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Who here likes to read about medival time and maybe dress upp in medival clotes?.
Or just like the ide about it?
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Live to serve King and Country. Live to defend Crown and Country and all it holds dear. Live one's life so that it is worthy of respect and honor. Live for freedom, justice and all that is good. Never attack an unarmed foe. Never use a weapon on an opponent not equal to the attack. Never attack from behind. Avoid lying to your fellow man. Avoid cheating. Avoid torture. Obey the law of king, country, and chivalry. Administer justice. Protect the innocent. Exhibit self control. Show respect to authority. Respect women. Exhibit Courage in word and deed. Defend the weak and innocent. Destroy evil in all of its monstrous forms. Crush the monsters that steal our land and rob our people. Fight with honor. Avenge the wronged. Never abandon a friend, ally, or noble cause. Fight for the ideals of king, country, and chivalry. Die with valor. Always keep one's word of honor. Always maintain one's principles. Never betray a confidence or comrade. Avoid deception. Respect life and freedom. Die with honor. Exhibit manners. Be polite and attentive. Be respectful of host, women, and honor. Loyalty to country, King, honor, freedom, and the code of chivalry. Loyalty to one's friends and those who lay their trust in thee.
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People of the Middle Ages
A king (or lord) ruled large areas of land. To protect his land from invasion, the king gave parts of it to local lords, who were called vassals. In return, his vassals promised to fight to defend the king's land.
Vassals ruled lands granted to them by their king. Those lands were called fiefs. Within a fiefs, a vassal acted as a local lord and could give portions of it to vassals of his own. Someone might be the vassal of one person, but the lord of another.
Knights were warriors who fought on horseback. In return for land, they pledged themselves as vassals to the king. Only the sons of lords could become knights. Candidates for knighthood began training as pages at the age of 7, learning social graces and skills such as fencing and hunting. At 13 or 14 they became squires and began to practice fighting on horseback. Squires served as assistants to knights both in the castle and on the battlefield. At 21 a squire could become a knight himself, kneeling before the lord of the manor to be "dubbed" on the shoulder with a sword. Kings, local lords, and knights were all part-of a ruling class that called itself noblemen.
Noblewomen were the wives and daughters of noblemen. They were in charge of the household servants and supervised the upbringing of children. They also helped take care of the sick and the poor. In certain cases, noblewomen themselves could own land. They could inherit it from their parents or from their husbands. When a nobleman was away, his wife ruled the manor. This meant that the noblewoman, if called upon by her lord, could send knights into battle, just as a man would.
Bishops were the leaders of the church, serving under the pope, the bishop of Rome. Most bishops were noblemen. Bishops supervised the church's priests, monks and nuns and administered its business. In many parts of Europe the church owned vast areas of land and commanded a large number of knights. In the early Middle Ages, it was not unusual for a bishop to lead his own knights into battle.
Priests provided spiritual instruction and conducted religious ceremonies in local, or parish, churches.
Monks and nuns were men and women who gave up their possessions and left ordinary life to live in monasteries and convents. They lived very simply, could not marry and devoted themselves to prayer, study, and helping the poor. They also served as doctors.
Frairs were traveling preachers who lived by begging and spread the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi (see Medieval Voices on p. 34).
Serfs lived in small communities called manors that were ruled by a local lord or vassal. Most peasants were serfs. They were bound to the manor and could not leave it or marry without the manor lord's permission. Serfs did all the work on the manor farm: they worked the fields, cared for the livestock, built and maintained the buildings, made the clothing, and cut firewood. Men, women, and children worked side by side. Serfs had small plots of land they could work for themselves; sometimes a serf saved enough money to buy his freedom and became a freeman.
Servants were peasants who worked in the lord's manor house, doing the cooking, cleaning, laundering, and other household chores.
Merchants set up businesses in the towns that began to grow in the later Middle Ages. The most commonly traded items were salt, iron, and textiles. There were also rarer items, such as silk and spices, that came from the trade with China and the Middle East. As trade grew, a new class of highly skilled crafts- people developed. These artisans produced cloth, shoes, beer, glass and other goods that required more expertise than was available on many manor farms. Other artisans cut and shaped the stones for the cathedrals. Women plied several of these crafts, and in some, like weaving and brewing, they played the leading role. Traveling merchants brought much-desired items to small towns and villages far from the major trade routes.
Minstrels were entertainers who traveled from town to town, often in groups. Most minstrels were singers or musicians, but some had other skills as well. They juggled, did acrobatics, or danced. Minstrels were known by different names in different parts of Europe. In Germany minstrels were called minnesingers, in France jongleurs, in Ireland bards. The most famous minstrels were those of southern France. They were called troubadours, from the Latin word that means "to compose." Many of the love poems they composed in the local language, Provencal, are still read and admired today. The troubadours were so famous that we know 500 of them by name.
Post away 
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NostradamusCould he see the future? Born in the early 16th century, Nostradamus has become one of the world's most widely known and read prophets. His poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains). Do these writings actually predict the death of popes, rise of tyrants, and natural catastrophes to come? Read his prophecies, hear the arguments, and decide for yourself. Timeline1503 - Born - Michel de Nostredame in St. Remy, France on December 14. 1534 - Married for the first time. Shortly thereafter he lost his wife and two children to the plague. 1554 - Married Anne Ponsart Gemelle in town of Salon, France 1555 - Nostradamus published his first set of 100 quatrains. 1566 - Died - July 2. Biography of Nostradamus On December 14, 1503 in St. Remi, France, Michel de Nostredame was born. The first son of Jewish parents, forced by the Inquisition to convert to Catholicism, would become a skilled physician but would gain renown during his lifetime and beyond as a seer of the future. Growing up he spent much of his time learning languages, math, astronomy, and astrology from his grandfather, Jean. Later he attended the University at Avignon where he studied liberal arts. Afterwards, he graduated from the medical school at the University of Montpellier and began a private practice where he succeeded at treating plague victims in Montpellier and the surrounding areas. Around 1534 he married and began a family. Tragically, the plague which he had been so successful in treating previously took the lives of his wife and two children. (The names of his wife and children are not known) Distraught and pursued by the Inquisition, Nostradamus packed his bags and traveled throughout Italy and France for the next six years. He eventually settled down in the town of Salon, France in 1554 where he married his second wife, Anne Ponsart Gemelle, with whom he raised six children - three boys and three girls. It was during this time that he began his career as a prophet. In 1555, at the age of 52, he wrote his first collection of Centuries - a set of 100 quatrains. Over the next several years he would complete a total of 10 Centuries. In 1564 Nostradamus was appointed Royal Physician to King Charles IX. On July 1, 1566 Nostradamus offered his final prediction to his priest. In response to the priest's farewell of "Until tomorrow," Nostradamus is said to have answered: "You will not find me alive at sunrise." Nostradamus died that night.
No one wants to post anything? iam sure there is someone here.??..
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Joan of Arc: Letter to the King of England, 1429 Joan, called "the Maid," a young girl from the town of Domrémy in the French county of Lorraine, felt herself to be called by God to help the French resist the English in the Hundred Years War. After convincing the King of France that she was a prophetess sent by God, she took command of an army and went into battle against the English. She wrote this letter to the King of England, who was laying siege to the town of Orleans. Note how she speaks of government in religious terms and how she switches back and forth between the first person "I" and the third person "she" when she refers to herself. JESUS, MARY King of England, render account to the King of Heaven of your royal blood. Return the keys of all the good cities which you have seized, to the Maid. She is sent by God to reclaim the royal blood, and is fully prepared to make peace, if you will give her satisfaction; that is, you must render justice, and pay back all that you have taken. King of England, if you do not do these things, I am the commander of the military; and in whatever place I shall find your men in France, I will make them flee the country, whether they wish to or not; and if they will not obey, the Maid will have them all killed. She comes sent by the King of Heaven, body for body, to take you out of France, and the Maid promises and certifies to you that if you do not leave France she and her troops will raise a mighty outcry as has not been heard in France in a thousand years. And believe that the King of Heaven has sent her so much power that you will not be able to harm her or her brave army. To you, archers, noble companions in arms, and all people who are before Orleans, I say to you in God's name, go home to your own country; if you do not do so, beware of the Maid, and of the damages you will suffer. Do not attempt to remain, for you have no rights in France from God, the King of Heaven, and the Son of the Virgin Mary. It is Charles, the rightful heir, to whom God has given France, who will shortly enter Paris in a grand company. If you do not believe the news written of God and the Maid, then in whatever place we may find you, we will soon see who has the better right, God or you. William de la Pole, Count of Suffolk, Sir John Talbot, and Thomas, Lord Scales, lieutenants of the Duke of Bedford, who calls himself regent of the King of France for the King of England, make a response, if you wish to make peace over the city of Orleans! If you do not do so, you will always recall the damages which will attend you. Duke of Bedford, who call yourself regent of France for the King of England, the Maid asks you not to make her destroy you. If you do not render her satisfaction, she and the French will perform the greatest feat ever done in the name of Christianity. Done on the Tuesday of Holy Week (March 22, 1429). HEAR THE WORDS OF GOD AND THE MAID. Translated by Belle Tuten from M. Vallet de Vireville, ed. Chronique de la Pucelle, ou Chronique de Cousinot. Paris: Adolphe Delahaye, 1859, pp. 281-283. 
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More Joan of Arc Info
Life Summary of Joan of Arc (Jehanne Darc)
Segment 1: Childhood
the night of the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6th)2 at the end of the medieval Christmas season, in the year 1412 during the final waning period of relative peace secured by the Truce of Leulinghen, a baby was born to Jacques Darc (or "d'Arc") and his wife Isabelle in the village of Domrémy. She was christened Jehanne ("Joan"), apparently after her mother's sister Jehanne Lassois, or her godmothers Jehanne Royer, Jehanne de Viteau, and Jehanne "the wife of Mayor Aubéry".3 Lord Perceval de Boulainvilliers later claimed that the roosters of the village, "like heralds of a new joy", hailed her birth by crowing long before dawn4, as if to announce a different type of dawn. Her childhood was spent among the forests and strawberry-covered fields of the Meuse river valley, during a period of increasing trouble for the Kingdom of France. The throne at that time was occupied by the fourth king of the Valois dynasty, Charles VI (aka Charles "the Mad" or Charles "the Well-Beloved"), whose frequent delusional periods rendered him unable to govern. The monarchy was therefore placed in the hands of several members of the Royal family (the Dukes of Orléans, Burgundy [Bourgogne], Berri, and Bourbon, plus Queen Isabel), and this warm extended family had become embroiled in a vicious civil war after Duke Louis of Orléans was assassinated on the orders of his cousin Duke Jean-sans-Peur ["John the Fearless"] of Burgundy in 1407. France would henceforth be divided between the Orléanist (or Armagnac) faction and their Burgundian rivals. In May 1413, when Jehanne was still a baby, the conflict produced the Cabochien Revolt in Paris, a bloody uprising engineered by the Duke of Burgundy, led by a prominent Parisian butcher named Simon Caboche, and encouraged by a 42 year old clergyman and Burgundian partisan named Pierre Cauchon, whose pro-English sympathies would later lead him to commit his other best-known crime, Jehanne's conviction in 1431.
War with England was renewed in 1415, when Jehanne was three, after negotiators failed to extend the Truce of Leulinghen. Citing his family's old claim to the French throne, King Henry V of England invaded Normandy in August of that year, quickly gaining the port city of Harfleur and subsequently defeating the French Royal army, dominated by Armagnac leaders, near the little village of Aginçourt on October 25th in one of the most lopsided battles of the long war. Although the English may have been outnumbered by nearly eight to one, their losses are estimated to have been no more than about 500 whereas the French may have lost up to 10,000 (about a fourth of their army), including as many as three Dukes, five Counts, 92 Barons, and hundreds of lesser lords. The victory, greeted with joyous celebrations in England, was widely attributed to Henry V's piety.mn1 On the French side the battle produced shocked disbelief as word of the defeat slowly spread throughout the kingdom. King Charles is said to have exclaimed, "We are all lost and overthrown!" and shortly entered another of his "absent" periods. The aged Duke Jean de Berri lost generous numbers of his younger relatives and subsequently died, worn out and dismayed, eight months later. And the 50 year old Christine de Pisan, court writer and poet for the French Royal family, fell into a depression and finally entered a convent three years later when Paris came under occupation. She would not emerge from obscurity to write her final poem until a certain farmer's daughter began to reverse the tide of the war. Aginçourt decimated the French aristocracy and severely weakened the Armagnac faction. Among the many nobles captured during the battle was Duke Charles d'Orléans himself, who was widely looked upon by both sides as a leader of prime importance - so much so that Henry V forbade him to be ransomed, thereby dooming Charles to serve 25 years as a prisoner of war.mn2 Jehanne would later take a special interest in this duke, who, she said, was especially loved by God.
Margin Note 1: Although Henry himself often said that God had used the battle as a means of punishing the French aristocracy for their decadence. This explanation was one that he especially enjoyed giving to his French prisoners, a hobby that never seemed to weary him.
Margin Note 2: This long captivity ironically provided Charles with the time to write the vast volumes of innovative poetry for which he is best known today.
Against this turbulent backdrop the members of the d'Arc family continued to farm their 50-some acres of land near the Meuse. Historians have long commented about the surprising amount of detailed information available about Jehanne's childhood, information which was somewhat paradoxically provided for us by an event which took place over 20 years after her death: when the English were finally driven from the site of her trial (Rouen) in November of 1449, steps were taken to launch an appeal of her case, generally referred to as the Rehabilitation Trial.mn3 During the long course of this appeal 115 witnesses were questioned by the Inquisition, including 22 of the villagers who had known her during her early years; movingly, some of them still referred to her by her childhood nickname, "Jhenette" ("little Joan"). According to these witnesses, she had been a dutiful child who helped her parents with the chores along with her other siblings: her three older brothers Jacquemin, Jean, and Pierre, and her sister Catherine. One of her godfathers, a farmer named Jean Moreau from the nearby village of Greux, later recalled that "she was such a good girl that almost everyone in Domrémy loved her".5 A group of her former childhood companions, or others of approximately the same age, also testified; these were: Hauviette [by then the wife of Gerardin de Sionne], Mengette [the wife of Jean Joyart], Simonin Musnier, Isabelette d'Epinal, Michel Lebuin, Gerard Guillemette, Jean Jaquard, Jean Waterin, and someone listed in the transcript merely as "Colin, son of Jean Colin of Greux", who is believed to have married Catherine; these people remembered her as a "good, simple, sweet-natured girl"6 who "worked gladly"7 and "went to church gladly and often",8 especially to a chapel called Notre Dame de Bermont, to which she and Catherine would bring candles in honor of the Virgin Mary.9 "She was greatly committed to the service of God and the Blessed Mary," said Colin, "so that because of her devotion the other boys and I, who was young then, would laugh at her."10 Simonin Musnier remembered that "she helped those who were ill and gave alms to the poor, as I saw, because I was ill when I was a boy and Jehanne consoled me."11 Margin Note 3: Although the transcript of the Condemnation Trial is unfortunately more readily available in translation, and this trial itself is the focus of a great number of movies and popular books, it is the transcript of the Rehabilitation trial which has provided historians with most of the details of her life, told in the testimony of the people who knew her best. The plotlines of the biographies and movies are ultimately derived from this testimony, albeit usually indirectly through secondary sources which quote portions of the transcript. In her testimony at her own trial, Jehanne would say: "It was from my mother that I learned the Pater Noster (Our Father), the Ave Maria (Hail Mary), and the Credo (Apostles Creed)",12 and "to sew linen fabrics and to spin wool, and when it comes to spinning and sewing I fear no woman...".13 Catherine le Royer remembered that "she loved to spin wool, and spun well".14 She also loved to listen to the ringing of the church bells: Dominique Jacob, a priest of a nearby parish, remembered that "sometimes when they rang the bells for Compline [around 9 pm] in the village church, she would go down on her knees; and it seemed to me that she said her prayers with devotion."15 Jean Waterin similarly recalled that "when she was in the fields and heard the bell tolling she would go down on her knees".16 She sometimes chased down Perrin Drappier, the churchwarden at Domrémy, if he was remiss in performing his duties: "when I did not ring the bell for Compline she scolded me, saying that it was badly done; and then she promised to give me pieces of wool [or possibly "flat cakes"])"17 so that I would have the bells rung for Compline diligently".18 War darkened this childhood, however. Henry V had returned in 1417, gaining important cities such as Caen and Rouen over the next several years: the latter fell in 1419 only after a six-month siege in which half the population died of starvation and disease. Although most of these deaths were unintentional and Henry V tried to discourage his troops from wanton looting and destruction,19 he himself had a cruel side to his personality: when someone once complained about the sacking of towns, he is said to have commented: "War without fire is worth nothing - like sausages without mustard."20 The cost of Henry's "mustard" was borne by the French. In some parts of northern France abandoned farms, vacated by the terrified populace, became overgrown with scrub and small trees. "The forests came back with the English" became a proverbial phrase. With the French nobility - the traditional 'military caste' - taking a beating, and with the Armagnacs and Burgundians too busy with each other to halt the English, a popular French song of the era seems to spoof the plight of those Norman farmers who might wish to take up their poor weapons and try to drive out the English army themselves:
"Let each take his hoe, the better to uproot them. And if they do not wish to go, at least make a face at them. Do not fear to strike them, those big-bellied Godons [the standard slang term for English soldiers], for one of us is worth four of them, or at least he is worth three of them..."21 The French have enjoyed many eras of glory, but this was not one of them. A new leader was emerging at this time. Charles de Ponthieu, the young Dauphin [claimant to the throne] who would later become King Charles VII with Jehanne's help, was allied by this point with the Armagnacs; his mother the Queen was linked with the Burgundians. French loyalties were split between these two, Henry V, and various individual nobles who maintained their own policies or switched back and forth between the major factions. Sporadic fighting broke out throughout France and beyond.
In 1419, according to the surviving records, Jehanne's father pooled his money with another farm family to rent the use of a nearby fortress on an island in the Meuse, called the "Château de l'Ile", to serve as a secure sanctuary for the villagers and their livestock.22 On the wider stage of European politics, the same year witnessed the assassination of Duke Jean-sans-Peur of Burgundy by the Armagnacs, leading his successor Philippe-le-Bon ["Philip the Good"] to enter into full alliance with the English. A branch of the French Royal family was now willing to offer the throne to their English relatives. In 1420, when Jehanne was eight, the Treaty of Troyes granted Henry V eventual title to the kingdom of France through marriage to Catherine de Valois, daughter of King Charles VI. Her brother the Dauphin Charles was disinherited, and France was divided between Henry V and the Duke of Burgundy. Among the men who helped negotiate the treaty was Pierre Cauchon, whose efforts were rewarded when his faction secured him appointment as Bishop of Beauvais, a position from which he would later prosecute Jehanne on behalf of the English. The appointment, as well as the later prosecution, was achieved with the help of his colleagues at the University of Paris, now filled with supporters of the Anglo-Burgundians after the others were expelled. The University's residual prestige within the Church would be put to use. In 1422 Henry V and Charles VI died within two months of each other, leaving the Henry VI as the nominal ruler of both kingdoms. His regent in France, the Duke of Bedford, spent the next few years cementing alliances with the Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy, and engaging Armagnac forces in the field. The military situation swung in Bedford's favor with major victories at Cravant on July 31, 1423 and at Verneuil on August 17th of the following year, during which the Dauphin's Scottish allies were cut to pieces in a smaller-scale version of Aginçourt. The Scots lost some of their enthusiasm for the war after that point.
In the wake of defeat and frustration, demoralization set in within the Armagnac faction.mn4 Around that time, perhaps in the summer of 1424, the young farm girl from Domrémy said she began to experience visions. She would later explain: "I was in my thirteenth year when I heard a voice from God to help me govern my conduct. And the first time I was very much afraid. And this voice came, about the hour of noon, in the summer time, in my father's garden..."23 A new chapter had begun for Jehanne and the various factions fighting for control of the Kingdom of France.
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