King Henry VIII

King Henry VIII was born on th 28th of June, 1491 to Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He was only 17 years old when he was crowned on 24 of June, 1509. He was the second monarch in the House of Tutor after succeeding his father Henry VII. King Henry VIII was mainly known for his 6 wives that he had during his 37 year reign. He wanted a son that would succeed him because he thought a daughter could not continue the Tutor dynasty. These were his six wives and their faiths: Catherine of Aragon (divorced), Anne Boleyn (executed), Jane Seymour (died), Anne of Cleves (divorced), Catherine Howard (executed), Catherine Parr (widowed).  King Henry VIII was also famous for separating the Church of England from the Catholic Church. He caused trouble to Rome and the pope which is why he became the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Even after being excommunicated from the Catholic Church, Henry VIII still believed in Catholic core values. Later on in his life, Henry VIII became very obese and his health became poor. He was then seen as a harsh, egotistical and insecure ruler, and he died on 28 January, 1547 at age 55. Overall, King Henry was a very harsh and cruel leader. Although he had a few accomplishments like breaking off from Rome, and establishing nationalism in England, the cruel faith of his 6 wives made him a bad ruler in the eyes of his people. 

Crusades

The goal of the eight military expeditions called the Crusades was to capture the Holy Land. The Holy Land, a region sacred to Christians because Jesus lived and taught there, was under the control Seljuk Turks. Seljuk Turks no longer allowed Christian pilgrims to visit Jerusalem and the Holy Land. For this reason, the Pope Urban II called for war against the Muslim Turks to capture the Holy Land. He called for war in order to allow Christian pilgrims to travel to the Holy Land, but also did it to unite Europe against one common enemy, the Muslim Turks. 


The Crusades brought back all sorts of goods like spices, jewelry, rugs, and glass. These goods became greatly demanded and in that way, they revived trade. The Crusades also started using money, instead of the barter system.

Charlemagne

Charlemagne was King of the Franks and was declared Emperor of the Romans by the pope. He was born in 742 and died in 814. He was the grandson of Charles Martel, and the oldest son of Pepin the Short. After the death of his father, Charlemagne and his brother Carloman I ruled separately. After a few years they were about to rage war on each other when Carloman died and Charlemagne became the sole ruler in 771. He conquered a large area that stretched across most of Western Europe. After conquering Rome he was declared the Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800. Even though he was a great conquerer, he was also known for bringing back art and education. He built numerous schools that gave access to education to all people. He helped spread Christianity, and he improved the economy drastically. After his death in 814, the empire that Charlemagne built soon fell apart and Europe went back to the darkness of the Medieval Ages.

Feudalism and the Manor System

Europe was a dangerous place to live in during the Middle Ages because of the constant threat of Viking attacks. In order to protect themselves, the people developed a type of government called feudalism. In this system of government, land owned by a lord was controlled by a vassal in return for great royalty. A lord would give the vassal a fief, or a share of land and he would treat his vassal with honor. In return the vassal give his lord advise, raise and lead armies to fight for his lord and would pay taxes in the forms of crops for their lords as well.

The manor system was the way that the economy was organized. A large estate contained farm fields, a manor house and a village. The lord of the manor was usually a vassal and the manor was part of the fief. The manors had to produce everything they needed since they were usually located far away from towns or other manors. A lord depended on the wealth the manor produced and he ruled over the manor and the people that lived there. He made all the decisions and collected taxes from the peasants and serfs that lived there.The peasants were the ones that did all the work on the manors, and they were the ones that farmed their own land and the land of the lords. Serfs were peasants who were tied down to the manors and needed the permission of the lords for anything they did.

The majority of people of the Medieval Ages were peasants, the poor people that did all the hard work. They lived in small, cramped huts and had to do all the hard work on the farm lands. They were given small strips of land that they could farm for themselves, but they had to give part of the harvest to their lord. They earned just enough to survive, and because of this, they would remain poor. They lived a hard life and this affected their beliefs. They did not see a purpose in life and because of this, they probably would not care much about religion, or have any beliefs.

 

Reflection on Renaissance Fair

We spent a great deal of time in most classes working on things for the Renaissance Fair. In performing art, we played the recorder and played three songs that are from the Renaissance time period. One song we memorized and played together with 8B, while we played two other songs in our own class. In Language A, we did Shakespeare's play called "A Midsummer Night's Dream". We divided the play into certain scenes that we all performed in pairs. We also memorized our lines and learned how to perform the scenes. In D.T. we focused on Leonardo da Vinci's inventions and were divided into pairs. David and I chose to do two inventions that are related, the airplane and parachute. We designed and built the two that he sketched out of paper and cardboard, and the final result looked similar to what he designed. For visual art we focused on Leonardo da Vinci and his artwork. In the beginning we took famous artwork and continued painting around them. We also took color in paintings from the Renaissance and colored them in for the Renaissance Fair. And finally we made sculptures like the one from Michaelangelo and also displayed them at the Fair. We also learned and performed three Renaissance dances at the Fair. They were all different since in one we would go on our toes, while in the other we stomped our feet, and they were fun to learn and perform. What really made the event come to life were the costumes, and we had the whole 8th grade, and some teachers dressed up. I was one of the merchants, that was a lower rank then a knight or royalty, but higher than a farmer or bard.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing the Renaissance Fair, and it was better than I expected. It was fun dressing up, dancing, and being in the whole Renaissance mood. The opinions of the parents were also good, and I saw that they also enjoyed the night. I think it was a success and that it should be done next year as well.

What I leaned from others

Geography and Climate of Arabian Peninsula- Alon

From Alon’s presentation I learned that the harsh desert terrain and arid climate were the reason that people became nomads, moving from place to place in search of resources and water. I also learned that even though the Arabian Peninsula is surrounded by three bodies of water, there are no rivers and rainfall is very rare, which makes it a very harsh place to live in.

Islamic Extremism- Katja

In her presentation I learned that powerful Muslims fund terrorist forces that teach future generations to do wrong things, and they create an illusion of what is good. Another thing that I learned is that religious manipulation is used to force a person to do something, by telling them they are doing it for their religion.

Muslim Women- Ana

In her presentation I learned that the Prophet Muhammad gave women rights, but they were wrongly interpreted or lost over the years, so life for women has changed for the worse. Men are considered to be more important, which is why a man is allowed to punish his wife if she misbehaves, and he is even allowed to kill his daughter or wife.

Islam Religion- David

Islam means submission to the will of God, which is Allah. 26% of the world population is Muslim, and Islam has spread throughout 184 countries. There are basic beliefs such as praying 5 times a day, and the 5 pillars of Islam contain the 5 basic beliefs.

Trade in the Islamic Empire- Annie

The Silk Road was the main trade route that connected Europe to Asia, and it went through the Muslim Empire. The Silk Road went on land and sea. Traders would travel in groups called caravans and they would exchange goods and ideas at markets called bazaars.

The Prophet Muhammad- Rea

He received the word from God from an angel Gabriel, while he was meditating in a cave, and he started Islam. He wrote down the messages from God into the Quran, which is the holy book of Islam.

Islam Religion- Sara

The beliefs written down by Muhammad still go on, like praying 5 times a day. The most important holiday is the Ramadan, which is celebrated the 9^th month of every year. Ramadan celebrates when the word of God was first revealed to Muhammad.

Islam Architecture- Svetlana

I learned that most Muslim houses are rectangular and made so that the wind and sandstorms do not damage the interior of the house. The buildings can be decorated with mosaics on the interior. The most famous Muslim palace is the Taj Mahal in India, which is made of marble and has many beautiful carvings.

Presentation on Islam

Before Islam became a widespread religion, Arabia was split up between Bedouins, which were nomadic warlike tribes. These tribes rode camels, herded sheep and cattle, and moved from one place to another in search of resources and water. Oases were a source of rare resources and water, so they were very important. Many battles and wars between tribes were fought over control of them.

The weapons used during that time were mainly swords and daggers. Curved swords called scimitars were commonly used in battle as well as tabars which are battle axes. Small daggers called jambiyas were used in both combat, but also in religious ceremonies.

When Muhammad’s teachings were rejected in Mecca, he moved to Yathrib (Medina), where they were accepted. There he had 1,500 followers that suffered from poverty, so he led attacks on caravans to help his people. After, his army grew to 10,000 as he made alliances with neighboring tribes and from many people converting to Islam. Mecca surrendered to Muhammad’s army and he added their soldiers to his own army, soon conquering the Arabian Peninsula. After his death in 632, the Islam Empire had spread rapidly.  In 750, the empire was at its peak, covering an area stretching from Spain to India. The expansion of the empire was stopped in France by Charles Martel in 732, and this marked the limit of Muslim Empire in Western Europe.

The weapons used during the expansion of the Muslim Empire remained the same as before, but because gunpowder was invented, more things were added to its arsenal. Muskets, cannons, grenades and steel shields became popular and were used in battles. 

Golden Age of Muslim Civilization

Trade and geography played big roles in the development of the Muslim Empire and the spread of the Islam religion. First of all, the empire's location was close to trade routs, and trade meant that the empire would prosper. Many goods could be brought in, and traded out, from all over the world. This gave the empire both fortune and power, but also connected the empire with other empires, sharing ideas. The geography of the empire was a harsh desert climate, which forced the people to become Bedouins, people that moved from place to place. Many of them helped merchants travel across the deserts in caravans, from oasis to oasis. This constant contact meant that ideas and beliefs were being shared, and that is how the Islam belief was spread as well, further strengthening the empire by gaining more followers. Islam also spread because there were no major empires to prevent it from spreading, and because the Arab people were all under one religion, motivated together.

Geography and trade helped create many achievements in the fields of mathematics, science, and literature. Trade brought in lots of money, which allowed Arab scholars to create new works, especially in the field of art. Geography, on the other hand, allowed Arab scholars to focus on and study older works. This is because the Muslim Empire was located near other empires, or on trade routs connecting them. This meant that they studied works not only from their own past, but from the past of other cultures as well. This lead to great achievements in fields of mathematics such as the Arabian numerals that we use today, and advances in algebra. They also made advances in organizing medical knowledge, and wrote many works of literature.

Bedouin Life

As we begin our long trek,

There is no turning back,

With the sun in our eyes,

And bothered by flies,

We follow the familiar path,

And suffer the desert’s wrath,

Riding the camel, I can hear its every breath,

Everything else is as silent as death.

My mouth feels dry,

As I look up to the clear, blue sky.

Without a drop of water in sight,

We must go on, even through the night.

The only thing that I scent, 

Are the spices’ and perfumes’ familiar fragrance.

We continue our expedition,

To deliver the goods, which is our mission.

Nero

Simeon Stakic 8A

January 16, 2011

Nero

            Nero Claudius Caesar is one of the most interesting and controversial Roman emperors. Born as Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, his mother Agrippina married his uncle Claudius, who died in 54 A.D. making Nero the emperor. Nero’s reign lasted until his death in 68 A.D. when he committed suicide. During his 14 years of rule, Nero made some crucial decisions which ultimately led to his dramatic downfall. He eliminated many of his enemies and or anyone who stood in his way and, eventually, he became too powerful ignoring the opinions of others, which ultimately led to his death. Nero was a very cruel, selfish and unpopular ruler who based his decisions on his own desires rather than the needs of the people.

            Nero was a very ruthless and harsh leader. Often ordering the death of anyone that defied him or stopped him from achieving what he wanted. His mother Agrippina was similar to him in that way. She wanted Nero to share his power. So she married Nero’s uncle, Claudius, who was emperor at the time. She soon poisoned him, which made Nero his successor. It is uncertain how much Nero was involved in the murder of Claudius, or whether or not he even took part in it. In the beginning of his rule, Nero was heavily influenced by his mother and his tutors. They helped him make important decisions as ruler. However, over time their influence declined, especially his mother’s. Since she could not control him so easily any more, she attempted to make Nero’s stepbrother, Brittanicus, ruler. The day before Brittanicus was to become an adult, Nero poisoned him in order to prevent him from overthrowing him. He then banished his mother Agrippina from the imperial residence. Later on in 59 A.D. he ordered the death of his mother, since she was trying to overthrow him once again. Nero was also very cruel toward his wives. His first wife was his stepsister, Claudia Octavia, whom he married in 53 A.D. He then had an affair with Poppaea Sabrina and banished Octavia, which left him free to marry Poppaea. When Nero was forced to let Octavia return because of protest from the people of Rome, he soon executed her in 62 A.D. However, later in 69 A.D. Nero also killed Poppaea by kicking her to death while she was pregnant. A good ruler of an empire needs to be kind towards both the people he rules and his family members. However, Nero was cruel towards his family, killing his wives, mother, and stepbrother because of his own needs.

            Besides being cruel, Nero was also a very selfish ruler. He often saw his personal needs to be more important than the ones of the empire. In 64 A.D, the Great Fire of Rome burned much of the city down. Although Nero was not in Rome during the time of the fire, he was held responsible for his actions after the fire. Nero decided that after the fire, a new Rome was to emerge, one that would be built from marble and stone. In the place that was cleared by the fire, Nero chose to build new houses out of stone on wider streets, as well as, his new palace. The place that was cleared by the fire used to be the area where people lived, but Nero chose to take part of it in order to build his palace. As construction continued, he began running out of money to build, so he decided to steal from the temples. This money came from battles that were won by the Roman military. After a victory a percentage of the booty was sent to temples to honor the gods. Because Nero stole money from an important source, senators planned to assassinate him but they failed. The money from the temples was still not enough so Nero figured out another way to get enough money. He told the rich people of the empire to either give a tenth of their property to him and have their families protected in the future, or to commit suicide. Most of the people that were faced with this decision committed suicide which sparked a rebellion against Nero. Overall, Nero’s selfish acts and his lack of respect for others show that he was not a good ruler.

            After the Great Fire of Rome in 64 A.D., the people of Rome blamed Nero for it. In order to avoid the blame, Nero accused an already unpopular group of people, the Christians. He ordered a few of them to be tortured until they admitted their guilt. Anyone who admitted to being Christian was captured and killed in many different ways as punishment. They could have been covered with the skins of wild animals and thrown to dogs that tore them apart. They could also have been nailed to crosses or set on fire. At the end of the day if they survived until night they were burned as candles. During that time two important Christian teachers were in Rome, Peter and Paul. Peter was crucified upside down and Paul was executed for trying to spread Christianity. There is no exact number of how many Christians were killed but it is known that the persecution lasted for many years throughout the entire empire.

            From all of this we can see that Nero was a cruel and selfish emperor who was harmful to the Empire. During his reign, Rome became weaker and chaos was commonplace. The greatest indicator that he was damaging to Rome was the opinion of the people at the time, especially the Christians whom Nero tortured. During the final few days of his life, Nero was hunted for and it was the duty of every citizen to either kill Nero or help others in doing so. Once Nero realized he had nowhere to hide, he committed suicide with his own dagger and the people of Rome celebrated his death, loudly demonstrating how unpopular Nero had become.

Bibliography:

Benario, Herbert. "Roman Emperors DIR Nero." Roman Emperors - DIR--De Imperatoribus Romanis oman History Roman Roman Empire Imperator Basileus De Imperatoribus Romanis Encyclopedia Byzantine. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.roman-emperors.org/nero.htm>.

Duruy, Victor. "The Burning of Rome, 64 AD." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/rome.htm>.

"Nero." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 13 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero>.

Carrington, Phillip. "Nero Persecutes The Christians, 64 A.D." EyeWitness to History - History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/christians.htm>.

Ancient Rome The Rise and Fall of an Empire. Perf. Sean Pertwee, Catherine McCormack, Michael                            Sheen and David Threlfall. YouTube- Broadcast Yourself. 2006. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.                <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArnjjQTbXXY>.

Unit Reflection

The Byzantine Empire was very important and it affected the modern society in a big way. Since it took aspects from both the Greek and Roman Empire, it combined them into one strong empire. However, both of them fell so the Byzantine empire saved all of their great achievements that we still use today. The people of the Byzantine Empire mainly spoke Greek, adapting many aspects from the Greek culture. They rewrote a lot of Greek and Roman literature, that without them, we would not have today. They saved many discoveries in math, science, philosophy, as well as many inventions. If they hadn't have done that, today we wouldn't be so advanced since all of those things would be lost forever. The Byzantine Empire was also very advanced in art and architecture. They had adopted many aspects of art into mosaics that decorated churches. The mosaics were made of small pieces of glass or rocks that formed large pictures of saints or other holy people. Icons were also an important aspect of the Byzantine art as they were images of saints, Jesus Christ, or Mary. The Hagia Sophia is a great example of how advanced the Byzantine architecture was. It was a very large Christian church that was built during the reign of Emperor Justinian. It was a symbol of how powerful the empire was at that time, and how advance it was. The Byzantine Empire is very important even though it existed a long time ago, since it saved much of the information and achievements from the past so we still have them today. Thanks to them, we can learn and study about our past.

Mosaic Symbol

The Christian symbol that I chose to make as a mosaic is the Holy Grail. According to legend, the Holy Grail  is the bowl that was used by Jesus in The Last Supper. The quest of many knights became to retrieve it from Jerusalem and bring it to England. In all of those legends in which heroes search for The Grail, he must prove himself as being worthy enough to be in its presence. Later the Holy Grail got a new meaning. It became a symbol of God's grace which was available to all people, but only those that were spiritually prepared could understand its full meaning.

Field trip Reflection

Today we went on a field trip to St Petka's Chapel. Our assignment was to sketch a mosaic that we found and then analyze it. The mosaic that I chose was one of Saint Sava and his father Saint Simeon. Both of them are floating above the ground since their feet are positioned that way. Both of them are wearing layered clothing, but St Simeon has bright colors like red, yellow and a bit of blue, while St Sava is wearing white, grey with a bit of blue detail. St Sava is holding his hand up while bending his ring finger, which is a sign that he is teaching. In his other hand he is holing the Bible. St Simeon is holing a Slavic cross in his right hand and a scroll in his left hand. The scroll is written in Cyrillic and it says: "My beloved children." Both of them are saints since they both have the halo around their heads. Between them was a double headed eagle in a circle. The eagle represented the power of the Byzantine emperor, both in religion and in controlling the empire.

The mosaic follows all of the rules from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, since it has all of the components that it needs to have. It has floating feet, colors and many symbols which are necessary according to the Metropolitan Museum of art.

In my opinion, this mosaic is a good example of Byzantine Art, because it fits all the criteria and has the necessary components that we analyzed in class.

Saint Sava

In Christianity, a person that becomes a saint is one who did good things for the love of God, and performed miracles. Years after his death people remember his good deeds and miracles. After a certain amount of years the person becomes a candidate for a saint, and the process of becoming one, canonization, begins.

One of the most famous Eastern Orthodox saints was Saint Sava from Serbia. Saint Sava lived from 1175 to 1235 A.D. He was originally the youngest of three brothers who's father was a Serbian ruler. At a very young age he became a monk and changed his name from Rastko Nemanjic to Sava. He had many accomplishments which earned him great respect in Serbia. His accomplishments include spreading of education and literature, publishing the first civil laws of the newly formed Serbia to ensure order, although his greatest achievement was establishing the Serbian Church as an independent one in 1217 A.D. He also set up the Monastery Hilandar on Mount Athos which still exists today. His importance and contribution to Serbia is still visible today. The largest Easter Orthodox church in the world is named after him. The Saint Sava slava is celebrated throughout Serbia on January 27th and is the day when Serbian schools have assemblies the whole day celebrating Saint Sava.

Byzantine Empire

Out of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine empire, the most advanced one was the Byzantine Empire. It was the empire that took all of the ideas from every civilization, especially the Roman and Greek, and combined it into one. They used the things which worked for all of the civilizations in the past, and they knew which things to avoid. The location of the capital city, Constantinople was great. It was safe from any attacks since it was located on a peninsula defended by a great wall. It was also located on the trading root that connects Europe to Asia, so the trade that took place gave the empire great wealth. The merchants traded things like spices, gems, metals, cloths, farm goods, furs, honey and slaves. The empire was also very educated, and there was a great respect for art and literature. The writers of the time wrote mainly about religion which was very important. However, they also copied down writings of ancient Greeks and Romans. They were smart enough to know that if they hadn't copied them down, they would be lost forever. Without them, we would not have many important works that tell us a lot about the past, and the way people lived back then. The Byzantine Empire also had developed laws, especially for women. Thanks to empress Theodora, women finally got some rights, like the right to own their own land. Overall, the Byzantine Empire was the most developed one since it combine all of the positive things of all the empires before it and incorporated it all into one empire.