Middle Ages Dbq

An air of gloominess surrounds the Middle Ages, from the weariness of everyday people’s lives, to the battles and wars fought by knights. ”There is something dark and wintry about the atmosphere of the later Middle Ages”-Lytton Strachey. This period, after the fall of the western Roman Empire and before the Renaissance, was when no progress was made in culture or education because of the lack of a central government. This crisis in the government caused people to focus their attention on survival. For this reason, the quality of life of the citizens depended on the strength of the current monarch. People enjoyed a sense of security when there was a strong king who enforced control and order. During this time, most people were peasants who labored …show more content…
It all started when the Englishman, Earl Harold Godwinson, “was shipwrecked off the coast of Normandy”. This land was ruled by William the Conqueror, who made Harold promise on the bones of saints that he would either help William become king of England or become his vassal. William believed that Harold would keep his oath since it was holy and that he had the right to become king of England. Since the king at the time, King Edward the Professor, had a mother who was Norman, it only made since that a Norman should be king there. (Trueman) However, when Edward actually died in 1066, the witan appointed Harold the King of England. As a result, William was outraged and began to plan an invasion to seize the crown for himself. His army was very powerful because the Normans were not only the most successful warriors in Europe, but also had French knights who were promised wealth in England in exchange for fighting. Additionally, he had the support of the most powerful man in Europe, the Pope, because Harold had broken a holy oath. Just as William’s army was about to embark on their journey to England, a north wind started to blow, which stopped the normans from sailing for six weeks. Harold and his fleet were awaiting the attack, and it was “a difficult period for both leaders, who faced the problem of feeding their army”. Eventually, most of the …show more content…
During the Middle Ages the Pope was the most powerful man in Europe, so when Pope Urban the second said that “Muslims were the enemies of God”, people were quick to agree. The Pope originally had only intended for the knights to fight the war with the Muslims, but he was so inspiring that commoners decided to fight too.(Chrisp 14) Over 20,000 people made up the People’s Crusade, which was a group of commoners who were dedicated to the crusades, and “all in all about 150,000 men, women, and children became crusaders.”(Nicolle 28) Within the year, knights and peasants from all over Europe set off towards Jerusalem.(Chrisp 14) Over the course of their long, 2,000 mile journey the armies survived by raiding and searching for food as they went along. Additionally, siege was laid “to castles and town walls” that they passed on their way. One of the most important sieges that took place was on the capital city of Nicaea for two weeks. Laying siege was slightly more difficult in the Islamic Empire than it would have been in Europe because the walls were stronger there. However, the Muslims in Nicaea still ended up surrendering and making a deal that they would let the Europeans take their castle as long as no one was hurt. (Chrisp 17) By the time that they actually reached Jerusalem in 1099, most of the peasants that had come to fight had already died from “thirst, hunger, and disease”, as