King Henry VIII was born on the 28th of June, succeeding his father Henry VII. He was never expected to become a king because he had an older brother- Arthur, who surprisingly died at a young age. This event forced Henry, who was only ten years old at the time, to marry Catherine of Aragon, his brother's widow, and to take on a huge task for just a child. On the 21st of April, 1509, at the young age of 17, he was officially crowned as king of England. Henry VIII is renowned for multiple reasons, although people mainly know him because of his six wives. Henry was the king who separated the Church of England from the Catholic Church, and was the father of Queen Elizabeth I. Because of his personality and ego, he managed to get in a lot of arguments with the papal authority and Rome itself. When he broke off from the pope, that led to the English Reformation. Henry VIII was a good king overall, he consulted the Parliament, created a new sense of national identity, introduced efficient taxing schemes, was the founder of the English Navy, restored and built many palaces, as well as, monasteries, and he also translated the bible to English. Henry's number of wives was ridiculous and ironically, in his new set of laws, he legalized divorcing. The king had 6 wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Kathryn Howard and Katherine Parr. He divorced the first and fourth, decapitated the second and fifth, the third one was he love of his life but died as well, and the final one continued to live after the sorrowful date of January 28th, 1547, when Henry VIII officially died.
Crusaders were people who carried the Christian cross in battle for Holy Land against non Christians. The goal they were assigned by the Pope was to win Jerusalem back. That was a favor for Constantine and it not only strengthened the empire but it also brought the church more power. It was meant to unite the people and restart pilgrimage, which was closed in 1000, when the Seljuk Turks took over. The success of the first crusade in 1099 was never official and with it both goods and bads followed. Many inhabitants of different religions were killed, however four Christian states were established. It didn't last long and at one point the Turks, more exactly, Saladin retook it, but he agreed to reopen the routes for pilgrimage. Although when it comes to conquering they didn't exactly accomplish their goal, what they earned reaches beyond a patch of land. The crusades increased the trade, Europe was offered rugs, jewelry, glass and spices. More trade meant bigger towns and cities and it official was the start for using money in the west. Trade isn't always material, as many cultures we studied, trade brought ideas and knowledge. All the outstanding achievements in medicine, mathematics, language, philosophy, technology, art, architecture and astronomy that the Arabs discovered were now accessible by the Europeans too. They were flooded with a great amount of knowledge which improved their life, made Europe flourish and assured a great future.
Charlemagne was born April 2nd. After his brother Carloman dies, he becomes the sole ruler of the Franks. From then on he begins his conquest, overtaking smaller kingdoms to expand his own. Bit by bit, he became ruler over most of Western Europe. He ruled for nearly 50 years, but conquering wasn't the only accomplishment he had. Charlemagne established schools and spread Christianity. He issued money and improved the economics of that time period, but above all, he united Western Europe. He ruled over for 50 years. In 800, Charlemagne was crowned emperor and 14 years later he dies in Aachen. After his death his empire falls apart, divided by his three sons who weren't only attacked by barbarians and vikings, but also attacked each other.
Feudalism became the common way to live in Western Europe and lasted for hundreds of years. It was a new system in which land was owned by higher ranks (kings, lords) but held by vassals in return to their loyalty and service. The share of land the vassals got was called a fief. Each person involved in the Manor System, including women and children, obeyed laws and had different duties, creating a harmonious community. All members that were part of it depended on each other as you can see in the scheme below. In return for land and safety, the ones lower on the graph would provide food, services, money, military and much more. The daily life of the differently ranked people in the manor system was very unlike. The fairytale, rich life of lords, manors and nobles was completely different for the peasants and serfs. They were poor and worked for the manor by farming or different services. Most of them were serfs, meaning they were considered as part of the manor and couldn't leave it or get married without the lord's permission. They could save money to buy freedom but they hardly got any. They lived in small huts and ate simple foods, overall living a hard life from birth to death.
