Renaissance Reformation

1.     Explain the Teachings of Martin Luther and his actions against the Catholic Church.

Well he believed some of the teachings of the Catholic church. That they started good, but now that there was like only one religion the Catholic church was using it's power for wrong things. Martin Luther didn't like this and he posted ninety five of his theses, or things he didn't like about the Catholic church, on the Church so everyone could see them.

2.     Identify the other influential people during the Reformation.

Another monk by the name of  Girolamo Savonarola also wanted a reformation. But the Catholic Church executed him. Another man named John Calvin spread Protestantism. I personally don't like John that much. I don't like his Ideas, I think they are wrong. When Martin Luther says it doesn't matter what actions you take all that matters is your faith in God, and that you should read the bible because it has all of the truth in it, he even translated it to German so they could read it. But John Calvin says we were Predestined, that we already were chosen where we were going to go before we came to earth, that our actions on earth didn't matter, because we were already chosen. The people said that is this were true then they didn't have any motivation to do anything good. He countered that by saying you should live good lives to show that you are chosen by God.

3.     Explain the Counter-Reformation.

Well the Catholic church decided to try a reformation after Queen Elizabeth I. One of the things they did was train better priests because that was one of the complains on Martin Luther's list.They also had new Religious orders such as the Jesuit Order where members worked as missionaries and preached all around the world. Another one was getting rid of everything that was bad even through violence if necessary.

The beginning of the Renaissance

1. Define Renaissance.
 Renaissance is the time in Europe when everyone wanted to focus on being good at everything. Like not really good at one thing and bad at another but pretty good on both of them. Renaissance also means rebirth. They were being re birthed back into a time where everyone wanted to learn and be good at everything.

2. Explain why it started in Northern Italy.
It started in Northern Italy because there was a lot of trade going on around there. A lot of wealthy merchants were in Northern Italy, and because they didn't have to work that much (because they were so rich) they had more time to study.

3.Explain what a Renaissance person is like.
A Renaissance person was very knowledgeable in almost everything. They tried to learn everything and be equally good at it. Not to good at one thing not to bad at one thing right in the middle.

4.Explain how the Renaissance movement was different in Northern Italy and the rest of Europe
Well the farther north you went the more people were focused on religion. Because they were focused on religion they believed God wanted them to be better people so they tried harder and studied more.

The Catholic Church

1.  Discuss the role of the Catholic Church during Medieval Europe.

Well the Catholic Church organization was just like the Medieval social order. The Pope was like the King, the Archbishop was like the Lord, the Bishop was like the Knight, and the Priest was like the Peasant. The pope made dioceses which were large divisions which had many Churches where the Catholics could attend church. Then he appointed Bishops to be in charge of those dioceses. Then if there was a problem and the bishop needs help he would ask the person above him. But since the pope didn't want to have to worry about all of that he appointed archbishops to help out, they oversaw a few dioceses. Then there was the Priest, he oversaw just one of the many churches in the diocese. He helped the members there. Charlemagne helped the Catholic church become the main religion in Europe.


 Now that the church had that power, it used it to try to stop warfare. First they encouraged the knights to stop fighting, but they ignored them. Then they said that they should not fight anyone who was not part of the war. When again they ignored them, they set a decree that said they were not to fight on Friday's or Sundays of every week. Eventually in the 1100s the fighting started to subside. The Catholic church also used its power for good by making monasteries. Monasteries were basically refuges from war for people in the area. 



2.  Discuss the impact the four different crusades had on Europe, the Church, and Jerusalem.

Well for the first crusade the pope helped unite the people against the Turks to get Jerusalem (their holy city) back.


But once inside the city, the knights killed everyone they could for personal gain. After they conquered it they divided it up into four different parts, and it was ruled in peace for the next 150 years.


But in 1144 the Turks took control of the holy city again. A French monk called for a second crusade, but it ended in failure and they were unable to drive away the Turks. Then when another Muslim army attacked they called for a third crusade. This crusade was special because King Richard of England fought in the war.


But even with him they couldn't win. But they did reach an agreement. Now the holy city was holy for both people. So they agreed that the Muslims could have the city but they would have to allow safe passage through the city. The Muslims agreed and it was settled.


I think the impact that the Catholic church had was that it got a lot more power, also it was much more widely known.

The rule of Charlamagne

1 Explain the role of Charlemagne in unifying Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire
Well he unified the people in Europe with religion. He made everyone become Catholic, and attacked the non-Catholics, because at the time there were a lot of different religions in Europe. He encouraged everyone to follow the Catholic teaching's and because of the work he put into this the Pope Leo the third crowned Charlemagne "Emperor of the Romans".

2 Identify the steps taken by Charlemagne to strengthen hies power
He first Encompassed himself with intelligent government officials. They were called "missi dominici" They acted as messengers to different lords throughout the kingdom for Charlemagne.
He made laws that were enforced throughout the kingdom and he also got judges to enforce these laws on a local level.
He also pushed for Christianity by sending missionaries throughout the kingdom he also helped the church establish Parishes (districts) throughout the kingdom. And each of the parishes had a priest. But the priest cost money so he made everyone pay a tithe 10% so he could pay for them.

3 Explain why Charlemagne's unifying influence in Europe did not last
I don't think it lasted that long because he sort of forced everyone to be Catholic and a lot of people didn't want to be so after he died and the male heirs each took a part of the empire, it wasn't united anymore and the people did whatever they wanted.

Spread of Islam

So Muhammad ruled Mecca and also some of the Arabian peninsula. But one day he felt tired and he layed down to rest and he never woke up! He was dead! The Islamic people were afraid, who would be their prophet and tell them the desires of Allah. But then Abu Bakr the friend of Muhammad said that he could be the prophet and the people relaxed a bit but not all the way. Abu Bakr was a good leader but he was not as strong as Muhammad he was thin and wore ragged clothes. He still sent armies to conquer other places and spread Islamic to those places. He was the first Caphir of the Islamic people. There were many other Caphirs and they conquered other places and they also conquered some of the Byzantine empire. That is how they spread Islamic by force do you think that is a good way to spread a religion, it's kind of like forcing people to do it when they don't want to I don't like that. The Caliphs had built a new capital for the Islamic empire. It's name was Baghdad. It was a good capital and it was a good trading place. They traded gems gold and food.

Roger Williams

Today I learned about Roger Williams. The Puritans in Massachusetts had a law that you could only believe in their religion. If you didn't then you could be sent to jail.

Roger Williams was one of the people that believed that people should choose which religion they followed. He said the king should let the people choose and the people banished him.

He went to Rhode Island where he met the Indians and he asked if he could live with them. They said yes and he bought some of their land and called it Providence. Later that became the capital of Rhode Island.

In Rhode Island people from any religion were free to choose and worship however they wanted. Many people like that law, such as the Jews and Catholics.

Roger Williams was a good man because he set the example for letting people choose for themselves.