Top+Homeworks

== =The TOP Homeworks from Year 8=

The Abolitionists
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Good points
He took Arcot and made Muhammad Ali Nawab and this made him heroic at home. Having taken Arcot, Clive then installed Muhammad Ali as Nawab which made him rich and gave him a reputation as a daring general. He seized Argot. “For 50 days the young captain inspired his men to hold the citadel, until a final, desperate assault spearheaded by elephants (wearing armour!) was driven off and the enemy withdrew.” He removed French influence from Bengal. He was very determined and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. He was a good organiser and planner He was an excellent soldier and is regarded as the ‘conqueror of India’ He forged strong relationships between India and Britain, that still last today. He set in motion the being of the British Empire.

Bad points
He miss behaved when he was younger and got expelled from 3 schools. He took great delight in threatening and frightening people and ran his own protection racket where he and his adolescent enforcers demanded money from local merchants as the price for not vandalising or burning down their premises. “As a young man he had been a thug and a bully.” When he made Mir Jafar as ruler, Clive took a lot of land and money for himself. He bribed Siraj’s men by paying them to back down in the battle of Plassey. At first things didn't go well for the young clerk, who quickly became bored with his job. He was greedy and very corrupt. He wanted everything for himself and liked to get his own way. “His fame, vast wealth and new found status, had induced feelings of envy and mistrust amongst those who mattered.”

Some people thought that he was a bad influence
I think that on balance Robert Clive wasn’t a constructive influence because he stole (or awarded himself) lots of money and land which bankrupted the land. He took the Siraj’s soldiers against the Siraj – which I don’t think as fair play. He also miss-behaved when he was younger – getting himself expelled from 3 schools. He did become part of the parliament – but left it so he could cause more trouble in India during the seven year war. I think he liked messing things up and not getting in trouble for it I think that on balance Robert Clive was a bad person because he killed a lot of people and was simply too proud and confident. He thinks he can get away with everything and he bribes people to get what the wants. However, what he did might seem heroic to some but in fact they really aren’t. Conquering land and claiming power by bribing and killing isn’t good.
 * Morwenna**
 * Guilhem**

While others thought that he was a good influence
I think that on balance Robert Clive was a good, smart man who sometimes let his greed get the best of him. I think this because he had all the right intentions a lot of the time and did a good job for the EIC and his country. He wasn’t particularly book-smart, but he was a good business man. Even if he was quite greedy sometimes, he still fought hard. Considering he got excluded from three schools and attempted to commit suicide twice because he was bipolar, he still managed to work hard in India even though this was a serious handicap in those days. I think that on balance Robert Clive was a good man because although he made mistakes, like everyone I think he generally tried to make up. He won great battles for Britain making him rich and powerful. I think that on balance Robert Clive was a National Hero. Because by leading and building relationships with Indian leaders who also wanted to kick the French out of India (remember the French where Britain’s enemy) it set in progress the being of the largest Empire the world has ever known. Britain became very rich which enabled in later years the industrial revolution. For someone to have come from a lower class and rise to such a high level would have made him enemies with some Aristocrats, as snobbery was the greater evil. Greed was not his motivation. Many merchants of the time made a killing from the subcontinent without exposing themselves to a fraction of the risks that Clive faced. This exploit won him the name Sabut Jung, or 'the daring in war' in India, as well as a European reputation. Back in England, Prime Minister Pitt pronounced the youth of 27 a "heaven-born general". After a life of empire building in a foreign field, Robert Clive was buried in the church of Moreton Say, the parish where he was born. His grave was unmarked and remains so. I think that on balance Robert Clive was a good man because he was one integral point in making India what it is today. However, he was misinterpreted as a bad guy by different, probably anti-Clive sources. I think that on balance Robert Clive was a good leader, but yet a troubled man also. Because, for starters, he very aggressively took places over which woulden't have helped the British get allies, would it? But on the other hand he made Britain much more powerful. = What they think of Sir Thomas Roe =
 * Megan**
 * Ben**
 * Courtney**
 * Billy**
 * Will**

** Letter to Sir Jeffrey Whiles (provided by Ben) **
** Sir Jeffrey Whiles, ** ** I must inform you of the details before you arrive in India. Sir Thomas is the ambassador at the moment, he was sent by King James himself. He is a proud and dignified man who is determined to open up the trade between Britain and India. I must tell you now though that you do not need to bring any soldiers since Sir Thomas is using peaceful means to get trade within the country. He respects the Emperor and the emperor loves the military power of Britain. ** **// Yours sincerely //** **// Sir Edwards //**

Sir Thomas Roe- Report for the Government (by Megan) A fter studying Sir Thomas Roe, I have come to the conclusion that he is intelligent and a rather proud man, however this should not be received as he is stuck up or snooty. When he met Jahangir he requested that he should have a chair to sit on, however no man except Jahangir ever sat there, so instead he leaned against a pillar. This is quite a self-righteous thing to do. He seems to be very confident and also very sociable. Jahangir seems to be quite pleased with him for being so social and how he can stand up for himself. I do believe that Jahangir was very impressed of Sir Thomas Roe’s capability to drink wine. He does not seem to lack common sense either, as I recall him saying, “Let this be received as a rule that if you will profit, seek it at sea, and in quiet trade.” He has very strong morals and seems quite humble. I quote him when I say, “My sincerity toward you in all actions is without spot; my neglect of private gain is without example, and my frugality beyond your expectation.” To summarize, Sir Thomas Roe is very confident, proud and intelligent, but however humble. He is in no way inhumane. He is an extremely self-righteous man, who believes in equality. Despite what some people may think, he is not snooty.

** Dear mum and dad, ** ** I have been learning about Sir Thomas Roe this week in class and thought I might tell you all about him! ** ** Sir Thomas Roe arrived in India in 1615 because the East India Company wasn’t allowed to set up a trading base in India otherwise. When Sir Thomas arrived his first speech was ** ‘I passed on until I came to a place railed in right under him with an ascent of three steps where I made him reverence and he bowed his body; and so went within it. I demanded a chair, but was answered no man ever sat in that place, but I was desired as a courtesy to ease myself against a pillar, covered with silver that held up his canopy.’ ** I think that he was making himself as important and as proud as possible – I don’t think he wanted people to treat him as a child. ** ** He worked on opening new factories and got on better terms with the government. Sir Thomas worked on the East India Company’s trading for 3 years before moving on! ** ** I think he was quite well known for his proud speeches like ** ‘I would sooner die than be subject to the slavery the Persian [ambassador] is content with.’ ** For that speech he was talking about the fact that he had to work for three years under the rule of the ambassadors. ** ** Anyway, I hope your well… Hope you liked my little fact file! ** ** Morwenna **

By Billy
I think that Sir Roe is somewhat overzealous, as he tried for days to extract the trade terms, and he was kept for testing so that he could become “the Mughal family pet”. However, he only wanted one chance, not too many chances, and he thought that he was given too many chances. He always speaks in elaborate sentences, and thinks that the empire is making him a slave, and he is overseeing the other slave traders. ** Sir Thomas Roe Report to the Government ** ** By Courtney Elsdon ** S ir Thomas Roe was born in 1581, near Wanstead, Essex, England. He died November 1644 in Bath, Somerset. I think he was a great diplomat and author who advanced England’s mercantile interest in Asia and was prominent in negotiations during the Thirty Years’ War. He was knighted in 1604. Tomas Roe began his diplomatic career in India as Ambassador to the court of the Mogul Emperor Jāhāngīr. In his four years of duty (1614–18) there he furthered the fortunes of the English East India Company. As Ambassador to Constantinople (1621–28), Roe obtained increased privileges for the English merchants trading in the Ottoman Empire. He negotiated a treaty with Algiers, then subject to Ottoman rule, resulting in the release of several hundred Englishmen captured by the Barbary pirates (1624). He also mediated a peace treaty between the Ottoman Empire and Poland. Returning to England in 1629, Roe helped negotiate the Truce of Altmark between Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden and Sigismund III of Poland, for which he received a gift of £2,000 from the Swedish king. The truce left the Swedes free to intervene on the Protestant side in the Thirty Years’ War. After spending six years in retirement, Roe was appointed chancellor of the Order of the Garter (1637) and given an annual pension of £1,200 (1638). He served as the English representative at three conferences: Hamburg (1638), Ratisbon (1641), and Vienna (1642) where attempts were made to end the Thirty Years’ War. Meanwhile, in 1640 he was made a Privy Councilor and was elected a member of the Long Parliament for the University of Oxford. In July 1643 he was permitted, because of ill health, to retire to Bath. Roe left numerous diplomatic memoirs, including the //Embassy of Sir T. Roe to the Court of the Great Mogul// (1899).

Report on Thomas Roe.by Guilhem
Let me first tell you that this Thomas Roe person is very wise and very clever. He was the ambassador of King James 1 and was sent to in 1615 India to have the permission to build trading posts and factories for the East India Company. He seems like a fair person like a while ago he said he was against private gain which he said last week ‘my neglect of private gain is without example.’ He is a very confident and dedicated person who will stop at nothing to succeed. He tries to learn about this Indian civilisation to know better about them. He knows what is right and doesn’t support the methods of Portuguese and Dutch who only use strength and manpower to control their land. A few weeks ago he said ‘It hath been also the error of the Dutch, who seek plantation there by the sword.’ I completely agree with him. He knows that to control this land you must try to negotiate and mix with the natives. He also tries to improve the life style of the natives who drink too much wine and live an unhealthy life-style. He is filled with determination and is quite inspirational.

= What important contributions did the Mongols make? =

Ali thinks:
The Mongols are known for pillaging and murdering others, but that's not the only thing they have done, they have also hired doctors to make new medicines, and they have made new roads in china so that helps even nowadays. But most importantly they have made the post office, which is a very important thing even nowadays, without post if someone needed urgent help and he had no way of contacting the other person, he would use post, even if someone lived in another country and that person wanted to give his son/nephew a present, he could send him one using the post, or if someone wanted to keep in touch with his parents when he was in a camp/school trip, then he could use the post. In world war 1 and 2, the post was a very important thing, without it, the Germans would of won because spies used it to tell their allies the enemies strategies so that they know what the enemy will do and that they can find a strategy against that strategy.

Ben thinks the most important one of these was the roads.
The roads connected all of the Mongol empire together creating possibilities for people to know people they had never existed, to trade and to discover new countries. Messengers connected the Empire together and soldiers could go quickly and sort out any trouble.

Guilhem thinks:
I think the best thing about the Mongols was how they brought trade between Europe and Asia to how a whole new level by improving the Silk Road. As most of the Silk Road’s land was controlled by the Mongols, it meant that there was nothing to worry about crossing borders of other countries. It was as if the Mongol Empire was just one huge country. This made the Silk Road very safe and more secure which also meant that the traveling became faster. The Silk Road made good relations between Europe and Asia and even Marco Polo met Kublai Kahn himself. The Mongols also built roads and postal services which also brought the Silk Road to a whole new level. I imagine the roads must have been bustling and filled with traders running around in all directions. I believe this is the best thing that the Mongols did as it stimulated the economies of their land and boosted the relations between the two continents of Asia and Europe.

Lauryn thinks
The Mongols introduced paper money which made it easier for people to buy and sell from each other. They also built many roads which helped to promote trade — while also were used to help the Mongols to rule over China. - I think this is the most important. Why ? I think it is more important because, it is more easier to have money than bartering. It promotes more buying and selling goods. Roads are great for transporting goods from one place to another. If there were no roads then it would be hard for transportation for the goods. People can travel more with roads.

Nic agrees with Lauryn:
I think that the paper money is the best achievement, because it means money can be transported faster and it takes less time to count. If the paper money hadn’t been invented then, it would have meant that humans would have run out of natural resources such as metal all the time. Now-a-days we can use metal for construction and household items. Another example is that if we had continued using gold then we couldn’t have had computers.

Will (and one or 2 others) think just creating the empire was fairly impressive – I have just added Will to represent this viewpoint:
I think the fact they actually managed to create an empire was enough, of course they would have a bad reputation if they took someone else’s country? I think they should have been given a break they cant be that bad, they achieved enough just in battles? Anyway that’s just my view.

Courtney chose Chinese medicine as a great discovery at that time
(From Lindy: //I am not sure how much the Mongols helped to spread it around, but it is really interesting and so that is why I have added it here//) I have chosen Traditional Chinese Medicine as the most important achievement by the Mongols because it is still used today. Acupuncture is used all the time in the UK and countries around the world. The story I discovered on researching medicine is really fascinating and below is how it all materialised: Traditional Chinese Medicine has been around for thousands of years. Although the first recorded history of TCM dates back over 2,000 years, it is believed that the origins go back more than 5,000 years. Apart from the recorded documents much of what is said about the origins of Chinese medicine is more legend than history. According to the legend the origins of Traditional Chinese Medicine is traced back to the three legendary emperors/mythical rulers: Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and Huang Di. Historians believe that Shen Nong and Fu Xi were early tribal leaders. Fu Xi was a cultural hero who developed the trigrams of Yi Jing (I Ching) or Book of Changes. Ancient texts record that "Fu Xi drew the eight trigrams, and created nine needles." Shen Nong, the legendary emperor who lived 5,000 years ago is hailed as the "Divine Cultivator"/"Divine Farmer" by the Chinese people because he is attributed as the founder of herbal medicine, and taught people how to farm. In order to determine the nature of different herbal medicines, Shen Nong sampled various kinds of plants, ingesting them himself to test and analyse their individual effects. According to the ancient texts, Shen Nong tasted a hundred herbs including 70 toxic substances in a single day, in order to get rid of people's pain from illness. As there were no written records, it is said that the discoveries of Shen Nong were passed down verbally from generation to generation. The first written documentation on Traditional Chinese Medicine is the Hung-Di Nei-Jing (Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Internal Medicine). Hung-Di Nei-Jing is the oldest medical textbook in the world. Different opinions date the book back between 800 BCE and 200 BCE. Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Internal Medicine lays a primary foundation for the theories of Chinese medicine which extensively summarizes the previous experience of treatment and theories of medicine, such as the meridian theory, as well as many other issues, including, physiology, pathology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and acupuncture. Some of the most specific discoveries of Chinese medicine were made during the Zhou dynasty, including the theoretical foundations of yin and yang, the five elements, the pathogenic factors of external environment as a cause of disease and further understanding of the meridians of acupuncture. The basic theories of acupuncture were established and stone needles became obsolete, being replaced by metal needles. Bian Que, a famous doctor/physician at the time of the spring and Autumn Warring States Period, was the first man in the world to use the pulse for diagnosis. Bian Que brings Prince "back" to life One of the most well-known stories talks about how Bian Que succeeded in curing the crown prince of the Kingdom of Guo of his fatal illness. According to the legend, the prince of Gua was very ill and as he lay dying, the court physician could do nothing to help. One version of this story has it that Bian Que was summoned to treat the prince, however when he arrived at the palace he found the crown prince being prepared for the funeral. Despite the funeral arrangements, Bian Que requested examining the prince. His examination confirmed his suspicion that the prince had actually gone into a deep coma. He gave the prince acupuncture treatment to retrieve him and then applied compresses soaked in a decoction of herbs. Within hours of Bian Que's arrival, the prince was able to get his feet. The prince was then prescribed boiled herbal compounds to be taken for twenty days, which helped him to fully recover. Soon the rumors spread that Bian Que was a miracle worker who could bring the dead back to life. Bian Que said "No, I can't bring the dead back to life, the prince wasn't dead. I only treated his illness, and that is what brought him around." Two Famous Doctors Zhang Zhongjing (150-219 CE), the most famous of China's ancient herbal doctors lived during the Eastern Han dynasty was known for his remarkable medical skill. He wrote a book a medical masterpiece entitled Shang Han Lun or "Treatise on Febrile Diseases". To date Zhang Zhongjing's theory and prescriptions are still of great practical value. It is still used as a standard reference work for traditional Chinese medicine. One of the most famous physicians/surgeon of Traditional Chinese Medicine was Hua To (110-207 CE) also lived during the Eastern Han period. Hua To was the first of the Taoist physicians, the most famous doctor in ancient China who developed/invented the use of anaesthesia called Mafei San, and furthered the limited Chinese knowledge of anatomy. He was the first person who used narcotic drugs in the world and his skill in this field was ahead of the west about 1600-1700 years. He also developed Five Animal Play, exercises that mimics the movements and postures of five animals: tiger, deer, bear, ape, and bird. According to Hu Tao the motion is fundamentally important to health, and by mimicking the movements of different animals; all parts of the body were exercised and stretched, thereby activating the flow of fluid and energy in the body. Two Important Books During the Sui Dynasty, Chao Yuanfang, together with others compiled a book called the Zhubing Yuanhou Zonglun (The General Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Disease), which consisted of 50 volumes, divided into 67 categories, and list 1,700 syndromes. This book had a strong influence on the later development of medicine, expounding on the pathology, signs and symptoms of various diseases, surgery, gynaecology, and paediatrics. In 752 CE, Wang Tao another well-known scholar of Chinese medicine wrote a book called Waitai Miyao(The Medical Secrets of An Official). This book consisted of 40 volumes, 1,104 categories and discusses over 6,000 herbal prescriptions. The Tang Connection The Tang dynasty is often referred to as the second golden age of China. It was during the Tang dynasty when China's first school of medicine was established. Sun Simiao (581-682 CE), the most famous physician of the Tang Dynasty devoted his whole life to Chinese medicine starting from a very young age. It is said that by the age of 15 he not only had a thorough understanding of Taoism and the classics of many of its sects, but also had also deeply researched Buddhist classics. He had mastered all the Chinese classics by the age 20 and became a well-known medical practitioner and was crowned "King of Herbal Medicine". The Materia Medica During the Yuan Dynasty, China was controlled by Genghis Khan's vast Mongolian empire. During the period of Mongolian empire Chinese medicine became increasingly specialized and the understanding of acupuncture was further detailed. In 1368 BCE, the Chinese regained control of their land under the Ming dynasty. Li Shizhen, (1518-1593 CE) was one of the greatest physician and pharmacologist of the Ming dynasty. His major contribution to medicine was his forty-year work, which is found in his epic book Ben Cao Gang-mu (The Compendium of Materia Medica). The text contains 1,900,000 Chinese characters and details more than 1,800 drugs, including 1,100 illustrations and 11,000 prescriptions, as well as record of 1,094 herbs, detailing their type, form, flavour, nature and application in treatment. This book was one of the greatest contributions to the development of pharmacology both in China and throughout the world. Materia Medica has been translated into many different languages and remains as the premier reference work for herbal medicine. 1900's of TCM The Revolution of 1911 saw the beginning of the People's Republic of China. During this time China developed a desire to modernise and its people began to turn to Western medicine. The government of the time proposed the abolishment of traditional Chinese medicine and took measures to stop its development and use. In 1928 the Communist party of China was formed, under the leadership of Chairman Mao and in 1949 the Communist party came to power. As there was very little or no medical services at the time, the new communist government encouraged the use of traditional Chinese remedies because they were cheap, acceptable to the Chinese, and used the skills already available in the countryside. Finally the Traditional Chinese Medicine regained popularity by the early to mid-1950s and the use of acupuncture and herbal medicine became standard medicine in many hospitals. Many hospital opened clinics to provide, teach and investigate the traditional methods, the main research institutes being in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. Unfortunately, Chinese medicine, as a reflection of traditional Chinese culture, underwent a period of extreme hardship during the Cultural Revolution. From 1966 to 1976, traditional doctors were purged from the schools, hospitals and clinics, and many of the old practitioners were jailed or killed. In 1979, the National Association for Chinese Medicine was established, and many of the traditional texts were edited and republished. In 1980, the World Health Organization released a list of 43 types of pathologies, which can be effectively treated with acupuncture. Today the traditional Chinese medicine with its many branches has spread far and wide, gaining popularity in all parts of the world. I think this story is really great how it explained about the importance of medicine. [Editor: //I agree with you there!]//

= Victorian London: = Description: This illustration was originally published in Dore and Blanchard Jerrold's work 'London: A Pilgrimage' (Grant & Co., London, 1872), a collection of 180 engravings that form a comprehensive portrait of 19th-century London. The illustrations of life in the port areas that shocked public opinion. Dore's work also appeared in the 'Illustrated London News'. Creator: Gustave Dore Date: 1872

This illustration of Victorian London shows how much poverty and suffering the poor Londoners who lived near the Thames experienced at this time. It shows how dirty the conditions were and how ragged and desperate the people where. You can see from the picture how the people (mainly women and children) were struggling to survive. You can see how a young child and baby at the front of the picture are forced to share one small blanket to try and keep warm. It looks like they are trying to sell old bits of belongings like shoes and watering cans in a desperate attempt to survive on the street. It shocked the readers of the collection who had never seen this side of London before, and actually many claimed that it was an invented piece of work, instead of a true picture of how the poor suffered at the time.
 * Chloe wrote:**
 * Look carefully and describe what it shows about what you have learnt about Victorian London.**
 * Then say what you think it shocked the readers of the book or the Illustrated London News.**

Life in the port areas in Victorian London was horrific. Poverty was everywhere and the people in the picture look very sad. The little girl with the tiny baby huddled together at the front of the picture shows how they are trying to keep warm. All the people in the picture are very thin, almost skin and bone and obviously starving. It looks like they are using a candle in a bottle to give light and maybe hoping that it would give a little bit of heat. The illustration shows just how depressing and cruel life was and how people struggled to survive. We have everything nowadays, warmth, food, light, and all the luxuries that none of the poor had in Victorian London. We are very lucky. The book included horrific illustrations of life in the port areas that shocked public opinion. Dore's work, alongside Jerrold's commentary, left people in no doubt about the degradation that existed in the East End.
 * Courtney combined both questions in one:**

It will have been a shock for all of them, because maybe some had not seen this particular area of London so for many people this could have appeared quite a shock, a lot of people will have spoken about it at the time it was published.
 * Will on commenting about what the readers of the book thought had some good ideas:**

About transport in the time of the Industrial Revolution:
By Kat Tommy and Guilhem ** You may need to go full screen to see them clearly? (Bottom right) ** media type="custom" key="11460260"

About James Watt and the Steam Engine:
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= About the Agricultural revolution = Y8Hiwk8 Important changes made in the C18th and C19th

1. Discoveries and inventions made farming much more productive. The invention of machinery enabled farmers to plant and harvest crops more efficiently, unfortunately this meant the loss of employment for some people. More selective breeding of animals produced fitter, healthier stock. 2. The use of land mass changed during this time. More food crops could be produced without land laying fallow. Open fields were divided up and enclosed, everyone could own land provided they could prove prior ownership. 3. Advice on farming began to appear in England in the mid-17th century. Farmers had the opportunity to visit agricultural events to learn more about animal husbandry and new methods of farming the land. Later, the 19th century saw the development of agricultural science, with the introduction of the earliest chemical and synthetic fertilizers and the opening of agricultural research stations in England and other countries.
 * Ana thought these were the important: **

1. New machines. During the Agricultural revolution new machines were invented and used. Machines such as ploughs and seed drills were meant to help speed up the farming process and save the farmers from work. It also did the job better and more accurately than the farmers! Jethro Tull invented his successful seed drill in 1701. It helped distribute seeds across the fields. In 1730, the iron plough came along which was the origin of the tractor. All these machines helped produce more food and work more efficiently. That is why I chose this one. 2. Selective breeding. This was used to develop bigger and healthier animals. It works by taking a healthy animal and then let it breed with another healthy animal. The baby would then have the genetics from its parents and therefore would also be healthy. That way the unhealthy animals would be removed from the family and replaced by big meaty ones! This was tried by farmers such as the Culley Brothers. This method is used on pigs, horses, cows and sheep. So, this brought more and better meat which is quite important. 3. Four field rotation. This is a method that farmers use to keep the soil fertile, control diseases that would kill the crops and maintain healthy crops. It works by moving different types of crops around parts of the farm. They stay there for a while and then are moved somewhere else. This helps to keep the nutrients in the soil balanced. I think this is a very efficient way of farming to make healthier crops. And it’s very clever. Also, the production never stops but goes round all year instead of leaving fields fallow. This system was brought into the revolution by a farmer called Charles Townshend
 * Guilhem has some different ideas: **


 * Morwenna thought: **
 * 1) Closed fields were a good choice for the agricultural revolution because when the fields were open people and cattle could trample each other’s crops. The closed field method meant that some people had more land and could grow crops more effectively and healthier because there was no cattle dung or hoof prints in the mud. People had their own space to grow what they needed.
 * 2) Mechanization was important because the land could be used to its highest standards and less people had to work the land. It made the hard labour of farming easier and machines did the work evenly and quickly. Now farming machines are massive and carry out almost the entire farmers’ workload.
 * 3) Chemicals/fertilising technology was used because it made the corn, wheat (or whatever that was growing) perfect every time it became old enough to be used. Fertiliser is used to make the plant more likely to grow fully and healthily which means that more people could be fed from one field of corn (e.g.)! If every corn field is perfect every time the farmer who is growing the corn can sell the product to grocers for money which means that the farmer can make a profit. This could be handy to the farmer because he could save money for the winter or buy land or a new tractor!

I think that the three most important changes to agriculture were that Britain needed more food, Farms were still run on the medieval strip system and new ideas and machinery were being developed. Also there was an effort to reclaim land especially the draining of fenlands. This helped move the emphasis on a low-intensity agricultural system based on fishing and fowling to a high-intensity system based on arable crops. The mix of crops also changed, replacing low-yielding types, such as rye, with higher-yielding types such as wheat or barley. The change from low-yielding crops to high-yielding crops was important because it enabled the farmers to grow more food to feed the growing population.
 * Scarlet had a slight different take on the subject: **

Some more good stuff this week - here is an example from Kat

What Ana thought:
He used the name Tudor (not Lancaster) as his family name – Henry VII used the name Tudor in order to bring together the opposing Houses of York and Lancaster. I chose this one because I think Henry VII made a good decision politically, in order to try and win loyalty from the nobility of England. He passed a law against "livery and maintenance“ banning all private armies – Henry VII passed this law in order that nobleman of England could no longer employ an army larger than his because he was worried he would be overthrown. I chose this one because I think it was a good idea for Henry VII to bring order to the many smaller armies created by other noblemen, which meant he had greater control over his country and also held more status since he had the biggest army. And along side increased foreign trade, he persuaded parliament to grant him all the funds from customs revenue – Henry VII wanted to encourage trade between other countries to increase England’s profile, but also to raise more revenue for the crown.  I chose this one because I think it shows Henry VII cared about his country and wanted to make England more prominent. It also shows his understanding of trade and how it can make a country more profitable.

What Guilhem thought:
Problem 1. To stop the war, Henry married Elizabeth of York under the name of Henry Tudor. He also got lots of his supporters to marry York supporters. The name Tudor was to unite the Lancastrians and Yorks into one new group.

I chose this because it helped to stop a war and it united two enemies and started a new family that would rule England for the next 100 years or so. It’s just too important to not write.

Problem 2.

Many lords across Britain had their very own private armies. Henry must have been very worried that they would start a rebellion and other throw him. So what he did was he replaced all these private armies with soldiers that served him. That way he didn’t need to worry about being kicked off his throne.

I chose this one because it is quit an important matter that should not be ignored.

Problem 3 Henry needed to make sure that everyone behaved and loyal to him. So, he made good use of fines. If lord disobeyed Henry, he would have to pay £5000 and 3 of his friends would have to pay £3000 each! This was very clever in a way that it kept everyone loyal and that it brought in good money to the treasury.

I chose this one because I think it is really clever and must have worked really well!