Every Middle Ages unit has the same problem: how do you get a class from the fall of Rome to castles and knights without losing them somewhere in the 700s? My answer is a four-part animated series set to Journey’s Only the Young — plus a review game — all free on DuelingHistory.com.
Parts One & Two: The Hammer and the Horn
It starts at Tours in 732, where Charles Martel — Mayor of the Palace, never a king — holds the high ground “like a wall of ice.” Then we jump to Roncevaux Pass in 778, where Martel’s grandson Charlemagne loses his rear guard and young Roland refuses, three times, to blow his horn. Students also get Legend vs. History: what the Song of Roland says happened, and what Einhard says really did.
Review Game: Sound the Horn!
Roland is trapped. Every right answer blows the horn and brings Charlemagne one step closer. Get 10 of 14 right and the emperor arrives in time. (Ganelon, of course, is rooting against you.)
Part Three: The Castle
Charlemagne dies, his grandsons split the empire, and Vikings, Magyars and raiders come from every side. A lord, a knight and a peasant strike the deal we call feudalism — then we go from motte-and-bailey to stone, and take a field trip to Conwy Castle in North Wales.
Part Four: The Knight’s Code
Where did chivalry come from? Bishops trying to stop knights from raiding farms, troubadours inventing courtly love, and Lancelot riding to rescue Guinevere. Then Roland meets two modern “knights” — Westley in The Princess Bride and Edward in Pretty Woman — and the class decides: is chivalry dead, or did it just change costumes? It ends with a Sort the Knights game.
Meanwhile, at Roncevaux…
OLIVER: Roland, there’s a whole class of students watching us now.
ROLAND: Students? Do they need rescuing?
OLIVER: No — but they have a test Friday. Ten right answers and Charlemagne gets here in time.
ROLAND: Then for once, I’ll blow the horn early.
Free games. No login. No membership. No fees. Just a Hammer, a Horn, a Castle and a Code.
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