The description of Babylon and Babylonian customs in Histories by the Greek historian Herodotus (l. c. 484-425/413 BCE) has long been challenged for accuracy and been found wanting, leading some scholars...

Leif Eriksson Discovers America by Hans Dahl (1849-1937) Last Thursday, a new exhibition on Vikings opened at the Canadian Museum of History. On a ten month international tour, aside from showing o…

The Battle of Penn Hill was fought in AD 665 between a British and an Anglo-Saxon coalition at Penn Hill in northern Dumnonia, the precise location of which is unknown. It resulted in a decisive British victory, and reversed the Saxon expansion westwards across Albion. Germanic migrants, mainly from the Angle, Saxon and Jutish tribes, began arriving on the east coast of Albion in the mid-5th century, during the chaos following the Roman withdrawal from the provinces of Britannia. They quickly pe

An illustration of the typical clothing worn by Anglo-Saxons in medieval England, c. 500 - c. 1000 CE. ('Costumes of all Nations', 1882 CE)

Dark age history, early mediaeval period, Mac Erca, Muircertach Mac Erca, Ireland, british history, saxons, franks, picts, Scots.

"Of all days in the year, the slaves dread New Year's Day the worst of any," one 1842 account explained. Here's why.

In the pre-modern period of Somalia’s history protracted wars were waged, with the Ethiopians even in modern times, as was the case with the Italo-Ethiopian war’s, in the Ethiopian emperor Menellek…

Learn the art of world-building in your sci-fi, fantasy or alt-history story with these 10 key elements of world-building!

Some innovative castle designs by my middle school students, Samuel E. Shull Middle School, Perth Amboy NJ 2017 After watching the video of David Macaulay's Castle, my students designed their own fortresses. They tested the defensive walls by building catapults with popsicle sticks, rubber bands and spoons and firing mini marshmallows at their creations to see how many could land inside. Caerphilly Castle was built in the thirteenth century. It is the largest castle in Wales. To learn more about Caerphilly Castle, click here. More views of Caerphilly Castle David Macaulay re-creates the building of a medieval Castle in his book Castle. For more information about this very detailed and informative book, visit the author's website by clicking here. To watch a four part movie based on the book, click on the YouTube videos below. The castle in Macaulay's book is imaginary but it is based on several real Medieval castles. One of them is Caerphilly castle in Wales. Here is a floor plan of Caerphilly Castle: The film starts off with the author, David Macaulay, with his sketchbook, in Conway Castle in Wales. Here are some photographs of Conway Castle: Here is a floor plan of Conway Castle: Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Deal Castle, in Kent, England Below is a floor plan and some photographs of Windsor Castle in England WHY DO ALL THESE MEDIEVAL CASTLES LOOK SO DIFFERENT FROM EACH OTHER? HOW ARE THEY ALL ALIKE? Keep reading to find out. There was no standard shape and structure for a castle. The builders adapted their designs to suit the site, the budget and the military dangers of the day. THE ANATOMY OF A MEDIEVAL CASTLE Print out the picture above and look at all the basic parts that make up the anatomy of a Medieval castle. The castles all look very different from each other, yet they are all made up of the same basic components. See if you can identify the components all of these castles have in common. How would geographic location and the topography of the site influence a castle's design? Some cool Medieval castle activities: Click here to learn how to build your own paper and cardboard Medieval castle Click here to learn how to design a castle floor plan Click here for a step by step Power Point presentation by The Helpful Art Teacher on how to design and build your own paper castle. Printable Worksheets How to build a paper castle You will need heavy paper, like oak tag or card stock, white glue,masking tape,cardboard for the base scissors,markers, paint and whatever else you wish to use to decorate your creation. A small inexpensive low temperature hot glue gun is useful but not necessary. The starting point: A tower You will need to build at least four of these towers and connect them by walls just to start building your castle. These worksheets are just to get you started. Be inventive! Figure out how to include all the parts of the castle from the moat and draw bridge to the gate house and portcullis to the inner ward and keep. Work in progress: These 7th grade students are creating a curtain wall, the wall surrounding their castle complex. A soldier can walk along this wall and shoot arrows at his enemies from behind the embrasures. These students have created a portcullis and draw bridge using yarn, Popsicle sticks and a low temperature hot glue gun. Interior and exterior shots of one 7th grade student's work in progress. She used a sharp scissors to cut the points on the Popsicle sticks that form the portcullis. When each group was done constructing their castles I gave them 12 Popsicle sticks, a rubber band, a plastic spoon and permission to go over to the hot glue gun table. Their mission? To design a working catapult capable of lobbing mini marshmallows into another group's castle. Catapult designed by a 7th grade student Click here to learn how to build a miniature working catapult out of Popsicle sticks (so you can storm your paper castle). This website gives step by step directions but I prefer to have my students come up with their own designs. As you can see, from the video below, my 7th graders' original contraptions worked quite well. catapult design by a 7th grade student from Rachel Wintemberg on Vimeo. STEAM connection: How does building a catapult connect art to science, technology, engineering and math? When you create a catapult you are using a simple macine, the lever. If you pull the spoon back, the taut rubber band has potential energy. When you let go of the spoon the marshmallow is propelled by force and has kinetic energy. When you pull the rubber band back to a 45 degree angle, the marshmallow will travel the farthest distance. When you pull it back farther, the marshmallow will travel higher, but not go as far. We set up our catapults behind a taped barrier and asked the students to see how many mini marshmallows they could get into each castle. In order to make it over the wall, student found that they ideally needed to pull the spoon back farther than 45 degrees to attain more height and less distance. We discussed how the goal of the job affects the method used to launch the catapult; had the goal been to make the marshmallow go the farthest distance, then a 45 degree angle would have been preferable. STEAM Vocabulary/Definitions accuracy : The degree of closeness of a measured or calculated quantity to its actual (true) value. For example, in the associated activity, accuracy is the ability to hit the target with the Ping-Pong ball. catapult: A toy/machine that launches a projectile. geometry: An area of mathematics that studies shape, size, position and properties of space. precision: The degree to which further measurements or calculations show the same or similar results. For example, in the associated activity, precision is the ability to hit the same location multiple times with the Ping-Pong ball. projectile: An object that is launched or thrown, usually in the air, by a force. Source:https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_catapult_lesson01 Other STEAM connections in this lesson: The portcullis and draw bridge on the castles above operate using a pulley, another simple machine. Show students simple machines and have them divide into small groups to brainstorm how they might incorporate simple machines into their castle designs. For instance, a pulley might be used to draw water from a well as well as to control the draw bridge and portcullis. What is a simple machine? A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. The six simple machines are: Lever Wheel and axle Pulley Inclined plane Wedge Screw This student took the assignment a step farther. After researching medieval weapons he decided to design a crossbow to defend his fortress and siege neighboring castles. He was, of course, very careful to aim his weapon at rival social studies projects and never at people. Learn all the parts of a real medieval castle and what they were used for before you begin. Look at several real castles and their floor plans before you create your own. Remember, fortresses were designed and built for defense so make sure your castle will protect the inhabitants within. The Parts of a Medieval Castle Vocabulary terms you will need to know: You will remember the vocabulary better if, after reading the definition, you click on the word. This will bring you to a picture that illustrates the word. If you are building a castle for a 7th grade social studies class your teacher will probably expect you to use these vocabulary words to label the parts of your castle. You will also be expected to demonstrate the ways in which your fortress uses these elements to protect it's inhabitants. Arrow Loops - These were slots in the walls and structures that were used to shoot arrows through. They came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Ashlar - Blocks of smooth square stone. They can be of any kind of stone. Bailey: This is a courtyard or open space surrounded by walls.The walls that make up the Bailey are also considered to be part of the Bailey. A castle could have several. Sometimes they were called the upper bailey and lower bailey or the west bailey and east bailey. Barbican: A stone structure that protected the gate of a castle. Think of it as a gatehouse. It usually had a small tower on each side of the gate where guards could stand watch. Barmkin: A yard surrounded by a defensive wall Bartizan: A small turret at the corner of a tower or wall. It is usually at the top but not always. Bastion: A tower or turret projecting from a wall or at the junction of two walls Battlements: These are the structures at the tops of the walls surrounding a castle. Picture what you have seen in the movies where archers are at the top of the wall and firing arrows between open slots down on the attackers. These shapes at the top (Where the archers position themselves for battle) are called battlements. They are also referred to as crenellations. Buttress: A masonry projection used as additional support for walls. Notre Dame Cathedral is a good examlple of the use of Buttresses. Corbel - A stone projection from a wall. It supports the weight of a battlement. Courtyard - The open area with the curtain walls of a castle. Curtain Wall - The stone walls around a castle. Drawbridge - This was a wooden bridge in front of the main gate of the castle. In the early centuries of castles it was moved horizontal to the ground and in the later centuries it was built so it could raise up in a hinged fashion. Dungeon - A deep dark cell typically underground and underneath a castle. This is a derivative of the word Dunjon. Donjon - this is an old word for a great tower or a keep. Embrasure - An opening in a parapet wall. GateHouse - A strongly built and fortified main entrance to a castle. It often has a guard house and or living quarters. Hall or GreatHall - This is the major building inside th walls of a castle. Hoarding: a covered wooden gallery above a tower the floor had slats or slots to allow defenders to drop object on besiegers. They could also drop liquids and projectiles. Keep - This definition changed slightly over the centuries of castle building. In the early years of stone castle building the Keep was a standalone structure that could be defended and often square in shape. Over the centuries these structures were improved upon and built around. Thus a castle was made that was a larger and more complex structure. The main tower that this was built around was still called the Keep and it was usually the tallest and strongest structure in the castle. It was also used as the last line of defense during siege or attack. Machicolations - The openings between the corbels of a parapet. They form areas that stick out along the top of the wall and defenders inside the castle can drop items like boiling water and rocks onto attackers. Merlons - The parts of parapet walls between embrasures Moat: A Body of water surrounding the outer wall of a castle. It was often around 5 to 15 feet deep and it was sometimes within the outer wall -between the outer wall and the inner wall. The primary purpose of the moat wasn't to stop attackers it was to stop tunnelers. Tunneling under a castle was an effective means of collapsing the walls or infiltrating it. A moat would cause any tunnel to collapse. Motte And Bailey: This isn't part of a castle it is the predecessor to the castle. A Motte and Bailey was an early form of castle where a large mound of dirt was built up then a wooden fortification was placed on top. This wooden fortification was in the shape of a timber fence that formed a circle like a crown at the top of the mound. The Mound is the motte, and the timber fence and the space it enclosed is the Bailey. Murder Hole: An opening in the roof of a gateway over an entrance. Used to drop projectiles or other things onto the besiegers. Oubliette: A deep pit reached by a trap door at the top. Prisoners were kept in it. Palisade: A defenisive fence Portcullis - This is a metal or wood grate that was dropped vertically just inside the main gate to the castle. Postern - A small gate at the back of a castle. Often considered to be a "Back Door". Rampart: Picture the battlements in the previous definition. The battlements are the top sections of the outer wall of the castle. Now to access these battlements the archers would stand on a walk way that was a wall in it's own right. This walkway is built right up against the outer wall and is called the Rampart. Ward - The area inside the walls of a castle. Often also called the Courtyard. Yett: Iron gates at the entrance of a castle To learn more about Medieval weapons, click here Click here to learn more about what life was life like in Medieval times If you were a peasant and wanted the protection a castle afforded, you had to pay your taxes If you were a monk you might work in a scriptorium painstakingly copying The Bible in Latin by hand and creating Illuminated manuscripts What is an illuminated manuscript? Before the invention of the printing press books had to be written by hand and very few people knew how to read.Click here to learn more about Medieval illuminated manuscripts If you were a knight, you would have to decorate your outfit with distinctive heraldry to avoid accidentally being killed by your own men Special thanks Richard Burzynski, Alexandre Lopez, Derrick C. Kyriacou and the Social Studies department at William C. McGinnis School. Please note: The pictures of actual medieval castles come from Wikimedia commons and are in the public domain. A few of the black and white images are handouts I have had for many years. If anyone knows who I should attribute them to, please email me. The pictures of step by step directions and photographs of student art work are my own. They may be downloaded and reproduced for educational purposes only (with appropriate credit given) in accordance with fair use law. Please do not republish them without contacting me for permission. Castles and creative writing: Middle school students love learning about castles. They figure heavily in many beloved children's stories, movies and video games. Why not use a castle construction project as a jumping off point for a unit on imaginative story telling? Castles are often a main feature in fantasy and mythological stories. Here is a fantasy art and storytelling assignment that I gave to my students during the 2016-2017 school year: Samuel E. Shull School, 2017 STUDENT ART GALLERY:

The Battle of Brunanburh in 937 is mostly forgotten today, but it is a battle that deserves to be remembered. For it was the largest and bloodiest battle fought in Anglo-Saxon England prior to Hast…

British infantry square at Waterloo, by Giuseppe Rava. As can be seen by the two regimental colours and the blue facings on the right and yellow facings on the left (as well as the different shako st…

“When I was a girl, I dreamt of standing in a room looking at a girl who was and was not myself, who stood looking at another girl, who also was and was not myself. My mother took this for a nightmare. I saw it as the beginning of a career in physics.” ― Rosalind Lutece[src] Rosalind Lutece is a quantum physicist in BioShock Infinite, who wrote books about scientific studies on alternate universes. She and her "twin brother" Robert guide Booker DeWitt through his adventures in Columbia to retrie

Reddit users were asked to come up with the TL;DR version of world history. They didn't disappoint.

The fur trade in the New World it is said started back in the 16th century. If you arrived in the New World without a trade, short of labouring, getting into the fur trade may have been you're easiest option. If you could convince a trader to hire you and supply you with all you're needs, then you were off to a good start. Providing of course that you have had some prior experience with hunting and trapping, even if it was poaching back in the old country. If you had some equipment and a little money of your own, then you were set. If you had a horse it made carrying the furs and skins a lot easier, but horses also made noise and left tracks and could attract unwanted attention. If you had no horse as many did not, then you had to carry your game and or skins out on your back or use a sled when there was snow on the ground. I have as yet not found any documentation to suggest that a hunter/trapper would have used a travois, but I have done so in the past and it seems like a logical alternative to carrying it on your back. Of course hunting and trapping on your own had inherrant dangers, you have to be constantly on the look out for danger. Hunting and trapping in groups was far safer, and different jobs could be assigned to each man or woman. Someone had to flesh the skins and peg them out to dry. There were other camp chores to be taken care of also. Farmers usually hunted and trapped to subsidise there earnings, and early on when they were just starting out they needed furs and skins to trade for crop seed. Trading posts were the place to go for all ones needs, from hunting tools or guns for family defence, to farm implements and seen corn, and even clothing and cloth. Time had to be divided between the farm chores and hunting/trapping, usually the wife and any other family carried on the farm work whilst the man was away. Daniel Boone did more hunting and trapping than farming, so his family had to do most of the farm work. But being away from home was not just a danger to the lone hunter/trapper, it was also a constant danger to the family left alone to fend for themselves. Both women and children had to be proficient at using the flintlock guns, and moulding the lead shot in an open fire. But sometimes being aware of the dangers and being prepared just were not enough. Sometimes when everything seemed so quiet and peaceful people could become complacent, and that is when the Indians would strike, taking your family away to be adopted into woodland Indian society, or perhaps taking them into Canada to trade to the French. But if all went well, then you could make a new life for yourself in this New World. One where you could own your own land and reap the profits from your own toil without having to worry about any Government taking it away from you. Unless of course you were Indian!!!

America’s best pics and videos is fun of your life. Images, GIFs and videos featured seven ti...

Heinrich Lefler (1863-1919) was arguably the finest of the Austrian artists who developed the Jugendstil at the fin de siècle. He was principally a scenic designer and in that capacity created sets…

While some people may think androgyny is about women just throwing on a pair of trousers or getting their hair cut short by a barber (which, by the way, is so much less expensive than going to a salon), it's actually got quite a long and complex…

The Feudal System was prevalent in Europe before William the conqueror introduced Feudalism to England after defeating the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson

As a new survey of her work begins in New York, we look again at the work of an artist often written out of film history

The Huns were a nomadic tribe prominent in the 4th and 5th century CE whose origin is unknown but, most likely, they came from "somewhere between the eastern edge of the Altai Mountains and the...

Abandoned and imprisoned, this real-life Amazon took back the life she had stolen away.

The inventor of Horrible Histories shares his favourite horrible facts – along with the shiny new covers of this classic series

Five things our ancestors lived without—and that your story should absolutely have.

These shelter structures are beautifully sculptural.

The tradition of painting kings, queens, emperors, as well as their family and relatives, goes right back to the very beginnings of civilization. Art has

Strange, Trippy And Perverted Pictures From Illuminated Medieval Manuscripts

Videos and Images for American colonies (British and United States history)

Basajaun literally means ‘Lord of the Forest’ and is one of the main characters in Basque Mythology however perhaps he was no myth at all.

Blissymbolics, is interesting in that while it is covered within books about constructed languages (Arika Okrent's In the Land of Invented Languages, for example) it is technically only a...

A fascinating new study chronicles the family histories of European Bronze Age households, revealing the presence of surprising marital practices, patterns of inheritance, and the unexpected early emergence of social inequality within these homestead farms—including the possible use of slaves or servants.