Jhoe Mae Kah C.

Inaldo

BSED 3A

VI. LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Learning Activity 1. The Early Middle Ages (The Dark Ages)

1.1. List 3 characteristics that are peculiar to the medieval era.

1. Wars and continuous invasions

2. System of Government and economic production was feudalism

3. There was a visible social inequality

1.2. Why was the medieval period referred to as the "Dark Ages"?

The "Dark Ages" is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire
Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterizes it as
marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline. They called it the ‘Dark Ages’ because of the lack
of good literature at that time and lack of materials and information, as knowledge was kept in the
hands of few people. So this era noticed invasions and counter invasions. Europe have become one
incredible mass of movements: battles, conquests, agreements, invasions, secessions, to say a few. The
state of affairs become now no longer an awful lot unique in England. Documentation of statistics and
records become a ways from the minds of many human beings at some stage in this era. This exercising
is feasible whilst there's relative peace, solid and united government.

Learning Activity 2. The High Middle Ages (1066 – 1272)

2.1 What led to the dissolution of friendship between Henry II and Thomas

Becket?

Henry II is disappointed with how Becket approaches the honor of being

archbishop of Canterbury. Once Becket takes the dubbing of archbishop of Canterbury he vows to fullfil
all religious actions that need to be taken. He devotes his life to religion. He wants to do the right things
for the church and the kingdom, but Henry II does not like the fact that Becket becomes a militant
defender of the church against royal encroachment and a champion of the papal ideology of
ecclesiastical supremacy over the lay world. The disagreement of each others' ideas triggers the collapse
of their friendship. The obliteration of Becket and Henry's friendship happened in many ways. When
their ideas clash, they realize how much they actually hate each other.They try to settle out their
differences for royal and church laws at the Constitutions of Clarendon and various other open council
meetings, but to no avail these meetings could not provide any conclusions to the matter. Then a priest
rapes and kills a girl. A knight by the name of Lord Gilbert is outraged by this event and murders the
priest. Becket feels that justice should be served and wants Henry II to charge Lord Gilbert with murder.
Henry ll excommunicates Lord Gilbert instead, but Becket and Henry are still disappointed at one
another. Becket then gives up his Lord Chancellor ring, showing he is not a friend anymore. Henry then
commands his men to kill Becket, which they do while he is praying. Thus concludes the reasons for the
dissolution of friendship between Thomas Becket and Henry II. The dissolution of friendship between
Becket and Henry depicts the rising tide of friendship, which soon falls after resentment. They were true
friends at first, but the accumulation of differences and ideas dissolved their friendship.

2.2 What do you think was responsible for the English Barons strong

political stance?

Strong willed and given to uncontrollable fits of temper, King John murdered his
nephew, Arthur, in 1203, who was a strong contender to the throne. This action displeased many of his
subjects and political supporters, especially his English baron friends. To make matters worse, he not
only imposed heavy taxes on the feudal lords, many of whom were his baron friends, he also seized all
the lands and most of the properties belonging to the Church. In retaliation, Pope Innocent III
suspended church services in England and in 1213, publicly announced that King John was no longer fit
to rule England. Moreover, the English barons were already dissatisfied with the king’s style of
governance, and decided to withdraw their allegiances to him. To prevent the move to get rid of him,
John agreed to a assembly with the barons in June 1215. At the meeting, the barons presented to him a
document listing their rights as feudal lords and specifying particular actions to reduce royal power. This
document is called the Magna Carta, or the Great Charter. The king approved of this document by
placing his seal on it, thereby proclaiming the Charter into law. However, King John upheld the Magna
Carta for a few weeks and was able to convince the Pope to nullify it. This led to the First Barons War in
1216 in which King John was killed.

Learning Activity 3. A Century of Crusades

3.1 Identify 2 characteristics each of the First and the Third Crusades.

First Crusade

1. Pope Urban II appealed to Christians in Europe to liberate the Holy Lands from the
shackles of their Muslims overlords, the Turks

2. To reclaim for Christianity the Holy Land in the Middle East. More than 25, 000
people, including French and English Knights and Dukes, travelled to Constantinople to wage a war
against the Turks and wrestle Jerusalem from their grip in 1099

Third Crusade
 1. The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt by three European monarchs of
Western Christianity (Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor) to
reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187.

2. The safety of both Christian and Muslim unarmed  pilgrims guaranteed throughout

the Levant.

3.2 Who was the military leader called Saladin?

Saladin is the Western name of Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, the Muslim sultan of
Egypt and Syria who famously defeated a massive army of Crusaders in the Battle of Hattin and captured
the city of Jerusalem in 1187. At the height of his power, he ruled a unified Muslim region stretching
from Egypt to Arabia. Saladin was celebrated by Muslims and many Westerners of later generations for
his political and military skills, as well as his generosity and chivalry.

Learning Activity 4. The Late Middle Ages

4.1 Discuss “Edward III brought stability to England”.

He established order in England and took a more sophisticated strategy regarding

how governance is handled. Compared to his predecessors, his administration advanced the economy of
the country. In the fourteenth century, the Parliament was given sole authority over legislation, taxes,
and general government administration. Taxation served to fund royal initiatives. To bring his followers
together, he also hosted lavish gatherings.

Learning Activity 5. The Hundred Years War

5.1 Highlight 3 major reasons that led to the Hundred Years War.

1. Edward III wanted to annex France fully to England when the king of the former,
Charles IV, died without having any heir to take over the throne.

2. A French man, Philip of Valois, was made the French king, and he wanted to
reclaim Gascony, an English territory situated within France. .

3. the interference of France in England’s attempt to control Scotland. England

tried to control Scotland, and this made the latter to put forth a claim to the French throne and to
invade France. The wool trade in England was another cause of the war.

5.2 Discuss the role of 3 characters in the Hundred Years War.

Edward I increased the axis of the army called Familia Regis and upgraded it to a
standing army, part of the large regiment of 28,700, in addition to the foot soldiers who were normally
drawn up for military campaigns in France and Scotland.
Conversely, Edward III reduced the population of the army who were better equipped, even with long
bow and canons, which was first used in 1346 by the English at the Battle of Crecy. Their fashionable
uniform upgraded their social status in warfare. But by the late 15th century, English armies suffered a
setback, leaving the War of the Roses in the hands of amateur soldiers.

The French king, Charles, reorganized his men and perfected the late Joan of Arc’s strategy, surprise
attacks, to confound the English forces. This way, many English fortresses were attacked and the English
forces were finally chased out of France. And the Hundred Years War came to an end.

Learning Activity 6. Black Death

6.1 Discuss the economic impact of the Black Death plague on medieval

England.

The rich suffered less than the poor during the plague years and the result was a
great shortage of labor, as a result of which there was a rise in wages. As people died, it became harder
and harder to find people to plow fields, harvest crops, and produce other goods and services. Peasants
began to demand higher wages.

6.2 In what way(s) did medieval England contribute to the spread of the

plague?

The plague was caused by black rats that had the bubonic plague in their
bloodstream. The fleas on their bodies then transmitted the disease to human beings. These black rats
were usually found in merchant ships. When these ships berthed in a new country, they ran out into the
streets of Europe. These European streets were very dirty with rubbish and human wastes. Open sewers
were also a common feature of medieval Europe.

The geographical spread of the plague revealed that it showed its first symptom in Messina-Cecily
in October 1347 and by January 1348, it had spread into France through Marseilles and engulfed North
Africa through Tunisia, spread westward through Spain to central France. It arrived England shores in
1348 during the reign of Edward III.

6.3 Write a 5-minute drama sketch of a family that survived the disease.

Learning Activity 7. The Peasants’ Revolt

6.1 Enumerate 3 similarities between the Peasants‟ Revolt of medieval England

and the Aba Women’s Riot of Nigeria.

 1. The imposition of tax caused these revolt.

2. It is an encouraging feature of this unhappy incident that the responsible

authorities in Nigeria, as in England, should have been so ready to face the fact that it resulted largely
from defects in their government.

3. Low prices of agricultural products following the  Great Depression and issues
that added to the grievances of the peasants over a long period of time / built up tension over a number
of years.

6.2 In your own estimation, how did the Peasants‟ Revolt come to an end?

The Peasants' Revolt end in failure. A number of important rebels were killed,
including their leader Wat Tyler. Richard quelled the rebellion by promising reforms but failed to keep
his word. Instead, punishments were harsh. Despite its failure, the incident is seen as a defining moment
in the history of popular rebellion.

Learning Activity 8. Wars of the Roses

8.1 Discuss the economic impact of the Black Death plague on medieval England.

The rich suffered less than the poor during the plague years and the result was a
great shortage of labor, as a result of which there was a rise in wages. As people died, it became harder
and harder to find people to plow fields, harvest crops, and produce other goods and services. Peasants
began to demand higher wages.

8.2 In what way(s) did medieval England contribute to the spread of the plague?

The plague was caused by black rats that had the bubonic plague in their
bloodstream. The fleas on their bodies then transmitted the disease to human beings. These black rats
were usually found in merchant ships. When these ships berthed in a new country, they ran out into the
streets of Europe. These European streets were very dirty with rubbish and human wastes. Open sewers
were also a common feature of medieval Europe.

The geographical spread of the plague revealed that it showed its first symptom in Messina-Cecily
in October 1347 and by January 1348, it had spread into France through Marseilles and engulfed North
Africa through Tunisia, spread westward through Spain to central France. It arrived England shores in
1348 during the reign of Edward III.

8.3 Write a 5-minute drama sketch of a family that survived the disease.

Learning Activity 9. Cultural and Intellectual Revival

9.1 In what ways was the Church instrumental to the origin of crusades in medieval

England?
 The increased authority of the papacy and the relative decline in the power of the
emperor became clear in the unforeseen emergence of the Crusades as a major preoccupation of
Europe. Gregory VII hoped to lead an army to defend Eastern Christians after their disastrous defeat by
the Seljuq Turks at Manzikert (present Malazgirt, Turkey) in 1071. Faced with the loss of Asia Minor and
the continued expansion of the Turks, the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1057–1118) appealed
for help to Pope Urban II in 1095. Urban’s celebrated call to the Crusade at Clermont (France) in 1095
was unexpectedly effective, placing him at the head of a large army of volunteers motivated by religious
zeal and other more-mundane concerns. Although the capture of Jerusalem (1099) and the
establishment of a Latin kingdom in Palestine were offset by disasters and quarrels, the papacy gained
greatly in prestige and strengthened its position in relation to the emperor and Germany, which avoided
participation in this first of many Crusades because of the ongoing Investiture Controversy. For more
than two centuries, the Crusades remained a powerful movement headed by the pope. Numerous
Crusades were waged in the Holy Land, and the Crusading ideal was applied to military and religious
campaigns in Spain and eastern Europe. Later popes launched Crusades against heretics and opponents
of papal authority and sanctioned the emergence of military orders. The Crusades thus reflected the
widespread devotion to the church and to its leader, the pope.

VII. EVALUATION: Essay

1. Write at least 5 significant notes about:

1.1 The Peasants’ Revolt

The peasants were not just protesting against the government. Since the Black Death, poor
people had become increasingly angry that they were still serfs, usually farming the land and serving
their king. Whipped up by the preaching of radical priest John Ball, they were demanding that all men
should be free and equal; for less harsh laws; and a fairer distribution of wealth. Soon both Essex and
Kent were in revolt. The rebels coordinated their tactics by letter. They marched to London, where they
destroyed the houses of government ministers. They also had a clear set of political demands. On 15
June, the 14-year-old king, Richard II, met the rebels' leader Wat Tyler. William Walworth, the Lord
Mayor of London, attacked and killed Tyler. Before the rebel army could retaliate, Richard stepped
forward and promised to abolish serfdom (although he later broke this promise). The peasants went
home, but later government troops toured the villages hanging men who had taken part in the Revolt.
Although the Revolt was defeated, its demands – less harsh laws, money for the poor, freedom and
equality – all became part of democracy in the long term. The Black Death had killed many people. This
meant there was a shortage of workers and wages went up. Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers
(1351), which set a maximum wage and said that people would be punished with prison if they refused
to work for that wage. This meant that despite the demand for workers and the greater availability of
land, poor people stayed poor. Life for ordinary Medieval people was strictly controlled by the local
lord. The law also allowed the lord to stop his villeins moving for better wages. Coming after the Black
Death and the consequent shortage of labour, this crushed the villeins' higher expectations for their
income. The feudal system too had for centuries tied most peasants to the whims of their lord. The lord
even had the power to approve any one of his villein’s spouse. Not surprisingly it made sense that
peasants developed an appetite for change. I portrayed the revolt as the start of the English people's
fight for freedom – as the beginning of the end of the feudal system. For me, I always seen the rebels as
the first working-class heroes, fighting for ordinary people. The historian Steven Justice (1994)
concluded that poor people had well-defined political beliefs in the 14th century, and that these ideas
survived the Peasants' Revolt was the beginning of English ideas about freedom.

1.2 Black Death

The Black Death was a plague pandemic which devastated medieval Europe from 1347 to 1352

CE, killing an estimated 25-30 million people. The disease originated in central Asia and was taken to the
Crimea by Mongol warriors and traders. The plague then entered Europe via Italy, carried by rats on
Genoese trading ships sailing from the Black Sea. The disease was caused by a bacillus bacteria, Yersinia
pestis, and carried by fleas on rodents. It was known as the Black Death because it could turn the skin
and sores black while other symptoms included fever and joint pains. With up to two-thirds of sufferers
dying from the disease, it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of the population of those places
affected died from the Black Death. The death toll was so high that it had significant consequences on
European medieval society as a whole, with a shortage of farmers resulting in demands for an end to
serfdom, a general questioning of authority and rebellions, and the entire abandonment of many towns
and villages. The worst plague in human history, it would take 200 years for the population of Europe to
recover to the level seen prior to the Black Death. Medieval doctors had no idea about such microscopic
organisms as bacteria, and so they were helpless in terms of treatment, and where they might have had
the best chance of helping people, in prevention, they were hampered by the level of sanitation which
was appalling compared to modern standards. Another helpful strategy would have been to quarantine
areas but, as people fled in panic whenever a case of plague broke out, they unknowingly carried the
disease with them and spread it even further afield; the rats did the rest. There were so many plague
victims and so many bodies that the authorities did not know what to do with them, and carts piled high
with corpses became a common sight across Europe. It seemed the only course of action was to stay
put, avoid people, and pray. The disease finally ran its course by 1352 CE but would recur again, in less
severe outbreaks, throughout the rest of the medieval period. The consequences of such a large number
of deaths were severe, and in many places, the social structure of society broke down. Many smaller
urban areas hit by the plague were abandoned by their residents who sought safety in the countryside.

2. In spite of the chains of wars, Medieval England could boast of cultural and intellectual revival.

Discuss.