Renaissance

General Information
 

Middle Ages "We think of knights in shining armor, lavish banquets, wandering minstrels, kings, queens, bishops, monks, pilgrims, and glorious pageantry. In film and in literature, medieval life seems heroic, entertaining, and romantic. In reality, life in the Middle Ages, a period that extended from approximately the fifth century to the fifteenth century in Western Europe, was sometimes all these things, as well as harsh, uncertain, and often dangerous"  This Annenberg/CPB site does a great job in bringing the Middle Ages to life

Medieval Resources on the Web A comprehensive list of Medieval resources

Middle Ages for Kids A site just for kids on the Middle Ages

Exploring Ancient World Cultures An introduction to ancient world cultures can be found at this site.

Internet Medieval Sourcebook A comprehensive internet text. (college level)

Medieval TimelineThis site covers the Medieval period from 800AD to 1500AD. You will find timelines organised by century and category, photographs and plans of abbeys, castles and cathedrals.

Choosing a Medieval Name

Middle Ages History Link 101's Middle Ages page connects you to the best of Art, Biographies, Daily Life, Maps, Pictures and Research on the Middle Ages.

The Labyrinth Georgetown University compiled this comprehensive resource of medieval studies.

Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Renaissance "Renaissance," French for "rebirth," perfectly describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. During the era known by this name, Europe emerged from the economic stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps most importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which artistic, social, scientific, and political thought turned in new directions."  Another beautiful Annenberg/CPB site.

Virtual Renaissance Travel back through time and space to a world completely different from your own.  

Journey Through the Renaissance A ThinkQuest entry full of information about the Renaissance.

Life in Elizabethan England

The Jester's Page "Greetings Jesters, Fools, Clowns, and Buffoons! Pray, good gentle, sit down and listen to the tales these fools have to tell. We have a long history, you see, and some of our heirs have made themselves known in the 21st century. We laugh at the buffoon's antics, but do we really know what lurks behind the fool's jolly exterior? Do we dare scratch the surface to find the foolish substance beneath? Have a care, you might just learn something before we are done. Worry not, it shan't hurt a bit."

Merchants
Exploration and Trade "Although navigation was still an imprecise science, sailors were able to go farther than they had before. This was important because as the economy of the Renaissance continued to improve, there were ever-increasing demands for imported goods and new places to export local products."

Trade and Travel "Travel in the Middle Ages was slow, uncomfortable, and usually dangerous. Today, we can travel around 55 miles in one hour. In the Middle Ages, it would have taken a very fast horse over two days to travel the same distance."

Trade and Commerce in the Middle Ages "The earliest medieval merchants were pedlars who sold goods to towns and villages but by the 12th century Europe had grown more prosperous and more goods were produced. Merchants were no longer simply wandering adventurers."

Craftsman/Guilds
Guilds  "Guilds were voluntary associations for religious, social, and commercial purposes. These associations, which attained their highest development among the Teutonic nations, especially the English, during the Middle Ages, were of four kinds: religious guilds, frith guilds, merchant guilds, and craft guilds."

Women in Medieval Guilds "The intent of this treatise is to explore some of the roles played by women in the structure and functioning of the collective organization of craftspeople in a representative medieval city, in this case York. York was a thriving merchant center of perhaps 8,000-15,000 inhabitants (maximum) during the period covered by this paper (late 13th through early 16th centuries), with hundreds of specialized artisans contributing to its ranks."

Medieval Guilds "A "guild" (also spelled "gild") was, in medieval times, an association of craftsmen or merchants, formed for mutual aid and protection and to further their own professional interests. The medieval guilds were of two types, the merchant guilds and the craft guilds." 

Guilds  "This unit will explore guilds; look at the guilds of Florence, Italy; and discuss the work of the Florentine sculptor Donatello."

Crafts and Guilds

Guild Symbols scroll down to see them

Peasants
A Day in the Life of a Peasant

Peasant Life in the Middle Ages "According to the law a peasant did not belong to themselves. They and all their belongings, their house clothes and even their food was owned by the lord of the manor. Known as serfs or villeins, peasants were bound to work for their lord, who allowed them to farm their own piece of land in return. Their lives were ones of constant toil."

Lords of the Manor
Lord of the Manor "Most country people lived on a manor which consisted of a village, the lord's house or castle, a church and the surrounding farmland. The lord of the manor governed the local community under his control by appointing officials who made sure that the villagers carried out their duties. The lord's main duty however was to the king, he was a knight and as such would provide arms to the crown whenever he was required."

Women
Medieval Women "They were wives and writers, lovers and soldiers, mothers and midwives, scientists and traders. The day-to-day lives of medieval women of all classes and callings are often glossed over in modern history courses in favor of sequences of events. Not so here. This is the City of Women."

Medieval Women

Medieval and Renaissance Wedding Page

Life of Women in Tudor England
"All of Henry VIII's wives were fascinating, unique individuals, not only because of who they were, but also because of what they lived through.Although they were Queens their power was restricted by the constraints put upon all women of the era.To understand them we must understand those constraints."

The Lives of Renaissance Women "The purpose of this unit is to illuminate the lives and contributions of all classes of women who lived between 1350 to 1650 in Western Europe and England-The Renaissance."

Marriage and Family

Women of the Middle Ages "Women were seen by many to be inferior to men during the middle ages. The church taught them that they should be meek and obedient to their fathers and husbands. In reality however very few of the women could stay quietly at home because most had to work for a living in the fields beside their husbands and fathers whilst at the same time feeding and clothing their families."

Children
Medieval Child "Of all the misconceptions about the Middle Ages, some of the most difficult to overcome involve life for children and their place in society."

The Life of a Child in Elizabethan England "As you enter town, you notice a group of children playing near the river. As you approach, a tall lad breaks off from the group and walks toward you. He seems to be watching out for the younger ones who continue to play, heedless to your approach. The tall lad stops before you and speaks..."

Children in the Reniassance "The harshness of family life greatly affected children. Children especially were susceptible to disease and death. Several children in a prosperous merchant or noble family might die of illness in childhood. However, in a peasant family, those children who survived childhood were extremely lucky."

Children and Childhood " A little boy is dressed in skirts, pretty much like his sisters, until the age of six or seven, when he gets his first pair of breeches or breech hose."

Children and Families

Daily Life
Daily Life "Contrary to popular legend, Medieval man loved baths. People probably bathed more than they did in the 19th century, says the great Medievalist Lynn Thorndike. Some castles had a special room beside the kitchen where the ladies might bathe sociably in parties."

Leatherworking in the Middle Ages

AngloSaxon Daily Life
Bone and Antler Working , Braid Weaving, Bronze Working, Costs and Values Crafts & Textiles Embroidery Techniques Fishing Glass & Amber History of the Healing Herb Houses & Furniture Iron Working Law & Order Leather Working Manuscript & book production Music & Verse Non-ferrous Metal Working Pastimes Plants Pottery Quills Part1 - Quills Quills Part2 - Cutting a Quill Pen Quills Part3 - Ink Recipes Recipes Sprang - Thread Twisting Stone Working Textiles Trade Wood-Working Visit an Anglo-Saxon Village

Homes of the Middle Ages "The homes of the rich were more elaborate than the peasants' homes. Their floors were paved, as opposed to being strewn with rushes and herbs, and sometimes decorated with tiles. Tapestries were hung on the walls, providing not only decoration but also an extra layer of warmth."

Lost Medieval Village

Medieval English Towns "The aim of this site is to provide historical information about cities and towns in England during the Middle Ages, with particular emphasis on medieval boroughs of East Anglia and on social, political and constitutional history."

Feudal Life in the Middle Ages "Society in much of medieval Europe was organised into a "feudal" system, which was based on the allocation of land in return for services to the king."

Daily Life

Knights
Chivalric Traditions Stop here to learn all you need to know about knights.

The Knights Templar "This site is dedicated to information about the military order of warrior monks born out of the first Crusade, known as The Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon - The Knights Templar.Their history and eventual demise was eventful and bloody and spanned from the early 12th to 14th centuries, a period in time when some of the most violent and bloodthirsty atrocities were committed on behalf of the Christian church."

The Code of Chivalry

Women Knights in the Middle Ages

The Steps of Knighthood

Knights Templar Page

Training for a Squire " While there are few detailed accounts of a squire's training, this fragment by John Harding (date uncertain) yields a good timeline upon which a young noblemen found the stages of his training. First, at age four, he entered a kind of school to learn to read and write. At age six he continued his training and learned to carve at the table, serving as a page. This was often done under the supervision of the holding's lady, who had charge of the pages training."

A Brief History of Knighthood

Heraldry
Oath of a Herald 15^th Century

Elizabethan Heraldry

Heraldry on the Internet "This site is designed to help you conduct heraldry research on the Internet. I have compiled as many links as I can find to the various sources of heraldic material available."

Heraldic Atlas

A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry

Food
A Feast for the Eyes

A Boke of Gode Cookery "A compilation of Medieval recipes from authentic sources adapted for the 21st century kitchen, along with diverse facts on food & feasting in the Middle Ages & Renaissance and other historical culinary items."

A Boke of Gode Cokkery Recipes

Medieval and Renaissance Food Homepage

Medieval and AngloSaxon Recipes

Medieval European Recipes

Food and Drink

Feasting and Fasting

How to Prepare a Most Honorable Feast "And first, God permitting to be held a most honorable feast at which are kings, queens, dukes, duchesses, counts, countesses, princes, princesses, marquis, marquises, barons, baronesses and lords of lower estate, and nobles also a great number, there are needed, for the ordinary cookery(1) and to make the feast honorably, to the honor of the lord who is giving the said feast, the things which follow..."

Herb Uses of the Middle Ages "As can be observed in manuscripts as far back as the 10th Century, herbs were frequently used for a variety of purposes in Medieval life. It is important to understand that this was a period in which people's beliefs were permeated by superstitions."

A History of the Table Fork

Clothing
Women’s Fashions "What did the clothing of a medieval English woman look like? Here's one author's presentation of typical clothing of noblewomen in early England, after the time of William the First."  .... nad much more.

Tudor Dress http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/tudor/

Dress, Jewels, Arms and Coats of Arms http://www.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/SRM/index.htm

Footwear of the Middle Ages

History of Clothing

Clothing of the Middle Ages

Elizabethan Costuming Page

Castles
Castles of Britain 
Castles of Britain Learning Center "By providing these castle research pages, we hope to encourage students, writers, and enthusiasts of all ages to explore castles and to stimulate their creativity. Here you will find many areas of interest to help and guide you."

Kid’s Castle Welcome to Kids' Castle

Welsh Castle Index http://www.castlewales.com/listings.html
Castles and Kids http://www.castlesontheweb.com/search/Castle_Kids/

Castles on the Web http://www.castlesontheweb.com/

Build a Medieval Castle http://www.yourchildlearns.com/castle.htm

Ghosts in the Castle http://www.nationalgeographic.com/castles/enter.html

Castle Terminology "Here you will find short definitions for many of the terms associated with medieval castles."

Rescue in the Castle

Recreation and Leisure
Medieval and Renaissance Musical Instruments
http://www.music.iastate.edu/antiqua/instrumt.html 

Medieval Falconry http://www.r3.org/life/articles/falconry.html

"There are many period games for which we have rules, or at least are capable of guessing at the rules. The following are the ones I know of, on the Net."
Medieval Games  http://www.tarahill.com/instruct.html

Games of the Viking and AngloSaxon Age

Medieval Music

Entertainment in the Middle Ages "Life in the middle ages was not all hard work! Even the loneliest or poorest peasant could take part in church festivals, join a marriage or funeral procession, or watch and listen to travelling poets, musicians, acrobats and dancers. Perhaps the village would be visited by a troupe leading a performing bear or dancing monkey. We would consider this sort of "entertainment" as cruel nowadays but in the middle ages it was quality entertainment."

Arms and Armor
 

Catapult Museum Online Find out about the engineering of ancient projectile weapons.

The Grey Company Trebuchet Page

Siege Artillery Stop here to find out about medieval crossbows, seige machines and armor.

Siege Machines

The Medieval Sword A comprehensive site on the medieval sword.

Make a Shield  http://www.yourchildlearns.com/heraldry.htm

They Didn't Have Bows, Did They?

The History of the Rapier

A Study of Rapiers "The rapier evolved over some 200 years from the primarily cutting sword of the late 15th and early 16th Centuries into the primarily thrusting sword of the mid to late 17th Century. It may even be surmised that the rapier developed into the small sword used during the 17th and 18th Centuries. In order to understand the mechanics of why certain techniques were used in rapier play, it is prudent to study the form and mechanics of the blades themselves."

Art and Architecture
Bayeaux Tapestry 

Investigating the Renaissance http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/Renaissance/

Italian Renaissance Architecture lots of pictures.

Medieval Architecture A list of resource images.

Tour Medieval Art Collections

Digital Archive of Architecture

Old Masters Art List

Leonardo Da Vinci
Inventions http://www.lib.stevens-tech.edu/collections/davinci/inventions/index.html

Leonardo Da Vinci http://www.mos.org/leonardo/artist.html

Leonardo @ the Museum http://www.mos.org/leonardo/museum.html

Exploring Leonardo http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/

Paintings http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/vinci/
 

Government and Politics
What Was So Important About 1066? http://www.mrfield.btinternet.co.uk/Conquest/intro.htm

Magna Carta The National Archives presents the Magna Carta.

Maps

Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages "Under feudal law everyone, from the greatest baron to the poorest peasant, owed allegiance to the king. A criminal was someone who by doing something wrong, "had disturbed the king's peace". Lords were responsible for punishing minor crimes in their local courts, but serious crimes were dealt with by justices appointed by the king from among his officials and trained lawyers. The sheriff had the job of rounding up criminals and keeping them in jail before they were brought to trial."

Crime and Punishment in Elizabethan England

War and Conflict
The Norman Conquest http://members.tripod.com/~GeoffBoxell/1066.htm

Medieval Seige http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/trebuchet/

Technology
Gutenberg Printing Press http://www.mrdowling.com/704-gutenberg.html

Magnets

The History of the Catapult Two major developments occurred in the area of siege artillery during the late middle ages.

The History of the Compass "The compass was a Chinese invention. There seems to be a reference to a south pointing spoon in a manuscript of the Han dynasty written in 83 AD. Another of the same period states that the jade collectors of Cheng carry a "south pointer" with them so that they will not lose their way." [Gies & Gies 1995 p 94]

Medieval Technology Timeline

Plague or Black Death
Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe http://www.iath.virginia.edu/osheim/intro.html

The Bubonic Plague http://www.mrdowling.com/703-plague.html

The Pestilence Times http://www.godecookery.com/plague/plague.htm

Medieval Miracles of Healing

Medieval Medicine Hotlist

The Black Death "Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history. By the time the epidemic played itself out three years later, anywhere between 25% and 50% of Europe's population had fallen victim to the pestilence."

Medicine in the Middle Ages http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/
medicine_in_the_middle_ages.htm

Arthurian Legends

Arthurian Legends 

King Arthur http://www.britannia.com/history/h12.html

The Oxford Arthurian Society "The Arthurian Society exists to explore the figure of King Arthur in history, literature and legend."

Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts
The Aberdeen Bestiary What is a Bestiary? A Bestiary is a collection of short descriptions about all sorts of animals, real and imaginary, birds and even rocks.

The Age of Charles V  You will see over a thousand beautiful illuminations, sorted by category, at this site.

Bibliotheca Schoenbergensis:An Exhibition from the Collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg

DScriptorium many illuminated manuscript images for personal use.

Hill Monastic Manuscript Library

Teacher Resources
Teacher Resources, Lesson Plans, etc. http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans
/programs/timesmedieval/index.html