Great Schism -1054

Today, I interviewed Pope Leo IX.

Q: What was the Great Schism?
A: It was the split between eastern and western Christianity. The Byzantine church became known as the Eastern or Greek Orthodox church and the western branch became known as the Roman Catholic Church.

Q: What cause the split?
A: Well, in the Byzantine empire they did not believe the Pope had control over all Christians, so the Byzantine emperor appointed a patriarch who was teh highest Church official. They spoke Latin and we spoke Greek, their clergy was allowed to marry. And they also were not as big on Christmas as we were. The patriarch and I excommunicated each other, and we became rivals instead of branches of the same faith.

Columbus Leaves Spain- 1492

Today, I interviewed Christopher Columbus.

Q: What was your goal?
A: My goal was to reach the East Indies by sailing west across the Atlantic. Explorers before me have thought the world was flat, but I knew it was a sphere. But I couldn't go anywhere because Portugal would not sponsor me on this trip. But Spain had offered to.

Q: What made Spain sponsor you?
A: The Spanish were trying to strengthen Catholicism by removing the Jews from Spain. They realized that they took a part of Spain's culture with them, and hoped I would help restrengthen their nation.

Q: Did you ever find the East Indies?
A: I did! And when I returned to Spain, other explorers realized I had opened a path to unknown continents to explore. I helped the world to be discovered.

Charlemagne- 768

Today, I interviewed Charlemagne himself.

Q: When did you become Emperor of the Romans?
A: In 800 I was crowned by Pope Leo III.

Q: What did you do for Christianity?
A: I strove to create a united Christian Europe. I spread Christianity all over, and with the help of my missionaries I even converted some Saxons. Eventually, I told my people that in order to live in my empire, you had to become Christian.

Q: What about your battles?
A: I made 50 military campaigns to try to expand the empire. I never lost a battle.

Q: What did you do for the people?
A: Well my empire was so big, I couldn't keep track of everyone. So first, I split the empire in 350 counties, and had one person in charge of each county. I then sent more people to check on the head of the counties to make sure everything was in order. I also felt it was important for officials to keep accurate records and write clear reports. I could read, but I couldn't write. So I set up a chain of royal schools for people to learn to read and write and become scholars.

Charlemagne died in 814 but had extended Christian civilization into northern Europe and medieval rulers tried to take example from him.

Crusades

For my first interview, I'm talking to Pope Urban II

Q: Why did you help the Byzantine emperor if you were rivals?
A: We are both Christian, and when our Holy Land of Jerusalem is attacked we have to fight together in order to win. The Muslim Turks were not going to take Jerusalem from us.

Q: Did you win?
A: Yes. In 1099 we recaptured Jerusalem from the Muslims.

Since the Crusades were off and on for about 200 years, I interviewed Saladin from the Muslims.

Q: Did you ever retake Jerusalem from the Christians?

A: Yes, in 1187 we took back Jerusalem for the second crusade.

Q: And did the Christians try amd attack again?
A: Of course! It is their Holy Land as well. But they did not take it back. I did, however, let them come to Jerusalem and live here. But the Christians started fighting amongst themselves, and created different religions within Christianity.

Something good did come out of these battles and fighting. The European economies expanded because crusaders would come back from the Middle East with goods to trade. It also allowed monarchs to collect taxes to fund the Crusades.

Magna Carta- 1215

Today, I interviewed King John.

Q: Why were all these people mad at you?
A: I had a big of an argument with the Pope, and he excommunicated me. He also sent a papal order that said Church services could not be held in my entire kingdom. So, to save myself, I accepted England as a fief of the Pope and had to pay a yearly tax to Rome. To pay this money, I had to tax my own people. They got pretty sick of heavy taxes.

Q: So what did they do?
A: A group of barons forced me to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. It said that nobles had certain righs and that monarchy (as in me, at the time) had to obey the law just like everyone else. They also made sure that legal rights of townspeople and the Church were protected, and these rules and clauses formed due process of law. Parliament was created in England after this.

Battle of Tours- 732

Today, I interviewed Charles Martel.

Q: What made you go to war?
A: At the same time us, the Franks, were spreading Christianity across Europe, Islam was spreading from the Mediterranean. We were scared that they had already overrun some of the countries we had already spread to, so we had no choice but to fight them.

Q: What happened?
A: We met them in a city in France called Tours. We triumphed over them and stopped them from spreading Islam anywhere else in Europe, although they still were in some places in Spain. This gave us a sign that God was on our side.

William the Conqueror

Today I interviewed William the Conqueror

Q: Did you have an experience prior to being king of England?
A: While I was Duke of Normandy, King Edward died without an heir to the throne. A council chose his son-in-law, Harold to inherit the throne. I was not pleased, and told the council I was related to Edward and he promised me the throne. So I made an army, got on the good side of the pope, then sailed across the English Channel to England. There, I defeated Harold in the Battle of Hastings and was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066.

Q: How did you handle your land?
A: I granted fiefs to Norman lords and the church, so people could live there, but I also kept land for the crown.

Q: What was the Doomsday Book?
A: In 1086 I had a census taken to record every castle, field, building, person and animal in England. This helped us create an accurate tax system for our land. It's called Doomsday because it's just like God's judgement day where no one can escape if they are lying.

Rome Sacked/Falls to Barbarians- 410

Today I interviewed King Alaric.

Q: Why did the Barbarians move toward Rome?
A: We were trying to escape the Huns, who were a vicious group from East Asia.

Q: How did you sack Rome?

A: Well, in 378 when we tried to enter Adrianople, the Romans tried to push us away but they lost the battle and we won. This is when we noticed the Roman army was weaker than it had been. In 410, I sacked Rome from the Roman army.

Constantine the Great- 312

Today, I interviewed Emperor Constantine.

Q: When did you become emperor?
A: I became emperor in 312 after Diocletian under the Byzantine Empire.

Q: What was the Edict of Milan?
A: It granted freedom of worship to all citizens of the Roman Empire and created religious tolerance.

Q: What else did you do for the Byzantine Empire?

A: I started to favor Christianity more and more to try and get people to worship that religion. It eventually became the official religion of the Roman empire. I also moved the capital to Constantinople, which is known today as Istanbul in Turkey.

Julius Caesar/ Fall of the Roman Republic (100-44 BC)

Q: When did you and your army first set out?
A: In 58 BC.

Q: Why did Pompey ask you to disband your army?
A: He was jealous of how much my army was expanding, so he persuaded the Senate to stop me. But I didn't listen. So secretly, I led my army across the Rubicon River to Rome. I defeated Pompey and went on to control Rome.

Q: What did you do after that?
A: I forced the Senate to make me dictator so I had absolute control. I Kept most features of the Republic, but I was in control.

Q: What changes did you make?
A: I made several reforms to try and help our economy. I also created the Julian calendar (which we still use today).

Caesar's enemies feared he was getting too powerful, so on March 14, 44 BC, as he walked into the Senate, he was assassinated by its members, and the Roman Republic was over.

Alexander the Great 356-323 BC

Today, I interviewed Alexander the Great.

Q: How did you come to the throne?
A: My father, Phillip II conquered the Greek city-states in 359 BC. He had a bigger dream to conquer the entire Persian empire, but never got to live that dream because he was assassinated at my sister's wedding. So at the at the age of 20, I took the throne as an heir to my father.

Q: Did you ever take the Persian empire like your father's dream?
A: In 334 BC, my ships and I crossed the strait between Europe and Asia Minor. I won my first victory against the Persians at the Granicus river. That wasn't enough for me, though. I kept going and kept winning into Palestine and Egypt, then to Babylon in 331 BC. When my troops and I reached northern India in 326 BC, we faced troops on war elephants. Although we had never lost a battle, my soldiers were tired so we returned to Babylon.

Q: Do you feel like you changed any of the areas  you conquered?
A: I feel like I spread Greek culture to new countries. As the Greeks settled, they introduced the culture to these people in the new areas. I married a Persian woman, and encouraged the blending of eastern and western cultures as I realized that no one culture was best.

Alexander died suddenly of a fever at the age of 32. No on proved strong enough to take over for Alexander, so 3 generals split up the empire into Greece, Egypt, and Persia and eventually came the Hellenistic age.

Axis Age/Golden Age of Greece 500-300 BC

Today I interviewed Pericles (460-429 BC)
Pericles was a leader of Athens who was responsible for rebuilding Athens after the Persian War. He was also leader of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, but he died of the plague that spread through the city.

Q: Where did you rule?
A: I ruled the city-state of Athens.

Q: What were some of your accomplishments during this period?
A: I established a direct democracy in Athens. A direct democracy is when all citizens can help and be a part of the government. The difference between a direct democracy and today's democracy is in today's democracy, people indirectly participate through elected officials.

Q: What else happened during this time?
A: Greece made great advancements in architecture, art, science and math. A philosophy called humanism (reaching one's fullest potential) also came about during this time. Socrates created the Socratic Method, "a way to seek truths by your own lights." Basically, to ask questions to get answers. Another philosopher, Plato, created the ideas of a republic. Theatre was another important element in the Golden Age.\

Q: What was the Peloponnesian War?

A: The other city-state, Sparta, did not like our Athenian domination. So they formed the Peloponnesian League and we went to war for 27 years. We had a big disadvantage, because we could not attack Sparta with our navy because they were inland. But when Sparta came to attack us, I told the people living in the cuontryside they could come live in the city for protection.

There were so many people living in the city, a plague broke out that killed many Athenians, including Pericles. The Spartans won the Peloponnesian War, but it led to the decline of Greece.