Feb.17 Learning Blog Post

Today we watched the rest of the video " The Middle Ages". In the video, they explained the farming and craftmanship durin the High Middle Ages. There was a surplus of food during that period of time, thus lead to trade and craftmanship not only for noblemen, but for peasants as well. There was little strife during this period of time, however it was to not last long. In the Late Middle Ages there was a second Ice Age. Due to this unnatural occurence in weather, the crops failed, and the people dwindled significantly. Although this was not the main strife that took place during this time, it was still considered to be one of the worst. The Black Death as we know today took place after the Ice Age, taking the lives of the weakened humanity after the loss of crops. Scientists say the cause of the Black Death was due to the rats and fleas, which before only affected Northern Europe (England) traveled to other places aroung Europe due to trade that was open after The Holy Crusade. The Plague took the lives of 1/3 ~ 1/2 of the people in Europe during the time. The people believed God was punishing the people of the sins commited during this period of time. Many people pleaded mercy from God by directly consulting with the Archbishop and High Priests. Little did they know even the revered communicators of God were helpless. This changed the way of how people thought from then on. Later we answered some of the discussion questions also found in the video. We skipped the first question " Charlemagne monologue. If you were Charlemagne, how would you talk about the accomplishments he did?" Second question " Why was Saladin considered "true chivalry" by Richard?" Saladin sent 2 of his own horses over to the opposing side (Christian side) since Richard lost his horse. Saladin did not wish for Richard to fight dishonourably because of the lack of horses. Although Christianity won that battle, Richard respects Saladin for his Chivalry. Third question "How did The Crusade inherently contradict the way Christians believed?" We connected this question with the book " There will be Wolves". The Crusade was believed to be holy, even with the murders commited by Christians during The Crusade. In the Ten Commandments, they say " Thou shalt not kill". People simply joined the Crusade for the chance of ascending to Heaven rather than their belief in God. Fourth question " How did the surplus of crops lead to craftmanship?" The surplus of food help rise the population, which meant more work was being completed in a shorter amount of time. The extra time when normally people would be working led to arts and craftmanship as well as trade open for all the people. Fifth question " How did the Black Death change the way people believed back then?" The Black Death killed all the people, including the Priests and Archbishops, which made the people to believe the ones closest to God were not spared, thus they were equal to the rest of the people. I may have missed a question. Please take note of this. After the video, we went over making a web. The teacher wanted us to be specific when describing a certain something. We created a web with the main idea as Surrey and asked to come up with some ideas people might want to know about the main idea (Surrey). Ms.Lees wanted us, the students to understand events happening in the Midde Ages to get a clearer understanding of the book "There will be Wolves". We connected some of the video with the events happening in the book. If we had a clearer understanding of the book, there will not be much questions about the events happening in the book. We can also have a better image of how and why people acted that certain way rather than another. We went over the expectations of a good web and a bad web. Ms.Lees wanted us to know the criteria when making a web, so that the webs we make will be good ones people can understand. Tips While answering questions, you could ask yourself why did someone do this for a more thorough answer. While making webs, try to pick out the large ideas inside of the main idea, then narrow it down to make it clear for the readers. You could also use symbols to represent the main idea, large ideas about the main idea, then details about the large idea. Use different symbols for each category to prevent confusion. Homework I don't think there was any homework, but I may be wrong Facts about the Black Death "Ring Around the Rosy" was a nursery rhyme based off of the Black Death Ring around the rosy- represents the first symptoms that appear, which are the spots to prove you have the diesease. Pockets full of posy- Posy is an actual flower with a strong fragrance to cover the smell of death Ashes, ashes- the burnt remains of bodies that have fell prey to the plague We all fall down- we all drop dead.