Read Ch.2 of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
History Folder Response:
History Folder Response
Date: Feb.10, 2010
Title: Chapter Two Response
Describe your childhood home (in detail) ½ - ¾ pg.
o Interior/Exterior
o Favorite Room
o Yard
Homework Check on Middle Ages Questions
Started to go over answers
Notes to print off (cut and paste to a Word document):
Review of The Middle Ages
Human Beginnings -- Prehistory-1000 B.C
Early Civilizations – 4000 – 1000 B.C.
The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire – 750 B.C – A.D 500
The Middle Ages – A.D 500 – 1350 A.D
The Renaissance Period 1350-1600 A.D (Where this course begins)
• The Middle Ages are defined as “The middle period between the decline of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance”
• The early Middle Ages are often referred to as the Dark Ages.
• The Middle Ages are also referred to as the Medieval era.
• Feudalism was the primary political, social, and economic system of the Middle Ages.
• King William of England could not control his rebelling people, and he could not take care of the land so he created the feudal system.
• Feudal system: King gave out pieces of land (fiefs) to the most esteemed members of his kingdom (barons, nobles, bishops) in exchange for their services and loyalty.
• Peasants (serfs) were the lowest rank and thus were not given land, but were forced to maintain the land and the Lord of each fief would provide them with protection.
• Everyone (minus the King) had a ruling lord above them whom they owed loyalty and service in exchange for protection and land.
• With the eventual growth of commerce and industry, feudalism faded and a new class system became a form of social ranking.
Feudalism in England can be easily described through a pyramid:
At the top of the Feudalism Pyramid was the King
The King claimed ownership of the land
The King granted the land to important nobles - these nobles then pledged their loyalty by swearing to serve and protect the king
The king also granted land to the less powerful military men (the knights) who were called vassals
The vassals also agreed to fight for the king in exchange for their land
The land was worked by the peasants or serfs. They belonged to the land and could not leave without permission - the bottom of the Feudalism pyramid.
• The Church laid the moral guidelines for people living on the feudal manors.
• For the most part, the Church's teachings stressed that the only purpose of life on earth was to prepare for the most important life - the afterlife.
• Church was extremely important and had much influence
• University was created during this time period (Latin classics/Roman Law)
• 1095 -- The Crusades were a series of military campaigns to regain the Holy Land (Jerusalem) waged mainly against Muslims.
• The result: increased demand for trade goods - Europeans developed a tremendous appetite for cloth, spices, jewels and more from the Muslims and lands even further east, spurring an increased interest in exploration. Increased technology for exploration (maps, compass, shipbuilding).
• The growth of trade and the merchant middle class went hand in hand with the growth in towns.)
• Emergence of a strong middle class
• Early Middle Ages women were seen as ‘evil’, but with an increased interest in the Virgin Mary in the later Middle Ages, women began to be held in higher regard.
• In 1215 in England a frustrated nobility forced King John of England to sign a document called the Magna Carta ( Great Charter) a document they hoped would protect them from imprisonment or loss of property without trial by a jury of their peers.
• Magna Carta placed clear limits on royal power – nobles wanted it to protect their feudal rights, but over time it guaranteed the rights of all English people.
• Great Schism caused major divisions in the Catholic Church (they had one elected and one appointed pope....and eventually they elected a third pope = utter chaos!) People started to feel more loyalty towards their monarchs than the pope(s).
