Medieval Food free essay sample

Medieval food Medieval foods and diets depended much on the class of the individual. For those living in the manor house, there was a wide range of foods available. Fowl such as capons, geese, larks, and chickens were usually available to the lord and his family. They would also dine on other meats; beef, bacon, lamb, and those living close to water may have regularly dined on salmon, herring, eels ands other fresh water fish. Fish would either be sold fresh or smoked and salted. Wealthy society could afford large quantities of milled flour and other meals made from grain. Dairy products such as cheese and butter could be seen on the manor table. Medieval peasants, on the other hand, had a much simpler diet available to them. Most of the wheat they harvested went exclusively to the market, and peasant breads were made from barley and rye, baked into dark heavy loaves. We will write a custom essay sample on Medieval Food or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ales made from barley would quaff the thirst, as would water drawn from the well, sweetened with honey. Peasant society got what little proteins they could from peas and beans that would be added to bread and pottage. Pottage was often favored over bread, because it did not require the grains that the miller guarded closely. Onions, cabbage, garlic, nuts, berries, leeks, spinach, parsley were some of the foods that would combined to make thick soup. Raw vegetables were considered unhealthy and rarely eaten, but anything that could grown, with the exception of known poisonous plants, were added to the mix. Lucky families may have added salt pork or fatty bacon for flavor and protein. Poorer society depended on these simple foods for survival. It was ironic that after the Black Death ravaged societies, even the poor could find wheat available. Medieval diets lacked vitamins A, C and D and were not high in calories, making the regular drinking of ale a necessity for most. The only positive part of these diets, were that they were somewhat heart-smart; low in fat and high in fiber. But the medieval world was usually a very hungry one. |

The Other Reichs Before Hitlers Third

The Other Reichs Before Hitler's Third The German word reich means empire, although it can also be translated as government. In 1930s Germany, the Nazi party identified their rule as a Third Reich and, in doing so, gave English speakers around the world a wholly negative connotation to the word. Some people are surprised to find that the concept, and use, of three reichs is not a solely Nazi idea, but a common component of German historiography. This misconception stems from the use of Reich as a totalitarian nightmare, and not as an empire.  As you can tell, there were two reichs before Hitler made his third, but you might see reference to a fourth. The First Reich: The Holy Roman Empire (800/962 - 1806) Although the name dates to the twelfth-century reign of Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Empire had its origins over 300 years earlier. In 800 AD, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of a territory which covered much of western and central Europe; this created an institution that would remain, in one form or another, for over a thousand years. The Empire was reinvigorated by Otto I in the tenth century, and his imperial coronation in 962 has also been used to define the start of both the Holy Roman Empire and the First Reich. By this stage, Charlemagnes empire had been divided, and the remainder was based around a set of core territories occupying much the same area as modern Germany. The geography, politics, and strength of this empire continued to fluctuate massively over the next eight hundred years but the imperial ideal, and the German heartland, remained. In 1806, the Empire was abolished by the then Emperor Francis II, partly as a response to the Napoleonic threat. Allowing for the difficulties in summarizing the Holy Roman Empire - which parts of a fluid thousand-year history do you select? - it was generally a loose confederation of many smaller, almost independent, territories, with little desire to vastly expand across Europe. It wasnt considered the first at this point, but a follow-up to the Roman Empire of the classical world; indeed Charlemagne was meant to be a new Roman leader. The Second Reich: The German Empire (1871 - 1918) The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, combined with a growing feeling of German nationalism, led to repeated attempts at unifying the multitude of German territories before a single state was created almost solely by the will of Otto von Bismarck, aided by the military skills of Moltke. Between 1862 and 1871, this great Prussian politician used a combination of persuasion, strategy, skill, and outright warfare to create a German Empire dominated by Prussia, and ruled by the Kaiser (who had very little to do with the creation of the empire he would rule). This new state, the Kaiserreich, grew to dominate European politics at the close of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries. In 1918, after defeat in the Great War, a popular revolution forced the Kaiser into abdication and exile; a republic was then declared. This second German Empire was largely the opposite of the Holy Roman, despite having the Kaiser as a similar imperial figurehead: a centralized and authoritarian state whi ch, after the dismissal of Bismarck in 1890, maintained an aggressive foreign policy. Bismarck was one of the geniuses of European history, in no small part because he knew when to stop. The Second Reich fell when it was ruled by people who didnt. The Third Reich: Nazi Germany (1933 - 1945) In 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of the German State, which, at that point, had been a democracy. Dictatorial powers and sweeping changes soon followed, as democracy disappeared and the country militarized. The Third Reich was to have been a vastly extended German Empire, expunged of minorities and lasting for a thousand years, but it was removed in 1945 by a combined force of allied nations, which included Britain, France, Russia, and the US. The Nazi state proved to be dictatorial and expansionist, with goals of ethnic purity that formed a stark contrast to the first reichs broad assortment of peoples and places. A Complication When using the standard definition of the term, The Holy Roman, Kaiserreich, and Nazi states were certainly reichs, and you can see how they might have been tied together in the minds of 1930s Germans: from Charlemagne to the Kaiser to Hitler. But youd be right to also ask, how connected were they, really? Indeed, the phrase three reichs refers to something more than simply three empires. Specifically, it refers to the concept of three empires of German history. This might not seem a great distinction, but its a vital one when it comes to our understanding of modern Germany and what happened before and as that nation evolved. Three Reichs of German History? The history of modern Germany is often summarized as being three reichs and three democracies. This is broadly correct, as modern Germany did indeed evolve out of a series of three empires - as described above - interspersed with forms of democracy; however, this does not automatically make the institutions German. While The First Reich is a useful name for historians and students, applying it to the Holy Roman Empire is largely anachronistic. The imperial title and office of the Holy Roman Emperor drew, originally and in part, on the traditions of the Roman Empire, considering itself as an inheritor, not as the first. Indeed, it is highly debatable at what point, if ever, the Holy Roman Empire became a German body. Despite a near continuous core of land in northern central Europe, with a growing national identity, the reich extended into many of the modern surrounding territories, contained a mix of peoples, and was dominated for centuries by a dynasty of emperors commonly associated with Austria. To consider the Holy Roman Empire as solely German, rather than an institution within which there was a considerable German element, might be to lose some of this reichs character, nature, and importance. Conversely, the Kaiserreich was a German state - with an evolving German identity - that partly defined itself in relation to the Holy Roman Empire. The Nazi Reich was also built around one particular concept of being German; indeed, this latter reich certainly considered itself a descendant of the Holy Roman and German Empires, taking the title third, to follow them. Three Different Reichs The summaries given above may be very brief, but they are enough to show how these three empires were very different types of state; the temptation for historians has been to try and find some sort of linked progression from one to another. Comparisons between the Holy Roman Empire and the Kaiserreich began before this latter state was even formed. Historians and politicians of the mid 19th century theorized an ideal state, the Machtstaat, a centralized, authoritarian and militarized power state (Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire, Macmillan, 1999). This was, in part, a reaction to what they considered weaknesses in the old, fragmented, empire. The Prussian-led unification was welcomed by some as the creation of this Machtstaat, a strong German empire which focused around a new emperor, the Kaiser. However, some historians began to project this unification back into both the 18th century and the Holy Roman Empire, finding a long history of Prussian intervention when Germans were threatene d. Different again were the actions of some scholars in the aftermath of the Second World War, when attempts to understand how the conflict occurred led to the three reichs being seen as an inevitable progression through increasingly authoritarian and militarized governments. Modern Use An understanding of the nature  and relationship of these three reichs is necessary for more than historical study. Despite a claim in the ​Chambers Dictionary of World History that The term [Reich] is no longer used (Dictionary of World History, ed. Lenman and Anderson, Chambers, 1993), politicians and others are fond of describing modern Germany, and even the European union, as a fourth Reich. They almost always use the term negatively, looking to the Nazis and the Kaiser rather than the Holy Roman Empire, which might be a far better analogy for the current EU. Clearly, there is room for many differing opinions on the three German reichs, and historical parallels are still being drawn with this term today.

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF E-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA Essay

A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF E-GOVERNMENT IN INDIA - Essay Example This makes it doubly responsive as well, but provides a healthy iv. Larger Urban area than rural area: Chandigarh, spread in an area of approx 115 Sq Kms, is a cosmopolitan with a mix of rural and urban areas, but having majority of urban area makes life simpler for planners (79 Sq. km Urban area and 36 Sq. km Rural area.), as basic infrastructure is available as per the urban services. Therefore any e-initiative can be started off without much additional infrastructural investments. v. Effective Power distribution network: Chandigarh has one of the best electricity distribution systems in India. Efforts are being made towards further rationalization of power tariff and energy reforms vi. Progressive IT location: Some of the industries that have already placed their footprints on Chandigarh are; VLSI Design, Software Development, ITES, BPO etc. During the year 2003-04 software exports from Chandigarh amounted to more than US $ 2.3 billion, which indicates towards its potential as an IT destination. There are about 3000 IT professionals working in and around the main parks viz. Chandigarh Technology Park, Quark City, and the SPIC Incubation Centre vii. Aware and Active Citizens: Literacy rate in Chandigarh is reasonably high. Furthermore, the Chandigarh Administration also targets that by the end of 2006; at least 30% of all school graduates would have the requisite soft-skills to be recruited into the ITES industry. Citizens have responded in good measure towards this end by offering requisite support by sending their wards for IT training. viii. Right IT infrastructure: Infrastructure is the key to any development in the society. IT initiative is no exception. The city is home to national level institutes such as Central Scientific Instruments Organization (CSIO), Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), and PG Institute of Medical Education & Research. The NASSCOM KPMG Study 2004 cites Chandigarhs strengths as high