Russian Age of Absolutism Poem

Peter the Great's efforts to modernize Russia

Absolutist Russia was truly a site

With autocratic rulers left and right

Peter the Great seized control of the state
For the boyars their loss of power was fate
They wanted westernization of sorts

and therefore fought for more warm-water ports

He also built St. Petersburg a city so pretty
but lots of serfs died in the construction, which is a pitty

King Henry VIII

King Henry VII is know for being an especially cruel, arrogant, hypocritical, unwise, and monstrous leader. He was born June 28, 1491 to King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. After his older brother Arthur Prince of Whales died, Henry became sole heir to the throne and married his dead brothers widow Catherine of Argon. On June 28, 1509 Henry VIII became the second Tudor king of England. In total, King Henry VIII had six wives that ended in divorce or death.After he married Anne of Cleves and divorced her, he murdered his trusted adviser whom told him to marry her. After he divorced and slaughtered his second wife, noble-woman Anne Boleyn, he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. After being excommunicated he became Protestant. He abolished monasteries and founded the Church of England.  Aside from his many wives, King Henry VII is known for invading France. The army was defeated in the Battle of Flodden Field by his brother-in-law King James IV. Overall, the invasion of France proved to be both a waste of money and very unsuccessful. After he died on the 28th of January in 1547 he was succeeded by his Son Edward, and after he died, his sister Elizabeth I.

King Henry VII was very important in the history of England because of his Religious Changes as well as his military decisions. After his excommunication and the divorce/execution of Anne Boleyn King Henry VII, once a very religious Catholic, converted to become a Protestant. Then, he made himself head of the Church of England and got rid of all English Monasteries. This meant that England now had a new religion that would greatly influence its history and culture. Also, his military defeats would prove to be a waste of the Empire's resources; consequently this hurt the nations economy. In conclusion, the shift in religious power and foolish military conquests would be King Henry VIII's lasting effect on England.

Works Cited:

• "BBC - History - King Henry VIII." BBC - Homepage. BBC, 2011. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_viii_king.shtml>.
• "King Henry VII." Elizabethan-Era.org. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/king-henry-viii.htmfather>.
• "Henry VIII." TudorHistory.org. 7 Sept. 2007. Web. 19 May 2011. <http://tudorhistory.org/henry8/>.

Image:

• http://home.comcast.net/~kenconway/images/henry.jpg

Effects of the Crusaders

The Crusades were a series of military conquests to re-capture the Christian Holy land and conquer the city of Jerusalem. On November 27, 1095 Pope Urban II started the Crusades. He wanted the sacred land to be in Christian control and wanted to unite Europe against one common enemy, the Islamic Empire. The first Crusade was in 1099. Pope Urban II sent soldiers to defend the Byzantine Empire from Muslim Invasion. The troops were successfully able to capture Jerusalem. Then, in the later crusades the Arabic Leader, Saladin reconquered Jerusalem for the Muslim Empire. After refusing to give the land back to Christian rulers. The English King Richard I and Saladin made a treaty that allowed Christians to journey to they Holy Land. These Crusades would have major effects on European life during the middle ages.

After the Crusades, Europe would advance both intellectually and economically.When the returned from the conquests, the ships that carried the Crusaders brought back many goods like spices, rugs, jewelry, and glass. These items were in extremely high demand in Europe and caused trade routes to open back up. The reopening of trade routes caused currency to be used more frequently. After the vikings looted and destroyed villages and monasteries, people resorted to bartering for their goods, rather than buying them with money they did not have. Another vastly important contribution the Crusades made for Europe was the contributions of Muslim Scientists and Mathematicians. When the Crusaders returned from their military campaigns they brought lots of literature and ideas back with them. This greatly contributed to European Medicine, Mathematics, Sciences, and Technologies. The increase in medical knowledge was especially important in Europe during this time because disease was rapidly spreading and they did not know how to prevent it. In conclusion, the Crusades improved daily life for the people of Europe by reopening trade routes and increasing Europe's knowledge.

Works Cited
Image: http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/images/crusaders.jpg

King Charlemagne

Charlemagne was born April 2, 741 in Northern Europe to Pippin III and Bertrada of Laon. In 768 his father died and divided his empire between Charlemagne and his brother Carloman. The two brothers did not get along and separately ruled other halfs of the empire while communicating through their mother. Then in 771 Carloman died. The cause of his death is unknown, but some suspect Charlemagne had something to do with it. During this time in Europe religion and education were being neglected by the population, but Charlemagne decided to fix this by building many new schools and enforcing Christianity to his people. From 772 to 802 he held a military campaign to bring order to a Chaotic Europe. He never lost a battle and conquered modern day France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, as well as parts of Germany, Austria, and Spain. These victories were bloody, for Charlemagne ordered the execution of thousands of people who did not accept Christianity or that he was their new leader. On Christmas day in 800 Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne King of the Empire. Some suspect that the king had no idea he was being crowned, while others think they would have never done this if Charlemagne did not know of it. King Charlemagne, unlike many other rulers during this time, took time out to learn to read and write. Over time be was able to read both Latin and Greek. Rather than watch jesters preform during meals, he had scholars give lectures over different academic areas.Overall, Charlemagne was a very powerful ruler that united a torn empire.

Works Cited

• Chew, Robin. "Charlemagne | King of the Franks | Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire." Lucidcafé Interactive Café and Information Resource. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96apr/charlemagne.html>.
• The Dark Ages - Part 8 - The Greatest King. www.youtube.com, 6 June 2009. Web. 15 May 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkUNK8kmDw&feature=youtu.be>.#

Images

• Web. <http://laboringinthelord.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/charlemagne.jpg>.

Feudalism and the Manor System

During the Middle Ages Feudalism was a popular form of government and power. In this system of government the land (fiefs) was owned by kings and lords and was given out in return for loyalty. In return for the fiefs, the vassals (people who got the land) would serve the king or lord, and the vassals would also receive respect from that lord or king. The vassals would also have to pay taxes in the form of harvested crops to their lord or king and if a young vassal died and their children became orphans, they would go to live with the lord or king. In addition, the vassals were consulted about making new laws. Most of these vassals were knights.  Feudalism was how power and land was distributed during the middle ages.

Many Vassals were the rulers of Manors. Manors were large, self-sufficient, estates that contained farms, pastures, a manor house for the vassal, and often a village. Serfs were peasants that belonged to the manor and worked in the fields. They lived in small houses and ate only basic foods. Serfs could save up money and buy their freedom and then land, but this was highly unlikely. Also, if they escaped the manor and was no caught for a year and a day they were considered free. Freedom for Serfs was highly unlikely and most stayed Serfs for their entire lives. They were unable to move up in their social statuses because it was a struggle to gain freedom and they made little money. In conclusion, Manors were large self-sufficient estates that had Serfs to tend to the land and harvest crops.

Works Cited:
Image: http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/knight-3.jpg

Renaissance Faire Reflection

For the 8th grade class work exhibition we created a Renaissance Faire. In each of our subjects we studied the Renaissance and created projects about that time period to put on display. In design technology we worked for many weeks on studying Leonardo Da Vinici's inventions and we each recreated one of his many famous inventions. For this project I worked with Rea Saxena on replicating Da Vinci's Lantern Gear. We recreated a scale version of it using wood from the DT room. If you are interested in learning more about the process we used to make it and history of the lantern gear there is some more information up about it on my design portfolio. Then, for my French class we worked on time lines of the French Renaissance, which lasted from the mid 1300s to the early 1500s. To see my time line about the language, literature, painting, and sculptures of the French Renaissance click here. In Visual Arts class we studied the art of Renaissance artists such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Then, we each designed an art gallery to display some of their works. For the gallery we used perspective to show that they were in a hallway and used a technique called one point perspective to make it look as though you were actually standing in the gallery. Also, we made sculptures to learn about Michelangelo's new sculpting techniques. However, unlike the famous sculptor, we did not carve the statues, we made a wire body and then covered it with newspaper and then with plaster.  In addition, we also colored in some drawings of famous paintings to learn about how the artists mixed color and added shading to make their pictures look even better. In Preforming arts class we learned three songs on the recorder and three dances as well. The songs all dated back to the Renaissance and the dances were reminiscent of those people would dance in court and for exercise. We spent about a month and a half learning all the notes for the recorder and learning all of our parts. Then, both 8th grade classes started practicing the dances together. In Language A class we started studying the works of William Shakespeare, focusing on his A Midsummer Night's Dream. We read aloud the entire play in class and analyzed the plot. Then we each received a scene and had to memorize our lines and act them out at the faire. This was my favorite part of the faire because I really enjoyed reading some of Shakespeare's work and thought it was really interesting. I think the Renaissance Faire was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about the inventions, art, literature, history and music of Medieval Europe. On the night of the performance we preformed all our dances, songs, and skits very well and the displays from our classes looked great! It was a lot of fun to display all our projects for our parents and I really enjoyed the performance.  In conclusion the 8th grade Renaissance faire took a lot of preperation and I think it turned out very well and all our hard work paid off.

Islamic Empire Presentations

 Here are some facts I learned from my classmates presentations on Islam.

1.) Geography and Climate of the Arabian Peninsula
The climate of the Arabian peninsula is both arid and semi- arid. It is made up of 7 countries politically, and 9 geographically. The Arabian peninsula has no major river or lakes, but is surrounded by the Red Sea, The Gulf of Aden, and The Persian Gulf.

2.) Islamic Extremism
Jihad is the term for practicing religion when it is persecuted and oppressed. Terrorists use Religious Manipulation to make innocent people do their bidding with promises of a good afterlife. Al Qaeda is an extremely dangerous terrorist organization that started in Pakistan and targets other religions.

3.) Islamic Women
Islamic Women are considered inferior have a lot less rights than men. Their husbands and fathers are allowed to beat and kill women. The Prophet Muhammad was considered to be a feminist and believed that women should have the right to divorce.

4.) Spread of Islam
Islam was spread by military conquests, trade and cultural diffusion, and achievements. It is traditional for Muslims to pray 5 times a day and fast during Ramadan. Also, the 5 pillars of Islam say that you must declare you faith, pray 5 times a day, help charity, fast during Ramadan, and take a Hajj to Mecca.

5.) Military
The Nomadic tribes of the Arabian Peninsula were very violent and fought other tribes and caravans for food or the possession of oasises. Some weapons they fought with were daggers, axes, scimitars, arrows, muskets, gunpowder, clay hand grenades, and metal shields.

6.) Prophet Muhammad
The Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 ce and raised by his uncle. When he was about 40 he saw the angel Gabrial who told him he was the messenger of God. Prophet Muhammad helped write the Quran and  started the religion of Islam. He died on June 8m 632 when he was 63 in the city of
Medina.

7.) Islamic Religion
The Quran is the Muslim holy book, which was written by the prophet Muhammad in 570- 632. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim year (the dates change every year) and celebrates when the Quran was forst written when the Prophet Muhammad met the Angel Gabriel, and when Mecca became an Islamic city. This holiday is celebrated by fasting during the day and showing thanks for what you have and giving to the less fortunate.

8.) Islamic Architecture
The Muslim hoses were designed to be rectangular, close together, and have high windows. For wealthy people, they would build separate windows for men and women. Many mosques, palaces, and shrines were decorated with elaborate mosaics. The Kaaba in mecca is the most sacred shrine in the Islamic Religion and is decorated with mosaics.