Конкурсное эссе «Monarchy 4ever» на английском языке

Dear my parents,

How are you? I’m all right. I want to tell you about some interesting things which are happened to me sometimes. Now I am in England in the Middle Ages for example. I’ll try to tell you everything about these famous historical times. Here you can see some interesting photos which my new friend Teresa (a girl of 13 years old from a peasant family) and I have taken.

It is a time of violence and wars, as kings struggle to control the powerful barons and the barons fight one another for more land.

Every day I get a lot of information about lords and peasants, their food and kinds of sport and many other interesting things.

During the Middle Ages ten different kings ruled England with the help of the barons. If a king was weak, the barons turned against him and tried to seize power themselves. Four kings were murdered and three came to the throne by violence.

The most successful kings are usually the best fighters. They can control the barons, and so are able to raise enough money to run the kingdom well. The barons own huge areas of land. They build castles to protect their lands and many have their own soldiers.

Religion is very important for medieval people, so everyone goes to church sometimes several times a week. There are many large monasteries, where monks spend their lives working and praying. The church becomes rich and powerful. Church leaders are often advisers to the king.

Most ordinary people are peasants or serfs. They have to live and work on land owned by the rich barons.

Here almost everyone lives in a manor. The baron (lord of the manor) owns all the land and almost villagers are not allowed to leave it without his permission. The lord of the manor allows the villages to farm some of his land. In return they have to work for him during the week and pay him with crops and animals.

Most villages are surrounded by three huge fields which are divided into long, thin strips. Each villager farms some strips in each field, so the good and bad land is shared out fairly.

A lord probably owns several manors. He visits each in turn, taking his family, servants and most of his possessions with him. When the lord is away, the bailiff is left in charge.

The main food for a peasant family is bread. Some peasants keep chickens, pigs and cows, for eggs, bacon and milk. Water is not clean, so often people drink beer. During a long winter many peasants went hungry and some starves.

The lord of the manor eats fresh food all year round. He keeps doves and tame rabbits. He can hunt wild boas or stags in the forests. Peasants are not allowed to hunt, and any catches doing so can be punished or even hangs.

Although most people never leave their villages, some people have to travel. Roads are just tracks, muddy in winter and very dusty in summer. People travel in large groups for protection against outlaws.

Pilgrims travels to shrines, while government officials and nobles travel on the king’s business. A few peasants go to market, merchants travel about buying and selling goods, and soldiers go off to war.

Carriages are not very comfortable, so rich people often travel on horseback. Ox carts are slow, so merchants mostly carry their goods on packhorses. Heavy loads like corn or building stone are sent by river in boats.

Fairs are held once a year in certain places, such as Boston in Lincolnshire and Winchester in Hampshire, and last several days. Merchants come from all over Europe bringing silks from China, wine from France, furs from Russia and weapons from Spain. People come long distances, hear news, and watch clowns, jugglers and performing animals.

Monks and pilgrims spend their lives cut off the rest of the world in monasteries and nunneries. Although they spend most of their time praying, many also farm the land round the monasteries to feed themselves. They give food and money to the needy, allow travelers to stay free for two nights and run hospitals for the poor.

People who have done something wrong and want to be forgiven often go on a pilgrimage to pray at a shrine. Some pilgrims go abroad to places like Rome in Italy, of even as far as Jerusalem in the Holy Land. The journey is very exciting and sometimes dangerous, with strange places to visit and new people to meet. A pilgrimage is the only chance for rich and poor people to meet as equals.

Medieval people play many sports but some games are often very violent. Football is played between all the men of two villages. The ball is a pig’s bladder stuffed with peas, and the aim of the game is to carry it across the fields and place it on the market cross of the other village. There are no rules, so players are often hurt and sometimes even killed. King Edward 3 bans the game because he thinks that people are more interested in playing football than in practicing their archery.

The most popular sports involve animals fighting and are often very cruel, for example, bear baiting (a chained bear is attacked by dogs). Many sports are just fighting, like wrestling. But there are games like skittles.

Here you can see many knights. Knights are landowners who have been given land as a reward for fighting for the king or baron. Each knight uses his own horse and weapons and can be asked to spend up to 40 days each year serving in the king’s army.

A boy from a wealthy family trains for up to 10 years to become a knight, by serving first as a page and then as a squire. As a squire, he looks after the knight’s armour and helps him to dress for battle. He learns how to ride and how to fight.

Tournaments are held so that knights can practice the art of fighting. Knights come from near and far to test their skills by jousting with one another. Crowds of people come to watch.

And what about school education? Medieval school? The medieval stage of schooling: first stage - " trivium " , where the students study grammar, rhetoric and dialectic ; the second stage - " quadrivium " , where they study arithmetic, geometry , astronomy and music. All together it is called the Seven Liberal Arts. In medieval school learning is not for everybody, only for a few. There is no division into classes by age. Children are taught in Latin. There is only one book can be at the whole school and the students read it in the turn. For bad behavior students are beaten. Yes, if someone from students is very naughty the teacher takes the rod in hand - here in this school it is enough. During the Middle Ages "to get education " and " to grow under the rod " means just the same thing . My new friend Teresa doesn’t go to school because her parents are poor people.

I want to tell about one very famous hero between poor people here. He is Robin Hood. Robin Hood is a highly skilled archer and swordsman. He has become known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor". Its forest army has dozens of free lances. All of them are excellent archers, bold, inventive and noble people. My friend’s lovely poem is:

In the merry month of May
All the children are so good
They all hop and sing and say:
“Welcome, welcome, Robin Hood!”

Dear parents! There is a lot of interesting here but now I haven’t enough time to tell everything. Now my new friend and I must go to help Teresa’s mother to work at the field. I am sure we’ll meet soon and I’ll tell you about my impressions of the Middle Ages in details.

With best wishes,

Sofa.

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