Download The Crusades were a series of wars during the Middle Ages where

Rome to the Middle Ages
Rotation/Station exercise
Station 1: Chivalry (Image 1, 2, 3)
Read this page and then answer the questions in your notebook.
http://www.lordsandladies.org/knights-code-of-chivalry.htm
1. What is Chivalry?
2. Who had to follow the code of chivalry?
3. List 5 values of the code of chivalry.
Read this page and then answer the questions in your notebook.
http://www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages/knight_armor_and_weapons.php
1. On image number 2 that you have stuck in, label the following items:
Lance, armor, sword, helmet, chain mail, war horse
2. Label some of the parts of armor on your image.
Station 2: Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta
1. Read the following information. Use it to complete the following table in your notebook:
Name
Where is he
from?
List of places he
visited
Why did he travel
Other interesting
information
Marco Polo
Ibn Battuta
2. On your map, use two colors to indicate the different paths of the two travelers.
Marco Polo—The Travels of Marco Polo:
Marco Polo (1254-1324) came from the northern Italian city-state of Venice, a city growing
increasingly prosperous in the thirteenth century thanks to its trade with the east. Indeed, Polo was
born into a family of merchants. His father and uncle had traveled to the court of Kublai Khan, the
Mongol conqueror of China (note: in the book, the Mongols are sometimes referred to as the Tartars).
Sent back to Europe on a mission for the emperor, the Polos returned to China in the early 1270s,
accompanied by a seventeen year old
Marco. For the next seventeen years, the Polos lived in Kubai Khan’s lands and served the emperor,
thus counting among the many foreigners employed by the Khan in administrative and judicial posts.
In 1291, the Polos headed back west, arriving home in Venice four years later. Within three years of
his return, Marco was captured during a war between Venice and its rival city-state of Genoa, only
being released in 1299. Though he never left home again, Polo became a major financier of trading
ventures.
While in prison in 1298, Marco Polo shared his cell with a professional writer. Out of this chance
encounter he wrote a book. Reflecting perhaps his mercantile background, Polo’s work discusses his
adventures in the east in a rather unique fashion. The narrative of his journeys and almost two
decades in Mongol service takes up only the fifteen-page-long prologue. The rest of the text offers
detailed descriptions of the people and places he come across, organized geographically from west to
east and back.
Although some contemporaries believed Polo’s descriptions verged on the fantastic, the book
influenced later European views of the world. Most famously, Christopher Columbus brought a copy
along with him in 1492.
Ibn Battuta—Ross Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta:
Fifty years after Polo’s birth, Ibn Battuta was born into a family of Islamic legal scholars from the
Moroccan city of Tangiers, located at the far north west of the African continent. Like Polo, Battuta
would embark on a journey that took him thousands of miles across Eurasia. However, unlike Polo,
Battuta never left his own cultural area for the most part. By the first half of the fourteenth century,
the Muslim world stretched from the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Indian subcontinent. Muslim traders
had begun establishing themselves even further east. In 1325 at age 21, Ibn Battuta left home to
make the haji to Mecca.
Instead of returning home, he chose to continue travelling. During the following decade, he entered
the judicial service of the Sultanate of Delhi and spent eight years in India. In 1341, Battuta was sent
to lead a diplomatic mission to China. His journey experienced long delays as numerous disasters
befell him. By 1345, Battuta made it to China on his own. The next year, he headed homeward,
arriving in Mecca by 1347. After nearly thirty years on the road, Battuta returned home to Morocco in
the 1350s.
Following Battuta’s return, the Sultan of Morocco commissioned a scholar to record the aged traveler’s
experiences in the form of a rihla, or a book of travels. Although it conforms to Muslim literary
conventions, Battuta’s rihla offers a rare glimpse into the Muslim world of the early 1300s.
Station 3: Crusades
Go to this website and watch the 2 minute video about the crusades
http://www.history.com/topics/crusades#
1. List reasons why the knights fought in the crusades:
2. On your map of the crusades, highlight the following places: Byzantine empire, France, Holy
Roman Empire, England, Spain, Poland, Hungary
3. In a different color, label the following cities: Rome, Jerusalem, Constantinople
Read the following information and answer the questions below:
The Crusades were a series of wars during the Middle Ages where the Christians of Europe tried to
retake control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Why did they want to control Jerusalem?
Jerusalem was important to a number of religions during the Middle Ages. It was important to Jewish
people as it was the site of the original temple to God built by King Solomon. It was important to the
Muslims because it was where they believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. It was important to
Christians as it is where Christ was crucified and rose again.
Who fought in the Crusades?
The Crusades were between the armies of the Europe, mostly the Holy Roman Empire, and the
Arabs that had control of Jerusalem. In the first Crusade this was the Seljuk Turks.
There were around 30,000 soldiers from Europe in the first Crusade, they were made up of Knights,
peasants, and other commoners. Some saw the army as a way to get rich and try out their fighting
skills, while others saw it as a way into heaven.
How they got started
The initial Crusade began when the Seljuk Turks took control of the Holy Land. Prior to this, the
Arabs had been in control of the land. However, the Arabs had allowed Christians to pilgrimage and
visit the city of Jerusalem. In 1070, when the Turks took control, they began to refuse Christian
pilgrims into the area.
Byzantine Emperor Alexius I called for help from the Pope with defending his empire from the Turks
and to help push them out of the Holy Land. The Pope helped to gather an army, primarily with the
help of the Franks and the Holy Roman Empire.
Timeline of the Crusades
There were a number of Crusades that took place over the course of 200 years starting in 1095:
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The First Crusade (1095-1099): The First Crusade was the most successful. Armies from
Europe drove out the Turks and took control of Jerusalem.
The Second Crusade (1147-1149): In 1146 the city of Edessa was conquered by the Turks.
The entire population was killed or sold into slavery. Then a second Crusade was launched,
but was unsuccessful.
The Third Crusade (1187-1192): In 1187 Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, recaptured the city of
Jerusalem from the Christians. A third Crusade was launched led by Emperor Barbarossa of
Germany, King Philip Augustus of France, and King Richard the Lionheart of England.
Richard the Lionheart fought Saladin for several years. In the end he could not conquer
Jerusalem, but he did win the right for pilgrims to visit the holy city once again.
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The Fourth Crusade (1202-1204): The Fourth Crusade was formed by Pope Innocent III
with the hope of taking back the Holy Land. However, the Crusaders got sidetracked and
greedy and ended up conquering and plundering Constantinople instead.
Children's Crusade (1212): Started by a French child named Stephen of Cloyes and a
German kid named Nicholas, tens of thousands of children gathered to march to the Holy
Land. This ended in total disaster. None of the children made it to the Holy Land and many
were never seen again. They were likely sold into slavery.
Crusades Five through Nine (1217 - 1272): Over the next several years there would be 5
more Crusades. None of them would be very successful in terms of gaining control of the
Holy Land.
Interesting Facts about the Crusades
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"Deus vult!", meaning "God wills it" was the battle cry of the Crusaders. It came from a
speech the Pope gave while gathering support for the First Crusade.
The symbol of the Crusaders was a red cross. Soldiers wore it on their clothing and armor. It
was also used on flags and banners.
Between the second and the third Crusades, the Teutonic Knights and the Templars were
formed to help defend Christendom. These were famous groups of Holy Knights.
1. List some of the leaders of the crusades?
2. Why did the crusades happen?
3. Why was Jerusalem important?
Stage 4: Barbarian invasions
Look at the maps above and add some color to your map to show the different kinds of Barbarian
invaders.
1. List the invaders and what direction they came from in your notebook.
Read the information about the Vikings and answer the questions below.
The term Viking commonly denotes the ship-born warriors and traders of
Norsemen (literally, men from the north) who originated in Scandinavia and
raided the coasts of Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe as far east as the
Volga River in Russia from the late 8th–11th century. This period (generally
dated 793–1066) is often referred to as the Viking Age. The term Viking has
also denoted entire populations of Viking Age Scandinavia and their
settlements, as an expanded meaning.
Famed for their longships, Vikings founded settlements for three centuries
along the coasts and rivers of mainland Europe, Ireland, Great Britain,
Normandy, the Shetland, Orkney, and Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland,
Newfoundland circa 1000.[1] They reached south to North Africa and east to
Russia and Constantinople, as looters, traders, or mercenaries. Vikings under
Leif Ericson, heir to Erik the Red, reached North America, with putative
expeditions to present-day Canada, Maine and Southeastern Massachusetts,
Including Cape cod in the 10th century. Viking voyages decreased with the
introduction of Christianity to Scandinavia in the late 10th and 11th century.
The word Viking was introduced to the English language with romantic
connotations in the 18th century. However, etymologists trace the word to
Anglo-Frankish writers, who referred to "víkingr" as one who set about to raid
and pillage,[2] as in the saga of Egil Skallagrimsson. In current Scandinavian
languages, the term Viking is applied to the people who went away on Viking
expeditions, be it for raiding or trading. In English and many other languages,
Viking might refer to the Viking Age Scandinavians in general.[3] The preChristian Scandinavian population is also referred to as Norse, although that
term is properly applied to the whole civilization of Old-Norse speaking
people.
Ships
There were two distinct classes of Viking ships:
the longship (sometimes erroneously called
"drakkar", a corruption of "dragon" in Norse)
and the knarr. The longship, intended for
warfare and exploration, was designed for
speed and agility, and were equipped with oars
to complement the sail as well as making it able
to navigate independently of the wind. The
longship had a long and narrow hull, as well as
a shallow draft, in order to facilitate landings
and troop deployments in shallow water. The
knarr, on the other hand, was a slower
merchant vessel with a greater cargo capacity
than the longship. It was designed with a short
and broad hull, and a deep draft. It also lacked
the oars of the longship.
Longships were used extensively by the Leidang, the Scandinavian defense
fleets. The term "Viking ships" has entered common usage, however, possibly
because of its romantic associations.
In Roskilde are the well-preserved remains of five ships, excavated from
nearby Roskilde Fjord in the late 1960s. The ships were scuttled there in the
11th century to block a navigation channel, thus protecting the city, which was
then the Danish capital, from seaborne assault. These five ships represent the
two distinct classes of the Viking Ships, the longship and the knarr. Longships
are not to be confused with longboats.
1. Who were the Vikings and what did they do?
2. Where did the Vikings come from?
3. List the characteristics of the Viking longships next to your picture
of a longship.
4. Label/color the three areas of invasions into Europe in the middle ages on the map
above in your notebook.
Stage 5: The Feudal System
1. Who was most important in the feudal system?
2. Who was least important in the feudal system?
3. List the four groups from the chart in your notebook and give a brief description of what their
job was.