Christian Knights

        Discuss TWO of the EIGHT Crusades which began c. 1054 and lasted almost 200 years. Christian Knights went off to fight Seljuk Turks in the middle east when the Turks encroached upon the eastern Roman Empire in Byzantium. I would like you to tell me why the Crusades even began and than pick the two of interest to you and discuss. The 1st Crusade was a success for the European Knights but thereafter the rest resulted in defeat. 2. The High Middle Ages also saw the rise of universities and scholasticism. The oldest university in the world still in existence is in Bologna, Italy. It is over a thousand years old. There are others: Oxford and Cambridge in England in the early 13th c. Think about that cap/gown you will wear someday to a graduation—that is the way students went to school back in the day. Pick any civilization from any continent and tell me about the rise of universities. 3. Gothic Cathedrals: Notre Dame, Chartes Cathedral, even Saint John the Devine and Saint Patrick’s in NYC are all Gothic cathedrals. It took upwards of 100 years to build these magnificent structures so much so that when the last capstone was set in placing signaling the end of construction already restoration had begun on the oldest sections. The stain glass workmanship of the middle ages has never been matched today—and using the most sophisticated software today we still cannot match the quality of stain-glass produced in the 13th c. SO: Discuss one of the Gothic Cathedrals including what is meant by the terms: gargoyles, grotesques, stain-glass and the fly buttress