The Black Death was a huge plague that swept through Europe during the Middle Ages. It started in Italy when Chinese traders traveled there, and on their ships were flea infested rats. The fleas carried the disease, but the rats helped spread it by carrying the fleas. Soon this terrible sickness had spread throughout all of Europe, and there was nowhere to hide from it. The plague came in many different forms, and caused many various symptoms.
The Black Death killed very quickly. Some forms killed faster than others, but nevertheless someone who was infected was pretty much guaranteed death. There was literally no place to escape the Black Death because it could travel through the air, food, water, animals, and other people. The safest place to be, though, was in the country where there was less constant contact between people and other things happening, but even there nothing was guaranteed. Because of the plague, the population of Europe decreased by a third, and millions of other people outside of Europe died as well. As you can see, the Black Death was a truly horrible event in our history!
Today my uncle told me some very exciting news. He said that the pope has called upon all of us Christians to go to the Holy Land and fight for Jerusalem. The Muslim Turks have invaded Jerusalem, and there is nobody to stop them! Maybe I shall take up the sword and go to the battle for the Holy Land. After all, my uncle has asked me to!
We are of a noble family who has produced many great knights. Now my uncle is the head of the family, so it would be his duty to go fight in this war. But he is much too old, so he has asked me to go instead. I am very excited about this possibility because I have always wanted to leave home and go adventuring in some far-away land. I think this could also be a good chance to bring glory and honor to my family as well. Maybe I could become a richer man and come back a hero. I, for sure, will readily accept my uncle's request and go to the Holy Land to fight for my family and for the church!
I am the youngest son of the King of France. Today my father gave me terrible news! He said that I would have to marry the daughter of the king of one of our surrounding kingdoms. He says it is for the good of the kingdom, because it will help maintain their loyalty to France. I am only a boy of thirteen years old, and am not yet ready to go out into the world and get married. Why could he not have asked one of my older brothers? It understand why he needs me to do this, but there is just no way I can! What should I do? I must talk to him as soon as possible!
I am so scared. I talked to my father, and he said that I can't say no to this. I have done about all I can to get out of having to leave France and marry some foreign royalty, but there is nothing I can do. Maybe I could run away, but then I will be chased by all my father's men and killed if I am caught. I suppose all I can do is obey my father. Of course I will be leaving my whole life behind, but there is the chance of adventure and possible riches and fame. Wish me luck!
I am in the worst possible situation imaginable, and I wonder if I might be cursed. Nothing in my life has ever gone right, and I have not amounted to anything, or in other words, I am a total failure. Now I am on the run, on my way to wherever my fate takes me. I've been declared a wolf's head, which means that anyone who finds me may kill me, and there is a huge reward for my capture. John Aycliffe, the steward, has already tried to kill me multiple times, and falsely accused me of robbing the mansion!
I do not know why the evil steward is so intent on killing me. It must be some secret about my father, or mother, that he doesn't want me to find out. I was told by Father Quinel that my father was killed by the plague that swept through Europe a few years ago. Now Father Quinel is dead and I'm all alone and on the run. Everywhere I go I feel that John Aycliffe is always right behind me. Though, I have to keep going because if I stop I will die anyways. What is the loss though; my life isn't worth anything. I keep asking God to give me a miracle, but what good is it.
It has been a long day in the fields and I am on my way back to the village. I am thinking about how hard work is and how cruelly we farmers are treated. Then something very strange happens. As I near the ridge that my village lies behind, I smell smoke. I figure that some weary traveler is just building a fire for himslef until a big cloud of smoke rises from my village. I begin to run. Faster and faster I go until I reach the top of the ridge and look over my village. I realized I was right about there being a fire, but it was not at all what I had imagined. I have heard various stories from travelers about these deadly, greedy destroyers, but never really believed them to be completely true. I heard they come quickly and unexpectedly with absolutely no warning, and destroy everything they see. Well, my worst suspicions and nightmares have come true.
My entire village is gone and not a single structure still stands. Everyone is dead, as far as I can tell, for it is so silent. In the distance I see the Viking sails. I run down to where my home once stood, and I find nothing but ashes. The Vikings destroy all in their path, and are mainly after silver as I have heard. They have also gone hundreds of miles up rivers because their ships are built to not dip under water much when they are all inside one. I never thought I would experience the Viking's wrath, but today I was proven wrong.
Charlemagne was a Frankish king during the Middle Ages, and is also known as Charles the Great. At the time when he was the king, Europe was divided into many small kingdoms, that always fought each other for power. Charlemagne eventually conquered most of the kingdoms that were part of the former Western Roman Empire, creating his own huge empire. Later, he became the first Roman emperor since the fall of Rome.
Charlemagne's empire consisted of almost all of Western Europe including Northern Italy, modern day France, Germany, and many other western European countries. He took over everywhere he could! This meant that Europe was finally unified after so many years of internal war. That made him a very important figure in the Middle Ages. Eventually Charlemagne was crowned as the first emperor of the Roman empire since the fall of Rome. These events made him very famous and are why we study him now.
This year my new years resolution is to be more proactive when it comes to school and other stuff. Sometimes I get kind of lazy and I wait too long to do projects and other school work which sometimes causes late and very stressful nights. I also want to try to do things like read or go outside more, and play video games and sit around doing nothing less. I think if I can achieve this I will become a better student and hopefully a better person. That is one thing that I would like to try to do better this year.
Another resolution I have is to be a more caring and generous person to my family, friends and other people that I may not have been nice to before just because we were different. So this year I will also try to be nicer to people whether or not I know them or are friends with them, and to not judge people based on only what I can see from a distance.
I am very excited for winter break because tomorrow is the last day of school before our three weeks off. I have a lot of things to look forward to this break. First of all is sleeping in and not having any homework. This will be nice especially after the last couple of weeks which have been crazy. I have had more homework than ever, which keeps me up late and therefore, makes me quite tired the next morning. The break will definitely be a relief to me.
Another thing I am looking forward to during break is my birthday. My birthday is very exciting because I was born on Christmas. Everyone always tells me how sorry they are because I don't get as many presents. But this is really not true. All that having my birthday on Christmas means is that I get all my presents on the day, and no less than anyone who has their birthday on another day. Christmas is a lot of fun because normally we will wake up and open our presents, then go see a movie or something. After that we will pretty much just hang out at home and do other things. Then later we will celebrate my birthday. This is a lot of fun for me because it kind of keeps the day going. These are the things I am excited for during break!
Ancient Japan was very unconnected to the rest of Asia for a long time, since it was an island. This meant that they had a very unique culture that was much different than the rest of Asia. Then there was a Japanese regent named Prince Shotoku who realized that Japan could actually learn and benefit a lot from China and Korea. One of the main and overall most important ideas that Japan got from China and Korea was the idea of Buddhism. This new religion became the center of Japanese culture and was very important in the country. A specific type of Buddhism called Zen Buddhism is what many samurai followed because focused on meditation and other forms of self-discipline. This religion spread very quickly through Japan which is the main reason I believe it is the most important thing that they got from Korea and China.
As I am outside tending my field, I feel and hear a sound like thunder coming from the northern hills. I slowly look up and see thousands and thousands of men on horses coming over the hill and I soon realize that it is the dreaded, bloodthirsty Mongols we have heard about from traders from western Asia. My farm is in the most northern part of the village and I realize that it will be the first thing the Mongols hit as they come through the village. There is pretty much nothing I can do to save myself, for I know I will be killed along with the rest of my village. The Mongols will spare nobody.
I sprint into the village to warn everyone of the Mongols, even though it will do no good, since I know that everyone has already felt the earth shaking and the the terrifying pounding of the drums. They are almost here now, and the village has already given up hope. We will all die and nothing is going to stop that.
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