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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781569767832 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Chicago Review Press, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 03/01/1998 |
| Series: | A Kid's Guide Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 184 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
| Age Range: | 5 - 11 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Days of Knights and Damsels
An Activity Guide
By Laurie Carlson
Chicago Review Press Incorporated
Copyright © 1998 Laurie CarlsonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-56976-783-2
CHAPTER 1
Medieval — What's That?
Huzzah! That's how people said "Hooray!" in Europe long ago. It was in the days of knights and queens, castles and cottages. We call it the Middle Ages, or the medieval time.
For us today, huzzah is a funny word. It sounds a lot like "fuzz-SAW." The word medieval is pronounced "meed-evil."
The years were between 480 and 1500 A.D. It was a time span of about a thousand years and ended when Columbus and other explorers traveled to the rest of the world.
Europe was made up of many small countries and kingdoms then. The people lived under the rule of a king and queen or lord and lady, who owned the land. Kings and queens tried to rule more land by taking over their neighbors' kingdoms through war. During that time, people depended on one another for many things. Those who worked (the peasants) fed those who fought (the knights) and those who prayed (the monks). The fighters protected the kingdom, and the monks prayed for all.
The days of knights and castles were long ago, yet we still find them interesting. We can look at their books and paintings and see that their customs and beliefs were the beginnings of our own. People who traveled to the New World brought many customs and ways of living with them from their Old World homes. Their ideas about freedom, government, and religion formed the ways we do things in North America today. Their writing, schools, and art influenced ours. When we look back, we can see something of ourselves.
Many years ago, Europe was very different from today. During the Middle Ages, homes were castles (if you were rich and royal) or cottages (for everyone else). People lived in small towns around a castle, where they farmed or made things to trade with each other. The owner of the castle might have been a king or a rich and powerful knight who served the king.
Most people didn't travel very far because bandits and robbers would stop them, and the people in other kingdoms usually didn't speak the same language. It was a dangerous time to live because pirates, bandits, and attacking armies from other lands were always a threat. People lived near a castle so that the king's knights could protect them. Villages and castles had walls around them with gates. At night these gates were closed. Watchmen were assigned to spot travelers coming.
Explorers began traveling to other lands by the end of the Middle Ages. That's when Columbus made his journey to North America and Marco Polo explored far-off China.
People then had very simple lives, but they began reading and writing, trading goods in markets, and going to fairs where they saw new things, such as spices, silk fabric, and perfumes as well as jugglers, puppet shows, and plays.
Religion was very important. People went to the church or synagogue every day and prayed before they went to bed at night, in the morning when they got up, and before meals. Some people devoted their lives to the church, living together in monasteries as monks or nuns. There, they grew gardens, wrote books, and taught lessons to children. They cared for orphans and the poor.
Childhood — What Was It Like?
Long ago, babies caught illnesses easily and many didn't live very long.
Children in the castles were trained to do jobs, too. Girls were taught things that they needed to know for their job as lady of the castle when they married. They learned to plan meals and banquets, to heal the wounded, and to train young pages in good manners. Girls learned to sing and to play musical instruments so that they could entertain guests. They learned to ride horses expertly. Wealthy girls were also expected to do fine needlework and to dress beautifully.
The sons of the castle families were trained to become knights. First, they worked as pages in another family's castle. Pages served and cleaned during banquets. When they were teenagers, they became squires to knights. They carried the knight's equipment at tournaments and battles and helped him with his horse and armor.
Rich or Poor, Peasant or Royal
Children also had time for toys, games, and singing. They played sports and raised pets, such as cats, dogs, and birds. They went to fairs to watch plays and puppet shows, or to tournaments to cheer for their favorite knight.
By the end of the Middle Ages, girls and boys of wealthy families were taught reading and writing by tutors or in schools. Parents read bedtime stories to their children and told them some of the same stories we still tell today.
Let's Dress Up!
Clothes in the Middle Ages were loose and worn in layers. Everyone wore a long outer garment, stockings, a shirt, a jacket, and a gown or coat (no underwear!). In cold weather, a hooded cape was worn over everything. Rich and poor wore the same styles, but made from different cloth.
Peasants wore work clothing made of gray or brown homespun fabric. They had one outfit for dressing up on holidays. Royalty and rich people wore clothes made of fine fabrics dyed in beautiful colors. They enjoyed wearing fur, lace, ribbons, and lots of silver buttons or gold embroidery on their clothes. It was against the law for peasants to wear certain colors — such as purple — and their clothing could only have a limited number of buttons or trim. It was against the law for peasants to wear the fine things that the wealthy could.
Dresses had full skirts and fancy sleeves. One style of sleeves for ladies was so tight that the dress had to be stitched onto the woman each time it was worn! Brocade, gold ornaments, and embroidery made the clothing very fancy. People loved wearing finery and showing off their wealth. Laws were made to keep people from putting so much fancy trim on their clothes, but they didn't stop. Some fancy dresses cost as much as a large farm!
Clothes weren't sold in shops. If you were wealthy, a tailor made them for you from fabric you purchased. If you were a peasant, you made your clothes from fabric you wove at home out of wool taken from the family's sheep.
Because clothes were so hard to make, people wore them out; so they sewed on patches to make them last. Rich people gave their old clothes to the poor, and dealers sold old clothes at the markets.
Medieval Outfit
Look through your family's closets (ask permission first) and put together an outfit for yourself. You can also find great costume pieces at yard sales and thrift shops — just like the old-clothes dealers in the medieval days!
* You'll need to find long stockings or tights. Add a long robe or dress with a loose smock or vest over it.
Make a cape by pinning a sheet or towel at your shoulders or tying it at the neck.
Try on some leather boots or sandals over thick socks.
For boys, wear tights or pants with a long, loose smock-type shirt over them. Wear a belt at the waist and a cape tied at the neck.
Girls can wear a long dress and put on a shorter jumper or apron over it. If the dress doesn't have fancy sleeves, tie several ribbons around the sleeves.
A belt was also worn at the waist, over the clothing. Things were tied onto it: a bag, fan, looking glass, pomander, or metal drinking cup. Tuck your gloves in the belt when you aren't wearing them. Everyone wore hats: felt hats, hats with veils, feathers, or other trim, headpieces made from scarves, or simple caps.
Tie on a hood.
Top a cloth circle with a crown.
Men sometimes wore twisted scarves wrapped around their heads.
Men's cap (German)
Girls wore flower garlands and long hair.
Men's hat (French)
Pin a veil to your hair. Pin a cardboard headband over it.
Girl's headdress (English)
Wig with Braids
Girls usually wore their hair long, in braids, or wrapped in coils above their ears. If you don't have long hair, make your own.
Cut off the feet. Cut the legs into 3 sections.
Tie the braids with ribbons or coil them at the sides of your head.
MATERIALS
Panty hose
Scissors
Ribbons
Needle and thread (optional)
Cut the foot sections off at the ankles. Cut each leg into 3 sections. Begin at the top and braid each leg. Try it on and adjust the braids. Tie ribbons at the ends. You can wrap the braids around in coils at the sides of your head and stitch them in place with a needle and thread.
Wear a hat, scarf, or veil over the wig.
Robin Hood's Cap
MATERIALS
Two, 9-by-16-inch felt pieces
Fabric glue or sewing machine
Scissors
Real or paper feather
Cut 2 triangles, 16 inches wide at the bottom and 9 inches tall. Use thick fabric glue or ask an adult to help you with a sewing machine. Glue or stitch the two edges of the cap together.
Fold the brim up in the back about 4 inches.
Snip 2 tiny slits and stick the feather through them.
(You can also make this cap from a large brown paper bag. Staple the edges instead of gluing.)
Cut 2 triangles.
Glue or sew the edges together.
Fold up a brim. Stick in a feather.
This type of cap was called a bycocket. Boys and men wore them.
Princess Hat
It's easy to make a hat like the ones royal ladies wore long ago. This type of hat was called a henin.
Make a cone. Add streamers.
MATERIALS
Posterboard, butcher paper, or large brown paper bags Nylon net,
crepe paper streamers, or ribbons
Pencil
Scissors
Markers, crayons, or glitter and glue
Glue or tape
Stapler
Hairpins
Draw and cut a large quarter circle. Use markers, crayons, or glitter and glue to decorate it with any designs you like.
Roll it into a cone that fits your head. Glue or tape it in place and staple to hold.
Cut a veil from nylon net, crepe paper streamers, or ribbons. Push the ends into the tip of the cone and glue or staple them in place.
Use hairpins to fasten the henin on your head.
Here are some designs from the Middle Ages that you can use to decorate your hat.
Pocket & Almoner
MATERIALS
Two, 12-inch felt squares
Belt or cord
Scissors
Glue or a large sewing needle and embroidery thread or lightweight yarn
Sock
Yarn
Wear it on your belt.
In the Middle Ages, clothing didn't have pockets sewn in — they hadn't been invented yet! People put things such as combs, handkerchiefs, sweet-smelling herbs, and coins in little bags or pouches and wore them on their belts. Some ladies wore belts under their dresses, and they had slits in their skirts, called fitchets, to reach through.
Make a simple pocket to wear on your belt.
Cut out 2 felt pieces like the ones shown. Cut two slits as wide as the belt or a cord that you plan to tie at your waist.
Lay the smaller piece on top of the larger one and glue around the outer edge, or stitch it by hand. A nice stitch to use is the buttonhole stitch (see the drawing).
You can decorate your pocket with embroidery (see p. 127 for embroidery) or by gluing on pieces of felt.
People also wore a sock-like bag called an almoner. They kept money in it, called alms, to give to street beggars. Tie the top of a sock closed with a length of yarn, and then loop and tie it onto your belt.
Buttonhole stitch
Tie a sock to your belt for an almoner pouch.
Lady's Looking Glass
The first mirrors were made of polished tin. Later, glass was painted with silver to make mirrors like the ones we use now.
Cut these 2 shapes from cardboard.
Cut out a circle in the middle of one shape.
MATERIALS
Cardboard or tagboard
Aluminum foil
Yarn or ribbon
Markers or paint
Pencil
Scissors
Glue
Hole punch
Trace the two shapes from the illustration onto the cardboard and cut them out. Decorate them with markers or paint.
Cut out a piece of foil large enough to fill the cutout circle in the first piece. Glue it to the other cardboard piece, with the shiny side facing you. Glue the cardboard piece with the cutout circle on top.
Punch a hole in the end so that you can tie the looking glass to your belt with yarn or ribbon. You can also pin it to your tunic or vest or wear it on a string tied around your neck.
Glue foil between them.
String it from your belt.
Shoes
Trace your foot and add 3 inches.
Cut slits around the edge.
These simple shoes are like the ones worn by peasants in northern Europe. Most people at the time were peasants-only a few were kings or queens.
Trace your foot onto the newspaper. Add 3 inches all around your foot pattern. Cut it out. Lay the pattern on the chamois, trace around it, and cut it out. Make two.
Cut ½-inch slits around the edge of the shoe, about 1 inch apart.
Use the rest of the chamois for laces. You can make laces from the scraps by cutting them out in a spiral. First, trim the corners of a larger scrap of chamois so that it is rounded. Cut a strip half an inch wide by starting at the outside edge and cutting around and around until you reach the center. Make two long laces, knotting pieces together if you need to.
Thread the laces through the slits. Crisscross them around your foot and tie them at the back of your ankle.
MATERIALS
Large chamois
(in the auto supply section of a variety store)
Newspaper
Pencil
Scissors
Thread the laces through the slits, and then wrap and tie them.
Make laces from the scraps.
Round off the edges to make a circle.
Begin cutting at outside edge, working around and around to the center.
Poulaines
Poulaines were shoes with very long, pointy toes. Some had points so long that a special wooden sandal was worn under-neath to support them.
Make a really simple version of poulaines for your medieval costume:
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Cut 2 long, pointy shapes.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Trim the flat end to curve a bit. Punch holes and thread laces through.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Tie them on over your shoes.
MATERIALS
Construction paper
Yarn
Pencil
Scissors
Hole punch
Draw and cut out a long, pointy shape that fits the top of your foot. Trace it to make another just like it for the other foot.
Trim the short end so it curves a little to fit your ankle. Punch 6 holes across the bottom as shown. Thread a length of yarn through the holes.
Lay the paper poulaines on top of your real shoes and tie them around your ankle. If your points are long, curl them upward to make walking easier.
Cloak
MATERIALS
Large brown paper bag
Yarn
Scissors
Pencil
Hole punch
Masking tape
Fasten with a yarn tie or a chain from some old jewelry.
Make a half-circle shape.
Cloaks, or capes, were worn throughout most of Europe during the Middle Ages. Some were lined with fur for warmth.
Cut down one side of a large brown paper bag. Cut away the bottom of the bag. Open it flat and trim the corners to make a half-circle. Cut out a half-circle for the neck.
Put masking tape at the corners of the neck to keep the paper from tearing. Punch holes through it and tie with a length of yarn.
Paper Ruff
MATERIALS
2 sheets 8½-by-11-inch paper
Scissors
Glue
Safety pins
Cut the sheets of paper in half lengthwise to make 4 pieces. Glue the ends together to make 1 long strip. Fold the strip accordion-style, creasing it back and forth. Make the folds about as wide as your finger.
Put it around your neck and adjust it. Pin the ends together or to your collar.
Ruffs were collars made of stiff, pleated fabric. Both men and women wore them. Ruffs were so popular among the wealthy of the time that many women earned a living by washing and starching them.
Cut into 4 pieces.
Glue them together to make 1 long strip.
Fold the strip accordion-style.
Crowns, Tiaras & Garlands
Crowns were symbols for how important a king or queen was. They were made of gold or silver and decorated with precious stones. A king or queen also held a royal mace and sword as symbols of his or her power.
Royalty displayed these lavish treasures, along with their gold and silver dishes, jewels, and books, to impress visitors from other kingdoms. The more treasures they could show off, the more powerful they were thought to be.
You can make a crown from a strip of colored paper. Cut and decorate it with markers or glue and glitter. Staple the ends together to fit your head.
German-style crown made out of paper.
Cut a crown from the milk jug's center. Decorate it with permanent markers.
MATERIALS
Crown
Colored paper or plastic milk jug
Scissors
Markers
Glitter and glue
Stapler
Pom pons (optional)
Tiara
Plastic gallon milk jug
Scissors
Hole punch
Yarn
Garlands
Thin floral wire
Silk flowers
Ribbon
Glue pom pons to the points.
A girl's tiara can be cut from the top of a plastic gallon milk jug. Punch holes at the ends and tie on 2 pieces of yarn to tie the tiara onto your head.
Cut this shape from the side of a plastic jug.
Punch holes, decorate, and tie on yarn.
Tie around your head.
Young girls often wore garlands of flowers in their hair. You can make one with thin, floral wire and some old silk flowers with the stems cut short.
Bend one piece of wire to fit your head. With another piece of wire, wrap the short stems of the flowers to the first wire. Tie ribbons to the sides or back.
Bend the wire to fit your head. With another wire, wrap the flowers to it.
Loop the ribbons onto the wire.
Fit for a princess!
Royal Mace
MATERIALS
Long, paper tube (from gift wrap or paper towels)
Colored paper
Scissors
Stapler
Glue
Markers
Glue the colored paper to cover the tube. Cut 2 strips of paper, about 8 inches long and 1 inch wide. Staple them together in the center to make an "X." Glue the ends of the "X" across from each other at one end of the tube. Cut and glue another strip of colored paper over the ends to hide them.
Decorate with markers and brightly colored paper. Cut the paper into small shapes that look like jewels and precious stones. Glue them onto the handle of the mace. Now you're ready to hold court!
Staple 2 paper strips together in the middle.
Glue the strips to the tube. Cover the tube with paper decorations.
A mace was a heavy club that knights used in war, but rulers carried fancy ones to show their power and importance. They were only for decoration, and were made of gold or silver and crusted with jewels and precious stones.
You'll need one to go with your crown. This is like a silver one used in Ireland long ago.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Days of Knights and Damsels by Laurie Carlson. Copyright © 1998 Laurie Carlson. Excerpted by permission of Chicago Review Press Incorporated.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
MEDIEVAL — WHAT'S THAT?,LET'S DRESS UP!,
TIME TO EAT!,
HERALDRY,
FUN & GAMES,
WRITE IT DOWN!,
ARTS & CRAFTS,
EVERYDAY LIFE,
A HOUSE IS A HOME,
CONCLUSION,
BIBLIOGRAPHY,