Download sam knight humanities dbq on the life of a serf 61511

Name: Sam Knight
Humanities
Date: 6.15.11
6-C
Document-Based Questions on The Life of a Serf
Directions: Read each of the below documents, respond to the questions,
and compose the brief extended response to the Thinking Question. Read
each question that follows a text before you read the text.
Document 1.
A. “The serf lives poorly. Huddled together along the side of the village road
were the peasants’ huts. On a small manor there might be only fifteen huts,
on a large manor as many as sixty. These cottages were small, crude, and
uncomfortable. They had thatched roofs, floors and walls of mud-plastered
logs, and open windows that were stuffed with straw in the winter. There
was only one room. In the center burned a small fire, the smoke escaping
through a hole in the roof. The bed was often a pile of straw. The peasant
shared his home with his chickens and pigs who wandered about the house.”
Question 1. What specific living conditions of the average serf might be
considered unhealthy by today’s standards? In other words, why might
serfs have often gotten ill?
The cabins they lived in were dirty and uncomfortable. The dirt/bacteria can possibly carry diseases.
B. “Unlike the lord, the serf almost never sat down to a feast. His daily food
consisted of vegetables from his garden, brown bread, cereal, cheese, and
soup. Fresh meat, milk, and butter were luxuries. There were many wild
animals in the forests, but the serfs were forbidden to hunt them. At times of
bad harvests, many peasants died of starvation.”
Question 2. According to the above text, why was meat not an important
part of the daily diet [typical meal] of the average serf?
Because serfs were supposed to serve their lords and fresh meat was a luxury.
C. “The serf worked in the fields from sunrise to sunset. This back-breaking
labor left him exhausted. By the time he was 35, he looked like an old man.
Disease crippled and killed many of his children. When lords engaged in
warfare, the serf suffered. Sometimes is home was destroyed, his animals
stolen, and his crops ruined. The serf’s misery was passed on to his
children. They, too, were born into a life of serfdom, although some escaped
the system by becoming priests.”
Question 3. According to the above text, in what ways was the life of serf
and his family more like the life of the most miserable, wretched slave
or prisoner?
A wretched slave was more miserable because of the work and warfare. The slave had to work from dawn to
dusk.
D. “Peasants were often insulted by medieval writers:
‘Peasants are those who can be called cattle. They have such hard
heads and stupid brains that nothing can penetrate them. They have one
squint eye and the other is blind. They have one good foot and the other is
twisted. The devil did not want the peasants in hell because they smelled too
badly.
Question 4. Though the above “insult” is meant to be funny or amusing,
what about it is not funny, but is truthful and shocking? In other
words, what in this joke is terribly true about the life of a serf?
That their eyes are blinded and squinted and one of their feet was good and one was twisted. I think this is
true because of all the work they do.
Document 2.
The following document is adapted from the laws of a medieval English
manor called Dernale.
“When a serf dies, the lord [of the manor] shall have all the pigs of the
deceased [dead person], all his goats, all his mares at grass [milk cows] and
his horse also, all his bees, all his cloth of wool and flax, and whatsoever can
be found of gold and silver.”
“Also, the lord shall have the best ox and the Holy Church shall have
another.”
“After this, the rest of the animals ought to be divided in this way: if
the deceased has children, one animal for the lord, one for the wife, one for
the children; and if he leaves no children, the animals shall be divided into
two parts, one for the lord and one for the wife of the deceased equally.”
“Also, if the lord wishes to buy corn or oats, or anything else, and the
serfs have such things to sell, it shall not be lawful for them to sell elsewhere
if the lord is willing to pay them a reasonable price.”
Question 1. According to the above document, what evidence is there to
support the statement that serfs owned virtually [nearly] no property
whatsoever?
The lord of the serf gets the good/better items and property while the serf gets practically nothing.
Document 3.
The following document is from “Life in 999—A Grim Struggle,” which
was published in Time magazine in 1999 on the eve of the new millennium.
A. “In the world of 999, on the eve of the first millennium… feudal lords
ruled over western Europe, taking their share of the harvests of the primitive
[simple] agriculture and making the forests their private hunting grounds.
Poaching [hunting without a legal right] was not simply theft (usually it was
punishable by imprisonment), but a sin against the social order [of
feudalism]. Without the indulgence [permission] of the nobility, the peasants
could not even acquire salt, the indispensable [necessary] ingredient for
preserving meat and flavoring…. Salt could only be bought with poorly
circulated coins, which the lord hoarded in his castle and dispensed [gave
out] to the poor only as alms [charity].
Question 1. According to the above document, how did feudal lords
make sure that the serfs were kept in poverty [very poor]?
Without the indulgence, permission, and the feudal lords ruled over western Egypt.
B. “The nobility spent its waking hours battling foes to preserve its
prerogatives [privileges], the clergy [priests] chanting prayers for the
salvation of souls, and the serfs laboring to feed and clothe everyone.”
Question 1. According to the above document, who or what is the base,
or foundation, of the medieval social pyramid?
The serfs were at the bottom of the pyramid because they really didn’t matter to anyone- they were just
servants.
Thinking Question to Answer
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Definition of justice: “The quality of being just or fair.”
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Question: Was there justice for serfs during the Middle Ages?
 Explain and support your answer to this question.
 Use at least three pieces of evidence from the preceding
documents.
 Do not compose a multi-paragraph essay, just a well-developed
paragraph of at least six sentences.
There was no freedom for the serfs during the middle ages. They couldn’t eat nor take any free time or take
a “break.” All they did was work for their lords. By the time the serf was at the age of 35, he looked like an
old man. Where the serfs would sleep at the end of the day was in a hut with his family. Serfs also did so
much work, they that most serfs didn’t get to live at the age of 13. Children and other serfs had died. Thus,
serfs had no justice or freedom but there were still rules for the lords and their serfs.