What have I learned about the Middle Ages?
I have learned many things about the Middle Ages in the two lessons of Social Studies we had. We started with a joyful sounding poem (Ring around the Rosies), but it turned out to be everything but joyful. The poem is actually about the Plague, which killed many people all over Europe during the Middle Ages. The people had nothing to protect themselves from the Plague. They did not know what caused the disease and thought it was a punishment from God, but it were the fleas that bit people. Nobody could stop the disease, but eventually it stopped by itself.
I also learned that the Middle Ages started when the Roman Empire fell apart. But other Empires bloomed, like the Byzantium and the Arabian Empire.
We also learned about the Crusades. Several times European Crusaders tried to reach the Holy City of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a Holy city for Christians, Moslims and Jews. In the Middle Ages Christians from Europe tried a few times to go to Jerusalem to free the city from the Moslims. They never succeeded. There were also two children crusades. I found that very interesting because I have read a book by a famous Dutch writer (Thea Beckman) about a childrens crusade. The book is called “Crusade in Jeans”. Last year they made a movie off it and I’m looking forward to see it this summer.
