IB DP History - Medieval Option

"There is a Middle English aphorism that says, 'Winter all eats / That summer begets'. Living alongside 24-hour supermarkets, it is easy to forget the once vital preoccupation with preserving the autumn harvest and stocking our larders to the brim. As we approach the sign of Aquarius, long nights and short days will persist until mid-March when the sun enters Aries, and we spare a thought for our medieval forebears in the most barren and cold of seasons. Depictions of wintry concerns and activities from the medieval era are frequently featured in the calendars which preface many Books of Hours and Psalters"

"Almost exactly 750 years ago, an extraordinary parliament opened in Westminster. For the very first time, elected representatives from every county and major town in England were invited to parliament on behalf of their local communities."

"The Economics of English Agriculture in the Middle Ages is the economic history of English agriculture from the Norman invasion in 1066, to the death of Henry VII in 1509. England's economy was fundamentally agricultural throughout the period, though even before the invasion the market economy was important to producers. Norman institutions, including serfdom, were superimposed on an existing system of open fields."

" tools were sometimes attached to manuscripts, such as a disk, dial or knob, or even a complete scientific instrument. Such 'add-ons' were usually mounted onto the page, extending the book's primary function as an object that one reads, turning it into a piece of hardware."

"One of the questions we're most frequently asked at the British Library is: why is there more than one manuscript of Magna Carta? The simple answer is that, when the Great Charter was first granted by King John in 1215, numerous copies were made so that its terms could be distributed more easily throughout the kingdom of England. Four of those 1215 manuscripts survive to the present day, one of which is owned by Lincoln Cathedral, another by Salisbury Cathedral and the other two being held at the British Library in London."

"The journal issue looks at scientific breakthroughs of the past few years, including the 2011 sequencing of the genome of the plague pathogen entirely from historical remains, and the theory that a "big bang" of the organism occurred between the 12th and 14th centuries in an area now part of China, ultimately causing the Black Death pandemic. "

"Exciting news for those of our readers who might want to search for an image of a 13th-century devil with horns, an English drawing of a horse from the 10th century, rain over the Italian countryside, severed limbs or even Job afflicted with boils."

"Tests on descendants of last Plantagenet king point to 'false paternity event' and reveal he may have been blue-eyed blond"

what you see depends on where you're standing (your point of view) Good analogies for history, etc.

"If you've found yourself on Medievalists.net, chances are you already have a deep and (hopefully) abiding love for the Middle Ages, as I do. Maybe, though, you're just at the beginning of this love affair with the past, or you know someone who is, and you're looking for a place to get a good overview of the period before you dive right in. In that case, here are a few books which will give you a foothold on the Middle Ages as you begin your journey."

"Recent work has brought together what we know of the Anglo-Saxon and medieval cathedrals beneath and around Wren's St Paul's, the City of London's most important historic building and monument. Now the little-known medieval cathedral, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, can be revealed as of European importance. It dominated the City and should be compared with other cathedrals - Ely, Norwich and Winchester."

"The Harley Psalter is one of three manuscripts copied from the very well-travelled Utrecht Psalter, a Carolingian masterpiece made around 825 at the Benedictine monastery of Hautvilliers near Rheims in Northern France. Now MS 32 at the Universiteitsbibliotheek in Utrecht, the Utrecht Psalter spent at least two hundred years in Canterbury from about 1000 AD, where it was the inspiration for our very own Harley Psalter, Harley MS 603."

"A book of medieval law that predates the Magna Carta and is described as 'Britain's hidden treasure' has been made available to view online"

"Two medieval chess pieces carved from antler have been unearthed at a construction site in England's East Midlands. The larger of the two twelfth-century game pieces was probably a bishop. The other artifact is thought to be the top part of a king."

"The fundamentals about History and why we need it."

"In Europe, the last millennium has been shaped by successive waves of change, but which shifts, in which centuries, have really shaped the modern world? Historian Ian Mortimer identifies the 10 leading drivers of change"

"Edward II was born on 25 April 1284 as the youngest child of Edward I and his first wife Eleanor of Castile, and succeeded his father as king of England at the age of twenty-three on 7 July 1307.  On 25 January 1308 at Boulogne in northern France, Edward married Isabella, only surviving daughter of the reigning king of France, Philip IV, and the late Joan I, queen of Navarre in her own right.  Isabella was only twelve at the time of her wedding, born probably in the second half of 1295.  The couple's betrothal had been arranged all the way back in June 1299, when Edward was fifteen and Isabella probably only three."

"This legacy of an artist monk living in Northumbria in the early eighth century is a precious testament to the tenacity of Christian belief during one of the most turbulent periods of British history. Costly in time and materials, superb in design, the manuscript is among our greatest artistic and religious treasures. It was made and used at Lindisfarne Priory on Holy Island, a major religious community that housed the shrine of St Cuthbert, who died in 687."

"The story of the Norman Conquest was told by more than a few medieval chroniclers, including William of Jumièges, William of Poitiers, Orderic Vitalis, William of Malmesbury and John of Worcester. For a more visual account, one can turn to the Bayeux Tapestry to see how the events of 1066 were depicted. Historians trying to reconstruct the events of the invasion of England and the Battle of Hastings generally make use of these sources. However, there are other lesser-known accounts of the Norman Conquest. Here we present two of these works, both written over a hundred years after the Battle of Hastings."

"So unpopular was John that his barons finally rose up in rebellion against his arbitrary rule, and against the severe punishments often inflicted upon them, until they eventually forced the king to grant them the Charter of Liberties, also known as Magna Carta, at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. Few can have lamented King John's eventual demise at Newark Castle - most probably following an attack of dysentery -in October 1216. Writing some forty years later, Matthew Paris (d. 1259), monk and historian of St Albans Abbey, delivered the ultimate condemnation: 'Foul as it is, Hell itself is made fouler by the presence of John'."