Skills

We continue the sacramental theme with a brief look at Baptism, the door to the Christian life. YOUCAT 194 teaches that Baptism is the way out of the death-dealing power of sin and into life with God: it frees us from original sin and all personal sins, makes us children of God, members of the Body of Christ (the Church), and heirs of heaven. The visible sign is water poured (or the person immersed) while the minister says, 'I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.' Because it imprints an indelible spiritual mark, Baptism is received only once. In the feudal world you are studying, an infant was usually baptized within days of birth — the most important moment of a person's life, far above any later knighting or coronation. Begin today with a short prayer of thanksgiving for your own Baptism.

A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a verb. There are two kinds. An independent clause expresses a complete thought and can stand alone as a sentence: 'William sailed across the Channel.' A dependent (or subordinate) clause also has a subject and a verb, but it does NOT express a complete thought and cannot stand alone: 'because William claimed the throne' — that leaves you waiting for more. Dependent clauses usually begin with a subordinating conjunction (because, although, when, since, while, if, after, before, until, as, though) or a relative pronoun (who, which, that). The subordinating word is the clue: it 'subordinates' the clause, making it lean on an independent clause to complete its meaning. Watch how they join: 'Because William claimed the throne, he invaded England.' The dependent clause ('Because William claimed the throne') depends on the independent clause ('he invaded England'). Worked example 1: 'When Harold heard the news, he marched south.' — Dependent: 'When Harold heard the news'; Independent: 'he marched south.' Worked example 2: 'The duke who won at Hastings became king.' — Independent core: 'The duke became king'; Dependent (relative) clause: 'who won at Hastings.' Mastering this distinction is the key to writing varied, sophisticated sentences, which is exactly what your writing assignment asks you to do.

Geography explains the Norman Conquest. In 1066, England was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon kingdom; just across a narrow strip of sea lay Normandy, a powerful duchy in northern France settled generations earlier by Vikings (the 'Northmen,' hence 'Norman'). The English Channel — only about 21 miles wide at the Strait of Dover — was both a barrier and a highway. When Edward the Confessor died childless, Duke William of Normandy claimed the throne had been promised to him. He gathered a fleet of perhaps 700 ships and an army, waited weeks for a favorable wind, then crossed from the mouth of the Somme region and landed at Pevensey on the south coast of England in late September. Meanwhile King Harold of England had just defeated a Norwegian invasion at Stamford Bridge in the far north and had to race his exhausted army nearly 250 miles south. The two forces met near Hastings on October 14, 1066, where Harold was killed and William won — earning the name 'the Conqueror.' Today you will map this drama. Notice how the Channel made invasion difficult (requiring ships and good weather) but possible, and how Harold's enemies in the north and south caught him in a vise. Geography did not decide the battle, but it set the stage.

You have learned to tell independent from dependent clauses and mapped the invasion that changed England forever. A quick self-check will lock it in before the writing work ahead.