The Crusades

     The Crusades were a series of Holy Wars started by the Christian states in Europe against the Moslems. There was a total of nine crusades, the first four were seen as more important than the others. Crusaders came from upper and lower classes, usually in the middle ages people were grouped in upper and lower classes that were separate. There was one particular crusade that was called The Children's Crusade, The preacher of the Children's Crusade was a twelve year old boy named Stephen. Stephen had been convinced that God had instructed him to rescue the Holy Sepulcher. The rest of this odd group was made mostly of boys twelve and under, however there were many girls as well.

Children by:unknown

The Middle Ages Suck Part Two: The Battle Of Hastings

    In Part One of The Middle Ages Suck, you discovered the stupidity of feudalism, now we are going to reveal how feudalism was brought to England. King Harold of England led his army out to battle with the Viking invaders in 1066. The invaders ambushed the coast of England. When King Harold's army arrived they defeated the Viking invaders. Soon after that the King had to march his army back to the south side of England to defeat the Norman invaders. The English were winning the battle when the Normans decided to change their battle technique, instead of aiming their bows for the bodies of the soldiers, the Normans aimed for the heads of the soldiers. As a result, King Harold is shot in the eye. Later on the English get the idea that the Normans are retreating, so the give up their high battle position and chase after them which didn't end in good results, the English lost the battle to King William The First.

NOTE:  For clarification the Normans came from France.

The Viking Voyage: Day 6

     I woke up in the morning to the smell of schnitzel grease "That's odd I haven't hired any cooks and I watered down the fire," I got up from my cot and followed the smell. Lo and behold I saw one of the men that helped me move my ship yesterday! Believe it or not he was cooking schnitzel! Before I emerged from my ship I thought to myself, "I could use this kind of talent in my business!" Then, I rushed down to their camp and blurted, "I couldn't help but follow the scent of that delicious schnitzel! Have you boys raided me restaurant stock?!?" They all glanced at me in disbelief.
     "No I have not raided your restaurant stock! Thats for barbarians and viking savages!"He said.
     I jumped back, He just called me a savage! I replied angrily, "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME SAVAGE!" He stared back at me in disbelief.
     Finally, The man making the schnitzel proudly stated "I didn't call you a savage I called those barbaric vikings savages!"
     I was shocked! He just said that to a real vikings face, my face! "Well there is a viking presence here, I know it!" I shot back. The man didn't seem worried.
     "Are you sure? We would have heard their poor little boo, boo cries by now." He retorted.
     This is when the anger started to rise, I towered over him and yelled "OH YEAH? YOU DON'T SEE ME CRYING DO YA? YOUR FACE TO FACE WITH A REAL VIKING AND SHE'S ANGRY!" He stared in terror, I yanked the schnitzel out of his hand and ate it in one bite, Then the unbelievable happened, My taste buds were shocked like a ship being hit by a cannon. I tried to stop myself but the words rolled off my lips, "How would you like to work for me?"

The Middle Ages Suck

    I am reading about the Middle Ages and I found out that it wasn't that pleasant for the peasants also called serfs. There was the Feudalism Pyramid which always had the towns people on the bottom. The towns people had to work the land and the crops every day for a Lord and not themselves and only had eight weeks out of the year that were completely free from work. They got the holidays off but still! On top of that there was tax collectors that bilked the money out of them. What if a villager got sick? Would they have the money for medicine? To sum it up, you wouldn't want to live in the Middle Ages if you were an average joe.

Viking Voyage: Day 5

  Oh, that man with his clever ways. I got so caught up in the argument that I forgot to finagle that book! I distracted myself from the book and thought "This little puppy needs a name!" I stared at the wistful little puppy. Finally, it hit me! "You're going to be the Icon and mascot of Grunka's Sea Saloon! Your cute little face will have the customers eating out of my hand! You are little and innocent but, your puppy eyes will take control of the people like a god."  Then my cogwheels were really turning! "Your name should be Odie after the god Odin! I will take over the schnitzel industries for sure, but not out here on the open seas!" I must go back to Eagle Point. I rowed and rowed until my little dingy made it to German shores where I stayed. Let me explain to you.
    It all started when I saw a near by ship having trouble. A wave had pushed their ship too far into the shore, the crew members worked hard to get it free. I realized that I didn't have enough money to buy a stand in the town, so I decided to get my ship stuck on shore and set up shop. I went over to the ship stuck on the shore and asked for a few men to help me. After my ship was properly placed I cut a doorway in the hull and started setting up barrels and benches. Satisfied, I looked down at Odie and said "Odie, you're going to make it work for me ok?"
     With my sign hanging proudly on the upper hull of my ship I went to bed satisfied