The Middle Ages
By:Emma Sherlin
The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages was an amazingly interesting time in Europe. It was full of good and bad. The peoples hardships and struggles brought inevitable change to society.
Growth, power, greed, work, struggle, sickness, war, kings and queens, faith, and commerce all were the main topics that we will include in this article.
Map of Europe
You can see this is a map of Europe and it includes the main counties you will learn about including France, Spain, England, and Italy
Medieval manor
Manorialism was an essential element to feudal society. Manorialism was the organizing principal of a rural community in the Middle Ages. This set up was practiced mostly practiced in the western parts of Central Europe. Manorialism was set up by the ownership of land by a lord of the manor. Peasants or fiefs would provide protection and work for The Lord in exchange for food, land and shelter.
The Black Death.
The Black Death was a disease spread by fleas that traveled on rats. These rats came off of ships coming from Asia. The fleas spread germs by biting people therefore giving them the disease. This caused lots of chaos, conflict, and of course death.
The crusades
The holy wars
The crusades was a series of holy wars in order to get back the "holy land" Jerusalem ⛪️. The fighters were the Muslims, the Christians, and the Jews. They were all fighting to reign Jerusalem. In the beginning had control of the city until the Christians took control of the city. Before the Christians could get there hopes up the Muslims quickly took the city back. There were many more crusades but the one that is most important to me is the children's crusade. That is when Europe sent about 4,000 children to fight the Muslims. All of them set out to the Middle East in search for the holy land..... They never even made it to the holy city. In the end the Muslims still had control of Jerusalem. Even though the crusades seem to be a waste they helped advance Europe's technology. Such as weapons, trade, and travel.
The Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church had great influences on people in the Middle Ages. The church lots of help to people. For example the church gave education, they took care of the sick, and of course prayed with you being a big part in your religious life. The church brought on a new age of architecture called gothic architecture. This type of design gave the idea of arches and high pointed ceilings, creating depth to pieces. An example of gothic architecture is shown in the picture above. Overall the church always knew what was going on in your life. This led to too much power and control causing people to decline their faith in the church.
Knights
Knights Were the warriors of the Middle Ages. Knights followed a strict code of conduct called chivalry. They were very important to the general public. Knights protected people and fought in wars. Most people think that knights were just killing machines who only knew sword weaponry. However when knights were about 8 years old they went to train to become a knight. While you were there you had to. Learn many things such as sword fighting, horsemanship, dance, archery, music, hand to hand combat, and even chess! This resulted with knights being very well educated.
The Spanish inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition was a process created by Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. This process was to purify soap from heretics, or non believers so to speak. The monarchs created a document stating that all heretics or non Christians were banished from Spain. Therefore many "converted" to Christianity. However the King and Queen were not convinced so they decided to torture all heretics until they truly confessed of their faith. This caused a lot of anger and conflict until eventually it calmed down years later.
Popes and Kings
In the Middle Ages the Pope was the head of the church. The Pope helped people, prayed with people, helped the church provide education for people and much more. Some people thought that the Pope had too much power, including the king. This caused lots of conflict between the two groups. Probably the most famous example of this conflict was with Pope Gregory VII and King Henry IV. They fought over power between them. The King claimed that the Pope had too much power. To show who was boss Pope Gregory excommunicated the King. The King traveled back to the Pope begging for forgiveness. With reluctance forgave the King. The Pope remained in power over the King until the late Middle Ages when the Popes power began to decline.
The Growth of Cities
When serfs had a desperate need for cash they Nobles offered their serfs a chance to buy their way into freedom. This was the beginning of the end to feudalism. when most serfs heard of this news they were eager and totally ready to leave. So many serfs left to growing towns. This caused an even bigger population growth.