Feudalistic and Manor System

Feudal was a system used in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was introduced while William the I was the on reign. the time it was broadly introduced were the 900's. It came out to be a very successful and effective system used.  Feudalism  is when the nobles owned more land then the kings, and they lent land vassals. Therefore, this system benefited more for the nobles, but the poor peasants and kings had less land, and Wilkes profited. The King was in control of the feudal system. He owned land and he decided who he would give a piece of land and how much.  

King Henry VIII

King Henry the 8^th of England like many other rulers was strong and powerful. He was born year 1491 in England, and died year 1547. Henry was crowned Prince of Wales after the death of his older brother Arthur, Prince of Wales. Because of his death Pope Julius ordered Henry to marry his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon. But Catherine of Aragon was just one of six of his wives. The significance of Henry's reign is, at times, overshadowed by his six marriages. His reign started at his age of 17 year 28^th of June 1509. He avoided governing in person, he liked to journey the countryside and hunt, although many people found him strong as a ruler, but it seems as if he is very much different than people thought. Henry VIII built upon the innovations instituted and un-completed by his father, this was a big step for the young king, and he was thanked and trusted after building upon his father’s ruins. He made different military decisions which he used to become as head of Christian Church. In his early life he was a devout Catholic given the title 'Defender of the Faith' by the Pope. Following his liaison with Anne Boleyn he then changed to the Protestant religion, dissolved all the monasteries in Britain and established the Church of England. 

Charlemagne 

Charlemagne is believed to have been born about the year 742, and is said to be of German blood. He became one of the most powerful Kings of the Franks. He became the King of the Franks in what is believed 768. Though to have died in year 814. King Pepin was his father. Charlemgne was a successful ruler, and his territory covered, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, modern France, and large areas of Germany. He conquered the largest amount of land in the history of Western Europe. 14 years before Charlemgnes death he was crowned as emperor of Roman people, by a Christian pope. He demanded education when crowned the empror including his daughters and sons, he brought this out as a nessecity. Charlemagne codified laws, and fostered scholarship by theologians. He protected the Church, and especially the popes. He made large numbers of his conquered enemies convert from paganism to Christianity. He fostered the arts and architecture. He stabilized currency in the Roman Empire, and he brought in the silver coin which is sill used today in Modern Rome. 

Crusaders

The crusades were a group of people that carried crosses on their shields, representing their religion Christianity. Their main goal was to fight back and earn their territory, the holy land, located in Jerusalem. This place was sacred for the Christians because they were told Jesus was raised there, and that is where he started his main teachings. They fought for their religion, and the Holy Land. Since they were traveling to Jerusalem, the Holy Land, which was considered sacred by the religions of Christianity, Muslims, and Jews. All these people that would travel to a sacred place including the crusaders, are called pilgrims, they are people that travel to sacred places.
Jerusalem was once controlled by the Arab Muslims that actually welcomed the Christians, but then in the 1000’s the Turks took over.
Not long after that a war broke out. Between the Crusaders (Christians) and the Seljuk Turks (Muslim). The war was started by a Christian Pope; he mainly wanted to fight for their rights to enter Jerusalem. He wanted his pilgrims to visit other religious sites as well. But he had another reason in mind the reason that the Crusaders may unite the Europeans against enemies, (Turks), as well as gain power and prestige for himself and the Church. . Coming from the Holy Land, the crusaders brought some goods with them. mainly rugs, jewelry, glass, and different spices. This helped there trade, in there regions. Thanks to the goods they took back to them it helped them grow there cities and towns, because of the money and power they collected fighting, and trading with the Holy Land. Returning Crusaders opened new ideas for people, and technology back to Europe. This is when the Middle Ages started, the Crusaders basically improved on everything they had at the time including, medicine, mathematics, and technology. They increased there knowledge! After coming back they built more efficient boats, and some became worldwide explorers!

Renaissance fair reflection:

To be honest not only did I have fun but I also learned a lot from this experience. It taught me how these people lived, what they strived for, they artworks, machinery, music and there literature. We were trying to create the same atmosphere people lived in years ago, but today. We tried our best to show something’s that people used to do and there style of living. I think it’s important to realize how we grew and how we developed from the beginning of middle ages to today, before we only had one music classical, now as it flourished by years people grew and they created new things as time went by. It’s beautiful to see how mankind grows. How we developed and advanced. We have so much today that benefited from what happened during the Middle Ages, and really the middle ages are the people we should thank for bringing us to the world we have today. All the ideas and all the thoughts people had they created their bases for us, we have just advanced there, machinery and projects.
I enjoyed the renaissance a lot. I had many laughs. I love experiencing these fairs with my friends, and having our parents as audiences. I love the variety. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to do one thing, we all got a chance to do a little of everything, playing recorder, reciting Shakespeare, dancing, making Leonardo de Vinci machines, drawing and coloring artworks made during the middle ages. I never before had the chance to have such an experience. I also liked the fact that we could have our family as an audience, and we had their full support. As students we really enjoyed the faire. We could barely wait fo that day, for example on the CEESA trip to Budapest, a couple of us girls and boys from 8^th grade all studied our lines together, and practiced them, later we all played our recorders; we had fun and I think that’s what mattered as well as what we were taught. This was a nice introduction to a new unit I must admit, we had a nice base of what happened and how everything worked during the Middle Ages and now slowly but surely were getting into the details of the Middle ages. Thanks to the teachers that have organized this wonderful experience!