MEDIEVAL DAY

Humanities Incursion

Year 8 enjoyed a day of medieval activities for their History topic ‘The Middle Ages’ in May. The activities ranged from Weapons and Armour, Crime and Punishment, The Role of Dance, Fashion and Dress to Tournament.

The day was a full one with each of the five areas seen by the cohort in a rotation schedule of independent lessons. They were exposed to all sorts of new ideas about the Middle Ages, some of which were disturbing, such as Crime and Punishment, where one punishment included a person being thrown into water. If they sunk then this was proof of their innocence as they had been embraced by the water, and therefore embraced by God. If they floated, then they were deemed guilty as the water, and therefore God had rejected them. The duration of the sinking (drowning) was at the discretion (and timing- not too much, not too little) of the town sheriff. Of course they were to enjoy more severe punishments for their crimes if found guilty.

The students participated in dance, where they learnt that the role of dance during the fallow winter months was used for more than just social diversion.

Among the other highlights was the Tournament, where those students brave enough to volunteer, encountered the brute strength of a knight in full armour pitting their wits against his in strategy and delivery (not many managed to get a strike at the knights armour).

Some of the students’ comments about the day are as follows:

'I found the weapons and armour very insightful and really portrayed what life back then was like. I found the person presenting was very knowledgeable about the given topic. I liked how he involved people from the audience. I learnt that as the years went on, uses for knights became less and less.' Mia.

'Tournaments: trying to hit the guy without being hit was difficult. Especially with a giant sword, it was heavy and hard to control. It was the most fun out of all of them.' Anastasia.

'My favourite lesson of the day was by far the tournament. We had a once-in-a-lifetime-chance to learn of weapons and how knights trained for battle. But, the best part was the privilege to hit a teacher! I also enjoyed learning of the weapons and armour that knights used during battle.' Huy.

'The experience of medieval day for me was insightful and I learnt a lot. It was fun and inclusive, it was also interactive in the way that there were multiple things that we could try ourselves. I learnt lots of things like how people were treated in those days, what people wore, what people would do to pass time and exercise and what was going on in the world of warfare back then. I felt excited on the day and I always looked forwards to the next period/lesson.' James.

Elaine Horton

Humanities Teacher