Middle Ages Research Project

Nolan Rodriguez 

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

April 19, 2024

The ages Im glad im not in 

Introduction

The Middle ages were pretty middle…I know what you're thinking, that doesn't make ANY SENSE. But have you ever wondered what it was like in the middle ages? What the governments did and what kind of government they even were. There was a thing called Feudalism in the Middle ages. What's feudalism?

Feudalism

Feudalism was the relationship of obligation and mutual service between vassals and lords. The most places where it happened were villages. Feudalism was around the 1400’s through 15 or 16 hundreds. The lord would keep the peasants safe, and the peasants would help the lord, the text states,”He would keep the peasants safe in return for their service. The lord, in return, would provide the king with soldiers or taxes.”.

The Feudal System was organized by the king. The king made peasants work to benefit their village and benefit himself. The text states,”Under the feudal system land was granted to people for service. It started at the top with the king granting his land to a baron for soldiers all the way down to a peasant getting land to grow crops.”. The manor was the center of life. As explained in the text,”The center of life in the Middle Ages was the manor. The manor was run by the local lord. He lived in a large house or castle where people would gather for celebrations or for protection if they were attacked. A small village would form around the castle which would include the local church. Farms would then spread out from there which would be worked by the peasants.”.

Although it was a government system followed by all, most people did not benefit from working for the lord and king. Some peasants could own things like land, but some were slaves. The text states,”Most of the people living in the Middle Ages were peasants. They had a hard, rough life. Some peasants were considered free and could own their own businesses like carpenters, bakers, and blacksmiths. Others were more like slaves. They owned nothing and were pledged to their local lord. They worked long days, 6 days a week, and often barely had enough food to survive.”.

Feudalism ended when no other sons could be born or be king, and soon the king would pass away and then another dies, then another. The cycle was meant to stop.

Dragons

Dragons are mythical creatures said to exist long ago. Dragons are mostly thought of as breathing fire. They are scaly and have large wings that let them fly.

The most thought of dragon is the western dragon, as said in the passage,”When most people think "dragon" they most likely think of the Western dragon. Western dragons are usually portrayed as evil, mean, and bloodthirsty. They were also known to have huge hoards of gold and jewels hidden in their lairs.”. Christianity is included in the western dragon. The text states,” Some stories have the western dragon as the Devil in Christianity.”. The text also states,”stories in legend say that eating a dragons' heart will give the consumer the power of understanding birds, eating the dragons' tongue enables the person to win any argument, and rubbing the dragons' blood on skin will protect against stab wounds.”.

There's another dragon and it's the eastern dragon. The text explains,”There are three families of Eastern dragons: 3 toed, 4 toed, and 5 toed. Three toed dragons are Japanese. Four toed dragons are Indonesian or Korean. Five toed dragons are Chinese. They are shown in the colors blue, black, white, red, or yellow. Oriental dragons are usually shown with a pearl in their mouth, under their chin, or in their claws. This is apparently where the dragon gets its power, and how it ascends to heaven. Roasted swallows are the Chinese dragon's favorite food. In china, Dragons are known as lung. The text states,”In China dragons are known as Lung. There are four main kinds of Lung: Tien-lung , The Celestial Dragon: who protect the places of the Gods, Shen-Lung, The Spiritual Dragon: who control the wind and the rain, Ti-Lung , The Earth Dragon which control rivers, and water on the Earth, and Futs-Lung , The Underworld Dragon which guards precious metals and gems. Separate dragons control the rivers of the North, South, East and West. The commander of all the River Dragons is Great Chien-Tang who is blood red, has a fiery mane, and is 900 feet long.”.

Inventions

Inventions are things that people create to make people's lives easier. Some inventions require material that is highly expensive.

Clocks were things that told time. There are still old clocks that work to this day. The text states,”The oldest surviving mechanical clocks appear to be from the late 1300's. In 1581, the Italian scientist Galileo discovered the pendulum. This enabled a better regulator for constant movement of the hands or bell of a clock. Water clocks and hourglasses were also widely used in the 1500's.”. Printing was a thing too. They connect to books and how people read them. The text states,”Books have been around for a long time, but they took months or years to hand print. They were very expensive and limited only to the wealthy and scholars. Block printing of books developed separately in two parts of the world-Europe and China. The Chinese produced the first block-printed book in 868 and the first movable type process in 1041.”.

Eyeglasses help elderly people see better. Some kids even need glasses to see better.

There were lots of demands for eyeglasses. The text states,”Around the 1300's, paintings first appeared with the people wearing or holding spectacles. In the 1400's with the invention of the printing press and more books available, the demand for eyeglasses increased.”. Lenses were important too. The lenses were the things that helped people see, and the glasses were just holding the lenses. The text states,”After the development of eyeglasses, lenses were then used in other areas. In 1608, Hans Lippershey found that putting two lenses together magnified the image. Thus a working telescope was created, but the image was poor. Isaac Newton solved this problem in 1668, by making a reflecting telescope. In 1606, Galileo created the astronomical telescope to look at the stars and planets. He discovered the mountains on the moon and many new stars. Also in the mid-1610's, Anton van Leeuwenhoek by using many tiny lenses was able to magnify up to 200 times-the microscope.”.

Conclusion 

I can conclude that The middle ages were very interesting. They had things that we don't have today. Sometimes we can even take information from the middle ages and teach kids in schools what it was like. I'm glad I'm not in that time period.

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.

”What is a Dragon?” Draconian.com www.draconian.comwhatis/whatis.htm. Accessed 23 February 24.

Stevenson, Cait. “Seven things you didn't know about medieval Dragons.” Medievalists.net. www.med 

ievalists.net/2017/04/seven-things-didnt-know-medieval-dragons/. Accessed 23 February 2024.  

”Inventions.” Inventions.pdf. drive.google.com/file/d/1PpmNIWoYnfw1qtQ4hVrI5YUrL169q00s/view 

Accessed 23 February 24.

Leggett, Jessica. “20 inventions that changed the world.” LIVESCIENCE. 19 July 23, www.livescience 

.com/33749-top-10-inventions-changed-world.html#section-2-printing-press Accessed 23 

February 24.