The castle is a unique phenomenon. Most buildings are created to fulfill a single, specific purpose like a church, a house, a factory, a school, etc. A castle could be a military base, a seat of government, a court, and a stronghold for the surrounding region. Castles have fascinated generations ...

To combat the Vikings and other invaders, many European rulers enlisted the aid of nobles under system known as feudalism. The nobles pledged their military assistance and their loyalty to the rulers in return for land and protection. The land a noble received was called a manor. Each manor wa...

Crusades In the Middle Ages, Christians considered Palestine the Holy Land because it was where Jesus had lived and taught. The Arabs had conquered Palestine in the 600s. Most Arabs were Muslims, but they usually tolerated other religions. Jews and Christians who paid their taxes and obse...

It has been asked if it is fair to consider the Middle Ages as "the Dark Ages" or was it only a continuation of trends that were long underway by the time the Renaissance occurred. Can we say there was no true political expansion? Would we be accurate in saying there were no new thou...

King Arthur The legends of King Arthur of Britain and his Knights of the Round Table, among the most popular and beloved of all time, originated in the Middle Ages. As they do today, medieval people listened to the accounts of Arthur with fascination and awe. It is certain that popular folkt...

Causes and Effects of Crusades Towards 1071 AD, Seldjuk Turks had grown powerful and had started conquering the East. Christians began to find it difficult to reach the holy places during their pilgrimages. The military expeditions planned and fought by western European Christians that began arou...

THE CORRUPTION OF CHRISTIANITY During the Feudal times, Christianity was faced with countless problems. The beliefs of Christianity were being corrupted left and right. In my essay I am going to describe in detail what led to the downfall of Christianity. The factors I am going to describe are t...

Tracing Chivalry Through Knighthood Throughout my semester of studies on knighthood, I have noticed two major swings in its goal. At first the knight existed only as a vassal, a mounted warrior for fighting. Then as the first crusade came around in 1095 it turned the knights...

Middle Ages Report What are the Middle Ages? Do you know the answer to that question? Or do you think you know the answer? The Middle Ages were a time of knights, kings, and castles basically your average fairytale. But the Middle Ages were not fun all the time. There was the Black Death, the ...

The Crusades During the Dark Ages, Muslim influence spread throughout Africa and Eastern Europe. The quick spread caused Christians to become more and more fearful of Muslim invasion. As new Turk leaders limited pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Byzantine Empire became more susceptible to att...

The Crusades The Crusades were eight military expeditions from Europe to Palestine. The Crusades took place from 1096-1270. The Crusades occurred because the Christians wanted to recapture the Holly Land from the Muslims. Jews, Muslims, and Christians all took part in the Crusades. In the ...

The Islamic Seljuk Turks and the European Christians considered the crusades to be "holy wars" because the Christian military was trying to recapture the Holy land from the Muslims. The crusades were undertaken between the 11th and 14th century. Different motives influenced those who jou...