All Things Beautiful: Medieval Europe

Showing posts with label Medieval Europe. Show all posts

Early Middle Ages: The Byzantine Empire (476-1453)

source

Justinian has been named the last Roman and the first Byzantine emperor. His reign was significant as a turning point between the old and new regimes.

Lesson Plan:

Read a history spine, such as Kingfisher History Encyclopedia p. 100-101. Make notes of key words as you read. Write a few sentences about what you have learned in your history notebook. Another option is to use the Medieval History Portfolio, Homeschool Journey.
Color and label an appropriate map such as the one from History Odyssey, Pandia Press, Level 2 (5th-8th grade).
Mark significant dates on your timeline.
Optional: Make a mosaic. Some ideas for projects can be found at Glittering Shards: Mosaic Hanging Decorations...Artful Discoveries, Dick Blick, Byzantine Medallions

Quentin's map, age 10

On Map 1 from the free sample at History Odyssey, Level one, “The Byzantine Empire,” they colored the area of the Byzantine Empire at the start of Justinian’s reign and the lands won by Justinian and completed the map key. We looked at this in comparison to the area the Goths had their kingdom.

Older students can label the major bodies of water (Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean) and countries (Spain, Greece, and Italy) or even the major land-forms such as mountains, deserts and plateaus.

Byzantine Mosaics, 2010

We looked at why Justinian wanted to drive the Ostrogoths out of Italy.
We compared and contrasted the Code of Justinian from the Roman laws.
Justinian is known in history as Justinian the Great. We talked about why this was so and whether he deserves the title.

We looked at Byzantine art.

The wealthy Byzantine Empire had a huge

influence on personal ornamentation. There

were many gold mines within its borders, and

the location of its capital, Constantinople,

was perfect for trade between East and

West. Characterized by extensive

iconography, Byzantine jewelry was

often an outward symbol of faith.

Badges, pendants and medallions were

widely produced to denote a person’s

office or rank.-Dick Blick

We made mosaics using mosaic tiles, tile adhesive and a old CD case.

sources and resources:

The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History, pages 202-203.
A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer, Chapter 42: New Places – New Heroes.
Story of the World, Volume 2: The Middle Ages by Susan Wise Bauer, Chapter 4: The Byzantine Empire.
The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
History Odyssey, Pandia Press, Level 1 (1-4th grade), Level 2 (5th-8th grade or Level 3 (9th-12th grade): Map 1, “The Byzantine Empire,”
Medieval History Portfolio, Homeschool Journey
Glittering Shards: Mosaic Hanging Decorations...
Artful Discoveries
Dick Blick, Byzantine Medallions

Medieval Literature, part 4: Brittany, Marie de France and Bisclavret

Previous post: Spanish Literature and Le Cid.

Marie de France from an illuminated manuscript

Since I'm making lais, Bisclavret

Is one I don't want to forget.

In Breton, "Bisclavret"'s the name;

"Garwolf" in Norman means the same.

Long ago you heard the tale told--

And it used to happen, in days of old--

Quite a few men became garwolves,

And set up housekeeping in the woods.

A garwolf is a savage beast,

While the fury's on it, at least:

Eats men, wreaks evil, does no good,

Living and roaming in the deep wood.

Now I'll leave this topic set.

I want to tell you about Bisclavret. -translation of Bisclavret

Bisclavret, or The Werewolf is one of the twelve Lais of Marie de France written in the 12th century. Originally written in French, it tells the story of a werewolf who is trapped in lupine form by the treachery of his wife. The tale is thought to be referenced in Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. Marie de France heard them performed in the Breton (of Brittany) language and translated this lay, as well as the eleven others. The Duchy of Brittany was a medieval tribal and feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of Europe. A lay is a lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance. Marie de France is known for using a marvel as a plot device. A marvel is a strange, exotic, sometimes magical, element upon which the story hinges.

We read this translation, which I found free online, which is simple enough for the younger readers. Older readers may prefer to read from Robert Hanning's translation, The Lais of Marie de France. Both abandon the original's octosyllabic couplets for free verse so that the brevity and simplicity of the verse are preserved.

sources:

I used this study years ago with my daughter, who graduated a few years ago. Because of this, I am not sure if I made this unit up entirely myself or if I found some of it on the internet. If you know if any of this has come from a source I have not credited, please let me know, and I will make the appropriate corrections.

Our next lesson will be about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Medieval Literature, part 3; Spanish Literature and The Cid

Previous post: The Norman Conquest and Middle English.

City of Toledo, Spain

Early Beginnings

Under the Moors, Spain became a cultural center, where Arab, Hebrew and Christian scholars translated important words of Islamic and ancient Greek culture into Latin. Most were not literature, however, but were math and science related. With the Christian reconquest of the peninsula began in the 11th Century, Alfonso VI, the king of Castile, a descendant of the Visigoths, captured the city of Toledo, Spain and the Spanish dialects of northern Spain became dominant. These dialects slowly replaced Arabic and Mozarabic, a Romance language with many Arabic words, as spoken languages. Writing in these dialects became standard during the 12th and 13th century. The works of this time period were varied according to status and social structure. Uneducated but highly entertaining bards sang stories of the Christian heroes. Scholars wrote and translated works of monarchs. The monks, clerics and priests composed poetry about the natural and spiritual world.

The first works were jarchas, first appearing as short stanzas at the end of a muwassaha, a kind of poem written in the second half of the 11th century in Arabic and Hebrew.

The Earliest Spanish Literature: Love Poems and Songs

The first works that could be considered truly Spanish were the jarchas written in dialects as the reconquest spread. These were most often from the point of view of a woman in love who seeks solace and advise and later developed into love songs in the oral tradition of the 12-early 14th centuries.

The Troubadour Style and the Epic

The first great works of Spanish oral tradition were composed by troubadours, medieval poets who sand for the people in the village squares and for the nobility in castles and royal courts. They flourished as a result of pilgrimages to the burial place of Saint James, the patron saint of Christian Spain. The troubadours entertained the pilgrims with songs and long narrative poems called epics, which were about the deeds of Christian heroes. Most were 12-16 syllables long with a caesura (pause) in the middle. The rhyme scheme was one in which the last accented vowel in a line, and any vowels after it in that line, were repeated in the lines that followed.

The Spanish epic tradition differs from other European epic traditions in its focus on social and political issues. They also lacked the exaggeration, supernatural forces and fantasy that other European works tended to have.

Statue of El Cid
Prince of Valencia

The Cid

One of the most celebrated works in Spanish literature, The Song of the Cid, is a poem in the troubadour style and was composed around 1140. It is about Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (1043–1099), a Castilian nobleman and military leader. He was called El Cid (the Lord) by the Moors and El Campeador (the Champion) by Christians. He is the national hero of Spain. The nearly 4,000 verses describes a lifetime of armed conflict and celebrates steadfast loyalty to family, vassals and king.

We read the version of The Tale of The Cid by Andrew Lang, the author of the colorful Fairy Tale books.

For older students, I suggest The Song of the Cid (Penguin Classics) A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text.

sources:

I used this study years ago with my daughter, who graduated a few years ago. Because of this, I am not sure if I made this unit up entirely myself or if I found some of it on the internet. If you know if any of this has come from a source I have not credited, please let me know, and I will make the appropriate corrections.

Our next lesson will be on Brittany and Bisclavret

Medieval Literature, part 2: The Norman Conquest and Middle English

Previous post: Medieval Art and Literature: Part I: Introduction and Beowulf

The Bayeux Tapestry is perhaps the most famous graphical depiction of the Norman Conquest.

The Norman Conquest

William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, invaded and conquered England and the Anglo-Saxons in 1066. The new overlords spoke a dialect of Old French known as Anglo-Norman. The Normans were also of Germanic stock, with "Norman" coming from "Norsemen," and Anglo-Norman was a French dialect that had considerable Germanic influences in addition to the basic Latin roots.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Latin had been only a minor influence on the English language, mainly through the traces of the Roman occupation and from the conversion of Britain to Christianity in the seventh century that were left, but now there was a whole infusion of Romance words. The split, where words commonly used by the aristocracy have Romantic roots and words frequently used by the Anglo-Saxon commoners have Germanic roots, can be seen in many instances. "Beef", for example, which was commonly eaten by the aristocracy, derives from the Anglo-Norman, while the Anglo-Saxon commoners, who tended the cattle, retained the Germanic word," cow." The Normans also ran the court system, so many legal terms (indict, jury, verdict, for example) have Anglo-Norman roots.

Sometimes the French words replaced Old English words. "Crime" replaced "firen" and "uncle" replaced "eam." for example. Other times, French and Old English components combined to form a new word, such as the French "gentle" and the Germanic "man" came together to form "gentleman". Sometimes both the French and Germanic words survived, making basically synonyms, such as "desire" and "wish".

Comparing Old, Middle and Modern English

It is interesting to see the progression of English from its Old English beginning to our Modern English. Let us look at a familiar passage, first in Old English:

Fæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum;

Si þin nama gehalgod

to becume þin rice

gewurþe ðin willa

on eorðan swa swa on heofonum.

urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us todæg

and forgyf us ure gyltas

swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum

and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge

ac alys us of yfele soþlice

It might be useful for you to hear how this sounded.

We might be able to pick out a few words that are familiar, however the same passage in Middle English, becomes even more recognizable.

Oure fadir that art in heuenes,
halewid be thi name;
thi kyngdoom come to;
be thi wille don, in erthe as in heuene.
Yyue to vs this dai oure breed ouer othir substaunce,
and foryyue to vs oure dettis, as we foryyuen to oure dettouris;
and lede vs not in to temptacioun, but delyuere vs fro yuel. Amen.

And finally, in Early Modern English, from the King James Bible of 1611:

Our father which art in heauen,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdome come.

Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen.

Giue vs this day our daily bread.

And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters.

And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill:

For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer, Amen.

In 124 King John lost the province of Normandy to the King of France This began a process where the Norman nobles of England became increasingly estranged from their French cousins. England became the chief concern of the nobility, rather than their estates in France, and so the nobility adopted a modified English as their native tongue. Between 1349 and 1350, which was about 150 years later, the Black Death killed about one third of the English population, resulting in the laboring and merchant classes growing in economic and social importance, and along with it, English increasing in importance compared to Anglo-Norman. This mixture of the two languages came to be known as Middle English.

The Middle English period came to a close around 1500 with the rise of Modern English.

Chaucer

The most famous example of Middle English is Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. I favor this version of the Canterbury Tales translated and adapted by Barbara Cohen.

For younger children, you can just start with Chanticleer and the Fox, (this verison from Barbara Cooney is wonderful, although a little harder to obtain)which many do not even realize is one of Geoffrey Chaucer's works.

Mystery Plays

The Mystery Plays are groups of plays in English verse dramatizing key Biblical stories from Creation to the Last Judgement. The cycles of plays were usually performed in connection with the new early summer feast of Corpus Christi, and may have developed from the processions held on that day in honor of the Eucharist. They were performed on pageant wagons, the costs of which were borne by the craft guilds, wheeled through the city streets, allowing performance at certain points or stations throughout the town. Different guilds sponsored different plays and the actors were guild members. We read selections from a version of the York Mystery Plays by Oxford World Classics that has modern spelling to make the read a bit easier.

The Song of Roland

The Song of Roland is a heroic poem based on Charlemagne's army fighting the Muslims in Spain. It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature, having enormous and enduring popularity in the 12th to 14th centuries. We read Stories of Roland Told to Children by H E Marshall, which is an excellent introduction to the story for younger students (8 and up).

For older students, this book is interesting because there are two versions in this one book. You will have to look up many now archaic words.

sources:

I used this study years ago with my daughter, who graduated a few years ago. Because of this, I am not sure if I made this unit up entirely myself or if I found some of it on the internet. If you know if any of this has come from a source I have not credited, please let me know, and I will make the appropriate corrections.

Our next lesson will be on Spanish Literature and The Cid.

Medieval Art and Literature: Part I: Introduction and Beowulf

source

Introduction

The Middle Ages is a time in Europe characterized by a marked rise in Christianity in the West, the emergence of a strong papacy, and the rise of monastic orders, barbarian invasions, decentralization of power and the rise of feudalism. This time period is characterized by an extension of literacy to greater number of people, the rise of vernacular language in Middle English, beginnings of Universities, Romanesque and Gothic styles of art. It was a stormy period and much of our modern thought and music has its roots in this period.

Scholars disagree, but many say that the Middle Ages began about the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire and continued up to the Renaissance. Geoffrey Chaucer, who died about 1400, is a literary landmark to the beginning of the close of the Middle Ages

Art

Art in the Middle Ages can be described as delicate, detailed, colorful, religious, symbolic and functional with religious scenes, animal scenes and flower gardens the most popular subject matter. Animal scenes were popular because exploration to the East made tales of strange animal sightings very common. In the cold winter, the Medieval people liked to be reminded of their beautiful flower gardens. Art also depicted pastimes and favorite sports, especially hunting and falconry.

The art of the Middle Ages reflects a new romantic interest that is different from the unsettling war-like interests of earlier literature, like Beowulf. The architecture of the time, Gothic, is first used in ecclesiastical architecture, then on to private estates and castles. The Gothic arches fixed some of the problems with Romanesque architecture with round arches, flying buttresses, high glass windows and pointed arches.

The Artists

The common medieval artist was someone skilled in his or her craft, working and creating things of beauty and functional use. There were many trade guilds, where trade secrets were shared. Because there were no factories, people such as tailors, carpenters, weavers and potters, did their work by hand.

Monasteries were islands of peace of artists. The monks were particularly adept at the creation of books, but they also worked with precious stones and made tiny delicate carvings in ivory. Diptychs and triptychs, hinged pictures, were made so that they could be folded up and carried.

Family crests adorned the weaponry, and the saddles. Cloth work was a favorite of Medieval artists -dyed, stamped, woven, patterns. Velvet was invented during this time. Tapestries were huge and were heavy.

Jewels were also popular, a continuation of Anglo-Saxon ideals.

Music, Books and Entertainment

Music was of extreme importance in the Middle Ages. Minstrels played harps and fiddles, bagpipes and other wind instruments.

In the Middle Ages most books belonged to churches, monasteries or universities. Psalters or Books of Psalms were very popular, although they were mostly made from kings, queens and nobles. The Book of Hours were used during the hours of prayer, and made mostly for the rich. Capital letter were an opportunity for showy, ornamental art.

Chess came to England from the Middle East. Backgammon and other board games were also popular.

Skelton, JR (1908), Beowulf fighting the dragon.

Beowulf: A point of comparison

Hwæt! We began our literature study with Beowulf, to compare and contrast it with the literature that came after it. The Anglo-Saxons told stories about their heroes passed down to us from one bard to another by word of mouth.One of these stories was about a monster named Grendel and the the great warrior who conquered him, Beowulf. The story many have been told and retold for many years before it was finally written down The story was written in poetry.

We enjoyed listening to Seamus Heaney's new verse translation.

The younger boys enjoyed Michael Morpurgo's picture book. I like the fact that it does not deviate far from the story and has a rich and appropriate vocabulary.

sources:

I used this study years ago with my daughter, who graduated a few years ago. Because of this, I am not sure if I made this unit up entirely myself or if I found some of it on the internet. If you know if any of this has come from a source I have not credited, please let me know, and I will make the appropriate corrections.

Our next lesson will be about the Norman Conquest and Middle English (1100-1500).

The Wars of the Roses 1455-1485

{Previous entry on France's history; Joan of Arc, The Hundred Years War and Robin Hood }

"In 1455 a bitter struggle broke out between two branches of the English royal family..."

This lesson requires so much of a knowledge of the kings of England that I did it only with my older two students. I printed out the family tree for the English kings and we sat down looked at the conflict. The English family tree nicely color codes the House of Lancaster in pink and the House of York in pale orange. I had the older students (Alex's example above) list the most important persons in this long struggle and to underline them in a color-coding to match the color of the roses that was each House's symbol. This list ended with Henry VII (or Henry Tudor, a Lancaster), who united the two branches with his marriage Elizabeth of York, ushering in the House of Tudor. (I also looked up and printed out the French kings family tree and matched it up where it overlapped with the English monarchy as they were connected so much during the Middle Ages.)

We are starting to read this wonderful book, which begins at about the time of the Wars of the Roses as it covers all the people of note through the whole time period of Columbus' life.. It is a wonderful living book as it tells the history of this time period as a story, and you get to know the greatness and the foibles of people involved. It is a book I look forward to reading again each time a child has reached the age for it. We will be reading it as we go on through the Renaissance.

Another lovely book is If You Were There in 1492: Everyday Life in the Time of Columbus. It is another living book because it is clear that the author, Barbara Brenner, is knowledgeable and passionate about her topic. In her introduction she tells about wanting to know so much about what it was like in Spain in 1492 that she researches and her passion resonates throughout the book. It is for 4-8th graders.

"I wanted to understand how it felt to be in a certain place at a certain crucial time."

Christmas Traditions from The Middle Ages

In recent years that have been some confusions about the twelve days of Christmas, many thinking that they are the twelve days leading up to Christmas day, when actually in the Middle Ages Christmas was a festival that began on Christmas day and lasted until Twelfth Night (January 5). The next day was epiphany which celebrated the visit of the magi by the giving of gifts and marked the end of the Christmas season. The prominence of Christmas Day increased gradually after Charlemagne was crowned Emperor on Christmas Day in 800. King Edmund the Martyr was anointed on Christmas in 855 and King William I of England was crowned on Christmas Day 1066.

Advent was celebrated, however. The forty days before Christmas became the "forty days of St. Martin" (which began on November 11, the feast of St. Martin of Tours). Around the 12th century, the Twelve Days of Christmas began incorporating the traditions of the holidays in the many areas which had been Christianized.

Yule Log, Ivy, Holly, Mistletoe and the Christmas Tree

Holly, ivy, and mistletoe were taken from Druid tradition, Christians adding that the berries, which are white in the fall turned red as a symbol Christ's blood when he was made to wear the crown of thorns. Ivy was associated with the Roman god Bacchus and was not allowed by the Church as decoration until later in the middle ages, when a superstition that it could help recognize witches and protect against plague arose.

In the Middle Ages, the Church would decorate trees with apples on Christmas Eve, which they called "Adam and Eve Day." However, the trees remained outdoors.

Yule Boar The ever-present threat of hunger was triumphantly overcome with a feast, and all manner of food would be served at Christmas. Wassail comes from the Old English words waes hael, which means "be well," "be hale," or "good health." A strong, hot drink (usually a mixture of ale, honey, and spices) would be put in a large bowl, and the host would lift it and greet his companions with "waes hael," to which they would reply "drinc hael," which meant "drink and be well." Mince Pies, so called because they contained shredded or minced meat, were baked in oblong casings to represent Jesus' crib, and it was important to add three spices (cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg) for the three gifts given to the Christ child by the Magi. During the 13th century, gingerbread was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. Early references from the Vadstel monestery show how the Swedish nuns were baking gingerbread to ease indigestion in the year 1444. Candy canes didn't come until a little later. Part of the Christmas celebration at the Cologne Cathedral were pageants of living creches. In about 1670 the choirmaster there had sticks of candy bent into the shape of a shepherd’s crook and passed them out to children who attended the ceremonies. This became a popular tradition, and eventually the practice of passing out the sugar canes at living creche ceremonies spread throughout Europe.

In the Middle Ages nativity and mystery plays, the father of our Christmas pageants were presented in churches, but caroling did not become a part of the Christmas tradition until the late Middle Ages. Caroling was originally a group of dancers who sang. The group was composed of a lead singer and a ring of dancers that provided the chorus.

Santa Claus

In the 1200s, December sixth began to be celebrated as Bishop Nicholas Day in France. By end of the 1400s, St Nicholas was the third most beloved religious figure, after Jesus and Mary. There were more than 2000 chapels and monasteries named after him.

The Travels of Marco Polo (1271-1295) Part I: Venice

Polo began his travels in Venice.

For the next few weeks we will be completing a leisurely study of the travels of Marco Polo, discovering the various lands he traveled through somewhat like he discovered them. We will learn about the terrain, the people and the history of the areas as we vicariously travel with Marco Polo. We will also be making a scrapbook of our projects, one page for each place we study.

Our collages of Venice were based on the picture below.

A picture of Venice in the Middle Ages.

This week we began where Polo began -in his hometown of Venice. We looked at pictures of Venice with its canal streets and lovely round topped homes lined closely together.

Using the idea I found at Laugh, Paint, Create we made collage pictures of Venice. Although the project was designed for young children, it is an interesting project for all ages. I cut out squares, triangles, half-circles and the like in advance and put them in piles on the table. After reading about Marco Polo and his getting ready for his adventures, I showed them the above map. Then I set them to work on their collages.