Those who pray and those who fight Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Those who pray and those who fight - Essay Example Those who work comprised mainly the peasants in the society; the slaves and the serfs. The serfs comprised the peasants who were owned by a lord. Their duty was to work for the lord, in the field of the lords, in consideration of being allowed to use a piece of land by the lord for their use and that of their families. In addition, the lords had the duty to protect the serfs and to administer justice to them. Serfs would work for their lords for about 3 days a week, or more, during the harvest period, while they would employ the rest of their time to work in their own field set for them by their lords. Most of the serfs were illiterate and poor but religious. Their lives were limited on their fields and their village church. To add, the serfs were not allowed to leave the manor of their lords. In essence, most of them ended up spending their entire lives on one estate. Those that pray included powerful popes, clergy, bishops and priest. They had diverse religious roles, for instance, the village priests had the task to satisfy the serfs’ spiritual needs. This group also consisted of the monks who lived in the monasteries, and consisted mostly of educated monks and who were responsible for producing most of the books made during that period. The last order consisted of those who fought. During the medieval periods, wars were prevalent and were mostly fought by knights. Wars were expensive and since peasants could not afford arsenals of war such as horses, swords or a suit of armor, this group, therefore, consisted of people from the wealthiest order, that is, the nobles. They were mainly the land owners, living in manors, and owned all the people that lived in that Manor. They had military obligations, for instance, to the higher nobles, and were in turn owed military obligations by the lower nobles called the vassals. The nobility never worked, but were supposed to be fierce and warlike and they spent their time in military training and attending fight t ournament with other nobles. Each of the three orders contributed in a way to the aggressiveness of Christian kingdoms during the Crusades (1096-1204). The peasants worked on the lands of their lords, and though they were not allowed to leave, they contributed to the financial might of their respective lords, who in turn contributed military might to the crusaders. To add, they contributed directly in the crusades, for instance in 1095, Pope Urban II urged both the nobles and peasants to join him in the war against Muslims, with the mission of reclaiming the Holy land of Jerusalem. The Pope promised them a lot of things from salvation to wealth, and they, therefore, joined him because of these assurances. Those who pray were mainly the religious leaders, and who wielded a lot of powers. The pope for instance, commissioned and blessed the crusaders before they waged war against people the church had declared to be heretics, including a Christian King (Hunt 2010, 354). This order enco uraged their followers to wage crusades against the non believers. Most of them were sanctioned by the pope. For instance in 1198, pope innocent III declared a crusade against the Livs, and four years later, the Pope declared the fourth crusade to the holy land. The religious leaders exploited their monopoly over salvation, wealth and charity, and confession to promote crusades. For instance, during the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229), innocent suspended the crusaders monetary debts and promised that their

Performance Appraisal - Bill Blizard's Scenario Assignment

Performance Appraisal - Bill Blizard's Scenario - Assignment Example He wants the problems to be specified precisely so that he may be able to come up with the solutions quickly; however, this attitude sometimes alienates the clients. Bill understands the company’s commitment to use downsized, limited resources wisely, and has separated genuine problems from user-created problems caused by their particular application or â€Å"customization† of the software or their computer â€Å"illiteracy†. He has great expertise in controlling costs; however, this also has alienated some clients who have gone to other vendors than Crystar. Bill lacks people skills. Despite all discussion sessions, goal-setting meetings his employer has had with him, and the one sensitivity training class, he still lacks what needs to come up to the employer’s expectations when it comes to people skills. He did not attend the additional people’s skills seminars that his employer had suggested which shows his lack of flexibility in this specific regard. He does not show interest in those client problems about which he thinks that the client should solve on his own. He cannot handle his attitude in this regard. His roughness, arrogance, and lack of patience are explicit when he deals with non-technical clients. His extreme attempts to control costs have made clients complain about his unresponsiveness and unwillingness to solve what they perceive to be shortcomings in the software. Despite three quarterly reviews, he has only concentrated on his technical skills rather than learning managerial and supervisory skills. Bill needs to redirect his priorities to come up to the employer’s expectations. He needs to learn how to deal with non-technical clients who convey their problems in general terms. He should also learn to hide his frustrations while dealing with customers. He needs to learn how to delegate responsibility and to oversee those who must carry out routine tasks. He must take communication