May 27, 2014

Today in class, Matt and Phil taught the class. They taught us everything that is going to be on the test tomorrow. We also talked about kangaroos becauze Jess's boyfriend is a kangaroo. It was a very productive class.

Quote of the Day: "Just keep swimming."

May 23, 2014

Today in class, we went over the powerpoint we did yesterday. That was really all we did today. Mr. Schick talked about his trip to the news station yesterday and how much fun he had. He showed us some pictures, but that was really all we did in class. We talked a little bit about Morgan Freeman and some of the celebrities that he has met. It was actually a kinda boring class.

Quote of the Day: "Remind yourself that it's okay not to be perfect."

May 22, 2014

This new society has roots in:

• Classical heritage of Rome
• Beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
• Customs of various Germanic tribes

5th Century Germanic Invaders

Overrun the western half of the Roman Empire

Causing:

• Disruption of trade
• Downfall of cities
• Population shifts to rural areas

Effects of Invasion

Decline of learning

• tribes had oral tradition and songs - couldn't read Greek or Latin
• Romance languages evolve (French, Spanish, Portuguese)
• Few besides priests were literate

Gregory's spiritual kingdom (Christendom) extends from Italy to England, from Spain to Germany.

Clovis descendants include Charles, Martel, known as Charles the Hammer.
Hammer defeats a Muslim raiding party from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732.



Quote of the Day: "I myself am made of flaws stitched together with good intentions."

May 21, 2014

D. A European Empire Evolves

• Franks control largest European kingdom
• The Roman province formerly known as Gaul
• Ruled by Clovis - the Merovingian Dynasty

• Major domo - mayor of the palace - ruled the kingdom
• Charles Martel - Charles the Hammer
• extended the Franks' region to the north, south, east
• Defeated a Muslim army from Spain at the Battle of Tours in 732 - historic battle

• Charles the Hammer's son - Pepin the Short
• Possibly named for his unusual short haircut
• Working for and with the Pope, Pepin fought the Lombard
• Pope Stephen II named Pepin "king by the grace of God" - beginning the Carolingian Dynasty 751-987 AD

(So, a Pope can actually name someone "king")

• Pepin the Short had two sons: Carolman and Charles
• Carolman died leaving...

E. Charlemagne takes center stage

• Charlemagne - aka Charles the Great
• Six foot four
• Built the greatest empire since Rome
• Fought the Muslims in Spain
• Fought Germanic tribes
• Spread Christianity
• Reunited Western Europe
• Became the most powerful king in western Europe
• Pope Leo III crowned him emperor in 800 AD after he defended him from an unruly Roman mob
• This signaled the joining of Germanic power, the Church, and the heritage of the Roman Empire

• Charlemagne's Government
• He limited the authority of the nobles
• He regularly visited every part of his kingdom
• Kept close watch on his estates

• Cultural revival
• Encouraged learning
• Ordered monasteries to open schools

• But, his heirs were weenies...
• His son - Louis the Pious - was ineffective
• Louis' three sons - Lothario, Charles the Bald, & Louis the German - split up the kingdom at the Treaty of Verdun in 843 AD 

Germanic Kingdoms Unite Under Charlemagne

Main Idea

• Many Germanic kingdoms that succeeded the Roman Empire were reunited under Charlemagne's empire.

Why It Matters Now

• Charlemagne spread Christian civilization throughout northern Europe, which is where many of us came from.

Setting The Stage

• Middle Ages= medieval period
• 500- 1500 AD
• medieval Europe is fragmented

A. Invasions trigger changes in western Europe.

• Invasions and constant warfare speak new trends
• Disruption of trade
• Europe's cities are no longer economic centers
• Money is scarce

• Downfall of cities
• Cities are no longer centers of administration

• Population shifts
• Nobles retreat to the rural areas
• Cities don't have strong leadership

• Decline of learning
• Germanic invaders are illiterate, but they communicate through oral tradition
• Only priests and church officials could read and write
• Knowledge of Greek is almost lost

B. Germanic kingdoms emerge

1. The concept of government changes

• Roman society: loyal to public gov't

• Germanic society: loyal to family
• Germanic chief led warriors
• During peace, he provided food, weapons, treasure, a place to live
• During wartime, warriors fought for the lord

• Franks live in Roman province of Gaul - their leader is Clovis
• The Franks under Clovis
• Another battlefield conversion, like Constantine
• Clovis and 3k of his warriors are baptized by the bishop
• The Church in Rome approves of this "alliance"
• Clovis and the Church begin to work together

Clovis' military expertise + the Church's support and money = a strategic alliance between two powerful forces.

C. Germanic people's adopt Christianity

• (Pope) Gregory I expands papal power
• Papacy=pope's office
• Secular power = wordy power
• So... under Gregory the Great...

Papal power (power of the pope) is political power, presented from the pope's palace.

• The church can use church honey to:
• Raise armies
• Repair roads
• Help the poor
• Gregory the Great began to act as mayor of Rome, and as heard of an earthly kingdom.

• 511 AD - Clovis unites Franks into one kingdom
• 600 AD - Church and Frankish rulers convert many
• Fear of Muslims in southern Europe spur many to become Christians
• Monasteries and convents
• 520 AD - Benedict wrote the rules for monks and monasteries
• Poverty, chastity, obedience, study
• His sister Scholastics did the same for nuns on convents
• 731 AD - the Venerable Beds wrote a killer history of England
• Monks opened schools, maintained libraries, and copied books (Bibles, Greek texts)

May 16, 2014

Feudalism- a political, military, and economic system based on land-holding and protective alliances

• In other words, the system is based on personal loyalty to people who can help you.

RICH DUDE (LORD): "I own land; I need people to help me work it and defend it."
TOUGH DUDES (VASSALS): "There are a lot of is, we can help the rich duded hold on to their land."

The Feudal Pyramid

• Top: KING
• The most powerful VASSALS (NOBLES and BISHOPS)
• KNIGHTS- mounted warriors who received FIEFS for defending their lord's land
• Bottom: PEASANTS (mostly SERFS) landless, powerless, moneyed, rights-less. Just working the land for "the man" (their lord)

MIND YOUR MANERS

• Manor: the lord's estate
• The lord's manor house
• A church
• Some workshops
• 15-30 families
• All on a few square miles
• Good news: It's a self-sufficient community
• Bad news: it's harsh if you're a peasant

HOW HARSH WAS IT?

• Peasants are poor AND pay high taxes
• Tax on grain
• Tax on marriage
• Church tax (tithe = 10% of their income)
• They live in crowded cottages
• Live with animals and insects (for warmth; they did their business in your house)
• Eat VERY simply
• But don't worry - the Church says this is your lot in life
• God determines your place in society - so chill

Quote of the Day: "Let us all meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love." -Mother Teresa

May 14, 2014

Today in class, we took a test that I didn't know about. I don't know if I did well or not but I hope I did!

Quote of the Day: "When something bad happens, you need to just let it go to stay happy. It may take time, but it is worth it."

May 13, 2014

I wasn't in class today because I was home sick.

May 9, 2014

Today in class.. Actually I don't remember what we did in class given the fact that we had Western Civ first mod. I think we got out tests back and went over the tests and took down a couple notes and that was really it.. (forgive me if I'm wrong!)

Quote of the Day: "I'd like to thank, not only God, but Jesus." -Justin Bieber

May 8, 2014

Today in class, we took notes off of a pae in the book. I don't have my computer because I sorta kinda broke it, so I had to write my notes by hand. Then, we went over our notes and that was all we did in class.

Quote of the Day: "You just gotta get up and try." -P!NK

May 7, 2014

Today in class, we took a test. I felt confident about it UNTIL I came to the last part of it. I didn't study that part enough, and I don;t think I did so hot on that part of the test. BUT, the multiple choice questions.. I think (hope) I aced that part. I am hoping for a C on it, but you never know. It could be better than that, or it could be worse that that. Knowing my luck, it will probably be worse. Whenever I think I do good on something, I usually fail it or go below my standards. It really sucks.

Quote of the Day: "The tests of life are not made to break you, but to make you." -Norman Vince Peale

May 6, 2014 (THE DAY BEFORE THE TEST)

Who was the first emperor? Caesar Augustus

Caligula (good start)

• In addition to being Germanicus' son, he was Tiberius' adopted grandson and great-nephew - putting him next in line for emperor.

Caligula (bad finish)

• He began to fight with the Senate
• He claimed to be a god, and had statues displayed in many places - including the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (sacrilege!)
• Other examples of cruelty and insanity: he slept with other men's wives and bragged about it, indulged in too much spending and sex, and even tried to make his horse a consul and a priest (at least that's what his critics said)
• Assassinated by his own aides. AD 41 (aged 28)

Claudius

• Ostracized by his family because of his disabilities (limp, slight deafness, possible speech impediment - thought to be cerebral palsy or polio), he was the last adult male in his family when Caligula was killed
• He rose to the occasion: he conquered Britain; he built roads, canals, and aqueducts; he renovated the Circus Maximus
• He had an awful marriage to Messalina, who was quite often unfaithful to him, even plotting to seize power for her lover Silius through a coup - so Claudius had them killed

Religious troubles

• Christianity and Judaism: monotheistic
• Romans had many gods, plus at times the emperor was viewed as a god
• AD 66: a group of Jews called the Zealots tried to rebel, but Roman troops put them down and burned their temple (except for one wall)
• The Western Wall today is the holiest of all Jewish shrines
• Half a million Jews died in the rebellion

Persecution of Christians

• Romans were harsh toward those who would not worship the emperor
• Especially Christians, who were viewed as followers of a new, upstart religion (cult)
• Often used for "entertainment" purpose in the Colosseum (thrown to the lions, etc.)
• Despite the oppression, Christianity grew quickly - by AD 200, around 10 percent of the people in the Roman empire were Christians

Quote of the Day: "Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy." -Angelina Jolie as Susana Kaysen in "Girl Interrupted"

May 2, 2014

Pg. 101  "Assassination and Another Caesar"

• He was voted to be dictator for life
• He never ruled with terror but was a Greek style tyrant
• Senators struck him down with daggers in 44 B.C
• Caesar’s death led to more warlords
• His adopted son Octavian formed a triumvirate with 2 other war lords and together they defeated Caesar’s murders and declared Caesar as a divine being
• Octavian was based in Rome and pushed the other warlord out of power
• The remaining warlord and he went to war in 31 B.C.
• Octavian won was the supreme warlord of Rome

Pg. 103-107  LO1 The Rule of the Emperors

• The era of the Roman Peace was one of massive social, religious, and cultural changes that would form a new pattern of western civilization
• Augustus's new system kept many features of the Republic, allowed subject people some self-rule, and brought Rome's expansion to a halt.  
• Roman achievements in literature, art, philosophy and law, architecture and engineering were inspired by Greek models, but surpassed those of Greeks.
• Rome became a model to other civilizations as Greece was to it.
• Octavian soon took the name Augustus "revered one"
• "Augustan settlement" emerged by 27 B.C.------the end of the Republic and the beginning of the rule of the Roman empire
• Augustus proclaimed to be restoring the republic
• He refused the offer of a long-term dictatorship and referred to himself as princeps (first citizen)
• The only office he held continently was a tribune of the people
• In 27 B.C. he was confirmed by the senate as commander and chief of the army
• He let the Senate supervise Italy and Rome but he controlled the military and army
• He put to death many of the opposing senators and replaced them with friends do he could consult them and give the senate power
• The people's assembly lost all power but that's okay
• People trusted Augustus to rule in their interest as they trusted Caesar
• Augustus allowed himself to be the center of a religious worship
• People worshiped him and the divine city of Rome
• Shrines of Rome and Augustus were set up throughout the empire
• When he died the Senate declared him a Divine Being, like Caesar
• Livia, his wife, was also declared deified
• Augustus was the founder of the new system of monarchy
• He keep control over the affairs of Rome itself but let providence's deal with day to day stuff
• There was still corrupt government but not nearly as much as the Republic had
• He had 600,000 men in the army so he cut half of them and paid them off
• By the end of his rule, all his soldiers were volunteers, serving 25 years in permanent units.
• It was stable because all men served by own choice and knew when he would be discharged and paid
• Auxiliary soldiers were not offered money at the end but sometimes offered Roman citizenship.
• Every solider swore obedience to the princeps
• Augustus had created the first ever standing pro army
• Part of his army was in Rome for protection but most on the frontiers of the empire
• At his death he turned against further expansion
• He wanted to settle on someone to replace him
• He wanted him to come from his own family to continue the line from Caesar
• He settled on Tiberius, Livia's son from another marriage, and adopted him as his own
• He was already trusted by the army
• Augustus died in A.D. 41 and Tiberius took over
• Caesar's last descendant, Nero was overthrown and the line of adopted kids stopped
• After a civil war for power, Vespasian won and founded a new dynasty----the Flavian dynasty
• It ended when his blood son was killed
• Then Nerva was appointed (member of the Senate)
• He adopted the general Trajan to avoid another war
• Adopted son who was to become emperor- Caesar
• When he had become emperor- Augustus
• Adoption and designation was the pattern and it was good :Trajan, Hadrian, Antonius, and Marcus Aurelius
• Then Marcus had a blood son who took over and was murdered from a terrible ruling
• The Setimius Severus took over and his male descendants took over well into the 3rd century
• Augustus's governing structure ended until the 3rd century
• He brought 200 years of stability and prosperity that is known as the Pax Romana, Then Roman Peace

Quote of the Day: "Life is to short to make stupid mistakes."

May 1, 2014

Today in class, I was there for like 15 minutes then I left for softball. All we did when I was there was watch scary, bloody videos and I didn't like them.

Quote of the Day: "Stay Strong." -Demi Lovato