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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

Why Study the Middle Ages?, Chapter 1 (PDF)

Why Study the Middle Ages?, Chapter 2 (PDF)

Why Study the Middle Ages?, Chapter 3 (PDF)

Special Guest: R.A. Salvatore, Author and Alum

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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

BA: Thomas Malory, 774-829

Eirik the Red and Other Icelandic Sagas, 3-88

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Open topic - anything we have read/discussed up to this point!

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Complete here: Weekly Quiz #1 – TEDEd Lesson

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Complete here: Weekly Quiz #3 – TEDEd Lesson

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Complete here: Weekly Quiz #9 – TED-Ed Lesson

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Jorjia Tsilibocos

Global Middle Ages

9/22/22

Why study the middle ages?

Humanities in the United States and in the medieval trivium go completely hand in hand. There is language/linguistics, writing, music, philosophy ect that goes into the United States and what we study today. I personally never really understood why faith and belief was such an important conversation within the medieval time period and after reading, I am starting to understand why. It was a way for people to open up conversations and give people hope. I also learned how much we take for granted such as cars, traits ect. The medieval ages also have a very bad reputation when it comes to disabilities and casting people away. I initially thought that they would disgrace people who had any sort of disability. In fact, it was the complete opposite. People in the medieval area really felt bad and wanted to genuinely help. They asked priests and people who were very spiritual to help. There was an example in the reading where someone with a disability went around the whole town and his friends were so concerned they brought him to a priest. That priest did a certain prayer and he fell to the ground unconscious. When he woke up he was okay. Clearly, we know now that that is certainly not how a disability works. However, at least they tried something. Anyway to help. When the fire at Notre Dame occurred, there were people who did not think the structure would survive. To everyone's surprise, there were pieces of the building saved. Many people believe that it was the cathedral's medieval structure that saved it. There was also STEM in this time period as well. Something I did not think actually happened. Mideval Islam created so much knowlege that it spread too Spain, Byzantium, Europe, North America, China, Persia, and India. The middle ages contributed to knowledge, stem fields contributed to developing and understanding human history. My favorite part about reading these parts was the diversity in the development of gender roles. A lot of the poetry, books, and knowledge was most likely created by women according to architects. Some studies say women had more pottery, and some say male. Either way if there were more man fingerprints, that means men and women were laborers and not just male. The coolest fact I learned was “scientists have proven that there is truth to the story about soil in Northern Ireland and was believed by early peoples including Druids to have medical qualities.” Scientists are starting to use medieval remedies because modern medicine is not as effective as it once was. There also is an extreme perception when it comes to domestic abuse and domestic violence to both women and men. Mainly women in this time period. However, that is not the case. This was mostly not accepted. In fact, one of the kings was beheaded from his step son for domestic abuse. I also liked the tie of domestic abuse survivors today in combination with what happened in the medieval era. Overall, I have learned so much and will continue to learn more in class and in the future. It is so interesting how different things are looked at in the medieval time period versus when you start to actually learn about it and realize that not everything was how it was interpreted in movies and books.

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Ashaunti Gordon

Middle Ages

Professor Kisha Tracy

22 September 2022

Weekly Quiz #2

One thing that I found interesting about Why Study the Middle Ages? Chapter One is the role that faith and beliefs played in the development of the world we have now. During the middle ages, there was so much uncertainty about the world and the human race, that people had various different beliefs. Of course science was prevalent, but it mainly assisted when it came to forming beliefs and backing them up. I think it's so interesting how people were pretty much able to think up the world we live in today. People exploring different beliefs of what the New World would be like is how it was able to come to be. Instead of knowing for certain, the way that we do with most things in today’s world, the people living during that time period instead had to imagine what would be possible. I really connect with the idea of dreaming something up and accomplishing it. That's exactly how I feel as I accomplish my college goals. For example, last semester I thought about how cool it would be to have a huge event on the quad with food, music, etc and this semester I was able to make my thoughts come to life. I feel like that's how a lot of people were thinking during the middle ages. For example people were probably thinking “Wow, I wish there was a way for us to get information on physical paper so that we could make books to pass down information more easily” and there began the thought process for what would become the printing press. In their world, anything would be possible and we have to acknowledge their beliefs for the making of today’s world.

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Christopher Shaddock
Global Middle Ages
Professor Kisha Tracy
September 22, 2022
Weekly Quiz #2

I enjoyed Chapters 1 and 3 more of Why Study The Middle Ages for it discusses diversity and racism during these periods, and how it is perceived today. As we discussed how the new movie, Medieval depicted no one of color, and barely any women. In my Diversity of Human Services class, we talked about that and how people have a lot of feedback on a young black girl portraying Ariel from the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid or how none of the Lord of The Rings movies (My personal favorite) did not hanyone of color save for the Orcs who are portrayed as relentless monsters. With this new series, Rings of Power, there are diverse characters including an Elf who is mixed hand as sent shockwaves over it. Even if they did have diverse characters, they would most assuredly portray them as "Savages". The movie, and one of my favorite Marvel movies, The Black Panther has shown the world that people of color are more than what they are perceived by others. Not only was the film loosely based on the Mutapa empire from Zimbabwe, but The Black Panther's all-female warriors are based on the 17th century the Agoojetter known as the Dahomey Amazons who are also featured in the new movie The Woman King. It is baffling to me in this day and age that many people believe that people of color can not be portrayed in Medieval times. This goes along with disabled people within Medieval times. People with disabilities are shown either evil and incapable of doing anything worthwhile or just plain weak. The show Game of Thrones tried to break this stereotype. Tyrion Lannister and Brandon Stark, both had physical limitations due to their disabilities (Tyrion with Dwarfism, and Brandon being paralyzed from the waist down). Both were critical to what was happening and were ultimately not taken lightly. In some ways, recent shows (with the exceexceptds of Egypt, which was 90 minutes or so of my time that I cannot get back) are becoming more diversified and are breaking the stigma of disabilities, but there is such a long way to go.

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Amzie Hinkley

The Global Middle Ages

Professor Tracy

Weekly Quiz #2

September 23rd, 2022

I always pictured the Middle Ages as this time of castles, knights, and nobles that would wage these large conflicts against one another in the name of their king. But after reading the chapters of “Why Study the Middle Ages” I found out that most of my perceptions were nothing more than the over romanticized ones that everyone thinks of. It turns out that people in the Middle Ages didn’t act that much differently from us.

In the first chapter I learned that people actually cared and attempted to support one another. The most prominent example was the way they treated the disabled. Many people thought if you were born disabled, that was it, you were left for dead and no one was there to help. But it turned out the exact opposite was true, the chapter showed that people in the Middle Ages really helped one another, such as the instance with the allied fishermen. Even though he acted in a way that was misunderstood and he even killed one of his fellow workers, the others still made an attempt to help him, which was a powerful statement in itself.

The second chapter took a turn away from the humanitarian side of things and shifted to the intellectual and technological advancements made during that era. Like the developments made in the fields such as architecture and medicine. This led to the formation of other healers that fell outside the spiritual ones of the church, which were referred to as snake oilers who peddled what they believed to be curses for the ailments of the time. Their developments in architecture  also led to the creation of structures that are still standing today, their methods even contributed to the exploration of more sustainable building methods that were used to build modern structures in the future. These were only some of the many developments and contributions in the middle ages, it really opened my eyes to the fact that the Middle Ages wasn’t just this stagnant era with no development where people just existed until the next era came. But it was a time of major discovery and development and their contributions helped shape the Modern Era just like the eras before and after.

The last chapter took a more refined look at the social sciences and the contributions that happened during the Middle Ages era. Such as how it was shaped by the many different outlooks of the people in the modern era. An example was there were no colored people so they had no media representation and political figures referred to serious disease outbreaks as being medievil or barbaric, without fully understanding what those words really meant. The same could also be said about the use and lack of understanding of the word chivalry and its common meaning, which was to treat females fairly. In reality it was an entire lifestyle that the knights upheld and an era that was an important time for the social sciences and its relations to the Modern Era. It is extremely important that the context is well known, because there were many misconceptions and misinterpretations mentioned in the chapter as well.

These chapters really helped to inform and give me an accurate understanding of what the Middle Age era was actually like. It also showed me that they were just like any other people during any other era when it came to developing and growing. It helped me come to realize how important it is to know the context of the information before accepting it as a fact.

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Orion Daily

Quiz 2

Middle Ages

09/22/2022

The Middle Ages was a time that is very misunderstood. Most people when they think about the Middle Ages think that it was a time full of barbarians and war. Having learned more about the middle ages through reading has shown me how there were many advances made in medicine, religion, and literature. For example things such as eyeglasses for reading, clocks, many advanced architecture, advances in medical health, and many oral stories that were written down so that it was easier for the public to read them. Also, literacy was pushed to be learned by some of the leaders. This led to an overall smarter and more progressive world and community. The reason that the Middle Ages are misunderstood is because of the new pop culture look on the Middle Ages. People use the most entertaining parts of the Middle ages, which is usually war, and exaggerate that. This leads to it appearing that this is all that the Middle Ages has to offer, which I have learned through the reading to be untrue. Instead of the world being full of crime, knights in shining armor, damsels in distress, and constant war, the Middle Ages was full of literature, progressive thinking, and learning. They were going through life just like we are now, just at a different time. It is very important to learn about this so that we can truly understand our ancestors and the ways that they were thinking as many of the ideas that we have today were based on the thoughts and beliefs of people in the Middle Ages.

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When I think of the middle ages they only think that pop to my mind is vikings. I think it's important to study the middle ages because people can better understand what the middle ages were really about. There's still a lot of things that people today still don’t know about the middle ages and they're still finding new things. The history of Europe from the fall of the Western Roman Empire until the beginning of the Renaissance in northern Europe in the early sixteenth century is covered by the interdisciplinary field of medieval studies. The middle ages still have an impact on the world today even though it was a long time ago. Economic growth, governmental centralization, and secularization all predicted the shift from the medieval to the modern era. Serfdom was lessened by a money economy, and the age of discovery was sparked by an inquiring mind.

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A point that stuck out to me in chapter 1 was how studying medieval times could clear up some misconceptions about religion and how it may have treated people during the Middle Ages. Religion is often portrayed by many as an oppressive force that stripped people of knowledge and freedom during this time period, but the truth is much different. Faith and belief were deeply rooted into many peoples’ lives as a philosophy that helped them question the world around them and understand why things were the way they were without “ordinary” explanations or restrictions on what is and isn’t possible. One of these things it helped explain for people were disabilities, which people of faith believed manifested themselves as burdens of sin, holy suffering, and even being heavily associated with saints, who were said to be able to heal or even experience disabilities themselves. Another common misconception this chapter makes light of is how medieval studies only includes the study of Europe, which is false. In fact, this field of study includes places all over the world, including several Eastern and African countries that are often not depicted in popular media. As such, instead of assuming that disabled people were blindly demonized during the Middle Ages, some may study how they were treated back then to understand how we could treat disabled people nowadays and even help them cope with their physical/mental ailments.

Chapter 2 makes a very big and obvious point as to why we should study the Middle Ages; so that we can make progress today. A variety of scientists from multiple fields study medieval history for their own reasons; doctors test medieval medicinal recipes, engineers study medieval designs to replicate and even refine them for modern projects, epidemiologists look at medieval pandemics to understand certain statistics, and so on. Also, going back to disabilities, looking to the past can clearly show that they aren’t just a modern day problem. Scientists can use DNA testing on ancient skeletons to diagnose leprosy and determine where it may have spread. Archaeological evidence can also be used to show specific geographical areas where Paget’s disease may have been present, among other diseases. One more important point this chapter mentions is the study of diversity in medieval times. Popular media often depicts medieval times, namely Europe, as exclusively white and Christian, but this is not correct. In fact, many scientific advancements were made by medieval Islam, Greek texts held an abundance of scientific knowledge, and the critical number 0 was invented in India and reached North Africa long before reaching Europe.

Chapter 3 brings important points about how studying certain time periods can stop one from wrongfully romanticizing or demonizing a certain period of history. People in medieval times were neither just the mindlessly barbaric sub-humans or chivalric heroes that so many make them out to be. In fact most of them were normal people just like the ones we have today. Romanticization of a time period or its supposed “values” can even be dangerous or harmful in our society today, such as with Shallowater High School in Texas, which encouraged students to follow the “Rules of Chivalry” and treated girls as inferior to boys. We can also see good in medieval populations if we study the time period. For instance, during the black plague, we can see essential workers carry on their duties, family and friends care for each other, and medicines created in an attempt to address the crisis; many parallels to the Covid-19 pandemic that occurred just a few years ago. There were also bad parallels between then and now, for small and vulnerable populations were blamed for the pandemic itself occurring (Jews in medieval times, Asians in modern times). These bad parallels are a key reason why history needs to be studied, so that they are not created again in the future. As the old saying goes, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

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Linnea D’Acchille

Middle Ages #2

Why the Study The Middle Ages

Studying the history of the Middle Ages is important because it helps us have an understanding of economies, different cultures, governments/powers, and how the United States and Europe originated. “A significant portion of academic medievalists work in humanities fields, which is why we are turning here first. As opposed to the stem or social sciences categories, there is no difficulty in imagining the type of medieval subjects that fits into the humanities. The history, literature, philosophy, theology, and art of the period are staple features of the field.” When covering the Middle Ages I think we don’t realize how many puzzle pieces are connected to this time and how the future was affected by them. I know I won't be able to even begin to discuss half of the differences in the Middle Ages with this one page. A few main ideas that I thought were important when  reading “The Middle Ages and Humanities,” the “humanities in the United States today generally refers to the collective study of literature, history, philosophy, religion, writing, languages and linguistics, and the arts.” Another idea point was that the “medieval'' has a prominent role to play in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, whether it is in terms of the historical foundations of study, new discoveries, or the recognition.” The last point was that white supremacy shaped how “disciplines that focus on how humans interact, the social sciences give us insight into multiple aspects of society.”

When reading about the change of the mascot, I think this idea is interesting since schools were named hundreds of years ago and still have the same name that can be offensive. For example, a town near my hometown was named the “Cambridge Indians” and it was published in the newspaper to decide if the name would change similar to the story in chapter one. With the current image for Cambridge as Native American, some did not agree with the change but most were open to the idea of trying to find a new mascot. The board members had very valid points, one including how mascots are supposed to “unify” which can not happen any longer. Thinking that for “ 53 years, the official position of over 500 Native American tribes is for non-native communities to stop using Native images and names for sports teams.”  I understand that everyone’s perspective is different which is why I can see from both ends of the spectrum. Even one point that I had never thought about was that “when I look at the mascot I often think about the people who lived here long ago,” which was written in my local newspaper.

The next chapter covered the role of science and technology. With the advancements in technology it helped save time and money. The new inventions can causes more issues to our climate though and in the chapter it mentions how  “a study on seven archaeological sites in West Greenland suggests that “the effect of future climate change on degradation indicates that 30–70% of the archaeological fraction of organic carbon (OC) could disappear within the next 80 years.” Damaging many well known historical landmarks. In this chapter it made me understand more that everything has an outcome whether that be good or bad, with the new inventions this causes more stress to our climate and the change that will eventually affect our planet in the future.

The last chapter covered discipline, social issues, disabilities, and diversity in medieval times. For example “ examining social issues over time and geography, we can understand our behaviors and motivations and perhaps better learn how to interact with each other.” Showing how when reading medieval times diversity was not included at all, which is extremely important to know how incorrect that part of history was. Also included in this chapter was an experience from my professor when she visited the Black Madonna and how the statue changed skin color. “In many ways, these statues and paintings are metaphors for the misunderstanding and misrepresentation of diversity in the Middle Ages, not to mention they are artifacts of social erasure.” I think it is truly amazing what lengths people will go through to try to change history to try to make it look more "socially acceptable."

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Weekly Quiz#5, 5 Minute Medievalist Christopher Shaddock

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Weekly Quiz#5, 5 Minute Medievalist Christopher Shaddock

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I enjoyed reading the Icelandic Sagas (I wonder why :-) ). Despite living there for 11 years, there is still so much that I do not know in terms of stories like Vapnafjord Men and Thorleif Staff. My favorite story is Vapnafjord men. Brodd-Helgi (Helgi Thorgilsson) who rose to prominence at a young age with strapping a spike onto a bull because he felt sorry for the bull, then basically stepping into a situation that did not involve him by killing Svartur and was famous for this. It seemed that you can be judge, jury and executioner during those times, and if you were opposed everything would ultimately be decided during the annual Althing! Despite the vigilante style of justice, the people of Iceland during this period did seem to have some stability when it came to the Althing. The story also has the "Sins of the Father" feel for teh characters in the story, Brodd-Helgi and Geitur, there offsrping continued the legacy of fighting that took place between their fathers. Ultimately though, feuding and vengeance ended affgter thirty years.

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Jorjia Tsilibocos

5 minute medievalist

Global Middle Ages

I loved reading about the story of Judith. I feel like a lot of the stories have a male perspective along with males in general in the stories. I love to read about a woman who fought for what she believed in. This man was planning on taking advantage of her, and she lured him in. Only to chop off his head. I thought the line “She took the heathen man by the hair fast then and with her fists tugging stretched him deftly in deep disgrace, wielding control of the wicked man, that hapless wretch. Then with her hair knotted she hacked fearsome foe with a fateful blade, carved halfway through his hateful neck.” I loved the use of words in this paragraph. The way she is described killing him is so angry it makes the readers angry. She really describes her hate towards him when she says “Lost in darkness! Never a hope of leaving hell- hall of serpents! Throughout endless time eternally slow his soul shall stay enslaved below in that darkest home no joy to know! There was also an intense moment in Judith where the fight was super descriptive. Assyria watched glorys downfall in the days work there- her pride toppled. But troops still stood round the lords tent then, intensely alarmed, their spirits darkening.” As I said before, I really like getting a woman's view in these stories. Especially women in some sort of power. She in some ways, was in power by killing that man.

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Amzie Hinkley

Middle Ages

Professor Tracy

October 14th, 2022

The story that I liked the most out of all the ones that we’ve read so far, was the beginning and the end of the Arthurian story by Malory. I found the story pieces to be very interesting. It was only when I started to do research for my paper that I found another layer to the people in the medieval era. The people were painted in a much more human light that aligned them much closer to modern people, much to my surprise. Although some of my ideas were based on stereotypes, I always thought these people were in one of two very distinct groups. Either noble people who were generally knights or lords who ruled over the land, who tended to be prim, proper and fancy, who only took part in the most expensive luxuries that money could buy. Or the people known as the normal folk, who just lived normal everyday lives. These people ran shops and harvested crops, these simple things were done daily, that was their lifestyle. I didn’t think there was much more, until I read this story and other pieces that were done during that time. It helped show me that these people weren’t much different than you and I, especially when compared to the certain behaviors mentioned in the Arthurian stories.

I discovered that this story was extremely popular during the medieval era, so much so that people named their sons after the famous Arthur. There were even some pieces of writings that mentioned the possible location of where Camalot could have been and even at least one account of someone possibly having had a round table. While all of this evidence wasn’t enough to show that these stories were real by any stretch of the imagination, it does show that it could have been possible. A person's admiration for something they are a fan of, hasn’t changed that much in its most basic sense. These people were huge fans that tried to embellish the stories and make them more real, so much so they started to believe that it might have been more than just a story, something that really truly happened, all because of how popular it became. The same principle could also be applied to big franchises now, such as Star Wars and Lord of the Rings; The fan bases are astronomically larger than back in the middle ages, but their want and desire to promote these franchises is the same. The need to try to be a part of that world by dressing up and acting the same way. That fanbase wants to escape the real world and try something that is different than normal.

The research I am doing for my paper has really helped me learn all about the different people who lived during the middle ages. The most notable was the amount of depth each person had. It showed me how misinformed and stereotypical my ideas were about them were and how similar they actually were to modern people.

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I actually enjoyed doing my checkpoint 2. I did the critical analysis wrong the first time, but while doing that, I found out more information on women in the medieval times. Writing and reading about Noah's wife and why she doesn't have a name, why she's treated the way she is and why she treats people the way she does, etc. All of this information was very interesting to me. I also enjoyed it because I got to reread things like Judith again in order to see other women and how they're shown in those times. I really liked the story of Judith and a women's prospective. I got to hear a lot more about Noah's wife while reading other versions of the play and the original version of this story.

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I really enjoyed the three chapters of "Why Study the Middle Ages?" I thought that they did an incredible job of looking at all the misconceptions that many people have about the Middle Ages. It was very cool to read something that basically picks apart the uneducated narrative that the Middle Ages was an all white person period of fighting and no development.

There was a lot in there about disability, and how that was not necessarily a be all end all for people. There were many examples of disabled rulers such as King Richard III, and The Leper King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, who was still ruling his kingdom while immobile and blind. There was the example of the man who had a knife attachment as a prosthetic, and a viking woman who was using a crutch.

Another misconception that was dealt with was the use of medicines. As we learned in this text, there were many uses of medicines to treat ailments and diseases, that came from herbs and plants. These medicinal recipes were written down and used.

A big part that I picked on is the misuse of Medieval imagery by white supremacist groups, such as the term "anglo-saxon" and "crusaders" and their general lack of knowledge about diversity in the Middle Ages.

There is even knowledge in there about how people dealt with the black plague, similar in ways to how we dealt with covid-19.

Another big thing that I read that I wanted to touch upon was the part about how Medieval fantasy series are pretty white washed and what not. Lately in new shows The Rings of Power, which I have not watched, and House of the Dragon, which I enjoy, have begun incorporating in characters of various diversities. In House of the Dragon, one of the main families, central to the story are black, and they have incorporated them completely into the story, there are now interracial marriages and a general lack of prejudice in that story. I can't say the same for the rings of power as I have not watched it. But these things did happen to draw backlash from certain audience members, which I found to be pretty disturbing.

Finally, the session with R.A. Salvatore was really interesting. While I don't really feel like it touched upon anything to do with diversity in the Middle Ages, he did talk about how fantasy writers are beginning to utilize female characters and authors, which is great. I also enjoyed how he went in depth about his writing process. It was very informative.

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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

Marianne O’Doherty, “Where Were the Middle Ages?”

François-Xavier Fauvelle, The Golden Rhinoceros, “Introduction: Africa in the Middle Ages” (PDF)

Wendy Belcher, "Introduction," Early African Literature: An Anthology of Written Texts from 3000 BCE to 1900 CE

Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa, “Chapter 3: The Social, Linguistic, and Literary Background” (only need to read through Section I)

“West Africa’s oral histories tell us a more complete story than traditional post-colonial narratives”

“Not just a pretty face: Women as storytellers and subjects in the folktales of Northern Sudan”

Akintunde Akinyemi, "Yoruba oral literature: A source of indigenous education for children" (PDF)

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I found that the Vikings stories that we read were the most interesting things. I thought this way because it was really cool to see how they used to live their life and how they would write their stories. Something that I learned was that Vikings relied heavily on their neighbors. If they were out of certain things such as hay, they would go to their neighbors for help. It was very rare for neighbors to say no, but when they did there would be strife between the two. I am studying Vikings for my project and something that I learned was that there was a law passed that made the neighbors help each other in times of need. If they did not they were forced to pay a fine and if they used force they could be attacked by others and the attackers would not face any sort of backlash.

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Griots and Oral traditions of West Africa

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Eric Heckley

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Reading the Heiland, i wasn't surprised about the light that shined on Jesus in it. There was lots of information that I already knew because of my Catholic background like the 12 apostles, his mother, and John and how he helped Jesus spread his word. But as well there was a few things I didn't know about, like the massacre beheading of all the 2 year old boys in Bethlehem when Jesus was a child. This part in particular was really intense for me to read because those children were ripped away from the arms of their loving mothers and killed before they had the chance to do anything. What was really interesting for me was when Jesus was sitting in the mountain with the apostles and reiterating and pushing the ten commandments and elaborating on them. I hold the fight hate with love method very dearly in my heart and for this to be a stepping stone from Jesus himself (so to say based on The Heiland), felt really good to me. Also when he mentioned to keeping helping others and prayers to yourself or concealed in a way that its not for vain but for good, I really resonate with this part as well because I do not talk about praying or going to church alot because to me it feels it should be private and it doesn't have to be known when I help people, its not for a point of status or publicity, but because I just want to.

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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

"The Life of a Mystic"

BA: Julian of Norwich, 617-634

BA: Margery Kempe, 635-658

Boccaccio, 1.2 and 1.3

BA: Chaucer, “The Prioress’s Tale,” 562-568

BA: Persecution of Jews, 694-697

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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

Sundiata

The Manden Charter (PDF)

“Images of African Kingship, Real and Imagined”

UNESCO declaration

Kouroukan Fouga

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Amzie Hinkley

Professor Tracy

Global Middle Ages

October 28th, 2022

I have always been interested in history, especially the Middle Ages and their societies. I never knew or even realized how much African history there was. I'm just surprised that this area of the Middle Ages was virtually unknown for so long. Although Africa did have some similarities with other places and their societies, they also had their own various differences that made them stand apart as well.

One of the similarities that both these societies shared was their form of rulership. Africa had rulers that were kings who helped with stabilizing the land, in a similar way that other civilizations had. But one of their more noteworthy traits was that kings and kingdoms were real and imagined. The misconception started with the depiction of the three kings bringing gifts to the baby christ, one of which was colored, leading to speculation that he was king. But that was simply untrue as it was a name used by Christain tradition during that time, and as evidenced by the quote “..... Heinrich Bünting designed a map of Africa marked by both real and imagined kingdoms. In West Africa, we encounter the realm of the Muslim king Mansa Musa of Mali, who was famous for wealth and piety. Mediterranean North Africa features numerous cultures, including kingdoms in Tunis and Egypt….” This helped show that some kingdoms were only a myth and how far reaching and expansive these different kingdoms were. This was a very surprising revelation. I always assumed that people in different kingdoms would stay in a less spacious space, an example was the Egyptian people who predominantly worked just in Egypt and didn’t expand out past their borders. The same could also be applied to the people in Europe, while there were many kingdoms none were as far and wide as in Africa.

One of  the differences that really set these societies apart was the story telling and more specifically what the stories told were about. The kingdoms in Europe, their stories were centered around religion. Like the visions that the nun Hildegard believed had come from god that had been written down. While other stories were more like works of fiction that were about knights and their adventures. The most popular was the Arthurian stories, which created many fans from then and now. But the stories that came from Africa were different, because they were shared orally from generation to generation, not written down. These stories were about a real king, his rise to power and the unification of Mali in a book known as the Sundiata. Although some of the stories told did have some fictional flourish to them, they were geared towards a real world that was attempting to retell events that actually happened. This was different from the tales of Europe, because they were purely fictional stories that were passed from generation to generation. I learned a lot about Africa from these readings and just how much bigger the world was during the Middle Ages. Even though they existed at the same time, they acted differently, which ultimately helped them stand apart from one another.

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Jorjia Tsilibocos

5 minute medievalist #7

Manden Charter

Reading about the Manden Charter and the overall culture of humanity made the reading and the overall information really interesting and amazing to read. It was very interesting when I was reading about how the charter is one of the oldest constitutions in the world. I also thought it was interesting how it contains a preamble discovered of multiple chapters including the discussion and topics of social peace in diversity, education, inviolability of the human being, food security and so much more. I also loved reading about how there is still prayer and traditions being passed on to the next generation even though the empire is gone. As I was reading more about this and looking at the pictures listed in this specific reading it made me very happy that the empire was never forgotten. The values were never lost and the people who created all the love and support to begin with must be looking down with complete joy. As I was also reading Images of American Kinship, I loved reading about all the rulers and their involvement in the culture related to this specific time period. Reading about Mansa Musa was very interesting because in the reading it said that he made the trip to Mecca with 80 camels, 60,000 subjects and lots of gold dust. He made his name initially by donating to the poor and put so much gold into the struggling economy that it went into Florence for decades. Overall, the readings were so interesting and left me wanting to read more.

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I am enjoying the readings about Africa and its stories. Like any country deep in tradition, Africa is at the top. I thoroughly enjoyed Sundiata. As I was reading the story, it reminded me of Gengis Khan for some reason. Gengis Khan, if I am not mistaken amassed an empire in Mongolia that even the Vikings feared. Sundiata did the same. Once he stood and started walking finally, Sundiata was going to fulfill his destiny by becoming King and first Mansa of Mali by amassing army after army from tribes throughout the Western art of Africa until Mali controlled trade coming and going in Africa. This sets up Mansa Musa who comes many years later after Sundiata's death. I also enjoyed reading about Images of African Kingship. I already knew of Mansa Musa, but I never heard of Sultan Qaitbay and his reign or Zar'a Ya'eqob and his Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia, or Africans having an influence on European art. These stories and many more can be great documentaries showing what Africa was and how Africans throughout history have influenced other nations with their wealth, resources, and storytelling.

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Reading the readings from the week really opened my eyes to different cultures that I had never been aware of. This struck me especially when I was reading the Manden Charter. I thought that it was interesting how the Manden Charter was one of the oldest in the entire world. I also thought that the most interesting thing was that prayers and traditions were passed down from generation to generation even with the changing of empires. This is an amazing thing because it ensures that the empires will never be forgotten. Even with the changing empires, the traditions and prayer were still passed down creating a new empire. They would take pieces from the past and use them in everyday life, which ensured that the old empire was not lost. Another thing that made these readings so interesting was that it was different from the European type of legends that we hear about. Most of those stories are about religion but these stories are different.  These stories have some fictional parts in them but for the most part they are stories that are told from personal experiences and accounts. This is very interesting as we can now tell more about the history of these cultures and can better understand what and why they did these things. Overall this was a very interesting week of reading and learning and I can't wait to learn more about these interesting cultures.

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Reminder: you are demonstrating that you have read for the week (hint: do not focus in on one little detail - instead, show us what you got more broadly!)

Tarikhu Farrar, "The Queenmother, Matriarchy, and the Question of Female Political Authority in Precolonial West African Monarchy” (PDF)

“The Medieval Black Mother” (link to presentation slides)

Wendy Belcher, “Medieval African and European Texts about the Queen of Sheba”

Ethiopian The Kebra Nagast, 21-32, 84-90

“How black women were whitewashed by art”

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It is important to study the Middle Ages because it's important to have different perspectives of times when humans lived. the only perspective we have of human life is our own so is import to learn about others through literature. "Without studying human beings over the course of time, we risk failing to discover what it means to be human. Our modern experience is only one of many throughout the course of our existence."

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The reading that I have found most interesting so far is Thorstein the staff struck. Even though Thorstein is called a coward for not doing anything when struck with the staff I think he shows immense bravery by not doing anything knowing that there would be consequences to his actions. The story also is focused a lot on peer pressure. Thorstein wouldn't have killed Thors if his dad didn't call him a coward. Also Bjarni did nothing about Thor killing Thorhall and Thorvald until his wife confronted him about it.

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the story that interested me the most was Sundiata. I think the reason Sundiata interest me so much was because of its message. I think it's trying to tell us that we can accomplish anything and that sometimes all we need is a change of environment. The reason I say this is because back in his home town Sundiata was treated very poorly and was in a very bad situation. but after he got exiled he was able to flourish in Mama. he always had the potential and just needed to be given the opportunity.

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“Culture in all its forms is evocative.”

This phrase stood out to me upon rereading this chapter. When I go to read a book in my free time, 95% of the time I’m picking up some sort of high fantasy book. I’ve read a lot of fantasy, and most of it could be boiled down to your typical medieval European fantasy. It is what people know, so it’s what people write. However, the stories that I find stay with me and that I find myself going back to the most are the ones that make strong choices about the culture. To me, worldbuilding is one of the most fascinating parts of fantasy, so the ones that deviate from the “norm” are the ones that stand out. That’s not to say that your typical medieval European fantasy is lacking culture, there are many fascinating cultures to be found in Europe, they are just often overlooked or ignored. I’ve read many books that seemingly don’t have any culture associated with their world.

The same goes for disabilities. They are either oftentimes not shown, or they simply don’t exist. Sure, they will have characters with cool battle scars, but they will never mention any of the disabilities that go along with those same battle scars. When I was younger, one of my neighbors wrote a fantasy book, and I was obviously made to read it by my parents to show support. The main character is a young boy who has a mobile disability and has to use a wheelchair full time. He is sad and miserable the whole time until he is magically transported to a different world, where he somehow gains the ability to walk without any sort of assistance. His life gets better, and when he has to go to his world after his adventure, he is sad to see he can’t walk anymore, but is happier now that he knows what it was like to have that kind of freedom. Even when I was younger and had no clue how incredibly awful and ableist the story was, I always hated how the main character could just magically walk and was “healed.” How much more interesting would the story have been if he still had to go on his adventure while still in his wheelchair. How accessible is the world he was transported to? Do they have more or less resources for people with mobile disabilities than people in our world? The fact that I can think of several other stories where something similar happens shows how little people seem to think about people with disabilities. There are so many people around who are disabled, why not show them in fantasy media?

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Due to my own negligence I have been put in an interesting, and in my opinion enviable, position. I have been put into the position of being allowed to just sit and think. When originally taking this class last fall, I was burnt out and did not want to think about school anymore. Outside of my own mental health, while in school and juggling multiple classes, it is hard to just think about reading for extended periods of time. There are so many topics and conversations we had that deserve the opportunity to be thought about, but due to the environment of an undergrad classroom they have to breezed past. Since taking the spring semester off I have remembered why I decided to study literature: I enjoy reading and thinking. It seems odd to say, but I had forgotten how much I enjoy learning. This class and the discussions we had in it have been constantly playing in the back of my mind. Mostly because I was motivated to finally start writing my own fantasy book after R.A Salvatore spoke in our class, but also because I do genuinely think that it can provide so much insight into many different aspects in our daily lives.

I realized after writing the above statement that almost everyone else wrote about their favorite thing we read about. I feel a bit foolish for rambling now, but I’ll leave it in. It is impossible for me to point to just one thing that stood out to me. Maybe at the time of originally reading everything I would have likely said Tomas Mallory and have talked about some of the King Arther stories, but now I don’t think that is true anymore. While King Arther is a fascinating character and has inspired so many classic pieces of fiction. However, as time has gone on I think a lot of the class discussions we had about how the middle ages are portrayed in different types of media. I would say I am well experienced in reading fantasy stories that take inspiration from the middle ages, but I completely lost when it comes to writing my own. So the many discussions we had about how the middle ages are often incorrectly portrayed is something I have been keeping in mind when writing. I wish I could point to one specific discussion we had, but I think it is the combination of so many different classes that it cannot be narrowed down to just one class and just one discussion.

I think if I had to point to just one thing, I would have to say the conversations/readings on disabilities were very enlightening. It has been interesting to learn about all of the resources people did actually have. It makes sense in hindsight to learn that people a 1,000 years ago had seeing eye dogs, but it was something that I never thought about before. It stands to reason that many people also probably had emotional support animals. Again, it seems like such a simple thing, yet is always shown to be such a modern concept.

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Brianna Taft

Quiz 2

9/27/24

Why Study the Middle Ages? I always believed that the Middle Ages were not interesting and did not relate to anything in my life. Believe it or not, the factors and discoveries within the United States and the medieval times have similarities. So many aspects of medieval times such as philosophy, writing, and music are similar to the United States. Faith and religion were a major aspect of this time. It was a major way for everyone to express themselves. This is very prominent in today's world. So are gender roles and race or religion factors. We see these human differences being discussed more and more today. The Middle Ages set these beliefs and ideas in stone for us to continue to believe or discuss today. Gender, race, religion, and other human differences were explored during this time. More knowledge of science and medicine was found during this period. Also, medieval remedies began to be used in medicine and have created the foundations for our medicine and remedies today. Domestic violence was another issue occurring during this time. This was not tolerated. A king was beheaded for this act. I also did not have a great understanding of the government and its powers, along with the economic factors during this time. I feel that before doing my readings, the only ideas I had of the Middle Ages were wars, knights, kings, armor, and more.

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Dillon Murphy- Why Study the Middle Ages?

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Dillon Murphy- Why Study the Middle Ages?

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In Why Study the Middle Ages?, chapters 1-3 offer a comprehensive exploration of why this historical period is critical to understanding many aspects of contemporary life. The Middle Ages, often overlooked or reduced to stereotypes of knights and castles, is presented as a foundational period that shaped modern governance, culture, and societal systems.

Today in modern society we think of knights in shining armor and much more when we think of the Middle Ages, but there are a lot of similarities that we can see from back then in present time. Back then they had music, social systems, science and technology (STEM), and religion. In chapter one we can see how religion and belief played a big role back then. Personally I fell to believe society and how the medieval time was exactly how Game of Thrones depicted it and every other movie or show that takes place back then. These three chapters really helped me have an open mind and change my thinking towards this time. Chapter one emphasizes that the study of the Middle Ages through the humanities allows for a deeper understanding of both historical and contemporary human experience. It calls for a nuanced exploration that recognizes the complexities and continuities of human thought, belief, and culture across time. The first chapter also emphasizes the importance of medieval culture, literature, history, philosophy, and art, because it helps us connect with the experiences of people from a completely different era of time while also reflecting on our own. We then see a shift where STEM comes into play. Chapter two explains how citizens back then played a huge role in creating the foundation for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. One of the big reasons we know this is the transition from oral to written texts. This helped scientists and mathematicians whenever it came to writing formulas, graphs, equations, etc. Another thing I learned from this chapter was how they followed climate change. I always thought that was more of a recent discovery and not something from the Middle Ages. Not only did they discover climate change, but they figured out potential links between climate change and historical events, like the Mongol invasion or the decline of the Silk Road hubs. This was the most interesting thing I found from these three chapters.  Another misconception found from this time was how they used superstition and magic to cure disabilities and illnesses, but they actually had real medicines. One notable example is the discovery of the efficacy of a ninth-century eye salve recipe from Bald’s Leechbook, which has been proven effective against the MRSA superbug. Diversity was a big misconception, whenever there are movies or shows, they only have white males as the actors, but there were many scholars from various ethnicities and religions that worked together to advance knowledge in STEM fields. Chapter three shows the misconceptions of white supremacy and terms from the medieval like “chivalry”. People think the only people who lived back then were toxic masculine knights who had multiple women. Also, how these women were not warriors or important to the successes of many societies.

All in all, these three chapters talk about the misconceptions that we see today in shows and movies. They explain how the Middle Ages were the foundations for STEM, social systems, language, reading and writing, and many more.

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I enjoyed reading the story about Authun and the Bear. So often in modern fiction, stories about medieval times depict people as ruthless savages, almost completely devoid of morals. However, in Authun and the Bear, we get multiple demonstrations of kind acts from Authun himself, like when he gives king Harald the golden ring or when e gives king Svein the polar bear. We also get to see acts of kindness from both kings in this story, who are much more down to earth than the violent dictators one might see in modern fiction. King Harald, despite having a lot of power and not getting his way with the polar bear, still lets Authun continue his journey and does not kill him or have him jailed. He also rewards Authun for the golden ring much later on in the story. King Svein is shown to be very grateful and generous towards Authun for the polar bear, heaping with rewards and honors while letting Authun stay with him all the while. King Svein also lets Authun leave his kingdom when he wants to in spite of not really wanting him to leave, and he welcomes Authun back after he becomes sick and weak after a pilgrimage he made, despite king Svein not even recognizing who Authun was at first. Overall, this story is rather heartwarming, and I'm glad I chose it for my medieval project.

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My favorite piece we have been assigned this semester so far has been the Heliand. I like looking at the history of how a society, as big as the Saxons, tried to convert their people to Christianity. What I found interesting was how they depicted Jesus Christ as a warrior leader and tied the Saxon values into his attitude and teachings. This is one of the most important pieces of historical work from this time period, in my opinion.

The Heliand was likely written between 825 and 850 AD, during the rule of Emperor Louis the Pious, the son of Charlemagne. At this time, the Germanic Saxons, who lived in what is now northern Germany, had recently experienced a forced conversion to Christianity following years of resistance. Large-scale baptisms played a vital role in the Saxons' eventual submission after Charlemagne's military campaigns against them (the Saxon Wars, 772–804 AD) largely dismantled their pagan practices. However, military force alone was insufficient to convert a warrior society with strong customs and beliefs; Christian teachings needed to be reinterpreted in a way that resonated with their values.

One of the most striking features of the Heliand is how it adapts the Christian narrative to fit the Germanic heroic culture. Jesus is depicted not just as a spiritual leader but as a "chieftain" or "lord" who leads his loyal followers, much like a Saxon warrior king would lead his army. His disciples are described as his "thegns", and their relationship is one of loyalty and mutual duty.This portrayal helped to make Christianity more relatable to the Saxons, who valued loyalty, honor, and bravery in battle. For instance, the Sermon on the Mount is delivered in the tone of a chieftain giving wise counsel to his warriors, rather than as a gentle, purely spiritual teaching. The harsh realities of life in the early medieval period are acknowledged in the text, and Jesus is presented as a strong, commanding figure who faces opposition with courage and resolve—qualities the Saxons would have admired.

The Heliand also incorporates aspects of Saxon pagan traditions to make the new Christian faith feel less alien. There are mentions of fate, or "wyrd," which was a fundamental part of the Germanic perspective. While the poem does not advocate for paganism, it indicates that God governs fate, thereby redefining an essential element of Saxon belief within a Christian framework. The focus on loyalty and familial bonds in the poem reflects the significance of these values in Saxon culture. The depiction of Jesus’ connection with his followers shows how he is a lord/king, and his journey to Jerusalem is compared to the final, fateful mission of a war.

The Heliand is more than just a religious text, it is a cultural artifact that provides insight into how early medieval Christianity was spread and adapted among Germanic peoples. It stands as an example to the blending of Christian theology with Germanic heroic ideals, showing the complex interactions between religion, culture, and politics in Europe. Moreover, the Heliand offers modern readers a glimpse into the mindset of the Saxons during a time of significant transformation. It also highlights the role that literature played in shaping religious identity, particularly in how a foreign faith was made familiar and acceptable to a resistant population.