Allia Paks-Blanco

Ms.Vanthayan
Global History
D.22

The Dark Ages:

This was a time in which there was no true governing and order the was only a king, the Church
and one did as they were told no real questions it was just normal living at that time. The bible
and Church were held above all things. This was life for a long time working and paying for the
Church to spite the fact they had their own stuff and things to take care of, and they had to pay
tenants and harvest their crops but still they had to give food to the Church. Then the Black
Plague came and started to massacre a lot of people, it was an anomaly still not even fully
understood to this day. But still the people of Europe, by the guidance of the Church, overcame
this tragedy. Then came the spark of the uprising, his name was Martin Luther, and he was a
heretic. Or at least that is how the Church viewed him after he disposed the 95 Theses. The 95
Theses was a list of 95 way in which the Church tricked, stolen, and lied to the people. After he
wrote this he then made his way down to the Catholic Church and nailed the letter to the front
door for all to see. Within seeing this the Pope then labeled Martin luther a heretic and this
sentenced him to death with no blood shed. A death of no blood shed was when the Catholic
Church deemed it that you would be either burned, drowned, or hang because all of these option
in their minds did not involve the shedding of blood. Then soon people began to change their
minds and ideas of the Church. The beginning of a diffusion in alternate religions, science and
logic, the empowered ment of a government, and a balance of the power of the Catholic Church.
In this project I felt the best way for me to really show what I have learned and what I

have taken from the topic and depict it in a drawing thus giving me a greater adding creativity
yet still getting the main gist across. This is why in one of my drawings I drew, The Black
Plague which was one of the ways I believe strongly that could be used as also a symbol of
everyday life during that time instead of just the time period of sickness. I added a bible verse
because in the dark ages the bible and Catholic Church as held above everything else. So if one
was truly trying to be historically correct they would have put some thing to do with the bible or
the Church. However, one could ask questions about why draw a girl sleeping on her bed with
people around her, as well as the people around her? Well actually the girl is dead, she was a
victim to the Black Plague. The people around and or behind her are a doctor and a nurse as well
as her parents. The reason I decided to draw the girl dead from the plague was because I felt that
because the people were already sick from the poisons of the Catholic Church and most were
being majorly stressed and being mentally pulled due to having to work for the church and there
quotas as well as provide for themselves. So this could also be taken to a deeper more symbolic
way by one saying how it shows that the dark ages were full of raze and ruin. I put the doctor
there because as well as in that time they were not really medically inclined they still did have
doctors in which had some knowledge still do to the discoveries of the crusaders bringing
knowledge from china and other foreign countries. But yet again the new found knowledge could
only go so far because no one could help them at that time. And lastly I put the parents in the
background because when studying and researching this topic I read how during the plague in
some cases children tended to die before the parents and some children were affected more
harshly by this anomaly.
In the second drawing I displayed a girl looking down as tears are flowing down her
cheeks, also [from the left to right] one can see a heretic being burned, the 95 theses written by

martin luther, and a more human looking angel with an american flag over her and tattoos. I
decided to draw the girl in the top left hand of the poster to symbolize Europe now, and how they
went through a lot of tragedy and despair however hey still made it to see another day. Granted
that their country still needs to grow they still have made it thus far and continue to grow
stronger. The heretic, 95 theses and angel was placed there because the heretics of that time
helped move the renaissance forward as well as the 95 theses in a way both created this
metaphorical painting of their time and showed them what life looked like at that time as well as
what life could look like. Some decided to go for the metaphorical painting in hope that it could
come true while some did not. This then caused a rift between, causing a huge fight between the
Catholic Church and the people other chose to create or practice other religions from other
places, or follow no religion and to pursue a study in science. This also led to the use of
humanism, an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than
divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of
human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving
human problems. Which also leads into the angel, I decided that humanism was a primary and
very important idea in the renaissance so I had decided to add a angel in however then it crossed
my mind why just put an ordinary angel why not make her show the changes through time. Soi
had then gave her scars and tattoos of important dates and images of events that had occurred
from that time and to now. I believe this was a good idea because its shows that the renaissance
was not just a one time reaction to get away from the church, instead they constantly tried to live
in a way in which can make living suitable for all. To try to never have a power craving
monarchist. Such as the Catholic Church and the pope. I enjoyed creating and revising this
project, I feel I really got a chance to show what I learned with more than a basic stationary

essay. It allows one to see more with their eyes of what others look at the events of this time and
really get a fresh perspective thank you for your consideration and farewell.