Leonardo Da Vinci

Da Vinci was born in Florence in 1452. By age 20 Leonardo was a master in the Guild of ST. Luke. His first known work was a pen and ink drawing of the Arno Valley. His most famous painting in the Mona Lisa. It’s not known for certain who the woman was in the painting, but it is known that Da Vinci sought to make the painting perfect and dedicated many years of his life to working on it. He didn’t just paint, Da Vinci worked on several scientific and mathematics projects. He died in 1519 and is remembered as one of the greatest men of the Renaissance period.

Michelangelo

Michelangelo was outside of Tuscany, Italy in 1475. He had an apprenticeship with the man who owned the largest workshop in Florence at the time. The two most famous works of his are the statue of David and the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Michelangelo designed St Peter’s Basilica in Rome just before his death in 1564. However he didn’t get to see the finished construction of the building. Which has been very influential in the design of several other buildings

Gutenberg and the Printing Press

Gutenberg was born in Germany as the son of a merchant. His father worked in a mine, so Gutenberg learned the trades of a blacksmith and goldsmith. Little is known about the rest of is early life and education. In 1444 the press was perfected and revealed, by 1450 it was in full operation. Gutenberg’s experience in the field of metalworking allowed him to design a high quality durable type. It was said that his type case had 290 separate slots for letters and special characters. A printing type is the letter or special character that are inked then stamped onto paper. Before each section of print had to be cast for each new project. But with Gutenberg’s printing press the types could be moved around and it made things easier to print. He was also the first person to use an oil based ink instead of water. Which made everything last longer. As a project Gutenberg decided to make copies of the bible. That way everyone had a copy. It was the first big project using the movable printing press type. Once more printing presses were made, ideas could be copied and spread faster than ever before. Literacy rates rose as a result of more access to books.

William Tell 

It’s unclear whether or not William Tell was a real person or a fictional character, however there is some evidence that his story was based on historical fact.  The Hapsburgs were in charge of neighboring Austria and set Gessler as the governor of the town where William Tell lived. Gessler set up his hat in the town square and demanded the people who passed it to bow. The people did what he asked except for William, he refused to bow to the hat or Gessler himself. William and his son who happened to be with him were arrested for his disobedience. Tell was a very skilled bow hunter and marksman. Gessler challenged him to a special shot that would prove how good he was; he was told to shoot an apple off his son’s head. William made the shot successfully without hurting his son. William had an extra arrow in his pocket and Gessler had asked him why he had it. He only needed one to complete the challenge. Tell replied that if any harm came to his son he was going to shoot Gessler for it. His comment made Gessler angry, and William ended up back in Gessler’s dungeon. Later on, Tell was chained to a ship and sent away from the castle. A storm came rolling in and in fear of their life the men freed William so that he could help them make it safely back to shore. As soon as the ship had reached land William ran for his life and was free once again. 

William participated in the uprisings of the Swiss against the Habsburgs and was finally able to get his revenge on Gessler.

Marco Polo

Marco Polo was born in 1254. Marco had been living with his aunt and uncle while his father was away traveling. After they came back from their trip Marco’s father brought him with them on their journey back to Kublai Khan. They were all welcomed warmly and given everything they could want. Kublai Khan appointed him to important positions in the court. Polos served in the courts of Kublai Khan for 17 years. Kublai Khan was getting older and the Polos wanted to make sure that a new leader wouldn’t force them to stay. At first he didn’t want them to leave, but then he agreed to let them go home. They accompanied a Mongolian Princess to her wedding to the Persian Prince and then returned to Venice. They were away for 24 years, they struggled to fit in at first. 

A war broke out when Marco Polo became captain of a galley ship. He was captured and during his time in jail he told his fellow prisoner about all of his travels. After he was freed he published a book about his adventures. It became a bestseller despite many people not believing everything he wrote about and would often ask him to tell the stories himself. 

Last year I had two goals for myself; One was to get in shape and get better at goat tying, and work on my barrel racing skills. I had lots of people helping me achieve these goals. I worked with a lady who used to do college rodeo and she was really good at goat tying. I’d go meet her once a week and she would teach me everything she knew, she even gave me one of her old goat tying ropes to practice on. At home I worked on practicing everything I had learned from her. I even started teaching one of my friends who I rodeoed with how to tie goats. I had learned that if you try and teach what you have learned to someone else then it’ll really help you. My horse was even learning how to run past the goat so I got off of him while he was still moving. 

 I had also started working with two other women who were helping me with my barrel racing. One of them went to a lot of barrel races and had great horsemanship. With her help I had learned what I had done wrong after a run. Like if I needed to drive my horse a little faster out of the first barrel and into the second, or if I needed a bigger pocket so I would’ve knocked down the barrel, maybe I sat down too soon and my horse tried to turn before it was time. I was even doing the same thing with goat tying. I would start to notice if I didn’t grab the legs right, or flank correctly. Or if I face-plant and know that I clearly didn’t get off of my horse correctly. 

I had started to set new goals for myself. The goals were to beat my own time from the last rodeo. 

The last rodeo I went to was a two day rodeo. The first night it had started raining and we had to call it for the night and finish the last two events in the morning. And that’s all I remember, because that second day as I was running barrels my horse gave to his back leg and we fell. I hit my head and took a nap in the arena. I ended up in the hospital in El Paso Texas. Which I live in New Mexico so I’m guessing it was a lot to drive. I still do not remember what happened or being in the hospital. 

I guess I succeeded in reaching my goal, but then I’ve had a set back to my bigger goal. Which was to win a saddle from rodeoing. My horse hasn’t really recovered from that fall and I don’t even know if I can ride him again. He was already old but he still had a lot left to give. I honestly don’t know if I want to continue with rodeoing. The only other horse I have to ride is only good for working on the ranch. The longer I don’t ride and stay away from the rodeos the more I don’t feel like wanting to do it. I’m not sure how I should feel about it, but I’ve got way too much going on with my show animals, so I’m trying to just focus on them.

The title of Knight was given to a person honored by a king or monarch for a service. Originally knights were just mounted soldiers and were thought of as lesser nobles. The idea of warriors on horseback came from the Franks after the fall of Rome and was expanded by Charlemagne. Any rider that had armor was considered a knight in the early times. 

 Eventually knights became honored people, and they were even recognized for great deeds outside the military sometimes. Knighthood became a more defined respected position under the Feudal system.

Chivalry was very important to the point they organized a code of follow. Chivalry was an ethical standard that knights had to live by. Knights main occupation was to be skilled fighters on horseback and provide military service to their king. During times of peace they lived in castles or large fortified houses. Christianity had several influences on chivalry and knighthood. Knights pursued the values of “faith, hope, charity, justice, strength, moderation, and loyalty. Knighthood and chivalry became forgotten during the Renaissance.

In modern culture, the tales of a knight in armor saving the damsel in distress is still a popular story line. 

Christianity began to spread rapidly in the first century despite the hate from Nero and other emperors. By the 3rd century, Christianity had become a dominant religion in the Roman Empire. But it was not until 312 that persecution of Christian officially ended. In 395 AD Theodosius declared Christianity the state religion. 

The early church borrowed from Rome when they developed their system of government. Each region was ruled by a bishop. Each bishop reported to an archbishop. Jerusalem, Alexandra and Antioch were seen as special bishoprics.

Part of the early church was the development of monasticism. Some Christian became solitary hermits.  The idea of the lifestyle spread and soon a system was created where monks could live out their solitude with other monks.