Peasants' revolts

Exercise: Read the text and answer the question below:

"Good people, nothing can go well in England unless there is neither villein nor nobleman. The men we call lords, what makes them our masters?. The wear silks and velvets while we wear poor cloth. They have wine, spices and good bread, but we eat rye and straw, and have water to drink. They live in fine manors, we sweat and toil in the fields in the wind and the rain. They call us slaves and beat us if we do not serve them. We have no one to listen to us. Let  us go to the Ling and xplain our situtaion. Let us tell him we want it changed, or else we will change it ourselves."

(Speech of John Ball, 13 June 1381)

a) What were the daily conditions of peasants?

b) How did the nobles or lords live?

c) Relate with the thing you know: what were the causes of  the peasants' revolts?

The crusades

Exercise 1: Read the text and answer the questions below:

"Food shortages came to a crisis. all the soldiers were tormented by cealess hunger. [...] All our suplies were used up and the troops were still hungry. The hot weather made things worse. Even well-brought-up lords would fling themselves*  to the ground to chew at plants.

Priceless horses were killed and eaten sometimes withour even skinning them. Some were so desperate with hunger that they would chew and lick bones, even if they had been by dogs dor days before."

(Siedge of Acre, 1189-1191)

* Fling (oneself): throw oneself

a) What were the problems that soldiers have during the siedge?

b) What did they do for surviving?

c) Relate with the thing you know: why did the crusades take place?

Exercise 2 Read the text and anserwer the questions below:

"They took me to see a knight with a boil on his leg. I put a poultice* on the leg, and biol began to heal. Then a French doctor came and said i had no idea how to treat the boil. He sent for a strong man and an axe. He put the knight's leg on a block of wood and said to the strong man, "strike hard and cleanly". The marrow spurted out of the bone when it was cut. The Knight died at once". 

(Muslim doctor at christians' camp. 1150)

*poultice: a mix of ingredients, heated and medicated used to treat bounds and infections. 

a) What are the different treatments?

b) What were the results of the treatments?

c) Relate with the thing you know: Why was muslim medical knowledge better than the christian one?

Medieval cities

Click on the following link for downloading the PowerPoint presentation used in class: Medieval cities

In this post, you can also review the videos:

a) The plague and the peasant conditions

b) The song with the explanation of the plague from History teachers. 

c) The differences between Romanesque and Gothic architecture. 

The settlement

Here you have the notes used in class for supporting the explanations: The settlement. Review the activities and ask your doubts. 

Los refugiados: Contra viento y marea

En el siguiente enlace, podrás participar en el juego de la ONG ACNUR "Contra viento y marea" y comprender la situación que viven miles de refugiados al abandonar sus países de origen.

Contra viento y marea.

Recuerda que actualmente hay conflictos en zonas como Sudan del Sur, Palestina, Siria, Irak, Sahara Occidental que obligan a millones de personas a abandonar sus hogares.

Surfing: The French Revolution

Political revolutions: American and French Revolutions

Here you have the PowerPoint presentation used during lessons:

You can also watch this video that summarize the process in less than 3 minutes: