King Henry VIII

King Henry VIII was born the 28th of June, 1491 and died on the 28th of January, 1547. His reign was over England and he reigned 37 years. He was crowned on the 24th of June 1509 when he was only seventeen years old. Besides for his six marriages, Henry was known for his part in the splitting of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. He made troubles with Rome and the papal authority, so he became the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He created monasteries with the same Catholic teachings since he himself was Catholic. Henry was a very proud and charismatic man. He wanted an heir to his thrown because he thought that a daughter would not be good enough to rule the Tudor Dynasty. He English Reformation was created by him when he broke off from the pope. Many things triggered this such as the decline of feudalism and rise of nationalism, the rise of common law, the transmission of new ideas between higher class and lower class people and the spread of ideas throughout the nation. He created a Church for England and set up common laws where people could divorce. Since he had six wives who were Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Their deaths were in this chronicle order: divorced, executed, died, divorced executed and alive or widowed. He did many things for England like making it its own nation, but he was very close to his ego. He became morbidly obese and insecure of being a fit king. He was not very intelligent about financial issues like making palaces and  hanging 10000 tapestries in each. He also declared himself supreme head of Church in 1534 and he liked to be brutal. All in all Henry was not so useful, but he did in fact brake off from Rome.
  Ghost of King Henry.

What was the goal of the Crusades and what were the effects of the Crusades on life in Europe?

The goal of the Crusades were to get back the Holy Land that was Jerusalem and "unite" the people. Pope Urban II called for the war because he thought that Jerusalem was Christian and it would give the Church more influence. Then Jerusalem was held by Arabs and they allowed Christians to visit. Around the 1000s the Seljuk Turks took control and closed the trade routes. The Byzantine emperor and the Pope decided to work together to fight off the Turks. They succeeded in 1096 which was the first and most successful Crusade. The effects of the Crusade were that people united by under the one Church, the trade routes opened which made more population, goods, improved economy and people started to use currencies. Also, treaties were made by King Richard and Saladin a Turkish leader who got the Holy Land back in the second Crusade in 1187. This brought back the military strategies that was not so common. In addition to that, when the crusaders were brought to the Holy Land, the ships that brought them brought back rugs, jewelry, glass and spices which would later be demanded and revive the trade thus leading to growth of towns and cities. The most important effect was the new ideas and technology. In the Middle Ages, news theories were bing experimented but the Church did not approve of some. Scholars worked together to resolve the reason to discover truth which was not approved by the Church and ideas must be accepted which the Church enforced thus creating scholasticsm. The Arabian medicine, mathematics, technology, mapping skills and better designs of ships were  also developed into Europe and used frequently just because of the Crusades. Life became very cultural, religious and rich because of the trade, influence of the Church and the effects that the Crusades brought.
   

Charlemagne the Great

The skilled, intelligent and outstanding leader of the notorious Franks, Charlemagne was born on the 2nd of April 742. The son of King Pepin the Short and Betrada of Loan, a Frankish queen, he was probably born to succeed. After his father's death in 786, he co-ruled with his brother Carloman I. In 771, Carloman died unexpectedly and Charlemagne became the only ruler. He started conquering smaller and weaker empires, until he conquered many regions. There he built schools to spread language and beliefs, funded and issued money to improve the unstable economy. He ruled for 50 years until he died in Aachen on the 28th of January 814. This probably wouldn't have happened if the Roman Empire had not fallen, but he was considered and crowned a Roman Emperor in 786. Once he died, his three sons divided the empires which lead to them fighting, other empires attacking and the notorious Vikings attacking as well. 

                                                                                

  

Feudalism and the Manor System

To me the term feudalism means a type of system that is owned by someone wealthy or noble in the Middle Ages but were held by vassals because they were like a gift from their lords for being loyal and hard working. The manor system was a system that was set upon the rights and obligations between the lords and serfs. The lord provided the serfs/peasants housing, protection and farmland. In return the serfs/peasants worked certain hours for the lord, took care of his manor and did certain tasks. They also had to work certain days of the week and provide portion of their grain. Poor peasants remained poor for the rest of their lives because they could not buy their own freedom and their life depended on the decisions of the lord. Their children were also born in that family and the generation of poor peasants carried on. This effected their beliefs by either making them religious and praying to God for a miracle or they became very skeptic because their lives were so horrid. The peasants could not save their money nor marry rich people, so they had to work for the rest of their poor and miserable lives. These stories about knights and princesses is all fake because not all the people were harmonious and no peasant could marry a rich person. They just had to live with having the short end of the stick.
   

Renaissance Faire Reflection

The Renaissance Fair was an enormous project that required so much effort in such a small period of time. The preparation was long and tedious since we needed to learn how to play the recorder, learn the Shakespeare lines and create an invention for D.T. I think we handled it excellently and used the time very wisely. Our inventions were quickly made, we were very successful with our recorders considering the fact that we not quite musical and the lines were learned perfectly. During the faire I felt really excited and happy because I was with my friends and we were showing off our skills and hard work. I loved the costumes and I think we could have easily been thought of as very prepared students. We worked very well together and if I could, I would do it again!

Islamic Presentations- 8A

During this whole week, my class presented various topics about Islam. Here I will write what I learned from each fascinating topic and the presenter.

Geography of the Arabian Peninsula- Alon

I learned that Arab means nomad and it is a person from the Arabian Peninsula. If you are an Arab, that does not make you Muslim, it just makes you a native person of the land. I also learned that Yemen is the most fertile country because it close to water and it has monsoon seasons. The Arabian Peninsula has no rivers, but it is surrounded by the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf surround it which gives it the water it needs.

Muslim Women- Ana

From this topic, I learned that the role of women and their rights have degraded. All men and women have spiritual rights, but they are mistreated, beat and cussed at. Women are also half the price of men and almost all receive female circumcision. I also learned that they can own land, divorce and inherit land but divorce is a slow and painful process. Bibi Aisha was a victim of the new Muslims due to her getting her nose and ear cut off because she did not agree to arranged marriages and ran away.

Islamic Religion- David

I learned that Islam means submission to God and that the nomads in fact spread Islam. Also that four chapters of the Quran are read during weddings and that the people pray five times a day;  dawn, midday, afternoon, after sunset and night. Ramadan is like the Islamic Christmas and Mohammad traveled to Medina in 622.

Military Before and During Islam- Simeon

From this topic I learned that Prophet Mohammad united the tribes into not making war and that starvation and the lack of owning oasis’ was what triggered wars. Most common weapon was the jambiya, and it was a dagger for military and ceremonies. Tabar was a battle axe and the scimitars were curved swords and symbolized Islam. 635-638- was when Mohammad conquered Mesopotamia, Palestine and Syria in 3 years and the highest peak was in 750.

Prophet Muhammad- Rea

Mohammad was born in Circa 570 and was later adopted by his uncle. There he grew and later started to own a caravan business. He then met his wife who was a 40 year old widow and he was only 25. They had 6 children, two of which his sons died. On Mount Hera he saw angel Gabriel and in 622 he migrated to Medina because the people felt threatened with his new religion so they wanted to assassinate him. Finally on June 8, 632 Mohammad died when he was 63 years old in Medina, Arabia.

Islamic Religion- Sara

I learned that the followers of Mohammad wrote the Quran and they were all men. Ramadan is in the 9^th month of the year and on a new moon because that is when Allah gave Mohammad the holy Quran. There are 144 chapters and Laytalul Qadar is the night when the Quran was given and all sins are forgiven. During Ramadan, no one is allowed to eat, drink, smoke or do anything that involves bringing something into your body. Only when night falls are they allowed to feast. This is good for self discipline and it makes them a patient.

Architecture- Svetlana

The houses are usually rectangular and huge so that many families can live in the house. Inside are many passages and the rich houses have separate rooms for men and women whereas poor houses only have curtains to separate rooms. The outside is dull and only one door and a few windows which is good against the wind, but inside it is heavily ornate and decorated. Also the Taj Mahal is the biggest and most famous Islamic architectural palace.          

Trade in the Islamic Empire- Annie
From this topic I learned not only that the Islamic people created the silk road and thats how they spread their empire, but they also influenced Renaissance. They questioned the world and built machines to improve life. They also grew smarter and wrote things down so that they can share it with future generations. Many cities had their own goods that they exported which lead to wealth and popularity.

Islamic Extremism

The topic which I had to present was the well-debated Islamic extremism theory. Many people are biased about this topic, so I chose to give both sides of the story and introduce what causes this kind of extremism. Many say that Islamic extremism is triggered by the jihad, religious manipulation and greed for power and money. Jihad is the effort to practice religion in the face of persecution and oppression. Many Muslims are forced or manipulated to become a Jihadist which leads to extremism and killing. Also, to become a true Muslim you have to become a jihadist. Greedy Muslims influenced Islam by using technology, opening schools and creating the Tabligns force to teach future generations the wrong things, thus creating confusion and violence. Terrorists distract the countries agenda so that they can get the attention and money they crave. They then create large groups to get even more power and use the communistic “united front” strategy when a band of extremists make a common cause with other groups to gain even more power. They use innocent people and brainwash people to do their dirty work. For my project I used PowerPoint, videos and various images to make my topic come alive and more interesting. I think that I taught my class a valuable lesson about one of the most misunderstood topics ever. I hope that they left the classroom with a new perspective and with understanding.