Venice was built on 118 small islands off the coast of Italy. The islands are connected by different waterways and canals. Venice used these waterways and canals instead of roads, and instead of using cars, they use flat-bottom boats called gondolas. Gondolas are driven by gondoliers. Gondolas are used for transportation in Venice. Venice is even well known for its beautiful art and architecture. The most famous style of art in Venice is Venetian Gothic Architecture. A very important center for art is known as the Venetian School. Music is also a very important part of Venice. Opera was also very important in Venice. Antonio Vivaldi was a great composer who came from Venice. Marco Polo also lived in Venice. Also, out of all the first cities with a printing press and established business, Venice was one of them. A carnival in Venice has been held since the 12th century. Throughout the carnival, everyone wore a mask. They even had a contest to see who had the most beautiful mask.
The Hundred Year’s War is a series of peace and battles that lasted one hundred years. It started when Edward III of England’s uncle (the king of France) died. He was the closest heir to the throne, but because of a rule in an old, ancient law code, the descendant from woman can’t claim the throne, so Edward III can’t claim the throne since his mom is his uncle’s sister, so instead, Philip VI of France became king instead because he was the closest heir from the male line, so he became king.
The Hundred Year’s Was is separated into three different parts: The Edwardian Era, which lasted from 1337-1360, The Caroline War, which lasted from 1364-1389, and The Lancastrian Era, which lasted from 1415-1453. The Hundred Year’s War was very influential.
The first battle recorded in the hundred years war was known as “The Battle of Sluys” in which it was a ship battle and the English severely won. After this victory for the English, Edward went on and captured Caen in just one day. After that victory, Philip met him at the “Battle of Crecy”; however, England won the battle too. They even captured the city of Calais. Having Calais enabled England to keep soldiers in France. After a plague called the Black Death, both England and France got a new king. France got John II for a new king. England god Edward, the Black Prince, for a new king. Edward, the Black Prince, led an invasion at Gascony and won. This battle was known as “The Battle of Poitiers. During this war, John II of France was captured by the Englis, so his son, Dauphin, ruled in his father’s place.
The first peace treaty of the war lasted from 1360 all the way to 1369. This treaty was known as The Treaty of Bretigny. Charles V succeeded John II of France when he died in 1364.
The first peace treaty ended with tax disagreements in Aquitaine against France. After Edward III of England and his son both died, Richard II became king of England. Henry of England continued the war after a second peace treaty that lasted from 1389-1415.
The Battle fo Agincourt was a major victory for the English. Agincourt was a small, muddy field, which gave the English the upper hand. 400 Englishmen died compared to about 6,000 Frenchmen. The Treaty of Troyes brought about peace again and agreed that the heirs of Henry would be given the French throne.
Joan of Arc was a peasant girl who lived in France. When she was twelve, she began to receive visions of saints, and it took her a while until she realized the saints were telling her to lead an army and drive the English out of France and to help the king take back his country. Joan tried three times to have a conversation with the king to help him retake his throne, until one day the king let her in and she convinced him to take back France, but before she led an army, she needed to be tested by some priests to see if she held the correct religion and orthodoxy, and she did. To reform the French army, she made them go to church, treat civilians like they want to be treated, and stop swearing. Joan won many battles and drove the English out of France and even encouraged Charles of France to be coronated and he did.
During a battle, she got captured and was executed by being burned at the state as a heretic. She is still well-remembered today.
Wycliffe was born in a village near Yorkshire England in 1320. When he was old enough, he was sent to Oxford University. While he was there, he earned his bachelor’s degree in theology. When he was there, he went to live in Lutterworth for the rest of his life. He was a great and famous preacher and teacher. He even preached and argued against many religious practices of his day. The Pope did not kindly accept Wycliffe’s teachings, but because Wycliffe was so popular in England, the Pope issued five bulls (church edicts) against Wycliffe. Wycliffe thought that it would be important that everyone should read the Bible in their very own language since the Bibles in his day were written in Latin and all the church services were done in Latin. Wycliffe died before he could finish his translation of the Bible into English, so his friend, John Purvey, finished it for him. Without him, we would of never had the English Bible today. 130 years after his death, his works and bones were to be burned and the ashes scattered into a river, but his followers continued to spread the works of Wycliffe and was remembered for hundreds of years.
William Tell helped gain Swiss independence from the Hapsburgs, the Holy Roman Empire at that time. He may have not been a real person. He may have been a real person, but if he was real, some of the story may not have been real.
When the Holy Roman Empire set up Gessler to govern the people in the town in which William Tell lived, he set up his hat in the center of town so whenever somebody passed by the hat, they had to bow to it to show respect, but William Tell refused to bow to the had and even Gessler himself. That made Gessler very angry. Gessler arrested William Tell and for his punishment, he had to shoot an apple off his own son’s head. Well, this may seem impossible, but he performed the miracle shot. William Tell had two arrows in his pocket because if any harm came to his son, he would shot Gessler with it. This made Gessler even more angry so he sent him on a ship to Gessler’s castle, but there was a storm, so they let William Tell free and he managed to guide the ship to safety. After he beached the ship, he ran for his life. He killed Gessler with his second arrow. He began the fight for Swiss independence after he killed Gessler. The Swiss Confederation gained its independence from the Holy Roman Empire in 1499.
Kubla Khan was a very important ruler. He also had a grandfather named Gengis Khan. Kubla Khan was the fifth great Khan of the Mongol Empire. He did not become king till he was in his late thirties. Kubla Khan made many conquests alongside his brother who was the Great Khan for that time being. He became king several years later.
Compared to Gengis Khan, Kubla Khan was way more thoughtful, kinder, and wiser. He even ruled his people very fairly. He did not destroy civilizations he conquered, but instead, he civilized towards the people he ruled. He created the Yuan Dynasty in 1271. Many things were made or rebuilt. Kubla Khan lived longer than his wife and his son. His death resulted in many different diseases and became very overweight in his old age. He died in February 1294 A.D. His grave is in the Mongol burial site. Kubla Khan was the ruler of China, which expanded the Mongol empire greatly. He even saw Marco Polo, his dad, and his uncle during his reign.
Thomas was born in 1225 A.D. in Italy to a count and countess. At age five, he began school. When Thomas was old enough, he was sent to Naples to attend a university there by his parents. Thomas was influenced greatly by Aristotle’s writings and the Dominicans, a new order of monks.
When Thomas was 19 years old, he became a member of the Dominicans; however, when he told his parents about this, they were very displeased, so they were kidnapped inside the castle they lived in for two years until Thomas’ mother helped him “escape”.
After that, he rejoined the Dominican Order of Monks. Thomas’ greatest work is the Summa Theologica. Aristotle had the most influence on Thomas’ life. He died reciting the commentary on the Song of Solomon. He greatly influenced the thinking of the church. He also worked to increase the logical reasoning in the church.
A project I had to do recently was part of my science. My assignment was to build a radio. I had to watch daily videos on how to build my radio. My dad helped me to order the parts I needed. I had six weeks to complete my project.
I had to have copper coil, wire, scrap wood, paper, foil, tape, earphones, metal, a paper towel roll, and a toilet paper roll. I was excited to see it finished, and so was my dad. He knows a lot about electrical stuff, so he helped out a lot.
I had to take a few steps to make sure my project was successful. I had to make sure we got everything correct and in the right spot. I also had to test it out once in a while to make sure it worked correctly. If I got something wrong, we would have to change it and move on.
It was not really successful because I thought the wire was too short. I was very disappointed when I found out that I failed. I was looking forward to being finished with a real, working radio. We also made a radio transmitter, and that was successful. A radio transmitter can give messages instead of receiving them.
The crusaders sometimes did their best but did not succeed. I did the same thing with my radio. The Crusaders also sometimes did their best and succeeded. Again, the same thing happened with my radio transmitter. The Crusaders did not even try to succeed in their mission, which usually never happened to me.
Cathedrals were often big and very beautiful churches. They were made of stone and were often at the center of a town. “Cathedra” is the Greek word for chair, so that means that Cathedrals were the chair of authority for a bishop.
Cathedrals often took centuries to build. Some people could work on one cathedral and still never see it completed. Romanesque, a type of style made in the 12th century, was the kind of cathedral that was the most common style in history.
These types of cathedrals have pointed arches, flying buttresses, and very high ceilings. All cathedrals are made in the shape of a cross and are pointed west to east. Flying buttresses are pillars that support the high ceilings. Gargoyles are stone beasts that are sometimes added to the flying buttresses.
It takes lots of money to build a cathedral, so the church sold indulgences. They said if you bought an indulgence, your sins would be forgiven.
A great king of England, King Edward, did not anoint a specific heir to his throne, so when he died, at least three people claimed to have the rights to rule England. The Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, was chosen to be the new king. William of Normandy thought he was the rightful heir to the throne, so he immediately began creating an army to help him take the throne. At the same time, he was marching to invade England.
Meanwhile, in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, King Harold and his Saxons fought against King Harald’s Norwegians. The Saxons won the battle, and King Harald and Tostig both died. This battle marks the end of the Viking Age.
William arrived on the southern beaches of England just three days after the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold had to drag his entire army across the vast country just to fight William and his Normans. Harold, at the top of a hill, held the high ground. William attacked from below while trying to climb up the hill to attack Harold. Harold kept the high ground and made the Normans retreat for some time, however, victory was not the Saxons. William and his Normans eventually chased the Saxons down the hill and crushed them. King Harold was killed by an arrow straight in the eye. His army retreated while being picked off by arrows. William was crowned King of England on Christmas day, 1066.
Viking comes from the Norse words “seamen” and “expeditions”, which are pretty good words to describe Vikings. The Vikings only used two kinds of ships, the longships and the knarrs. The longships are primarily used for transporting troops to battle. The knarrs are quite different. They are merchant ships that transport and trade goods. The longships are propelled by oar power or wind power. The knarrs are propelled primarily by wind power, but it could be propelled by oar power.
A runestone is an amazing king of stone because it is a stone that reminds people about a certain event. For example, a battle, a funeral, etc. It even had words written on it. The Vikings even made their own alphabet! Every letter is made out of just straight lines, which probably made it easier to carve in words on the runestones. The Vikings had three main gods. One of them is Thor, a Marvel superhero to this day. Three days of the week are named after the three Norse gods.
The Vikings used swords, spears, and axes (primarily axes) to fight with. Only the rich people could afford axes to fight with. The poor people only used swords and spears to fight with. They had a very chaotic style of fighting. Some common misconceptions about the Vikings are that they always acted like barbarians and they always wore helmets with horns, but only one helmet with horns has ever been found.