Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Crusades Notes

The Crusades began when the Seljug Turks took control of Palestine, known among Christians as "the Holy Land." They then attacked Asia Minor in the Byzantine Empire and threatened to take the capital of Constantinople, so the emporer requested help from the Pope,Urban II, in Rome. The Pope called together all the bishops and feudal lords and told them they would help retake the "Holy Land." This began the crusades, a series of military expeditions to retake the Holy Land. About 10,000 Europeans took up the cause and sewed a cross of cloth on their clothes.

The Frist Crusade lasted from 1096 to 1099. French and Italian lords led several armies of crusaders to Constantinople.The emperor was nervous about letting the crusaders into Constantinople for fear of them capturing the city. The crusaders lacked enough food oand water but after the captured Antioch the French fleets brought supplies.

The Second Crusade began in 1147 when Louis VII of France and German king Conrad III led seperate armies and met in Damascus, even with the combined forces, the crusade failed.

The third crusade began in 1189 after the Muslim lead Saladin recaptured Jerusalem. Three leaders, Holy Roman Emperor Fredrick Barbossa, King Philip II of France and King Richard I of England led seperate armies but the Romans turned back when Emperor Barbossa drowned and King Philip turned back due to quarreling between himself and King Richard. King Richard attempted to take Jerusalem but failed and settled for a peace treaty which granted him some land and Christians access to Jerusalem.

The fourth crusade never really got started because the first crusaders attacked Zadar, a Christian city, and were excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. The second attempt resulted in the capturing of Constantinople, another Christian city, the city remained under European control for about 60 years. The Byzantine EMpire recaptured it but lost it to the Turks and the empire crumbled shortly after.

The Childrens Crusade was extremely unsucceful and resulted in the loss of thousands of children from Germany and France. The Crusades finally ended in 1291 when the Muslims captured the last Christian stronghold, Acre.

One of the main weapons was the crossbow.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Vow of Silence

     The vow of silence wasn't really that hard. It was slightly difficult to communicate quickly in groups, but we made it work. Any work we did on our own was easy to accomplish without talking. The hardest thing to do was to get someone's attention if they were out of arm's reach. The riddles about the booths were a little challenging without being able to talk about it but it wasn't impossible.
     A whole day without talking might be difficult. It would be hard to work in other classes without being able to talk, particularly Spanish. Communicating with my family at night would also be very difficult even though we all know some sign language. The worst part about it would be not being able to talk to my friends at all and having to right notes to communicate anything.
     I learned from the vow of silence that while it isn't impossible to get things done without talking, it is a lot more difficult. Communication is a focal point in working together and it takes a lot longer to write everything down and show it to everyone you're working with as opposed to just saying it to everyone at once.
     The best skill to have when you couldn't talk would probably be to know sign language, or maybe to be able to read lips. Writing quickly and legibly would be another important skill to possess, for at least one person in your group anyway.

notes

People bathed once a month
They wore the same clothes for several days
They used lavender flowers and mint in the water to wash clothes, this kept away fleas
The term chairman comes from there only being one chair in the house
The whole family all piled onto one bed of hay, including the friendlier animals, to sleep at night
Troubadours traveled around around "singing for their supper"
His songs were often about love or the glory of kings

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Notes

Anglo-Saxan came about when the Anglos and the Saxans combined to from Angoland, now England. Shires were like sheriffs now, they collected taxes. Alfred the Great was the first king, the last Anglo-Saxan king was Edward the Confessor. When Edward died a war started because he had no heir, 2 people fought for the throne, Herald Godwinson he was the brother-in-law and the other person was the Duke of Normandy, William, he was Edward's cousin. This lead to one of the top 100 most important battles in history, the Battle of the Hastings, it was over quickly, William beat Herald terribly and was named William the Conqueror. He wanted to get things done quickly, he the first to take a census since Roman Times, the census tracked everything in your household and was used to tax you, the imformation was put into a book called the Domesday book, they nicknamed it the Doomsday book, when he dies he is succeeded Henry I. He was replaced by his grandson Henry II.
     Henry II decides he wants to make the church clergy accountable and together with the government. His friend, the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket disagrees with Thomas and goes to meet with him and the argument gets very heated. Thomas leaves and Henry says "I wish he was dead" Not meaning for it to happen. Four knights eavesdropping on the conversation and decide to carry out his wish. They follow Thomas and stab him in the church, on Christmas Eve. This effectively ended Henry II's rule. Thomas Becket was canonized 150 years later.
     Henry was replaced by his son John, he went to war and had to tax heavily, as much as 87%, the people meet in the town of Runny Mean and create the Magna Carta. John is forced to sign it. The Magna Carta is the basis of our constitution.
     The Magna Carta is a cornerstone in many modern governments including the US Constitution. It was designed to limit the king's power. It also gave a group of barons the right to fight him if he violated it.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

United Kingdom

I believe a trip to the United Kingdom would be a very interesting trip. One of my favorite time periods in history is the Medieval period. I would really like to see the various castles and other remnants from the Medieval and Renaissance eras. Scotland would probably be my first stop due to it having the majority of the castles in the UK.

Pop-up book notes

Karlie Smallwood- Egypt
1. The capital is Cairo.
2. The language is Arabic.
3. Entertainment is mostly board games.
4. Government is Republic.
5. Religion is Islam

Paige Bibey- Argentina
1. A famous legend "The Magic Bean Tree".
2. They have a Republic government.
3. The largest meal of the day is lunch.
4. Labor Day is May 1st in Argentina.
5. They have free education for everyone.

Katara Pennington- France
1. They speak French.
2. A famous author is Victor Hugo, who wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
3. They have a Republic.
4. Cheese and wine are main parts of their diet.
5. They recieve two months off of school for summer.

Dale Scott- Panama
1. Some of the popular toys are marbles and toy cars.
2. The government is a Constitutional Republic.
3. A Popular tourist attraction is the Panama Canal.
4. They go to high school for 3-4 years.
5. Panama is the capital.

Courtney Nuzum- Scotland
1. Their toys are very similar to those in America
2. Basketball and football are popular sports.
3. They typically only go to school until they're 16.
4. Their vacation is referred to as "holiday".
5. The capital is Edenberg.

Jost Stuart- United Kingdom
1. The capital is London.
2. London Bridge is Falling Down was writtin about the London Bridge.
3. Cricket is a very popular sport in the UK.
4. They have a monarchy with a queen.
5. Children go through primary and secondary schooling.

Viola Donegia- Ireland
1. The capital is Dublin.
2. They have over 4 million people.
3. They are predominately Catholic, Christian.
4. They have a Republic and Parliamentary Democracy.
5. Most mealscontain veggies, meat and fish.

Gabrielle Kyle- Bolivia
1. Spanish is the official language.
2. Humpty Dumpty is a famous nursery rhyme in Bolivia.
3. They are a Republic.
4. They mainly meat and poultry, as well as vegetables.
5. They have a carnival on February 19th.

Abby Suder- Madagascar
1. Population is about 20.1 million.
2. A famous nursery rhyme is Roll the Dough.
3. Government is a Republic.
4. They eat rice with every meal.
5. Christmas and Easter are both celebrated widely in Madagascar.

Chase Swick- Venezuela
1. The population is well over 600 million.
2. Spanish is the main language.
3. Traditional toys are marbles, tops, and yoyos.
4. Their government is a Federal Republic.
5. In 1811 Venezuela declared its independance.

Sara Cleavenger- Sweden
1. Population is about 9,800,000.
2. Children play with marbles and dolls for entertainment.
3. Fish is a large part of their diet.
4. They don't put their Christmas tree up until 1-2 days before Christmas.
5. Stockholm was founded in 1292.

Kelsea Pingley- El Salvador
1. The capital is San Salvador.
2. They speak Spanish mainly.
3. Their most famous literature is poetry.
4. Their toys are very similar to those in America.
5. Children and the elderly typically drink coffee while teens usually drink soda.