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Mediaeval quizzery


Let’s begin with something easy: mediaeval concentration.

Here's a hard general knowledge quiz on the Middle Ages.

And this one is about heraldry.

Now the serious business.
Choose from this site one of the following topics:

Tower of London
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Westminster Abbey
Huns
King Arthur
Slavs
Plague
Norman Conquest
Medieval Food
Medieval Clothing
Tournament
Castle
Chain Mail
Cathedrals
Eleanor of Aquitaine
King John
First Crusade

and become an expert on it.



Castles

Have a look at this site on castles

and then explore one of these links:
Castle View
Weoley Castle
Aston Hall
Blakesley Hall


The tough side of knights and castles

Study each of the following topics:
1. jousts
2. armour
3. seiges
4. Destroying a castle: the most fearsome of all seige weapons was the trebuchet. Here are four pictures: 1, 2, 3, 4; and a technical account
5. Reconstructing a trebuchet: here is a modern attempt to recreate a trebuchet; and here is a video game letting you fire one.


What were the Middle Ages like?




Here's the start of a perfectly charming modern fantasy about fourteenth century England, A Knight's Tale (2001):



And here's a much more intelligent film, The Lion in Winter (1968), about Henry II of England and his terrible family life:


And here's a mindless film from 1958, The Vikings, about another aspect of mediaeval life:




Knights, chivalry, heraldry

chivalry
Heraldry: here's are some basic shapes.


Middle Ages: some key concepts


fall of the Roman Empire
the Holy Roman Empire
little states
Catholicism and the Pope (the papacy)
barons and feudalism
Crusades (see map; and Islam).
Black Death (see the trailer of the 2010 film)
castles

The music of the Middle Ages

Some medieval music (and a modern medieval music group); some castles!




Middle Ages: movies

Not all these are to be taken seriously.

This one is about the bogus legend of Pope Joan.
This one concerns Conclave (2006), about the election of 1458.

Here are two Swedish films: The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet, 1957), by Ingmar Bergman, one of the great films of the twentieth century (the famous final scene, the dance of death); and Arn The Knight Templar, which is silly and pretty.

Some post 9/11 crusading stuff, about reconciliation with Islam: Soldier of God;
and a time-travel yarn called Crusade.

Here is a televison epic about the wars of Stephen and Matilda, Pillars of the Earth (and 2 and 3).

The greatest film of all about the Middle Ages, perhaps: The Name of the Rose.

Lots more medieval films here and here.



An animated map.

Illuminated manuscripts
Mediaeval worst jobs
Dark Ages


Belief: I, II III, IV, V and VI.




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