Calliope articles from April 2000

Calliope archives from April 2000

FAMILY MATTERS.(King John, and the royal English family)
April 1, 2000... The Royal `Soap Opera' of King John Medieval rulers led lives that rival those of any of today's soap opera characters. A look at King John's family explains why this English monarch behaved in ways that sometimes helped his subjects and...

Feudalism in King John's England.(structure of society)
April 1, 2000... During the Middle Ages, English society was organized into a system called feudalism. Feudalism was based on agreements made between lords and vassals (subjects). The order of lords and vassals resembled a ladder. On the top rung stood the...

Climbing the Feudal Ladder.(King John's England )
April 1, 2000... Advancing up the feudal order in King John's England was difficult, but not impossible. One Englishman who managed to do so was William Marshal, King John's closest advisor during the last years of his reign. The youngest son of a knight,...

ELEANOR of Aquitaine.(wife of Henry II of England)
April 1, 2000... Women had few rights in the Middle Ages. They were expected to obey their fathers and, after they married, their husbands. Even wealthy noblewomen had little control over their own destinies. They were treated like pawns on a marital...

Runnymede.(signing of the Magna Carta in King John's England)
April 1, 2000... An Agreement Is Sealed King John rode with his supporters to the meadow on the south bank of the Thames River. There, amidst armor clanking, flags flying in the breeze, and horses whinnying, he was to meet the barons assembled on the north...

The Magna Carta.(individual rights in King John's England)
April 1, 2000... The cross-shaped signatures on this Norman charter dating to between A.D. 1072 and 1076 include those of William the Conqueror, his queen Matilda, and he Archbishop of Rouen. A scribe wrote in their names. When the English nobility...

Time Line.(chronology, May 1199-October 1216: England)
April 1, 2000... A.D. May 27, 1199 John succeeds his brother, Richard I, and is crowned king of England. June 15, 1215 The barons present their list of articles to King John at Runnymede. June 19, 1215 The barons and John agree on the articles and...

Rejection and Reissue.(King John attempts to reject the Magna Carta)
April 1, 2000... In his bold plan to reject the charter he had just sworn to uphold, King John faced one great obstacle: his own oath. In the Middle Ages, a man's oath was something sacred, a promise made to God and before God, a promise that even the most...

Fun With Words.(origins of English words, such as 'cartel,' 'heckler,' and others)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... WORD ORIGINS CARTEL Cartel traces its roots directly to the Latin noun charta, meaning "paper." Originally it referred to a written challenge, as when one person challenged another to a duel. Then it came to mean a written agreement...

THE FOUR SURVIVORS.(official copies of the Magna Carta)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Four exemplifications in Latin of the Magna Carta have survived. Although each was originally sealed by King John, none of the seals remains. The documents are all a little different in shape and size. There are also some variations in the...

Spreading the News.(record keeping, and the Magna Carta, in King John's England)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... In the centuries before the Magna Carta, agreements were made and kept verbally. This policy began to change in the 1100s and 1200s. There were now more university-trained clerks and more scribes, professional writers who worked for the state....

Celebrating the Magna Carta.(Magna Carta Day)
April 1, 2000... Throughout the years, people in England have celebrated June 15 as Magna Carta Day. Imagine grand pageants with hundreds of costumed actors, and parades with horses and brass bands. Imagine dances and games, fancy feasts, face painting,...

Magna Carta and Parliament: Enduring Legacies of the Thirteenth Century.(England)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... "Parliament" was a new term in thirteenth-century (1200s) England, and it became the buzzword for many types of meetings. These included talks between diplomats of different countries, business meetings of London craftsmen, and assemblies where...

SIR EDWARD COKE: CHAMPION OF COMMON LAW.(interpretations of the Magna Carta influenced the writing of the United States Constitution)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Sir Edward Coke, an English lawyer in the early 1600s, insisted that everyone obey the laws, including the king. Coke supported royal authority during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Under King James I, he was appointed Lord Chief Justice. When...

MAGNA CARTA TODAY.
April 1, 2000... The charter that English barons forced on their king nearly 800 years ago was no simple document. Rather, it has become a symbol of freedom for the whole world. Many parts of the charter applied only to thirteenth-century feudal society...

PAPER THAT LASTS CENTURIES.(parchment)
April 1, 2000... Tradition says that parchment, or "animal skins used as writing materials," was invented some 2,200 years ago in Pergamum, a city in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey). Animal skins had been used prior to this time, but the new method produced a...

INTERVIEW.(paper conservator Nancy Turner)(Interview)
April 1, 2000... Nancy Turner has worked with the collection of manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum since 1974. She received her B.A. in art history and anthropology in 1983 from Stanford University, and earned an M.A. in medieval history from the...

A SCRIBE AT WORK.(medieval book publishing)
April 1, 2000... Preparing a book for publication In the Middle Ages required patience and time, and apprentices usually trained for seven years before they were considered scribes. Writing and copying was not a simple task of putting pen to paper or of...

A SCRIBE AND HIS QUILL.(includes instructions for making and using a quill pen)
April 1, 2000... Among a scribe's most prized possessions were the quill pens he used to write and the small penknife he used to cut and shape the quill. How he cut, shaped, and angled the quill's point determined the look of every stroke he made. Today you...

BOOKS.(books on the Middle Ages)(Bibliography)
April 1, 2000... How Would You Survive in the Middle Ages? by David Salariya (Franklin Watts, 1995) uses a great variety of large and small color illustrations, accompanied by caption-like text, to introduce readers to the farming practices, food, clothes, city...

RESOURCES.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Magna Carta, compiled and edited by John Langdon-Davies (Jackdaws Publications, reprinted 1992), contains a wealth of information that would be great for classroom use, including a facsimile and a translation of the Magna Carta, photographs of...

ALSO RECOMMENDED.(books on William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary)(Bibliography)
April 1, 2000... All the World's A Stage (biography of William Shakespeare) by Michael Bender (Chronicle Books, 1999) Behind the Mask: The Life of Queen Elizabeth I by Jane Resh Thomas (Clarion Books, 1998) Mary, Bloody Mary by Carolyn Meyer (Gulliver...

ENGLAND'S POTS.(Poem)
April 1, 2000... In Trent Valley there is a group of small factory towns. They are called "The Potteries." Here, objects useful if not beautiful are made. They are made very carefully. They are like the bright sun in the sky. ...

THE CHARTER ON THE NET.(Web sites on the Magna Carta)
April 1, 2000... www.leftjustified.com/leftjust/lib/sc/ht/wtp/mcarta.html A good place to begin researching the Magna Carta, this site gives the full English translation of the charter, as well as links that will introduce you to the U.S. Constitution and...