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Do you guys already know something about French history? It can be anything! A fact, an event, a famous person.
Think about what you know about French history and what you enjoy learning about the most if you have previously studied history with me before. What would you like to know about France?
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted
The Dark Ages began after the fall of the Roman Empire which had controlled the lands from England in the North to the top of Africa in the south and from Spain in the West to Persia in the East.
The Romans had very advanced techniques in science, engineering, art, medicine, town planning, and had a well-defined culture. When the empire was conquered by "barbarian" tribes. The empire was cut up into hundreds of tiny little kingdoms ruled by kings and lords who cared very little for these things. This began The Dark Ages:
For these little kingdoms existence and daily life became incredibly difficult. The ancient cities under Roman rule had clean running water from the mountains, food supplies from all over the world, advanced doctors and strong armies to protect them. Without Rome, these things were not guaranteed, a good king and his queen had to make quick decisions if they wanted to survive.
Working in groups, pairs or individuals I want you to imagine you have just woken up in a dark age world. You are the leader of a village and must decide on five key problems relating to food, shelter, medicine, protection and money.
List these in order of importance from 1 being most important to 5 being the least. Be prepared to explain your choices to the class. food, shelter, medicine, protection and money.
Shelter: The biggest priority you should have is shelter, you would not survive long without a warm place to sleep. Being exposed to bad weather would kill you very quickly.
The Ancient Romans left behind many large homes and houses of good brick. Some of these are taken quickly but you have no knowledge of how to maintain these houses or how to make new bricks/fix plumbing or replace anything.
What happens?
Food: Once you are warm, you need to make sure you can feed yourself and the village. Ancient Rome had an extremely well-developed network to feed millions of people. Rome alone needed hundreds of ships with grain for flour and these came from the "Bread Baskets" of the Empire where this supply was huge such as Egypt.
You no longer have full access to this network so what can you do? How can you feed people?
Medicine: Now your tummy is full of horrible food and you have at least part of a roof over your head you need to worry about medicine. People get sick all of the time and you have to keep your town healthy.
The ancient Romans knew a huge amount about the human body and had advanced medical techniques like brain surgery. However, all of these ideas have been lost. People now believe old ideas about sickness and have changed their methods. One idea is that sickness occurs if you have too much blood in your body so "blood letting" become popular where a small cut is made on the arm or ankle and some is drain from you.
People are also quite often going to "witches" or old ladies who have made their own medicines from local herbs.
Money: To run your town, you need money, money to pay for essential things and to keep people employed. Ancient Rome had very well-made coins of bronze, silver and gold made by one central office. However, the method for making these and all the silver and gold mines have largely been lost. How can you solve the money issue?
Protection: Other villages or little kingdoms exist that have the same problems. If they need food or new bricks for example, they might plan to come and steal yours. You need an army to protect you. Romans had well-developed armies that used to defend the land but these have been defeated long ago. Where do you get soldiers from? How or what do you pay them? Who gives them equipment?
Answer the following questions with the answer you think best suits the problem. At the end, your answers will tell you what kind of Dark Age ruler you would be.
Q.1: How will you build an army?
a) All men must join the army except the very old, the young and key workers.
b) One man from each family, but they will only serve in Spring and Summer so they can be home in time for the harvest.
c) Only volunteers will join the army if they choose to do so.
Q.2: How will you pay your army?
a) There is no pay, the soldiers take what they can find when an enemy is beaten. The enemies treasure is their pay but the ruler gets half for their own.
b) Everyone gets a small amount of money, the real pay is given in the form of land for farming. The ruler gets half of all the food grown for their own.
c) Everyone from the ruler to the lowest soldier gets an equal share of what they win from an enemy.
Q.3: What will the army be used for?
a) The greatest joy in life is to attack and conquer your enemies, taking their treasure for your own.
b) Attack only when necessary and to defend in times of need.
c) For defense and protection only. The world is a dark enough place right now.
Q.4: Will you allow people to leave your kingdom?
a) People follow only the strongest, if they do not follow me, they die.
b) People can leave but only if they pay a special tax to do so the ruler.
c) Anyone can leave whenever they like, this is a kingdom not a prison.
Q.5: How will people eat?
a) Soldiers need full stomachs to fight well, they get the best food, everyone else gets the scraps.
b) People must grow their own food and feed themselves from their half of the crops.
c) Everyone deserves a full belly, we can share everything equally.
Q.6: Who makes the decisions?
a) There is one ruler, one voice and one choice. I make the decisions alone, these times require a strong head and fast action.
b) The ruler makes decisions but also asks his richest "nobles" or less powerful lords before he settles on one.
c) Everyone talks about the problem and we all decide together.
Q.8: The local religion is called Christianity, the Church is a powerful section of society. What kind of relationship should we have?
a) I hate the church, I live fighting on my feet, not praying on my knees.
b) We need holy men in these dark times, the Church will be paid a "tithe" a small some of money from everyone depending on their wealth.
c) The Church stays but it needs to pay US taxes as it makes a lot of money from local people who give money to it.
Q.10: What is most important to you in life?
a) Power, Strength, and Fighting.
b) Money, Nice Clothes, Jewel Encrusted Swords, and More Money.
c) The happiness of those around me.
Q.9: How will our money be used?
a) To buy good food, and entertainment. A warrior needs feasts and parties after battle.
b) To help maintain my lands and to buy nice things for myself such as clothes and horses.
c) To help the poorest and to improve the local roads and homes.
Mostly C = Pretty Much Any Disney Princess.
Now look through your answers an check which was the MOST common. For example, did you choose mostly A, B or C?
If you chose mostly answer A then you are:
Mostly B = A Spoiled, Selfish King or Lord.
A Crazy Barbarian Battle-King
In front of you are three worksheets. 1) Shows a map of France which has been divided by its old provinces. 2) Gives you a numbered list of province names and a blank map "legend" 3) gives you a list of rulers who own certain provinces.
Your task is to read the bullet points carefully to figure out which kingdoms control which provinces using the list provided. Write the name of the kingdom in one box, color in the box beside it to show the color on the map that represents that kingdom. The color in the correct provinces. Your legend should look a little like this:
Once you have filled in the map legend, color in the map to show which kingdoms control which provinces. Many control more than one so take care to read the bullet points.
Middle Age society was separated into different groups. At the very bottom were "peasants" these were the poorest people who worked as farmers or laborers and were bound to a Knight or Lord.
A knight was usually a warrior who had been "knighted" for bravery or inherited his title through his family. They were encased in armor and lived only to fight either real fighting or pretend fighting. The peasants served under the knights. Each knight had a "retinue" or household that included a page, a squire and an archer who served him.
A knight fought by a special "code" called "chivalry" which you should remember for your homework. They were supposed to defend the poor. Many knights later became lords or barons and all of the kingdom's knights, lords and barons served the king or in Charlemagne's case - Emperor. These men were single authorities who had complete power over their kingdoms and could do whatever they liked in most cases.
Knights were expert fighters, their armor covered their whole body from head to toe and cost around a million dollars for a cheap set in modern money. A knights war horse was specially trained and cost more than a 100 gold coins, enough to buy a farm.
Read the information packet on knights and the worksheet that discusses daily life in medieval Europe. Remember medieval means middle ages. Once you have done that, answer the questions at the end, if you don't complete these on time they will be added to your homework so don't waste your time!
What is a diary?
Writing Practice! I want you to write a diary from the viewpoint of either: a knight, a page, a peasant or a lord. We will go over this now, take notes as this might help you in school later!
A diary also has two different reasons for being written, the first reason is to recall, recount or describe important things that happened to a person on the day they write it. The second reason is to reflect on their day, and reflection is what happens when a person really thinks about not just what happened to them that day but how it made them feel and why it made them feel that way.
For example, someone might write about their first day of school and what happened that day, but they would also write about how they felt and why, maybe talking about the fears they had or the happiness they felt. Remember a diary is about 30% description and 70% reflection. It should not just be a written history of the things that happen to a person in a day.
During the Dark Ages, as you now know, life was very difficult, pretty boring and largely unfair. People were either part of the older barbarian tribes who lived for war, raiding and attacking others or they were ruled by strict lords who had total power over them. Most poor people did not get pay, had very poor food and were not even allowed to leave their Lord. The Dark Ages was a Dark time.
One of the strongest kingdoms in France was ruled by people who invaded the old Roman Empire, they were know as the Franks. This is where we get the modern name for France. They were ruled by a powerful dynasty or ruling family line that passed down from father to son. The name of this dynasty was the Merovingian Dynasty. They had ruled the Franks for around 250 years after the fall of Rome.
However, over 250 years they had become like the Old Roman Empire. Their army weakened, they became poor, when a father died all his sons were given lands and many of these brothers fought amongst themselves to claim power for their own. Gradually, the real power in the Kingdom of the France fell into the hands of the Mayor of the Palace. This man was an important adviser to the king.
When Pepin died, he split the kingdom in half between his sons Charlemagne and Carloman. Normally, like the Merovingian Dynasty, they would likely have fought each other to become the sole ruler. However, Charlemagne was lucky because his brother died and left him in sole control of one of the strongest kingdoms in France.
He ruled from his kingdom in Aachen - a city on the border of France and Germany. When he took power, the Dark Ages began to end, by his death, Europe entered the "Middle Ages" or medieval times.
The Mayor of the Palace was known as Pepin the Short - because he was so little and he wanted power. He actually already had the power of the king since the princes of the old king were fighting each other. So he contacted the Pope - the leader of the main religion in Europe. The Pope had the power to make a person a king or emperor so when Pepin contacted him to say the Frankish Kingdom was falling apart he agreed to name Pepin King. Charlemagne was one of Pepin's sons.
Charlemagne is a French-Latin name that means "Charles the Great". He is remembered as possibly the most famous French king in history, he was later made a saint - a holy figure - and his armor and weapons were said to be magical. They were buried with him when he died in Aachen. Here are his top ten achievements.
1 - Charlemagne is often known as the "Father of Europe" because he spent much of his life conquering France, Northern Italy, Northern Spain, much of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. He united these lands and was crowned as the "Holy Roman Emperor" by the Pope. So he took the title of the old Roman Emperors.
2 - Charlemagne spread his own religious beliefs when he took these areas. So the most important religion in Europe - Christianity - existed largely because he supported it. He made the Pope's fabulously wealthy because everyone had to pay part of their wealth to the Church.
3 - Charlemagne began what was known as the Carolingian Renaissance. Carolingian refers to his family dynasty and "renaissance" means "rebirth" or to be born again. He encouraged and supported scholars, teachers, artists, writers, craftsmen, builders, sculptors and all manner of arts, medicine and science. He is known as the father of western civilization for this reason.
5 - Charlemagne lived for a long time, so he was able to keep his empire together without it breaking into small pieces. He made central laws again and wrote rules for the protection of the poor.
4 - Charlemagne made his own currency or coins to replace all of the old coins that were of little worth. Europe became wealthy again.
Using the sheet provided, circle the words in the list. They are hidden within the jumble of words and can be spelled out up, down, diagonally or even backwards! The student who completes this first will win a pack of Hi-Chews. They may choose the flavor.
With Charlemagne, Europe also experienced a "renaissance" - a word which means "rebirth". He wanted to make Europe a center for culture and learning once again. This took different forms.
In what would be the first of several "rebirths", the Carolingian Dynasty gave money to scientists, doctors and the Christian Church. They also paid lots of money for education, healthcare and especially art. This last focus caused the beginning of much of Europe's "Gothic" artwork like Stained Glass Windows:
This art focus on windows culminated in the Great Cathedral of Paris: Notre-Dame in the mid-1100s and its famous, huge stained glass windows.
We are now going to make our own stained glass windows!