Sunday, February 23, 2020

Feb 24 From Merovingians to Carolingians -- 400 years of history in one week

You need to read carefully everything I post on the blog. Check each day to see if there is something new. I don't have time to go over it all in class, but I will expect you are accountable for anything written here.

Wednesday fun facts due. Email to me. Friday vote for winner.

I am going to attempt the impossible this week:

Today, we are going to begin with a short video about the rise and significance of Clovis, 466 to 511, the 1st Merovingian king of the Franks, and in a sense, the first king of France, though the Franks at that time were a germanic tribe. 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMNOVlq29Vg&feature=youtu.be  

One major fact about him is that through his wife, Clothilde, he was converted from paganism to the Catholic belief in the trinity. Almost all the barbarian tribes at the time were Arians--they did not believe that Jesus is God. With Clovis great success as a warrior in uniting the Frankish tribes, other tribes began to adopt Catholic Christianity, which shaped the European culture for a thousand years.  I have a fill in the blanks transcript of the video which you will hand in on Wednesday.

Then, I want to show you two short videos about the Muslims in Spain leading up to and including their attempt to conquer France. 

The Muslim conquest of Spain: Al Andalus
https://youtu.be/4m11g0437lQ?t=122

The Battle of Poitier--Muslims meet Charles "the Hammer" Martel
https://youtu.be/Hge-eh-PrpA

Before Wednesday, watch the 1/2 hour video by Professor Reeves about the Merovingianshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXaN2vXEgwg&feature=youtu.be&t=1 I will quiz you on that. 

In class on Wednesday, we will watch Professor Reeve's 1/2 hour lecture on Charlemagnehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yfhG547two

Then, on Thursday, we'll listen to Professor Daileader's lecture on Charlemagne. I have a fill-in-the-blanks outline for Daileader, but not for Reeves. However, I will have some questions for you about both lectures, due on the weekend.

I find it interesting to see how Daileader has quite a different view of Charlemagne than Professor Reeves. I'm not sure whether that is because one is a Christian lecturer and the other is not, or if it is simply because different people draw different lessons from their studies. After all, any person's life is complex and at the distance of 1200 years, it is not easy to say in a half hour lecture "this is the truth about _____".

Next week, we are going to leap forward into the High Middle Ages, the time of chivalry and knights to begin thinking about that era since we will teach a couple or a few lessons to the Grade 4's soon after the break. We will spend at least two weeks working on plans for teaching the little one. 

After that, we will come back and look at a few more elements of the early middle ages like the Carolingian Renaissance and the attacks of the Vikings in May. Then we'll move quickly into the High Middle Ages again--1000 to 1300--probably focusing more on English history

From there, we will hit a few highlights of the late middle ages from 1300 to 1500.

We need to make full use of the time in class because there is a lot to cover.

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