Download The Feudal System - SD43 Teacher Sites

Mr. Spencer – Social Studies 8
Middle Ages Review – Study Sheet
Here is a review of some of the key concepts/ideas learned during this unit.
You may be tested on the following concepts and ideas learned during this unit. Study your readings,
notes and handouts from the “We-port” presentations, your “I-port” essays, and think about what
your character saw/experienced during the three Middle Ages simulations.
The Feudal System
 What is a hierarchy (ranks in society)? Explain the feudal system hierarchy, and give a modern
day example (what is the hierarchy in our school?)
 What were the advantages/disadvantages of the feudal system?
 How wealthy you were in the Middle Ages was not measured by how much money you had, but
rather how much land you owned.
 Duties of a vassal to his lord
 Duties of a lord to his vassals
 What was an oath of fealty (a promise to serve a lord and be loyal to him in return for land and
protection)? (We did at the beginning of our roleplays – the lords signed these contracts in return
for land)
 What was a fief?
 Medieval justice system – trial by ordeal; trial by combat
 Why did the monarchs and nobles have such a great life? Know details of how they lived.
 What was unfair about the feudal system?
Life on a Manor (think of the budgeting roleplay #1)
 need to be self-sufficient (live entirely without outside help)
 three-field system and crop rotation (= serfs know a lot about farming – still used today!)
 jobs of women vs jobs of men serfs
 Why did they have so many children?
 What duties did a serf owe to his lord? (remember your roleplay – had to work on the lord’s land 3
days of the week, fix roads, pay taxes, etc.)
 What duties did a lord owe his serf? (protection, build him a house, etc)
 Castle life
 What were two ways a serf could escape his slavery? (run away for 1 year + 1 day, buy his
freedom, later during the crusades)
Life in a Medieval town
 Guilds = a group of people who shared a similar skill/craft (think of the jobs the freemen did in
our Middle Ages game!)
 Know the steps in becoming a guild member and opening a store in town
o Stage 1: Apprentice (Age 7 – sent to live with a master craftsman to live with his family
and learn a trade)
o Stage 2: Journeyman (Age 14 – was allowed to work with the master in his store and
earn money. When his skills were ready, the guild gave him a “final exam” by having
him make a masterpiece. If he passed, he became a:
o Stage 3: Master Craftsman – the freeman is made a guild member and is allowed to
open his own store and train apprentices)
 Know the advantages of being in guilds (kept prices the same; made sure all things being sold
were the same good quality, since everyone had to pass a master’s test to own a shop; kept out
competition, because you couldn’t work in town if you didn’t belong to a guild)
 Poor living conditions in a town (crowded because thick outer walls prevented making the streets
bigger; no street lights at night = thieves everywhere; wood buildings too close together = could
Mr. Spencer – Social Studies 8
catch fire easily; no sewage systems = people threw their waste into the streets = disease spreads
quickly)
The Church
 Clergy = anyone who works for the Christian church
 Pope = in charge of the Church, given advice by a group called the Cardinals (when the Pope
dies, the cardinals choose one cardinal to become the next Pope)
 Archbishops are stationed in countries (Example: England), which are divided into religious
“provinces”, called archdiocese
 Archdiocese are divided into smaller “church provinces” called diocese, run by a bishop
 Priests run individual churches, called parishes
 Why was the church so powerful? (collected taxes called tithes, only they could read = could
advise kings; kings needed their support in times of war; could excommunicate people who
disobeyed them, sold indulgences and pardons)
 What were cathedrals?
 How did monks help pass on culture? (copied books by hand)
Knights and Nobles
Know the three stages in becoming a knight:
 Page – age 7 –sent to live with a lord = learned manners from his wife, a noble woman; learned to
play chess to learn strategy
 Squire – age 14 – sent to train with a knight – learned to use his weapons; fight in practice duels
with other squires; helped prepare the knight and his horse for battle; helped him if he was
wounded in battle
 When he was fully trained and had proven himself in battle, a squire was rewarded his
knighthood, and became known by the title “Sir”. The night before his “graduation”, he had to
confess and be forgiven for his sins by a priest. The next day, a special ceremony was performed
by the squire’s father, or his lord. He was given his weapons and was given the ‘accolade’, a soft
strike on each shoulder with the flat part of a sword blade.
 What was the Code of Chivalry? (ideals: loyalty, courtesy, courage, honour)
 Promised to serve lord for 40 days/ year in return for land and serfs
The Crusades
 Why was Jerusalem so important to Christians and Muslims?
 What is a pilgrimage?
 Study the crusades chart. Review why each group (pope, knights, serfs) wanted the crusades, and
the key details/results of the first, second, third, and forth crusades
 What were the results of the crusades? How did they change Middle Ages culture?
Why did the feudal system fall apart?
 Study the chart we completed during the gallery walk
 Think about the budget roleplay – who ended up the wealthiest? How would this change things?
 Think about the Black Death roleplay (hint: supply and demand)
 Looking back on the fall of Rome and the end of the feudal system, why do civilizations collapse?
How does a society that lacks reading and writing pass on its culture?
 Song – mistrels sing ballads to teach morals
 What makes a poem a ballad? (review what you learned in poetry)
 Stories through art – stained glass windows
 plays