In your journal, answer the following
question
What possessions/things do you love?
Make a list
Pick your top 3
Stand up/Hand up/Pair up
Share your top 3 with your partner
What items stand the test of time?
 How would your list of things you love be affected by a
worldwide blackout?
 Look at your list and draw a line through anything that would
be affected by a complete loss of all power in the world.
 As a society, where do we store the majority of our
information?
 What would our society look like if we underwent a worldwide
blackout?
 How far back in time would we regress?
 Which country would survive this epic problem the best? The
worst? WHY?!
Lesson 1 – The Dark Ages
A time of lost or forgotten knowledge
Today’s Plan
What things do we love?
Stand up/Hand up/Pair up
Blackout
It has happened before
The Dark Ages
The Bubonic Plague
How will our culture survive?
The Dark Ages
 Watch this video and write down the changes that
occurred in Europe after the fall of the Roman
Empire
 What technologies had the people of Europe lost?
 How would you react if you saw amazing
technology all around you, but did not understand it
and could never use it? Have any of you ever felt
this way?
 What parts of our society would we see as reminders
of our past if we had an epic blackout?
Daily life
 While watching this next clip, describe the daily life
of people in this period
 If you couldn’t read, write, and had no access to
technology, what would you do during the winter
period of the year?
 What percentage of children died at birth?
 What percentage died before reaching your age?
 What kind of effect do you think losing a family
member would have on people during the Dark
Ages?
 Why did parents continue to have children?
Safety
What do you need to feel safe?
Why is safety an important aspect of every
person’s life?
Watch this video and think about how safe
these people would have felt
Why do people look to religions like Christianity
when they do not feel safe?
What things do people use in our society to help
make them feel safe?
Disease
Everyone stand up!
If half of the Okanagan’s population died from
a virulent disease in the next month, how would
that affect our economy?
Our local government? Our police force?
Our culture?
Why do you think the bubonic plague spread as
fast as it did?
Where did it start? Why is that important?
Nasty, Brutish, & Short
 Looking back on European society during the Dark
Ages, Thomas Hobbes wrote that a man’s life is
“solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short”.
 Thinking back on all of the clips we saw today and the
discussions we had, do you agree with this statement
or not?
 In a paragraph (5-7 sentences) I want you to reflect
on this quote and state your opinion, providing
evidence from our discussion. Remember there are no
wrong answers as long as you can support them with
facts.
How do we know all this?
 How did the knowledge of the Roman Empire survive?
 Write down a guess (minimum of one) in your journal
How do we know all this?
How did the knowledge of the Roman
Empire survive?
Monks and monasteries kept the past alive.
They were some of the only literate people during
the Dark Ages
Lesson 2 – The Franks
Brutes or Heroes?
What’s a Barbarian?
When I say the word
“Barbarian” what
images come to mind?
This is probably what
most of you think of
But this is not what the
Barbarians of the Early
Middle Ages looked like
Today’s Plan
What’s a Barbarian?
Who were the Franks?
The Salic Code
Franks Vs. Canadians
The Fall of Rome Leads to New
Leadership in Gaul (France)
As the Roman Empire over-extended
themselves, groups of Germanic peoples
(sometimes called Barbarians) took control
The Franks were one of
these groups
They took control of the
Roman province of Gaul
around 400 C.E.
Who were the Franks?
They were mostly just farmers, but
they LOVED to fight and make war
They were constantly armed
Both men and women wore jewelry
and kept their hair long
They loved wealth, and who had lots
of that?
But most of all, they wanted to be
free
The word “Frank” means free
Clovis I – The Frankish King
Clovis I was the embodiment of what the
Franks valued
He was strong, skilled in battle, and wanted
to be free of the Roman rule
Watch this video and think about how
people would act if they were led by this
man.
As king, Clovis I set the tone for his people
In the Eye of the Beholder
While the Franks looked up to Clovis to lead
them, many others felt he embodied everything
wrong with the Franks
Tacitus, a Roman historian, wrote “You will find it harder
to persuade a German to plough the land to await its annual
produce with patience than to challenge a foe and earn the prize
of wounds. He thinks it spiritless and slack to gain by sweat what he
can buy with blood. When not engaged in warfare, [the men]
spend some little time in hunting, but more in idling, abandoned to
sleep and gluttony [excessive eating and drinking].”
In the Eye of the Beholder
But the Franks thought they were far from lazy
The Preface to their Salic Code reads “[We are a] glorious
people, wise in council, noble in body, radiant in health, excelling in beauty,
daring, quick, hardened… This is the people that shook the cruel yoke of the
Romans from its neck.”
What was the purpose of Tacitus’ writing?
Why did the Franks write that in their preface to their
laws?
The Salic Code
A Law system often reveals a lot about the culture
that made it
The Franks created the Salic Code to settle
disputes
It placed a monetary value on every piece of
property and on every person
A fine, or wergild, had to be paid if someone’s
property was stolen or a person was injured
If a family member was killed, a revenge killing
was not punished
Everything Has a Price
Here are some examples of laws found in the Salic
Code
 If any one have assaulted and plundered a freeman, and it be
proved on him, he shall be sentenced 2500 denars, which
make 63 shillings
 If any one have wished to kill another person, and the blow
have missed, he on whom it was proved shall be sentenced to
2500 denars
 If any one steal a bull belonging to the king he shall be
sentenced to 3600 denars, which make 90 shillings
What values does this show the Franks had?
Today
 Quiz
 Statistics
 Map Work
Number Off
1-6
Remember your number!!!
Franks Vs. Canadians
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Canadian Man
Canadian Woman
Canadian Child
Frankish Man
Frankish Woman
Frankish Child
 You must find another person in the class who is a man,
woman, or child from the other group
EXAMPLE: if you are a Frankish Man, you must find a
Canadian Man
Franks Vs. Canadians
 Using the stats for each of you, answer the following
questions in your journal.
 Be prepared to provide your answer to the class
1. Who will probably live longer? Give 3 possible
reasons why.
2. Who will probably get married first? Explain why this
is.
3. Who will probably have more babies die? Explain
why.
4. Who is or will be taller? Why do you think that is?
Letter: Delivery by Time Machine
 Using what you learned in the statistics activity, write a
letter to a Frankish person your own age who lived in
Gaul
 Tell them a bit about your own life (relevant to this
Socials activity) and empathize with them about an
aspect of his/her life
 Ask them a few clarifying questions (relevant to this
Socials activity)
Map Work
 Take out your map
of Rome
 Watch this
 Add a red line to
your map
depicting the land
occupied by the
Franks
 Add the red line to
your legend