Middle+Ages+Artifacts


 * [[image:http://www.ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Images/DBImages/6670/667028w.jpg align="top" caption="Title: Medieval homage to French king"]] || [[image:http://www.ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Images/DBImages/7144/714411w.jpg align="top" caption="Title: Viking ship's carved figurehead"]] || [[image:http://www.ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Images/DBImages/9343/934372w.jpg align="top" caption="Title: 13th-century joust from the Codex Manesse"]] ||
 * In Medieval Times, monks prayed and worshiped, peasants worked, and monarchs ruled over everyone else. In this painting, a monk and a peasant are following a Saint named Joachim to the gates of Jerusalem. The monks and nuns of Medieval towns lived in Monasteries, where they prayed several times each day. These monks and nuns followed Benedictine Rule, which was a set of laws created by a monk named Benedict. These laws forced monks to stay pure, preach to the poor, and to obey their abbot, or master, of the monastery. Peasants followed the laws that the kings and queens made, and they harvested all of the crops. Also, some peasants sold or made items, and some were serfs, which meant that they were bound to the king’s manor. Peasants were the lowest of the low during Medieval Times, and monks were in the middle class of society. Peasants also had the least amount of money in the town, so alot of their families were usually very poor. A Saint is an honored and holy person who has done something to become famous even after life. Saint Joachim was the grandfather of Jesus, but he was not alive at this time because Jesus had died almost 1400 years before, so the artist added him into the painting. || After Charlemagne’s reign, there was no heir to his thrown, so the Holy Roman Empire was now in turmoil to find a new emperor to rule. This was the perfect chance for vikings to sail over to Europe and cause trouble because everyone was occupied with choosing a new king. Vikings were Scandanavians who plundered different countries and settled all over the world. They were kind of like pirates. They traveled on boats called longships, which were powered by oars and rowers. The shallow structure of the ship allowed a longship to sail onto beaches, which was effective during raids because the boat would not be in water. Usually, the vikings terrorized abbeys, monasteries, and churches because they didn’t have many defenses to hold back attackers. Most vikings wore chain mail as armor, with matching helmets. They fought with a sword and wooden shield, and sometimes an axe, which could even have two blades on it. These vikings were ruthless and powerful killers, and during a battle they fought with ferocity until end. The vikings followed no one’s rules, and didn’t usually stay at one country for to long. Vikings collected many unique and valuable items through theft and thievery, which they then traded to merchants for alot of money. || This painting depicts a jousting tournament with two knights facing each other. Tournaments helped knights train for battles, hone their skills, earn lots of money, and entertain a large audience. They could also win fiefs, which are pieces of land. Winners of tournaments always received awesome prizes, but the losers sometimes had to give up their horse, pay the winner, and receive humiliation from the crowd. In battle, knights were supposed to follow chivalry. Chivalry is kind of like a code of conduct which acquired knights to be kind to women, treat other knights with honor, be brave in the face of war, and to not be a sore loser when they are defeated in battle. Knights were used by the Princes and Kings, which meant that they could tell the knights to do anything that they wanted. In the Middle Ages, there was a lower, middle, and upper class, but knights did not fit into one of these categories. ||
 * Di Banco, Maso. //Medieval Monk and Peasant//. N.d. //ABC -CLIO: World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. . || //Viking Ship’s Carved Figurehead//. Medieval Times. //ABC -CLIO: World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. . || Von Klingen, Walther, Herr. //13th-century joust from the Codex Manesse//. 1305-1340. Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. //ABC-CLIO: World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras//. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. . ||