This is your assignment for our next meeting, Thursday, January 6.
Have a nice vacation, and be sure to do this reading when you come back, so that it'll be fresh in your mind when we get together again.
Read in Across the Centuries, Chapter 10, Lesson 1 pages 248-261. We will be studying the "Medieval" (med-ee-EE-vul) period in Europe. Big changes came to the western part of the Roman Empire in the years 400-1000. The social arrangements that the Romans had set up fell apart, and there was much confusion and suffering.
This period of change is also called "the middle ages," which is what medieval means too—so we could ask, "in the middle of what?" It seems that people were thinking of the period as an "in between" time, between the Roman Empire and the modern times. Overall, it was a hard time for most people: prosperity declined so much that, for the first time, Chinese civilization passed the western world in development and wealth. China was ahead of the West for almost 1200 years, between about 550CE and 1700CE!
Chapter 10 begins with part of the story of Roland, a knight whose story was told in a famous poem. We'll read more of this poem, which ends with Roland's death, when he is betrayed by Oliver, his best friend. Roland was supposed to have lived in the time of Emperor Charlemagne, whom you'll read about in this week's chapter.
You'll get a handout of medieval readings on the 6th. There will be a selection from the Song of Roland. We will also read a legend about knightly love written by a woman called Marie de France. She lived in Britain after 1100, but her stories are based on "Lays" or songs that traveling poets called troubadours composed in northern France (Brittany) where she was born. Also, we'll read about St. Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc.
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