Venice

Venice is a beautiful city located in Italy. Inside of Italy they are located in 118 small islands. They influenced lots of areas in culture. Although they did not have much controversy with other lands, they still influenced many time periods.

What is very unique about Venice is that they are only connected by waterways and canals. So, no cars were used in this city. What they used for transportation are Gondolas. Gondolas are flat bottomed boats that are driven by a gondolier. Gondoliers are basically like taxi drivers but driving boats for people.

Unfortunately, we do not know when exactly Venice was founded but it might have been around March 25^th 421. But what we do know is that there was history with other rulers trying to take over the city. Charlemagne was a ruler but he still wanted to take over other lands. So, he sent his son Pepin to go and besiege the city. Unfortunately the siege was a failure to Charlemagne and Pepin died shortly after that.

In 814 Venice was recognized as Byzantine territory so they were then given trading rights. Venice was a very wealthy city and was very major in trading.

Venice is also known for its art and architecture. They incorporated lots of different ideas of styles in their architecture. The main concept of their architecture was Venetian Gothic Architecture. But they added other styles influenced by other areas as well like, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Venetian. For art, they had the Venetian School, which was a major center for their art during the Renaissance.

It was not just their Architecture that influenced history but it was also music. One famous composer that was from Venice was Antonio Vivaldi. But, there were many other composers that came from Venice as well. So music was a very important part of the city. They also incorporated church music and opera into their culture.

Venice was also home to a famous writer named Marco Polo who wrote about his travels in his life. It was in Venice where they were one of the first cities to have a printing press and publishing businesses.

This city also incorporated their own celebrations and events. One celebration that is commonly known in Venice is the Carnival of Venice. This event was held annually on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. One main concept for this celebration is that everyone wears masks. They even have a contest for the masks. Whoever wears the most beautiful mask wins the contest. The masks were all unique and it was made as a tradition in this celebration. This event has been around for a very long time ever since the 12^th century.

The city is a very important part of history. Venice is still a popular tourist location to this day because of its unique beauty and culture.

The Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years’ War was split up into three parts. Those parts were named:

• ·         The Edwardian Era (1337-1360)

• ·         The Caroline War (1369-1389)

• ·         The Lancastrian Era (1415-1453)

The exact date of which the war started was June 22, 1340. This war was against the English and the French. As the name of the war states, it lasted roughly one hundred years. There were lots of different disagreements between both of the countries.

Edward III of England led his army into the first battle of The Hundred Years’ War. They had a wonderful victory against the French and that battle was called the Battle of Sluys. The English were on a role in the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War and accomplished great things. One task that they accomplished was in 1346; Edward and his Englishmen invaded Caen and captured that city. The reason why that was such a great accomplishment is because they captured that city in one day.

Phillip from France decided to face the English in another battle called the Battle of Crecy. That was a very unfortunate choice that Phillip made because that battle was another winning victory that the English experienced. During that battle the English were able to capture a city in France called Calais. That was a successful move for the English because owning a city in France gave them an opportunity to have their own troops located there.

The war did end up not continuing for a few because the Black Death moved across lands in 1348 which was a terrible time.

But, the war did indeed start back up again after that period ended and Edward III’s son was starting to be the head of England. Also the king changed in France as well to be John II. Edward (this was a different Edward who was also known as the Black Prince) led the upcoming battle in 1356 better known as the Battle of Poitiers. He invaded France and the English did in fact have another victory in defeating France. 

Unfortunately John II who was king of France was captured by the English so his son Dauphin took his place and he reigned.

The first peace treaty was created to try to bring peace back into the countries but unfortunately at some point it did end. The treaty was known as the Treaty of Bretigny. The peace lasted a great deal of time but it did end (1360-1369). During this time John was still under the control of the English and did indeed die in 1364. He was later succeeded by Charles V.

Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince were both not doing very well health wise. The English were now going to go back into battle while they did still own the city Calais in France.  At this time there was no longer any peace going on.

The Son of the Black Prince, Richard II started to reign England at a very young age. Unfortunately while Richard was King of England he lost many lands in France.

Now there was a second peace that was being made in 1389-1415.

War then resumed in 1415 and King Henry V decided to sail to France and invade. He did have a victory but he decided that he did not want to have another war so he started to travel back to the city Calais. The French thought of a different idea though, they wanted to start a surprise attack on the English. That was the Battle of Agincourt. Agincourt wasn’t the best battle area.  It was a very small land that was very muddy. Even though England at the time had a weaker army the terrain and the size of the land was a big advantage to them. The French were covered in heavy armor and were all prepared but they were not prepared for the muddy small area that they encountered. The mud was making the French sink since the armor was so heavy. On the other hand the English did not have that much trouble with the mud because they were not covered in heavy armor they were dressed rather lightly so they were able to travel across the terrain much easier than the French.

Again, the English did have another big victory and the outcome of the war was rather gruesome. There were roughly 6,000 French soldiers killed in this battle. That was a big difference compared to the 400 men that were killed o the English side. 

King Henry retook Caen and Normandy and he again became Duke of Normandy.  At this time in 1420 he then married a French Princess named Catherine.

There was another treaty made called The Treaty of Troyes. And this was another treaty that was to supposedly bring an end to this war and also state that King Henry’s heir was to inherit the French throne. Henry then died in 1422 while he and his queen were living in Senlis.

Henry did have a son but he could not control both thrones so The Duke of Bedford was to oversee him and the wars. After this there were several battles that were successfully won by France. Although The Treaty of Troyes did state that it was suppose to bring an end to the war it did not end up doing so.  But, even though the English did try they did not get to take over the throne.

From the beginning of The Hundred Years’ War till now the French have gotten many defeats by the English but that was about to change. But still, the English could not take over the French throne after these hundred years of fighting. In the mid 1400’s lots had changed though.

Born in 1412 there was a girl named Joan of Arc and she lived in a small French village. She accomplished many great things for herself and for others throughout her life. At the age of 12 she had claimed that she heard saints speaking to her. They told her many other personal things but one task they told Joan to do retake the country France for their King. So she put her mind to it and did what she was told.

At the age of 16 Joan went to try to get attention from the King but unfortunately failed on the first try. That was not going to stop her though. After three attempts she succeeded in able to see the King. She offered the king for her to lead and regain the country to victory. Even people who had given up on King Charles decided to join the army because they heard that a saint was leading them. Joan had a suit of armor made just for her. She even helped reform the army. She made them go to church; this type of requirement was not usually common with the army. She led a siege in England and did have a winning victory.

More people ended up supporting her and she was able to conquer more areas as well. Joan ended up encouraging Charles VII to get coronated at Reims which was a very common place for people to be coronated. Even getting someone else to be crowned was an accomplishment to Joan. She then went on to accomplishing more great victories for France.

Joan was then captured by a Burgundian army and was held captive for months before being transferred to England. When she was in captivity she was burned at the stake in England as a heretic on May 30^th, 1431.

Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was a famous merchant trade organization. Unlike today, merchants had to travel to their customers rather than the customers traveling to them. Because they had to travel, they had to protect their merchandise from any bandits or pirates. Sometimes other merchants would join together and form a team to protect their merchandise. They originally formed along the areas of the northern coast of Europe. Although later they did end up expanding in other parts of Europe.

The Hanseatic League then started to develop in Lubeck Germany. Lubeck was basically the central for all of the merchants to go. Lubeck ended up working hand in hand with another town which was Hamburg to help out with the salt-fish trade in the area.

After Hamburg joined Lubeck another area joined in which was Cologne in 1260. Everybody was helping out with the league and was not self-centered. This is when the Hanseatic League was officially established (1358). At their height they started to expand from their original cities to 70 to 170 cities.

There were two reasons why this Hanseatic League was created, economic reasons and plus to help out the protection for the merchants. Like in the beginning, merchants are traveling and are taking the risk to getting their merchandise stolen by pirates or bandits. To help out the protection side to the League all of the towns came together and formed their own army.

There was also another time in which the Hanseatic League expanded. The Scandinavians had started out by controlling another different trade route which was called the Baltic route. After the Scandinavians signed a treaty with the League they were officially part of the Hanseatic League.

In the 1360’s the League went to war as a team and this was an important part that happened with the League because it was able to expand even more than they already have. When they were at war they were able to take over Denmark and even achieve a monopoly in Scandinavia.

Unfortunately at a certain point the league did end up weakening. That started when the Swedish Empire was growing very strong which led to them weakening.  There were also some other reasons to them falling like when Denmark became independent and the rest of the people who supported the League became self-centered and didn’t support the League as much as they did before. The Hanseatic League did try and try again to revive themselves but they did end up collapsing in the late 16^th century.

Robert the Bruce

Robert the Bruce was the person who completed the task of getting Scotland to freedom. He was born in 1274 and he grew up in a noble family. He did have claims to the Scottish throne through his father’s side of the family.

Robert did have connections with William Wallace but he didn’t side with him right away. William originally sided with John Bailiol because he wanted John to become king, so Robert sided with Edward I. 

Since Edward was on the English side he gathered Englishmen to help rule Scotland. It was at this point that Robert decided to then side with Scotland because he didn’t want to go against his own men. At first he had some trouble getting back on their side because they did not agree with him siding with Edward.

So after he ended up siding with William and the rest of the men William gave up a special position to give to Robert. That was the position of being guardian of Scotland.

This is when Robert met a new man named John Comyn. Robert was confident that he had a strong claim to the throne. But John also was another person who had strong claim to the throne. This brought up some controversy and they did come to an agreement. The agreement had included Robert becoming king. John unfortunately went back on his word and did not keep his agreement. So in a duel Robert killed John.

So, Robert now had the chance to claim the throne of Scotland. He ended up fighting for the throne and took over the Dumfries castle. Six weeks after that conquering of the castle he was crowned king of Scotland on March 25^th, 1306. Edward and his son Edward II did not like losing to Scotland so they wanted to fight against Robert to take over. Unfortunately the Scots did have lots of defeats but Robert was determined and he kept fighting.

There is one famous battle where Robert even accomplished getting Scotland’s freedom. That battle was the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. The Scots won and accomplished getting their freedom.

England did not recognize that Robert was king of Scotland until they received a new king who was Edward III. Finally, there was a treaty made which made the war come to an end. That was The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northhampton that got signed. Scotland then was an independent country and remained all the way up until 1707.

Artsy Picture of The Week: Fishtail Braid

A Fishtail Braid is very easy to create even on yourself. One thing that I recommend before attempting to do a fishtail braid is to master just regular braiding because a fishtail braid is only a little complicated than that. The things that you will need are simply:

• Hair Brush
• One or Two Hair Elastics (The second elastic is optional but you definitely need one)
• Accessory (optional)

First thing that you want to do is brush out your hair so it is tangle free.

Then (this step is optional) you can put your hair into a ponytail, some people just like to start the braid without having their hair in a ponytail so it is completely up to you.

To start your braid you want to split your hair into 2 sections.

Then you want to take a small strand on the left section of your hair and bring it OVER to the right section of your hair. I say over because if you put it under the original section that you took it from and then into the other section then you will come out to have a reverse fishtail braid.

After you bring a small strand of hair from the left section to the right, you want to do it on the other side. So, you would take a small strand of hair from the right section and bring it over to the left section.

Repeat the last 2 steps over and over until you have reached about the end of your hair.

After you reached the end you want to secure your braid with an elastic. If you want to can use a clear elastic so it blends in with your hair and it doesn't look like you put an elastic there.

This step is optional but if you want you can loosen your braid a little bit by pulling slightly on the sides of your braid so it loosens the braid to make it look soft and not too tight and structured.

I hope this helped and that you give this braid a try! This style is very popular and once you get the hang of how to do it, it will be quick and easy to do! Comment below this post if you have any questions on how to do this! Thanks for reading!!

Artsy Picture of The Week: Water Bottle Flower Painting!

I think this idea is great if you haven't mastered painting flowers on your own yet. The supplies that you would need are simply:

• A Water Bottle (the size depends on how big you want your flower to be)
• Acrylic Paint (any color)
• Paper Plate 
• Cardstock Paper or Canvas (I say cardstock paper rather than regular paper because cardstock paper is a bit thicker and you want a pretty thick surface for all that paint to go on)
• Paintbrush (optional)

First thing that you want to do is pour your paint down on your paper plate and you want a pretty good amount on there so you get the whole bottom of your bottle covered (the amount that is in the picture is pretty good). After you have your paint poured out you want your water bottle and the surface that you are putting your flowers on ready. You will take your water bottle and dip the bottom of it in your paint (dip it enough so the bottom of your water bottle is fully covered).
Then here comes the fun part! You can press your water bottle lightly on your surface to create a beautiful flower!
Another option that you can do before you make your flowers is to take a paintbrush and make some strokes along your surface to create a tree like shape. As you can see that step was taken in the photo above.
I hope this gave you a great idea to painting beautiful flowers! Thank you for reading!

Transported Into The 80's

Unfortunately I must have bumped my head really hard and I can’t even remember how. Everything seems different, really different. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was. But I was determined to find out.

When I was walking around I saw everyone outside just hanging out and having fun. I noticed that all of the people were wearing slightly different clothing. All of the girls had scrunchies in their hair… (I didn’t think anyone wore those anymore). I was still walking around in a daze but everyone was so friendly, they all greeted me and asked if I wanted to hang out or play with them. I said no thanks up until I saw this one girl all alone.

I went up to her and I asked her what was wrong. At first she didn’t say anything she just looked really sad. Sooner or later she started talking to me and explained that everyone else had friends to play with all day when she didn’t have any. I told her that it was her lucky day because she could hang out with me. Of course I had to ask her her name so I knew what to call her. Her name was Michelle.

We started to just stroll together and she noticed that I looked a little flustered. I kept asking her a lot of questions on what everyone is doing because I wasn’t use to all these people always outside. She said this is what everybody always does and it’s not odd. Well, I thought it was.

Michelle later invited me over to her house. I was surprised because she just met me and I didn’t think that she would ask such a thing this quick. She said we normally go back home until the streetlights come on. Well that seemed weird to me because I would never be let out of the house all by myself for that long. I guess it was a custom of some kind.

Once we got to her house her parents welcomed me like an old friend of theirs. They were all so very nice. Michelle and I started to get bored and I recommended that we watch some television and just relax. 

Michelle was surprised but at first I didn’t really understand why. So I thought that I can show her one of my all time favorite shows “Once Upon A Time” on ABC. She looked at me like I was crazy. She asked me what kind of show that was. I decided it would be best to show her. We turned on the television and it turns out there were only a few channels on their TV! That was odd because whenever someone had TV there would be over 100 channels on there. We eventually trashed that idea of watching TV.

Michelle said that she thought I was acting a bit weird. I decided to ask a really odd question because as I said before, I was determined to figure out where I was. She said that it was 1985. That answered my question completely. I really did hit my head way too hard. She recommended that we both should get some sleep so we headed up to her bedroom.

She laid out a sleeping bag for me. Michelle started to ask where I lived and if we should probably bring me home instead. I said that it was okay and I texted my parents that I was sleeping over a friend’s house even though I actually didn’t. It was at that point that I forgot that kids back then didn’t use cell phones so before she asked me what that was I just said that I already contacted them.

Before both of us went to bed Michelle said something that made my night. She explained that today was the best day ever because she had a friend to spend it all with. Then we both went to sleep with a smile on both of our faces.

I slowly started to wake up and I noticed that I was now in my own bed in my own room. My Mom came into my room and said that one minute she saw me in the kitchen and then she comes up and sees me waking up in my bed. I got up all of a sudden and the first thing I asked is what year it was. She answered puzzled why I would ask such a thing and said that it was 2014. I was confused on what happened but I will never forget going back in the 80’s and meeting my friend Michelle.