MS - ZIS Middle School Library Resources: Middle Ages - 7

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Did you ever wonder what it was like to live in medieval times? Come find out at this site...

Villages and settlements in medieval times were often built around streams, roads, churches, or manor houses. Rural settlements used whatever building materials were....

Serfs were a part of the culture in the Middle Ages but not the majority as if often seems to be. There were a great many free men who...

In the strict order of medieval society, the nobles ranked right below the king. Find out about how the nobles lived during ...

Invasion and conquest led to the development of the feudal system in Europe during medieval times. In this simple system, the king...

Christianity and the Catholic Church played a major role in Europe during the Middle Ages. The local church was the center of town life.

Sixty percent of Europe's population died in the Black Death, a spread of bubonic plague in the mid-14th century. Deep pits were dug at all the church cemeteries, and each held many bodies with a layer of dirt added each day. Letters and chronicles tell of the personal tragedies of those who buried spouses or children. The disease was spread by rats that lived....

The Black Death spread from the East into Europe in 1348, beginning an epidemic worse than any previously known to the Europeans. Three forms of the plague attacked in different ways...

The bubonic plague first came to England in 1348. By 1350, between 30 and 40% of the population had died....

Antibiotics would today prevent an epidemic like the Black Death but in medieval times, the lethal disease spread quickly across Europe. Spread by rats and fleas along trade routes, it was particularly deadly in urban areas and port cities. Mortality rates ranged from a third to half of the population. Panic caused social breakdown as doctors and others refused to help. Some sick children and family members were abandoned, but other children were provided for in wills as their parents died.

People in the Middle Ages have acquired something of a bad reputation when it comes to cleanliness, especially the peasantry. However, despite the general lack of running water....

Public health and welfare have progressed over the centuries and has led to improvements in health and life expectancy. How effective were attempts to improve public health and welfare over time?

Tall stone walls, fortified gates, and moats were designed to keep a castle from being taken by invaders. Explore the inner and outer defenses of a typical castle....

Discover more about the people who lived and worked in castles from the Lord and Lady to the unfortunate servant who had to clean out the cesspit.

If you were to build a castle during the Middle Ages, what are some of the considerations you’d need to address? One of the first things would be...

From caves to castles, people throughout history have found ways to keep animals and people out. ...

The term castle primarily refers to medieval strongholds that were home to a king. Prehistoric earthworks and princely mansions are sometimes also called...

The most valuable items to a knight were his armor, weapons, and his war horse. These three items

Medieval weaponry spanned a range from simple tools and farm implements to sophisticated siege engines.

The Medieval era was violent. Castles were built to act as power bases. Lands were subject to invasion. There was always the threat of war or land disputes...

The period referred to as the Middle Ages was extremely violent. The quest for wealth and power was driven by

Myths and misconceptions abound when it comes to medieval armor. Knights did not fight alone, nor were they...

After the fall of Rome (third to fifth centuries A. D.), much of Greek science was lost to Europe, being only maintained through the flowering of scientific inquiry in the Islamic world. Times were harsh, and scientific inquiry seemed an unaffordable luxury. The Catholic Church was fighting for its existence and to spread its views, and "pagan" inheritances such as Greek science were scorned.

While it might not seem much like the school you go to, medieval knights had their own form of education. In addition to fighting skills, they had to learn the code of ...

The son of a knight did not usually go to school (in fact, very few children in the Middle Ages did). Until he was seven he might be taught a little by his mother or a priest at home. Then he would be sent to live in the castle of another knight and his family as a page. A page had to learn how to serve at his master's table, and how a castle was run. He also learnt how to ride well and to handle weapons.

It was not easy to attain knighthood in the Middle Ages. The process took many steps

If you are learning about knights and knighthood, check out

You will find some interesting facts and information about the lives of men and women who were serfs in the Medieval period of...

The role of the serf in the feudal system is used to describe the

Middle Ages Justice & Law in England was first dominated by the rights given to feudal lords under the feudal system and...

Law and order was very harsh in Medieval England. Those in charge of law and order believed ...

Built in medieval times, the cathedral at Strasbourg rose forty stories tall. It wasn't until the 20th century that

Many monumental cathedrals were built in medieval Europe, reflecting religious beliefs and channeling creative efforts. Instead of going on a crusade, people could help build a ..

Views of rising cathedrals and massive castles are often incorporated into medieval manuscript illustrations, even if the buildings themselves are no longer...

Medieval art is a broad subject because it includes several different periods of history. The first period ....

n Christianity, the traditional degrees of the clergy, conferred by the Sacrament of Holy Order.

The Church was a powerful force in medieval England. Here Dr Alixe Bovey examines how the Church was organised, why people went on pilgrimages, and what happened to dissenters.

Tradesmen in the middle ages belonged to guilds that trained apprentices, regulated workmanship, and gave ...

Guilds helped more than just their members. They had numerous rules that helped to keep the quality of work and pricing consistent. This helped consumers to know they were getting a good product at the correct price.

Eleanor of Aquitaine lived to be over eighty years old and during her life she was the richest and most powerful woman

Most of Eleanor's life was spent in enthusiastic involvement in the politics of her realm.

Among the most powerful women in the Middle Ages, Eleanor of Aquitaine was the queen-consort of France and queen of England.

Highly influential women in history

Hildegard von Bingen, also known as Sybil of the Rhine, produced major works of theology and visionary writing at a time when ...

detailed biography of Hildegard von Bingen, composer, mystic, and poet. Hildegard was the tenth child of ...

describing events in the life of German scholar Hildegard of Bingen explains the influence of mysticism on the religious life and culture of Medieval Europe.

the Medici family was rich and powerful...

The phrase “Middle Ages” tells us more about the Renaissance that followed it than it does about the era itself. Starting in the 1300s.....

The newcomers who arrived in the little farming villages of Germany in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D. would have stood out. They had dark hair and.....