Middle Ages Research Project 

Easton Crockett-Wait                                                                                                                                                         Crockett-Wait 1

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

March 24, 2022

Times in the Medieval 

Introduction

When you think of medieval times what do you imagine?  Do you think of knights wielding Shields for protection, fierce Dragons which once ruled the earth, or even Feudalism government of the time?  Well if you think of any of these or don´t and want to, then this is the Essay for you.

Feudalism

Feudalism started roughly in the 12th century. It was a government where the king ruled all the land. Ducksters stated,¨ the top leader of the land was the king¨ (Ducketers) The nobles were the next class. The king gave land and resources to nobbles. Another name for the nobles was the rich and they were class two.  The third class is the knight, who is mostly the same except they are part of the army and they protect/enslave the peasants and serfs.  The serfs and peasants have it the worst; they have to take care of the land and in return, they get a house, home, food, and water protection. 

Feudalism fell because of the Black Death and the crusades, the way it happened was at first, all was good, the system was in order and there was peace, then disaster struck! The Crusades started and all the knights were sent out to fight and most knights died out there. Then the peasants started fleeing because the knights could not watch them and fled to the towns to make a living if they were not captured in the first year and 1 day they were free. Then the Black Death came and wiped out almost all of the people in the system then, even more, fled the Black Death and the whole society collapsed, that is how feudalism fell. 

Dragons

When most people use the word ¨Dragon¨ you usually think of the western dragon. The western dragon is usually portrayed as mean and evil; they are also known to hoard large amounts of treasure in their caves or lairs. The most well-known dragons that are portrayed as a ¨Western dragon¨ is the Beowulf. Some books have the western dragon as the Devil in Christianity. Other legends say that consuming a dragon's heart or if your fancy ¨heorte¨ will give the consumer the superpower of understanding all birds.  Ingesting the dragon's tongue gives the power to the consumer to win any debate, and rubbing the dragon's blood on the flesh will defend against any strike. 

Another ¨dragon¨ (if you can call it that) is well-known for one example, the loch ness monster, now to tell you about the ¨sea serpent¨.  Since people have been sailing on boats, sea serpents have been part of history. These creatures were shown on maps in early European history, where unexplored space was marked "HERE BE DRAGONS". Some smart people believe that what these sea serpent sailors saw were really giant squids, large amounts of sea kelp, or even seafaring dinos. The Basilosaurus had a very big body, and short neck, its mouth was filled with big sharp teeth. If one came above the water near a boat, it could be believed to be a sea serpent. "Nessie" the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland, is a well-known "sea serpent".

Next is part of Greek mythology, the hydra.  In Greek mythology, Hercules fought a grand hydra with 6-9 heads and others usually had 8. Every time he managed to slash one off with a sword, a couple would come in its place. He finally figured out that by burning the neck with fire, it could not produce another head. That is how Hercules rid the world of the mighty hydra. Also in mythology, the hydra is a child of Typhon a demon birthed to kill Zeus he was half man half serpent, and Echidna is half snake half woman. It is also said that the hydra's teeth can bring the dead to life.  The hydra has been on vases made of bronze from as far back as the 7th century.  The hydra lived in  Lurna, the lake made before 3300 BC. In the bronze age. The hydra had one immortal head in the middle; it also could spit deadly acid out of all the heads.  When fighting, Hercules could not defeat the monster alone; he needed help from his nephew Loluas. After removing the hydra's last head Hercules buried its body under a large rock, took its poisonous blood dipped arrows in it, and used the blood to kill other future enemies.

The last dragon to talk about today is the fairy dragon. This is not well known and also is not like other dragons. It is small and super rare.  This animal is very tiny, only 1-5 inches long, and has big eyes and butterfly-like wings. They are vegetarians or herbivores, they eat fruits and nuts.   These are the rarest of all dragons; only 2-3 have been sighted; scientists believe that they are just large butterflies. It is said that these dragons carry fairies from cities.  Since only a few have been sighted there are very few on earth.  They are known to have a trickster nature and quotes from Draconian¨these are the rarest of all dragons¨

Last (for real this time) you may be thinking what do all these dragons have to do with medieval times? Well, if that is not instantly obvious why, then I will tell you, feel free to skip to the next paragraph.  Today not many people believe in dragons, but in medieval times they were believed to be real and scary they fed on cattle and lamb. The dragons also ate HUMANS, mostly small lads.  Dragons were huge ,and they stole and hid gold. Dragons lived in caves and mountains. There were tales of dragon slayers and legends of  the beasts. All dragons were eating, killing and hoarding machines oh also they were legendary fuel. The reason I wrote about them is that they were popular folklore and were the stuff of legends in medieval times.

Sheilds

The shield is made to protect knights from direct attacks from weapons of enemies. They were also made into bludgeon weapons, which is a weapon made to hit hard and repeatedly fast, like hammers.  Some knights  used shields as weapons for offense, not defense like you know a shield is used except for Captain America, but he is in a movie so not important.  The knights that used the shield for offense took advantage of the shield boss which is the small bump in the middle of the shield.  Back then the shield boss and even now some shields had a spike in the middle instead of a bump.  On the shield, there would be a design that could be made to tell about the knight and help recognize him; this also helped in jousting competitions here is a quote ¨medieval shields were developed to shield or protect¨(medieval life and times)

Conclusion 

Can you answer the question now? What do you think of when people say medieval times? I hope your answer to the question will be ¨when I think of medieval times I think of a great essay written by Easton Crockett-Wait.¨

Works Cited 

“Middle Ages Feudal System.” Ducksters. www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_feudal _system.php  

Accessed 22 February 2023. 

Ross, David. “Feudalism and Medieval Life.” Britain Express. www.britainexpress.com 

/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htm Accessed 7 February 2023.

Hydra (Mythology) Facts for Kids. kiddle https://kids.kiddle.co/Hydra_(mythology) Accessed 1 March 

2023.

King, Mallisa what do people think about dragons in the middle ages the classroom may,10,2019https://www.theclassroom.com/did-people-think-dragons-middle-ages-20297.html may,3,2023

 ¨What are Dragons?¨ Draconia. www.draconian.com/whatis/whatis.htm Accessed 26 January 2023.

“List of Dragons in Mythology and Folklore.” Wikipedia.  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_dragon# 

:~:text=In%20myths%2C%20wyverns%20are%20associated,known%20as%20a%20%22cockatri

ce%22. Accessed 30 January 2023.

¨Medieval Sheilds.¨ Medieval Life and Times. www.medieval-life-and-times.info/medieval-swords-and- 

armor/medieval-shields.htm Accessed 30 January 2023.