Western Civilization: The Last Day

So...This is it. Our last day with Mr. Schick. For some it has been an excellent semester, and for others an excellent school year. Though before I go, I'd just like to say, you were fantastic, just absolutely fantastic!...And you know what? So was I! (Ask your daughter or any other Dr. Who fan) Today we spent going over the Feudalism test and reviewing for the final exam. The exam will have 120 multiple choice and possibly an essay. Yes, we were told that it is possible the iron plow will show up on the exam.

Feudalism Test

Today in Western Civilization, Mr. Schick abandoned us for the first ¾ of class. Then when he arrived he gave us a choice. We could either take the test right then and there or we could take it tomorrow and cut into our exam review. 11 people voted yay and 7 voted nay. Therefore, we ended up taking the test today. Before this vote, Mr. Schick called the classroom and instructed us to pray and study for the test. Fast forwarding to the test, it was probably the quickest test we have had all year. In fact, the class before us that took it got it done in about 10 minutes and had an average score of a high B. It tested us to see basically to see if we knew what feudalism was and if we could identify the iron plow by sight. Mr. Schick told us that he should have changed the question to say, “What is in the picture below, makes Mr. Schick very happy, and Mr. Camello very upset.”

Feudalism Study Guide

If I wanted to ace the Feudalism test,

I would look up the following terms in Chapter 11 in the textbook:

Feudalism- term used to describe social/political relationship between people

Feudal compact- knight pledges allegiance to a lord, who grants him a fief which transforms the knight into the lords “vassal”

Fief- piece of land given to a knight by a lord

Vassal- a knight who has become a lord’s servant

Knight- medieval warrior

Homage-respect

Serf- lowest class in the social hierarchy, provided a workforce

Baron- a lord who controlled a large amount of land  

Peasantry- commoners, worked in guilds, made up of craftsmen

Estates

Manor- the place where the lord lived

Three-field-system- farm divided into 3 rotated your 2 sets of crops.

Internal colonization

Suburb

Guild- a group of craftsmen under a single trade

Master- artisan

Journeyman- Master’s second in command

Apprentice- one who is learning a trade

Masterpiece- something that a journeyman makes to become a master

Water mill

And yes, iron plow

Giant Bird and Ugly Paintings

Western Civilization class today was…interesting. We took notes on our next new topic and made-fun of medieval artwork and plows. In fact we even renamed the plow, the “I-plow” for some apparent reason. Also, the grammar! Oh, good gosh, the grammatical errors made by the publisher that made the PowerPoint were countless. Then, the artwork we saw was horrendous. I mean really, the quail, or at least that is what we thought it was, came up to at least chest level on the women feeding it. On top of that, the women’s feet were disproportional and bloody. The next painting we looked at was an attempt to show depth. However, this was a miserable failure at perspective. I mean really, I've seen amateur work better than it. For his painting, to try to show depth, he painted everything vertically. Meaning, that if something was farther back, it was placed farther up the page. It was almost as if humanity’s progress had just decided to plummet. To show how even more pathetic they were, the biggest technological breakthrough was a plow with wheels. I mean really, People LOOOONG before the Romans and Greeks had invented the wheel, and people have been using plows since not long after the idea of farming first came about.     

Christianity Test

Today we did not really do a whole lot in Western Civilizations class. We started by allowing Henry to make up the pop quiz on barbarians. Then we got back our last test on Christianity. I honestly cannot believe that Mr. Schick actually put “What is the last letter in the word ‘pax’?” on the test still. As for scores, our class came in second for highest average. I was not one of the people to get a hundred, though I did get a ding for getting an A, but only barely. I say this because Mr. Schick was having a really great day and decided to give everyone the question about Byzantium. This is because there were a lot of people who got it wrong and he was not even sure if he brought up the fact that Constantinople was originally Byzantium. Also, I pretty much knew what I got wrong and what I did not. Though I did not expect to get ½ credit for 207 A.D. for when the Pax Romana began and ended. 

Hagia Sophia

Today in West Civ., class we got our last pop quiz back most of us got hundreds. Then, we had ANOTHER pop quiz on barbarians. HOW BARBARIC!!!! Then we took notes on “Post Rome,” a name that I just invented myself. These notes started with some wrap up/review info on Romulus Augustulus, and the Anglo-Saxons. We then moved on to the Byzantines. First up for this topic is Justinian. He tried to restore Rome (with the Maryland flag for some reason). However that didn’t happen because a plague swept through their ranks. Then, they formed the “Holy Roman Empire.” Justinian, decided that it would be grand if he built the most awesome church EVER!!!! If you are an architect, then this church is the equivalent of God. What’s even more awesome about this building is that it is still around today! The original isn’t though, Justinian built this 3 times in order to make it more stable. This church is called the Hagia Sophia, meaning “Holy Wisdom.” Today, it is no longer a church, but a museum.  

Barbaric Tribes

The Huns were a nomadic tribe that first popped up in China but move to Europe and establish the Hunnic Empire. One of their most famous rulers, Attilla the Hun, ruled from 434 to 453. He was also one of the most feared enemies of the Roman Empire. The Ostragoths are one of two branches of the “Goths” (the other would be the Visigoths). They established a kingdom under Theodoric, the Great. The Visigoths as I mentioned earlier, are the other branch of the “Goths.” They invaded and defeated the Roman Empire in 378 at the Battle of Adrianople. They fell away from Rome then established their own kingdom. The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that dwelt in Africa. There, they established their own kingdom, which included the Roman Africa province. On top of that, they were also successful in conquering the city of Rome itself.  You may have heard of the Franks, because they made themselves a home in Gaul (present day France). In fact, France is actually derived from “Franks.” The Franks are sort of like us Americans because they did what they wanted, some looted Roman territory, while others joined Rome in Gaul. The Angles and Saxons, or “Anglo-Saxons” as they are more commonly called, inhabited Britain. These barbarians settled down to form the English nation. They spoke what we now call “Old English.”