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Feudalism
For safety and for defense, people in the Middle Ages formed
small communities around a central lord or master. Most people lived
on a manor, which consisted of the castle, the church, the village, and
the surrounding farm land. These manors were isolated, with occasional
visits from peddlers, pilgrims on their way to the Crusades, or soldiers
from other fiefdoms.
In this "feudal" system, the king awarded land grants or "fiefs" to
his most important nobles, his barons, and his bishops, in return for
their contribution of soldiers for the king's armies. At the lowest
echelon of society were the peasants, also called "serfs" or "villeins." In
exchange for living and working on his land, the lord offered his
peasants protection from the outside world. Peasants fed their families
the crops they harvested, but a large portion of each crop was reserved
for the lord of the manor.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1. What was the role of the “Lord of the Manor”?
2. Who lived on a Manor and why?
3. Who was awarded land and what must they give the king in return?
Daily Life & Where They Lived
Peasants worked long hours every day, rain or shine, to ensure
that their families had enough to eat. Most peasants were farmers,
although a few were millers, blacksmiths, and tavern owners.
Peasant farmers were the backbone of medieval society. They
worked land leased (rented) to them by wealthier land-holders in
the nobility. The farmers produced all of the food, and paid most of
the taxes. Their lives weren't all hard work though. They had feasts
on holidays, and celebrated births and marriages. They rested each
Sabbath day and attended church.
Peasants lived in small towns or nearby farms on a lord's
manor. The average peasant lived in a two room cottage that was
constructed of mud-plastered branches and straw or of stone and
wood with a roof of thatch. The rooms had dirt floors and a few
furnishings such as stools, a table, and maybe a chest to hold
clothes in the linving room. In the other room, sacks of straw served
as beds for the entire family. A wealthy peasant might own a bed
stand and a few iron pots. In the winter, the living room was shared
with the livestock, who helped provide warmth. An open kitchen
hearth (fireplace) was also located in the living room. Windows were
small slits and didn't have glass in them.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1. Explain what a peasant’s daily life was like.
2. What was a normal peasant’s home like?
3. What would be the worst part of living the way they lived?
Children
Birth and infancy were the most dangerous stages of life for
people in the Middle Ages. Records from the time period suggest
that approximately 20% of women died during childbirth and 5% of
infants died during delivery with another 10-12% dying in their first
month. Healthy children were regarded as a gift from God. Most
families wanted sons, who would one day carry on the family name,
as opposed to daughters, who would require a large dowry
(valuable household items and money) when they married.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1. Was having a daughter or a son more preferable for people in the Middle Ages,
and why?
2. Out of 100 women, how many were likely to die in childbirth? Out of 100 babies,
how many were likely to die being born?
3. What are some of the reasons you think childbirth was so dangerous during the
Middle Ages?
Marriage & Divorce
Marriages of all classes of people were arranged by the parents of the
couple. Marriages were contracted to join two families together, and no
family would leave such important matters to be decided on the emotions
of the people involved. Peasant girls could marry as young as 12 and boys
as young as 14. Most of the time though, girls married around 17 or 18 and
boys in their late 20's or 30's. The groom was almost always much older
than his bride. The prospective bride and groom would probably have
already met and known each other for some time as peasants tended to live
in or close to the same village their whole lives.
Once the wedding was over, married life began. It was undoubtedly
awkward for both the husband and the wife for a time until they got to
know each other better. Mutual friendship and respect eventually developed
among most married people and sometimes the partners also grew to love
each other.
The man was the head of the household in the Middle Ages and the
wife was legally his property. A man was allowed (and even expected) to
beat his wife, so long as she lived through the experience. Husbands had
complete control over all of their wife's belongings and any other property
that was owned by the family. The husband had the final say in all matters.
However, many husbands asked for and heeded the advice of their wives.
Husbands were allowed to divorce their wives for many reasons, the
most popular being adultery. Wives, on the other hand, could not divorce
their husbands.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What was a wife considered to be during medieval times?
How did brides find a husband?
What was the average age of boys and girls when they married?
What became of the wife’s belongings and property once she was married?
What They Ate
Peasants had a fairly unchanging diet of baked bread, porridge, stew,
seasonal vegetables, and some meat. If a peasant lived near a stream or
ocean, he may have caught fish to supplement his diet. Otherwise, he ate
what he could grow. Peasants mainly grew crops of corn, beans, and wheat.
Each family also had a vegetable garden near their home that provided
lettuce, tomatoes, peas, beans, radishes, carrots, and other vegetables. Some
peasants may have had fruit trees as well. Peasants also harvested acorns
and other nuts and berries from the nearby forest. Peasant women made
butter and cheese from the milk of cows as well. In the fall, they slaughtered
most of the animals for their meat. If it was too rainy or too dry for a good
crop to grow, peasant families had a very good chance of starving to death.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1. What made up a peasant’s diet?
2. Where did peasants get their food from?
3. What do you think would happen if there was no rain or the cows died?
Guilds
As more and more people became craftsmen, people of the same craft
began to band together. They found that together they could do more than
any one of them alone could do, so they banded together and began an
organization called a guild. Each line of business had its own guild, butchers,
bakers, dyers, shoemakers, masons, tanners, and many others. The purpose
of the guild was to make sure its members produced high quality goods and
were treated fairly. These guilds became very powerful in towns toward the
end of the Middle Ages. They began to pass many laws that controlled
competition among merchants, fixed prices and wages, and limited the
hours during which merchandise could be sold. If a stranger came into a
town, he could not sell his goods unless he paid a toll and obeyed the guilds
rules. The guild also took care of the widow and children of a merchant who
died and punished members who used false weights or poor materials.
Guilds also ensured that new crafters were properly trained. A boy
began his career as an apprentice. His parents sent him to a master in the
craft he was to learn. For a period that varied from three to eleven years, the
boy lived as a part of his master’s household, doing menial chores and
learning his trade. After a boy served his apprenticeship, he became a
journeyman or day worker for his master. In order to become a master
himself and join a guild, he had to demonstrate his skill in his craft by
creating a “masterpiece” that was approved of by the guild. He also had to
have enough money set aside to open his own shop.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Explain what a guild was.
Was there more than one type of Guild?
What did a merchant have to do to be part of a Guild?
If you did not belong to a Guild what would you do with your goods?
How long would it take an “apprentice” to become a “master”?
What is something that would be considered a Guild in modern times?
The Role of the Church
During the Middle Ages, the Church was a major part of everyday life.
The Church served to give people spiritual guidance and it served as their
government as well. Now, in the 20th century, the church's role has
diminished. It no longer has the power that it used to have. During the
Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church became organized into an
elaborate hierarchy with the pope as the head in western Europe. He
established supreme power. The only universal European institution was the
Church, all the power within the church hierarchy was in the hands of the
local bishops.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1. Who had central control of European Society?
2. What role did the church play in society during this time?
3. Why do you think the role of the Church diminished over time?
The Crusades
The Crusades was a series of wars by Western European Christians to
recapture the Holy Land (Jerusalem) from the Muslims. The Crusades were
first undertaken in 1096 and ended in the late 13th century. The term
‘Crusade’ was originally applied solely to European efforts to retake from the
Muslims the city of Jerusalem, which was sacred to Christians as the site of
the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was later used to designate any military
effort by Europeans against non-Christians.
Religion was important to the knights in the Middle Ages. One of the
results of the Crusades was the founding of new Christian religious orders.
Most of the monks were former knights who fought against each other in
the Crusades. The knights did capture Jerusalem for a short period of time,
but the Muslims kept on re-taking Jerusalem. The knights gained temporary
power, but lost many soldiers during the deadly Crusades.
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What was the goal of The Crusades?
Was their more than one Crusade?
What role did monks and knights play in the crusades?
Were the crusades successful?
The Black Death
The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague, was a devastating
pandemic that first struck Europe in the mid-late-14th century (1347–1351),
killing between a third and two thirds of Europe's population. Almost
simultaneous epidemics occurred across large portions of Asia and the
Middle East during the same period, indicating that the European outbreak
was actually part of a multi-regional pandemic. Including Middle Eastern
lands, India and China, the Black Death killed at least 75 million people.
The Black Death had a drastic effect on Europe's population,
irrevocably changing Europe's social structure. It was a serious blow to the
Roman Catholic Church, Europe's predominant religious institution at the
time, and resulted in widespread persecution of people such as Jews, Slavs
and lepers. The uncertainty of daily survival created a general mood of
morbidity influencing people to live for the moment.
"Neither physicians nor medicines were effective. Whether because these illnesses were previously
unknown or because physicians had not previously studied them, there seemed to be no cure. There was
such a fear that no one seemed to know what to do. When it took hold in a house it often happened that
no one remained who had not died. And it was not just that men and women died, but even sentient
animals died. Dogs, cats, chickens, oxen, donkeys sheep showed the same symptoms and died of the
same disease. And almost none, or very few, who showed these symptoms, were cured. The symptoms
were the following: a bubo in the groin, where the thigh meets the trunk; or a small swelling under the
armpit; sudden fever; spitting blood and saliva (and no one who spit blood survived it). It was such a
frightful thing that when it got into a house, as was said, no one remained. Frightened people
abandoned the house and fled to another." – Quote from a doctor who tried to treat the Plague
Focus Questions
Write two complete sentences minimum for each focus question.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How many people died during the “Black Death”?
Where did the “Black Death” strike?
Did the “Black Death” affect just people?
What were some of the symptoms of the “Black Death”
How did the “Black Death” change the role of the church?
Think of and explain anything in our lifetime that would be comparable to the
“Black Death”.