Medieval Europe

In the middle of the night I heard a deafening sound, like a cry for help. Quickly I opened my eyes feeling disoriented. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the darkness of the night. It must have been a nightmare. I pulled the covers off, swung my legs to the side and slowly sat up listening to the silence in my bedroom. The alarm clock read 1:00 am. Silence. 1:07. It was just a dream, go back to bed, I said to myself. I lay back down and closed my eyes. I tossed and turned. 1:49 am. Stupid dream, and I can’t even remember it! I peeled the blankets off again and stood up. My room was cold. I grabbed the throw blanket at the feet of my bed and wrapped it tightly around me as I crossed the room to look outside the window. The Turbo Time Tea house stood outside gleaming in the moonlight. I decided to go on my third adventure. The snow had completely melted and I didn't bother to put on my jacket. I hurried to the Tea house and pressed the third button labeled Medieval Europe. Lights shone the whole world started to spin and you guessed it right I was in Medieval Europe.

I was in the field, and the clothes I was wearing were tattered and horribly made (Nothing close to the Nike back home).

“Hey, get back to work,” a knight said. The knight looked just like the story books. I quickly realized I was a peasant during the Feudal Times (11^th Century). The peasants were at the bottom of the totem pole. Totem Pole was the hierarchy of people in medieval times where the peasants were at the bottom and the king was at the top. Peasants had to do all the hard labor and would get little or nothing in return and I thought 6^th grade life was hard. For all the hard work the peasants did they got shelter and protection from the Knights. Knights were a little higher up. Their responsibility was to protect the lords and the lord’s land. They also hired people like me (Peasants). Knights had to be loyal to the king and their lord. Lords were pretty high up on the pole they were like Governors. The king had given them a piece of land to protect and run. Lords were to provide military support to the King, pay taxes, and give advice to the king if needed. The lords were almost always relatives of the king. The king was the top of the totem pole he was the law. Their responsibility was to provide protection to the lords. They had to keep everyone in order and award fiefs (land) to the lords and ladies. The king had complete military power. You were either born rich or poor and there was nothing you could do about it. This effective dictatorship sounded a lot like North Korea.

While working hard as a peasant I heard other peasants talk about the crusade. I heard them talk about how Pope Claremont wanted to launch a Holy War against the Muslims to recover the holy land (Jerusalem).

People often made nursery rhymes to make fun of these Crusades, just like Political Cartoons. Rhymes like Humpty Dumpty and others are good examples of this. Humpty Dumty was a large cannon used in the English Civil War. The town that Humpty Dumpty guarded was walled and that was where Humpty Dumpty sat. The Parliamentarians shot a cannon and hit the wall below where Humpty sat and then Humpty fell. The king's horses and men tried put the cannon back up on the wall but it was just too heavy for them to maneuver.

As I was thinking about the miserable life of a peasant an announcement was being made. It read that I ‘Het’ had to go and meet the king. I got a ride to the king’s castle on the knight’s horse. On the way I was curious about the King and googled it up, thank god I still had my iPhone in my pocket. The king was an ancestor of Charlemagne. Charlemagne was a man who’s' father died and left the throne to him and his brother. But soon after his brother’s death Charlemagne took over the full throne. He was interested in rebuilding civilization, and he had the intelligence and the power to do so. Through his military successes he expanded his empire in every direction. On Xmas day in 800, he was crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III. He created a single code of laws for the whole empire. Unlike previous rulers, he tried to make things better for the serfs (peasants) and tradespeople. He established new schools in monasteries and encouraged the learning of Latin classics. He held a keen interest in reviving the practice of architecture and built many stone churches and palaces in France and Germany. Charles the Great (Charlemagne) died at the age of 72, after ruling for 47 years. 

At the castle the king gave me some devastating news. He told me about the plague. The plague was a contagious disease that caused death of many people There were 3 types of plague during that time. The first type was called bubonic plaque. The swellings, called buboes, were the victim's lymph nodes, and they gave the Bubonic Plague its name. But the bubonic form of the disease was only one manifestation of the horrible pandemic that swept Europe. Another form was Pneumonic Plague. The victims of Pneumonic Plague had no buboes, but they suffered severe chest pains, sweated heavily, and coughed up blood. Virtually no one survived the pneumonic form. The third manifestation was Septicemic Plague. This sickness would befall when the contagion poisoned the victim's bloodstream. Victims of Septicemic Plague died the most swiftly, often before any notable symptoms had a chance to develop. Another form, Enteric Plague, attacked the victim's digestive system, but it too killed the patient too swiftly for diagnosis of any kind. The king believed I was a Plague doctor. He instructed me to go back to my fief and start treating the peasants. I agreed, but I wasn't going to stay in Medieval Europe when the plaque was spreading. 

As soon as I got back I ran to the Tea house and pressed home. The last thing I remember before arriving at home was the knight pounding on the door telling me… I quickly sprinted back home. I got back in bed and tried to go back to sleep. But the fact I might have Plague, haunted me and there was no way I was going back to sleep.