2
Fear and death
glossary
• 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.
3
glossary
• 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.
4
Da “Cronache dell’anno mille” di Rodolfo il Glabro (980-1047)
glossary
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.
5
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).
6
glossary
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 __.
7
glossary
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?
8
glossary
Ex 3)
Invent and draw some symbols on the Middle Ages’s
fears
Ex 4)
Practise with your partner on the glossary
GLOSSARY 1
Sentimento ossessionante obsessive/terrifying/haunting
feeling
Paura fear
Morte death
Fame hunger
Peste plague
Guerra - war
Carestia - famine
Sfortuna, sventura – misfortune
Raccolto - harvest
Povertà - poverty
Soldati - soldiers
Siccità - drought
Alluvioni - floods
Tempeste - storms
Fenomeni naturali - natural events
Malattie - diseases, illnesses
Cause causes, reasons
Cure cures
Epidemia epidemic
Vittime - victims
Punizione - punishment
Peccati - sins
Fine del mondo - the end of the world
Contadino - peasant
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
10
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.
glossary
YEARS
Milan
Florence
1050
45 000
25 000
inhabitants
inhabitants
85 000
45 000
inhabitants
inhabitants
100 000
70 000
inhabitants
inhabitants
1150
1200
11
Questions
YEARS
Milan
Florence
1050
45 000
25 000
1150
1200
glossary
inhabitants inhabitants
85 000
45 000
inhabitants inhabitants
100 000
70 000
inhabitants inhabitants
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?
12
GLOSSARY 2
Aumento - rising/increase
Prosperità - prosperity
Continente - continent
Abitanti - inhabitants
Crescere - to grow
Fattori - factors
Stabilità - stability
Popoli nomadi - nomadic people
Pace - peace
Condizioni - conditions
Lontano – far away
Progressi - progress,
improvement
Tabella – chart
Adesso - now
10 11 12
Agricoltura - agriculture
Produzione - production
Generi alimentari - food
Alimentazione - food habits
Vivere - to live
Figli - children
Resistere - to resist
Densamente - densely
Caduta – fall
Diminuire – decrease
Aumentare – increase
Ulteriormente – further
Secolo - century
13 14 15
13
glossary
• A series of factors produce a new stability
and prosperity:
PEACE
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
decrease of deaths
14
Improvements
glossary
Progress
in
agriculture
Now, the
conditions
of life
are good
Increase
of
food
15
glossary
DRAW
Draw a picture that shows the
improvements in the life of the
Middle Ages
SPEAK
Practise with your partner on the glossary
In the first centuries ______ the year 1000 AD, there is
an _________ of the __________.
CLOZE 2
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 ___________.
TIMELINE
0
500
1000
1500
2012
17
glossary
The hard life of peasants in the Middle Ages
Landowners give peasants their fields
for a long period of years.
The number of cultivated fields increase.
The quality and the quantity of the
products increase.
18
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.
19
glossary
Before 1000 AD:
two-year rotation
½ cultivated
field
(harvest)
½
fallow field
(no harvest)
20
After 1000 AD: three-year rotation
glossary
fallow
First year
legumes
wheat
wheat
legumes
Second year
fallow
legumes
Third year
fallow
wheat
21
glossary
The three-year
rotation helps
peasants to:
Winter crops
Permanent crops
Fallow
Village
Meadows
Extend the number of fields
and the productivity
Change the crops and the
food
To use the fallow fields to
breed animals
Woods
22
glossary
1. DRAW
Draw a picture that shows the
new crops and write their names
in English
2. DRAW
Use 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
23
glossary
Horses are
useful
because
they are
fast and
strong
24
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
25
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.
26
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
27
True or false?
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
glossary
28
CLOZE
After the year 1000 AD there are some
_________________.
glossary
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.
29
GLOSSARY 3
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
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28