Fear and death Hunger, plague, wars During the Middle Ages, life is marked by obsessive feelings: fear. What are these fears in Middle Ages? People are.

Fear and death• Hunger, plague, wars

During the Middle Ages, life is marked by

obsessive feelings: fear.

What are these fears in Middle Ages? People

are afraid of hunger and famine.

What are the causes of a bad harvest? The passage of soldiers, natural events such as floods, drought, violent storms.

glossary2

• Fear of illnesses: they don’t know the causes and the cures.

• Fear of the plague: pestilence makes a lots of victims.

• Fear of death. People often see parents, relatives and friends die.

glossary3

Da “Cronache dell’anno mille” di Rodolfo il Glabro (980-1047)

In seguito la fame cominciò a diffondersi in ogni parte del mondo, minacciando di morte quasi tutta l’umanità. Le condizioni climatiche erano così sconvolte che non arrivava mai il momento opportuno per nessuna semina né il tempo utile per la mietitura, soprattutto a causa delle inondazioni. Pareva che gli elementi lottassero tra loro in reciproco conflitto, mentre è certo che infliggevano una punizione alla superbia degli uomini… Ogni strato della popolazione fu colpito dalla penuria di cibo; ricchi e meno ricchi diventavano smorti per la fame quanto i poveri; le angherie dei potenti si arrestarono di fronte alla generale indigenza… Frattanto, dopo essersi cibata di quadrupedi ed uccelli, la gente, sotto i morsi tremendi della fame, cominciò a prendere per nutrimento ogni sorta di carne, anche di bestie morte e altre cose schifose. Taluni cercarono di sfuggire alla morte mangiando radici silvestri e piante acquatiche, ma inutilmente: non si trova scampo all’ira vendicatrice di Dio, se non rivolgendosi a sé stessi. Si inorridisce a descrivere le perversioni a cui l’umanità andò soggetta. In quel tempo -oh sventura! - la furia della fame costrinse gli uomini a divorare carne umana, come solo di rado si era sentito in passato.

4 glossary

The idea of death is connected to:

- the fear of the divine punishment because of people’s sins;

- the fear of the end of the world (people think that it is before 1000 AD).

glossary5

CLOZE

_____ is an obsessive _______ in Middle Ages. People fears ______

and _________. ___________ are often bad because of the passage

of _________ and because of _________ or _________. There are

lots of ____________: they don’t know the _________ and the ________. For

example, the __________ kills lots of people.

Man is also afraid of ___ ________ __________ and of the end of the ______.

They wait for it to come _________ 1000 __.

glossary6

Questions

What are the terrible fears of man in Middle Ages?

What are the reasons for a bad harvest?

Why are they so afraid of illnesses?

Is there a very terrible illness?

What do they wait for before 1000 AD?

glossary7

Ex 3)Invent and draw some symbols on the Middle Ages’s fears

Ex 4)Practise with your partner on the glossary

glossary8

GLOSSARY 1Sentimento ossessionante - obsessive/terrifying/haunting feeling   Paura - fearMorte - death

Fame - hungerPeste - plague

Guerra - warCarestia - famine

Sfortuna, sventura – misfortune

Raccolto - harvestPovertà - poverty

Soldati - soldiersSiccità - drought

Alluvioni - floods

Tempeste - storms

Fenomeni naturali - natural eventsMalattie - diseases, illnesses

Cause - causes, reasonsCure - cures

Epidemia epidemicVittime - victims

Punizione - punishmentPeccati - sins

Fine del mondo - the end of the world

Contadino - peasant

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

A new prosperity. The population increase.

• Before the year 1000 AD, Europe is not a densely populated continent. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the number of its inhabitants further decreases.

YEARS Milan Florence

1050 45 000 inhabitants

25 000 inhabitants

1150 85 000 inhabitants

45 000 inhabitants

1200 100 000 inhabitants

70 000 inhabitants

10 glossary

YEARS Milan Florence

1050 45 000 inhabitants

25 000 inhabitants

1150 85 000 inhabitants

45 000 inhabitants

1200 100 000 inhabitants

70 000 inhabitants

Questions

1. Is the chart about the centuries before or the centuries after the year 1000?

2. What is the chart about?

3. How many inhabitants are there in Milan in 1050? And in 1150? And in 1200?

4. How many inhabitants has Florence got in 1050? And in 1150? And in 1200?

5. Do the inhabitants in Milan and Florence increase or decrease between 1150 and 1200?

glossary11

GLOSSARY 2Aumento - rising/increaseProsperità - prosperityContinente - continentAbitanti - inhabitantsCrescere - to growFattori - factorsStabilità - stabilityPopoli nomadi - nomadic peoplePace - peaceCondizioni - conditionsLontano – far awayProgressi - progress, improvement

Tabella – chart

Adesso - now

Agricoltura - agricultureProduzione - productionGeneri alimentari - foodAlimentazione - food habitsVivere - to liveFigli - childrenResistere - to resist

Densamente - densely

Caduta – fall

Diminuire – decrease

Aumentare – increase

Ulteriormente – further

Secolo - century

10 11 12 13 1514

12

• A series of factors produce a new stability and prosperity:

The invasions of nomadic people.

Peasants can cultivate fields that are also far away from the castle.

There aren’t plague and other illnesses for two centuries

many cultivated fields

PEACE

decrease of deaths

glossary13

Progress in

agriculture

Increase of

foodNow, the conditions

of life are good

Improvements glossary14

DRAW Draw a picture that shows the improvements in the life of the Middle Ages

CLOZE 2

In the first centuries ______ the year 1000 AD, there is

an _________ of the __________.

There is a period of ________: __________

people don’t cross Europe and there aren’t _____.

There is a progress in ______________ and there is

more _________.

The conditions of life are ___________.

glossary

Practise with your partner on the glossarySPEAK

15

TIMELINE0 1000500 1500 2012

The hard life of peasants in the Middle Ages

The number of cultivated fields increase. The quality and the quantity of the

products increase.

Landowners give peasants their fieldsfor a long period of years.

17 glossary

broad beans lentils

peas

These plants are rich with proteins, they are very nutrient. Peasants have now good food for them and their family.

18 glossary

Before 1000 AD:

two-year rotation

½ cultivated field

(harvest)

½ fallow field (no harvest)

19 glossary

First year

Second year

Third year

wheat

fallow

legumes

wheat

fallowlegumes

wheatfallow

legumes

After 1000 AD: three-year rotation20

glossary

Extend the number of fields and the productivity

Change the crops and the food

To use the fallow fields to breed animals

Winter crops

Permanent crops

Fallow

Village

Meadows

Woods

The three-year rotation helps peasants to:

21 glossary

1. DRAW Draw a picture that shows the new crops and write their names in English

2. DRAWUse the drawings from the links above and draw an example of a three-year rotation. (Write the names of the crops in English.)

http://www.parodos.it/storia/storia2/larotazionecolturale.htm

http://www.lestoriedellastoria.it/Costume_medioevale.html

22 glossary

Horses are useful

because they are fast and strong

23 glossary

•Peasants use a new plow.

•The new plow has an iron plowshare; it is heavy.

•It digs deeply under the ground.

•The ground becomes fertile.

•The harvest is rich.

Iron plowshare

24 glossary

Classical harness

Medieval harness

The new harness is on the horse’s shoulders. It isn’t around its neck. The horse works without strangling.

25 glossary

Peasants now use the power of water and of the wind.

Water (rivers) and wind start the millstones.

The millstones turn around and the mill works.

http://www.salviani.it/geo/mulino/mulino.html

26 glossary

1) After the year 1000 AD the number of the cultivated fields decrease

2) The three-year rotation increases productivity

3) Only oxen are used to plow the fields

4) The new plow strangles horses

5) Peasants now cultivate borad beans, peas and lentils

5) The new plow has a plowshare made with iron

6) The corn is cultivated in the fallow fields

7) Wind and water give power to the mills

True or false?27 glossary

CLOZE After the year 1000 AD there are some _________________.

Peasants divide the field in _______ parts: it is the three-year _______________. A part is not cultivated: it is the ____________. The other two parts are cultivated.

New plants are cultivated: ____________, ____________ and ____________.

Peasants have good food for their family.

There is a new type of __________: it has the plowshare made with ________.

There is a new ____________ for horses. Now horses _______ without strangling.

The power of _______________ and ________________ start the millstones.

28 glossary

GLOSSARY 3

17 18 19 2120

29

22 23 24 2625 2827

Innovation - Innovazione

Useful domain - Dominio utile

Landowner - Proprietario di terre

Three-year rotation - Rotazione triennale

Colture, crops - Coltura

Use - Uso

Wind - Vento

Period - Periodo

Land, field - Terreno

Productivity - Produttività

Cultivate - Coltivare

Plant - Pianta

Broad bean - Fava

Lentil - Lenticchia

Peas – Piselli

Turnip - Rapa

Corn - Grano

Maggese - Fallow

Proteina - protein

Ricco - rich

Nutriente - nutrient

Allevare - breed

Terreno – land

Prodotto - product

Resistente/forte - strong

Agile/veloce – swift, fast

Aratro - plow

Versorio - plowshare

Ferro - iron

Profondità – depht

Profondo – deep

Profondamente - deeply

Usare - use

Attacco - harness

Collo - neck

Spalla - shoulder

Soffocare - strangle

Fiume - river

Azionare/far funzionare - start

Forza - strength

Macina – millstone

Mulino - mill

Girare - turn

Utile - useful

Scavare - dig

Fertile - fertile