Health and Medicine

In the middle ages, the medicines are not really healthy for the people who live there and the ones who got sick. The medicine was not very scientific and many patients suffered and died at the end, the people had no idea about germs in middle ages. If you had a nose bleed, they will think that you had too much blood and they are trying to escape from your nose. Many peasants didn’t see a doctor because it’s too expensive so they go to apothecary or a wise woman for a natural medicine. Surgeons are the ones who performed a surgery in middle ages, usually people died after doing this.  After he did the surgery, he took the bandage and wrapped it around a pole to show the people that he did a surgery. Moreover the Muslims people discover new ideas and help to cure the sick by using Koran, their holy book. 

Crime and Punishment

The punishments in the Middle Ages were so brutal and violent because they have no ideas of human rights, in feudal system the peasants are on the bottom last so they have no rights and its unequal. There are violent people around everywhere like knights and kings. They are powerful and they can do anything to you if you break or obeying rules. As many people believe in god, when people break the god’s rule then they will get punishments for it.

Crusades

The crusades were important to Christians because they fight with Muslim to own the Jerusalem. In 1905, Jerusalem was a holy land for all the three religions. The Wailing or Western Wall is the last remaining part of King Herod’s temple and is a site of pilgrimage for Jews, The Dome of the Rock Mosque is built on site where Muslims believe that they Prophet Mohammed rose up and visited heaven and lastly The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the site where Christians believe that Jesus was buried.  Because the Muslims are controlling the land, the Christians are trying to fight for the land so they can own them.

The First Crusade

Date: Around 1096-1097

Leader: Robert of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror

Difficulties

Because of the long journey, half of 3000 noblemen and knights from Europe died because of disease, baking heat, ferocious battles, the Muslim had poisoned the water holes outside so they ran out of food and they died.

During the battle

They hooks were catapulted onto the city walls, enormous battering rams smashed into the gates, the Muslims threw pots over the walls to their attackers.

After the winning

The Christians stole some things in the Dome of the Rock Mosque and murdered about 70,000 muslims including woman and kids. 

Castle Report

To my dear King William, I am writing to tell you that the enemy has launched a large attack using the ballista to kill all of us. Our castle, weapons, food will be destroyed and we will then be homeless. Even though our door is quite strong, they can still attack us by using battering ram to knock off the door.

I have decided that our first move should be by using the fire arrows to kill the enemy or maybe we throw the hot oil to attack them. This thing will make them feel suffer and some of them will then stop attacking us.

After that it will be necessary to might use of the people. For killing them using the sword. The moat also helps us so they won’t cross it. We can push them into the well. And again we attack them with hot oil and last but not least we kill them all.

I believe that we will win! The victory will be ours. We used a lot of weapons that we kept in the armoury. Some of our people died. 

Medieval Religion

The medieval church controlled the people by ordering them go to go to ask for forgiveness for their sins. They also tell them if they don’t follow the church’s rule then they will go to hell. People had to pay for the tithe, was one tenth of all new born animals ad on tenth of crops harvested. The church are really rich, owning everything. 

Knights

To become a knight you must be a page boy (7 years old) and on the age 14 squire boy leaning to use weapons, to ride a horse, wrestle, swim, fit, fight and hunt. In the knighthood ceremony the first step is shower to take wash the sins away and then get dressed. Later must fast for 24 hours and praying to promise to be loyal, brave, help poor people. Then sword blessed by priest and king strikes. Chivalry means horsemanship and I think they are still exists because people riding horses and racing still in life nowadays. 

Town Life

Living in town is way worst living in village. The town was dirty, smells, disgusting. People throw rubbish everywhere; animals poop on the street and people was all crowded. High shoes help them to keep them away from the mud. There are a few jobs such as a chainmail maker, fuller, tanner and barber surgeon that cut people hair and amputator (someone who cuts off wounded or diseased limbs to save the rest of the body from infection.)

Village Life

Manor is castle or large manor house, a village and the land around it. The peasants live in a house that was built using animal dug, polluted water and mud. They build a wooden frame with timber and fill the spaces with wattle, the woven twigs and fill it. Fill these spaces with daub, slap it onto the wall and smudge it. Mix the animals blood with daub again, put it on the floor and do same thing to the wall. Make a thatched floor for the house which was made of bundles of reeds tied down to rafters. A rafter is the same of the roof. Make a wood frame and fill with gaps with twigs. For the window just make a hole and cover it with curtain.

Attacking/Defending A Castle

If I wanted to attack a castle, I will use a battering ram to knock the door down so that I could get in there and attack them. When the people attack me, I will then use arrows to attack them and maybe if I wanted to trick them, I will then dug the ground and appear on the other side (around then inside of the castle). I would also use my ballista by throwing stones or dead people to attack their castle.

In Middle Ages, people fought to own the land. The attackers use a battering ram to knock the door down so that they could get in there and attack them. They used fire arrows to attack. Ballista is also a useful weapon, they used to this by throwing a dead disease people or a stones to destroy the castle. 

The Feudal System

King owned all the land. He gave large estates to his friends and relatives included houses, barns, tools, animals, serfs or peasants. The England was too large for him to manage himself so he uses a system of sharing out the land. The king still owned it but he could lend large areas of land to people in return for their loyalty. Most of the people he lent the land to had helped him in the battle of Hastings. He was rewarding them for helping him. “Feudal” is the Latin word for “land,” so because the system was based on land, it became known as the Feudal System.

Knight: The vassal usually served as a knight. This service lasted about 40 to 60 days a year. If they actually had to fight in a war they usually did so for two months. If there was no war the knights did 40 days of training at the castle.

Villeins: They could never leave the lord’s land had to pay for everything. They paid to use the lord’s mill, oven, brew house, when their son was born and when their children get married. Some villeins ran away, but their families were fined if they did. If the villeins were caught, they would be punished. If they are lucky and avoid capture for a year and a day, then they would be freeman. And the other way of becoming a freeman was to ask the lord if you could buy your freedom. 

How Did Castle Change Over Time

In 1066 the first castle was built by William and it was called “Motte and Bailey Castle.” The castle was made out of wood. The advantages are that it was really easy and quick to build this castle. But sadly the disadvantages are because the castle was made out of wood it could easily be burn and rot. The “motte” could collapsed because of the weight of the castle is too heavy.

In 1087 the Normans built something else to make the castle stronger. It was called “Square Keep Castle.” They were made of stone and it was really tall. They actually took more time building this because its way larger than motte and bailey, lasted a long time. The disadvantages about this building are that it was hard to know if people attacking you surprisingly.

The people then kept on build a building to make the castle safer, they then built a building called “Shell Keep Castle.” They were really strong that it took a long time to built and it was made out of stone, they were made on top of a motte. The building had a weak gateway which you could attack easily and there are heavy stone castle on top, it could collapse the motte underneath it.

The latest castle to be built was called “Concentric Castle.” It was built in 1277. It was the strongest and biggest castles so it took a long time to build it. It had thick walls out and in to make it hard to attack. It has a lot of space inside for food and man to stay in.