Middle+Ages+Artifacts



The crossbow was the first hand-held weapon that could pierce body armor. Crossbows could fire long but were not very accurate. For a long time, crossbows dominated the field of battle. Then the longbow came around. It could easily pierce armor and could fire much faster than the crossbow. At this time soldiers needed to be extra careful with crossbows and longbows firing from both sides so chain mail was created. Chain mail was tiny chains woven into a suit of armor, therefore arrows could not pierce all the layers of armor.

In this picture, a doctor tries to help a plague victim while his family and friends are there to comfort him. This image was common during the Plague. In Medieval times, The Plague was thought to spread through the air, nose, touch, and anything else. Plague victims were confined in houses so the disease would not spread as much. The Plague started on trading ships so it spread throughout the Mediterranean port cities. The Plague spread even more when a military officer could not penetrate the walls of the opposing city and his army was inflicted with the Plague. He catapulted the dead, infested bodies into the city. The entire city eventually got the Plague. Today, we have treatments for things like the plague.
 * [[image:plauge_victim.jpg align="center"]] ||



Serfs ran the manor economy. They raised farm animals and did not have much room. Serfs did not have much room in there houses, maybe enough for the family, the cows and chickens, makeshift beds, and a fire. In return for the work, they got protection during raids and they got to farm for themselves as well. They created a three field system to help them farm enough for the lord of the manor and enough for themselves and their families. Serfs were bound to the land they work on. If an owner sells the land, the serfs stay on the land and work for their new owner.

For a long time, workers competed among their fellow workers to make the most money. Eventually, workers formed guilds. These were groups of workers that relied on each other to make money for their families. Shoemakers would all get together and work to make them even richer, blacksmiths would work to make sure everyone gets enough money. These guilds prospered and became the force of the economy.

The First Crusade started a series of crusades, the last one backfiring on the Byzantine Empire. A crusade is a holy war. The Byzantine Empire was trying to recover the Holy Land of Jerusalem from the Muslims. On the Fourth Crusade, Muslim merchants persuaded the knights to attack Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.