GOOD BYE MR. SCHICK

DEAR MR. SCHICK,
                 You're class was totally amazing and a lot of fun. It was great getting to know you. You are one funny guy. I'll miss you a lot if I don't have you next year! Have a great summer!

THE IRON PLOW WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!!

                                                               Lots of love,

                                                                          Tona (a.k.a - Toner)

Feudalism Vocab

Today in class, we searched for some vocab words to help get ready for the Feudalism test on Tuesday and to help a little with the exam.

1. Feudalism - a system use in Medieval Europe that thrived from the 19th to 15th century.
2. Feudal compact - an arrangement between a lord and his vassal involving exchange of property for personal service.
3. Fief - a grant of land and accompanying government responsibilities and power.
4. Vassal - a warrior in exchange for secure possession of land.
5. Knight - a man who served a sovereign or lord in exchange for land.
6. Homage - a vassal's act of promising loyalty and obedience to his lord.
7. Serf - laborers, often farmers and lower class people.
8. Baron - a great lord who exercised government authority over vast family territory.
9. Peasantry - those who farmed the land that was owned by a higher class.
10. Estates - in the Middle Ages, the groups that made up society: often defined as those who pray, those who fight, and those who work.
11. Manor - the principal farming property and social unit of a Medieval community, usually belonging to a member of the feudal nobility or a Church Institution.
12. Three field system - a method of crop rotation designed to maintain the fertility of the soil and to provide for a regular supply of fall and spring crops.
13. Internal colonization - the process of cultivating and settling in formerly wild land in medieval Europe.
14. Suburb - land outside the city walls.
15. Guild - an organization of merchants or craftspeople who regulated the activities of their members and set standards and prices.
16. Master - a craftsmen who had the right to operate workshops, train others, and vote on guild business.
17. Journeymen - a licensed artisan who had served an apprenticeship and who was employed by a master and paid at a fixed rate per day.
18. Apprentice - a "learner" in the shop of a master.
19. Masterpiece - 
20. Water mill - 
21. Iron plow -

Missed School Today

Today I missed school, so I missed western civilization class today. "Why did I miss school?" you ask. Well, I woke up this morning and I felt very queezy and I felt like I wouldn't make it through the day, so I simply stayed home. I just hope I didn't miss anything really, really important.

Feudalism

• The Feudal Compact 

• Feudalism is a term used by historians to describe the governmental system and the relationships between landowners and warriors. 

• Warriors, known as knights, would pledge his allegiance to a lord, who would in turn give that knight some land. 

• The lord would grant a fief (property) to the knight, who would then become the lord's vassal (servant)--this was called the "feudal compact." 

• The vassal must fight for the lord when he needs it and attends his court once a month.

• Homage and Knighthood 

• A vassal was required to pay homage to his lord, usually this meant kneeling down, taking the lord's hand, and speaking an oath of loyalty. 

• Men were apprenticed to older knights before they could become a full knight themselves. 

• When a knight died, his fief would revert to his son, though his lord would be protector of that son if he was underage, or if it was a daughter.

• The Feudalism of the Church 

• Church land was bound up in feudalism like most other land. 

• Some clergy were known to fight as knights themselves. 

• By the 11th century, most clergy assigned fiefs to vassals who fought on their behalf.

• Feudal States 

• Barons were loads of large territories who usually paid homage to a king. 

• Often a baron's army could outnumber that of king, which kept a check on the king's power. 

• The divine right of the king gave him power over his vassals, no matter how much land they had. 

• In countries like France and England, the kings built up enough land and power to rule effectively over their barons. 

• In the case of France, the kings of England were vassals of French king, their first included Gascony, Aquitaine and Normandy.

• The Manorial Estate 

• Medieval society was divided into three estates 

• The clergy 

• The nobility 

• The common people 

• Usually the peasantry farmed on large plantations known as "manors" which were owned by a lord or lady of the nobility (or a member of the clergy) 

• Iron plows and water-powered grinding mills helped with agricultural production, but the yield was still miniscule by today's standard. 

• To maintain the health of the soil, the "three-field system" was used where two fields were planted (one in fall, one in spring, and one field was left to reconstitute its fertility--then they were rotated. 

• Villages sprung up on and around manors with small cottages for the peasants and a large manor house for the lord and lady.

• The People of the Manor 

• The lord oversaw major agricultural issues but delegated everyday overseeing to his stewards or bailiffs. 

• The lady of the house ran household operations, oversaw servants, entertained guests and ran the manor when her husband was away. 

• Most peasants were serfs, meaning they were bound to the land and to their lords for "labor service" a few days each week.

• The Location and Appearance of Towns 

• Most medieval towns were surrounded by walls. 

• Residences also sprang up outside the walls in the suburbs. 

• Towns were dominated by a main church and a central marketplace. 

• Buildings for the craft guilds and the wealthiest families would also be in the center of the town.

• The Life of the Townspeople 

• Though townspeople were free, unlike serfs, they still had a hierarchy: merchants at the top, then skilled craftsmen and artisans, then unskilled laborers and apprentices. 

• The Guilds 

• Merchants, craftsmen and artisans formed their own groups called guilds which regulated their trade and protected it merchants 

• Craftsmen were classified as masters, journeymen, and apprentices 

• Once became a master after spending years learning as an apprentice, working as a paid journeyman for a number of years, and completing his "masterpiece." 

• Guilds participated in religious feasts and festivals, social organizations and usually provided weld for charities.

Absent Kids Take A Pop Quiz

Today in class, we--well I really shouldn't say we, but the absent kids--had to take a quiz on the barbarian people. But the sad part is, they never even learned this stuff. I wonder how difficult this was for them. Who knows but them, right? After they took the pop quiz, Mr. Schick gave us our Rome III tests back. I wasn't sure what I got at first, but apparently, I did well, because I got a ding from the bell. My actual grade was a 86, but since Mr. Schick bumped everyone's grade 4 points, I got a 90. YAY!! I actually only got 3 and a half wrong on this test. The questions I got wrong were:

1. What years did the Pax Romana begin and end?--27BC to 180AD
2. Around 300 AD, how many people lived in the Roman Empire?--60 million
3. Constantine ordered the capital of the Roman Empire to be moved from Rome to another city, which was eventually named Constantinople. What was the name of this city before it was renamed?--Byzantium, which was later named Constantinople, which is current day Istanbul
4. What was the purpose of the Edict of Milan?--Freedom to worship for all religions

Pop Quiz and After Rome

Today in class, we started off with a pop quiz. This pop quiz was about the barbaric tribes that took over.

After Rome: 500-700

The Germanic Barbarians
- Barbarians warlords and their families who assimilated into Roman culture became to "nobles" or aristocrats of medieval Europe.
- Germanic tribes who rules former Roman lands sought to conquer and assimilate other barbarian peoples who lived beyond the frontiers and were still pagans.

More On Germanic Kingdoms
- The Angles and the Saxons (from Denmark) invaded Britain and assimilated the Britons.
- Most of the Anglo Saxons where converted to Christianity in the seventh century.
- The most powerful Germanic tribe was the Franks.
- But the real power lay with the "mayors of the palace" who were royal officials and nobles themselves.

Back In Eastern Europe
     From "Eastern Empire" to "Byzantium"
       - The Easter Roman Empire continued on while the west was now divided up by barbarians
       - When the emperor Justinian came to power in 527, he decided to reunite the entire Roman Empire by re-conquering the western territories
       - Justinian succeeded for a time, but the land he re-took was soon conquered by new barbarian tribes and a massive plague depopulated much of the west.

Christian Empire
- Greek Byzantine emperors saw themselves as Roman emperors and the heads of the Church.
- Byzantines preserved Greco-Roman art, architecture, philosophy and writing despite much of it being non-Christian.
- Justinian built the massive domed Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom") in Constantinople, considered to be the most glorious church on earth at the time.
- Third version finished in 537, the Cathedral of Hagia Sophia, Justinian' cathedral, was later a mosque and is now a museum.

Rome Fades Away

Today in western civilization, we started a new section and took some notes. Here is what I took:

• Two Emperors
• Diocletian:
• ruled from 284 - 303
• its okay to persecute Christians
• Constantine:
• ruled from 306 - 337
• it's acceptable to be a Christian
• converted into Christianity
• 313 - Edict of Milan
• built a new capital in the East
• Byzantium, soon called Constantinople
• Peasant struggle
• Life in the fourth century
• country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
• new farming system : peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
• peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by landlords
• paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work
• sort of like a loan
• landowners hold local power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
• foreshadowing feudalism
• Western Empire Crumbles
• Rome's power is decreasing, while barbarians gain more
• Western Empire is too poor and begins to be neglected
• Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
• Visigoths take over Spain and capture and loot Rome itself in 410
• Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean
• The other barbarian tribes:
• Ostrogoths in Italy
• Franks in Gaul
• Angles and Saxon in Britain
• INVASIONS
• Invasions of the Roman Empire : 100 - 800
• The End of An Era
• from the beginnings:
• 500 BC - the monarchy is abolished
• 450 BC - the Twelve Tables are established
• through the glory days:
• 44 BC - end of the line for Julius Caesar
• 27 BC - 180 AD - Pax Romana
• to the end:
• constant fifth invasions by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattered and crumbling
• the last emperor was a teenager in 475 who was installed by his father
• barbarians deposed Romulus Augustulus without bothering to kill him

After taking down notes, Mr. Schick gave us an assignment where we have to look farther in the barbarian tribes.

Who were the Huns?

• The Huns started the Great Migration
• They appeared in Europe in the 4th century
• The Huns were nomadic, war-people, and were from the Grass Lands of North Central Asia (above China)

Who were the Visgoths?

• They lived on the Delta of the Danube River

And that was all we got up to before the bell rang.