Essays on Medieval Europe

4. Islam spread more rapidly than any other major world religion. Why do you think this was? What aspects of the religion made it appealing? How was the cultural climate conducive to the rapid expansion of Islam? The spread of Islam was due to it being more than just a religion. Islam had everything that many religions overlooked. Islam was a way of life. It dictated laws for almost every aspect of society, and it was a culture to many. While religions such as Christianity had sought to destroy cultures that were deemed unholy and replace it with Christian ...

The Black Death was a plague that flowed over the continents of the world over a period of , but the major outbreak in Europe was a three year time span from 1347 to 13501; there were further resurgences of the epidemic with complete eradication not occurring until the 19th century. Had the initial devastation of demographics been isolated, Europe would probably have recovered fairly quickly. However, repeated surges of decimating epidemics continued to inflict damage for years. For example, England continued to suffer from large numbers of citizen deaths for approximately another 30 years. The population was depleted by ...

Medieval Europe Prostitution

Depiction of Women in the French Fabliaux Within the French fabliaux, women are portrayed in many different ways. However, the two most dominating depictions are as the heroic figure, or the unsavory figure. There are numerous articles and essays written on this topic, supporting one side or the other, explaining the reason behind why women are portrayed in a certain way within the fabliaux. However, are we really able to support strictly one side of the argument? The history of prostitution explains to us that there could be a reason why there exists such conflicting portrayal of women within ...

Music

Often Jewish music’s contemporary reception history leads us to consider Salamone Rossi as the beginner of Jewish music. Salamone himself, as a musician and composer, who as a professional wanted earning his living outside and inside the Jewish community, also desired his audience to comprehend in his compositions of Hebrew style the Jewish music’s beginnings. On one hand, Rossi had a hope that beginnings’ general questions would be reflected in his compositions, what his theological-aesthetic apologists and Rossi himself considered as a fundamental musica antica, Temple’s ancient music, before the diaspora music in Jerusalem. Accumulating at ...

1. a.) Visigoths: was a Germanic tribe western branch of a Goths. b.) Significance: in 377Visigothshave lifted revolt against the Romans and got a permission to settle down on the Balkan Peninsula. Made attacks on Constantinople and Italy, in 410 invaded and sacked Rome. Visigoths founded the first barbarous kingdom in the territory of the Roman Empire. 2. a.) “DarkAges”: is a term introduced by the Francesco Petrarch to refer the period of European history since the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the Renaissance. b.) Significance: Great Migration - from the periphery to the center of ...

English literature spanning various centuries reveals idiosyncratic trends and ideals of British history, which allows students and scholars to examine and assess successive literary periods. Indeed, literature can be situated within its historical context because literature cannot be separated from the context in which it as written. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales underscores societal concerns with regards to corruption. Moreover, it provides a window into the historical ideals with regards to gender and how women were expected to behave and comport themselves according to their class. In a similar fashion, Beowulf, a classic in old English literature, reflects the ...

Many historians note that the fourteenth century was an era that saw many natural and man-made catastrophes. The Black Death and the Great Famine were two of the natural disasters that caused the deaths of millions of people and demonstrated the impact of the vulnerabilities in the Western part of the European society. At the start of the fourteenth century, the population in Europe grew to the extent that the land provided resources that could support the region under the most excellent conditions. In fact, there was no margin for the failure of crops or the shortfalls in the ...

During the Middle Ages from the 5th century to the 11th century, Christendom, specifically the Roman Catholic Church, reigned supreme and wielded almost unrivaled influence over the hearts and minds men. It was, in fact, a period in earth’s history where the Christian Church was at the apex of her power. Her power, however, started to wain during the Renaissance. At that time, there were important developments that, while not stripping the Catholic Church of her power, challenged her hold on power. What is clear is that events that transpired during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance periods ...

Part 1

Punic Wars Punic wars are the term coined by the historians about the war fought by Rome and the Carthage in 264-146 BC. The result of the Punic Wars is the dominance of the Romans to the large area of the Western Mediterranean basin (Backman, 182). Punic wars have been referenced to the Carthage ancestries since the word Punic comes Latin term “Punicus” which is associated with the Carthaginian Empire. The main reason for the emergence of the Punic wars is the Roman Expansion. which created the conflict between them and the Carthaginian Empire. In the first War, ...

Most Americans have no clue whatsoever about what it is to be gay. Mostly, they opposed gay marriages out of darkness and ignorance. The argument is always centered on the belief that the family as understood in the western context consisted of a man and woman. The woman brings the feminine qualities responsible for nurturing, care, and motherhood. The father on the other hand, is in charge security of the family. This role extended to the provision of necessities for the well-being of children and the wife. In conventional understanding, sex is an act that united females and males in ...

A1. The global contact changed the world during the middle ages and the early modern period through a globalizing character where colonization and exploration of the Americans sustained contacts in the isolated parts of the world. The historical powers were involved in the global trade. Capitalist economies around the world became globally articulated and sophisticated, which saw the rise and dominance of mercantilism theory of economy. It also led to the colonization of the Europeans who spread Christianity in the 15th and 19th century around the globe. Interactions and encounters between cultures were inevitable mostly in by the non-westerners. ...

In his book, “Roman Law in European History,” Peter Stein takes up the role of the storyteller to narrate to his readers how Roman law developed from the Twelve Tables to the twentieth century, even after the demise of the ancient Roman society. This 133-page book might be short, but it is a splendid way to learn how ancient Roman law lived on, and to comprehend its importance. It takes readers back to when Europe was reviving from the Middle Ages, and the search for a common law or ius commune has been brought about by the European movement. The emphasis ...

Islamic Culture

Islam is a religion that is found in most part of the world. Its contribution to Medieval Europe has been said to be numerous in different areas such as law, education, technology, medicine, music, architecture and agriculture. However in this paper we will look at three contributions of Islamic culture to the west which are Islamic Sciences, education and architecture. It is clear that during the eleventh and thirteen centuries, Islamic civilization provided the Europeans with a lot of knowledge. They also gave a lot of knowledge in certain areas such as literature, aesthetics, theology and philosophy. It is also evident that ...

The Europe’s Medieval, Elite Man and the Late 18th Century Man: A Comparison

It has been argued that world and all its inclusions are dynamic. Indeed, some of these arguments may not be disputed. The evolution of the world has been accompanied by significant changes. For instance, the social, economic and political lifestyle of 21st century differs significantly from that of the preceding centuries. Currently, it cannot be overemphasized that computers have revolutionized the society, as depicted by the state-of-art information and communication technologies. Socially, globalization has drawn all regions of the world together, increasing interactions among the global people, as if they were in the same village. Politically, societies are now ...

The Black Death was one of the most incredibly disastrous events in human history, killing more than 100 million people, over half the population of Europe. In addition to that, the Black Death brought about significant economic and social changes throughout European society, mostly as a result of the devastating population loss for all classes and areas the Black Death demonstrated. One of the most terrifying and fascinating consequences of such a society-altering event was the relationships between parents and children as a result of such a quickly spreading, apocalyptic disease, something which is unfathomable in today's technological, medically advanced society.

The already ...

Cast of Characters:

FIRRAS, VCU graduate student and communications major R. JANKAUSKAS, Professor of Anatomy, Histiology and Anthropology at Vilnius University in Lithuania. JAMES THOMPSON, Professor at the University of Chicago SAMUEL PEPYS, English naval administrator and Member of Parliament SAMUEL K. COHN JR., Professor of Medieval History, University of Glasgow

ACT ONE LIGHTS UP on FIRRAS, a beleaguered college student, poring over papers at a small wooden desk, exhausted. He has been cramming for a test for ages; going nearly 24 hours without sleep or even a break, the man is clearly beset upon with stress. FIRRAS: (muttering to ...