Famous Men of the Middle Ages. John Henry Haaren

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Название Famous Men of the Middle Ages
Автор произведения John Henry Haaren
Жанр Документальная литература
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Издательство Документальная литература
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isbn 4064066446895



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       John Henry Haaren

      Famous Men of the Middle Ages

      Published by Good Press, 2021

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066446895

       Preface

       Introduction

       The Nibelungs

       Alaric the Visigoth

       Attila the Hun

       Genseric the Vandal

       Theodoric the Ostrogoth

       Clovis

       Justinian the Great

       Mohammed

       Charles Martel and Pepin

       Charlemagne

       Harun-al-Rashid

       Egbert

       Rollo the Viking

       Alfred the Great

       Henry the Fowler

       Canute the Great

       The Cid

       Edward the Confessor

       William the Conqueror

       Peter the Hermit

       Frederick Barbarossa

       Henry the Second and His Sons

       Louis the Ninth

       Robert Bruce

       Marco Polo

       Edward the Black Prince

       William Tell and Arnold von Winkelried

       Tamerlane

       Henry V

       Joan of Arc

       Gutenberg

       Warwick the Kingmaker

      Preface

       Table of Contents

      The study of history, like the study of a landscape, should begin with the most conspicuous features. Not until these have been fixed in memory will the lesser features fall into their appropriate places and assume their right proportions.

      The famous men of ancient and modern times are the mountain peaks of history. It is logical then that the study of history should begin with the biographies of these men.

      Not only is it logical; it is also pedagogical. Experience has proven that in order to attract and hold the child’s attention each conspicuous feature of history presented to him should have an individual for its center. The child identifies himself with the personage presented. It is not Romulus or Hercules or Cæsar or Alexander that the child has in mind when he reads, but himself, acting under similar conditions.

      Prominent educators, appreciating these truths, have long recognized the value of biography as a preparation for the study of history and have given it an important place in their scheme of studies.

      The former practice in many elementary schools of beginning the detailed study of American history without any previous knowledge of general history limited the pupil’s range of vision, restricted his sympathies, and left him without material for comparisons. Moreover, it denied to him a knowledge of his inheritance from the Greek philosopher, the Roman lawgiver, the Teutonic lover of freedom. Hence the recommendation so strongly urged in the report of the Committee of Ten—and emphasized, also, in the report of the Committee of Fifteen—that the study of Greek, Roman and modern European history in the form of biography should precede the study of detailed American history in our elementary schools. The Committee of Ten recommends an eight years’ course in history, beginning with the fifth year in school and continuing to the end of the high school course. The first two years of this course are given wholly to the study of biography and mythology. The Committee of fifteen recommends that history be taught in all the grades of the elementary school and emphasizes the value of biography and of general history.

      The series of historical stories to which this volume belongs was prepared in conformity with the foregoing recommendations and with the best practice of leading schools. It has been the aim of the authors to make an interesting story of each man’s life and to tell these stories in a style so simple that pupils in the lower grades will read them with pleasure, and so dignified that they may be used with profit as text-books for reading.

      Teachers who find it impracticable to give to the study of mythology and biography a place of its own in an already overcrowded curriculum usually prefer to correlate history with reading and for this purpose the volumes of this series will be found most desirable.

      The value of the illustrations can scarcely be over-estimated. They will be found to surpass in number and excellence anything heretofore