Discussion 1: The Medieval European Experience
Research a particular pilgrimage route or a specific crusade. In your research, focus especially on how average people of that time (who rarely traveled outside their villages) might have experienced this "adventure" outside their normal world. What positive and what negative/shocking experiences might they have encountered? (Be sure to site your sources!)
Compare aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry to aspects of a war film that depicts a real-life military battle from modern times (WW2 til now). How do both the Bayeux Tapestry and the film influence the viewer to be more sympathetic to one side over another?
Instructor Tips:
This site will provide a wider introduction to the details of the medieval pilgrimage: Metmuseum: Pilgrimage in Medieval Europe.
This site from Columbia University, Treasures of Heaven, will virtually take you to the most popular medieval pilgrimage destinations. They include those 360 presentations that make me dizzy, but may provide you with a good starting point for a destination you can tell us more about. --Don't forget to site your sources!
If you decide to do some quick research on one of the Crusades, please start with the extremely valuable information in your textbook. It is much more up to date than much of what you will find on the internet, which still too often shows these events from the "knights in shining armor" point of view. I think after reading your text, you will see that we have updated these myths...and found that Very Little was Bright and Shining during the Crusades. Your job, then, is to find out what was really happening. Evaluate Your Sources from the Start! Do they include the new scholarship, or tell the old (almost Disney) version of the story? And then...you guessed it...site your sources! That's in part so that the rest of us can check it out as well, and satisfy our curiosity, from the source.