This concise tome clearly demonstrates what a nasty, not to mention a stinky bunch the Vicious Vikings actually were. Although medieval Europeans had not invented deodorant at that point, and very few of them bothered to have baths.

Terry Deary then depicts how the Vikings became of the most feared warriors and sea raiders in the entire Middle Ages. They were accomplished adventurers in their longboats, could tell a good yarn, and they were ‘very dangerous to know if you had something they wanted.’

Over all it is a great read, entertaining for adults as well as for children.

When the Jews were allowed to remain in a country, they were often forced to live in small, crowded areas called ghettos, and to wear special clothing. They were not allowed to vote, own land, or practice any profession. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, several European kings filled their treasuries by taking things that belonged to the Jews.

For several centuries in Spain, colonies of Jews lived peacefully under the rule of Spanish Muslims or Moors. Many Spanish Jews were government officials, lawyers, bankers, doctors, and scholars. When the Muslims were driven from Spain in the thirteenth century, this peaceful period ended.

However history tells that this area remained ignored during 1642-1651 war. It looks very beautiful and the green landscape around the fort makes it more captivating. If you sit there and view the fort, you will feel reaching in the ancient times.

There is a water filled ditch around the fort, which has special routes for crossing it, by the help of which, you can enter the fort passing through the Main Gate. There is a beautiful palace inside the castle as well, which has six minarets.

Each minaret has its own specialty. The stones that are used in the Main Hall preparation, can not be seen any where else. It would not be wrong saying that Skipton is among few unique ancient relics in the world.

By Muhammad Irfan Zafar

Content Writer

The need of man to understand himself through his past, amply justifies the constant pursuit of the facts relevant to rebuild it, causes and factors that determined the steps, phases and rhythms that developed in human life.

However, the huge range of issues - temporal, spatial, anthropological, geographical, economic, political, social, etc. - that inform the past and the subjective situation of those who try to ordain them and expose them systematically creates difficulties sometimes insuperable.

Thus, pre-historic men, no writing, communicate orally only direct experience they need to survive and progress, when men of antiquity began to write, is still limited to the registration of facts deemed important by those who exert social influence absolute (princes and priests).

It is the era of chronic apologetic, when kings succeed and realize the facts of history, and mythology. This superficial view of history goes on during the Middle Ages with royal and ecclesiastical historiography.

The conditions for a critical position in relation to the past do not exist. However, since antiquity, some isolated individuals (Herodotus, Polybius, Pausanias) break the barrier of subjective bias and external data.

Study the geographical conditions that developed in the facts, seek political and social environment that determined by defining the former sources of history, geography, chronology, sociology (so embryonic Polybius).

Still do not understand the evolutionary process and the diversity of civilizations; America, Asia and Africa continents are largely unknown and historical frameworks are abstract and unilateral.

The  Middle  Ages  is  an  extension  of the ancient slave  society,  yet  understated. Only in the Renaissance, history reaches proportions objective, genealogy, numismatics, archeology and  linguistics  begin  to  be  considered  as  important  auxiliary. The combination of feelings, cultures and peoples through the discovery, commerce and science, help trace the historical process generally, the laws that govern it and the steps that form. Machiavelli, Vico and Montesquieu - albeit with a priori views - stand out among the great historians of the 15th century until the French Revolution.

The  great  social  changes,  political  and  scientific  of  the late  18th  and  19th  century,   foregrounds  historical  inquiry,  not  only as  knowledge  of  the  past,  but as attempt to  understand the future of  humanity  as  a  result  of  its  previous  history.

For the first time, we use objective sources, and with further study of the determinants of each process, overcome the old method of history horizontal (chronological listing military, political or diplomatic). The traditional division of history into ages (Antiquity, Middle, Modern and Contemporary) also entailed a large arbitrariness: emphasis on military events, the omission of historical changes that define   steps,  devaluation  of  the   influence  of  other  civilizations,  artificial separation  process  unit.

It covers a vertical history broader reality: economic history, social, cultural, etc.. The analysis, comparison and expertise are the reasons for large conceptions and historicalsummaries (Mommsen, Ranke). Born positivism (Comte) and materialism (Marx). In the 20th century, there are statistics, photography and audio-visual means. The great historical works of our time (L. Febvre, Toynbee, Bloch) are usually the result of teams of expertsunder the direction of a historian who summarizes and organizes the different elements.Today, the historical research is oriented in accordance with the philosophical currents that are discussed at the global level.

Voodoo followers believe in the existence of zombies, other terms of the undead. That said, according to their beliefs, people whose spirits are stolen by means of witchcraft, will be employed as slaves. Through the bite, the zombies can also make other people into their kind.

The existence of zombies has never been scientifically proven. In 2009, scientists from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University to investigate the phenomenon of the spread of zombies with the assumptions of biology: in the form of a virus or plague.

However, assuming people in the Middle Ages is clearly different. Recently archaeologists found two skeletons from the early Middle Ages in Ireland – with a large stone stuck in their mouths. The archaeologists believe, the way it shows evidence of people’s fears, that body will bounce back as a zombie.

Skeleton found in several sessions during the 2005-2009 excavations at Kilteasheen, near Loch Key, by a team of archaeologists led by Chris Read from the Institute of Technology of Sligo, Ireland, and Thomas Finan of the University of St. Louis.

This project succeeded in lifting 137 framework, although the scientists believe, there are hundreds to thousands of others who still have not been lifted.

The way that deviates burial was found in two male skeleton. Both are buried in a different time, circa 700 AD.

One of the dead man believed to be aged between 40 to 60 years. Others, still young, about 20 to 30 years. Both were laid side by side, with a rock the size of a baseball stuffed into their mouths.

“One of them lay with his eyes looked up to the top. Driven in large black stone in his mouth,” said Chris Read. “Others, was found with his head turned sideways, terjejal stone in his mouth to make her neck twisted.”

The team of archaeologists suspect, they found a cemetery associated with the so-called “black death”. Stone crammed in the mouth that is proof he has done the ritual murder of a vampire.

Initially, suspicion had dawned, cramming rocks in the mouth that is the way society at that time to prevent the transmission of disease from the corpse. However, because the phenomenon does not appear in the folklore of Europe until the 1500s, archaeologists ruled out that theory. They then retreated back to the 8th century.

“In this case, the stone at the mouth of allegedly used to prevent the corpse rose from the grave,” said Chris Read.

Both bodies Irishman could have been considered a dangerous person – such as the enemy, murderer, rapist, or because of sudden death due to a strange disease or were killed. Residents at that time seemed to fear that they could bounce back and harm society.

Why are their mouths stuffed with stones?

“The mouth is believed to be the door to the soul as it leaves the body at death. Sometimes, the soul can come back, or evil spirits can enter the body through the mouth, and raised him,” he said.

Police immediately arrested the suspect who is a mother and stepfather of the girl who was 16 years old. According to police, a teenage girl is forced to wear armor and fight with his stepfather with a medieval-style battle. Similarly, as reported by MSNBC, Tuesday (10/18/2011).

After the duel with his own stepfather, the girl fainted because it was too tired in that fight.

Police said the couple was being punished because her own daughter to go to party without the consent of her parents. The team of police investigators also stated, these couples are enthusiast of medieval culture.

They want to simulate a battle royal style with his own daughter.

Both couples were told the police, they have the right to discipline his own daughter, but police consider their actions against his daughter is violence.

Pugin published a series of manifestos. The first had the fabulous title Contrasts, or a parallel between the noble edifices of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and similar buildings of the present day; shewing the present decay of taste (1836). He set out the book as a series of contrasting images. Each page shows a scene from the Middle Ages and one from the present. The implication is that social change is reflected in architecture.

 Pugin’s vision of a medieval town is idyllic and picturesque, but in the 19th century town the church spires are decaying or they have been replaced with factory chimneys. Christian virtues are disappearing.

 The Gothic church in the foreground has been Classicised. Pugin felt it was blasphemous for a church to be built in the Classical style because it was invented by a pre-Christian, i.e. ‘pagan’ civilisation.

 The medieval bridge has been replaced with a cast iron one.

 The town wall has been replaced with blank warehouse façades.

 In the foreground there is a prison and a lunatic asylum, which implies that the loss of religious faith has resulted in crime and insanity.

 There are some very clever details. The bridge now has a toll bar, suggesting that this is an avaricious society dedicated to making money.

Overall, Pugin was appalled by the effects of the Industrial Revolution and wanted to retreat into the Middle Ages. He was devoted to reviving medieval architecture and medieval society. Many shared this view. The Arts and Crafts movement aimed to revive aspects of pre-industrial society. So we see that industrial was a source of power, but it provoked deep anxiety within British culture.

1. King Arthur in Legends and Literature, Introduction
2. King Arthur in Legends and Literature, Evolution of The Legend

Wace completed his poem „Romance of Brutus” in 1155, twenty years after the “Historia Regum Brittanniae” was written by Geoffrey of Monmouth. We know already from the development of the Round Table that the “Historia” was meant to be a historical report. But what was the “Romance of Brutus” meant to be?

To find answers on these questions it is important to investigate the life of Wace and the political and social situation which he lived in. The following subchapters will give information about Wace and explain the circumstances of the 12th century.

About Wace

The English poet Robert Wace was born about 1100 at Jersey, a British island, into a noble family. Due to the position of his grandfather who was a chamberlain to the Duke Robert of Normandy he was well informed about the political problems of the 12th century. In his teens it was already clear that Robert was destined for the church. So he was sent to Caen and later to Paris to study.

Between 1130 and 1135 he worked for King Henry I as clerc lisant at his court in Caen. Because of his bad living conditions, as he got just the bare necessities from the king, he tried to improve his situation by starting to write for lords, who wanted to have Latin books translated for their understanding.      

His most popular works are “The life of St. Margaret”, “The life of St. Nicholas” and the “Romance of Brutus”. As to the “Romance of Brutus” historians are not sure who it was written for, but Wace presented it to the Queen of England.

1174, Robert Wace died at Bayeux.

Britain at the time of Wace’s “Romance of Brutus”

The 11th and the 12th century in Britain were full of agitating events that changed nearly every aspect of live in medieval Britain. Beginning with the call for the first crusade in 1095 there were several social, structural and political alterations.

After the death of the English king Henry I in 1135 and already in 1134, his daughter Mathilda who was to be his successor in the Normandy had to fight armed riots against the King because the Normans did not want to accept neither her nor her husband Gottfried as their new king and queen. When Henry I died Stephen of Blois, a nephew of Henry I, took the absence of the heir of the throne as chance and rushed to England where he was crowned by the citizens of London.

He was protected against Mathilda by the English bishops whom he won because of his kind character, which is described as knightly, generous and good-natured – the extreme opposite of the deceased Henry I.

Stephen reformed several matters of public interest during his regency. For instance, he draw up a document promising the pope freedom for the church, and the end of the appropriation of the property of deceased bishops, which was a bad abuse that came up under the regency of former kings.

For the unity of Britain Stephen saw the necessity of a good relationship towards the high noblemen of Britain, therefore he made contracts with them to strengthen his position.

In 1137, he thought himself powerful enough to enforce his claim towards the Normandy which was by that time already under the control of Mathilda. The operation failed because Stephen was not able to convince the army of the legitimacy of his claims, so he made armistices with his enemies. As the result of Stephen’s weakness, the Earl Robert of Gloucester invaded northern England together with the Scottish King and an army of different groups of soldiers. In addition to this Mathilda invaded England from the south-west. Although Stephen was able to defend England from the Scots, he had big effort to prevent a Norman invasion. The powerlessness of the English king ended in an anarchy: The noblemen and high churchmen were the only ones who profited from this situation. While Stephen was in conflict with Mathilda the noblemen changed their loyalty depending on who was the best choice for the pursuit of their interests. They used the absence of the royal authority to circumvent the royal fortification-monopole, building their own castles from which they fought their private disputes. Stephen himself did also contribute to his fall by blaming his biggest allies, the bishops of England. At the end of his regency after he was for a short time held prisoner by Mathilda’s allies Stephen gave in to Henry II who forced Stephen to adopt him as his true heir of the throne but respected the regency of Stephen till the end of his life.

Feudal system

After the Norman Conquest that took place in 1066 class differences increased, leading to the development of the feudal system to which the whole medieval society adapted in the 12th century.

The feudal system was built on mutual service and obligation between Lord and vassal: The landlord lent land to the vassal and assured him and his family protection. On countermove the vassal had to work on the land of his landlord, to serve him and to go to war with his landlord.

Usually the landlords had several vassals who each of them, depending on the size of their land may have had their vassals either, whom they had to protect and who on their part had to serve them. Accordingly the landlords had often more power and were able to build up stronger armies than the king himself. On account of the distribution of power in the feudal system the king was also called chief feudal lord.

As a result of the feudal system the social structure arranged pyramidal: While the chief feudal lord/ king built the top of it, there were the poorest smallholders on the bottom. They were the biggest group, but had no power in medieval Britain, and were exposed to the despotism of the high noblemen. The middle of the social pyramid was the class of landlords/crown vassals, vassals and under vassals.

Knighthood

The Middle Ages were also the time where knighthood and chivalry emerged in Britain: Roughly speaking knighthood was the child of the feudal system. Since the system of mutual service and obligation included also support in event of war, a new social class formed. For that reason knighthood began in the 11th century as a class of professional warriors. Its members were vassals and came out of each social layer, but since knights needed big amounts of money to afford their special training and equipment they were, as a rule, just vassals of the upper layers, who were in the possession of a certain wealth. The vassals of the lower layers could usually not bring up the money to buy armour and weapons and rise to the status of knights.

During the 12th century knights started to organize in so called knight orders and knighthood came to its height: While the number of knight orders, like the order of the Knights of Templar, which was the first such military order increased, another aspect of knighthood namely “chivalry” developed. Whereas the term “knighthood” names the structure of knight orders, “chivalry” describes the ideals and the strict system of values that these orders were based on. Being a knight meant honesty as well as religiousness.

The religiousness of knighthood can be traced back to the monks of the cloister Cluny, who were strong believers and tried to live as religious as possible. The cloister Cluny perhaps had also strong influence on the crusades.

***

Read more:

Life is Too Short!
Arthur’s Childhood Nickname
Ebook Review and Online Resources: All You Need is Like
Listen to European Music Online with Funkhaus Europa
Comparing The German and English Version of M. Moore’s Stupid White Men
End of Mae by Angela Yuriko Smith – Book Reviews and Resources

Voodoo followers believe in the existence of zombies, another term for the undead. That said, according to their beliefs, people whose spirits were stolen by means of witchcraft, will be employed as slaves. Through the bite, the zombies can also make other humans into their kind.

The existence of zombies has never been scientifically proven. In 2009, scientists from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University to investigate the phenomenon of the spread of zombies with the assumptions of biology: in the form of a virus or plague.

However, assuming people in the Middle Ages is clearly different. Recently archaeologists found two skeletons from the early Middle Ages in Ireland – with a large rock wedged in their mouths. The archaeologists believe, the way it shows evidence of people’s fears, that body will bounce back as a zombie.

Skeleton was found in several sessions during the 2005-2009 excavations at Kilteasheen, near Loch Key, by a team of archaeologists led by Chris Read of the Institute of Technology of Sligo, Ireland, and Thomas Finan of the University of St. Louis.

This project succeeded in lifting 137 framework, although the scientists believe, there are hundreds to thousands of others who still have not been lifted.

How to deviant burials were found in two male skeleton. Both are buried in a different time, about the year 700 AD.

One of the dead man believed to be aged between 40 to 60 years. Others, still young, about 20 to 30 years. Both were laid side by side, with a rock the size of a baseball stuffed into their mouths.

“One of them lay with his eyes looked up to the top. Driven in large black stone in his mouth,” said Chris Read. “Others, was found with his head turned sideways, terjejal stone in his mouth to make his neck twisted.”

The team of archaeologists suspect, they found the cemetery associated with the so-called “black death”. Stone is stuffed in the mouth it is proof he has done the ritual vampire murder.

Initially, the allegations had occurred, stuffing rocks in the mouth it is the way society was to prevent the transmission of disease from the corpse. However, because the phenomenon does not appear in the folklore of Europe until the 1500s, archaeologists didn’t accept the theory. They then retreated back to the 8th century.

“In this case, the rock at the mouth allegedly used to prevent the corpse rose from the grave,” said Chris Read.

Both the Irish men’s bodies could be considered a dangerous man – such an enemy, a murderer, rapist, or because of sudden death due to a strange disease or were killed. Residents at that time seemed to fear that they could bounce back and harm society.

Why are their mouths stuffed with rocks?

“The mouth is believed to be the door to the soul as it leaves the body at death. Sometimes, the soul can come back, or evil spirits can enter the body through the mouth, and raised him,” he said. (Source: Discovery News, Lifelittlemysteries

In Medieval times the longbow as like the machine gun of modern times.  The longbow was extremely accurate and had a long range.  It was cheap and peasants could afford to own one.   The longbow made the peasants superior.

Longbows were usually made of yew.  The arrows were usually made of ash.  It is thought that the longbow was first used for entertainment.  The bowmen would compete against each other and soon villages were having contests.

The government soon realized the qualities of the longbow and the men that used them.  Laws were passed that forced all males from the age of 15 to 60 to practice using the longbow.  It usually took about 10 years for someone to become a good bowman with the longbow.  The longbow had to be drawn back to the ear and the bowman could not sight down the arrow as he did with a short bow to hit his target.  It took years of practice for a bowman to become accurate in the use of a longbow.

The bows that are used today have a draw of about 40 pounds and the longbow of medieval times had a draw of about 120 pounds.  The longbows of medieval times were over 4 feet long and that is what gave them their power.

A well trained archer could shoot 12 arrows a minute with his longbow.  Some say the very best archers could fire more than that.  The arrows shot from longbows could wound the target at 250 yards, kill at 100 yards and go through armor at 60 yards.

The longbow was the most effective weapon in Europe from 1300 to 1588.  In the 1300’s England decided the longbow would be a good weapon for their infantry.  This decision was made after an English knight was wounded when an arrow from a Welsh infantryman’s longbow penetrated the knight’s armor.

It is said there are 6 longbows left in existence today but none of these are from the middle ages.  The longbow was truly a superb weapon in Medieval England.

Article sources:

http://www.margo.student.utwente.nl

http://www.bowyers.com/longbow/longbow.html

http://www.brainberu.quazen.com

http://www.history-magazine.com/longbow.html