reliability of sources

• Geschiedenis
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 1

Klascode

KZTIX

The Middle Ages

Reliability of sources

Learning goal

At the end of the lesson you know if a source is reliable or not.

What do you remember about last lesson? about the Manorial System? (take a look at your notes)

Feudalism

Manorial system

• Due to unsafe situation => population returned to countryside =>vanishing of the agrarian-urban society

• Most people lived on a domain: the estate of a lord: a king/ nobleman/ bishop/ abbot. 3 main reasons:

1. Protection
2. Descendants of Roman slaves
3. In exchange for food when harvests failed

• land was worked according to the manorial system.

Within the castle walls there was most likely a smithy, barracks for the soldiers and storage for food supply

The Manor/ castle: The house where the lord lived in.

a moat to protect the castle 

The land was divided into two parts:
1. land of the lord

2. land of the serfs

serfs: peasant who is bound to the domain where he has a field.

They were people that worked the land. They had their own fields, but also needed to work on the fields of the lord. They weren't slaves, however they were bount to the land. They had to work several days a year on the lord's land and also had other duties for the lords, like maintaining buildings, gathering wood, cleaning canals etc. 

Manorial system (2)

landowner devided up piece of land in two:

• land of the landowner
• land of the serfs

Serfs where people who were bound to the land, they were in serfdom.

Domains were self- sufficient/ autarky

reliability of sources

write down this text as the title for your notes about this lesson in your notebook. Underline it, so you know it's a new lesson.

What does reliability mean?

Course words, not curse words..

Reliability

Intentions 

Source

Neutral

write these words down in your Personal Idioms File (PIF)

Reliability = betrouwbaarheid

intentions = bedoelingen

source = bron

neutral = neutraal/ onpartijdig

reliability of sources

When studying history we use sources. It's important to know if you can believe the source or not. Is it reliable?

3 questions you can ask to determine if a source is reliable:
1. Who is the maker of the source and what are his/her intentions?

2. When was the source made?

3. How did the maker obtain his information?

only write down the red pieces of texts in your notebook

1. Who is the maker of the source and what are his/her intentions?

Most important question, most difficult to answer.

Who is the maker? What position does he/ she have?

Facts/ opinions? Viewpoints? With what aim did the maker made the source?

The more factual and neutral someone is, the more reliable the source is.

only write down the red pieces of texts in your notebook

2. When was the source made?

The less time there is between the actual event and the making of the source, the more reliable the source is.

only write down the red pieces of texts in your notebook

3. How did the maker obtain his information?

Was he present? Did he get his information by hearsay (= van horen zeggen)?

The fewer stages between the writing about the event and the event itself, the more reliable a source is.

only write down the red pieces of texts in your notebook

Let's try it ourselves!

Source 1 about the coronation of Charlemagne in 800

Source 2 about the coronation of Charlemagne in 800

When was the source made?
Which source is more reliable?

1. Source 1
2. Source 2

Answer

Source 1 is more reliable, because it was written no more than three years after the coronation.

Source 2 is less reliable, because it was probably written 25 years later

When you know Einhard was a friend of Charlemagne, does that make the source more, or less reliable? Why?

The source comes from a book that Einhard wrote to present Charlemagne as an example for other rulers. Does this make it more/ less reliable? Why?

Which source is more reliable?

	Most reliable (source 1 or 2)
with which intention is the source written?
When was the source written?
How did the writer get his information?

only write down the red pieces of texts in your notebook

answers

	Most reliable (source 1 or 2)
with which intention is the source written?	Source 1
When was the source written?	Source 2
How did the writer get his information?	Source 1

Reliable?

Reliable?

Sometimes things are not what they seem...

Reliable?

Made by: Albrecht Durer, 1512

How can you tell if a source is reliable or not?

Write down 3 things you learned this lesson

Ask a question about something you didn't understand yet during this lesson.

Dictionary

Look up in your dictionary the following words and write the meaning down in your PIF and an example of how you can use the word in a phrase:

- Factual

- aim

- biased