Mrs. Johnston's Medieval History Blog 2012-13

Our Medieval Banquet and Faire is almost upon us, and it will be a day when we celebrate our year-long study of the Middle Ages. On this ...

You have been working on your Medieval Banquet and Faire projects for several weeks. Hopefully you've learned a lot about how a person ...

The life of a musician (also called a minstral) in the middle ages was generally seen as a desirable one. Minstrals might wander from town t...

There is an interesting town in England called Norwich. It was once a Saxon town and a thriving trade center. It became a Norman town under...

The Crusades focused people's attention on religion, but they ended up having a powerful impact on Medieval Life in another way. They h...

Knights and nobles weren't the only ones who used coats-of-arms. Medieval Guilds would often display a coat-of-arms in their guild hal...

The Arms of George Washington, 1st President of the United States. His shield appears on the Purple Heart as seen below. The original Purp...

The art of heraldry is practiced today. Andrew Stewart Jamieson creates magnificent coats-of-arms. See the video below.

Coats of Arms are more than just interesting colorful symbols placed on "awesome" shields. A Coat of Arms tells us about peo...

Heraldry, a system of using a variety of shapes and symbols on a shield or coat of arms to identify an individual or family, is almost 90...

Medieval Research and Manuscript Assignment Ye shall research your assigned topic: Book of Hours. Your final product will consist of...

Calligraphers and illumination artists were jobs in the middle ages. However, they are also jobs in the 21st century! In 1998 a group...

http://historymedren.about.com/od/bookofkell1/p/book_of_kells.htm   There are some wonderful illuminated manuscripts that have survived t...

As you listen to the lyrics of the song sung on this video, you will hear a variety of the materials used to make the illuminations. Enjoy!...

When a knight practiced, prepared for battle, or went to compete in a tournament, his squire would go with him. Can you tell what some of hi...

Three groups of fighting men were important in the middle ages: foot soldiers, archers, and knights. The knight who visited us on the first...

As history detectives, it is only natural that we would be curious about how people, places and things actually looked in long ago. For ti...

Throughout the middle ages castle construction evolved from Motte and Baily castles made of wood to Stone Keep castles made of stone to ...

This is a picture from inside the gatehouse in Leeds Castle, Kent, England. This is a Norman castle gatehouse in Carmarthen, So...

T his is a picture of Harlech Castle in Wales.  It was built by King Edward I between 1282 and 1289. Image from Wikipedia ...

Here is an interview with the artist of the quilt called Blue Men. Read it carefully. Then think about whether this quilt is a primary so...

October 14, 1066 is know as a pivotal year in medieval history as an English King dies and leaves a power vacuum that draws in three powerf...

Here is a fun way to review Feudalism and life on a  Medieval Manor! Click on the video below. Below is your first online par...