son inherited his lands and his obligations to fight
  • The castle was both a residence for the lord and his family, and a fortification. It was a strong place for the lord to defend himself against his enemies (and the king’s enemies, and his overlord’s enemies), a safe place for him and his knights to return to, and a place to live which emphasized his power.
  •   Castles were built to keep out enemies. When an attack was expected, the drawbridge was raised, the gates and portcullis were closed, and archers were stationed on the towers.
  • The walls were not only high, in a well-planned castle, but they were arranged as much as possible so that anyone climbing the walls could be shot at from two directions.
  • The castle’s defenses invited a great deal of ingenuity from the attackers. Rolling wooden towers, covered with thick hides to stop arrows and kept wet so they could not be set on fire, were brought up to the walls in an attack. Sometimes they even worked. Catapults threw heavy stones at the walls to make a breach or loads of rocks (or diseased livestock, or fire bombs) over the walls. The battering ram—generally used against a door—was an old favorite.
  • he knights and their servants and their mounts all had to eat, as did the lord, his family, and his servants and officials, and their families. Many castles grew certain types of food inside their walls, to add variety to the diet of those inside the castle, but it was not nearly enough to feed the people in the castle, much less their guests. Castles might have beehives, herb gardens, fruit trees or a fishpond. Because the land inside the castle walls was not enough to feed all these people, they got their food from the peasants who farmed outside, and from hunting. There were restrictions on hunting by the peasants, and sometimes it was forbidden entirely, so that the lord and his retainers would have plenty of game to hunt. Hunting was also a major recreation for the lord and his men.
Garth Holman

Intro to the Medieval Era - 1 views

  • The Medieval Era, often called The Middle Ages or the Dark Ages, began just before 500 A.D. following a great loss of power throughout Europe by the Roman Emperor. The Middle Ages span roughly 1,000 years, ending around 1450 A.D. (Medieval actually means "Middle"!) In The Middle Ages people were busy: Building great Cathedrals as there was a huge rise in Christianity Building Great castles for local nobility Clearing large tracts of land by peasants and slaves for their Lords and Kings New towns and villages were popping up all over Europe
  • esulting in the foundation of many of today's modern European countries.
  • For safety and for defense, people formed small communities around a central Lord or Master. Most lived on a Manor, which consisted of the Castle, the Church, the Village, and the surrounding Farm Land. These Manors were isolated, with only occasional visits from peddlers or pilgrims on their way to the Crusades or soldiers from other fiefdoms (kingdoms).
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  • Feudalism ~ The King awarded land grants to his most important nobles, like Barons and Bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the King's armies. Lords could have a variety of other official titles including Earl, Marquis or Viscount. Lords did more than fund wars. They were the local justice and held court for local matters. Lords provided some of their land to Vassals, or tenants who were a somewhat higher class than peasants. Vassals were required to serve guard duty, and later they paid a fee to acquire mercenaries (soldiers-for-hire).  At the lowest class of society were the Peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." Peasants provided the Lord with labor or a share of the produce or livestock yielded from his lands in exchange for protection, land to work and a place to live.
  •  
    This page of the site is good.
Cameron G.

The Middle Ages for Kids - Common People, the Manorial System - 1 views

  • If the manor land was sold or reassigned to a new owner, the serfs stayed with the land.
  • Serfs had many jobs on the manor including craftsmen, bakers, farmers, and tax collectors
  • They had to do the job they were assigned to do. 
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  • Serfs could buy their freedom from the manor, but where would they get the money?
  • If a new lord took over the manor, he would need the serfs for labor.
  • Peasants were free to leave if they wished
  • Peasants worked the land and made the goods in exchange for protection.
  • Other than that, their life was just like a serf's life.
  • A few peasants escaped the hard work on the farm by joining the church. But most lived and died on the manor where they were born.
  • Everyone had to pay taxes to the lord
  • To pay the crop tax, some crops went to the lord, and some they kept. To pay the bread tax, some bread they made went to the lord, and some they kept. To pay the coat tax, some of the warm coats they made went to the lord, and some they kept.
  • Everything was paid in barter. Coinage or money did not exist on the manor. 
  • People believed that the only way to get to Heaven was to follow the teachings in the Bible.
  • The common people could not read or write.
  • The priest told them who they must marry and when. You had to do everything the priest said if you wanted to get to heaven. 
  • peasants and serfs were mostly content with their lot.
  • work kept everyone on the manor fed and comfortable, including themselves. 
  • They were not slaves. These people could not be bought and sold. But they could not leave the manor without permission.
dcs-armstrong

Peasant Life In The Middle Ages - The Finer Times - 1 views

  • Peasant life in the Middle Ages was noticeably difficult. Families and entire villages were exposed to disease, war and generally a life of poverty.
  • most people across Europe were peasants or “velleins”
  • worked in the vast stretches of lands owned by the local lords
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  • very little known about the detailed life of peasants in Europe because the lords and the clergy did not keep records of the peasants
  • only
  • early records were concerning
  • duties
  • peasants owed their masters
  • slaves and serfs.
  • manors were divided into two:
  • Those who were full time servants would work every day of the week and would get a break to attend Mass on Sundays. Peasants were forbidden from leaving the lord’s manor without seeking permission. The condition of serfdom was hereditary and one would be tied to his master unless he saved enough to purchase some land or if he married a free person.  At the end of the twelfth century, the ties that bound peasants to their masters began to loosen.
  • Peasant life in the Middle Ages was confined to the manors,
  • The lords had great influence over the lives of the peasants;
  • Majority of the peasants worked three days a week in their lord’s land but they would work longer during the harvest and plantation periods
  • was where the peasants worked, tilled the land, planted and harvested on
  • he Church offered help to the neediest peasants in the form of food and necessities.
  • behalf of the lord
  • he peasants would receive a larger piece of land as long as they adhered to the condition that they work on the lord’s land before working on their own.
  • The plows and horses were so few and the peasants themselves spent the entire day working in the “demense”.
  • peasant also tended to the horses and cattle in meadows
  • Most peasants did not do much other than working, going to church and the occasional celebration.
  • hardly travelled outside their villages but they did have a sense of community amongst themselves
  • Peasant life was generally marked by having few possessions in the home
  • houses were basic shacks with benches, stools, wooden cups, bowls and spoons. Most households had a chest of drawers where the family would keep their valuable items. Peasants hardly slept on beds; they slept on straw mattresses on the floor. Given that they had few possessions even in terms of personal attires, they typically slept with their work apparels and covered themselves with animal skin.
  • Women
  • a small garden behind their house.
  • one part of the land, the “demense”
  • Church was also a source of education mainly for the peasant’s children who attended the local school that was part of the church. The peasants looked to the priests for baptism, marriage, and performance of last rites for the dying.  Christianity guided the moral decisions that peasant men and women made in their day-to-day life.
  • Education was meager and only available to a select group of boys.
  • young girls helped with chores in the house and they were married off as soon as they attained maturity; this was usually at the young age of thirteen or sixteen years.
  • Societal and economic development saw the rapid rise of cities and towns. As the ties between serfs and their masters became lose, the peasants were able to rent land and some even migrated to the towns. Catastrophes such as the Black Death, a plague that killed thousands of peasants made it difficult for lords to find peasants to work in their farms.
jej21dcs

NOVA Online | Secrets of Lost Empires | Medieval Siege | Life in a Castle - 2 views

  • most important figure in the daily life of a castle was the constable. His job was to look after the castle,
  • the lord was not usually at home.
  • oilets, or garderobes as they were called, usually were situated so that they opened over the moat.
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  • Perhaps some carpets hung on the walls, but
  • on the floors were rushes with dogs rolling around with scraps of meat and bones and such.
  • An awful lot of life in a castle went on in the great hall. There was a fire and shelter in the hall. People ate and slept in the great hall. Very often, certainly in smaller castles, before sophisticated domestic arrangements evolved, you would have found the lord and lady sleeping at one end of the great hall in a sort of screened-off area. So medieval men and women didn't have much privacy.
  • Very often in the great hall there was a central fire. Later on there were proper fireplaces, but a central fire with a hole in the roof was standard.
  • lords and ladies would have been slightly cleaner and sweeter-smelling than most of their subordinates.
  • If you were a lord or lady, if you were the constable or the constable's lady, then you would have had a private room.
  • medieval men didn't really bathe terribly often. People might have wiped their hands and faces from time to time.
  • He had a number of people who worked beneath him. There was the garrison, whose members vary in status, including knights, men-at-arms, archers, and engineers. You also had grooms, watchmen, porters, cooks, and scullions, who did all the washing up in the kitchen.
  • So the constable was the person whose job it was to look after the castle in the lord's absence.
  • private fortress. Most of the time the castle operated as a small, large, or medium-sized household.
  •  
    Quest 7
Asha G

Children of the Middle Ages - 0 views

  • Children of peasants often had to begin helping their parents when they were as young as seven or eight years old
  • Many of the boys had to become pages and were set away as young as age 7 to wait on the lords and ladies of another noble family
  • boys who were born to lords learned to fight when they were very young, became squires at 14, and became knights at 21.
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  • It was not uncommon for a boy of 14, whether born to a peasant or born to a lord, to marry.
  • Girls could marry when they were even younger during the Middle Ages, sometimes as young as 12
  • the parents normally arranged the marriage for their offspring.
  • conditions were often extremely unsanitary -- especially for the poor and the peasants during the Middle Ages.
Garth Holman

Inside a Medieval Castle - 1 views

  • The rooms where the lord of a castle, his family and his knights lived and ate and slept were in the Keep (called the Donjon), the rectangular tower inside the walls of a castle. This was meant to be the strongest and safest place.
  • The outer wall of a castle was called Bailey. This was where buildings for the castle's cattle, horses and servants lived. Some of the soldiers needed to defend the castle might live in part of the gatehouse known as the Barbican.
    • Garth Holman
       
      What is a siege? 
    • mluxenburg m
       
      A Siege is an Attack on a castle.
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  • There were kitchens and pantries where food was stored for everyday preparation. The Great Hall and the bedchambers were there too.
  • The Great Hall
  • The Bedchamber
  • Kitchen
  • A wealthy knight, his family and guests ate well. Unlike most people, they had plenty of meat like deer, goose and rabbit. On Fridays and Holy Days meat was forbidden by the church, so they ate fish or eels. If there was a special feast, the people working in the kitchens would prepare wild boar, roast swan, or even roast peacock, served with all its feathers as decoration. Some of these would be caught by the lord of the castle and his friends while out hunting with their hawks.
  • Many castles had stone toilets built over holes in the outer walls. These emptied into a pit way below.
  • Medieval castles did not have running water, yet people did like to bathe at least once a year. In some castles there was a room next to the kitchen where they bathed in groups. The lord might have hot water brought to his bedchamber and poured into a big wooden tub, where he sat on a low stool in. The water might have perfume or rose leaves sprinkled in it. Soap was made of sheep fat with ashes and soda. Teeth were cleaned by scraping them with a hazel twig and rubbing them with a woollen cloth.
    • Garth Holman
       
      SEE NEXT PAGE FOR OUTSIDE OF THE CASTLE. 
Garth Holman

http://library.thinkquest.org/10949/fief/lofeudal.html - 8 views

  • They often formed their own manorial courts, called halimotes.
  • "Noone shall enter the fields to carry grain after sunset" This law was made to prevent grain from being stolen surreptitiously.
  • The lord also had a great deal of control over his peasants, known as serfs.
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  • The people were bound to their land plots
  • The court was overseen by a representative of the lord, usually his steward.
  • They had grazing and field rights around their village.
  • They did not have right to hunt most wild game
  • . The average farmer was given a plot of land on which he could farm.
  • The kings held this land by what they believed was "divine right"
  • The barons were given a large portion of the king's land, known as fiefs or manors.
  • "shield money" was often used to maintain a somewhat regular army.
  • . The class of lords solidified into an upper nobility class.
  • Whenever a baron was granted or inherited a fief, he was made into a vassal of the king.
  • "homage and fealty"
  • During the period of history known as the Middle Ages, feudalism was the law of the land.
  • Projects by Students for Students
  •  
    An intermediate reading level description of the Middle Ages Feudal System.
  •  
    Huge list of Medieval Terminology and Glossary.  What is an Arrow Loop? Look here.  
mukul g

Medieval Life - Food - 2 views

  • His table is set at one end of the great hall and he sits in a high-backed chair. His guests, the priest, two noblemen and his wife, sit on his table while less important people eat sitting on stools or benches at trestle tables lower down the hall. 
  • Above the lord's head, part of the shields bearing his coat of arms can be seen, while at the bottom right corner a flying knife and ball offer evidence that the lord is being entertained by a juggler
  • . The plates used by the Normans were made out of wood.
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  • Sometimes they used large slices of day-old bread as plates for the meat and sometimes they ate out of bowls. 
  • Although they had knives and spoons, there were no forks, so people used their fingers a great deal. The lord always ate well, even during winter.
  • he could afford to buy salt to preserve his meat all the year round
  • The peasants’ main food was a dark bread made out of rye grain
  • They ate a kind of stew called pottage made from the peas, beans and onions that they grew in their gardens. 
  • Their only sweet food was the berries, nuts and honey that they collected from the woods. 
  • Peasants did not eat much meat. Many kept a pig or two but could not often afford to kill one.
  • They could hunt rabbits or hares but might be punished for this by their lord.  
  •  
    This is how some of the normans ate.
tdowd t

How Feudalism Works - 0 views

  • Mind Your Manors   In the days of decentralized government, a fief was like its own mini country that produced pretty much everything that was needed from food to weapons to tools. At the heart of a lord's fief was the manor-large estates. The manor was where the lord's family, servants, and his knights lived. At first they began as large houses, but over the years became full castles as walls, towers, and moats were added for protection. Manors were always in the country and surrounded by farmland and woods. Some of the wealthier lords even had more than one manor.   A manor was the center of the community. Not only did it serve as a place for peasants to run to in times of war, but was the political center as well. When he wasn't out fighting for his Lord, the lord of a fief would act as a judge in settling disputes. He also appointed officials who would collect taxes and rent from the peasants and townspeople. Large manors had their own churches complete with their own clergy, as well as a marketplace where locals could buy and sell goods. At any time one time, hundreds of people from priests, knights, squires, entertainers, merchants, peasants, and visiting nobles would head to the manor.   For the Lady of the manor her day was spent overseeing servants & caring for the children. When her husband was away (or killed in battle) the Lady of the manor assumed the same roles her husband did, appointing officials and acting as judge. In the early Middle Ages a woman owning property was not all that uncommon.
  • Living in a castle might sound romantic but it's not all that it was cracked up to be. Medieval manors were built of wood and stone and built on a large scale. Glass was rare and extremely expensive so windows often were either left open or covered with cloth during the winter. The only means of heating a manor was the fireplace. Each major room had its own. The Great Room, which as its name implies was the center of manor life.  The Great Room was heated and lit by an enormous fireplace, big enough to stand in. The Great Room was where all of the eating, drinking, debating, politicking, and merry making and other business was conducted. Speaking of doing business, how did medieval people use the bathroom? All manor houses had privies either outside or inside the castle. The ones inside were nothing more than a seat that emptied directly into the moat. ​ To modern observers manors would have been filthy places. Fleas were common and the smell of hundreds of unwashed people (who often only bathed once a week) would have pervaded. Rats and mice also would have been running around as food was thrown directly on the floor during meal times. At night the servants swept the floor and rushes (dried river reeds) would be spread on the floor and all minor visitors and knights would bed down. The manor was often dark, cold, and smoky. To liven things up a bit, tapestries would be commissioned to decorate the walls.
Garth Holman

Medieval Civilization: Lecture Notes - 4 views

  • Feudalism and Manorialism
  • The noble class developed a value system (later called chivalry)
  • Three-field system was used, with one field planted in the autumn, one in the spring, and one fallow.
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  • Power and prestige of the noble class based on land (the fief)
  • feudalism was a political arrangement that provided for the performance of these functions of government by a class of landed nobles.  Nobles bound by an interdependent system of personal ties; the heart was the feudal contract, which established relations between lord and vassal, the most important of which were protection and service.
  • knights were to be Christian, brave, faithful, generous, and protective of women and the poor; evidence of this code may be found the French epic The Song of Roland and the Spanish El Cid.
  • which supported the lord, his family, and his soldiers.  Landed estate organized as manors; each a self-supporting economic unit; the lord provided the land and protection; serfs provided the labor.
  • Serfs (=landless peasants) bound to the soil; could not be bought or sold individually; they passed new owners when land changed hands.  Medieval farming methods primitive; yield was low
  •  
    Scroll about one-third of the way down, and you can find a great diagram of how the feudal system works. There is also a map of what a fief would look like. I highlighted where they have some information on feudalism and manorialism.
Daryl Bambic

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of WWII |... - 0 views

  • This forest is the last and greatest of Earth's wildernesses. It stretches from the furthest tip of Russia's arctic regions as far south as Mongolia, and east from the Urals to the Pacific: five million square miles of nothingness, with a population, outside a handful of towns, that amounts to only a few thousand people.
  • iberia is the source of most of Russia's oil and mineral resources, and, over the years, even its most distant parts have been overflown by oil prospectors and surveyors on their way to backwoods camps where the work of extracting wealth is carried on.
  • summer of 1978
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  • more than 150 miles from the nearest settlement,
  • Well, since you have traveled this far, you might as well come in.'
  • omething from the middle ages. Jerry-built from whatever materials came to hand, the dwelling was not much more than a burrow—"a low, soot-blackened log kennel that was as cold as a cellar," with a floor consisting of potato peel and pine-nut shells. Looking around in the dim light, the visitors saw that it consisted of a single room. It was cramped, musty and indescribably filthy, propped up by sagging joists—and, astonishingly, home to a family of five:
  • Have you ever eaten bread?
  • "We are not allowed that!"
  • he daughters spoke a language distorted by a lifetime of isolation. "When the sisters talked to each other, it sounded like a slow, blurred cooing."
  • a member of a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect, worshiping in a style unchanged since the 17th century.
  • Peter was a personal enemy and "the anti-Christ in human form"—a point he insisted had been amply proved by Tsar's campaign to modernize Russia by forcibly "chopping off the beards of Christians."
  • Things had only got worse for the Lykov family when the atheist Bolsheviks took power. Under the Soviets, isolated Old Believer communities that had fled to Siberia to escape persecution began to retreat ever further from civilization. During the purges of the 1930s, with Christianity itself under assault, a Communist patrol had shot Lykov's brother on the outskirts of their village while Lykov knelt working beside him. He had responded by scooping up his family and bolting into forest.
  • our Lykovs then—Karp;
  • wife, Akulina
  • son named Savin
  • Natalia, a daughter who was only 2.
  • wo more children had been born in the wild—Dmitry in 1940 and Agafia in 1943—
  • d neither of the youngest Lykov children had ever seen a human being who was not a member of their famil
  • new there were places called cities where humans lived crammed together in tall buildings. They had heard there were countries other than Russia. But such concepts were no more than abstractions to them. Their only reading matter was prayer books and an ancient family Bible. Akulina had used the gospels to teach her children to read and write, using sharpened birch sticks dipped into honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. When Agafia was shown a picture of a horse, she recognized it from her mother's Bible stories. "Look, papa," she exclaimed. "A steed!"
  • e traversed 250 kilometres [155 miles] without seeing a single human dwelling!"
  • They fashioned birch-bark galoshes in place of shoes. Clothes were patched and repatched until they fell apart, then replaced with hemp cloth grown from seed.
  • pinning wheel a
  • A couple of kettles served them well for many years, but when rust finally overcame them, the only replacements they could fashion came from birch bark.
  • heir staple diet was potato patties mixed with ground rye and hemp seeds.
  • bundance
  • stream. Stands of larch, spruce, pine and birch yielded all that anyone could take.... Bilberries and raspberries were close to hand, firewood as well, and pine nuts fell right on the roof."
  • rmanently on the edge of famine.
  • not until the late 1950s, when Dmitry reached manhood, that they first trapped animals for their meat and skins. Lacking guns and even bows, they could hunt only by digging traps or pursuing prey across the mountains until the animals collapsed from exhaustion
  • Old Karp was usually delighted by the latest innovations that the scientists brought up from their camp, and though he steadfastly refused to believe that man had set foot on the moon, he adapted swiftly to the idea of satellites.
  • "What amazed him most of all," Peskov recorded, "was a transparent cellophane package. 'Lord, what have they thought up—it is glass, but it crumples!
  • Agafia's unusual speech—she had a singsong voice and stretched simple words into polysyllables—convinced some of her visitors she was slow-witted; in fact she was markedly intelligent, and took charge of the difficult task, in a family that possessed no calendars, of keeping track of time. 
  • mitry, a
  • urious and perhaps the most forward-looking member of the family
  • Perhaps it was no surprise that he was also the most enraptured by the scientists' technology.
  • many happy hours in its little sawmill, marveling at how easily a circular saw and lathes could finish wood.
  • Karp Lykov fought a long and losing battle with himself to keep all this modernity at bay. When they first got to know the geologists, the family would accept only a single gift—salt
  • hey took knives, forks, handles, grain and eventually even pen and paper and an electric torch.
  • but the sin of television, which they encountered at the geologists' camp, proved irresistible for them.... On their rare appearances, they would invariably sit down and watch. Karp sat directly in front of the screen. Agafia watched poking her head from behind a door. She tried to pray away her transgression immediately—whispering, crossing herself.... The old man prayed afterward, diligently and in one fell swoop.
  • he Lord would provide, and she would stay, she said—as indeed she has. A quarter of a century later, now in her seventies herself, this child of the taiga lives on alone, high above the Abakan.
  •  
    An amazing story of a Russian Orthodox family who ran from Soviet persecution in the 1930 and survived in the wilderness of Siberia. The children had never seen other humans, developed their own dialect and lived on the perpetual edge of the world.  Several family members were enthralled with technology, others were fearful but all were exceptionally intelligent.
Garth Holman

HISTORY OF FEUDALISM - 0 views

  •  
    "The top players in feudal Europe come from a small group of people - an aristocracy, based on skill in battle, with a shared commitment to a form of Christianity (at once power-hungry and idealistic) in which the pope in Rome has special powers as God's representative on earth. As a great feudal lord with moral pretensions, holding the ring between secular sovereigns, the pope can be seen as Europe's headmaster. Bishops and abbots are part of the small feudal aristocracy, for they are mostly recruited from the noble families holding the great fiefs. Indeed bishops can often be found on the battlefield, fighting it out with with the best. As in any other context, the strongest argument in feudalism - transcending the niceties of loyalty - is naked force. The Normans in England or in Sicily rule by right of conquest, and feudal disputes are regularly resolved in battle. But feudalism also provides many varieties of justification for force. And the possession of a good justification is almost as reassuring to a knight as a good suit of armour. One excellent excuse for warfare is the approval of the church. In 1059 the pope virtually commands the Normans to attack Sicily, by giving them feudal rights over territory not as yet theirs. Similarly Rome lets it be known that the Holy See is on the side of William when he invades England in 1066. Another important form of justification is a dynastic claim to a territory. Generations of marriages, carefully arranged for material gain, result in an immensely complex web of relationships - reflected often in kingdoms of very surprising shape on the map of Europe.
Garth Holman

Feudalism Pyramid - 0 views

  • Feudalism - The Pyramid of PowerThe pyramid of power which was the Feudal system ran to a strict 'pecking' order - during the Medieval period of the Middle Ages everyone knew their place. The order of rank and precedence in the Medieval Feudal System was as follows:The PopeThe KingNoblesKnights / VassalsFreemenYeomenServantsPeasants / Serfs / Villeins
  • Feudalism PyramidFeudalism in the Middle Ages resembles a pyramid, with the lowest peasants at its base and the lines of authority flowing up to the peak of the structure, the king. Under Feudalism the King was only answerable to the Pope. Feudalism was based on the exchange of land for military service. Life lived under the Medieval Feudal System, or Feudalism, demanded that everyone owed allegiance to the King and their immediate superior.
  • Feudalism Pyramid - Fealty and HomageDuring the Middle Ages a portion of land called a fief would be granted by the King. This reward would be granted to him by his lord in exchange for his services. The recipient of the fief would be one of his vassals. The fief, or land, was usually granted following a Commendation Ceremony. The commendation ceremony was designed to create a lasting bond between a vassal and his lord. Fealty and homage were a key element of feudalism.
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  • Feudalism was based on the belief that the land belonged to God - but that the Kings, who ruled by Divine Right, managed the land and used it as they wished. However, under the Feudalism pyramid the King was answerable to the Pope. The Pope, as God's vicar on Earth, had the right to intervene and impose sanctions on an unjust King. Under the feudalism pyramid the Pope had the power to pronounce judgement against a King, depose a King, forfeit his Kingdom, put another King in his place or excommunicate a King.
  •  
    "Yeomen"
Jack S

The Middle Ages: Feudal Life - 2 views

shared by Jack S on 20 Dec 11 - Cached
  • or safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers from other fiefdoms.
  • n this "feudal" system, the king awarded land grants or "fiefs" to his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for their contribution of soldiers for the king's armies. At the lowest echelon of society were the peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." In exchange for living and working on his land, known as the "demesne," the lord offered his peasants protection.
    • Jack S
       
      Property Takes a big role
    • josh j
       
      Religion takes a bigger role than property I think. :)
Garth Holman

Medieval education in Europe: Schools & Universities - 0 views

  • It is estimated that by 1330, only 5% of the total population of Europe received any sort of education
  • Even then education, as we understand it, was not accessible or even desired by everyone. Schools were mostly only accessible to the sons of high lords of the land.
  • In most kingdoms in Europe, education was overseen by the church.
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • The very fact that the curriculum was structured by the church gave it the ability to mould the students to follow its doctrine
  • Unofficially, education started from a very young age. This sort of early education depended on the feudal class of the child’s parents
  • Even the children of serfs would be taught the skills needed to survive by their parents. The boys would be taken out into the fields to observe and to help their parents with easy tasks, while the girls would work with the animals at home, in the vegetable garden with their mothers, or watch them weave.
  • Children of craftsmen and merchants were educated from a very young age in the trade of their fathers. Trade secrets rarely left a family and they had to be taught and understood by all male (and unusually, female) heirs, in order to continue the family legacy.
  • Young boys of noble birth would learn how to hunt and swing a weapon, while the young ladies of nobility would learn how to cook
  • The main subject of study in those schools was Latin (reading and writing). In addition to this, students were also taught rhetoric – the art of public speaking and persuasion – which was a very useful tool for both men of the cloth and nobles alike.
  • Lessons frequently started at sunrise and finished at sunset
  • University education, across the whole of the continent, was a luxury to which only the wealthiest and brightest could ever aspire
  • Since the creation of the first university in 1088
  • Students attended the Medieval University at different ages, ranging from 14 (if they were attending Oxford or Paris to study the Arts) to their 30s (if they were studying Law in Bologna)
  • The dynamic between students and teachers in a medieval university was significantly different from today. In the University of Bologna students hired and fired teachers by consensus. The students also bargained as a collective regarding fees, and threatened teachers with strikes if their demands were not met
  • A Master of Arts degree in the medieval education system would have taken six years; a Bachelor of Arts degree would be awarded after completing the third or fourth year. By “Arts” the degree was referring to the seven liberal arts – arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music theory, grammar, logic, and rhetoric
  • The sons of the peasants could only be educated if the lord of the manor had given his permission
  • Any family caught having a son educated without permission was heavily fined
  • Historians today believe that this policy was another way in which authority figures attempted to control the peasants, since an educated peasant/villein might prove to question the way things were done and upset the balance of power which kept the nobles strong.
  • Students held the legal status of clerics which, according to the Canon Law, could not be held by women; women were therefore not admitted into universities.
  •  
    This explains the importance of education and how each group got an education.
mukul g

The Black Death of 1348 to 1350 - 4 views

    • mukul g
       
      Mr.Holman you said that the people had some fever and then died right?
  • "The first signs of the plague were lumps in the groin or armpits. After this, livid black spots appeared on the arms and thighs and other parts of the body. Few recovered. Almost all died within three days, usually without any fever."
  • The Black Death had a huge impact on society. Fields went unploughed as the men who usually did this were victims of the disease. Harvests would not have been brought in as the manpower did not exist. Animals would have been lost as the people in a village would not have been around to tend them.
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  • Those who survived the Black Death believed that there was something special about them – almost as if God had protected them. Therefore, they took the opportunity offered by the disease to improve their lifestyle.
  • Peasants could demand higher wages as they knew that a lord was desperate to get in his harvest.
  • To curb peasants roaming around the countryside looking for better pay, the government introduced the Statute of Labourers in 1351 that stated: No peasants could be paid more than the wages paid in 1346. No lord or master should offer more wages than paid in 1346. No peasants could leave the village they belonged to.
  • Though some peasants decided to ignore the statute, many knew that disobedience would lead to serious punishment. This created great anger amongst the peasants which was to boil over in 1381 with the Peasants Revolt. Hence, it can be argued that the Black Death was to lead to the Peasants Revolt.
  • Why did the bubonic plague spread so quickly?
  • In towns and cities people lived very close together and they knew nothing about contagious diseases.
  • 1.5 million people
  • In Medieval England, the Black Death was to kil
  • out of an estimated total of 4 million people between 1348 and 1350
  • The Black Death is the name given to a disease called the bubonic plague which was rampant during the Fourteenth Century. In fact, the bubonic plague affected England more than once in that century but its impact on English society from 1348 to 1350 was terrible.
  • It symptoms were described in 1348 by a man called Boccaccio who lived in Florence, Italy:
  • ck Death was caused by fleas carried by rats that were very common in towns and cities
  • The Bla
Garth Holman

Feudal System - 14 views

  • Feudal SystemThe Feudal System was sustained by the rights and privileges given to the Upper Classes and in most cases enacted by laws. Everything was a source of privilege for the nobles. They had a thousand pretexts for establishing taxes on their vassals, who were generally considered "taxable and to be worked at will." Kings and councils waived the necessity of their studying, in order to be received as bachelors of universities. If a noble was made a prisoner of war, his life was saved by his nobility, and his ransom had practically to be raised by the "villains" of his domains.
  • The Feudal System Right of Hunting
  • The Feudal System Right of Jurisdiction
  • ...19 more annotations...
  • The Feudal System Right of Safe Convoy
  • The Feudal System Right of Wearing Spurs
  • The Feudal System Rights of Knighthood
  • The Feudal System Right of having seats of honour in churches and Monuments
  • The Feudal System Right of Disinheritance
  • The Feudal System Right of common oven
  • Feudal System Rights of Treasure Trove
  • The Feudal System Right of Shipwrecks
  • The Feudal System Right of Shelter
    • Garth Holman
       
      What does the word Villains mean, as it is used here?  
  • all privileges dearest to and most valued by the nobles.
    • Garth Holman
       
      If you are not a noble, what would happen if you killed an animal on the nobles land? 
    • anonymous
       
      you would get punished
    • Garth Holman
       
      Who was the judge of in all cases on a manor? 
    • Olivia A
       
      The Lord
    • Garth Holman
       
      This right applied to what members of society? 
    • Olivia A
       
      All member of society
  • Knights had the right of receiving double rations when prisoners of war; the right of claiming a year's delay when a creditor wished to seize their land; and the right of never having to submit to torture after trial, unless they were condemned to death for the crime they had committed.
    • Garth Holman
       
      What are three rights a KNIGHT had? 
    • Sridhar U
       
      Reviving Double Rations when Prisoner of war. The right to not pay money for the land for a year. The right to have no tourture after a trail.
  • of claiming the goods of a person dying on their lands who had no direct heir. They also had the right of claiming a tax when a fief or domain changed hands.
  • the right of common oven required serfs to make use of the mill, the oven, of the lord
    • Garth Holman
       
      What did this force all peasant and serfs to do? 
  •  
    Laws and rights of the middle ages.
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