Direct AssaultA direct assault was the most dangerous way for attackers to try to take a castle. Soldiers either scaled walls with ladders or overran castle walls breached by tunnels, battering rams, or artillery.

Questions about the Bayeux Tapestry

1.Find this scene in the Bayeux Tapestry. What is happening?
Which figure do you think is William? What does this scene tell you
about him?

William and Harold return to Normandy and reach the town of Bayeux. In the climax of the story so far Harold swears a solemn oath on holy relics. Was Harold promising to support William? Harold is at last set free, and sails back to England. Ithink William the conqueror is the man who is sit on the chair.


2.Find this scene in the Bayeux Tapestry. What is happening?
What does this scene tell you about William?

Food and drink are taken to the boats. So are weapons: coats of chain mail, helmets, swords and lances.


3.Go to 'The Battle of Hastings Scene 5'. Look carefully at this part of the scene. What does it tell you about William?

After a fall from his horse, William raises his helmet to reveal his face. This shows his troops that he is still alive and encourages them to continue fighting. Count Eustace carries an elaborate banner, which may be the one given by the Pope to show his support for William’s invasion of England.

William the conqueror

King William was a hard man, determined to use force to impose his will on the nation he had conquered. He was so successful at it, the Anglo-Saxons became second-class citizens in their own country.

The Normans were brutal, ruthless occupiers. The problem was that William had promised his allies and friends a cut of the cake, but first he had to hold on to England and consolidate his grip. This was done with a network of Norman castles right across the country, fighting platforms gouged into the landscape. From these the native population could be terrorised and intimidated, and any local risings snuffed out.

It would be easy to think that such racial antipathies were the simple product of prejudice born of ignorance, shaped by a complete lack of knowledge of each other's culture. But the reverse is true. For long before the Conquest, Anglo-Saxon England's relationship with continental Europe had been close. Over 200 years before, the common threat posed by the Vikings had brought the Carolingian kings of Francia and the kings of Wessex and Mercia together.

Vikings map

The Vikings

Where did the Vikings come from?
The Vikings came from three countries of Scandinavia: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The name 'Viking' comes from a language called 'Old Norse' and means 'a pirate raid'. People who went off raiding in ships were said to be 'going Viking'.
The Viking age in European history was about AD 700 to 1100. During this period many Vikings left Scandinavia and travelled to other countries, such as Britain and Ireland. Some went to fight and steal treasure. Others settled in new lands as farmers, craftsmen or traders.
Back to top
The Vikings in Britain
Southern Britain (England) had been settled by the Anglo-Saxons. You can find out more on our Anglo-Saxons site. In AD 787 three Viking longships landed in southern England. The Vikings fought the local people, then sailed away. This first raid is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It was the start of a fierce struggle between English and Vikings. The English called the Viking invaders 'Danes' but they came from Norway as well as Denmark.
Norwegian Vikings or 'Norse' sailed to Scotland, where they made settlements in the north and on the Orkney and Shetland islands. Vikings also settled on the Isle of Man. Vikings raided Wales, but few made homes there.
Back to top
Why did Vikings attack monasteries?
In 793 Vikings attacked the Christian monastery at Lindisfarne in Northumbria. They were pagans, not Christians like most people in Britain. A Viking robber did not think twice about robbing a Christian church. Christian monasteries in Britain were easy to attack, because the monks in the monasteries had no weapons. Churches and monasteries kept valuable treasures, such as gold, jewels and books. There were food, drink, cattle, clothes and tools too - tempting for greedy Vikings.
Back to top
Where did Vikings settle?
Some Viking ships brought families to Britain looking for land to farm. Good farmland was scarce in the Vikings' own countries. The parts of Britain where most Vikings settled were northern Scotland and eastern England. For 500 years, from about AD 900, Vikings ruled the north of Scotland, the Orkney and Shetland isles and the Hebrides islands off the west coast. In Ireland, Vikings founded the city of Dublin.
Viking areas in east and northern England became known as the Danelaw. Viking settlements brought new words into the English language, and new ideas about government too. For a short time England had Danish kings (King Cnut and his sons, from 1016 to 1042).
Back to top
How far did Vikings roam?
Norwegian Vikings sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean to Iceland and Greenland. About AD 1000, Vikings sailed to North America and started a settlement, though it did not last long. Danish Vikings went to France and founded Normandy ('Land of the North-men'). Danish Vikings also sailed south around Spain, and into the Mediterranean Sea. Swedish Vikings roamed along rivers into Russia. Viking traders could be found as far east as Constantinople (Turkey), where they met people from Africa, Arabia and Asia.

Back to top

Capilla Palatina de Aquisgrán

Gracias a una inscripción, hoy desaparecida, sabemos que el arquitecto fue Odón (o Eudes) de METZ .Las obras se iniciaron en el 790, y en el 797 se culminaba la cubierta del octógono central, siendo consagrada por el papa León III en el 805, dedicándola a Santa Maria.
Planta de la capilla. Se concibió como una planta centralizada en torno a un octógono central al que rodea otro hexadecagonal (de 16 lados) y entre ambos un deambulatorio.
Interior (reconstrucción). Por encima del deambulatorio hay una tribuna que abre al espacio central mediante unos arcos y a su vez este espacio central se eleva por encima de las tribunas y se cubre con una bóveda de paños.

El modelo del octógono de esta capilla recuerda a San Vital de Rávena. Es un edificio centralizado con otro envolvente. Cuando en el año 790 se comenzó la capilla, Carlomagno solicitó al Papa que tomaran los materiales para su construcción de Rávena, por lo que no es extraño que viera los edificios de allí, y quedaran impresionados. Hay sin embargo diferencias entre ambos.
La capilla palatina representa un paso atrás, porque en San Vital los arquitectos emplearon unos recursos de una sutileza arquitectónica que a los de Aquisgrán se les escaparon totalmente: 1. Por ejemplo en Aquisgrán la molduración horizontal está bastante marcada, con lo cual el sentido ascensional del edificio queda bastante cortado. 2. El arquitecto de San Vital de Rávena no hace líneas rectas, son exedras en la planta del octógono y esto provoca una mayor ligereza, por lo que se gana en dinamismo. Sin embargo, en la capilla de Aquisgrán si son rectas. Esto tampoco supieron captarlo los arquitectos carolingios. 3. En San Vital el ábside no está a eje en relación con el pórtico de entrada (diapo de la derecha) que da mayor libertad al edificio, evitando el encorsetamiento. En Aquisgrán sí está a eje con el pórtico.

Mosques. What do you think about?

I think the Mosque is for the Muslims like the Church for the cristianity, or more important. They can do they prayers at the mosque. I think they are more religious than us.

The image of the left is a mosque.

El codigo de justiniano

El Código de Justiniano (en latín, Codex Iustinianus) es una recopilación de constituciones imperiales promulgada por el emperador Justiniano, en una primera versión, el 7 de abril de 529, y en una segunda, el 17 de noviembre de 534. Este último forma parte del denominado Corpus Iuris Civilis.
El "primer" Código de Justiniano (conocido como Codex vetus o primus) fue la primera obra elaborada dentro del proceso recopilador de Derecho romano justinianeo. Esta obra no se ha conservado, salvo por un fragmento del índice. Fue preparado por una comisión de juristas, presidida por Triboniano, comenzando sus labores en febrero de 528. Los comisionados debían recopilar las constituciones imperiales vigentes en la época, pudiendo utilizar obras anteriores como el Código Teodosiano del año 438, de carácter oficial, y los Código Gregoriano de 293 y Hermogeniano, de carácter privado. Con la promulgación de este código se dejó sin efecto los anteriores.
Debido a las reformas efectuadas por Justiniano fue necesario actualizarlo hacia el año 533. Una comisión presidida nuevamente por Triboniano debió agregar todas las nuevas constituciones imperiales dictadas por Justiniano al "primer" Código, recibiendo la facultad de interporlarlas o modificarlas, para su adecuada incorporación.
El 16 de noviembre de 534 –en fecha posterior al Digesto– se promulgó el "segundo" Código de Justiniano (denominado en ocasiones Codex repetitae praelectionis), quedando derogado el anterior y prohibida su alegación. Está estructurado en 12 libros, divididos en títulos, que contienen las constituciones