Author: OwenPitts

   Thomas was born in 1225 A.D. in Italy to a count and countess. At age five, he began school. When Thomas was old enough, he was sent to Naples to attend a university there by his parents. Thomas was influenced greatly by Aristotle’s writings and the Dominicans, a new order of monks.

   When Thomas was 19 years old, he became a member of the Dominicans; however, when he told his parents about this, they were very displeased, so they were kidnapped inside the castle they lived in for two years until Thomas’ mother helped him “escape”.

   After that, he rejoined the Dominican Order of Monks. Thomas’ greatest work is the Summa Theologica. Aristotle had the most influence on Thomas’ life. He died reciting the commentary on the Song of Solomon. He greatly influenced the thinking of the church. He also worked to increase the logical reasoning in the church.

   A project I had to do recently was part of my science. My assignment was to build a radio. I had to watch daily videos on how to build my radio. My dad helped me to order the parts I needed. I had six weeks to complete my project.

   I had to have copper coil, wire, scrap wood, paper, foil, tape, earphones, metal, a paper towel roll, and a toilet paper roll. I was excited to see it finished, and so was my dad. He knows a lot about electrical stuff, so he helped out a lot.

   I had to take a few steps to make sure my project was successful. I had to make sure we got everything correct and in the right spot. I also had to test it out once in a while to make sure it worked correctly. If I got something wrong, we would have to change it and move on.

   It was not really successful because I thought the wire was too short. I was very disappointed when I found out that I failed. I was looking forward to being finished with a real, working radio. We also made a radio transmitter, and that was successful. A radio transmitter can give messages instead of receiving them.

   The crusaders sometimes did their best but did not succeed. I did the same thing with my radio. The Crusaders also sometimes did their best and succeeded. Again, the same thing happened with my radio transmitter. The Crusaders did not even try to succeed in their mission, which usually never happened to me.

   Cathedrals were often big and very beautiful churches. They were made of stone and were often at the center of a town. “Cathedra” is the Greek word for chair, so that means that Cathedrals were the chair of authority for a bishop.

   Cathedrals often took centuries to build. Some people could work on one cathedral and still never see it completed. Romanesque, a type of style made in the 12th century, was the kind of cathedral that was the most common style in history.

   These types of cathedrals have pointed arches, flying buttresses, and very high ceilings. All cathedrals are made in the shape of a cross and are pointed west to east. Flying buttresses are pillars that support the high ceilings. Gargoyles are stone beasts that are sometimes added to the flying buttresses.

   It takes lots of money to build a cathedral, so the church sold indulgences. They said if you bought an indulgence, your sins would be forgiven.

   A great king of England, King Edward, did not anoint a specific heir to his throne, so when he died, at least three people claimed to have the rights to rule England. The Earl of Wessex, Harold Godwinson, was chosen to be the new king. William of Normandy thought he was the rightful heir to the throne, so he immediately began creating an army to help him take the throne. At the same time, he was marching to invade England.

   Meanwhile, in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, King Harold and his Saxons fought against King Harald’s Norwegians. The Saxons won the battle, and King Harald and Tostig both died. This battle marks the end of the Viking Age.

   William arrived on the southern beaches of England just three days after the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold had to drag his entire army across the vast country just to fight William and his Normans. Harold, at the top of a hill, held the high ground. William attacked from below while trying to climb up the hill to attack Harold. Harold kept the high ground and made the Normans retreat for some time, however, victory was not the Saxons. William and his Normans eventually chased the Saxons down the hill and crushed them. King Harold was killed by an arrow straight in the eye. His army retreated while being picked off by arrows. William was crowned King of England on Christmas day, 1066.

Viking comes from the Norse words “seamen” and “expeditions”, which are pretty good words to describe Vikings. The Vikings only used two kinds of ships, the longships and the knarrs. The longships are primarily used for transporting troops to battle. The knarrs are quite different. They are merchant ships that transport and trade goods. The longships are propelled by oar power or wind power. The knarrs are propelled primarily by wind power, but it could be propelled by oar power.

   A runestone is an amazing king of stone because it is a stone that reminds people about a certain event. For example, a battle, a funeral, etc. It even had words written on it. The Vikings even made their own alphabet! Every letter is made out of just straight lines, which probably made it easier to carve in words on the runestones. The Vikings had three main gods. One of them is Thor, a Marvel superhero to this day. Three days of the week are named after the three Norse gods.

   The Vikings used swords, spears, and axes (primarily axes) to fight with. Only the rich people could afford axes to fight with. The poor people only used swords and spears to fight with. They had a very chaotic style of fighting. Some common misconceptions about the Vikings are that they always acted like barbarians and they always wore helmets with horns, but only one helmet with horns has ever been found.

   Charlemagne started out with the name Carolus or Charles. He was the grandson of Charles Martel. At age 26, he became co-ruler in 768 A.D. Then he separated the kingdom with his brother Charloman. Charles became the sole ruler after Charloman died in 771. Charles got the name Charlemagne from winning a lot of battles which gave him the name “Charles the Great” which translates into English, “Charlemagne”! Charlemagne married a Lombard princess. He was crowned with an iron crown since he was king of both France and Italy. Like his father and grandfather, Charlemagne was a spectacular general. His sword Joyeuse and elite bodyguards were very well known throughout the entire country.

   Charlemagne faced the Muslims in a battle. The Muslims did offer a treaty, but meanwhile, the entire rearguard of Charlemagne was attacked and entirely killed, including Charlemagne’s nephew, Roland. The Song of Roland, a French epic poem, was written about this sad, surprise attack. Enraged by this surprise attack, Charlemagne eventually returns and conquers the Muslims.

   Charlemagne even conquered Corsica and Sardinia. He also fought 18 battles in just 30 years against the Saxons. He forced the Saxons to convert to Christianity. He even made a court system and law code for the whole country to follow. When the Saxons tried to revolt against him, four thousand, five hundred Saxon prisoners were ordered to be killed. Charlemagne also conquered the Slavs and Anars. He had lots of other successes in his life and had a really great legacy.