Becoming A Serf

There were several things that led to the peaceful living in the city of Hangzhou. The first one being its extremely successful merchant class that was able use the Silk Road along with several other trading routes to help guarantee success. Having a successful merchant class is the key to success in any city because it means more money and more money means more things that a merchant can sell which in turn means more money. Marco Polo talks about the merchant areas having every type of fruit and vegetable in all sizes. The next thing that led to the city’s success is its size and protection. The city held around 2 million people during that time which made it the world’s largest city at that time. The city also had 30-foot-high walls and even …show more content…
A serfs had no political power and spent most of their life’s, if not all of it, trying to pay back the person whose land that they lived on. Serf were basically slaves but weren’t called it. A pro about being a serf is that I only have to please whoever’s the owner of where I live and if I do that I will be just fine. The cons strongly out way the pro of being a serf. The cons being I have no political power, I will spend most of my life, if not all of it, being poor, I will most likely never make a name for myself, I will probably be malnourished, if I upset the person whose land I live on, there is a chance I will die. The serf life was not a good one. My next hypothetical person is John Smith II he is the son of the serf John Smith. John Smith II has managed to become a Knight. Knights often served as vassals. The knight’s main jobs was to serve and protect their lord. They would also assist their lord in court and also watch over the manor, keeping an eye on day to day activities. Pros of being a knight is that I am regarded as good warrior and trust worthy person. I am aloud to join official in court and have some power in the manor I reside in. The cons are that I am required to go into battle whenever needed. In battle I am a big target to take out to get to the lord. I think that being a knight would be a generally peaceful life style. My final hypothetical character is …show more content…
These disasters left many people dead and those who managed to survived often became just short of wealthy because of the money left behind by the dead. Employers were willing to pay more than usual due to lack of employees. These horrible times made different ideas of realism and humanism. How these new ideas came to be is by the revival of interest in Greek art. After the disasters that killed off most of Europe’s populations, the people that were left had the responsibility of trying to recuperate from the horrific experience. This lead to the feeling of revival and Greek art was known to display a realistic human body but exaggerate its features. The reason why the art became such an integral part of this time period was because there were social changes that ushered in a time of new thought and art. The art was made to make people feel the emotion of the painting or sculpture. This emotion helped to also emphasize the importance of humanism and realism. In art humanism and realism meant to show people without and emphasis on particular body images such as chiseled muscles or uncomfortable poses. It showed how important it is to incorporate emotion into a person work. These ideas help to develop some of the best artists this work has ever seen. The disasters of the 14th century help bring prosperity to the people of