Crusades and Era of the Hohenstaufen

ZENTRALE FÜR UNTERRICHTSMEDIEN (frames) (no frames)

The Topic:

General objectives:

• Providing multilingual material for the use in schools about a topic which covers various conntries and several periods in history. This topic is to be linkad via one common page.
• Fascilitating communication via the computer of various types of schools, subjects, regions and countries.
• Demonstrating that European and Middle Eastern history is firmly linked with regional history.
• Showing that identical events in history can be seen differently depending on point of view, country, culture etc.
• Explaining the importance of this topic for contemporary history.

Addresses:

All types of schools in Europe and the Middle East

Organisation:

• Each school is invited to supply topics, materials and results within the general field soggested by the GZG Friedrichshafen (details see below). The partners participating in the project are free to supply material on the period of the Hohestaufer, the "Bamberger Reiter", German settlements in Eastern Europe, German emporers in Italy, Arabian culture and its inflnence on Europe, etc. The GZG will suggest a few topics of interest.
• The contributions provided by various schools serve as elements to be used in schools lessons, which cen be downloaded from the web. All elements will be linked via a central graph (an arrow), which reveals directly the relevance of each element for the general topic.AI1 results will be made available as a whole to the general public through a ZIP file.
• The GZG will provide a list on its web ??? where all schools which participate will register, introduce themselves, present their topic and give their URL. Thus we ensure that each participant can log in with any other participant and that they can communicate with each other. This list will be available by the end of June 1996.
• There will be no need to communicate via the GZG( except in very special cases). This is a necessity as we can't cope with the workload if a maximum number of schools is to take part in the project. Likewise the GZG can't offer assistance with technical problems. A list-server will be made available for e -mails of individual participants.

Language:

Each particpant in the project writes in its own language and provides an English version in addition. The GZG will have the English materials translated into German, provided there will be a sofficient number of participants in the web. We may ask for assistance if need be. Schools in other conntries are invited to adopt this procedure for their respective languages.

Start and length of project:

The list of topics and addresses will be available on the GZG web????? by the end of June 1996. The project will terminate in July 1997. The start of the project work, the publication of provisional findings and final results will be organized by the participating schools. Thus we ensure that the participants are completely free in planning the project work.

Terms of participation:

• Basis is the World Wide Web
• Each school works on its own and puts its results on HTML
• In case right of hospitality can be granted for the presentation of results at the GZG Webpages.

The role of the GZG at Friedrichshafen:

The GZG distributes to all participants:

• the lists of schools, addresses and topics
• an "arrow of time" for the Hohenstaufen´s history and the Crusades, in which the local projects are worked up. We already have a lot of information about the Crusades.
• short biographies of the most important Hohenstaufen emperors

The GZG presents also places of Hohenstaufen and Guelphish history at the Lake Constance, which are put into larger context of the Hohenstaufen history namely

• Weingarten and Ravensburg (Altdorf, today Weingarten, was ancestral seat of the Guelphs; Movement of the Guelphs up to the Ravensburg; Basilica of Weingarten is related to the Guelphs; the castle Ravensburg as starting -point for the town Ravensburg; Hohenstaufen emperors buy Guelphish possessions in Upper Swabia; Ravensburg as Hohenstaufen centre of administration; early history of Ravensburg until the era of the Habsburg)
• Waldburg (Imperial jewels at the Waldburg; residence of one of the most important ministerial families; possibly interview with a member of the House of Waldburg)
• Konstanz (Peace of Konstanz between Frederick Barbarossa and the Lombard League; The Bishop of Konstanz lets Frederick II. enter the city, Otto IV. is the loser; diocese and city of Konstanz during the Hohenstaufen era in cooperation with Archeological Museum of Konstanz)
• Moreover the GZG presents the project "The medieval Rome" by the means of an excursion with the main points Lateran, S.Peter, Engelsburg, SS. Quattro Coronati, S.Clemente, the catacombs as destination of pilgrims, etc. Context: The struggle between Emperor and Pope in the Middle Ages

Suggestions of topics for the project’s participants:

For German schools:

• The main land of the Staufer round the Hohenstaufen; this can also be divided into handy pieces, e.g. the Abbey Lorch as the tomb of the Staufers
• The "Wäscheschlössle" (tr.: small castle of the washer) and an interview with the tenant who is, by the way, a specialist of castles of the era of the Crusades in the Near East
• Museum at the Hohenstaufen and Castle Hohenstaufen
• The Rechberg as ministerial castle and an interview with the owner who invests millions in maintenance and excavation
• The Kaiserpfalz (tr.: Emperor´s Palatinate) of Wimpfen; role of the Palatinates for the king- dom´s administration
• Town foundations of the Staufers, Welfen and others; Town policies
• Peasants of the Staufer´s era, clearings, acquisition of virgin territory, decrease in serfdom way and means of economy, technics, structures of towns and dominions
• Colonization of the Eastern territories (Henry the Lion, Crusade of the Wenden)
• The culture of the Staufer, e.g. literature, Bamberg rider, etc.

For Austrian schools:

• The rise of Austria during the Staufer´s era, privilegium minum

For Swiss schools:

• Present Switzerland during the era of the Hohenstaufen

For Italian schools:

• The battle for urban autonomy and the League of Lombardia
• Upper Italy as most advanced European region during the Middle Ages
• The Schools of Law (esp. Bologna)
• Lombardia as the Centre of Economy
• Presentation of Monza (Crown of the Langobards) and Pavia (place of the crowning ceremony of the Italian kings)
• The rise of Genua, Pisa, or Venice during the Crusades
• Normans and Crusades
• Staufer and Normans
• Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen

For East European schools:

• The German order state form the point of view of Eastern Europe
• Eastern colonization from the view of Poland, Czech Republic, etc.
• Hungary as country of passage during the Crusades

For French, Belgian, Dutch and Luxemburgian schools:

• Lots of possibilites as the Crusades had their origins in France and Western Europe
• Local examples for cultural influences from Byzantium and the Arab regions during the era of the Crusades (Le Puy,...)
• The contrast between France and England illustrated by the Crusades
• Great persons (the leader of the Crusades, Bernard of Clairaux, Eleonore of Aquitania, Philipp II. Augustus, etc.)
• Crusades of the Albigenser

For British schools:

• King Richard Lionheart, John Noland
• Contrast of England and France, illustrated by the Third Crusade

For Spanish and Portuguese schools:

• The Reconquista

For Greek and other schools in the area of former Byzantium:

• Byzantium during the Crusades
• The separation of the Latin and Greek-orthodox Churches in the 11.-13. Century from the orthodox point of view

For Schools on Cyprus:

• Cyprus during the Crusades; the Lusignans

For Turkish schools:

• the Crusades from the Seldschukian point of view

For Arabian schools:

• The Near East during the Crusades from the Arabian-Islamic point of view
• Aleppo, Damascus, other cities as centres of the Crusades
• Zengis / Nur al-Din / Saladin

For Israelic schools:

For Israelic schools
• The Crusades from the Jewish point of view
• Jerusalem during the Crusades
• Akkon
• The Settler´s city of Caesarea during the Crusades