History+Year+8

Ancient Egypt

The extent of the flood was important because: Sailing the Nile The Nile was the main transport route in ancient Egypt anyone sailing down the Nile usually moved in the direction of the current. anyone sailing up the Nile had to rely on the wind (which blew from the north) or take on the difficult task of sailing against the current. The Nile carried many different forms of river transport for a range of purposes. The Nile [] __The Nile River is__ the most important part of the Egyptian landscape. It is __one of the longest rivers in the world and flows 6500 kilometres from its source in the mountains of Ethiopia to its delta and the Mediterranean Sea.__ Herodotus (c.484–c.425 BC), a famous writer and historian of the ancient world, described the Nile River as a ‘gift’ to the Egyptian people. This description shows how important the Nile was to their survival. It provided food, water, rich soils in which to grow crops, a home for different types of bird, plant and animal life and a place to enjoy many leisure activities. __In ancient times, the Nile River flooded every year. This flood resulted from the torrential rains that came in late spring to the mountains of Ethiopia in east Africa.__ The Nile valley flooded and the river rose as much as ten metres in some areas. The people who lived in the Nile valley took refuge in their mud huts on the ‘tortoise backs’ – mounds of earth that had built up from centuries of these floods. __The floodwaters left behind thick layers of mud that created fertile farming lands for planting grain. These were the ‘Black Lands’.__ __The rise and fall of the Nile River created three distinct seasons: Akhet, Peret and Shemu. These seasons became the basis of the farmer's calendar__
 * an 8-metre flood would produce the black mud needed to create fertile, crop-growing soils
 * a flood greater than this would destroy property
 * a flood less than this would be too poor to produce enough food to eat.
 * Wealthy Egyptians could cruise the Nile at a leisurely pace in their wooden ships.
 * Pyramid and temple builders would send huge flat barges pulled along slowly by work teams located on the river banks.
 * Cargo boats carried grain and other supplies. Ordinary people fished from small rowing boats near the shoreline.

Pharaoh Egypt civilizations Part 2 (up to 6.20) [] History of Egypt [] __According to legend, Menes, a king of Upper Egypt, united Lower and Upper Egypt about 5000 years ago__ and established a new capital city at Memphis. In reality, __it is more likely that a number of different kings unified the two lands over a 200-year period. The ruler of the two lands wore a new double crown that combined the red crown of Lower Egypt with the white crown of Upper Egypt. He eventually came to be known by the title pharaoh, meaning ‘great house’.__ __Ancient Egyptians used the word pharaoh to describe their ruler because it was disrespectful to address him by his own name.__ __The pharaoh was so powerful that he alone decided the law .__ He was the main landowner in Egypt and __he demanded heavy taxes in the form of goods__ from those wealthy Egyptians whom he allowed to own land. At different times, __people viewed the pharaoh as a god, as their protector and as their leader in battle. They believed he was descended from Re, the sun god, and that the spirit of the god Horus lived within him__ and made the pharaoh a god too. __His people expected him to make sure that:__ Rights, freedoms and the law [] __The word Ma'at, and the goddess who represented it, stood for justice, truth, order and balance. People believed that the gods had brought order and justice to their world and pharaoh had to make sure that Egypt's laws were guided by Ma'at and expressed the will and goodness of the gods.__ __People believed that those who did not live according to Ma'at would suffer ill fortune in this life as well as in the afterlife.__
 * __the Nile flooded as required__
 * __there was enough food for people to eat__
 * __the gods looked kindly on the people__
 * __Egypt's army could defend it against any enemies__
 * __truth, or Ma'at, was at the heart of Egyptian life.__

__Men and women had virtually the same legal status and legal and economic rights. The law gave both men and women an individual legal identity.__ Both sexes had the right to: __In reality, men had the chance to gain more status and income__ because they were more involved in the world beyond the home. Records show a world which viewed men and their interests as more important than those of women. __Slaves in ancient Egypt had rights that did not exist in any other ancient society. They were people who, due to debt, war or the pharaoh's orders, lost their freedom__ for a limited period of time and could pay to regain it. Ma'at required that they be well treated and that their children were born ‘free’ The pharaoh's wives __Pharaohs began marrying in their childhood and usually had many wives, including their sisters, half-sisters and other female relatives.__ This custom had several advantages: __Pharaohs also married princesses from the royal families of Egypt's neighbours and the daughters of wealthy and powerful Egyptian families.__ The purpose of the pharaoh's marriages was to:
 * purchase and sell land
 * make contracts
 * participate in court cases
 * divorce their partners.
 * it encouraged the loyalty and support of other family members
 * it kept property and wealth (which were passed down from mother to daughter) within the family
 * it kept the blood line ‘pure’
 * it imitated the marital habits of the gods.
 * increase support for his position
 * increase his property and possessions.

Egyptian dynasties The pharaohs ruled Egypt from 3100 BC to 332 BC. The position of pharaoh was usually passed from father to son and so families of rulers (dynasties) ruled Egypt for many years. A new dynasty started when a new leader emerged and defeated the power of the old leader. It was rare for a woman to rule Egypt. This occurred only if she was a close relative of the previous pharaoh and the heir was too young to rule in his own right. Historians often divide Egypt's history on the basis of the 30 dynasties and groups of kings that had ruled there. Another way of dividing ancient Egypt's history is in terms of three kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom (periods when particular dynasties had strong control).



Structure of ancient Egyptian society

While the pharaoh was the supreme ruler of Egypt, he could not rule without the support and efforts of other key people. He appointed:

> Priests and priestesses oversaw religious practices throughout Egypt. The pharaoh or his son took on personal control of the army. > > > After the pharaoh, the vizier, the senior government officials and the priests, the next most important people in Egypt were the scribes and then artisans and craftspeople. After these came farmers, fishermen and other labourers. Servants and those with slave status were at the bottom of the social pyramid >
 * a vizier to act as chief judge and to take overall charge of all the government's work throughout Egypt
 * nomarchs (governors) to take on this responsibility in each of Egypt's main regions, or nomes
 * officials to maintain law and
 * , record the pharaoh's decisions and collect taxes.

Farming work __Most men and many women worked in farming. They produced wheat and barley for making bread and beer or flax to make linen.__ Farmers also planted beans, cucumbers and leeks and cultivated grape vines from which to make wine, figs and pomegranates. __Farmers worked on the pharaoh's land and could also rent or buy land for themselves.__ __The year's farming work began when the floodwaters receded and workers began to direct excess water into irrigation channels. Farmers used a hoe or light plough to prepare the soil on the fields.__ Then they spread the seed across the tops of the fields and sent in herds of sheep to press it into the ground. A__t harvest time, they used sickles__ (a tool with a curved blade) __to cut the grain and oxen to crush and separate it from the husk.__ Farmers then used wooden scoops to throw the grain into the air so that it could be separated from the chaff (the grain's outer covering) before being loaded into bags for storage. __Tax officials came around once a year to collect up to half of what was grown.__ __In addition to sheep and oxen, Egyptian farmers also kept cattle, geese and goats. The number and type of animals a farmer owned was an indication of how wealthy the farmer was.__ Cattle were the most valuable livestock. __The fertile farming land resulting from Egypt's annual flood season meant that the Egyptians could grow enough food for themselves and for trading with others. This also meant that some people could be spared to do work in areas other than farming.__

Work in towns __A large town provided employment for a wide range of skilled workers, mainly men. These included:__ __brewers, builders, coppersmiths, doctors, goldsmiths, jewellers,__ metalworkers, paper makers, potters, sandal makers, stonemasons, weavers, wig makers and woodworkers. There were also artists, fishermen, incense roasters and priests. __Some of these people worked in the pharaoh's palace workshops or offices or on one of his huge building sites. Others worked outdoors, in local workshops or in their own homes. Women's work in the towns was mainly as stallholders in the marketplace.__ __Scribes were people trained in the language and writing skills that were essential for recording government decisions, keeping tax records, writing official letters and preparing inscriptions.__ Housing __Egyptians mainly built their towns and villages on high ground within or looking down on the farming land of the Nile valley. They used sun-dried mud bricks mixed with straw as the main building materials.__ __Houses had a number of features to help people cope with Egypt's hot climate. For example:__ __The houses of the wealthy__ Luxury and comfort were important features of the lives of wealthy people. They lived in large (often two-storey) houses with thick exterior walls covered in white limestone plaster to reflect the heat. The white plastered interior walls, ceilings and columns served as bases for decorative frescoes (paintings on plaster walls or ceilings) and enamelled wall paintings. Outside there would be beautiful gardens and pools surrounded by a high wall to provide privacy. The picture below shows you some of the typical features of a wealthy person's home.
 * __They had flat roofs with vents to let in cool breezes from the north.__
 * __In a two-storey house, the kitchen was often on the top floor so that people could take advantage of the cool air coming through the vents and gain some relief from the heat of cooking as well as the climate.__
 * __Roofs often had a terrace on them so people could sleep and eat outdoors when there was a summer breeze.__
 * __Window openings in the house itself were small and set high into the walls to minimise the impact of heat and glare. For this reason, rooms could appear quite dark.__



Work in towns __A large town provided employment for a wide range of skilled workers, mainly men. These included:__ __brewers, builders, coppersmiths, doctors, goldsmiths, jewellers,__ metalworkers, paper makers, potters, sandal makers, stonemasons, weavers, wig makers and woodworkers. There were also artists, fishermen, incense roasters and priests. __Some of these people worked in the pharaoh's palace workshops or offices or on one of his huge building sites. Others worked outdoors, in local workshops or in their own homes. Women's work in the towns was mainly as stallholders in the marketplace.__ __Scribes were people trained in the language and writing skills that were essential for recording government decisions, keeping tax records, writing official letters and preparing inscriptions.__ Housing __Egyptians mainly built their towns and villages on high ground within or looking down on the farming land of the Nile valley. They used sun-dried mud bricks mixed with straw as the main building materials.__ __Houses had a number of features to help people cope with Egypt's hot climate. For example:__ __The houses of the wealthy__ Luxury and comfort were important features of the lives of wealthy people. They lived in large (often two-storey) houses with thick exterior walls covered in white limestone plaster to reflect the heat. The white plastered interior walls, ceilings and columns served as bases for decorative frescoes (paintings on plaster walls or ceilings) and enamelled wall paintings. Outside there would be beautiful gardens and pools surrounded by a high wall to provide privacy. The picture below shows you some of the typical features of a wealthy person's home.
 * __They had flat roofs with vents to let in cool breezes from the north.__
 * __In a two-storey house, the kitchen was often on the top floor so that people could take advantage of the cool air coming through the vents and gain some relief from the heat of cooking as well as the climate.__
 * __Roofs often had a terrace on them so people could sleep and eat outdoors when there was a summer breeze.__
 * __Window openings in the house itself were small and set high into the walls to minimise the impact of heat and glare. For this reason, rooms could appear quite dark.__

Ordinary people's houses

What we know about ordinary people's homes mainly comes from clay models of them that archaeologists have found in tombs. Their homes included:


 * a living/eating area that could become a sleeping area at night
 * another separate sleeping area
 * storage areas for grain and beer
 * often an outside staircase that led up to a terrace on the flat roof.

Family life

Family life was important to the ancient Egyptians. Parents arranged their children's marriages. There was no formal marriage ceremony. When the parents had agreed on terms, the couple would live together and ‘start a house’. Girls married from about twelve years of age and boys from about fourteen.

Most men had one wife and it was common for a couple to have eight or more children. Each partner had control over his or her own property

Children

Children worked to help their family survive financially. At about eight years of age, they began to learn a trade or became involved in farm work. The skills children learned helped to support the family's way of life and enabled them to provide for their parents in old age (that is, in their thirties). Only a small minority had the chance to learn to read and write by attending a scribe's school. Women's experiences of ancient Egypt

People had great respect for the goddesses of Egyptian religion and believed women had many of the same qualities.

Women in ancient Egyptian society had greater independence than women in other ancient societies because they had the legalto own property and to work. A woman was therefore not dependent on her husband for her survival and she had some freedom to enjoy life beyond the home. Some aspects of women's treatment in ancient Egypt show that society did not see men and women as equals. The pharaoh's son succeeded him as pharaoh. If there were no sons, the new pharaoh was the husband of one of the Great Royal Wife's Cleopatra and Hatshepsut were two of the few female pharaohs. See family life in Ancient Egyp [] .

= Ancient Rome = Time line


 * **800 B.C. ** ||  **600 B.C. **  ||  **500 B.C. **  ||  **400 B.C. **  ||  **300 B.C. **  ||  **200 B.C. **  ||  **100 B.C. **  ||  **0-100 A.D. **  ||  **100 A.D. **  ||  **200 A.D. **  ||  **300 A.D. **  ||  **400 A.D. **  ||  **500 A.D. **  ||
 * **Rome and Italy ** ||  **753 **

<span style="color: blue; display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">[|The city Rome is founded.]

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **616-579**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Tarquinius I succeeds to the throne.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Rome grows. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">579-534 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The tribus, the constitution and the army are reorganized.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **534-509**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Tarquinius II succeeds to the throne.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **509**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Rome becomes a republic.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Rome becomes the most important city of his surroundings, Latium. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">499 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> De Latins are defeated near the lake of Regillus.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The Sabins, the Vosci and the Aequi are making invations.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Dominion of the patricians.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **420**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The Samnites occupy Campania.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **405-396**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Siege and occypation of Veii. || <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;">Gallics plunder Rome.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **340**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> War with the Latins.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **338**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Roman Empire enrol Campania.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **334-264**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Rome colonizes and conquers Italy.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **327-304**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Second Samnitic war. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">298-290 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Third Samnitic war.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **280-275**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Invasion of Phyrrus.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **280**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> First Roman coins as currency.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **264-241**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> First war with Carthago. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">167 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Direct taxes Roman citizens abolished.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **102-101**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Teutons and Cimbri beated. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">91-89 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Ally-war.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **83-82**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Civil war: Sulla becomes dictator.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **73-71**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Spartacus rebels.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **49-44**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Civil war: Ceasar becomes dictator.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **44**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Ceasar is killed.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **31 B.C. - 14 A.D.**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Octavianus (Augustus) becomes the first Emperor of the Empire. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">64 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Conflagration in Rome.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **79**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The Vesuvius erupts; Pompeii and other cities are burried under a thick lay of ash. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">117-93 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Antonian Emperors. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">212 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> All inhabitants at liberty of the Roman Empire get the civil rights. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">303-305 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Great Christian-persecution.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **313**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Religious liberty is mended.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **324-337**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Constantine becomes the absolute monarch of the Empire.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **395**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The Empire is divided in the West- and East-Roman Empire. || **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt;">402 **

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The imperial court is moved to Ravenna.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **410**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Visigots empty Rome.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **455**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Vandals plunder Rome.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **476**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> The latest West-Roman emperor is dethroned.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> **476-540**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif; font-size: 7.5pt; text-align: center;"> Barbarian kings in Ravenna. ||



Caesar & Augustus __Caesar was descended from two noble families__, and his social standing became even stronger when, in 84 BC, at the age of sixteen, he married Cornelia, a consul's daughter. His early career was a typical one for a member of the patrician class: As an aedile in 65 BC, he organised magnificent games for the people, which put him in debt for some years. __He was praetor in 63 BC and became one of the two consuls in 59 BC, at the age of 41.__ __Caesar's dictatorship__ While Caesar was continuing to fight Pompey's supporters, friends in __Rome organised his election for a second time as consul, then dictator for five and ten years and finally dictator for life.__ Caesar used his powers to improve Italy. The old Roman calendar was 355 days long, and every few years extra months had to be added to bring it into step with the seasons. __Caesar introduced the calendar we know today, with three years of 365 days and the fourth (leap year) of 366 days.__ Other plans included: Some members of the Senate believed that Caesar had made himself too powerful, and in March 44 BC, they assassinated him. However, this simply led to another period of civil war and an even more powerful individual taking control. [] Civil war __Julius Caesar's assassination did not solve the problems of leadership in Rome. Instead it resulted in another 12 years of civil war with two powerful men, Mark Antony and Octavian, in a bitter struggle for control of the empire.__ Mark Antony (c.83–30 BC) __Mark Antony was related to Julius Caesar by marriage.__ At the age of 30, he fought with Caesar in Gaul and, at the time Caesar was about to re-enter Italy in 49 BC, he was the plebeian tribune. The senate expelled Mark Antony because of his support for Caesar and so he went to join him in crossing the Rubicon. __During the many times that Caesar was absent from Rome over the following five years, Mark Antony looked after his interests. After Caesar's assassination, Mark Antony claimed to be Caesar's heir.__ Octavian (Augustus) 63 BC– AD 14 __Octavian was only 20 when Caesar was assassinated but in Caesar's will he became Caesar's adopted son and heir to much of his fortune.__ Mark Antony tried to prevent Octavian gaining access to Caesar's property but Octavian became consul in 43 BC and forced Antony to allow this. For some time the Roman world was divided between Antony, Octavian and Lepidus, another supporter of Caesar. In 40 BC Mark Antony was in Egypt, where he met Cleopatra and spent the winter of 41–40 BC with her. He then returned to Rome and married Octavian's sister, Octavia. However, three years later, in 37 BC, he left her for Cleopatra. __Octavian took this as an opportunity to declare war on Mark Antony and in 31 BC he defeated Antony's forces in the battle of Actium in Greece.__ __When Mark Antony heard rumours that Cleopatra was dead, he committed suicide. The Romans then went to arrest Cleopatra, but she also committed suicide rather than become a captive of the Romans.__ Establishing the Roman Empire __Octavian was now the most powerful man in Rome and he gradually took more and more important positions. At the same time, he made sure he kept all the old Roman forms of government and sought the senate's approval of all his actions. At first, he did not call himself emperor but instead used the title ‘first among equals' Principate__ (in Latin principes inter pares). Octavian gave the people peace after almost 60 years of fighting. __Octavian acquired the title Augustus, and under this name he ruled Rome and the empire for 41 years, from 27 BC to AD 14.__ He established strong frontiers, ensured that money from taxes in the provinces flowed into Rome, and began a massive building program. It was also the age of great poets such as Virgil and Horace, and historians such as Livy. After the death of Augustus in AD 14, the Roman Empire was ruled by the following four emperors, whom we refer to as the Julio-Claudian emperors who were all related to Augustus and Julius Caesar.
 * f__rom the age of 19 to 26, he was on military campaigns in the East__
 * __he was a military tribune at the age of 29 (in 71 BC)__
 * __he was a quaestor in Spain at the age of 31 (69 BC).__
 * introducing a scheme to prevent flooding of the Tiber River
 * constructing a new road over the Apennine Mountains
 * creating 20 settlements throughout the provinces to provide homes for his soldiers
 * increasing senate numbers to 900, to include many of his supporters.
 * Tiberius, who ruled from AD 14 to 37, and died in office
 * Gaius, who ruled from AD 37 to 41, and was assassinated
 * Claudius, who ruled from AD 41 to 54, and was poisoned by his young wife
 * Nero, who ruled from AD 54 to 68, and committed suicide to avoid capture by senators.

Roman Army [] __The basis of Roman power lay in its army.__ As Rome took control of Italy and then all the states around the Mediterranean, its army developed into the strongest fighting unit in the ancient world. __The legion was the basic unit of Rome's standing army of career soldiers, the legionaries, who were all Roman citizens and fought primarily as foot-soldiers (infantry).__ __The number of legions under arms varied in different time periods__ (there were, for example, 28 legions under Augustus in 25 BCE), __and each legion had both__ [|a number and a title]__,__ though some numbers were duplicated (we know, for example, of III Augusta, III Cyrenaica, III Gallica, III Italica, III Parthica). Though the exact numbers of men in a legion varied, __the basic__ [|pattern of organization] remained the same. __One of the most striking visual aspects of the Roman army were the standards, tall poles topped with various insignia and symbols, including many types of animals. The standards helped to keep the units together, since the soldiers could see them above the action.__ Standards also helped to preserve the cohesiveness and pride of each unit, as they represented a concrete symbol of that unit's achievements. They were also used in various religious rituals designed to promote unity. The most important standard in each legion was the eagle. __Officers.__ General: Each military campaign was assigned one general. __Generals were always aristocrats of the senatorial class, usually consuls or ex-consuls, since they had to hold at least praetorian rank__ in order to be granted imperium (the right to command an army) by the Senate; during the Empire, the emperor was the sole commander-in-chief. Legates and Military Tribunes: __Each legion had its own commander__ (at least after the time of Augustus), called the legionary legate (legatus), who __was also of senatorial rank, often a young upper-class Roman .__ Centurions: Chief among the officers who were not of equestrian or senatorial rank were the centurions (centuriones), each of whom commanded an eighty-man century. __The centurions were professional soldiers, responsible for maintaining discipline in their units and for supervising the fighting on the field.__ __Check out this site.__ []
 * __The smallest unit was the tent group (contubernium), composed of 8 men who shared a tent, a mule, and eating equipment.__
 * __These were organized into a disciplinary unit called a__ [|century] (despite the fact that a century typically had 80 rather than 100 men), __under the command of a centurion.__
 * __The basic fighting unit was a__ [|cohort]__, composed of six centuries__ (480 men plus 6 centurions). The legion itself was composed of ten cohorts, and the first cohort had many extra men—the clerks, engineers, and other specialists who did not usually fight—and the senior centurion of the legion, the primipilus, or “number one javelin.”



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 190%;">Roman Houses

Holidays Festivals and Games __Holidays for religious festivals and celebrations of victories were a feature of Roman life.__ By the middle of the first century AD, there were 159 holidays a year, and 93 of these were devoted to __games provided free to the spectators.__ This __entertainment played a very important part in the stability of Rome.__ There was seldom enough work for most of the citizens, and if plebeians were occupied in entertainment it meant that they were not getting involved in street fighting and riots. __Entertainment could take many forms.__ One was the theatre. __People went to the theatre to see plays, mimes and concerts.__ Roman playwrights wrote slapstick comedies about village life and people. __The Circus Maximus was a huge oval arena that held up to 180 000 spectators.__ Chariot races in the Circus could last up to 15 days, with up to 24 races a day. [] __Romans were also entertained by fights between gladiators — armed men who fought to the death in amphitheatres such as the Colosseum.__ Gladiators, who first appeared in 264 BC and were outlawed in AD 404, were extremely popular with the spectators. Gladiators often wore elaborate armour, partly for protection and partly for show. Many gladiators were treated like stars in ancient Rome so they needed to have equipment that was functional but also ‘flashy’.

Roman Religion [] __Gods of the house and fields__ These were some of the earliest gods and those closest to the life of ordinary Romans. They included: __Gods of the state__ __The three main gods of the Roman state were Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. A temple to these three was erected on the Capitoline Hill.__ Jupiter was the god of the heavens and, like the Greek god Zeus, his power was expressed in thunder. Juno, his wife, who was the queen of heavenly light and especially that of the new moon. She was the goddess of fertility, childbirth and marriage. __Some of the other important Roman gods were:__ The augurs Romans had a strong belief in fate — that there was a pattern already set for your life and the best thing to do was to discover what it was and follow it. The role of augurs in Rome was highly sought after, because the way they interpreted the signs could influence the decisions you made. Foreign influences As Rome expanded, some Romans became interested in the new religions they discovered.Some of these new gods and religions are described below:
 * __Lares and Penates.__ The Lar familiaris was the god of the household. __There was a shrine in the house where it was saluted daily.__
 * __Vesta, god of the hearth (fireplace)__ and the ploughed field. Vesta was also worshipped as a state god, and six women — __the Vestal Virgins — kept her sacred flame alive in Rome.__
 * Terminus, god of the boundary stones between properties.
 * __Janus- a god of the light and sun__ but became the guardian of doorways, where people entered and left.
 * __Venus, the god of love__
 * __Mars, the god of war__
 * __Neptune, the god of the sea.__
 * Bacchus, the god of wine, was based on the Greek god Dionysus. His festival in March (early spring) was known for its alcohol-induced excesses. It was banned for a number of years.
 * Isis was an Egyptian god who appealed particularly to Roman women, freed men and slaves.
 * Mithraism would let you overcome the control fate had over you. Mithraism was particularly strong among soldiers.
 * Christianity was often attacked and its followers persecuted, with Nero blaming the Christians for a great fire in Rome in AD 64. However, over time it became the official religion of the empire.

=<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 220%;">The Middle Ages = The time The word __medieval comes from the Latin words medium aevum__, meaning ‘middle ages’. The world of medieval Europe emerged after the fall of the Roman Empire in the late fifth century AD. It was the __period from about AD 500 to about AD 1500.__ __Historians often subdivide the medieval period into:__ We are going to concentrate on the later Middle Ages — the high point of medieval civilisation. The mind set T__he world of medieval Europe was:__ __Leaders and priests taught people to accept their position in life and the fact that they had few rights and little freedom.__ __Life was short and difficult. People died young, partly because of lack of medical knowledge and effective treatments and partly because the medieval era was a time of constant warfare.__ __Medieval Europeans were superstitious. They thought that witches or evil spirits caused illness, plague, drought, famine and crop failure. The majority of western Europeans believed the Catholic Church's teaching__ that the Earth was the centre of the universe and that the sun, planets and stars revolved around it. The feudal system __In medieval Europe, the system for organising how land would be used and for controlling people was called the feudal system or feudalism.__ Charlemagne (AD c.747–814) introduced this system in the eighth century to help him control large areas of land in Gaul (France). Feudalism gradually spread as Charlemagne gained more land in western and central Europe. __Feudalism helped countries become stronger and provided people with a sense of protection.__ It also placed many restrictions and controls on the ways people lived their lives.
 * __the early Middle Ages (or Dark Ages)__
 * __the later Middle Ages.__
 * __largely an agricultural world__
 * __controlled mainly by small groups dominated by men.__

Feudalism in England William of Normandy (later known as William the Conqueror) introduced feudalism into England in 1066. He became king after invading England and winning the Battle of Hastings. Under the feudal system, William claimed all of England's land as his own. He then divided up the land to reward those who had been loyal to him and to gain promises of their future support. William's actions provide a good example of how invasion and a new system of government were able to change the lives of people already living in that country.





A diagram showing how William divided England after he invaded in 1066

John and the Magna Carta [] __The feudal system gave the king great power. Over time, some of the tenants-in-chief in England began to resent this.__ __On 15 June 1215, at Runnymede in England, a group of barons rebelled against King John (1165–1216). King John was an unpopular king and known for his often cruel and unjust actions and decisions.__ He tried to seize the throne from his brother and ordered the murder of his nephew Arthur so that he could ensure his own succession. __The barons forced him to sign a document known as the Magna Carta, which is Latin for ‘great charter’.__ They wanted to stop him, and any monarchs who came after him, from ruling unjustly. __The main idea of the Magna Carta was that the king would not be free to do whatever he wanted in governing the country. He had to:__
 * __respect the system of law that had developed__
 * __use this system of law in his dealings with the people.__

Castles for protection and control William the Conqueror believed that building castles helped him to control a country. He allowed his Norman lords to build hundreds of motte and bailey castles, made of timber and earth. Over time, lords ordered stone castles to replace them. Stone castles The donjon was the main building of a stone castle. It was a three- or four-storey tower with walls about three metres thick. To get to the donjon, visitors crossed the drawbridge over the moat — a deep, wide ditch, built around the castle and filled with water. They then passed under the portcullis, which was an iron grate on either side of a gateway. The guards could lower this to prevent entry into the bailey. This large courtyard contained stables, animal pens and perhaps also garden areas. The lowest level of the castle was below ground. It housed storerooms, a well that provided the castle's water supply, and dungeons. The guard rooms, soldiers’ quarters and chapel were on the next level up. Then came the great hall, an important meeting and entertainment area, and finally the sleeping quarters of the Lord's family. Open fires provided heat and plenty of smoke. There were no chimneys, and servants put coverings on the wall openings to try to keep in the warmth. To minimise the danger of accidental fires, kitchens were often in separate buildings linked by a passageway to the castle keep. Building castles Castle builders wanted to create structures that would: Nobles thought carefully about where to locate their castles. They made sure that the site had a good view of the surrounding area. The lord would have made sure important resources were nearby, including: __The manor and the village__ About 90 per cent of medieval Europeans were peasants who lived in villages of about 100 to 300 people. __Villages were usually located near a stream or river, which provided fresh water and a supply of fish. The villages and the land around them were called manors.__ __Manors varied in size from about 900 to 3000 hectares and were owned or controlled by a lord (or lady)__. __The lord's own farm area, which comprised about one-third of the total, was known as the demesne. The villagers farmed the rest of the land.__ They used mountainous land for sheep and cattle rearing. In the warm climate of southern Europe, people planted orchards and vineyards. __Every village had a common, which all villagers shared as grazing land for their animals. The village also included: church land, known as the glebe; the lord's hunting forest; and fenced-in meadows where hay was grown.__ __The peasants lived in one- or two-roomed wooden huts__ with clay walls, unglazed window holes, dirt floors and thatched roofs. In winter they shared these lodgings with their animals. Each house had its own vegetable garden known as a toft. __Organising farm work__ The __manor was made up of a strictly organised community of workers.__ The lord's power The lord of the manor had great power over the peasants who lived there. Villeins had to ask his permission before they could leave the village, get married, sell their animals, or have their children taught to read and write. Peasants had to pay a tax to the lord whenever they used: They paid additional taxes when sons were born or daughters were married. When the peasant died, the lord would usually claim a death duty in the form of the peasant's second-best animal. The open-field system Peasants organised farming on an open-field system. There were no fences, walls or hedges to separate farming land. The villagers divided the land into three fields. Each year they left one field fallow (without a crop) to allow it to recover its fertility. They used the unfarmed land to graze cattle, which also provided it with a natural fertiliser. Each year, villagers held meetings to decide how to divide their land and what to grow. They divided two fields into 10-metre-wide strips, separated by raised unploughed land or ditches. Each peasant had a share of good and poor strips. Everyone had to plant the same crop in the two usable fields. They rotated the crops so that different nutrients were taken from the soil each year. The working year comprised a seasonal cycle of planting, growing, harvesting and repair work. The reeve, an official chosen by the whole village, ensured that everyone started work early and worked hard. The reeve also consulted with the lord's representative to work out what services the villagers had to provide. He carried a white stick as a sign of his responsibilities. Peasants worked as long as there was daylight. In summer, work started at about 4.30 am and finished at about 7 pm. In winter, work started at about 6.30 am and finished at about 4 pm. Except for holidays, peasants worked a six-day week, with Sunday being a day of prayer and rest. Beliefs and values Catholic Church By the 1100s, __Christianity was the most powerful and influential religion in western Europe__. It influenced everyone's life. __People had simple beliefs: those who followed God's teachings would go to heaven and those who did not would go to hell. People showed that they honoured God by making Sunday a day of rest and devotion to God.__ People also celebrated other holy days throughout the year. On these days away from work, __people remembered saints and celebrated their lives through festivals, games and feasts.__ __People looked to their religious leaders, the clergy, to help explain their world. They supported their church leaders by paying them the tithe, a tax of 10 per cent of the crops they grew.__ The Catholic Church became very wealthy and often very influential in government, law-making and law enforcement. __To gain favour with God, many wealthy nobles left land, property and money to the Catholic Church, which became richer than most kings. It controlled about one-third of the land in Europe, and had its own courts and laws (called canon law)__ and used the name Christendom to describe the Christian countries of Europe. The clergy spoke and wrote in Latin, and __people relied on the information the priests gave them because most people did not have the opportunity to read, write or learn about these things for themselves.__ Friars lived among ordinary people, helping the poor and relying on others to provide them with food and a place to sleep.
 * provide a residence for a monarch or chief tenant
 * protect and maintain the power and property of the owner against enemy attack
 * be able to withstand a siege
 * act as a military base (garrison) from which an army could control the surrounding countryside.
 * towns, from whose people the lord could demand taxes
 * ready supplies of fresh water and building materials
 * workers to build the castle
 * roads or rivers for transport
 * Some were __tenants, or freemen,__ who had bought their freedom and paid rent and services for the land they used.
 * The next group were __serfs, or villeins__. The __lord ‘owned’ these peasants and they worked three days a week on his land, as well as working on their own rented strips of land.__ They also did boon work, which meant five days a week labour on the lord's land at harvest time.
 * The third group of peasants were known as __cottars. They had no land other than their cottage plot and survived by craftwork__ or by working for other peasants or for the lord of the manor.
 * the lord's mill to make flour
 * the lord's oven to bake bread
 * the lord's brewery to make beer.

Crime and Punishment

Medieval crime

Crimes in the medieval world included minor offences such as stealing firewood from the lord's forest and nagging one's husband, as well as more serious crimes like murder, treason and witchcraft.

Witchcraft

Witchcraft was a very serious charge. People believed that witches were the devil's followers and that they used their special powers to bring suffering and unhappiness to others. People blamed witches for natural disasters — famine, plague, drought, the failure of a harvest — and even for stillbirth. Sometimes people accused others of witchcraft because of jealousy or a desire for revenge.

Canon law

The Catholic Church used its own courts and its own law (canon law) to try to control people's behaviour. It fined and even whipped people if they worked on Sundays and holy days. The most serious crime against the Church was the crime of heresy: the offence of criticising the Church's teachings. Church courts also heard cases involving fights between husbands and wives.

Crime control

Police forces did not exist in the medieval world. If someone was seen breaking the law, the lord expected the villagers to raise the ‘hue and cry’ and chase after the wrongdoer until they caught him or her. If the prisoner escaped, the lord would punish the villagers.

Some towns tried to limit the number of crimes by imposing a curfew to keep people off the streets at night. This meant that people had to be in their homes by about 8.00 pm or 9.00 pm or risk being arrested. Another way of encouraging people to prevent law-breaking was to organise them into groups called tithings. Each tithing consisted of 10 males over the age of 12 who were responsible for making one another keep the law. If any member broke the law, the others had to take him to court and pay his fine.

Guilty or not guilty?

Before Henry II introduced jury trials in the twelfth century, courts decided whether a person was innocent or guilty by using trials by compurgation (oath-swearing), combat or ordeal.

Trial by compurgation

12 people had to recite a special oath to claim someone's innocence. Any mistakes would supposedly cause the oath to ‘burst’ and prove that the accused person was guilty.

__Trial by combat__

Used by nobles to attempt to prove their innocence. In the beginning, the defendant and his accuser were expected to fight the battle personally. Soon everyone began to use an expert known as a champion to fight the battle in their place. People believed that God would reward the innocent person with victory.

Trials by ordeal

people asked God for a sign of guilt or innocence.


 * In an ordeal by water, the accused was thrown into the ‘holy’ waters of a river or lake with hands and feet tied together to see if they sank (a sign of innocence) or floated (a sign of guilt).
 * In ordeals by fire, people either had to put their hand in a pot of boiling water, hold their arm over a fire or pick up a piece of red hot iron. If the burn had healed after three days, then this was thought to be a sign of innocence.

When Henry II, King of England, introduced the system of trial by jury in the twelfth century, travelling judges conducted courts with juries of 12 men chosen from among the local townsmen. The jury decided whether the accused was guilty or innocent and the judge imposed the sentence.

Punishment

Punishments were meant to fit the ‘crime’. For example:


 * Villagers tied nagging wives to a ducking stool and ducked them three times into the river.
 * Women found guilty of gossiping had to wear the scold's bridle.
 * A baker who had cheated his or her customers might be dragged through the streets on a sledge with a loaf of bread tied around the neck.
 * A peasant who had stolen firewood from the lord's forest or whose animals had damaged someone else's crops would most likely either pay a fine or perform extra work.
 * Other punishments for minor crime were more humiliating. These included putting someone in the pillory or the stocks, where onlookers could throw rotten food or rubbish at the offender.

Some of the harsher punishments for stealing or cheating included whipping and various forms of mutilation, such as cutting off a hand, an ear or the tongue. Sometimes a person's eyes were burnt out with a red hot poker.

The punishment for witchcraft was being burnt alive, because it was believed that burning would cleanse the soul. A last-minute confession entitled the ‘witch’ to be strangled before she felt the flames. The penalty for murder or treason was public execution, usually by hanging or beheading.

Avoiding punishment

Women had a unique method of avoiding punishment. A woman who became pregnant could postpone her punishment until the birth of the child.

Both men and women could avoid punishment by claiming sanctuary from the Church. To do this the accused person had to:


 * stay on Church property for 40 days
 * admit to their wrongdoings
 * promise to ‘abjure the realm’ (leave the country forever).

Then the person had to leave the country as quickly as possible without money. As a sign of their guilt, they had to wear sackcloth and carry a white cross. While this process was being carried out, the fugitive remained under Church control and could not be arrested.

Punishing high treason

In medieval times, people used the word treason to describe the crime whereby one person murdered someone from a higher level in the social scale.

The word treason also has the meaning of doing something that is a serious act of disloyalty to the king or queen. This could be plotting to kill or overthrow the monarch or helping the country's enemies.

People would call that person a traitor and call his or her crime high treason. The punishment for the crime of treason was usually death by execution in a public place with an audience.

__ Websites for the assignment __

http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.php/medieval-history/europe

http://www.besthistorysites.net/index.php/medieval-history/

Castles.

http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/castles.htm

Daily Life

High level resource [] Life in the Middle Ages [] []

Food and Feasting

Medieval Feast - a subtelty - coolcucumber tv

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People of the medieval world had nowhere near the variety of food available to them that we have. Everyone's diet reflected the food that was available in the local area and the success of the harvest.

The rules of the Catholic Church also restricted people's eating habits. Church rules decreed that people could not eat meat on Fridays or during the church seasons of Advent (just before Christmas) or Lent (just before Easter)

Eating like a peasant

When the harvest was good, ordinary people ate much the same foods at the same times of day, year in and year out.

Typical meals of the peasantry


 * Time || Food and drink ||
 * 5.00 am || Bread and water or ale ||
 * 11.00 am || Bread, cheese, ale or water (and perhaps also an onion or herb) ||
 * 6.00 pm || Bread, cheese, pottage (thick vegetable soup) and ale. Sometimes meat or fish was added. ||

Peasants used easily obtainable herbs like basil, mint, parsley, rosemary, sage and thyme to make their food more tasty. In the winter time, they would salt or smoke whatever meat was available. This provided them with extra food for two or three months, until the meat became rotten. When the harvest was poor, people ate whatever they could — even dogs or cats.

Eating like a lord

The nobility had the opportunity to eat a far greater variety of food than the peasantry.

Their forests, which were off-limits to the peasants except for supplies of timber or firewood, provided an ample source of wild animals for meat. These included deer, squirrels, rabbits and wild boar. The lord also had a constant supply of doves, peacocks and other forms of poultry on the lands around the manor house. The nobility did not like eating vegetables because they thought these were a food for the lower classes.

The lord and lady of the household expected their servants to organise feasts that would impress guests. The castle banquet was one of the most important events held in the great hall. The lord, his lady and important guests sat at a special table across one end of the room. They looked out on the benches and trestle tables used by their less important guests. Minstrels and jesters provided entertainment. Dogs roamed freely, picking at the bones and food scraps that accumulated on the straw or rush-covered floors.

Typical meals of the nobility


 * Time || Food and drink ||
 * 6.00 am || Good quality bread (manchets), meat and wine ||
 * 10.00 am || Six to 30 types of savoury and sweet dishes ||
 * 6.00 pm || A smaller number of meat and sweet dishes ||
 * 9.00 pm || Bread and wine ||

The food had to be delicious, served in an imaginative way and presented with a fanfare of trumpets. Pages and servants seated the important guests and then passed around bowls of scented water so that everyone could rinse their hands before eating. The meal began when the lord took a pinch of salt from the salt cellar placed near him. He began his meal after a servant had tasted it first, to check if it had been poisoned — and so ensure that it was safe for both the lord and his guests.

The highlight of each course was the arrival of a dish called a subtlety: something special designed to impress guests with its imaginative presentation. This might be a huge model of a castle, or something as spectacular, which the cooks had created from moulded pastry or marzipan.

Other foods included roasted quail, geese, swan, pigs and deer, wild boar cooked on the spit and pots of stew. Servants cut meat and fish into small portions so people could easily pick it up in their hands.

Instead of plates, the nobility had all their food served onto thick slices of stale bread known as trenchers. Guests sat on benches. People did not have forks to eat with and so ate with knives, spoons and their fingers.

Merchants imported expensive spices such as cinnamon, cloves, ginger and pepper from Asia and the Middle East. Cooks used these to give food flavour and so introduced the influence of other cultures’ cuisines into Europe.

In the kitchen, the master cook — always a man — was under the watchful eye of the chief steward, who was in charge of all supplies. The cook oversaw each stage of the planning and presentation. Behind the scenes, people worked amid the heat and frenzied activity that were part of the ‘production line’ of getting food quickly and stylishly to the table.

At the end of the meal, a servant would collect leftover food into alms baskets and take it to the castle gate, where the poor would gather to wait for it.