Invasion,

Third Edition

P l a g u e a n d
Murder
Britain
1066–1509
Aaron Wilkes

2
 Invasion,
Third Edition

P l a gu e an d
Murder
Britain
1066–1509
Aaron Wilkes

1
Contents
Introducing KS3 History 4 Chapter 4:
What is chronology? 6 How religious were people in the
A journey through the Middle Ages 8 Middle Ages?
4.1 Religious beliefs 58
Chapter 1: 4.2 A day in the life of a monk 60
1066 and all that 4.3 Was it fun to be a nun? 62
1.1A The story of Britain… up to 1066 10 4.4 What were the Wars of the Cross? 64
1.1B The story of Britain… up to 1066 12 4.5 Cuthbert the Crusader 66
1.1C The story of Britain… up to 1066 14 4.6 Chronicles of the Crusades 68
1.2A England before 1066: what was it like? 16 4.7 What did the Crusades do for us? 70
1.2B England before 1066: what was it like? 18
1.3 Who will be the next King of England? 20 Chapter 5:
1.4 Round 1: the Battle of Stamford Bridge 22 Life in the Middle Ages
1.5 Match of the day! 24
5.1A What was life like in a medieval village? 72
1.6 Round 2: the Battle of Hastings – the morning 26
5.1B What was life like in a medieval village? 74
1.7 Round 2: the Battle of Hastings – the afternoon 28
5.2A What was life like in a medieval town? 76
1.8 HISTORY MYSTERY: How did King Harold die? 30
5.2B What was life like in a medieval town? 78
5.3 How smelly were the Middle Ages? 80
Chapter 2: 5.4 Could you have fun in the Middle Ages? 82
The Norman Conquest 5.5 Has football changed much since the
2.1A The conquest of England 32 Middle Ages? 84
2.1B The conquest of England 34 5.6 Let me entertain you 86
2.2 William the castle-builder 36 5.7 Keeping in fashion 88
2.3 The Domesday Book 38 5.8 The story of the English language 90
2.4 The feudal system: who’s the boss? 40 5.9 Come dine with me! 92
5.10 Knight life 94

Chapter 3: 5.11 Welcome to the tournament 96

5.12 What was heraldry? 98
Castles
5.13 Enough of history: what about herstory? 100
3.1A How did castles develop? 42
5.14 Matilda: the forgotten queen 102
3.1B How did castles develop? 44
3.2A The siege of Rochester Castle 46
3.2B The siege of Rochester Castle 48
3.3A Who’s who in a castle? 50
3.3B Who’s who in a castle? 52
3.4 Where have all our castles gone? 54
Assessing Your Learning 1 56
Chapter 6: Chapter 9:

Contents
Who rules? England at war
6.1 Crown versus Church: the story of Henry II 9.1 England and its neighbours: Wales 142
and Thomas Becket 104 9.2 England and its neighbours: Scotland 144
6.2A Newsflash: murder in the cathedral 106 9.3 England and its neighbours: Ireland 146
6.2B Newsflash: murder in the cathedral 108 9.4A Why do we give the ‘V sign’ as an insult? 148
6.3 King John: Magna Carta man 110 9.4B Why do we give the ‘V sign’ as an insult? 150
6.4A Where did our Parliament come from? 112 9.5 Joan of Arc – the teenage girl who led
6.4B Where did our Parliament come from? 114 an army 152
6.5 Why were peasants so angry in 1381? 116 9.6 Choose your weapons! 154
6.6A Power to the people 118 9.7A What were the Wars of the Roses? 156
6.6B Power to the people 120 9.7B What were the Wars of the Roses? 158
Assessing Your Learning 2 122 9.8A HISTORY MYSTERY: The Princes in the Tower 160
9.8B HISTORY MYSTERY: The Princes in the Tower 162
Chapter 7: 9.9 Was King Henry VII a gangster? 164

Health and medicine

7.1A We’re all going to die! 124
Chapter 10:
7.1B We’re all going to die! 126 Medieval Britain: what changed?
7.2 How deadly was Black Death? 128 10.1A What does John know that Edwin didn’t? 166
7.3A Who healed the sick in the Middle Ages? 130 10.1B What does John know that Edwin didn’t? 168
7.3B Who healed the sick in the Middle Ages? 132
7.4 Was it dangerous to be the king? 134 Glossary 170
Assessing Your Learning 3 136 Index 173
Acknowledgements 175
Chapter 8:
Could you get justice in the
Middle Ages?
8.1 Keeping law and order 138
8.2 Trial and punishment 140
Introducing KS3 History
Thinking about History But as you know, times have changed a lot since
Before exploring this book, take a few minutes to think then. Today we have Parliament, elections, law courts,
about these questions. hospitals and education for all. We still have a king or
queen… but they have very little power compared
• What do you think history is?
with the kings and queens of long ago!
Image

• What have you learned in History lessons before?

So you must be wondering how these things have
Did you enjoy the lessons or not? Think about why
changed, and why they changed, and when. This
that is.
book will take you on that journey of discovery… and
Audio Spreadsheet
Image
• Have you read any books about things that hopefully turn you into a top historian on the way!
happened a long time ago? Have you watched any
television programmes, films or plays about past
How does this book fit in?
This book will get you thinking. You will be asked to
events? Which ones?
look at different pieces of evidence
Audio Imageand toVideo
try to work
Weblink
So what is history? things out for yourself. Sometimes, two pieces of
History is about what happened in the past. It’s about evidence about the same event won’t agree with each
people in the past, what they did and why they did it, other. You might be asked to think of reasons why that
what they thought, and what they felt. To enjoy history is. Your answers mightImage
not be the same as your friend’s
Video Audio Document Resource Spre
Pack
you need to have a good imagination. You need to be or even your teacher’s answers. The important thing is
– Assessment
able to imagine what life was like long ago, or what it to give reasons for your thoughts and ideas.
may have been like to be involved in past events.
How to use this book
What about my History lessons? Features of the Book, are
StudentAudio
Document explainedPresentation
Video here and
Zipon Web
Archive
Your lessons are designed to show you how, why the opposite page.
and when things have changed through time. For
example, at one time the king ruled all on his own. He
Key to icons
could do what he wanted. He might ask his friends and
Video
Presentation Document Interactive Other Reso
supporters for some help now and again, but ordinary – For file – As
type
people had no power at all. The king made the laws Source Film Worksheet History skills Literacy Numeracy
can't yet en
bank activity
and everyone had to do what he said.
A few people were very rich, but most were very poor. Interactive History skills
DocumentPresentationAnimation Zip A
Lesson Player
The poor lived a tough life. If they got sick they usually Be a Top Historian
died. If they didn’t work hard, they usually starved. Sometimes the tasks, ideas and
sources will challenge you to
Depth Study think and act like a top historian
In each book, there Presentation
Animation andInteractive
stretch your skills and Othe
abilities. – Fo
is a mini depth
ca
study that focuses
on a significant
What Happened When?
event or concept. This gives you an idea of what
These sections give elseAnimation
Interactive is going on in the world Less
you the chance to (perhaps in another country
extend and deepen on a different continent) at the
your understanding same sort of time as the period
of key moments in you are studying in the lesson.
history. It could also focus on a specific
Animation
topic and make links across
time, showing how things are
connected.
4
Mission Objectives Wise Up Words
All lessons in this book start by setting you ‘Mission Objectives’. Wise Up Words are the really important key words
These are your key aims that set out your learning targets for the and terms that are vital to help you understand
work ahead. At the end of the each lesson you should review the topics. You can spot them easily because they
these objectives and assess how well you’ve done. are in bold red type. Look up their meanings in
a dictionary or use the glossary at the back of the
book. The glossary is a list of these words and
their meanings.

Work
Work sections are your opportunity to
demonstrate your knowledge and understanding.
You might be asked to:
• put events in chronological order
• explain how and why things changed over time
• work out why two people have different views
about the same event
• discover what triggered an event to take place.

Fact!
These are the funny, fascinating and amazing
little bits of history that you don’t usually get to
hear about! But in this series, we think they’re
just as important – they give you insights into
topics that you’ll easily remember.

History Mystery
These sections give you an opportunity
to pull all your skills together and
investigate a controversial, challenging
or intriguing aspect of the period, such
as how King Harold really died at the
Battle of Hastings or what happened to
the Princes in the Tower. Hungry for More?
You might be asked to extend your knowledge
and research beyond the classroom. This is
a time to take responsibility for your own
learning. You might be asked to research
something in the library or on the Internet,
work on a presentation, or design and make
something. Can you meet the challenge?

Assessing Your Learning

In the book, there are three extended
assessments. These are opportunities for
you to showcase what you have learned
about the topic and to put your research
and analysis skills to the test. Some are
more creative, while some will focus on
extended writing or looking at sources.

5
What is chronology?
One of the most basic ideas that any good History student must
understand is something called chronology. Simply speaking, chronology FACT!
is the study of when things happened. And, as you know, it’s vitally
important when studying history to know when things happened. Only Historians also like to divide time
then can you begin trying to work out how and why things happened! into chunks and give names to
the different periods of history.
When historians put events in the correct time order, starting with the The Iron Age, the Middle Ages,
thing that happened earliest, the events are said to be in chronological Tudor times and Victorian Britain
order. One of the best ways to show chronological order is on a timeline. are all labels that historians have
These show the events of a day, year, whole centuries or even thousands of given to different periods of time
years, depending on the scale and length of the timeline. For example, the in history!
timeline below could be used to put your school day in chronological order:
8am 9am 10am 11am 12noon 1pm 2pm 3pm 4pm

And by changing the scale of the line, events covering a whole year can be
added to the timeline:
January February March April May June July August September October November December

ad 570
Prophet Muhammad
221 bc
born at Mecca
Building starts on
Great Wall of China

Around 2560 bc
Building of the Great
Pyramid, Egypt

ad 793
Vikings first
raid Britain

776 bc
First Olympic Games Around 4 bc
held in Greece Birth of Jesus

6
 ad 1969
Man walks
on the moon
ad 1415 ad 1666
English win the Battle Great Fire
of Agincourt during the of London
Hundred Years War

Around ad 1300
Gunpowder first used
in cannons in Europe

ad 1939
World War
Two begins

ad 1837
AD 1485 Queen Victoria
First Tudor King of becomes monarch
England, Henry VII
ad 1348
s
Killer plague, Wise Up Word
ad 1066 Black Death,
Battle of reaches Britain ad bc chronology timeline
Hastings

Work
Any length of time can be shown on a 1 a What does ‘chronological order’ mean?
timeline. For example, the large timeline on b Why is it important for historians to get events in the
these pages goes back to over 4500 years ago right order?
when the Ancient Egyptians were building
their famous pyramids. The period in history 2 Make a timeline to show either:
covered by this book, known as ‘The Middle a your school day
Ages’ is highlighted in the timeline. b your life
Try to divide your timeline into sections or chunks.
FACT! Why not label your sections? Words like ‘period,’ ‘age,’
‘era’ and ‘times’ are all common terms most often used
by historians.
Historians use bc to refer to the time before the
birth of Jesus Christ and ad to refer to the period 3 Think of different periods in history you’ve studied,
after his birth. We don’t know the exact year of perhaps at primary school. Make a list. Where would you
Jesus’ birth, but we use ad 1 to represent this time. put each period in the large timeline on this page?

7
A journey through the Middle Ages
What’s it called? 1066
Historians (people who study history) love to give names to
different periods of time. The ‘Middle Ages’ is what historians
in Britain call the time from about 1066 (around 950 years ago) Battle of Hastings: William
to around 1500. Another name for this part of history is the of Normandy becomes
‘Medieval period’. In fact, the word ‘medieval’ comes the Latin King of England
language and means ‘middle’. It’s called ‘Middle Ages’
because this period of history comes between the ancient
times of the Greeks and Romans and more modern times.
The Middle Ages
This book aims to take you on a journey through the
Middle Ages. It is a remarkable period, famous for invasion,
war, mystery, murder, revolt, plague… and more war! In
1337
fact, some of the battles and wars that took place at this
time are some of the best known in British History.
The Hundred Years
During the Middle Ages, new discoveries and inventions War begins
changed the way people thought and behaved, whilst
new laws meant that more people
had a say in how decisions were made rather than
it all being up to one man – the king. The landscape Black Death
arrives in Britain
of Britain changed too. Villages grew into towns
and London became a large and bustling city.
1348
The landscape became dotted with magnificent
cathedrals, huge stone castles, abbeys, and
churches, many of which can still be seen today.
Look at the timeline on these pages carefully –
it shows some of the big events, ideas and
discoveries of the Middle Ages.
1381

Christopher Columbus (an The Peasants’ Revolt

Italian) discovers America. A new
continent … and a new age!

Henry Tudor
becomes King
1485 of England after
beating Richard
1492 III at the Battle of
Bosworth Field

8
 1070S 1095
Crusades begin

Work begins on the

Tower of London,
one of Britain’s most
famous castles
Wales finally conquered
by the English

1283 1265 1170

1314
1215 Thomas Becket
murdered

Scots defeat the

English invaders
The Magna Carta is
agreed and signed

The first Parliament meets

Work
1 a When were the ‘Middle Ages’?
b How did this period get the name, the ‘Middle Ages’?
2 Finding out which year is in which century can be
1450 difficult. The easiest way to find out is to cover up the
last two numbers in a year and add one to the first two
numbers. For example, 1348 is in the fourteenth century
The Wars of the (cover up the ‘48’ and add one to 13 to make 14)
Roses begin a Which century are the following years in?
i 1170
ii 1492
iii 1265
iv 1095
1453 b Which century were the following events in?
i The Peasants’ Revolt
ii Signing of the Magna Carta
The Hundred Years War
iii The Battle of Hastings
ends, after 116 years iv Henry Tudor became King of England
c Now put the four events above in the correct
chronological order
d What century were you born in?

9
1.1A The story of Britain…
up to 1066
The British Isles (the correct term for the islands that make up
tives
most of what people call ‘Britain’) lie off the north-west corner
of the European mainland (see Source A). Incredibly, there are
Mission Objec
over 5000 islands that make up the British Isles, of which only Explore Britain’s early history
around 130 are inhabited. The two largest islands in the British before 1066.
Isles – Great Britain and Ireland – have the most people living
Categorize early British history
there, but other smaller islands – such as the Isle of Wight,
Anglesey, Jersey, Shetland, Orkney, the Isle of Sheppey and the into different periods of time.
Isle of Man – have lots of people living there too.

So who lived here first?

We don’t know much about the first people who lived
in Britain. People didn’t write things down back then,
so most of our information comes from fragments of
bone, bits of stone, fossils, pottery, and other artefacts.
From these simple clues, experts have built up a basic
picture of life in Britain thousands of years ago. But the
picture isn’t complete. There is still a lot we don’t know.
It’s like an enormous jigsaw puzzle with most of the
pieces missing!
The latest thinking is that for hundreds of thousands
of years, there were probably no humans in Britain at
all. But there were animals. These animals crossed over
a ‘land bridge’ that linked what we now call the British
Isles to mainland Europe.
Then, about half a million years ago, people from
Europe began to arrive. These were Britain’s earliest
immigrants! They were hunter-gatherers who (as
their name suggests) lived by gathering food (like nuts
and fruit) and by killing animals for meat and furs. They
moved around in small groups, sheltering in caves or
SOURCE A: Some islands in the British Isles have building basic huts. They learned skills such as lighting
very few people living on them – in 2007, Lundy and fires and making sharp flint tools (see Source B).
Piel Island had less than 30!

FACT!
In this book, the word ‘Britain’ will generally be used instead of the term ‘British Isles’
when describing the nation as a whole. However, the main island is now divided
into different countries (England, Scotland and Wales) and the second largest island
(Ireland) is divided into two areas (the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland).

10 1 1066 and all that

 Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
s
Wise Up Word
Beaker people British Isles Bronze Age
Animation hunter-gatherer immigrant inhabited
Iron Age Stone Age

SOURCE B: For thousands of years, hunter-

gatherers could easily cross to Britain from Europe
and back again because there was no English
Channel. It was a period of Ice Age, so the sea was
frozen solid. Then, around 8500 bc, the climate
started to warm up and the ice began to melt.
Over the next few thousand years, the land bridge
gradually disappeared under water as the seas
level rose… and Britain became an island.

SOURCE C: An early
settlement. The one-room
huts were built of wood and
mud with pieces of turf or
straw thatch for roofs. Note
the crops in the fields and the
livestock fenced into pens.
Most of the tools people used
were made from wood and
stone rather than iron or
other metals – which is why
this period is usually known
as the Stone Age!

More settlers
For many thousands of years, life in Britain remained
largely unchanged. More hunter-gatherers arrived from Work
Europe and others left; some fought with other groups
1 a Why don’t we know much about the people who
whilst others stayed isolated. Then, around 5000 years first lived in Britain?
ago, an important change happened. People learned b How have historians tried to build up a picture of
how to farm and produce their own food rather than life back then?
having to hunt around for it. New settlers coming to
2 a What was:
Britain from Europe brought wheat and barley seeds
i the ‘land bridge’
to grow crops. They also brought animals for meat,
ii a hunter-gatherer
including pigs, sheep and goats, and they owned tame
iii the Stone Age?
dogs too. They built more permanent homes and cleared b What happened to Britain’s ‘land bridge’?
large areas of woodland for farming (see Source C).
1 1066 and all that 11
1. 1B The story of Britain… up to 1066
The Bronze Age
In about 2500 bc a new wave of settlers began arriving
in Britain from central Europe. They were known as the SOURCE A:
Beaker people because of the decorated pottery they This beaker was
used (see Source A). The Beaker people knew how to found on a Bronze
make things out of copper and gold. When tin was added Age burial site
to copper it made bronze… so the time of the Beaker near Haddington,
people is often known as the Bronze Age. Soon, tools and Scotland.
weapons made from metal replaced the ones made from
stone and wood. The Beaker people also introduced the
first alcoholic drink to Britain (a kind of beer made from
barley) and the wealthy women wore jewellery, pinned
their hair up with decorated pins and wore woollen
clothes instead of animal skins. They may also have tamed
wild horses for riding.

After the Bronze Age The Celts

Over the next few thousand Around 500 bc tribes from central Europe, known as Celts,
years, more and more different began to settle in Britain. The tribes fought brutally with each
people arrived in Britain. Some other… and with the tribes that were already settled in Britain.
came peacefully, whilst others
were hostile invaders. Some came
The Celts built forts
for only a short time but others The Celts farmed and introduced
settled for good. All of these new the land bagpipes to Britain
groups of people left their mark on
Britain. Study each group carefully,
thinking about how each group
Celts wore shirts
helped to shape the nation.
and cloaks that were
colourfully dyed and
embroidered
What Happened 8 The Celts were proud of
00bc
When? their appearance and kept
Around 800 bc, people began themselves clean using
special soaps and perfumes
to make weapons and tools
from iron. As a result, this period
in British history – up until the Tribal business
Roman invasion in ad 43 – is was done at yearly
assemblies – land
sometimes called the Iron Age. Celtic priests (druids)
disputes were settled,
were in charge of
accused criminals
religious rituals. Some of
went on trial and
their traditions survive
people were voted into
today – Halloween and
important positions
May Day, for example

12 1 1066 and all that

 The Romans Doc
The Romans, from Italy, invaded Britain in ad 43… and
soon conquered most of the British tribes. The Romans
stayed for around 400 years!
Pres

The Roman army was made

up of Gauls (from France), Inte
Germans and Hungarians; there Much of our language
is also evidence of a Roman and some laws can
settlement of black Africans be traced back to the
near York Romans
Anim

Many of our main roads are

based on old Roman roads
Romans were the first in
Britain to use calendars,
coins, glass, and bricks

The Romans introduced

Many Roman towns are still cabbages, peas, wine,
important towns today – apples, grapes, turnips,
for example, Chester, York, carrots, and cats!
Bath, Gloucester, Lincoln,
Colchester, and St Albans

FACT! Work
1 a Put the following periods in history in the correct
The Romans were the first people to use the name chronological order:
‘Britannia’ for Britain. The name was based on the
Bronze Age Iron Age Stone Age
word ‘Pretannia’, which is what the Ancient Greeks
called the British Isles because they thought a Celtic b How did each of these periods get its name?
tribe called the ‘Pretani’ lived there. In fact, the Pretani c Why do you think historians give names to different
tribe lived mainly in Ireland – but the name Pretannia periods in history?
stuck, and later became Britannia, and then Britain! 2 How did Britain get its name?

1 1066 and all that 13

1. 1C The story of Britain… up to 1066 Image

The Romans leave… but more SOURCE A: This Anglo- Audio

invaders arrive Saxon artefact is called the
By ad 401, the Romans who were based in Alfred Jewel and is made of
gold and crystal. Around
Britain were called back to Italy to defend their
the edge it reads ‘Alfred
homeland from invasion. The British who had had me made’. A long stick Video
lived under Roman rule for hundreds of years fitted into the bottom. The
were left to fend for themselves… and it didn’t artefact then became a
take long for new tribes from abroad to invade pointer for following words
Britain. Around ad 450, invaders came by boat in a book.
from Denmark and northern Germany and were Document
called Angles, Saxons and Jutes. They soon
became known as Anglo-Saxons, and after
fighting with the British tribes, began to settle
and live here. Presentation

The Anglo-Saxons
Many of our towns were created and
Interactive
The Anglo-Saxons drove many of the named by Anglo-Saxons – if your town
British tribes into Wales, Cornwall, Cumbria, ends in ‘-ton, ‘-wich’, ‘-worth’, ‘-burn’, ‘-hurst’,
and Scotland or ‘-ham’ then Anglo-Saxons probably
lived there originally

Animation
Before converting to Christianity
Anglo-Saxons worshipped many Anglo-Saxons were excellent farmers
gods, and some can be seen in our who grew rye, barley, wheat, oats, and
days of the week: vegetables. A good harvest meant
food for the winter – and a bad one
• Tiw (god of combat) = Tuesday could mean starvation!
• Woden (god of war and wisdom) =
Wodensday or Wednesday
• Thor (protector of mankind) =
Thorsday or Thursday Powerful tribal leaders became local
• Freya (goddess of love and beauty) kings who fought other local kings to
= Friday get more power. The strongest were
called ‘Bretwalda’ or ‘Ruler of Britain’.
These included King Ethelbert (died in
The Anglo-Saxons gave ad 616) and Edwin (died about ad 633)
England its name – ‘Angle-
land’, which means ‘land of
the Angles’, later England
Lots of our counties are named after the
Anglo-Saxons. East Anglia is an obvious one,
but others include: Sussex, the kingdom
Anglo-Saxon is one of the key
of the South Saxons; Essex, the land of the
‘base’ languages of English –
East Saxons; and Middlesex, the home of
bed, cat, dog, tree, lick, jump,
the Middle Saxons. Saxons who lived on the
hunt, fox, and fart are all
south bank of the River Thames were known
words of Anglo-Saxon origin
as the Saxons of the ‘south ridge’, later Surrey

14 1 1066 and all that

 Here come the kilometres
Vikings!
In the late eighth century the 0 250
Anglo-Saxons faced invasion
from across the North Sea
by Vikings. The Vikings never N
conquered the whole of
Britain, but took over much Image Spreadsh

of the north and east, where

many settled. A Viking called
Canute even became King of
England in 1016! Audio Weblink

SOURCE B: This map shows the routes travelled

by some of Britain’s main invaders and settlers.
Video Resource
– Assessm
What Happened When? ad599
From the late Like the Anglo-
eighth century, In around ad 599, an early form of chess
Saxons before
Vikings arrived them, they were
was invented in India.
from Denmark, looking for land to Document Zip Archiv
Norway and settle on, but also
Sweden for riches! Work
1 How did England and Scotland get their names?
2 Look at Source A.
Presentation Other
a In your own words, describe the object shown. – For file
can't ye
Some Vikings b Think carefully, does the Alfred Jewel tell us
attacked and went anything about Anglo-Saxon Britain and the
home, others people who lived there? Give reasons for your
stayed – they answer. Interactive Lesson Pl
settled in Ireland,
Scotland and parts 3 Match the tribe with its description:
of Wales
Celts Arrived in ad 43 from Italy and ruled
for around 400 years
Animation
Romans An Irish tribe that invaded Scotland
Anglo-Saxons Began raiding Britain after ad 800
Today, places ending in ‘-by’ and Picts Settled in Britain about 500 bc
‘-thorpe’ were probably named
by Vikings. ‘By’ is the Viking word
Scots A Scottish tribe
for ‘settlement’ and ‘thorpe’ Vikings Arrived from Denmark and northern
means ‘smaller village’ Germany after the Romans left
4 a Create a mind-map with the title, ‘What did the
foreign invaders and settlers bring to Britain?’
FACT! Each branch of the mind-map should outline the
contribution and impact of the different groups
At this time, the Scots (an Irish tribe) began to settle in of invaders and settlers – Celts, Romans, Anglo-
what we now call Scotland. They fought with the Picts Saxons, and Vikings.
who already lived there. Eventually the tribes joined, b In your opinion, did some groups contribute more
but it was the Scots who the country was named after. than others? Explain your answer.

1 1066 and all that 15

1.2A England before 1066:
what was it like?
Imagine this: a foreign army invades England. The
tives
invaders kill the English King – and replace him with Mission Objec
their own king. Most English people with important jobs
have their jobs taken by the invaders. Land is taken from Find out how England got its name.
the English people who own it and given to the friends Investigate what eleventh-century
of the new foreign king. The new rulers treat the English England was like.
like slaves and punish them if they object or don’t follow
Identify who ruled England in the
the new rules. Most old English buildings are pulled
years up to 1066.
down and replaced by new ones built by the invaders.
Finally, the invaders introduce a new language.

Surely this could never happen! Surely this has never happened!
Well it did in 1066, when an army from Normandy (an area in
northern France) invaded England. Not all of the things listed above
happened straight away, but they definitely happened within a few
years. Indeed, after 1066, England was never the same again.
But in order to understand just how amazing the changes were,
and the dramatic impact they had on England, we first need to
look at what England, Scotland and Wales were like before 1066.

Scotland was a completely separate country

from England, ruled by its own king.

SOURCE A: Edward the Confessor, King

of England from 1042–1066 is shown being
crowned in this manuscript from the 1250s.

SOURCE B: A map showing the eight largest

Wales, at this time, was divided into a number of kingdoms, towns in England in 1066. The key also shows the
each ruled by a powerful local leader or king. Like England, names of King Edward’s earls and the areas they
Wales had been invaded by Romans and Vikings. helped him run.

16 1 1066 and all that

Who ruled?
s
By 1065, England was a country that contained quite a mixture of Wise Up Word
different groups whose ancestors came from all sorts of different
places. However, despite occasional tensions between rival groups, chronicle earldom evidence
England was peacefully united under one king – a man named
Edward! (see Source A).
King Edward was helped in his role by lots of different people.
Some were from rich, important families who looked after an area
of England called an earldom (see Source B). But King Edward ‘The English wore short garments,
also took advice from some friends he had in an area of France reaching to the knees. They had
called Normandy. Edward’s mother was from Normandy and he’d short hair, their beards shaven;
spent lots of Image
time there after Vikings had invaded and taken over
Spreadsheet their arms covered with gold
large parts of England when he was young. bracelets; their skin covered with
So how many people were there? pictured designs. Drinking parties
The population of the whole of England was about were common and they drank
1.5 million people.
Audio Nearly everybody worked as farmers on land
Weblink until they were sick. Drunkenness
that had been cleared but much of England was still covered by weakens the human mind and they
forests. People lived in small villages and probably spent most
often fought with fury rather than
of their lives there. There were few towns – only about 15 with
more than 1000 people living there. And only eightResource
towns had a
with military skill.’
Video Package
population of more than 3000 (see Source B). – Assessment/Homework/Assignment

SOURCE D: A description of the English

SOURCE C: This image from a medieval by a monk in 1130.
Document manuscript shows how farmers used to
Zip Archive
prepare a field for crops.

Work
Presentation Other 1 a Who ruled England in 1065?
– For file types/resources b
we Who helped him rule?
can't yet envisage
2 Write a sentence or two about how Wales
and Scotland were ruled at this time.
Interactive 3 Read
Lesson Player (short term plan)Source D.
a How does the person who wrote the
source describe the English?
b Do you think the writer liked the
English? Give reasons for your answer.
Animation

1 1066 and all that 17

1. 2B England before 1066: what was it like?

How rich was England? FACT!

The rich were very rich and the poor were very poor. Out of every 100
people, about two were rich. They made their money from the land they Imagine your life being
owned (because people paid them rent to live on it) or from trading in all threatened by a graze or cut!
sorts of goods, some of which are shown in Source A. Some men made so People often died of small
much money they built fabulous homes and churches and lived in luxury. wounds and infections because
By contrast, life was very hard for the poor. Each family had to grow its there were few medicines.
own food – and there were no shops like today where we can buy more if
we run out. If the harvest was bad, a family might have to eat roots, leaves,
wild berries, and any creatures they could catch.

SOURCE A: This map shows the goods produced

in medieval Britain and where they came from.
Fish Lots of fish
stocked the seas
Churches and monasteries around England.
Full of jewels and other SOURCE B: Anglo-Saxon coins. The money
valuable items, they were system in 1066 was used in England until
also centres of learning 1971. The currency was pounds (£), shillings (s)
where monks wrote about
and pence (d). There were 12d in a shilling and
famous historical events.
20s in a pound.

Salt Cheshire’s salt mines

supplied vast quantities Wheat Wheat and other
of salt, which was used to crops such as barley
preserve food. and oats were grown on
England’s fertile land.

Lead Valuable metal, used by Wool Large flocks of sheep were

the Romans to make pipes. kept and their wool and the
cloth made from it were sold all
Silver A precious metal, over Europe.
mined in several places in
England. Millions of silver Iron Used to make
coins were used for trade. tools and weapons.

Tin Cornwall’s tin Honey Produced

mines are said to all over the country,
be one of the main it was used as
reasons why the a medicine, an
Romans invaded ingredient in beer
Britain! By 1066, Copper Combined with tin to and as a sweetener.
England supplied make bronze and then used
most of Europe’s tin. to make tools and jewellery.
SOURCE C: A page
from a monk’s chronicle.

18 1 1066 and all that

Were people religious?
The simple answer is ‘yes’. Everyone was a Christian and went to church. In
monasteries (large buildings where monks lived) monks kept huge official
diaries called chronicles. They wrote about religion, politics, history, towns,
kings, gossip, and even the weather.

How do we know all this?

We certainly don’t know everything
about England at this time. However,
we know enough to give us a good
idea about what life was like. We can
look at a number of different sources
from the time, which allows us to build
up a picture of everyday life – paintings,
churches and other buildings, coins,
weapons, drawings, jewellery, and books
written at the time (see Source C) .
These sources are evidence of life in
England in 1066.

SOURCE D: The Anglo-Saxon church of

St Laurence atImage
Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire. Spreadsheet
As you can see, the church is very strong
and may have been used as a fortress in
times of trouble.

Audio Weblink
Work
1 Use the information on these two pages to match up the start of each sentence (List A) with the
correct ending (List B).
LIST A Video LIST B Package
Resource
• At this time everyone was… – •Assessment/Homework/Assignment
… renting out their land or by trading goods.
• Monks often kept a record of important events… • … tin, cloth, silver, and lead.
• England was well known in Europe for its natural • … Christian and went to church.
resources such as… • … in books called ‘chronicles’.
Document Zip Archive
• Most people were poor and… • … grew their own food.
• There were some rich people who made their
money by…

2 Look at Source A.
Presentation 4 Some written sources in this book were written by
Other
a What does the map show? – For file types/resources
chroniclers. we men who wrote chronicles
These were
can't yet envisage
b Do you think this map helps show why so many from their own point of view. They wrote about what
different groups invaded England over the years? they believed and felt, rather than what they actually
Give reasons for your answer. saw. Why is it important to know this when studying
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
history?
3 Use pages 16 to 19 to write your own fact file
about England in 1066. You should use ten
sentences to write ten different facts.

Animation

1 1066 and all that 19

1.3 Who will be the next
King of England?
tives
Mission Objec
1066 is probably the most famous year in British history.
Many of you will have heard of it even though you haven’t
studied it yet. 1066 is so well known because it was the
last time England was invaded and taken over by a foreign Compare the three different men who
power. The English king and his followers were killed and wanted to be King of England in 1066.
the country was divided up between the new invaders. Assess the three contenders
England’s language, rulers and way of life changed forever. and judge who had the best claim to
What a year! the throne.
The Englishman
Name: Harold Godwinson
Position: Earl of Wessex, one of the most powerful men in England.
Family history: His father, Godwin, argued a lot with King Edward.
The old king dies… At one time Harold and his father were banished from England, but
In January 1066, Edward the they returned a year later.
Confessor, King of England, died. Links to King Edward: Harold’s sister was married to King Edward.
He was 62 years old and left no Was he tough enough? Harold was a brave and respected soldier
with a tough streak. In 1063, King Edward sent
children behind. There was no clear
Harold to crush a Welsh uprising. The Welsh
heir to the throne. However, three leader was caught and his head was chopped off on
men believed that they should Harold’s orders.
be England’s next king – and they Support for his claim: He was the only Englishman
were ready to use their armies claiming the throne. The Witan, a meeting of the
most important bishops and nobles in England,
to get their hands on the crown!
wanted Harold to be the next king. English monks
Read through the fact files on each wrote: ‘Harold and his brothers were the king’s
contender for Edward’s crown. favourites... on his deathbed that wise king
promised the kingdom to Harold.’

The Norman
Name: William of Normandy
strongest part of France.
Position: Duke of Normandy, the control of
a fighting family. He had been in
Family history: William came from to keep his lands.
and was used to having to fight
Normandy since he was a young boy . When Edward
King Edwa rd: Edwa rd had lived in Normandy from 1016 to 1041
Link s to As a result, King
rned to Engl and to be king , William sent soldiers to help him.
retu
throne in 1051.
Edward had promised William the his father
was ‘William the Bastard’ because
Was he tough enough? His nickname çon made fun of
1047, people from the town of Alen
wasn’t married to his mother. In of the townsmen
ured the town and ordered that 30
his mother’s family. William capt
be skinned alive. writer, ‘Edward,
to William of Poitiers, a Norman
Support for his claim: According ded that
like a brother or son... so he deci
king of the English, loved William iam in 1064,
Harold Godwinson had visited Will
William should be the next king.’ s clai m to the
and promised to support William’
and may have told him this news
English crown.

20 1 1066 and all that

The Viking
s
Name: Harald Hardrada Wise Up Word
Position: King of Norway
Family history: He had fought alongside several
heir Norman Viking
Norwegian and foreign kings and had taken part in
raids on the English coast. When he became King of
Norway, he began to plan a full-scale invasion of
England.
Links to King Edward: None – but a Viking called
Work
Canute had ruled Norway and England from 1016 to Now you have read about the three
1035. contenders for the throne, you must
Was he tough enough? He was the most feared decide who you think had the best
warrior in Europe – tough, bloodthirsty and he
claim (reason to be king).
enjoyed watching his enemies suffer. ‘Hardrada’
means ‘hard ruler’ and his nickname was ‘the 1 Copy and complete the following
Ruthless’. table. Try to include as many reasons
Support for his claim: Harald’s claim was as possible.
supported by Tostig, Harold Godwinson’s
brother. The two brothers had fallen out and Contender Why they Why they
Tostig wanted revenge. should be shouldn’t
king be king
Hardrada and his Harold Godwinson
men were from Harald Hardrada
Norway. People
from this area were William of Normandy
known as Vikings.
2 a List the three contenders in
order of who you think had the
strongest claim. Label your first
choice ‘strongest’ and your last
Harold was English choice ‘weakest’.
and his followers b In your own words, explain why
were Englishmen. you placed the three contenders
England at this time in the order you have chosen.
was sometimes called
Saxon England and 3 Divide into groups. Each group
the people were should choose a contender (perhaps
called Anglo-Saxons. pull a name out of a hat!) for the
English crown. Design a poster
that will convince people that your
N contender should be king… and that
William and his men came
from a part of France kilometres the other two shouldn’t!
called Normandy. They
were known as Normans. 0 20

The Englishman’s advantage

When King Edward died on 5 January 1066, Harold had one big
advantage over his two rivals. William and Hardrada were miles away
across the sea while Harold was already in England. He wasted no time
and was crowned king the very next day – but he knew that wasn’t the
end of it. The other two would soon hear the news and come looking
for him – and they’d both want him dead!
1 1066 and all that 21
 1.4 Round 1: the Battle of
Stamford Bridge
For nine months, King Harold of England sat nervously
tives
on his throne, waiting for his rivals to make a move for his Mission Objec
crown. In September 1066 his wait was over. Hardrada,
King of Norway, had landed near York in the north of Identify the contenders for the English
England and he wasn’t leaving until the crown was his. throne who fought at the Battle
With him was Harold’s younger brother, Tostig. Oh, and of Stamford Bridge.
about 10,000 bloodthirsty Vikings! Evaluate the physical and mental
Firstly, look at the map below to see how King Harold condition of the winning side at the end
reacted to the news that Hardrada had landed… and then
of the battle.
look through the cartoon on the right-hand page to see
what happened when the two sides fought each other.

N
kilometres
1 300 Longboats
0 200 carried the Viking
army to England.

2 As soon as they landed,

the Vikings took York and
seized control of much of
the north of England.

2 4
4 On 25 September 1066, King
Harold surprised Hardrada’s
3 King Harold’s army troops as they rested near an old
rushed up north to 3 bridge at Stamford. The Vikings
meet Hardrada and couldn’t believe that Harold had
Tostig. More soldiers got so far north so quickly. The
were collected on the Battle of Stamford Bridge was
way to help fight the about to begin!
Vikings.

Meanwhile, over
in France, William
waited. Fierce storms
blew in the Channel,
preventing his
invasion boats from
22 1 1066 and all that sailing to England.
What might have happened at Stamford Bridge?
Wake up, wake I’ve killed 40
up! King Harold Englishmen with 4 With no way over the bridge, Hardrada’s army
is here! 2 The battle starts my mighty axe!
badly for Hardrada’s fight Harold’s men to a standstill. But some of
men. Some have left Harold’s men come up with a plan.
their armour several
miles away.
Where did you leave
your chain mail?

3 However, Hardrada’s
men soon gain control.
1 It is early morning… One brave Viking blocks
the bridge so the English
Float under the bridge can’t reach the Vikings. Our great King of
Near the boats…
and stab him from below. Norway is dead!
sorry!

Quick! Let’s attack the Vikings

while we have the chance! 6 The Viking is
killed and the
English can
Hurry – some have no armour. get across the
I’ll try! bridge.

7 By midday King Harold’s army

5 After an hour, King is in control. Hardrada is killed,
Harold’s men try to but the Vikings fight on.
stop the warrior on the
bridge. Arghhh! 10 Out of respect,
Harold buries his dead
8 Later on, Tostig is found They only need 24 ships to take their brother in York. But bad
and cut into pieces. battered army home to Norway! news arrives…
Kill him!
You’ll have to fight again soon,
my Lord. William of Normandy
has landed near Hastings.

Cut him up!

9 King Harold is the winner.

Work
1 a What is meant by the term ‘chronological order’? 2 Write out the following statements, starting with the
b Put the following events in the correct chronological one that you think was most important in helping
order. Harold win the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
• King Harold marches north to fight the Vikings. • Hardrada was killed quite early in the battle.
• The two sides fight at Stamford Bridge. • The Vikings were caught unprepared and without
• Hardrada and Tostig are killed. King Harold wins. armour.
• The Vikings arrive in England and seize control of • The Viking blocking the bridge was killed.
land in the north.
Now, writing in full sentences and using
• King Harold hears that William of Normandy has
capital letters and full stops, explain why
landed near Hastings.
you have put the statements in the order you have.

1 1066 and all that 23

1.5 Match of the day!
tives
Mission Objec
Compare the weapons and tactics that
were used by William’s and Harold’s men
at the Battle of Hastings.

Hello and welcome to the town of Hastings. This is the one we’ve
all been waiting over ten months for – the day of the battle
is finally here. Here’s the English line-up. It’s been a tough few
weeks for the English boys, despite last month’s stunning victory
at Stamford Bridge. The weary English have travelled 280 miles,
or 450km, in nine days to meet their next opponents.

HOUSECARLS
THE
chain mail FYRD
javelin

battleaxe

sword

shield
KILLING POWER: 9/10
DEFENCE: 9/10
SPEED: 1/10
RANGE OF ATTACK: 1/10 KILLING POWER: 3/
y, there are about 2500 10
The backbone of King Harold’s arm
, fully trained and armed with DEFENCE: 5/10
housecarls and they are well paid
e weapon of these bearded SPEED: 3/10
the finest weapons. The favourit
The handle of the axe is over a
warriors is the huge battleaxe. RANGE OF AT TACK
made of razor-sharp iron – a : 3/10
metre long and its heavy blade is The housecarls are su
housecarl with a battleaxe is pported by the fyrd
very precious material in 1066. A as experienced or we . This mobile army isn
a horse or cutting a man in ll equipped as the ho ’t
capable of chopping the head off a fierce fighting force usecarls but it’s still
ets, chain mail, large, round . The leaders of the fyr
half with a single blow. Their helm swords and javelins d are armed with
m excellent in defence too! but most of their men
shields, and discipline make the such as pitchforks an use farming tools
d scythes. They may
number over 6000 an not be pretty, but th
d they ’re fighting on ey
their home turf!

24 1 1066 and all that

 Now let’s have a look at the Normans. They’ve been
waiting for this day ever since Harold was crowned s
in January and they’re itching for a fight. William’s Wise Up Word
invasion force is massive: it took over 300 ships to
transport his 10,000 men and 2000 horses from France. battleaxe chain mail fyrd
He’s even brought a fort separated into pieces with hauberk housecarl invasion
him, so he could build it here quickly! They landed at javelin mace scythe spear
Pevensey on 28 September and soon moved to Hastings,
setting fire to the town to annoy Harold.

THE
ARCHERS bow

THE
NORMAN FOOT
KNIGHTS
SOLDIERS hauberk

sword arrows spear

warhorse

short sword

shield
KILLING POWER: 4/10 KILLING POWER: 8/10
DEFENCE: 1/10 DEFENCE: 4/10
SPEED: 4/10 SPEED: 10/10

RANGE OF ATTACK: 2/10 RANGE OF AT TACK: 8/10

KILLING POWER: 7/10
William’s 1500 archers are armed with small wooden William’s best warriors are his
2000 knights: highly
DEFENCE: 8/10 bows that can fire six or seven arrows a minute. A skilled trained and fiercely loyal pro
fessional soldiers. They ride
SPEED: 2/10 archer can kill a man from about 180 metres away. into battle on big, strong wa
rhorses and are protected
by metal helmets, chain ma
RANGE OF AT TACK: 2/10 Archers have very little, if any, armour and are not much
kite-shaped shields. Knights
il suits (hauberks) and
use when the fighting gets up close and personal! carry spears (which can be
William’s
These form the main part of thrown or used to stab the
enemy), a sword or a mace
tre-long
army and are armed with me (a heavy metal club covere
d in spikes). Knights charge
elds. They attack after the
swords and kite-shaped shi at full speed towards their
up by the archers’ arrows and opponents, hacking and
enemy have been softened slashing at the much slowe
r soldiers fighting on foot
charged by the knights. beneath them.

Work
1 Match the words on the left with the correct description 2 a Find two ways in which William’s army is better than
on the right: Harold’s.
Housecarl Rides a horse into battle b Find two ways in which Harold’s army is better than
Fyrd A suit of small metal rings sewn together William’s.
Archer Carries a battleaxe
3 Which army do you think is more likely to win the
Knight A housecarl’s main weapon
battle? Give reasons and answer in full sentences.
Chain mail There are 6000 of them in Harold’s army
Mace Can fire six to seven arrows per minute
Battleaxe A spiked club used by knights

1 1066 and all that 25

 1.6 Round 2: the Battle of
Hastings – the morning
The final showdown had arrived. The Battle of Hastings
tives
would decide the future of England. King Harold had Mission Objec
already defeated Hardrada and his Viking army and
now, less than a month later, he and his army were Analyse the tactics used by Harold and
going to have to fight all over again. William in the battle.
Unfortunately for Harold and his men, there had been Judge how each of the armies fought in
no time to rest after winning the Battle of Stamford the early stages of the battle.
Bridge – they had to march 250 miles to meet William’s
men! So just where did the two armies face each
other? Who made the first move? And which side
made the best start to the battle?

The battle begins…

4 King Harold sets his
Firstly, look at the picture below and read boxes 1 to 4. Then read through the cartoon
army up on a steep
hill about five miles on the next page to discover what happened during the first few hours of the battle.
from Hastings. The hill
would soon be known
as Senlac Hill, which
is Norman for ‘Lake of
Blood’. There were streams and
boggy areas on either side of
the hills, which really slowed
the men and horses down.

Ima
The road takes them over
a few hills.

3 At dawn on 14 Aud
October, William
and his men set
off from Hastings
towards London.
They travel up an
old Roman road. Vide

Doc
2 The Normans march to Hastings,
setting fire to the town and
building a fort that they have
brought with them.
Pres
1 The Norman fleet lands at Pevensey Bay
and William’s army comes ashore.

26 1 1066 and all that

Inte
 VideoDocument Zip Archive
Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Interactive
Presentation OtherLesson Player (short term plan)
– For file types/resources we
1 On 14 October, at around 9:30 in the morning, the Battle of can't yet envisage
Hastings began. William carried a flag given to him by the 2 Harold’s men formed a tight shield-wall and hid behind it
Pope. He believed this meant God was on his side. Looking while the arrows fell amongst them. When the archers stopped
up the steepInteractive
hill toAnimation
the English, William ordered his archers Lesson
to Playerfiring,
(shorttheterm
Englishplan)
stood up and started banging their shields
unleash a storm of arrows. and shouting, ‘Out! Out! Out!’

Animation

4 For over two hours the battle raged.

The two sides stood toe-to-toe,
hacking, slashing and stabbing
3 William decided to send his knights viciously at each other. William’s men
and foot soldiers to smash through just could not break through the wall
the English shield-wall. Unfortunately of English shields that stretched across 5 William wasn’t dead and to prove it to
for William, the steep hill meant his the hilltop. Then a rumour started to his men he galloped amongst them.
horses couldn’t charge quickly. His foot spread that nobody had seen William He lifted his helmet and shouted, ‘Look
soldiers were absolutely exhausted for half an hour! Had the Norman at me! Look at me! I am alive and, with
before they had even started fighting! leader been killed? God’s help, will be the victor!’

s
Wise Up Word Work
1 Divide your page into two and separate the following list into factors (or
Pope shield-wall
reasons) that would help Harold win the battle and factors that might help
William win the battle.
• William’s army had been blessed by the Pope.
• Harold’s men had just come from a battle with Hardrada.
• The housecarls protected Harold’s army with a strong shield-wall.
Hungry • William had a large army of 10,000 men.
Imagine you have for More?
• There were streams and boggy areas on both sides of Senlac Hill.
been asked to
produce a film 2 Write two sentences that explain why Harold placed his soldiers on the top
about the Battle of Hastings. of Senlac Hill.
Storyboard the trailer, based on
3 Which side do you think is most likely to win the battle in the afternoon?
the events on these pages.
Give reasons for your answer in full sentences.

1 1066 and all that 27

1.7 Round 2: the Battle of
Hastings – the afternoon
After a short break in the action, the battle started again at
tives
Image Spreadsheet
around 12:30pm. But neither side seemed to be winning Mission Objec
because the same thing kept happening over and over
again – the Normans Evaluate how William won the
Image kept attacking and the English kept
Spreadsheet
beating away the attacks with their shield-wall! At around Battle of Hastings.
3:30pm, William came up with an idea. So what was
Audio Weblink Discover how William went about
William’s big plan? How was he going to get through that increasing his power after the battle.
shield-wall? And what did this mean for King Harold?
Audio Weblink

Video Resource Package

Now read through the cartoons to discover how the– Battle of Hastings was finally won.
Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Video Resource Package

– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Document Zip Archive

Document Zip Archive

Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage
Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
Interactive can't yet
Lesson envisage
Player (short term plan)
1 William had to get the English off the top of the hill. He ordered
some of his soldiers to run away down the hill as if they were 2 Without the safety of the shield-wall, Harold’s men who had run
retreating. The English,
Interactive thinking they were winning, charged down
Lesson Player the hill
(short term were quickly cut to pieces by William’s knights on
plan)
down the hill after the Normans! horseback.
Animation

Animation

3 William saw this was his chance to win the battle – and the
English crown! He hoped that if he kept repeating the trick, 4 As the sun set, Harold was killed and the battle was lost. Some
the English would keep falling for it. And they did! Gradually, said he had been shot in the eye by an arrow before being
the English shield-wall grew weaker and weaker. William then cut to pieces by some of William’s men! William had the body
turned to his archers once more and arrows rained down on buried at a secret location despite Harold’s mother offering her
Harold’s men. son’s weight in gold in exchange for the body.

28 1 1066 and all that

After the battle
s
On the night of 14 October 1066, the Normans held a Wise Up Word
feast to celebrate their victory and stripped the English
dead of their weapons and armour. He may have conqueror dysentery retreating
defeated Harold’s army, but William didn’t rule England
yet. Eventually he left the battlefield and marched
towards London. William made sure that every town he Work
came across surrendered to him, while more and more 1 Read Source A.
soldiers sailed from Normandy to join him. By early a Write down five adjectives or phrases that
December, William had reached London and he was describe William in battle.
crowned King of England on Christmas Day. From then b Imagine you were one of William’s men. Write
on he was known as William the Conqueror! down what you think of him.
c Do you think the source was written by a
The enemy within! supporter of William? Explain how you decided.
Although there was no danger of William being d Can we totally trust what the source says? Explain
defeated by an army after Hastings, he was very nearly your answer.
defeated by dysentery. While on the road to London,
William’s army was struck by agonising stomach 2 Read back through the story of the battle. Create
cramps and violent diarrhoea. For some it was so a timeline for the battle, starting at 9:30am.
Remember to include all the key events and the
bad that they had to return home to France – others Image Spreadsheet
time they happened.
died! Fortunately for William, enough remained fit to
continue to London. 3 Why do you think the Normans stripped the
English of all their weapons and armour? How
could this help William control the rest of England?
‘Three horses were killed under him. Three times Audio Weblink
Answer in full sentences and use capital letters and
he leapt unafraid to the ground and killed
full stops.
the man who had killed his horse. This shows
how quick he was to make his mind up and 4 You should now know what happened at the Battle
how strong he was. With savage blows of his of Hastings. It’s time to make up your mind – why did
Video Resource Package
sword, he split shields, helmets and coats of William win the battle? Was it: – Assessment/Homework/A
chain mail. He struck a number of enemies with • because he was a brilliant and skilful leader?
his own shield. His soldiers took new courage • because Harold was a poor soldier who made
when they saw him fighting on foot. Some, mistakes?
who were weak from bleeding, leant on their • because the Normans were betterZip
Document equipped
Archive and
shields and fought on bravely. William himself prepared?
helped some of his men to safety… He led his • because Harold was unlucky?
forces with great skill, holding them when they Or was it a combination of all or some of these
turned to run, giving them courage, sharing reasons? You might want to work in groups.
their danger. He was more often heard shouting Presentation Other
– For file types/resources w
to them to follow him than ordering them to can't yet envisage
go on ahead. It is clear that it was the Duke’s Be a Top Historian
bravery that inspired his soldiers as they went
forward and gave them courage.’ Top historians realize that different people tell
Interactive Lessonon
different stories about the past depending Player (short term
their point of view or beliefs. For example, two
SOURCE A: An account of William fighting in the people would write a slightly different account of
battle, written around 1073. The man who wrote it wasn’t the same football match if they each supported a
at the battle, but based what he wrote on things he had different side!
Animation
found out.

1 1066 and all that 29

 1.8 How did King
Im

Harold die? Au
Historians (people who study History – like you!) are like
detectives who hunt for clues about people and events in history
and piece them together. If they find enough evidence, a clear
picture emerges and they can start to make conclusions. Vi

Historians already know lots about the events of 1066. England – but we just don’t know how he died! The
Some people wrote about it at the time, others told problem is that the sources (pieces of evidence about
stories about what happened (which were then written his death) don’t all say the same thing about the way
Do
down), and some people created works of art that he died. So your task, as a ‘History Mystery Detective’,
show it. is to treat his death like a puzzle. Look through all the
evidence and try to piece together how he actually
But historians have got a problem with the death of
died. At the end of your investigation you will have to
King Harold. We definitely know he died at Hastings –
come to your own answer to the question: ‘How did Pr
he must have done because a new king began ruling
King Harold die?’

In

An

30
30 1 1066 and all that
 Image Spreadsheet

s
Audio Wise Up Word Weblink

abbey lance

Video Resource Package

– Assessment/Homew

Document Zip Archive

Presentation Other
– For file types/resour
can't yet envisage

Interactive Lesson Player (short te

Work
To try to solve the mystery of how Harold died,
start by looking closely at all the evidence on these
Animation
pages.
1 Find out all the different ways Harold may
have died.
What weapons were used? At what stage of the
battle did he die? Make a list of your findings.
2 Find out if any of the evidence agrees on how
Harold was killed.
Does any one piece of evidence back up what
another says? Make notes on what you have
found.
3 Think – can you trust the evidence?
Write down why you might not trust some of
the evidence. You may believe all the evidence
is useful or perhaps just some of it. Do we have
an English eyewitness to Harold’s death? If not,
Be a Top Historian why not?
There are some things that we just don’t know
4 Now make your decision.
about the past. Some historians say the evidence
Like a detective, use evidence to back up your
proves how Harold was killed. Others say it proves we
theory. If you’re not sure, say why. In History it’s
can’t be sure. Top historians will assess how reliable a
OK to say you’re uncertain, as long as you can
source is, and how far we can believe it.
explain why.

1 1066 and all that 31

31
2.1A The conquest of England
tives
On the evening of 14 October 1066 (the night of the Battle of Mission Objec
Hastings), William must have realized he was in a very dangerous Examine William’s key
position. As a foreign invader, he knew the English would want problems after his
to get rid of him – soon! His army had killed the English King victory at Hastings and
Harold after all, and William knew that if he gave the English
analyse how he dealt
time to recover they might gather another army or choose
with them.
another king. So how did William deal with these problems?

William’s problems
William had four main problems he had to deal with. The map
(Source A) gives details of these issues.

1 Viking threat
There is still a possibility that Vikings
will invade from Norway and
Denmark. If they join up with angry
Englishmen in the north, they would
be a very serious threat.

2 Getting to London
Anyone wishing to control England
must control London. Some of
Harold’s army did not go with him to
the Battle of Hastings; instead they
stayed in London to guard it.

3 Defeating Dover
There is a fort at Dover full of tough
and angry English soldiers. William
must defeat these men before he
marches to London or else they may
attack him from behind.

4 A tired army
William’s army is very tired. The
SOURCE A: William’s four main Battle of Hastings was very fierce.
problems he had to deal with… quickly.

32 2 The Norman Conquest

WilliamImage
takes charge Spreadsheet
William dealt with some of his problems very swiftly. ‘The Archbishop of York, the people of London
Sources B, C and D were written or created at the time and some powerful English landowners planned
and show how determined William was to keep his new to put Prince Edgar [a cousin of King Edward the
kingdom… and to show the English who was boss! Confessor] on the throne. But while many were
Audio Weblink
preparing to fight, the English landowners went
William marched to Dover where the English, home with their army and refused to fight William.
stricken with fear, prepared to surrender. But our Meanwhile, William was in the south, robbing and
men, greedy for loot, set fire to the town. William, destroying villages in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire,
Video
unwilling that those who had offered to give up, Resource Package
Middlesex and Hertfordshire. He was even
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
should suffer loss, gave them money for the damage slaughtering people in these villages. William was
his men had caused. Having captured Dover, then met by the English landowners and the leading
William spent eight days making it stronger. men of London who agreed to accept him as king.’
Document Zip Archive

SOURCE B: Written by William of SOURCE C: Florence of Worcester describes

Poitiers, a friend of William’s, in about 1073. William’s movements before he went to London.

Presentation Other
SOURCE D: A section of the Bayeux – For file types/resources we
Tapestry that shows the Normans burning can't yet envisage
an English house.

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

Animation
Image

Audio

Work
1 In your own words, explain what
Video
problems William faced immediately after
the Battle of Hastings.
2 Look at Sources B, C and D.
a Why do you think William was kind to
the EnglishDocument
in Dover but so cruel as he
marched towards London?
b In what way is Source C similar to
Source D?
3 What problems has William not
Presentation
yet dealt with? You may want to re-read
Source A (the map) to help you here.

2 The Norman Conquest 33

Interactive
2.1B The conquest of England

The march to London

William took two months to reach London,
and on the way his army burned, stole and
killed anything it passed. In December,
the English soldiers in London gave in and
William entered the city. He was crowned
King of England in Westminster Abbey on
Christmas Day 1066 (see Source A).
But the new king still had to conquer the
rest of England. And the people in the
north of England, helped by Vikings from
Denmark, weren’t giving up easily. When
William’s trusted friend, Earl Robert, and 900
of William’s soldiers were murdered when
they were sent up to rule Durham, the king
acted quickly – and brutally – to deal with
the rebels. Sources B, C and D show just
how tough the new king was.

SOURCE A: William is crowned King of

England, as shown in a medieval manuscript.
SOURCE B: There is rebellion
in the north, as told in the Anglo- ‘William gave Northumberland to Earl Robert [his friend] but the
Saxon Chronicle. Prince Edgar was people of Durham massacred Robert and 900 of his soldiers. Prince
a cousin of Edward the Confessor Edgar and the rebels came to York and the people of the city joined
and many people thought he was
them.William came from the south and suprised them, ravaging York
the rightful king of England!
and killing hundreds… Then Vikings came from Denmark with 240
ships and joined up with the English. With a huge and joyful army
SOURCE C: William’s revenge, known as they stormed York and killed hundreds of William’s men, burned the
the ‘Harrying of the North’, was brutal, as this castle and captured lots of treasure.’
medieval account shows. Some estimate that
100,000 people died from starvation after
William’s troops had destroyed all the animals
and crops. ‘I fell on the Northen shires
like a hungry
lion. I ordered their houses
d fled. and cor n with all
illi am ca me to Yo rk bu t learned that the Vikings ha their tools and goods to be bu
‘W rch rned and great
the castle. He set out to sea
He ordered his men to repair nt herds of cattle to be butchere
est s an d rem ote mo un tai ns, stopping at nothing hu
to
revenge by giving them fam
d. I took my
the for stroyed ine. Alas I kept
. He cut down many and de
down the rebels hidden there ch
the throne by so many crime
s.’
else had William shown su
and burned homes. Nowhere nt with
and he punished the innoce
cruelty. His fury was blind burned,
e gu ilt y. He ord ere d th at all crops, cattle and food be SOURCE D: King William’s deathbed
th
d nothing to live on.’ confession, written by Orderic Vitalis in about 1130.
so that the whole region ha Orderic wasn’t there at the time and has given his
own version of what William said.
34 2 The Norman Conquest
 s
Wise Up Word
Image Spreadsheet
William shows his power
Although William had dealt with his problems he ordered that his loyal
friends who would help him run England to build strong fortresses, massacred
called castles, to protect themselves.
Audio Weblink
King William’s men built castles all over England. Source E shows the Work
extent of his castle-making plans in the years after Hastings. He brought
1 The way King William crushed the
over dozens and dozens of his most loyal friends from Normandy to people in the north of England is
live in them. By 1071, five years after he had won the Battle of Hastings, known as the ‘Harrying of the North’.
Video Resource Package
King William was master of England – William the Conqueror. His next Copy and complete the following
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
challenge was to stay in charge! table. You will find the information
in the text and sources on pages 32
to 35.
Document Zip Archive
The Harrying of the North 1069–1070
What caused the people
of the north to rebel?
What did the English
Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we rebels actually do?
can't yet envisage What did William do?

2 a What is meant by the word

Interactive N
Lesson Player (short term plan)‘famine’?
kilometres b How did William use famine as a
weapon?
0 100 c What are the advantages and
disadvantages of William’s
Animation
actions?
3 Historians have said that William
punished the people in the north to
teach the whole country a lesson.
What do you think this means?
4 a What is a castle?
b Why did William instruct his
friends who were helping him
run the country to build castles?

Hungry
for More?
The Big Write!

Work with a partner. One of you

should write a letter to William,
as if you were an English earl,
complaining about the way he
SOURCE E: The Norman
is treating the English. The other
Conquest, 1066–1070. William’s
castle-building spread across person should write back as
the country. William, explaining why you are
being so brutal.

2 The Norman Conquest 35

2.2 William the castle-builder
tives
Mission Objec
To the English, King William was a foreigner. He was a
Frenchman, who spoke French and had French friends. Most Understand what is meant by a
Englishmen hated him and wanted him dead! But after about ‘motte and bailey’ castle.
five years as king, William had managed to put down all the Assess the advantages and
rebellions against his rule. He now had to think about the disadvantages of these castles.
long-term future. How could he stay in control of England?

William builds
Image castles Norman barons and their soldiers used motte and
Spreadsheet
William brought his rich and powerful friends over from bailey castles as a base from which to control the local
Normandy to help control the English. In return for area. They were built at key points, to guard important
this support he gave them large areas of English land. roads, ports, river crossings, and towns. They became
These friends became powerful landowners known as the focus for local trade in the area, which the baron
Audio Weblink
barons. They soon realized that they needed protection could then tax.
from attacks by unhappy Englishmen. So they decided
But the problem with castles that go up quickly is that
to build castles. Source A shows the sort of castles that
they can be brought down just as fast. Wooden fences
William’s barons built. By 1086, over 100 castles had
and buildings can burn, be smashed down, or rot. So,
been built across England (see Source B).
Video Resource Package
by as early as 1070, any barons with a bit of time and
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Reduced to rubble money began to build their castles in stone instead.
These new buildings were known as motte and
bailey castles. They had to be built quickly and SOURCE A: A motte and bailey castle.
Document
wherever the Normans wanted them. If some housesZip Archive
Each one took 7 to14 days to build.
or a village stood where the baron wanted a castle, he
simply built on top of them. In Cambridge 25 houses The last line of defence was
were pulled down to make way for a new castle. In this ‘great tower’ or keep.
Lincoln the Normans pulled down over
Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
150 houses. can't yet envisage

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

The mound of
All fences and walls earth was called
were built of wood a motte.

Animation

A deep ditch around

the whole castle was
an extra defence.
The large courtyard was
called a bailey. It contained
A drawbridge to get stables, barracks for soldiers,
over the deep ditch. storehouses and a kitchen.

36 2 The Norman Conquest

SOURCE B: Castles built by King
s
William (or on his orders).
Wise Up Word
motte and bailey

N
Work
1 There are ten words missing
from the paragraph below. Copy
out the paragraph and fill in
the missing words from the list
underneath it.
Although
was now
of England, he still had the
problem of controlling the
defeated . So he
brought over his
and powerful friends from
in France to help
him do this. He gave them large
areas of and
asked them to
them on his behalf. These
, as they were
called, built large fortresses
known as and
castles to live in
while they ruled their land.
barons motte Normandy
SOURCE C: One of the world’s most famous castles, the King William rich English
Tower of London was once the home of King William. It was
land bailey control
originally built out of wood and later replaced with stone. The
Tower of London was the first stone keep in England. 2 Why do you think the keep was
built on a high mound of earth?
What advantages would the
height give to those in the keep?
3 The Big Write!
Imagine you are an angry
Englishman who has just led a
failed attack on a motte and
bailey castle. Describe the
obstacles you faced on the way to
the keep before you were finally
defeated. Remember to include
what you think were the
weaknesses of the wooden castle.

2 The Norman Conquest 37

2.3 The Domesday Book
tives
Most of us know how much money we’ve got. We usually
know roughly how much is in our pockets or our bank
Mission Objec
accounts. We know what we own and are usually interested Explain the purpose of the
in what other people own too. William the Conqueror Domesday Survey and the
was exactly the same – he was keen to know all about the Domesday Book.
country he had conquered and how much it was worth. In
1085 he decided to find out.

The survey
William sent officials all over England to visit every village and ask a series ‘[The official] made them search
of detailed questions. They interviewed the priest, the steward (the man so thoroughly that there was not
who organized the farm work in the village) and six elderly villagers in a single yard of land, nor even – it
each village. is a shame to tell it but he was not
ashamed to do it – one ox, nor a
The officials took a year to visit over 13,000 villages. Soldiers who travelled
cow, nor a swine that was not set
with them threatened to kill people if they didn’t tell the truth. A second
down in his writing.’
group visited the villages later to check the people had been honest!

Hungry
Why do you think that the officials wanted to interview for More? SOURCE A: A monk describes the
the priest? Why do you think they wanted to talk to the thoroughness of the officials.
elderly villagers too?

How much farmland Who owned this How many pigs How much How much is the
is there? land before William are there? woodland is there? land worth?
was king?

How many How many cows? How many mills

people live here? How many fishponds? are there?

38 2 The Norman Conquest

The book
All the records from the village surveys were sent to ‘At Lincoln, 116 houses were destroyed to
Winchester where one man wrote it all down in Latin. make way for the castle.’
The surveys filled two huge books and contained
approximately two million words. SOURCE B: An English translation of a section
of the Domesday Book. A
The book gave William knowledge, and knowledge
was a powerful thing. It meant:
‘Richard holds Birm
ingham from William. There
• he could work out how much each person in land for 6 ploughs, there is is
Image Spreadsheet
England could afford to pay him in taxes on e plo ug h in the demesne
[lord’s land]. There are 5 vil V
• he knew exactly how many people he could get to lei ns an d 4 bo rda rs and
2 ploughs. There is a wood
fight for him half a mile long and 4
furlongs broad. In the time
• he could settle any quarrels over who owned which of King Edward it was
ImageAudio
wo rth
Weblink
Spreadsheet
20 sh ill ing s an d it is still worth the same.’
bit of land.
However, William never got to see the finished book.
While riding his horse in 1087, he slipped forward in his SOURCE C: Another extract from the Domesday Book.
saddle and burst open his bladder. He died in agony. Birmingham is now the second largest city in England. A furlong
AudioVideo Resource Package
Weblink
He wouldn’t have been able to read it himself anyway – is–about 200 metres. Villeins and bordars were people who lived
Assessment/Homework/Assignment
he couldn’t read! on and farmed the Lord’s land.

VideoDocument Zip Archive

Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
– For file types/resources we
A
can't yet envisage SOURCE D: The Domesday
Book still survives today. It is
kept in the National Archives
Interactive
Presentation in London.
OtherLesson Player (short term plan)
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage
Work
1 a Explain why the Domesday Book was made.
Animation
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
b Why did it become known as the Domesday Book?
FACT!
2 Read Source A.
The book was first called the a What idea does it give us about what the survey was like for villagers?
Winchester Book after the b Do you think the monk was happy about King William’s survey or
Animation
town where it was kept. After not? Explain your answer. Include any clues that might tell us how the
about 100 years it started monk felt.
to be called the Domesday 3 Read Source B. What does the source tell us about King William’s attitude
Book, after Doomsday – the towards the English?
day of judgement. Like God’s
judgement on you, people had 4 According to Sources A and B, what kind of man was William?
no right to argue with what the 5 Read Source C. In your own words, write a paragraph describing
book said. Birmingham in 1086.

2 The Norman Conquest 39

2.4 The feudal system:
who’s the boss? Image

Wherever we go, wherever we’ve been, there’s usually

tives
someone in control – at home, in the classroom, at Mission Objec Audio
work or at a youth club. The person in charge might
be a parent, a teacher or a manager. None of us lives Examine the feudal system and be able
in a world where we can do what we want when we to illustrate exactly how it worked.
want to. Knowing this makes the next two pages very
straightforward. By the end you’ll understand exactly Video
how King William controlled England.

Clever William The king

King William said that all the land in England belonged to him. Document

But England was too large for him to manage by himself, so

how did he stay in charge? His answer was to use a system
of sharing out the land. The king still owned it, of course,
but he could lend large areas of land to people in return Presentation
for their loyalty.
Most of the people he lent the land to had pay for the land,
helped him in the Battle of Hastings. He was lends and provide
rewarding them for helping him. ‘Feudal’ is land to knights Interactive
for the king
the Latin word for ‘land’, so because the new
system was based on land, it became known The barons (about 200 in total)
as the feudal system. The diagram on this
page illustrates how William’s system worked. Animation

FACT! pay for the land

lend and fight for
land to barons if needed
King William didn’t give
his barons one large area The knights (about 4000 in total)
of land – he carefully
gave them several pay for the
pieces dotted around land in work
England. He did this and food
lend
to make it difficult for land to
the barons to build up
large armies in the same The villeins (about 1.5 million in total)
area. If they became too
powerful, he feared they
might rebel against him.

40 2 The Norman Conquest

How did William control his kingdom? Presentation
King William’s idea was very clever. He knew he needed help
running England, so he used all the land he owned as a way
of getting assistance. By giving lots of land to his friends (the
barons), he got their support and help… and some money
Interactive
when he taxed them.
But how did the barons get their money? Simple! By giving
away some of their land to knights (very well-trained soldiers)
who then paid taxes to the barons. The knights were very loyal Animation
to the barons because if they weren’t, the barons could take
their land away!
In turn, the knights shared much of their land with the peasants
(known as villeins) who then farmed the land and paid taxes
to the knights. In this way, nearly every man in the country got
some land – but he had to promise to be loyal to the man who
gave it to him. If he broke his promise, he lost his land.
So this very clever system meant that William had a constant
supply of money rolling in from his barons (who got it from the
knights who got it from the peasants)… and he still managed SOURCE A: A baron swearing an ‘oath of
to own all the land! Even though most of the land was being loyalty’ to the king. This means he is promising to
be loyal to the king and never betray him.
used by other people, nearly everyone was loyal to him.

FACT! ‘I become your man from this day forward, for

life and limb and loyalty. I shall be true and
faithful to you for the lands I hold from you.’
In the Middle Ages, a ‘lord’ was
anyone above you in the feudal
s
system. So a peasant had several SOURCE B: An oath which Wise Up Word
lords, while a baron had just one a baron made to the king when he
– the king! was given land. feudal system loyalty villein

Work
1 a Copy out the following statements and match each b Why was William careful not to give his barons
statement to the right person. pieces of land that were close together?
• I give land to the knights who pay me taxes and
3 Look at Source A.
fight for me when required.
a Which man is the king? Give reasons for why you
• I am at the bottom of the pile. Everyone is my
think this.
lord!
b What is happening in the picture?
• I own all the land.
• The peasants are loyal to me, but I am loyal to 4 Look at Source B.
the baron… and the king, of course! a Write a sentence to summarize what the baron is
King Baron Knight Peasant promising the king.
b These promises were sometimes made in the
b Now write out the four people again, but this time,
presence of a priest or near a Bible. Why do you
make up your own comment for each one.
think this was?
2 a How did the feudal system make it easier for King
William to control the English?

2 The Norman Conquest 41

3.1A How did castles develop?
tives
Mission Objec
The earliest castles were built of wood – and were built very
quickly. They were intended to keep out enemies and to
keep people, horses and treasures safe. They dominated river Investigate how and why castles
crossings, roadways and towns and wereImageused as a base from changed after 1066.
Spreadsheet
which the baron could control the local population. So how
and why did castle-building change?

The early wooden castles, which were Audiobuilt by King William and his followersWeblink
after
their victory at the Battle of Hastings, were good at reminding the English people
that they had been beaten – but they were very weak against a determined
attack. The wooden walls could quite easily be chopped or burnt down, or just
climbed over with ladders. So as early as 1070, a few lords with the time, money
Video Resource Package
and a suitable location began to build their castles in stone (see Source A). – Assessment/Homework/Assignment
The wooden tower was The wooden fence
knocked down and a was pulled down and
stone keep built instead. a tall stone one built
It was much larger than Document Zip Archive in its place. This was
the wooden one and called a curtain wall.
contained most of the
castle’s important rooms –
the lord’s personal rooms,
the kitchen, chapel, main Presentation Other
hall, stores, guardroom, The curtain
– For file types/resources we wall was
and dungeon. can't yet envisage often wide enough
for soldiers to walk
along the top.

A wide, deep ditch called a Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
moat made it very difficult
for attackers to get close Battlements
to the castle walls. If they provided a barrier
tried to tunnel under the for soldiers to hide
walls, the tunnel would fill Animation behind when they
with water. fired arrows.
SOURCE A: An early stone castle. The massive
square keep towered over the countryside, striking
A well-guarded drawbridge.
fear or respect into the hearts of those who saw it.

If a castle’s outer walls were really strong, sometimes

Be a Top Historian the lord didn’t even bother with the keep at all. They
A key history skill is being able to spot change were dark, noisy, smoky places anyway, and lacked
and continuity. This means that during the period privacy, so sometimes a lord would build all the
you are studying there will be things that change rooms, buildings and accommodation he needed
and some things that stay the same (continue). within the bailey itself. He would then strengthen the
Look out for change and continuity when looking at curtain wall with extra towers and build an especially
the story of castles from 1066 to the 1400s. tough entrance called a barbican or gatehouse (see
Sources B and C).
42 3 Castles
 Garden for vegetables Hall Soldiers’ rooms
s
Wise Up Word
barbican battlements
Well
concentric castle curtain wall
portcullis trebuchet undermine

Lord’s rooms Chapel

Gatehouse
What Happened 1
070
When?
In 1070, William the Conqueror
started building Windsor
Castle, which today is an official
residence of the Queen. It is the
Kitchen
SOURCE B: In this castle there is no great oldest and largest inhabited
tower or keep. Instead, the main rooms are castle in the world.
built up against the thick, strong outer walls.

Defending soldiers
Work
1 Look at the five statements below. Three
Hot water are correct, whilst two have mistakes in
them. Copy out all five sentences, making
Two wall
towers, sure you correct the two that are wrong.
containing • The first Norman castles were built on
guardrooms for King William’s orders.
the soldiers • The earliest castles were built of stone.
Murder holes • A motte was a deep ditch that
surrounded a castle.
Portcullis • The stone wall built around a castle
(gate) made was called a curtain wall.
from iron • After 1070, some wooden castles were
replaced with stone ones.
2 Match up the features in List A with the
correct definitions from List B.
List A List B
Attackers
• Motte • A wall with gaps along the
top for firing through
SOURCE C: A gatehouse or barbican. • Bailey • The strongest and tallest
place in the castle
FACT! • Keep • A deep ditch around the
castle
Being able to defend a castle was a top priority and any attackers • Moat • An extra-strong gatehouse
who made it through the portcullis faced tough resistance! • Barbican • A courtyard in which the
Defending soldiers would sometimes pour boiling water, tar or buildings stood
lead down holes in the roof of the barbican known as ‘murder • Portcullis • A mound of earth upon
holes’. Heavy stones could also be dropped onto attackers, while which the keep was built
archers shot arrows at intruders through slits in the wall! • Battlement • A tough iron gate

3 Castles 43
3.1B How did castles develop?

Mission impossible (such as massive catapults called trebuchets) were

In the early 1200s, things seemed impossible for the being designed that could throw huge boulders at
attacker. The castle walls were so thick (sometimes the walls and batter them. So the defenders had to
five metres thick) and so well defended that breaking come up with new ideas to protect themselves and
through them would have taken forever. And if, by developed the concentric castle!
some miracle, an attacking army got through the wall
and saw a huge stone keep in front of them, it was
Clever castles
The concentric castle was an idea brought back by
usually too high to climb up and the defenders would
the knights fighting abroad in the Holy Land around
be up there fighting back.
Jerusalem. They were more regular in shape than
Attack! earlier castles and used water defences wherever
However, it didn’t take long before attackers came up possible. This made it harder for attackers to get their
with new ideas that would change the shape of castles. catapults near the walls. The towers were round, so
It was discovered that the square corners of the towers they were harder to undermine by digging underneath
and the keep were weak and could be undermined. them, and each set of walls decreased in height so that
This meant they collapsed if attackers dug tunnels archers on the upper walls could shoot over the heads
underneath them. Also, better and better machines of the soldiers below (see Sources A, B, and C).
SOURCE A: A concentric castle.
This drawing is based on the design
of a real castle – Beaumaris Castle
in Anglesey, Wales.

Chapel
Moat

One of four large

corner towers

Halls, kitchens and

Gatehouse
living areas
Huge middle tower

Castle dock

Outer curtain wall

Sea gate
This water goes out
to sea

44 3 Castles
 Video Resource Package
How walls of
SOURCE –B:Assessment/Homework/Assignmen
different heights helped the
defenders. The enemy can be fired
on from three different levels.
Document Zip Archive

Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

Comfier castles
The great age of castle-
building began to decline in
the early 1400s. The country Animation
became more peaceful and
there was no need for such
strong, expensive castles to
be built. Instead, they were
changed and modified to
become lavish homes, and
new ones were built for
comfort first and defence SOURCE C: Caerphilly Castle in Wales is
second (see Source D). an example of a concentric castle.

SOURCE D: A picture of Herstmonceux

Castle in East Sussex. After 1400, most castles Work
were no longer heavily fortified. This one had
brick walls and large windows. EITHER: Design a leaflet, poster or mind-map that explains and
illustrates how castles have changed from 1066 to the 1400s.
Interview with…
OR: Work with a friend or partner (or on your own, if you wish)
to come up with a series of questions to ask one of the medieval
world’s most famous concentric castle designers – James of St
George. This person really existed and designed several of Britain’s
most famous castles including Conwy, Harlech and Beaumaris
(see Source A). You want to impress him with your interview skills
and historical knowledge, so come up with some really interesting
questions. Then, write down the answers he might have given.
The Big Write!

OR: Write an extended answer or essay. The title is: ‘How and why
did castles change between 1066 and the 1400s?’ Remember to
plan and draft your essay and keep in mind that all good essays
need an introduction and a conclusion!

3 Castles 45
3.2A The siege of
Rochester Castle
In 1215, a group of rebel barons weren’t happy
tives
with their king, John, because they felt he was Mission Objec
a poor leader. To make matters worse, he kept
asking the barons for more and more money in Recall the names of at least five weapons,
taxes to pay for his unsuccessful wars. methods or tactics used to get into a castle.
Rochester Castle in Kent was very important to Summarize how each of these weapons,
King John because it guarded one of the main methods or tactics was designed to work.
roads in and out of London. The barons knew Explain in detail how King John eventually
this, so they seized control in the summer of got into Rochester Castle.
1215. So what did John do when he found out?
How did he try to get his castle back? And how
did 40 fat pigs come to the king’s rescue?

The siege begins

Rochester Castle was very well defended. In 1206, King down and wait. They stop anyone getting in or out of
John himself had spent a fortune improving the castle’s the castle – and when the food runs out, the people
ditches and keep – making it one of the strongest inside have to give up and surrender, or starve
castles in the country! The outer walls were over three to death.
metres thick and the walls of the main tower were
However, after a few weeks the king realized that he
over 34 metres high. So at first, the king decided to
was wasting his time. The barons had enough food
lay siege to the castle. From the French word ‘sièger’,
and water to hold out for weeks, maybe months. So
meaning ‘to sit’, a siege is when attackers literally ‘sit’
the king scrapped the siege and instructed his army to
use some of the latest weapons –
SOURCE A: Rochester Castle, in Kent, battering rams, mangonels and
was one of the most important and best trebuchets – to get in and defeat
defended castles in England at the time. the rebellious barons. Look carefully
at the cartoon on the next page. It
shows some of the key weapons
King John used to try and get into
Rochester Castle.

FACT!
King John lost so many battles in
France that he was nicknamed
‘Softsword’. He even lost
Normandy, the birthplace of
William the Conqueror!

46 3 Castles
 s
Wise Up Word
battering ram mangonel sapper siege
Greek fire
May have been a mixture of tar, Battering ram
trebuchet undermining
oil and sulphur which could not A tree trunk hanging on a
be put out with water. However, it wooden frame, protected by
could be put out by urine! an animal skin roof.

Siege tower
A large wooden
tower protected
by animal skins.
The soldiers would
climb up it and over
the walls.

Sappers
Specialist soldiers who
could dig under a wall
or tower. The wooden
cover they hid under
Trebuchet
Mangonel was called a tortoise.
Could fire rocks
Another machine
or burning hot
used to fire rocks at
substances such
a castle.
as ‘Greek fire’.
Sometimes rotten
animal corpses
were fired into the
castle. Why do you
think they did this?

Archers
A skilled archer could fire an arrow over 200 metres, or
even straight through the arrow slits in the castle walls.

But as hard as they tried, King John’s soldiers just Work

couldn’t smash down all of the castle’s thick walls 1 a Why did the barons inside Rochester Castle rebel
and get to the barons. After a few weeks, things were against King John?
getting desperate for the king; he received news that b Why was Rochester Castle so important to both the
another group of rebels were about to come and rebels and King John? Give reasons for your answer.
help the ones trapped inside the castle, so he needed
2 Match up the weapons and tactics in List A with their
another plan… and quickly!
correct definitions from List B.
List A List B
Hungry • Siege • A huge catapult
King John had been falling out with for More? • Trebuchet • A covered ladder
his barons for most of his reign. Why • Battering ram • From the French for ‘to sit’
not try to find out more about their • Siege tower • A special mixture that’s set on fire
quarrels? TOP TIP: You might want to start • Greek fire • Swings at doors and walls to
your research with something called ‘Magna Carta’. make a hole

3 Castles 47
3.2B The siege of Rochester Castle
Dig, dig, dig! felt the cavern was big enough, the wooden supports
By the beginning of November, after trying to regain would be burned so that it would collapse… and bring
the castle for several weeks, King John had achieved everything above down with it. Source A shows you
some success… but not much! His battering rams and how undermining worked.
trebuchets had managed to break down some of the
outer walls, but he still couldn’t get to the barons who Hungry
King John was the great-, great- for More?
were inside the great stone keep, protected by walls grandson of William the Conqueror,
over three metres thick. So John decided on a new the famous winner of the Battle of
tactic, known as undermining. Hastings. After William’s death in 1087, both
of his sons became king, then his grandson, great-
Undermining was when a group of miners (called
grandson… and then two great-, great-grandsons.
sappers) would dig a tunnel under a castle wall or
There was a female ruler too, for a while, although
the corner of a castle’s tower and hollow out a huge she was never officially crowned queen. She was
cavern underneath. They would prop up the roof of William’s granddaughter. Why not find out all of their
their cavern with wooden supports. Then, when they names?

SOURCE A: How undermining worked.

Stage 1: Digging Stage 2: Wooden supports

Castle wall or
The cavern
The sappers are tower
is supported
protected by a by wooden
wooden cover supports or
called a ‘tortoise’ props

The sappers
hollow out a
Sappers dig a huge whole
tunnel or cavern

Stage 3: Fire Stage 4: Collapse When the wooden supports

collapse, the wall or tower
falls into the hole!

A soldier with
a flaming torch
enters the cavern
The attacking army then run
through the gap left by the
The wooden collapsing wall!
supports are set
on fire

48 3 Castles
Feeling the heat
Undermining a castle’s walls was a clever tactic, but it ‘Send to us with all speed by
didn’t always work! Sometimes the wooden supports day and night,
forty of the fattest pigs of th
didn’t burn through properly and the walls didn’t fall e sort least
all the way down into the hole. So King John decided good for eating so that we ma
y bring fire
to make sure the fire in the underground cavern was underneath the castle.’
very, very hot, to be certain that the wooden supports
would be totally destroyed… so he sent for some extra
fat pigs! (See Source B). SOURCE B: King John’s order to find
40 fat pigs. This has to be one of the strangest
Pig power! royal requests ever!
As soon as the pigs arrived, John knew he’d have the
walls of the keep down in no time. Pig fat burns at a
very, very high temperature (up to around 500⁰C), so
John piled up the pigs in the huge cavern dug deep
below the castle walls… and set them on fire! The fat
burned so well that the wooden supports collapsed,
the cavern caved in and the foundations of the wall
above began to crack. Eventually, the wall of the keep
fell down and the whole south-east tower fell into
the hole. It was then that the king stormed in. On 30
November 1215, the siege of Rochester Castle was
finally over – thanks to 40 fat pigs!

FACT!
King John didn’t punish the rebel barons as severely
as many thought he would. He needed their money,
after all, and decided it would be best if they were
kept alive so that he could tax them heavily. However, SOURCE C: This picture from a medieval
manuscript shows a king (probably John) out
he did get his revenge on one man who changed
hunting with his dogs.
sides halfway through the siege and joined the rebels.
What did King John do to the unfortunate man? He
ordered his hands and feet to be cut off!

Work
1 In your own words, explain how King John finally a One person takes the role of the attacker. Think
managed to get into Rochester Castle. In your about what tricks and weapons you could use to
answer, you MUST use the following terms: sappers; get in. The other person takes the role of the baron,
undermining; wooden supports; pig fat. defending his castle. Think about what defences you
have for keeping the attackers out.
2 Now you have read about the siege of Rochester Castle, b In pairs, discuss the events that might occur during
it’s time to put your knowledge about attacking and this last week.
defending castles into practice.
The year is 1304 and Stirling Castle is under siege! In c Write a siege diary from the point of view of
your character. Include all the events of that
pairs, consider the sort of events that might have taken
week. How the siege ends is up to you.
place during the final week of the siege.

3 Castles 49
3.3A Who’s who in a castle?
Image
A castle was very busy because it was a lord or baron’s home – it
tives
was full of people who looked after him, such as servants, cooks and Mission Objec
entertainers. But it was also a local centre of government used as a
base from which the lord or baron ruled the local area. On behalf of Examine what day-to-
the king, a lord or baron would be expected to collect taxes, arrest day life in a castle was Image Audio
criminals, prevent rebellion, and guard against invasion, and lots of like and know the names
different people were needed to do this. and jobs of the people
A castle was rather like a town hall and a police station all rolled into who lived there.
one, and was always full of people busily going about their business. Audio Video

So who were the castle’s most important and interesting inhabitants?

I am the baron. I own the castle As the steward, I am Video Docum

I am the baron’s wife, one
and all the land around it. I even responsible for all the
of the few women who live
own the peasants working on servants – the cooks,
in the castle. I look after
my land. I have other castles in butlers, serving staff,
our children, with help from
different parts of the country too. gardeners, and even
my personal servants known
I spend my money on fantastic the gong farmer!
as ladies-in-waiting. I can
food, beautiful wall hangings, sew, sing and play musical Present
Document
gold and silver jewellery, and instruments, so I can impress I stink. I’m the gong farmer,
entertaining my friends. my husband’s important friends that’s why! My job is to
when they come and visit. clean out all the garderobes
or toilets.

Interac
Presentation

Animat
Interactive

Animation

I am the constable
and my main I am the chamberlain.
focus is security. I am the
I look after my lord and
The safety of marshall. I look
lady’s rooms and all their
the castle is my after the horses
belongings. I also look
responsibility so and carts, the
after their clothes and
I make sure the blacksmiths,
make sure the servants
soldiers control stonemasons,
clean them properly. I
who or what and carpenters.
am trusted to look after
comes in and out all my lord’s money and
of this place. I valuables. I make sure
actually run the good accounts are kept
whole castle when of all the taxes paid and
the lord is away. every penny spent.

50
42 3 Castles
 I am a forgotten prisoner in the
oubliette and have stolen from the There is so much work to be done around
baron. I am on display as a warning here and we are too busy to stop and explain
to others. My body will stay here for exactly what we do. As servants, we are the
months. Birds and maggots will eat my ones who cook, clean, wash, serve, tidy, fetch,
flesh until only bones are left. and carry. Few of us even have proper rooms,
so we just sleep anywhere we can.

I’m the castle jester.

Sometimes people call me the
fool. My job is to tell funny
stories and sing rude songs.
Even my clothes are silly!

My job as a sheriff is
to arrest criminals,
collect taxes and Work
make sure people
1 a Make a copy of the puzzle
keep the laws. I
don’t live in the template and fill it in using
castle, but visit it clues 1 to 5.
often to meet with 6
the lord. 1
2
3
4
5
I’ve got 21 days to go! As a knight, my We work for him! Our job as
main job is to protect my lord. I do this soldiers is to defend the castle CLUES:
for 40 days a year because the baron and protect the baron when he 1 Forgotten prisoner
gave me some land. I use men who live travels around.
on my land as soldiers to help me. When 2 Looks after horses and carts
my 40 days are over another knight who 3 Arrests criminals
lives nearby will come and do his duty. 4 Defenders of the castle
5 Works for the baron for 40 days
b Now read down the grid (clue
6) and write a sentence or
two about this person.
2 Choose one of the
characters from the castle.
Imagine that they have fallen
from the battlements by
accident! It’s your job to recruit
someone to fill their post. Write a
s job advert to find a replacement.
Wise Up Word Remember to include a full job
description and the skills
garderobe oubliette
required for this post.

3 Castles 5143
3.3B Who’s who in a castle?

Who’s the king of the castle? Look-out soldier

Part of the reason for building a castle was to create an
impression. The baron wanted to show everyone that he
was in charge, and that he was there to stay! Imagine how
impressive and powerful a castle must have looked 800 Chapel for
Lord’s family
years ago when it was new. It would have been the tallest
building anyone had ever seen, and the huge towers and
high stone walls would have been topped with menacing
soldiers staring out over the towns, villages and fields below.
The walls of the
The castle was also a safe base from which the baron or lord keep were 2.5
could rule the local area. There was no fixed plan or shape metres thick
for a castle, so each one was different depending on how
the baron wanted it constructed. This is why all castles look
Small rooms built
a little bit different. into the keep’s
thick walls

The great hall

Curtain wall
would sleep here
as well as eat

Armoury and
workshop

Round towers

Storeroom for flour,

The only safe way salt, salted meat,
across the moat was wine, etc
over the drawbridge

Keep with
drawbridge

Arrow slits, also

called embrasures

52 3 Castles
 FACT!
Tank for collecting Staircases in castles almost always went up in a clockwise
rainwater direction. This was so that defenders coming down the stairs
would have space to swing their swords in their right hands,
Merlons (raised while the attackers would find it more difficult!
stonework)

Work
Crenels (gaps)
1 Match up the rooms or features found in a
castle with the correct descriptions.

Bedroom The keep A room where everyone

curtains for ate
privacy The great hall Where the lord and his
family went to pray
The chapel The baron’s private living
and sleeping quarters
Spiral staircase
The garderobe The largest, strongest part
of the castle
Buildings inside the The well A toilet that emptied out
bailey might include into the moat or a cesspool
stables, workshops, The solar Provided water for drinking
guardrooms, etc. and washing
2 Make a list of reasons why a baron would
want to spend so much time and money
building a huge stone castle.
3 EITHER: Imagine you are a wealthy baron
about to build a new stone castle. Draw up
a short list of requirements for your builder.
Make sure you include:
• information about different parts of the
castle. What key features must you have?
• details about the thickness of the walls
Guardsroom and layout of the castle
• any special features you require – how
Entrance to keep many garderobes or wells?
• a rough, drawn plan to go with your list.
The Big Write!

OR: Imagine the baron of the castle

Hoarding with leather
cover, used to protect pictured on these pages has asked you to
Well show a very important guest around the
the towers and walls
when being attacked keep. Write a two- to three-minute speech,
which explains the keep in detail, that you
The garderobe Dungeon
(lavatory) chute could use as you show around the baron’s
out to moat guest of honour.

3 Castles 53
3.4 Where have all our
castles gone?
The great age of castle-building was between 1066 and
tives
about 1350. It was during this time that many of Britain’s most Mission Objec
famous castles were completed, including Warwick, Rochester,
Kenilworth, Conwy, and, of course, the Tower of London. Discover how the use and
look of castles has changed
But the vast majority of castles today are just empty ruins.
Some of them have been so badly damaged that large parts since the Middle Ages.
of them are missing and many don’t even have a roof! Some Examine why the golden
ruins are huge, and still look a bit like castles, but many others age of castle-building
are just piles of old stones in a field. So what has happened to ended and what we do to
many of these once fine buildings? Why do many castles lie protect castles today.
in a state of ruin? And what do we do to preserve and protect
these places today?

Changes to castles
Castles changed greatly over the years. Simple
wooden towers on a mound of earth surrounded SOURCE A: A castle with modern
by fences and ditches were replaced by massive extensions and renovations.
stone castles ringed by thick walls and deep
moats. Later castles were more like palaces, Roof replaced in
designed for comfortable living rather than for 1705, 1790, 1840 etc.
Windows
protection and controlling land. enlarged in 1511
Chimney added
Castles in decline in 1588
There are two key reasons why the great age Extension added
in 1660
of castle-building stopped. First was the use of Windows double-
gunpowder in battle. Many of the castles were glazed in 1992
no match for the highly explosive impact of
gunpowder on their walls. Extension
refurbished
Also, after 1500, Britain became more peaceful in 1984
and there was less fighting… and the rich castle-
owning nobles no longer needed to live in
these big, cold, dark, draughty, damp buildings.
Some lords made their castles into comfortable
homes. They added extensions to them, often
Entrance
made out of brick and with large windows, and installed in 1609
made pretty gardens around their castles. These
changes continued over the years as the castle
passed between different owners (see Source
A). Other lords and barons moved out of their
castles and built smaller, more comfortable Entrance
widened in 1840 Wall added (from stones
homes nearby. They let the castles fall to ruin reclaimed from ruined
(see Source B). curtain wall) in 1938
54 3 Castles
 SOURCE B: Some castles have
become popular tourist attractions.

Visitors centre selling Historical re-enactment

food and souvenirs showing what life was like
in the Middle Ages

Tourists

Souvenirs bought
from the visitors
centre

Guide books
for sale
Picnic area
Map and history
of the castle
Image Spreadshe

Castles today
There are literally hundreds of castles dotted all Work Audio Weblink
over Britain. Whilst lots are now ruins, some have 1 In your own words explain why, after 1350, castles
undergone dramatic restoration and have been were used less and less, and why many fell to ruin.
converted into hotels and conference centres. Others 2 Think for yourself. How do organizations like English
are still privately owned and are used as homes. Heritage, Cadw Video
and the National Trust look after Resource
– Assessm
Many, though, are looked after by groups and Britain’s castles today? You might like to discuss
organizations such as English Heritage, Cadw and answers to this in a group before you write them
down.
the National Trust. You can go and visit some of
our finest castles, wander around the grounds, look 3 Look at Source A. Imagine you are an estate
Document Zip Archiv
through the display areas and gaze at medieval agent with the job of selling the castle.
artefacts, models and old suits of armour. Sometimes Create a set of notes to go with the picture
there are demonstrations by knights on horseback to help sell the property.
or archers shooting arrows. Often they have a snack You need to make sure you include why castles were Other
Presentation
bar and a shop where you can buy a souvenir of your built in Britain to begin with, what role they played – For file
visit. Every year thousands of people visit Britain’s can't ye
in medieval history and how the castle has been
castles – clearly there is still a huge interest in the changed, developed and extended over the years.
way people lived in them. You might want to add more pictures to your sales
information. Interactive Lesson Pla

3 Castles 55
Assessing Your Learning 1
What do we need to know about castles?
Good historians can bring together all the different things they’ve learned about
a topic. This is your chance to have a go at doing this.

A website is being launched, designed to contain everything a young historian might

need to know about medieval castles. The website will be made up of six sections
covering each of the areas in the webpage below.

1 What is a castle?

2 Why were castles built?

3 What were the different

parts of a castle?

4 How did castle-building

change during the Middle
Ages?

5 How were castles attacked

and defended?

?
6 This part is up to you!
What other section do you
think the website needs?

As a History expert, you’ve been asked to write a Ages’ section, you will need to say that wooden
summary of what you think should be included in each castles were replaced by stones ones… but you
section. Your summaries should be no longer than 100 should also mention why this change took place.
words each and will need to explain:
Think about what pictures or diagrams you might
• The main facts and figures for that section. What use to help you with the points you make and the
are the important historical words and dates, for explanations you give. What pictures and diagrams
example? might you use from this Student Book, for example?
• The key points you want to make. For example, in the
‘How did castle-building change during the Middle

56
 What do I need to do now? How to present your work
• Look back through the pages in this chapter that • You might show what each page will look like
might help you. and how it might be set out. Perhaps use an A4

Assessing Your Learning

or A3 sheet of paper to show what each page
• Select pages, dates, facts, figures, diagrams and
will look like to someone viewing the site.
explanations that might help you write your
summaries, and then start drafting each summary. • You could present each summary as a mind-
map – or how about presenting each summary
• Remember, you need to think of a new section, of
in a PowerPoint presentation?
your own choice, to go onto the website (section
6). If the website is meant to contain everything
a young historian needs to know about medieval
castles, what else do you think is important enough
to go on the website?
• You are writing six summaries in total, so keep them
short, sharp and packed with information.
Assessing your work
In a good website, • describe what castles were, what they looked like and how they protected the people
you would… inside
• explain how castles changed over the years (for example, from wood to stone)
Good • include a list of diagrams and sources that could be used in each section
• use dates and historical terms
• choose a relevant topic for section six (your own choice).
In a better website, • describe what castles were, what they looked like and how they protected the people
you would… inside in greater detail
• explain how castles changed and give reasons why these changes took place
Better • include a detailed list of diagrams and sources that could be used in each section
• use dates and historical terms correctly at all times
• choose a relevant topic for section six and give reasons for your choice.
In the best website, • accurately describe what castles were, what they looked like and how they protected
you would… people using the correct historical terms and dates at all times
• explain in detail how castles changed and how stone castles developed over the years
(for example, the introduction of concentric castles)
• explain why castle-building declined in the fifteenth century
Best • select, organize and use relevant information and sources, as well as the correct
historical dates and terms, at all times
• choose a topic for section six and justify your choice by explaining why a student should
know about it.

Hungry
There is probably a medieval castle or some • Find out if it has any special features used for More?
ruins in a town near you. Research and make to protect it from attack.
a presentation on the castle, including: • Try to find out a little bit about who lived
• Who built it and when? in the castle.
• Did any sieges take place there? • Have you visited it? What was it like?
How did you find out about its past?

57
4.1 Religious beliefs
tives
Mission Objec
Today, there are many different religions in Britain. Many people
consider themselves Christian but only around three people Investigate the importance of
in every hundred go to church on a Sunday. Things were very religion in medieval times.
different in medieval Britain and religion was a much more Evaluate the role of religion in
important part of daily life. Over the next few pages, you will everyday life.
learn about the role of the Church in people’s lives, how and why
people worked for God, and why people became pilgrims.

Heaven and hell

In the Middle Ages almost everyone in ‘In hell the wicked are tortured on burning trees. They were
Britain believed in God. They believed that hung by the feet, or hands, or hair, or neck, or tongue, or arm.
heaven and hell were real places – as real as There is a horrible river, full of fish-like monsters which gob-
France or Spain – and where you ended up ble up the souls of the wicked, who get what they deserve.’
when you died depended on how you had
lived your life. SOURCE A: This is how a medieval priest described hell.
People believed that if you committed crimes, didn’t pray much
God’s will and were a bad person, you would face these kinds of horrors.
People used religion to explain things. At
a time when there was limited scientific
knowledge about how the world worked, Performing
people looked to God for answers. Bad games, plays Bible teaching
and fairs
harvests, nasty illnesses and unfortunate
accidents were viewed as punishments
from God for sins that had been committed.
But if you tried to lead a good life and went
A meeting place
to church regularly, heaven was the reward Giving local news
A village church
that made up for the suffering on earth.
The heart of the village
The biggest building in a town or village
would be the church. Churches were very
noisy because they were used as meeting
spaces. People didn’t want to spend too
much time in their tiny, smelly huts, with praying
smoke from fires and the smell of animals!
Children’s games, plays and summer fairs
were sometimes held in the churchyard. A
church would have been a lively place, full Baptising a child And its priest
of laughter, conversation and activity.
Burying the dead
SOURCE B: This diagram illustrates the
functions of a village church and its priest.

Marriage

58 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?

 FACT!
Church services were held in Latin, the language
of the Church, so ordinary people wouldn’t have
understood much of what was being said. The
Bible was translated into Latin too!

The priest
The village priest played a very important role in
medieval society, and was part of most people’s
lives from the day they were born to the day they
died. He was an advisor and a local leader. During
confession the priest would listen while villagers
told him of the sinful things they had done. At Image Spreadsheet
church services he would tell villagers that they SOURCE C: A doom painting from a
would go to heaven if they were good but go to medieval church in Chaldon, Surrey.
hell if they were bad. There were pictures, statues,
stained glass, and paintings to remind people
of this. Huge doom paintings showed angels
Work Audio Weblink

welcoming good people into heaven and devils 1 a Copy and complete the following paragraph.
pulling murderers into pots of boiling oil in hell. In the Middle Ages, almost everyone believed in
and went to . The local
church wasVideoa busy place and children’s games
Pay up! Resource Pac
and summer were sometimes held – Assessmen
The villagers had to give the local church one
in the . People tried to lead good lives
tenth of all the food they grew. This was called
because they wanted to go to . They
the tithe. As you can imagine, the villagers were were afraid of .
often unhappy about this, especially if the harvest b Villagers had to give the local church one Zip Archive
Document
was bad. Also, when someone died, the priest tenth of their harvest as a tithe. What is this
received their second-best working animal! For as a percentage?
the peasants, worshipping God could be an 2 Make a list of all a medieval priest’s duties.
expensive business.
3 Study Source C.
Presentation Other
a Why was it important to have pictures and – For file type
can't yet en
FACT! paintings on church walls in the Middle Ages?
Clue: Think about the language used by the
priest in his services.
People in medieval Britain were Christians and Interactive
b What was the purpose of a doom painting? How Lesson Player
followed the Roman Catholic religion. People
do you think these kinds of paintings might affect
believed that the Pope, who lived in Rome, had
the way someone behaved after leaving church?
been given authority by God to be the supreme
c Draw your own doom painting. Remember, it’s got
head of the Church on earth.
to tell people what will happen to them in heaven
Animation
and hell, and must not include any words.

s
Wise Up Word
doom painting Pope tithe

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 59

4.2 A day in the life of a monk
tives
Mission Objec
Some men decided to devote their whole lives to God. Explain why some men became monks
They left their families, homes and possessions and and what their daily life involved.
moved into a monastery as a monk. But what did they
do when they got there? What rules did they live by to Understand how monks contributed to
please God? How did they help the rest of society? And medieval society.
what made so many men become monks?

Why take up the habit?

Monks first arrived in England in the sixth century,
when Saint Augustine, a Benedictine monk, built
the first monastery. In 1066, there were around 1000
monks in England – but this number quickly increased
after William’s invasion. By 1300, there were over
12,000 monks in England – meaning that out of every
150 people, one was a monk!
A monk’s life was not an easy one. It was dominated
by prayer – every three hours – day and night! They Im
had to live by a strict set of rules set down by Saint
Benedict (see below).

Image Au

A good mo SOURCE A: The buildings where monks lived were

nk must: called monasteries. A large monastery was called an abbey.
Spend his li
fe in servic
e to God Audio Vid
Give away
all of his p
roperty ‘Here everything is peaceful and quiet.
Obey the a
monastery)
bbot (head
of t We are free from all the noise and worry
at all times he of the world. All the monks are very
Wear a ha
bit
and shave (robe), sandals
friendly and no one is selfish.’ Video Do
the top of
(known as his
a tonsure) head
Stay in the SOURCE B: This monk from Rievaulx Abbey
monastery
dies. until he wrote about the peace of a monk’s life around 1170.
Pr
Documen
Signed
Saint Bene Hungry
dict Followers of Saint Benedict were for More?
called Benedictines. However, not
In
Presentat
all monks followed Saint Benedict’s
rules. See what you can find out about
different types of monks.

An
Interactiv
60 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?
Joining up
s
A boy could join a monastery as young as seven years Wise Up Word
Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Homewor
of age. He would have been known as a novice. Why
not read about a day in Novice Arthur’s life below? chronicle illuminated manuscript monastery
monk scriptorium vellum
Document Zip Archive
The diary of Novice Arthur, aged 13 ¾ SOURCE C: This
hat a busy day! Brother Gerald woke me example of an illuminated
up at two in the morning for an hour of manuscript comes from
the Lindisfarne Gospels.
prayers. It was so cold. Presentation Other
– For file types/resource
was up again at six for more prayers. We then ate can't yet envisage
our breakfast of bread and ale in the refectory.
Sometimes we have porridge, but not today! None of
us are allowed to talk when we’re eating… and you Illuminating
Interactive work Lesson Player (short term
are beaten or whipped if you do. Monks were probably the best-educated people in
t eight o’clock we met in the chapter house medieval society and monasteries were important
to sort out our work for the day. There’s no centres of learning. They acted as libraries for ancient
choice, we are just told what to do. After books and manuscripts. Monks not only read these
Animation
a short, relaxing walk in the cloisters I books, they also made sure the knowledge wasn’t lost
went off to work in the scriptorium. I cut by copying them by hand. This took place in a special
and smooth animal skins to make vellum to write on. room called a scriptorium, a long narrow hall with
Sometimes I copy out books and decorate the capital booths placed against windows to help the monks see
letters at the start of paragraphs. We prayed again at what they were doing. Valuable books were chained to
eleven o’clock and at midday ate our lunch of soup, the desk to prevent them being damaged if they were
bread and ale. knocked off. Sometimes monks wrote their own books
called chronicles. They also often illuminated their
fter more prayers I went out to tend the books with tiny, beautiful
Image paintings around the edges Spreadsh
fruit and vegetables in the fields. We help of the page and on capital letters.
the local people by occasionally providing
them with food or even free medical care. Work
Some of the monks know how to make 1 Being a monkAudio
seems like a hard life to people today. Weblink
medicines from herbs. When we don’t feel well we go Try to explain why you think so many men chose to
to the infirmary and are looked after by these clever lead this kind of life in the Middle Ages.
monks. We also teach a few of the local children to read
2 Read Novice Arthur’s diary. Answer these questions.
in our small school and collect clothing and money for
a At what time did Arthur:
Video Resource
the very poor. • get up for prayer? – Assessm
e prayed again at six before supper… and • go to sleep at night?
then again afterwards. I’ve just polished my b In what ways did monks in monasteries try to help
tonsure with a piece of stone to keep it free local people? Why do you think they did this?
of hair. You get whipped if you don’t. Sometimes you c Describe what went on in the refectory, scriptoriumZip Archiv
Document
and infirmary.
are given less food if you do not follow the rules! It’s
d Name two types of punishment Arthur may have
nine o’clock now and I’m off to bed in my dormitory. I
received in the monastery.
have to be awake again at two o’clock…
3 Using Source C as a guide, make your own
Presentation Other
illuminated manuscript. In it, explain why monks – For file
can't ye
copied books and why this was important.

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 61

Interactive Lesson Pl
4.3 Was it fun to be a nun?
tives
It wasn’t just men who wanted to devote their lives to God, Mission Objec
women did too. They became nuns, lived in nunneries and lived
Examine why some women
lives that were fairly similar to monks’. Nunneries were often built
became nuns and what their
next to monasteries – and in the Middle Ages there were around
lives involved.
130 of them. There were not as many nuns as monks, though,
and they hardly ever worked with books or manuscripts. So what Explain how they helped the
did they do instead? How and why did women become nuns? rest of society.
And how did they help the rest of society?

Joining a nunnery
Usually, women had to pay to become a nun. FACT!
Sometimes a family might pay a fee (called a dowry)
to a nunnery so that one of their daughters could Not every young woman was thrilled at the prospect
become a nun. of a life devoted to God. In 1318, a nun called Joanna
from Clementhorpe nunnery faked her own death
Women became nuns for lots of reasons – and at and staged her own funeral in an attempt to avoid
various ages. Look at the stories below to find out why being a nun for the rest of her life.
these three women joined a nunnery.

My name is Sister Ursula and I’m 22 years My name is Sister Winifred and I
My name is Sister Emily and old. When it was time for me to marry, am 55 years old. I became a nun
I’m 16 years old. When I was I told my father that I didn’t want a when my husband died two years
born, my mother and I nearly husband – I wanted to become a nun. ago. I decided to dedicate the
died. My father prayed to God That way, my education would continue rest of my life to God and gave
and promised Him that I would and I would have responsibilities and all of my money and belong-
spend my life doing His work if I jobs that are far more interesting than ings, including my house, to the
lived. I did, so when I was a very being a wife and mother. My father gave nunnery. Now I have nothing to
young girl, my father kept his a dowry to the nunnery and I donated worry about other than pleasing
promise and handed me over to my silver necklace that belonged to my God and doing His work.
the sisters with a dowry. grandfather.

62 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?

The Brides of Christ
After living as a nun for five years, nuns were consecrated. This involved a Wise Up W ords
Audio
ceremony that was very similar to a wedding. The nun would have a ring
placed on her finger and wore a wedding crown as she took her vows. consecrated dowry
From then on, she would be seen as being married to God, and so couldn’t
marry a man.
Video
The daily life of a nun was very similar to that of a monk – it was based ‘Care for the sick stands before
around prayer and chores, but was not quite as strict as life for the monks everything. You must help
in the monasteries. Nuns often had their own possessions, wore jewellery, them as Christ would, whom
or kept a pet. Dogs were most popular – but some nuns kept monkeys! you really help by helping
Document
them… Also, you must be
Looking after the sick
patient with them and you
Nuns were well known for caring for the sick and nunneries had special
will gain greater merit with
places where the sick could sleep and be looked after. In fact, the word
God. The sick should not be
‘hospital’ comes from the Latin word ‘hospitalis’, which means ‘a place Presentation
neglected at any single point.’
for guests’. Between 1205 and 1300 there were over a hundred of these
‘hospitals’, as they became known, and most were attached to nunneries.
SOURCE A: A picture of nuns looking after the sick in their SOURCE B:
nunnery. Nuns or sisters often attended to the sick – that’s why Like some monks,
Interactive
senior nurses in hospitals today are known as ‘sisters’. nuns followed the
rules of St Benedict.
Some of these rules
included how to look
afterAnimation
the sick.

Image Spreadsheet

Audio Weblink

Video Resource Package

– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Work
1 Identify the different reasons why each of the three 4 Look at Source B.
Document Zip Archive
sisters on the left-hand page became nuns. a What did St Benedict say about caring for the sick?
b What evidence is there on these pages that nuns in
2 Why do you think nuns were sometimes called ‘Brides
the Middle Ages followed St Benedict’s instructions?
of Christ’?
5 Nunneries still exist all over the world, but there are far
3 Look at Source A. Describe what you think is
Presentation Other
fewer
– For file now than there
types/resources weonce were. Why do you think so
going on in the painting. Think about:
few envisage
can't yet women want to become nuns today?
• what the older nuns are showing the younger nuns
• what the nun on the right is doing to the sick man
• how the sick are treated.
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 63

4.4 What were the Wars of
the Cross?
Most people in medieval Europe had one thing in
tives
common – their religion. They were Christians and their Mission Objec
religious leader on earth was the Pope. For Christians,
Jerusalem was the most important city in the world. Summarize why some people in
Jesus had lived there, and was crucified and buried medieval Europe wished to visit the
there. Naturally, Christians wanted to visit Jerusalem Holy Land.
so they could say they had been to a place that was so Discover why Jerusalem was an
important in the life of Jesus. These travellers were known important city for Christians,
as pilgrims. Some pilgrims visited other places near to Muslims and Jews.
Jerusalem, such as Bethlehem, that were linked to the
life of Jesus. In fact, the whole area became known as the Examine why the Pope ordered the
Holy Land (see Source A). Crusades.

Not just Christians

The Holy Land was, and still is,
important for many religions.
Jews believe that Jerusalem is
promised to them by God, and
that it is their spiritual homeland.
Jerusalem is also a holy site for
Muslims because their leader, the
Prophet Muhammad, is said to
have visited the city and ascended
from there to heaven. By the early
Middle Ages, though, Arab Muslims
controlled Jerusalem and allowed
Jews and Christians to visit and live
in the Holy Land… but in 1079 that
all changed.

All change
In 1076 a tribe from the east, called
the Turks, took over Jerusalem and
the Holy Land. These Turks were
Muslims who believed that no one
but Muslims should set foot in the
Holy Land. Christians who returned
home from the Holy Land told
SOURCE A: Europe and the Holy Land. As you can see,
stories about how they had been treated badly by the Christian pilgrims had to travel a long way to get to the Holy
Turks. Some pilgrims were even killed. The Turks were Land, where Jesus had lived.
also invading other land ruled by Christians.

64 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?

 SOURCE B: Jerusalem is a sacred city for three
different faiths. It is because of this that people still
struggle for control of Jerusalem to this day. In the
Middle Ages it was very important to members of all
three religions to secure safe access to their shrines.

The Wailing or Western Wall is

the last remaining part of King
Herod’s temple and is a site of
pilgrimage for Jews. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
is built on the site where Christians
believe that Jesus was buried.

The Dome of the Rock mosque is

built on the site where Muslims
believe the Prophet Muhammad
rose up and visited heaven.

A holy war
In 1095, the Christian leader, Pope Urban II, urged all Christian kings, Work
Image Spreadshee
lords, soldiers, and ordinary people to go and fight the Muslim Turks. 1 Explain why Jerusalem is an important
He promised that anyone who died fighting would go straight to city for:
heaven. Thousands of people decided to go. They sewed crosses, a Muslims b Christians c Jews.
the sign of Christianity, onto their clothes and flags. These journeys
2 Look at Source C.
Audio Weblink
became known as the Crusades, which means ‘wars of the cross’.
a Who said this?
Between 1096 and 1250 there were many Crusades against the b Why was this man important to
Muslim Turks. Christians?
c How does the writer of this source
Video Resource Pa
‘Brothers, I speak as a messenger from God… Your fellow Christians try to encourage people to go on– Assessme
in the east desperately need help. The Saracens have attacked them the Crusades? Make a list.
and have pushed deep into Christian land. They are killing great
numbers of Christians. They are destroying churches and land. In the 3 Design a poster for the Pope that
name of God, I beg you all to drive out these foul creatures. would encourage people to leave
Document Zip Archive
their homes and fight in the Crusades.
Your own land has too many people. There is not much wealth here.
The soil hardly grows enough to support you. Set out for Jerusalem. It must tell people why the Pope
Take that land from the wicked infidel and make it your own. wants them to fight and what benefits
If you die on the journey or if you are killed in a battle against these are in it for them. Think about what
Saracens all your sins will be forgiven at once. God Himself has given illustrations you will put on your
Presentation Other
me the power to tell you this. poster. Which words and phrases said– For file ty
by Pope Urban II will you use? can't yet
Some of you have spent too much time fighting against your fellow
Christians. But now you must fight the Saracens. Let bandits
become soldiers. Soldiers who have been fighting for money
must now fight for heavenly riches.’ Interactive Lesson Play
s
Wise Up Word
SOURCE C: Part of the speech made by Pope Urban
II in 1095. ‘Saracen’ is a word for Muslims in the Middle Ages. Crusades infidel pilgrim Saracen
‘Infidel’ was a word used to describe non-Christians. Animation

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 65

4.5 Cuthbert the Crusader
tives
Mission Objec
Meet Cuthbert, the second oldest son of his father, who is a
rich and powerful English landowner. Cuthbert is a knight Categorize reasons why people
who is about to leave England and travel to the Holy Land went on Crusades.
with his fellow Crusaders. On his journey through Europe Evaluate a number of different
he’ll be joined by thousands of people including fellow routes to the Holy Land.
knights, lords, peasants, kings, wives, and even children. But
what are their motives for going? Firstly, look at the wide
variety of reasons for going on a Crusade given below.

It was a chance for a knight to The Holy Land was rich with
become a hero. One French knight luxuries such as gold, spices
wrote to his wife and said, ‘It breaks and perfumes. One knight
my heart to leave you but in the wrote in 1098, ‘My dear wife, I
Holy Land I will win praise and your now have twice as much silver
true love.’ Shield made and gold as when I set off.’
from wood
covered with
leather The Pope promised to forgive
Many people went because they
all a person’s sins if they went
felt it was their duty to obey the
on a Crusade.
Pope, who had urged people to go.

Some kings promised to reward

Tunic, usually white fellow Crusaders with lands and
Some felt it was their Christian duty
with a red cross titles.
to make sure that fellow Christian
sewn on it
pilgrims could travel to the Holy
Land in peace, without being
attacked by Muslim Turks.

Some younger knights went

to try and get land overseas.
This was tempting for people
Some people went to see the world who, like Cuthbert, were not
and saw it as a great adventure. an eldest son, and so wouldn’t
inherit land.

FACT! Some kings encouraged violent

and aggressive knights to go
During the time of the Crusades, on Crusades to get them out of
there was religious hatred in the country.
some parts of Europe. In 1189
and 1190, angry mobs attacked Crusaders paid no taxes while
and killed Jews living in London they were away and any money
and York. And in 1290, all Jews Chain mail suit they owed didn’t have to be
were expelled from England by covering the Sword, up to 1.2 paid until they returned.
King Edward I. whole body metres long

66 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?

So how would Cuthbert and his Crusaders
s
get there? Wise Up Word
The journey to the Holy Land was long and difficult. Travelling across land
took a long time, and there were bandits and robbers to contend with. motive
Travelling by boat was quicker, but there was the danger of shipwreck or
attack by pirates. Source A shows some possible choices for Cuthbert and
his Crusaders – but which one should he choose?

Image Spreadsheet

Audio Weblink

Video Resource Package

– Assessment/Homework/Assi

SOURCE A: This map shows four Document Zip Archive

possible routes to the Holy Land.

Work
1 Look at Source A.
Presentation Other
– For to
a Imagine you are Cuthbert. You have four possible routes filethe
types/resources
Holy we
can't yet envisage
Be a Top Land (Route A, B, C, or D). What are the advantages and disadvantages
Historian of each route?
b Work out how long each journey will take using the scale on the map
Top historians know that
(this will beInteractive
an approximate time). Lesson Player (short term plan
there are nearly always lots of
c Which route would take the longest?
different reasons why people
d Which route would take the least time?
do things. And different
e So which route should you choose? Give reasons for your choice.
people will have different
reasons for taking part in 2 a Look at theAnimation
ten different reasons why people decided to go on a
the same event – like the Crusade. Try to sum up each of the ten reasons in only THREE words.
Crusades. Sometimes, though, b Try to place each of the ten reasons (which should now be summarized
you can put the reasons into in three words or fewer) in one of the following categories:
categories, such as religious Religion Money Power Other
reasons or financial reasons,
c Why do you think it’s important to know that people had different
for example.
motives for going on Crusades?

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 67

4.6 Chronicles of the Crusades
tives
Mission Objec
The age of the Crusades lasted for 300 years. Time and
time again, Christian armies set off from Europe to fight Define the period in history known
for control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. There were as ‘The Crusades’.
victories and defeats on both sides. But what were the key Construct a timeline of key events.
battles, who were the key individuals, and who had gained Interpret views on Saladin.
control of the Holy Land by the time the Crusades ended?

1. First Crusade, 1096–1099

‘Saladin spent much of his time
An army of peasants, led by a man called
Peter the Hermit, was the first group to drinking and gambling. When he
set off for the Holy Land. They were nearly became leader of the Muslims he
all killed. An army of knights followed led took over places by force or trickery.
by Robert of Normandy, the eldest son This greedy tyrant then took the
of William the Conqueror. After many
fierce, bloody, brutal battles they captured Holy Land.’
Jerusalem in 1099. It remained in Christian
hands for the next 88 years!
SOURCE B: Written by an
English monk in the thirteenth century.
2. Second Crusade, 1145–1149
The knights of the First Crusade then swept SOURCE C: From a description of
through the Holy Land creating Christian Saladin, written by a Muslim who knew
kingdoms and building castles. But in 1144, him.
the Muslims began to take back land. King
to fight
Louis VII of France set off to regain the
‘Saladin was so deter mined
land… but was defeated at Damascus. nothing
the Holy War he thought of
his men
else. Saladin made sure that
ver said
were fed and cared for. He ne
bad things about people.’

3. Third Crusade, 1189–1192

In 1174, the Muslims began to unite
under one leader – Salah ad-Din
(known to the Crusaders as ‘Saladin’).
In 1187, his army recaptured Jerusalem
and took other land controlled
by Christians. The Crusaders (who
included King Richard I of England)
captured the town of Acre, but
quarrelled amongst themselves and
failed to capture Jerusalem. On 2
September 1192, King Richard met
with Saladin and made a deal –
Jerusalem could remain in Muslim
SOURCE A: This picture shows Crusaders hands, but Christians could visit
attacking Jerusalem in 1099. without coming to any harm (see
Sources B and C).
68 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?
 6. Fifth, Sixth and Seventh
Crusades, 1217–1250
All of these Crusades failed to re-take
Jerusalem and were unable to repeat
the success of the First Crusade.

7. Crusade of Nicopolis,
1396
Image At the Battle of Nicopolis (inSpreadshe
modern-day Bulgaria), an army
4. Fourth Crusade, 1202–1204 of French, Hungarian and
The Pope (Innocent III) asked all German knights were defeated.
Christians to capture Jerusalem This is sometimes called ‘the
once again. But the Crusaders never Audio Last Crusade’. Weblink
reached the Holy Land because
different groups fell out with each
other on the way. In the end,
Christians fought other Christians!
Work
1 a Put the following
Video dates in chronological order and Resource
explain what happened in each year. – Assessm

1202; 1099; 1096; 1145; 1192; 1396; 1144; 1212;

1174; 1189; 1187
b Think about what is meant by the term ‘turning
Document Zip Archiv
point’. Do you think any of the events that
happened on these dates could be called ‘turning
points’? Explain your choices.
2 Look at Source A.
Presentation Other
a What are the attackers doing? (Look at what they – For file
can't ye
are doing to the people of Jerusalem too!)
b What impression does this give of Crusaders and
their reasons for going on a Crusade?
5. Children’s Crusade, 1212
c This sourceInteractive
wasn’t painted until the 1300s, but it Lesson Pla
Some historical accounts say this Crusade
shows an attack in 1099. Does this mean it may not
was led by a 12-year-old French shepherd
boy named Stephen. Up to 30,000 children be useful to a historian?
are said to have left for the Holy Land 3 Look at Sources B and C.
determined to succeed where the adults had Animation
failed. Tragically, many died from hunger and
a Write a sentence describing what the writer of
exhaustion on the way. Others returned home, Source B thought about Saladin.
but thousands were kidnapped and sold as b Write a sentence describing what the writer of
slaves. However, no one knows what really Source C thought about Saladin.
happened, or which parts of the story are true. c Can you explain why the two opinions are so
different?
FACT! d Why do different opinions sometimes make the
study of history so challenging?
The European Crusaders called the Muslim 4 In no more than 150 words, explain which side
Turks ‘Saracens’, which is from the Greek you think won the Crusades. You must include
word for Muslim. Muslims used the word examples of both Crusader and Muslim victories and
‘Franks’ to describe the Crusaders as they explain who controlled the Holy Land when the
believed most of them came from France. Crusades came to an end.

4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 69

4.7 What did the Crusades do
for us?
Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

tives
There were lots of battles and wars during the time Mission Objec
of the Crusades. But there were also times when Document Zip Archive
there was peace and Christians and Muslims mixed Understand how life in Europe changed
with each other. As a result, all sorts of ideas from the and improved after contact with the
two different cultures were exchanged. So what were Muslim world.
these ideas? How did they affect life in Europe? And
Presentation Decide which change
Other was most
which side seemed to learn the most? important and why.
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Before the Crusades

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

New products The Muslims had been in contact with Christians from Technology
Crusaders brought back lots Europe long before the Crusades began. Muslims had The Muslims thought that
of things from the Holy Land. conquered Spain in the seventh century and had studying and education were
These included foods such as traded with some of their European neighbours for very important. Because of this,
Animation
lemons, melons, apricots, sugar, centuries. But Christians from northern European they had made advances in science
syrup and spices like nutmeg countries like Germany, France and England had and technology that amazed the
and cinnamon. Cotton, silk not had contact with the Muslims. They had Christians. These included mirrors, the
and slippers changed the way very little respect for the Muslims at first and magnetic compass, the magnifying glass,
people dressed. Muslims used thought they were a godless, uncivilized and a tool that could measure the distance
pigeons to carry messages too people. They were in for a surprise! In times between stars. The Muslims had also made
– something that was copied in of peace, in between the fighting, the advances in sailing and improved surgical
Europe. two sides mixed. Without a doubt the tools.
Christians learned the most!

Knowledge
The Muslims used
a number system Warfare
that made complicated The Muslims used
mathematics far easier. In fact, archers a lot. European
Arabic numbers are the ones armies, especially the English,
we use today. The Muslims also started to use archers a lot too.
had better maps. The works of the They also copied Muslim castle
Ancient Greeks, which had been designs and a weapon used
lost in Europe, had been to attack castles called
translated by the Muslims. a trebuchet, which was
This meant that the ideas like a huge catapult.
of Plato and Socrates could
be re-discovered by the
Europeans.

70 4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages?

 Work
1 Look at the diagram on the left-hand page.
a List all the things that they learned from
fighting the Muslims.
b Now list all the things that they learned from
living peacefully and talking to the Muslims.
c Which list is longer – fighting or talking?
Explain why you think this is.
d Of all the things that Christians learned from
the Crusades, which do you think was most
important? Give reasons for your answer.

SOURCE A: The Crusaders learned the game of shah 2 Look at Sources B, C, D, and E.
(or shatranj), which they called chess, from the Muslims. a For each source, explain in your own words
the point that the writer is trying to make.
b What impression do these sources give you
which was oc- of relationships between some Muslims and
‘When I used to enter the Aqsa Mosque,
e my friends,
cupied by the Christian Crusaders who wer Christians?
in it. One day I c If you were trying to find out about the
they would leave so that I might pray
stood up in
entered this Mosque, said Allah is great and Crusades, why would it be a bad idea to read
nks rushed
the act of praying. Upon this one of the Fra only stories written by either a Muslim or a
eastward.
on me, got hold of me and turned my face Christian? Why?
he said . A group of
“This is the way thou should pray!”
me. They 3 Look at the diagram that shows how
Christians seized him and repelled him from
r who has
apologised to me saying: “This is a strange much the Christians learned from the
land of the Fra nks. He Muslims (page 70). Design a poster to show what
only recently arrived from the ward”.’
exce pt east
has never before seen anyone praying the Crusaders learned and brought back from
the Holy Land. You cannot use more than 15
words on your poster, but someone looking at it
SOURCE B: From a book written in the
should be able to understand the importance of
twelfth century by Usamah ibn Munqidh , a rich
the Crusades.
Muslim from Damascus.

‘We who were Westerners find ourselves transformed ‘A man was accused of a crime, so they drop
into inhabitants of the East. The Italian or Frenchman ped him in
water. Their idea was that if he was inno
cent he would
of yesterday has become a citizen of the Holy Land. sink, but if he was guilty he would float.
This man did
We have already forgotten our native land. Some men his best to sink but he could not do it. He
was found
have already taken Syrian women as wives. Races ut- guilty and they pierced his eyes with red hot
terly unlike each other live together in trust.’ metal –
may Allah’s curse be upon them.’

SOURCE C: Written by a Frenchman, SOURCE D: Usamah ibn Munqidh writing

Fulcher of Chartres, in around 1120. about the way some Christians held trials to find out if
someone was guilty or not.

e like animals than

‘These people study no science and are mor
are so far away
human beings. Those who live in England
from the sun that they have become stupid.’

SOURCE E: A Muslim scholar’s opinion of

the English Christian invaders.
4 How religious were people in the Middle Ages? 71
5.1A What was life like in a
medieval village?
Most people live in towns and cities today. In the tives
Middle Ages, things were different. Although towns Mission Objec
existed, there weren’t many of them, and the vast
Investigate village life during the
majority of people lived and worked in villages. So
Middle Ages.
what were these villages like?
Describe how a medieval villager
spent his day.

Life in a medieval village was tough. The

Common land:
peasant villagers (known as villeins) worked Cattle were allowed
out in the fields from sunrise to sunset to graze here
whenever there was work to do. Most of the
land was owned by someone else (the lord of
the manor) who was usually a knight or baron. Church
The lord let the peasants live on his land in Blacksmith’s workshop:
return for their obedience, a payment, and he made pots, pans,
chains, and knives
several days of work from them per week. Carpenter’s
The peasant families lived in wooden huts that workshop: he
made carts, axe
they would build themselves. Each had a small handles, and wheels
garden where they grew vegetables and fruit.
They might also keep sheep, pigs, goats, and
chickens.
The fields that surrounded the village were
carefully divided up into strips and shared out
amongst the villagers, so that no one peasant
had all the good land or all the bad land. Out in
the fields they grew wheat for bread, barley for Village green:
used as a
beer, and oats and rye to feed the animals. There meeting place
were no shops or supermarkets as we know and for markets
them today, so most of the food they needed
had to be grown by the peasants themselves.
If there was a bad harvest or their animals died,
the villagers could starve to death.
Village pub: a mug
However, not everyone in the village farmed. ale and a sing-song
Some had a specialist job such as blacksmith, popular way to pass
carpenter, or cloth weaver. They would sell their
goods and services to other people – or even
travel to the nearest town or neighbouring Mill: people ground their
corn into flour at the River: villeins had
village to sell things on market days.
watermill. Peasants had to to pay the lord to
pay the lord to use it fish in the river
72 5 Life in the Middle Ages
 Image Spreadsheet

Work s
1 Interview with…
Wise Up Word
ImageAudio Weblink
Spreadsheet
tithe villein wattle and daub
If you could travel back in time and meet with someone
who lived in the village pictured on these pages, what
interview questions would you ask them? How would
Audio
you describe Video
where you live to them? What are theWeblink
mainResource Package
differences? Are there any similarities? – Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Video Document ZipCastle:

Resource Archive
Packagethis dominated
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
the area

Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
Open fields divided equally
– For file types/resources we
Woodland: peasants can't yet envisage into strips: each peasant had
gathered firewood here, but one or two strips in each field
only the lord could hunt in it
Interactive
Presentation Other Lesson Player (short term plan) The tithe barn: peasants had
– For file types/resources we to give 10 per cent of what
can't yet envisage
they grew to the priest; this
was called a tithe and the
produce was kept here
Manor house: theAnimation
Interactive
landowner Lesson Player (short term plan)
lived here with his family; all
the peasants made payments
to him and worked on his land

Animation

Beehives: honey was

one of the only methods
of sweetening things

Peasant
houses

g of
was a
s the time

Peasant’s
vegetable
patch

5 Life in the Middle Ages 73

5.1B What was life like in a
medieval village?
What were the villagers’ homes like?
The villages varied in size. Some contained fewer than ten houses, but
larger ones might have over 50 homes as well as the lord’s manor house, a
church, a mill, and workshops for a blacksmith or a carpenter. Look at the
diagram and sources on these pages to discover what a typical peasant
cottage was like and how a peasant villager lived his life.

Where do they live? In a one-room hut. The frame is made from wood and the
walls are made from wattle (sticks woven together) and daub (mud, dung and
straw – see Source B). The windows are holes in the wall covered by shutters
and the floor is made of mud mixed with straw and ox blood to make it hard.
There is a hole in the roof to let out the smoke from the fire inside. The animals
live in the hut too… what a smell! Water for cooking and cleaning comes from a How does this villager spend his day?
well or river and outside is a hole dug in the ground that is used as a toilet. He gets up when it’s light enough to see
and works all day. In the spring he ploughs
the land and plants seeds. In the summer
he harvests the hay, weeds the corn, and
scares the birds. In the autumn he harvests
the corn and kills and salts some animals
for winter. In the winter he clears away any
wasteland, repairs his hut and tools and,
most importantly, tries to keep warm.

Could the villeins leave the village?

No, they weren’t allowed to because
the lord owned them. And if they did
run off they could be tried in court
and punished. However, villeins were
sometimes given their freedom by a
kind or grateful lord – or they could
buy their freedom if they saved up
enough money.

What do they eat?

• Breakfast – 6am. Bread and ale to
drink (water wasn’t safe).
• Lunch – 10am. Bread, perhaps an
egg, a piece of fish, or cheese. Ale to
drink.
• Supper – 4pm. Bread and pottage (a
thick vegetable soup). Ale to drink.
What about his wife? She works as
hard as he does. She cooks, cleans,
and looks after the children. She
fetches water, makes and mends
clothes, and helps out in the fields
when she is needed.

60
74 5 Life in the Middle Ages
 Im

SOURCE A: This image of

a medieval farmer tending to
his field is an illustration from
a medieval manuscript. Au

SOURCE B: The walls of the hut were

made from wattle and daub. The wattle is
the framework of sticks and twigs woven
Vid
together. The daub is the plaster (made
from mud, animal dung and straw) that
is smeared on top of this to make a wall.

‘The poorest folk are our neighbours… in their hovels, overburdened Do

with children… whatever they save by spinning they spend on rent,
or on milk and oatmeal for food. And they themselves are often
famished with hunger and wretched with the miseries of winter –
cold, sleepless nights, when they get up to rock the cradle cramped
FACT! in a corner, and rise before dawn to card and comb the wool, to Pre
wash and scrub and mend, and wind yarn and peel rushes for their
How many people do you usually rushlights… while the Friars feast on roast venison, they have
see in one day? One hundred, three
bread and thin ale, with perhaps a scrap of cold meat or stale fish…
I tell you, it would be a real charity to… comfort these
hundred, perhaps even more? You Int
cottagers along with the blind and the lame.’
probably see more people in one day
than a medieval villager saw in their
whole life. SOURCE C: The view of a medieval writer who wanted rich
people to treat the villeins a bit better. From The Vision of Piers
Plowman by William Langland, written around 1390. An

Work
1 Draw a table like the one below, putting the following 2 Look at Source C.
headings down the left-hand side: a Sum up what the writer is saying about a villein’s life.
b Why might the writer have been so keen to make a
windows; number of rooms; cooking; floor; heating;
villein’s life sound so terrible?
water supply; toilets; washing; walls
c Do you think we can trust what the writer has
A villein’s home My home written? Explain your answer carefully.
Windows Holes in wall, Glass, curtains 3 The Big Write
shutters
Imagine you are a villein in a medieval village. Write a
Number of rooms One description of a day in your life. Here are some ideas to
think about:
• How do you typically spend your day?
Cooking • What is your house like?
• Does your working day change throughout
the year?
• Where will you work or visit?
• What sort of people will you meet?
Then fill in the table to show the key differences • Is there a particular type of food you enjoy?
between your home and a medieval peasant’s house. • At what times do you eat?

5 Life in the Middle Ages 75 61

5.2A What was life like in a
medieval town?
People who didn’t live in villages in the countryside,
tives
or in castles, lived in towns. When William conquered Mission Objec
England in 1066 there were only about 15 towns
with a population of more than 1000 people, and Explain what life was like in a medieval
only about eight with more than 3000 living there. town and what a town might look like.
London was the largest with about 10,000 people, Discover why towns grew.
followed by Winchester and Norwich with about
Assess how buying and selling was
3000 people each. Most people (about 90 per cent
of the population) lived in small villages out in the
organized.
countryside, with no more than 50 to 100 people
in each.

Why towns developed

After 1066, towns began to grow. Some villages
grew in size too – and became towns! Sometimes
towns grew where major roads met or near a bridge
where people came to buy and sell goods.
Others grew near a castle or monastery.
The local lord still owned these
places, but, if the town continued to
grow and the townspeople made
lots of money, they might join
together and buy their land and
freedom from the lord or king.
Town charters
A town’s freedom, written down
on a special piece of paper
known as a charter, gave the
townspeople the chance to
run the town themselves. In
fact, by 1400, about 300 towns
had received their charter
and freedom. By this time,
London’s population had
grown to over 40,000.

76 5 Life in the Middle Ages

The diagram on these pages shows a typical 9 A young apprentice being taught the
s
town in about 1250. Look for the following: skills of a trade by a master craftsman;
the training lasted seven years
Wise Up Word
1 Most streets were just dirt tracks
2 A pedlar selling goods as he walks through 10 The market – held once or twice charter export guild merchant
the streets a week, people came from the
countryside to sell eggs, cheese, butter,
3 The castle – at one time only the castle was
fruit, and vegetables
here, but over the years the town was built in
front of it 11 Many houses had vegetable gardens
4 Shops had picture signs to show what they 12 Market stalls – merchants brought
sold because few people could read exotic goods, such as spices and silks, Town Charter
from abroad The king gives the officials
5 Large private house, probably the home of a
merchant 13 Meeting rooms above the gateway running this town
6 Defensive tower and guardpoint 14 Traders bringing in goods by river permission to:
7 Entrance gate – guarded by sentries 24 hours 15 A wagon bringing goods to sell at 1. RENT LAND for
a day, seven days a week the market
their own use without
8 Having fun – all sorts of people might 16 The Guildhall – where the town guild
working for the lord
entertain the townspeople in return for a met. This was a group of traders and
few coins craftsmen that made rules for its 2. HOLD MARKETS
members to follow; they set prices, every week without
organized training and made sure paying taxes to the lord
goods were well made
17 Town walls patrolled by guards
3. HOLD FAYRES every
year
4. FIX PRICES for goods
sold at market
5. HOLD COURTS to
punish traders who break
the rules of the market
6. HAVE THE RIGHT OF
GALLOWS – to punish
criminals by hanging.

SOURCE A: A typical charter

granted by a king or local lord in the
Middle Ages. Both Leeds and Liverpool
became towns in 1207 after receiving
their charter.

Work
1 List the main reasons why some towns
grew.
2 Look at Source A.
a What is a charter?
b What advantages were there in having a
charter for:
i the townspeople?
ii the local Lord or King?

5 Life in the Middle Ages 77

5.2B What was life like in a medieval town?
Document Zip Archive

Look through all the sources on these pages to discover what life was like
in a medieval town.
Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
SOURCE A: Market stalls around a town wall, as shown in can't
a yet envisage wood leather
manuscript from 1458. Can you see what customers are buying? fish silk
grain wine
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
hawks soap
lead farm animals
furs canvas
Animation spices glass
rope wool
salt

SOURCE B: Goods for

sale at Boston Fair in 1250. Some
goods like wool, leather and
fish would have been produced
locally. Other goods like furs,
rope and wine would have been
imported from abroad.

‘Traders can be found in their particular areas each morning. There is wine SOURCE C: William Fitzstephen’s
for sale on the river bank. Every day you may find food, dishes of meat ‘Description of the city of London’, from
– roast, fried and boiled; fish; cheap cuts of meat for the poor and more around 1174; Britain’s most important
export at this time was wool. It was sold
expensive for the rich… Just outside the town there is a field called Smith-
by farmers and traders abroad where it
field. On every sixth day of the week there is a sale of fine horses… In was made into cloth. Some was made
another part of the field are things brought to market by the country folk – into cloth in Britain too. Fortunes were
farming tools, pigs, milk, cows, large oxen and woolly sheep, mares to pull made from the wool trade and it has been
the plough and young foals.’ estimated that by 1300 there were up to
18 million sheep in Britain (and around
3-4 million people).
78 5 Life in the Middle Ages
 Document Zip Archiv

Henry the lead beater Work

Robert the cook
1 Look at the picture of a town on the previous Other
Presentation
Hugh the carpenter
page and at Source A opposite. Imagine you live ten – For file
Thomas the painter miles away from town. For the first time ever, your
can't ye
Hugh the hosier parents are taking you into town, and it is the most
William the builder exciting day of your life – there are lots of new (and
Interactive
William the butter maker strange) sights, sounds and smells. Describe your visit. Lesson Pl
William the cutler 2 Look at Source C.
John the cordwainer a Where in London would you be able to buy:
John the thatcher i wine?
Pagen the miller ii sheep? Animation
Richard the combere b In larger towns (like London, Bristol and York),
different parts of the town were used by traders
Robert the baker selling the same thing. For example, all the
William the belt maker silversmiths might be in Silver Street. What traders
William the skinner might you have expected to find in the following
Richard the saddler streets:
• Baker Street, Cutler Row, Pudding Lane,
Edward the weaver
Gold Street, Brewhouse Lane, Vine Street and
Tanners Lane?
SOURCE D: Craftsmen in Coventry in 1250. c What advantages might there be in having all the
traders close together, for:
i the buyer?
Combere – prepared wool for clothmaking ii the sellers?
Cordwainer – made boots
Cutler – made knives 3 Look at Sources D and E.
Hosier – made stockings Copy and complete the following chart placing the
Skinner – took skins off animals name of the correct tradesman in each column.
Thatcher – made house roofs from straw or reeds
Building Making things Making things Other
Weaver – made cloth
to eat to wear
SOURCE E: Medieval trades and their names.

Poor workmanship will be punished by a fine and goods 4 Look at Source F and label 16 on page 77.
will be confiscated. a What was a guild?
Shoemakers Guild, Chester b Why do you think some of the guild rules were
No one shall make or sell hats within the city unless he so strict?
has special permission. c Why do you think the guild chose to give money to
Hatmakers Guild, London their members who became poor because of old
If the threads of the cloth are too far apart, the cloth age, sickness or accident?
and the tools used will be burned.
Weavers Guild, Bristol Hungry
Many of our surnames today come for More?
If by chance a member of the guild shall become poor
through old age, accident or sickness, then he shall have from jobs and trades that people did
seven pence (3p) from the guild every week. long ago – names such as Cooper,
Tanners Guild (leather workers), London Miller, Shearer and Carpenter, for example.
Try to find ten more surnames that come from
medieval trades.
SOURCE F: Guild rules from a variety of towns.
5 Life in the Middle Ages 79
5.3 How smelly were the
Middle Ages?
We know today that dirt and rubbish are home to germs and tives
disease. From an early age we are taught to avoid germs by Mission Objec
washing our hands regularly, clearing up rubbish, flushing toilets, Explore how and why
brushing our teeth, and keeping ourselves clean. Our houses are standards of cleanliness
full of cleaning products too; all are designed to make our clothes
and personal hygiene were
cleaner and our work surfaces germ-free! However, medieval
very different from today.
people knew nothing of germs – not because they were stupid,
they just didn’t have the microscopes through which they could
have seen them. As a result, people in the Middle Ages were a lot
less fussy about living in smelly and dirty places than we are today.
So just how smelly were the Middle Ages?

How clean is your castle?

Even rich people in their castles still lived a pretty smelly life. Only
the very rich had a bath regularly, usually in a big wooden tub lined
with cloth. There was soap, but it wasn’t very effective because it
was usually made from animal fat and wood ash. King John, for
example, bathed once a month and was charged five pence by the
man who organized it. This doesn’t sound a lot but it was the same
amount that a labourer earned in a week!
What about toilets?
A castle’s toilets were little more than holes with stone or wooden
seats. The lord usually had his own at the top of the castle, next to
where he slept, and torn strips of cloth were used instead of toilet
paper. Often the toilets (or garderobes as they were known) were
built on different floors, one above the other. The sewage dropped
down chutes straight into the moat (see Source A). If there was no
moat, the sewage emptied into a pit, which had to be cleaned out
by hand by the castle’s gong farmer (see page 50)!
Poor peasants
Ordinary peasants struggled to keep clean too. Their cottages had
no floorboards or carpets, just earth covered with straw. Windows
– if they had any – were holes in the wall with a wooden shutter to
keep out the wind. In the centre of the room was a fire, its smoke
escaping through a hole in the roof. A medieval peasant must have
always smelled of smoke – or even worse during the winter when
they brought their animals inside and out of the cold! There were
no taps to provide clean water for washing or drinking either; it had
to be fetched from a stream, a river or a well. And there were no
toilets, just a bucket in the corner of the room or a hole dug outside. SOURCE A: A diagram of how a castle
toilet system might have worked.

80 5 Life in the Middle Ages

A load of rubbish
s
In the towns, life was just as smelly. There was no organized collection of
Wise Up Word
rubbish in medieval times. Instead, people just tipped their rubbish into
the streets or dumped it into a pit and let it rot away. There were no drains garderobe scavenger
or sewage pipes to carry away dirty water either. At night, people went to
the loo in pots. The next day they tipped the waste out of the window into
the street below! In London, there was a public toilet. It was located on
London Bridge and emptied straight into the River Thames below!
What Happened 13
When? 48
‘The butchers were often the worst. They used to throw out any waste and let
All this rubbish attracted rats,
the animals’ blood run along the road. In hot weather, the smell was terrible.
which spread the killer disease,
Townspeople still kept animals, which could be fed on the land around the
Black Death. Black Death ravaged
town. But often they let their pigs roam around the streets, looking for food
towns and villages from 1348.
in the gutters. There were chickens too. And rats.’

SOURCE B: A modern historian writing about the Work

sorry state of the streets.
1 a Think about your own
personal hygiene. What have
‘Next case: the lane called Ebbegate. This was a right of way [a public you done over the last few
footpath] until it was blocked by Thomas Wytte and William de Hockele. days to keep yourself clean,
Image
They built toilets which stuck out from the walls of their houses. From these tidy and as germ-free as
toilets human dung falls onto the heads of passers-by.’ possible? Make a list.
b Look at your list. Underline
SOURCE C: Notes from a court case in 1321. Thomas Wytte, an owner the things that people in
Audiowould not
medieval times
of a house, and William de Hockele were taken to court because of their toilets.
In another court case from 1347, two men were found guilty of piping their own have been able to do.
sewage into their next door neighbour’s cellar. c Give reasons why people in
the Middle Ages were not as
Getting better? clean as we are today.
Video
Although houses didn’t have bathrooms or running water, it would
2 Who was cleaner – the rich or
be wrong to think that all people were permanently filthy. Some the poor? Give reasons for your
towns had public ‘bath houses’ where you could have a wash for a answer.
small fee, and a few places even employed scavengers to remove
the filth. Some people also began to make the connection between 3 Imagine you have been
Document
asked to create a leaflet to
rubbish and disease too. Although they didn’t know about germs
inform a group of foreign visitors
(they thought it was the bad smells from the rubbish that carried
coming to medieval England.
infection), it still led to England’s first national health law in 1388
What can they expect to find
(see Source D). Presentation
‘when nature calls’? Explain
about toilets in castles, towns
‘So much dung and filth and rubbish is thrown in ditches, rivers and other and villages. You might like to
waters that the air is greatly infected and many illnesses and terrible diseases consider:
do daily happen. It is decreed, as well in London as in other cities and towns • what toiletInteractive
facilities they
throughout England, that all they who throw dung, garbage, guts and other would expect to find in
rubbish in ditches, rivers and other places shall have to remove, empty, or a castle
carry away, or pay to our Lord the King a fine of £20.’ • how castle toilets differed
from those in the towns
Animation
and villages.
SOURCE D: The English Sanitary Act, 1389.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 81

5.4 Could you have fun in the
Middle Ages?
In the Middle Ages, ordinary people didn’t really
tives
have holidays. Instead, there were a number of feast Mission Objec
days through the year, such as Easter Day, May Day,
Midsummer’s Eve, Christmas, and various Saints’ Investigate how both rich and poor spent
days. On these days, after going to a church service, their spare time in the Middle Ages.
they would have some free time for themselves. In Categorize some of the major differences
fact, our word ‘holiday’ comes from the term ‘holy between sport today and sport in the
day’. And people generally made their own fun, Middle Ages.
creating home-made equipment with whatever they
had to hand. Some of the sports and games were so
popular that they are still enjoyed today.

So how did ordinary people enjoy their holy days?

Conkers Mob football Ice skating
An early form of conkers became No rules, no referee and as People would strap sharpened
popular after 1066. The rules many players as you can bones to their feet to use as skates.
were simple – find a cobnut, get. Whole villages would Archaeologists have found the
drill a hole in it and thread it play each other, with the skeleton of a young boy with his
Bowling onto a piece of string. Then, goals several miles apart. skates still strapped on his feet.
Players would take taking turns, try and smash your Thin ice perhaps?
it in turns to knock opponent’s cobnut to bits.
down as many skittles
as they could with
three balls.

Golf Shin hacking

Using a few basic Two villagers would kick each
clubs, players would other in the shins as hard as
hit a leather ball they could until one of them
stuffed with hair. couldn’t take the pain and
Popular in Scotland gave up.
and Holland by 1500.

Cold hand
A player would be blindfolded in front of a crowd
and slapped by one of them. He or she would Cock fighting
have to guess who hit them – and if they guessed Two birds were forced to attack
correctly, it would be the ‘slapper’s’ turn to be each other, sometimes with metal
blindfolded. This was sometimes called ‘blind tied to their claws. People would
man’s buff’ or ‘hot cockles’. bet on the result.
82 5 Life in the Middle Ages
What about the rich?
A rich noble may have gone to a tournament. This was a series of Hungry
Have you enjoyed any for More?
competitions such as sword fighting, jousting and horseriding. of the games or sports
There would be prizes for the best competitors. Rich men might shown in the picture
also go hunting, or enjoy feasting or dancing. A group of acrobats or recently? If so, which ones? Have
jugglers might entertain him and his guests. And if they got bored any of the sports or games changed at
with the entertainers, they might play chess, draughts, cards, or all? If so, how?
throw dice.
In the Middle Ages a popular game for rich men was real tennis.
Image
Two players had to hit a wooden ball over a rope with a racquet.
Sometimes the ball was hit so hard that players could be killed if it
Be a Top Historian
hit them on the head! These sports and pastimes are
great examples of how some things
Do it yourself… from long ago stay the same whilst
Audio
Whether you were rich or poor, you had to make your own fun in others change a lot… and there are
the Middle Ages. There were no cinemas or theatres to visit. You always lots of reasons why some things
couldn’t even go to an organized, professional sports match. But change. For example, bear-baiting is no
people must have enjoyed their spare time because they didn’t get longer acceptable as it is considered
much of it. Holy days were rare, so ordinary people made sure that cruel, whereas theVideo
game of conkers is
largely unchanged because it is fun and
they made the most of them.
easy to set up.
Archery
England’s armies always needed Stoolball Document
archers. Boys had to practise from A young lady would sit on a Work
a very young age. stool and men would throw
a ball at her. She would try to 1 Explain where the modern word ‘holiday’
dodge the ball, perhaps using comes from.
a bat to hit it away. If they hit
her they got a kiss! 2 a Look closely at the illustration
Presentation
showing ordinary people enjoying
their holy day. Make two lists, one
headed ‘Things we no longer enjoy
today’ and the other headed ‘Things
Interactive
we still enjoy today’ .
b Choose one example from your list
of things we no longer enjoy today.
Explain why you think this pastime is
no longer practised.
Animation
Bear baiting c Choose one example from your list of
A bear would be chained to things we still enjoy today. Explain in
a post while dogs attacked what ways, if any, it has changed since
it. People would bet on the medieval times.
result – would the dogs or
the bear win? 3 Design a poster to advertise a medieval
holy day in your town. Make sure you
include the name of the holy day, a
Wrestling programme of events and fun activities
People loved all sorts taking place. Add some illustrations.
of fighting games – the Remember, all holy days began with a
more blood the better.
church service.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 83

5.5 Has football changed much
since the Middle Ages?
Over 1000 years ago, a small army from Denmark
tives
landed on the English coast and tried to steal as Mission Objec
much as they could before sailing away again.
However, their leader was captured and the angry
Discover the origins of football in
English mob chopped off his head. The men then Britain.
split into two groups and kicked the severed Evaluate how football in the Middle
head around amongst each other. And this is how Ages differs from football today.
football in Britain began.

The game soon became known as ‘mob football’

when all the men from one village played another. ‘After lunch all the youth of the city go out into the fields
to take part in the ball game. The students of each school
They usually met up once or twice a year on public
have their own ball. The workers from each city craft also
holidays such as Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day). It was
carry balls. Older citizens, fathers and wealthy men come
very violent. There could be as many as 500 players on horseback to watch the juniors competing, and to
(including women sometimes), with few rules, no revive their own youth. You can see their inner passions
referee and the goals several miles apart. In Workington, aroused as they watch the action and get caught up
an old rulebook said that players could use any method in the fun.’
to get the ball to its target ‘except murder’! The ball
was a pig’s bladder, stuffed with dried peas or sawdust. SOURCE A: The first description of mob football
Sometimes a game was played with several balls! played in London on Shrove Tuesday, written by William
Fitzstephen in 1174.

Hungry
‘Mob football’ is still played in some for
More? SOURCE B: A more modern view of football
parts of Britain today. Try to find out
in the Middle Ages. A monk once described it as
a bit more about this sport. Where is
‘a devilish pastime. More a bloody murdering
it played? Who plays it? How often? What are practice than a sport.’
the rules? How do the players score?

84 5 Life in the Middle Ages

Banned
Football was regularly banned. In 1314, the Lord Mayor of London FACT!
banned it: ‘The hustling over large footballs causes great uproar in the
city.’ Despite the threat of imprisonment for anyone continuing to play, In 1321 the Pope issued a special
the ban was ignored! In 1331, King Edward III became the first king to letter of forgiveness to a player who
had accidentally killed an opponent.
officially ban football by royal decree. He said that people were playing
A few days later a Londoner wrote
it so much they were forgetting to practise their archery skills. The king
that players used to ‘retire home
was worried that if a foreign army invaded England, men would have
as from battle, with bloody heads,
forgotten how to use their bows and arrows properly. bones broken and out of joint and
Indeed, football was one of Britain’s most banned games. Between 1314 bruises that will shorten their days’.
and 1667, it was officially banned by more than 30 royal or local laws. By 1450 players in some towns
Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V all tried to ban it, but people were so introduced a new rule to try to
reduce the number of accidents: the
determined to play that they carried on regardless. In Scotland, King
ball could only be kicked, not carried
James I once famously ruled that ‘na man play at the fute-ball’, but the
or thrown.
Scots loved the game so much they were playing football in Edinburgh
the very next week.

Work
1 a Write these statements in the
correct chronological order.
• A new rule was introduced
in some towns saying the
ball could only be kicked, not
picked up.
• King Edward III was the first
king to ban football by royal
decree.
• A Danish prince’s head was
used as a ball.
• The Pope issued a special
letter to forgive a player who
had killed an opponent.
b Which of the above events do
you think had the biggest effect
on the game of football? Explain
your answer.
2 a Make a list of all the differences
you can find between football
in the Middle Ages and football
today.
b What do you think the biggest
difference is? Explain your answer.
3 a Why do you think so many kings
tried to ban football?
b Why do you think the bans
SOURCE C: A modern game of football. Can you
weren’t very successful?
spot any differences from mob football of the past?
5 Life in the Middle Ages 85
 Video Resource Package

5.6 Let me entertain you

– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

ImageDocument Spreadsheet
Zip Archive
tives
Mission Objec
The Middle Ages had its own pop songs and dance music. There
was no recorded music or pop charts, but listening to a live band Investigate the important
– and dancingImage Spreadsheet
around – were still very, very popular in medieval role music played within
AudioPresentation Weblink
Other
times. So what was medieval music like? Who performed this medieval life.types/resources we
– For file
music? And what other types of entertainment were popular? can't yet envisage

Audio Weblink
Music and dance VideoInteractive
Sumer
Resource Package
Lesson
Is Icumen In
Player (short term plan)
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
There were two types of music – ‘sacred’ (played in the
Summer has come in,
church) and ‘house’ (played in and around people’s
Loudly sing, Cuckoo!
homes). ChurchVideo
music had no harmonies, just a single
Resource Package
The seed grows and the meadow blooms
singer singing a tune – and not one you’dDocument
spend the– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Animation
And theZipwood
Archive
springs anew,
rest of the day humming! The music played outside
Sing, Cuckoo!
church was much livelier. A band consisting of anything
The ewe bleats after the lamb
up to a dozen people would play all sorts of high
Document Zip Archive The cow lows after the calf.
tempo music on lots of different instruments (see
Presentation The bullock
Otherstirs, the stag farts,
Source A). People danced in large circles and moved – For file types/resources we
Merrily sing, Cuckoo!
can't yet envisage
around clapping, spinning and jumping in time to the
beat. Singing over a mug of ale outside your house or
on the village green was a very popular pastime. Other
Presentation SOURCE B: A popular song from the thirteenth century.
Interactive – For This was a bit like a popwe
file types/resources song of today
Lesson Playerand was often
(short term sung
plan)in
can'tsummer when the crops were growing well.
yet envisage

Viol Hurdy Gurdy (a stringed instrument

(like a violin) played by turning a handle)
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
Tambourine Lute
Animation
Clarinet

Organ
Animation

Trumpet

Flute

Cymbal
SOURCE A: Common instruments during the Middle
Drum
Ages; as you can see, most were either string or wind
instruments and many are still played today! Since there was Harp
no way of recording, all music was performed live.
86 5 Life in the Middle Ages
Wandering minstrels s
Listening to musical instruments wasn’t the only way to hear music. Wise Up Word
Singers known as minstrels wandered from town to town entertaining minstrel miracle play
the crowds. They sometimes sang for the lord in his castle, if invited, but
generally played out on the streets so people could dance and sing along.
They would usually expect
a few coins in return for
their performance. However,
the minstrels weren’t just
popular for their singing
– often the news they
brought from other parts
of the country was just as
interesting as the show.
After all, wandering around
so much meant that they
knew all the gossip from the
local towns and villages!
Play time
Plays were another popular
form of live entertainment
and drew large crowds.
Originally, they were put
on in church to teach
peasants about the Bible
or about saints. Over time, SOURCE C: Miracle plays were
they became morality tales common in midland and northern
where good overcame evil, towns such as Wakefield and Chester.
and were so popular they Image Spreadshee
were moved outside. They were called miracle plays and were usually
performed by groups of travelling actors who toured the country. Records
show that plays were performed in 127 different towns during the Middle
Ages and they must have been watched and enjoyed by thousands. Audio Weblink

Work
1 a What is the difference between ‘sacred’ and ‘house’ 3 a What was a ‘wandering minstrel’?
music? b Apart fromVideo
entertaining the crowds with music, Resource Pa
b Which do you think was the more popular? Give what other role did wandering minstrels perform? – Assessme
reasons for your answer.
4 Read Source B.
c Why do you think music and plays were so
important and popular in medieval Britain? Explain a Why do you think people in the Middle Ages
your answer carefully. enjoyed singing this song?
Document Zip Archive
b Do you think songs about cuckoos and farm animals
2 Look at Source A. would be good topics for a pop song today? Explain
a List which instruments you have heard of before. your answer.
Have you played any of them?
b Why was all music played live in the Middle Ages? 5 Look at Source C. What was a ‘miracle play’?
Presentation Other
– For file ty
can't yet e
5 Life in the Middle Ages 87
5.7 Keeping in fashion Image

tives
To many people today, fashion is very important. You only
Mission Objec
ImageAudio Spr
have to look in any newsagents to see dozens of fashion Understand the role fashion
magazines, and whole satellite channels are dedicated to played in the lives of the rich
following the latest trends. Most of you reading this page and how fashion changed during
right now will be aware of the newest trends in shoes, the Middle Ages.
hairstyles and jewellery. Audio Video We

Dress to impress
Fashion was important in the Middle Female fashion Video Document Res
Ages too. The rich dressed in fancy Women’s dresses –A
clothes to impress each other. Clothes were always
became a status symbol, with lords and long and got
brighter and
ladies trying to outdo each other by more elaborate
wearing the latest costumes made from Presentation
Document Zip
throughout the
fine wool, leather, linen, velvet, silk, or Middle Ages.
fur. They decorated these clothes with
gold and silver thread, jewels, chains,
and fancy buttons. Even the coloured Interactive
Presentation Oth
cloth used to make the clothes had –F
c
different meanings: red meant you were
in love, yellow meant anger and grey
meant sadness. Natural dyes (made from
Animation
Interactive Les
plants, berries, nuts, crushed insects,
and even rust) were used to make the late Saxon 1300s 1400s
different coloured cloth.

Animation
1300 1350 1400 1400
Hats
Women often hid their hair
beneath fancy hats, some
shaped like animal horns or
butterfly wings. The famous
‘steeple hat’, which was cone
shaped and very fashionable
in the late 1480s, was nearly a
metre tall.

1400 1420 1450 1480

88 5 Life in the Middle Ages

Following fashion
In the early Middle Ages, the rich wore fairly simple
Shoes
Pointed shoes called ‘poulaines’
clothes – but as the years passed, fashions became were very fashionable in the
more and more elaborate. Dresses got longer, hats got Middle Ages. In fact, some
taller, cloth got brighter, and shoes got pointier. And shoes were so pointed that the
toes had to be tied back. And
just like today, hats, shoes, hairstyles, coats, dresses, platform shoes called ‘pattens’
and cloaks varied from year to year, so it was a constant were common too, for walking
fight for the most dedicated followers of fashion to through the filthy, muddy streets.
keep ahead.

Male fashion Work

A well-dressed 1 a Why was fashion so important
nobleman to rich people in the Middle
might wear a
Ages?
tunic, leggings
and a hat, but b How could the clothes a person
throughout the wore express how they might
Middle Ages be feeling?
the style of c In your own words, explain how
hat, length of and why a poor person’s clothes
tunic, thickness
differed from a rich person’s.
of robes, and
tightness of 2 The Big Write!
leggings varied.
We all know that there were no
fashion magazines in medieval
1100 1350 1470
England, but imagine that there
were! Imagine you are an editor
for a fashion magazine during the
Did peasants follow fashion? Middle Ages. You need to prepare a
It was a very different story for the ordinary peasants. Following the double-page spread for a magazine
latest fashions meant nothing to them. Instead, they wore plain bought by the rich and fashionable.
and simple tunics, woollen leggings, straw or woollen hats, hoods, Your feature could include the
and capes. They dressed in dull colours such as grey, brown and following:
dark green. Some peasants couldn’t even afford to buy shoes. Their • latest fashions
clothes were nearly always handmade and would last for years! • fashion dos and don’ts
• what the best-dressed people
are wearing
Peasants’ • the key points about the
clothes fashions, for example, how
Peasants’ clothes were
pointed your hat should be
made from coarse wool
or linen. They dressed • a ‘headline’ or spread title –
practically rather than this needs to be catchy and
fashionably. In winter encourage the reader to do
they kept warm by more than glance at your article
wearing leather or • examples of fashion styles
sheepskin jackets.
• bright, clear, colourful pictures
• a layout like a magazine –
look at examples in current
magazines to help you.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 89

5.8 The story of the
English language
In medieval Britain, several languages were spoken including,
tives
among others, Welsh in Wales and Gaelic in Scotland. And
Mission Objec
what was the main language in England? English, of course.
But did you know that for many years after 1066, it was the Investigate the origins of
third most important language in England? So how did the the main language spoken in
English language survive? Why had it become less important Britain today.
after 1066? What did English sound like during this time?
And how did English develop and become the number one
language in England by the end of the Middle Ages?

Before 1066… Norse: From the 700s onwards, the Vikings attacked and settled in England.
Before William the Conqueror and his These ‘Norse men’, as they were sometimes called, added some of their own
men invaded (and took over) in 1066, words to Old English. Many of the words they introduced were connected with
place names, such as ‘by’ which is Norse for a settlement. As a result, we get
the people of England spoke a language Grimsby and Whitby. Sometimes the Vikings settled in a village, and Norse for a
called Old English. This was a mixture village is ‘thorpe’, so we get Scunthorpe and Cleethorpes. Other Viking or Norse
of different languages taken from the words include anger, build, dregs, flit, gate, glitter, oaf, neck, skin, ugly, and you.
various peoples who had invaded
England over the years (see Source A). NORSE Anglo-Saxon: Tribes called Angles,
Saxons and Jutes from Germany
and Denmark invaded Britain about
LATIN ANGLO-SAXON
1500 years ago. The Anglo-Saxons
Latin: When Britain became
were great storytellers. The language
a Christian land, a number of
they spoke would be difficult for
Latin words (mainly connected
us to understand but some of their
with the Church) came into
words still survive. Indeed, if you
use. Some Latin words that
could travel back in time and speak
still survive today are bishop,
to an Anglo-Saxon you would really
church and monk. Other Latin
struggle to know what he was
words or phrases such as alter
SOURCE A: talking about, but you might be able
ego, factor, parent and et
to understand some words such as
cetera (although we write ‘etc.’ Old English was
drink, father, ground, love, name, silly,
today) are still used frequently. influenced by three
son, the, was, and wife.
OLD ENGLISH main languages.

After 1066…
In 1066, William the Conqueror brought the French The ruling class of England (and their lawyers, priests
language to England and King Harold, the man he had and secretaries) could also speak Latin – a living
defeated at Hastings, was the last Old English-speaking language in 1066. Latin was taught in schools and
king! All the important people William brought over cathedrals and spoken by educated people all over
from France spoke French like himself – the queen, the Europe. So, after 1066, Old English was officially the
barons, their wives and their children. They brought third most important language in England. Nobody
new French words with them too – words that we still wrote English down any more and nobody seemed to
know today, such as archer, army, arrest, baron, battle, care! Kings and their friends spoke French (and Latin);
castle, city, enemy, grape, guard, judge, market, plate, churchmen, teachers and merchants used Latin, and
prison, sausage, sugar, and traitor. books were even written in Latin too.
90 5 Life in the Middle Ages
English survives
But Old English didn’t die out because ordinary peasants and ‘Chaucer has often been referred to as
townspeople spoke it every day. They wouldn’t and couldn’t learn the “saviour of the English language”.
French or Latin, so they kept on speaking the language they had As a writer of the famous “Canterbury
known all their lives – Old English! Tales”, he wrote mainly in English, the
language of ordinary people, but used
In the mix French words when he didn’t think an
However, as the centuries passed, Old English and French began to
Image Spreadsheet
English one fitted. For example, instead
mix (just as the people did). An Old English-speaking peasant who of using the word “hard” (Old English)
knew a worker up at the castle might use a French word; a French he may choose the word “difficult”
nobleman visiting the local town would also use a French word. (French). He thought his writing was
He then might visit another town, pick up a few Old English words improved by the richness of the English
Audio Weblink
and use them with his friends. Latin was still the language of the language. He had so many words to
Church, but in trade, business and the growing towns and villages, choose from – Old English, French,
it was awkward to have different languages, so they gradually Latin, Norse and Anglo-Saxon.’
blended into one. By the 1400s, something very similar to modern
English had emerged. Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Homewo
SOURCE B: From a modern
Arabic admiral; alcohol; sofa history book about Chaucer.
Japanese judo; sushi; tycoon
Inuit anorak; igloo; kayak Document Zip Archive
Turkish coffee; yoghurt
Czech pistol; robot
Welsh corgi; flannel
Portuguese albatross; marmalade; palaver
Presentation Other
Norwegian ski; slalom – For file types/resourc
Hungarian coach; goulash; paprika can't yet envisage
Scottish Gaelic slogan; trousers
Aztec chilli; chocolate; tomato
Interactive Lesson Player (short te
Russian mammoth; vodka
SOURCE D: This manuscript
includes a picture of Chaucer, a
SOURCE C: The English language continues to absorb
famous writer from the Middle Ages.
words from all over the world. This list gives just a few everyday
words from other languages. Animation

FACT!
Work
1 a In your own words, explain what is meant by the term ‘Old English’. Many medieval kings spoke
b Why did French replace Old English as the dominant language in the French, and couldn’t read or
Middle Ages? write either! It was Edward III
who realized that English, not
2 Why do you think English eventually replaced French and Latin? French or Latin, was still spoken
3 Look at Source B. According to this source, how was Chaucer helped by the by millions of ordinary people
variety of languages that had been used in England over the years? and allowed English to be used
in Parliament and in law courts.
4 a The English language is always changing. Think carefully and write down Soon after, Henry IV became the
why you think the English language changes so much. first monarch in over 300 years
b Make a list of words and phrases used today which your grandparents to make his first speech as a king
wouldn’t understand. Try to explain why they wouldn’t understand them. in English.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 91

5.9 Come dine with me!
Image Spreadsheet

tives
Think about what you have eaten over the last week. You may
Mission Objec
find that you’ve eaten chocolate bars, a few burgers or pizzas,
chicken nuggets or maybe something more healthy such as Compare food in medieval times
Audio Weblink
pasta, rice or fruit and vegetables grown locally or imported from with the food we eat today.
abroad. Today, we have more choice in where we get all our food, Judge whether a medieval or
what we eat, even how we cook it, than ever before. Things have modern diet is healthiest.
certainly changed a lot since the Middle Ages. So what was it like
to eat in medieval Britain? Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Homewor

It ain’t pleasant for a peasant

A peasant’s food was pretty dull and was Document Zip Archive
the same year in, year out. There was no
tea, coffee, orange juice, or fizzy drinks and Breakfast: Bread
the water wasn’t usually fit to drink so they and ale
drank a watery kind of beer called ale. Look
Presentation Other
at Source A to see a typical peasant’s diet. – For file types/resource
can't yet envisage
Healthy diet
Peasants grew a lot of strong- Dinner: Bread,
flavoured vegetables and herbs to cheese, onion,Interactive Lesson Player (short ter
eggs, ale or cider
make their dull food tastier. Onions,
garlic, leeks, cabbage, carrots, parsley,
and mint were common. Apples,
cherries, pears, and wild berries were Animation
also eaten (and sometimes made
into fruit pies) and honey was one of
Supper: Bread, fish,
the few ways to sweeten anything. thick vegetable soup
In fact, a peasant’s diet was probably
much healthier than most people’s
today. They didn’t eat food that
contained large amounts of sugar
(like cakes, biscuits and chocolate
bars) and they worked all day so they
got lots of exercise! SOURCE A: A peasant’s daily meals.

What about the meat?

If peasants did eat meat, it was usually bacon. This was the most common FACT!
meat amongst peasants because pigs were very easy to keep. However,
they sometimes ate food that people today would find unusual – squirrel, Potatoes didn’t reach England
hedgehog, pike, and eel, for example. There were no refrigerators to keep until the 1500s so there were no
food fresh so meat was usually salted or smoked. Peasants would rub salt chips or potato wedges for the
into meat to stop it going bad, or hang strips of meat from the roof of their peasants to enjoy!
cottage so it would dry out and last longer.
92 5 Life in the Middle Ages
 s
Wise Up Word
FACT!
ale trencher
Today, many people have a taste for salty or smoked food. For example,
some of you will put extra salt on your chips or enjoy ‘smoky bacon’
crisps or ‘smoked’ kippers. We like these things because humans have
been preserving food like this for thousands of years and our taste buds Work
haven’t changed much in that time.
1 Copy out and complete this
paragraph, choosing one answer
Life in the manor house from the bold words in the brackets.
For the richer folk, daily life was a lot easier than it was for the peasants. A peasant’s basic food was (bread/
They had servants to do most things for them, including the cooking! Image
potatoes) which he ate with Spre

They still ate a lot of bread, but it was of better quality. Like a peasant, a all meals. Cheese, eggs and fish
rich noble would eat three times a day, but would eat a lot more meat were popular too. They drank
– and drink a lot more wine! Soups and stews were common, as were (lemonade/ale) with most meals
puddings, such as fruit tarts or pancakes. because the (water/whisky) was
Audio Webl
not fit to drink. Peasants often had
Medieval feast a small (garden/garage) next to
For a special occasion, the lord and lady of the manor would hold a their cottage where they grew
feast in their largest room – the great hall. A servant would lay out lots of strong-flavoured (fruits/
spoons, knives, drinking cups, and bread. Forks were rare. The lord and vegetables)
Video and herbs to make Reso
his guests would probably have spent the day hunting for the meat their dull food a bit (more dull/ – Ass
tastier). (Bacon/Lamb) was one of
about to be eaten – venison (deer), wild boar, ducks, swans, or even
the most common meats because
peacocks. Slices of stale bread called trenchers were used as plates.
(dogs/pigs) were so easy to keep.
The juices from the meat and vegetables would soak into them and Document
To preserve food over the long Zip A
when the meal was over they might be given to the poor – or thrown winter months, meat and fish
to the dogs (see Source B). Servants would then carry around warm were (frozen/salted/tinned) and
bowls of water and bits of cloth so that guests could rinse and clean smoked.
their fingers after eating.
2 aPresentation
Copy out the diagram of a Othe
peasant’s meals (Source A). – For
SOURCE B: A medieval feast. Can you see can
i) the servants b Now draw a similar diagram to
ii) the dog eating from the table show your meals during one
iii) the man begging for food of the days in the last week.
Interactive Lesso
iv) the entertainers? Remember to include everything
you have eaten, even snacks.
c Write down at least two ways in
which the peasant’s meals are
different from your meals. Then
Animation
make a judgement – which diet
is healthier? Yours or theirs?
3 Look at Source B.
a Describe what’s going on in
the picture in as much detail
as you can.
b Produce a menu for a medieval
feast like this one. Try to include
lots of food. Remember, most
people couldn’t read, so you’ll
need to illustrate your menu.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 93

5.10 Knight life
tives
Mission Objec
Have you ever shaken hands with your opponent before and
after a football match? Or have you given up your seat on a bus Consider the role of the
for an elderly person or pregnant woman? Have you ever held a knight in medieval society.
door open for someone, or allowed them to go through the door Judge whether aspects of
before you? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, you medieval history still have
have probably been told what good manners you have. The person relevance today.
you’ve helped knows you didn’t have to do any of these things, but
they (and you) feel much better for it. So why do we do this? Where
does this sort of behaviour come from?

From the Middle Ages? idea of behaving correctly and considerately was passed
Lots of sports today include these ideas about down and still survives today. So next time someone
behaving properly and being courteous. For example, thanks you for giving up your seat for them or holding
when playing golf or snooker, there are no rules to stop open a door, just say, ‘It’s OK, I’m just being chivalrous!’
you making a noise when your opponent is taking
a shot, but players are quiet when their opponent is
So how did you become a knight?
If you wanted to be a knight, having a rich father helped.
playing. This is because they don’t want to distract
Being a knight was expensive because you had to
them and be seen as unsporting. But this idea of
pay for all your horses and weapons – and you were
behaving in the correct manner comes from the
expected to give expensive gifts to your friends.
Middle Ages. And it all started with the best warriors in
Europe – the knights. A knight’s training would start at seven years of age
when he would be sent to a knight’s home to serve
The knight’s code him. The page, as the boy would be known, would
The first knights were just soldiers on horseback.
clean dishes, serve meals and wash clothes, and might
William the Conqueror brought them to England in
learn to read and write. At about 14 years old, the page
1066 to fight King Harold. As a reward for beating
would become a squire. He would learn about chivalry,
Harold, King William gave them land. In return, they
weapons, fighting, armour, and horses. And if the squire
promised to spend 40 days a year fighting for their
worked hard enough for another seven years, he might
king. This was called paying homage. From the
be ready to become a full knight. The cartoons on the
twelfth century onwards, though, knights were
next page show the ceremony a young man would
expected to follow a strict code of honour, called
eventually go through to become a knight.
chivalry. Inspired by Christian teachings, chivalry
demanded that knights were kind, truthful, loyal, SOURCE A:
polite, and brave in battle. They had to spend money Re-enactments
and choose friends wisely, never break a promise and of medieval
tournaments are
defend people who couldn’t defend themselves.
popular tourist
The ‘Code of Chivalry’ also stated that the knights had attractions, and
to treat women especially well. They should fight for regularly take
place at castles
a woman, do brave things for her, and even write her in Britain during
poems! Even today, when a man helps out a woman the summer
in an extra special or kind way, it is often said that ‘he holidays.
was like a knight in shining armour!’ Over the years, this

94 5 Life in the Middle Ages

 Audio Weblink
FACT!
s
If a knight was captured in battle he would rarely get killed because
Wise Up Word
he was valuable and his family would pay a ransom to free him. chivalry dubbed page
Video Resource Package
paying homage
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment squire
A knight at last!
1 The young 3 Then he spends the night in church
Document Zip Archive praying. He promises to be a good and
squire has
waited years worthy knight. The white tunic shows
for this. He he is pure; the red robe means he is
has learned prepared to spill blood for his king.
all there is
Presentation
to know Other
about being – For file types/resources we
a knight, and can't yet envisage
now his time
has arrived!
2 The night before, he has a
Interactive Lesson
bath to wash Player
away his sins. (short term plan)

Animation
4 Helped by the page and Arise!
another squire, he puts on all his
armour ready for the knighting
ceremony.

5 The squire kneels before his

lord, or even the king, and
promises to be loyal and 6 A knight is born! He is often presented with a set
brave and to protect the of spurs (used to control a horse), a sword and a
poor and weak. He is then new suit of armour. The priest will bless him so he
‘dubbed’ (touched) on each should always triumph in battle. He is also usually
shoulder with the flat of his given land and reminded that he must spend 40
own sword. days a year fighting for his lord.

Work
1 Explain the following words and phrases: chivalry; 3 Make a list of five things that people do today that
paying homage; dubbed. could belong to a modern code of chivalry.
2 What is the difference between a page and a squire? 4 In pairs or small groups, write a code of chivalry for
your classroom or school. Think it through carefully. You
could put it on display and try to follow it.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 95

5.11 Welcome to the tournament
tives
Mission Objec
If there wasn’t a war to keep a knight fit and his skills
Explain why tournaments took place.
sharp, the next best thing was a tournament. This
was a big, organized series of competitions – and a Investigate what different activities
fun day out for visitors and spectators. It also gave a took place in a medieval tournament.
knight the chance to become rich and win prizes.

So much to see!
Look at the picture of a tournament and identify all the
different events and entertainment that took place.
1 Tents for visiting knights.
2 An archery competition taking place. 6
3 The tournament marshal. He was like a referee, making
sure that everyone followed the rules and didn’t cheat.
4 A joust taking place. Knights
on horseback would ride at
17
each other and try to hit their
opponent with a three metre
long lance. Three points were 10 12 15
awarded if a knight knocked
his opponent off his horse,
two points if he hit him on the
head and one point if he hit
any other part of his body. A
point would be lost if he hit the 21 3
horse. Also, if a knight fell off
his horse, the opponent got to 14 19
keep his armour and horse.
5 The herald announced the
names of the knights in each
contest.
6 The coats of arms of each
knight taking part in the
tournament.
7 A sword fighting competition.
Not all knights jousted – some
preferred other tournament 9 A poor beggar, hoping that 11 A stand for spectators.
games. some of the crowd will take pity 12 The local lord and lady who
on him and throw him a few were hosting the tournament.
8 The ale tent.
coins.
13 Dog fighting – people would
10 Entertainers performing for the bet on the result.
crowd.

96 5 Life in the Middle Ages

 s
14 A beaten knight trying to buy back the horse he
lost for falling off during the joust.
Wise Up Word
15 Winner’s prize. Often this was a golden cup or a herald lance marshal
silver plate, but sometimes the prizes were rather tilt tournament
unusual – in London in 1216 the prize was a huge
brown bear! Some knights made a living out of
jousting, taking part in tournaments all over Europe. 19 Lance – these weren’t sharp because the knights
16 An injured knight. Although the competitions were weren’t trying to kill each other.
not designed to hurt the knights, injuries were 20 Knights waiting to joust.
common – so were deaths! 21 Horses were protected with armour and padding.
17 A dancing bear – people would pay to watch this. 22 A grandstand for the richest and most important
18 The tilt. This barrier was introduced to stop the guests.
knight who has been knocked off his horse being
trampled to death by his opponent’s horse.
1

16
5
9
22
8

4 18 11

13

20

Work
1 What is the difference between a marshal and 4 Re-enactments of medieval tournaments are a
a herald? popular tourist attraction today. They regularly take
place at castles in school holidays. Some of you might
2 Why do you think tournaments were so popular
have seen one! Imagine you are designing a poster or
among:
flyer for a modern re-enactment of a medieval
a knights
tournament. Outline what people will see. How would
b spectators?
you attract people? What could you charge for entry?
3 What was jousting? Make sure you explain What explanations might you need to add to your poster
the points system in your answer. to help people understand what they’re coming to see?

5 Life in the Middle Ages 97

5.12 What was heraldry?
tives
Once a knight put on his armour, he looked the same as any other knight.
So, in order to stand out when jousting in tournaments, or to avoid being
Mission Objec
killed by his own men during battle, the knight decorated his shield. The Analyse the rules of
designs were made up of special pictures, patterns or colours. This special heraldry.
design was known as a coat of arms. Sometimes the knight would also
wear a tunic or carry a flag with the same design as his shield. A coat of Explain why heraldry
arms was a knight’s personal badge and had to be easy to recognize. was important in
After all, during battle it was vital to know instantly who was coming medieval society.
towards you so you knew which side he was on. As the years went by, the
patterns became very complicated and complex rules for their creation,
called heraldry, were developed.

Rules of heraldry
s
When designing his coat of arms, a knight had to follow several strict rules. To Wise Up Word
begin with, a knight was only allowed to use five basic colours – purple, blue,
red, black, and green. He was also allowed to use two metal colours – gold coat of arms heraldry
and silver. A knight then had to choose a simple design (see Source A).
There were even strict rules when selecting the colours for a pattern.
For example, you couldn’t put a metal next to a metal or a colour next
to a colour (see Source B).

SOURCE A: Each
basic pattern had its
own name.

Bend Pale Fess Chevron Chief

Cross Quarterly Saltire Wavy Gyronny

Armour
A suit of armour could cost up
to £75,000 in today’s money.
Most suits looked the same, so
a distinctive coat of arms was
very important in order to tell
the knights apart. SOURCE B: Colour
CORRECT ✓ INCORRECT × INCORRECT × rules for a knight’s coat
of arms.
98 5 Life in the Middle Ages
Choosing your charge SOURCE D: This illustration
A coat of arms often had a ‘charge’ – an image that represented something from the 1400s shows a knight
about the knight or his family (see below). in coat of arms.

strength and safety and strength and faithfulness courage a good

protection trust alertness judge

wisdom ready for bravery beauty truth affection

anything

Family matters
Coats of arms were passed down through the generations and became
family badges. They were used on everything – walls, gates, flags,
clothes, windows, even plates and cutlery. When the members of two
important families married, their coats of arms were joined, and if they
had children, special symbols were used that indicated their rank within
the family (see Source C).

Father Mother
SOURCE C: How
coats of arms could
change over the years.
Work
1 In heraldry, what was:
a a pattern?
The two family shields b a charge?
were joined together to
form a new coat of arms. 2 In your own words, explain the
rules about colours and metals
that knights had to follow when
designing their coat of arms.
This symbol,
for a third son, 3 Why was a coat of arms
is known as a important for a knight?
‘mullet’.
This symbol, for 4 Design your own coat of arms.
a second son, is Choose the basic pattern,
A symbol known The daughter called a ‘crescent’.
as a ‘label’ had this kite- charges and colour – and
indicated that shaped shield, This line, known as a remember to stick to the
this was the known as a ‘baton sinister’, shows colours and metals rule! Then
eldest son. ‘lozenge’. that the son was born write a paragraph explaining
out of wedlock. the choices you made when
designing it.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 99

5.13 Enough of history:
what about her story?
Men held nearly all the top jobs in the Middle Ages tives
– kings, knights, lawyers, bishops, and even village Mission Objec
officials. So what were the women up to? How were Compare the rights of women today
their lives different from those of women today?
with those of women in the Middle
And, since half the medieval population was female,
Ages.
why aren’t they mentioned more often?
Explain why there was little written
about the lives of women.

Second class citizens

In medieval Britain, women were seen as the SOURCE A:
An iron muzzle or
possessions of men. In other words, they belonged to cage, the scold’s
either their father or their husband. If women got into bridle had an iron
trouble, it would be their closest male relative who gag which was
appeared in court, not the woman herself. Most people pushed into the
at the time believed that women were inferior to wearer’s mouth
men – both physically and mentally. If a man felt that making talking
difficult or even
his wife was nagging too much or he thought she was
painful.
getting too big for her boots, he could legally put her
in a scold’s bridle (see Source A). The bad news for
women didn’t end there; they were banned from lots
of things we would now take for granted (see below).
Missing history
A lot of the information we have about the Middle
Ages comes from monks. They made up one of the
few groups that could read and write – and they didn’t
A woman cannot: have a great deal to do with women! They wrote about
m ar ry w it ho ut he r parents’ permission; things that interested them, such as religion, rulers and
•
fights between countries. Women didn’t have a great
hes or jewellery –
• own property, clot deal to do with these things and most monks had no
and;
it belongs to her husb contact with women, so they were hardly mentioned.
r;
d – even if he beats he Village women
• divorce her husban
dge; Ordinary women’s lives were tough. Their only
tr ai n to be a do ct or, lawyer, priest, or ju
• education came from their mothers and they learned
travel on her own;
• go to a shop, inn or how to cook, sew and care for children and animals.
ing clothes; The average age for girls to marry was 17, although
• wear tight or reveal some brides were as young as 13! If the woman lived in
• speak rudely. the countryside, she would either work in the fields or
make cloth at home. As well as working all day, she was
expected to cook all the food and care for the children!

100 5 Life in the Middle Ages

 s
Wise Up Word
dowry inferior scold’s bridle

Image Spreadsheet

SOURCE B: A woman’s job was to look after the

children and make sure food was prepared.
Audio Weblink
Town women
It was possible for women to learn a trade in some of the
bigger towns. The most common jobs for women were
spinning and weaving cloth – unmarried women SOURCE C: This picture of hardworking women was
Video
drawn in about 1330.
Resource Package
are still called spinsters today. Many women ran
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
businesses but only after their husbands had died. Women
Work
couldn’t start their own firms but they could inherit one.
1 a What is meant by the word
Rich women ‘inferior’?
Document Zip Archive
A girl from a wealthy family wouldn’t have chosen her husband b Make a list of all the ways
– her family would have done it for her. The husband received a in which women were not
dowry, a payment from his new wife’s family, when he got married. treated as equal to men in
Wealthy women had time for fun, which would usually involve medieval Britain.
dancing and music. Although they received less education
Presentation Other than
2 Writing in full sentences
– For file types/resources we
rich men, women were expected to run the family household and
can't yet envisage and using capital letters
manage the servants. and full stops, explain why
historians don’t know much
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan) about the lives of women in the
Middle Ages.
3 a What is a dowry?
b What advantages and
Animation disadvantages do you think
choosing a husband for their
daughter would bring a
medieval family?
4 Interview with…
Imagine you got to meet
a woman from the Middle Ages.
What three interview questions
would you ask her? And, what
three pieces of information
SOURCE D: This medieval picture shows women fighting. would you share with her about
Although there weren’t female soldiers, women helped defend the role of women today?
castles in sieges when things got desperate.
5 Life in the Middle Ages 101
5.14 Matilda: the forgotten
queen
tives
Having seen how women were treated during the
Middle Ages, it may not surprise you to learn that
Mission Objec
between 1066 and 1553 there were no female Investigate why Matilda thought she
monarchs in England. Women were viewed as too should have been crowned queen in 1135.
weak to rule a whole country. In 1135, all that nearly
changed when Princess Matilda was named as next Explain the reasons why she wasn’t.
in line to the throne. So why wasn’t Matilda crowned Judge who won in the struggle between
queen? Who gained control of the country instead? Stephen and Matilda.
How did she react? And who would have made the
better ruler?

Henry’s got no heir!

In 1120, King Henry I was the father of two sons and two
daughters. He was certain that one of his children would rule
after him. Then disaster struck! Both of his sons drowned coming
back from France. It is said that after Henry heard the news, he
never smiled again. But he was still desperate to ensure that the
Crown remained in his family, so before he died he made all the
important, powerful barons swear to make his daughter, Matilda,
queen after he was gone. But the thought of having a woman in
charge was too much for many of them. When Henry died, they
broke their promise, and put the king’s nephew, Stephen, on the
throne. Look at the fact files for both Stephen and Matilda.

Matilda Stephen
Background: She married a Background: His father had been killed fighting
German king when she was 12 abroad when Stephen was just five years old. He
years old and lived in Germany was brought up by his uncle, Henry I, and soon
for ten years until her husband became a great favourite of the king. He was
died in 1125. Henry I soon given huge amounts of land by Henry, and by the
found another husband for time the king died, Stephen was the richest man
her – and 26-year-old Matilda in England.
married a 14-year-old French
Claim to the throne: Despite swearing to
prince! Despite the difference
support his cousin Matilda, Stephen didn’t think a
in ages and rumours that they
woman was capable of controlling England. As he
didn’t get on, the couple had
was one of Henry’s closest male relatives, Stephen
three sons in four years.
decided that the Crown should be his!
Claim to the throne: She was
Personality: He was very mild-mannered and
the eldest child of Henry I and
good tempered. He was sometimes accused of
was her father’s choice as heir.
being too laid back.
The barons had sworn to make her queen.
Personality: She grew up in Germany and didn’t seem to like
England much. She could be rude and didn’t make friends easily.

102 5 Life in the Middle Ages

So what happened?
1 When King Henry I died 2 But soon Matilda
in 1135, Stephen raced to began to increase
London and was crowned her support. There
king. But he was weak was fierce fighting
and his supporters took between both sides.
advantage of him. Soon Eventually, Matilda’s
the country was in chaos forces captured
and people starved. Stephen and she
Image
declared herself ‘Lady Spreadsheet
of the English’.

3 But Matilda’s victory

didn’t last long. The
people of London Audio Weblink
didn’t like her and rose
up against her. She had
to flee to France for
safety… and Stephen
became king again! Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Homewo

4 Matilda didn’t give up, and after more fighting Stephen

and Matilda reached a deal. She agreed to stop fighting
if her son (Henry) and neither of Stephen’s sons (Eustace
Document Zip Archive
and William) could be king after Stephen’s death. So when
‘In the days of this king [Stephen], there was nothing Stephen died in 1154, it was Matilda’s son who became King
but strife, evil and robbery, for quickly the great men rose Henry II.
against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a good
humoured, kindly man who inflicted no punishment, they
committed all manner of horrible crimes. Every powerful Work
Presentation Other
– For file types/resourc
man built himself castles and held them against the king. It 1 a Why didn’t one of Henry I’s sons becomecan't
kingyet
in envisage
grew worse and worse. They took tax, as protection money, 1135?
from villages. When the wretched people had no more b Why do you think Henry I named Matilda and not
to give, they robbed and burned all the villages.’ Interactive
Stephen as heir to England’s throne? Lesson Player (short te
c Find as many reasons as you can that explain why
Matilda wasn’t made queen in 1135.
SOURCE A: A description of the way the barons
took control when Stephen was on the throne, written in 2 Look at Source A.
a monk’s chronicle. a What, according to this source, happened in
Animation
England under Stephen’s rule?
b In what ways does this source criticize Stephen?
‘Matilda sent for the richest men and demanded from
them a huge sum of money, not with gentleness but with 3 a Look at Source B. In what ways, according to this
the voice of authority. They complained they did not have source, was Matilda different from Stephen?
any money left. When the people said this, Matilda, with b The man who wrote this source supported Stephen
a very grim look, every trace of a woman’s gentleness and not Matilda. How might knowing this affect
removed from her face, blazed into unbearable fury.’ how you view what the writer says about her?
4 Imagine a children’s television programme has asked
SOURCE B: A description of Matilda written when you to prepare a one-minute feature on Matilda. What
she was in control of the country. would you say about her? What could the feature be
called? What images would you include? What would
you say about Stephen? Write a script for your feature.

5 Life in the Middle Ages 103

6.1 Crown versus Church:
the story of Henry II and
Thomas Becket
We all know that kings and queens were very tives
powerful and important people in medieval times. Mission Objec
But did they always get their own way? The next few Summarize the events in the quarrel
pages look at a well-known occasion in the Middle between Henry II and Becket in the
Ages when a king’s power was tested... and which correct chronological order.
led to a vicious murder inside one of Britain’s most
Evaluate King Henry’s motives in making
famous cathedrals.
Becket Archbishop of Canterbury.

Best of friends
In 1154, Henry II became King of England. One of his
best friends was a man called Thomas Becket. They
hunted and got drunk together. They both enjoyed
expensive clothes, magnificent palaces and the very
best food and wine. Henry respected and trusted
Thomas so much that he made him Chancellor. This
was a very important job and meant he was in charge
of the country when Henry was away.
Henry the hot head!
King Henry was a popular ruler but he did have one
major fault – his temper. He liked to get his own way
and, when he got angry, his eyes went bloodshot and
he threw a massive tantrum. He once got so angry that
he ripped all his clothes off, threw himself on the floor
and started chewing pieces of straw! Henry’s master plan!
Despite being king, Henry did not have the power to
punish everyone in his kingdom. People who worked
for the Church and broke the law went to the Church’s
own courts instead, and this annoyed Henry. You may
not think this was much of a problem but, at this time,
one in six people worked for the Church in some way.
Henry was worried that there was too much crime and
he thought that the Church courts were too soft on
lawbreakers. For example, the king’s courts might cut
off the hands of a thief, but the Church’s courts would
probably fine them. Henry wanted a clever and trusted
friend he could put in charge of the Church. That way,
the Church’s courts would punish people the way he
wanted – and his power would be complete!
104 6 Who rules?
Archbishop
s
Becket Wise Up Word
In 1162, Henry
made his friend Chancellor excommunicated
Thomas Becket
the Archbishop of
Canterbury, placing
him in charge of Work
religion in England. 1 Before the four knights set out to kill
Becket would be Becket, the following events occurred.
based at Canterbury Write these down in the correct
Cathedral in Kent. chronological order.
Unfortunately for the • Becket ran away to France for six years.
king, though, Becket • Henry and Becket became best
took his new job friends.
very seriously indeed. He stopped getting drunk and wearing fancy • Henry made Becket Archbishop of
clothes. He started to wear an itchy, goat-hair shirt and slept on the Canterbury.
hard stone floor. Religion became very important to Becket and he • Henry made Becket Chancellor of
spent hours praying every day. When Henry spoke to him about England.
• Henry was heard to say, ‘Is there
making changes to the Church courts, Becket refused. The two men
no one who will rid me of this
began to argue, and after Henry lost his temper in one particularly
troublesome priest?’
nasty disagreement, Becket fled to France – for six years! • Becket excommunicated some
bishops.
Guess who’s
Beck? 2 a Think of five adjectives to describe
Becket eventually King Henry ll.
returned to Britain and b Think of five adjectives to describe
the two men agreed to Thomas Becket.
c Are any of your words the same?
try and work together.
Using the words you have listed,
But as soon as Becket
write two paragraphs describing
returned it all kicked Henry and Becket.
off again! Becket
excommunicated all 3 Explain Henry’s plan when he made
of the bishops who Becket Archbishop of Canterbury. What
had helped Henry run went wrong with this plan?
Church business while he was away. This meant that they were
sacked from their jobs, and were told they’d go straight to hell
when they died!
What Happened 1154
When Henry found out, he was furious. In one of his rages he When?
shouted, ‘Is there no one who will rid me of this troublesome In 1154, the same year that Henry
priest?’ Four knights were standing nearby while the king ranted II became king, Birmingham and its
and raved. They decided that they could rid their king of this priest, ‘Bullring’ were founded. Also, the only
and set off to Canterbury without delay. English man ever to be Pope – Nicholas
Breakspear – was chosen for the role in
this year.

6 Who rules? 105

6.2A Newsflash:
murder in the cathedral
The afternoon of 29 December 1170 was a dark and stormy
tives
one. Four knights, in full armour, had arrived outside Mission Objec
Canterbury Cathedral. Some monks, sensing trouble,
hurried inside to find Archbishop Becket and rush him Discover how Thomas Becket was
to safety. The events that followed caused a sensation murdered and by whom.
throughout medieval Europe. If it had happened today, Investigate the consequences of
it would have been a huge news story covered by lots of
the murder.
television channels and journalists. If there had been TV
news in 1170 (which there wasn’t – obviously!) it may have
been presented something like this…

TV newsreader: We’re sorry to interrupt your scheduled In a crazed fury, one of the knights yelled out, ‘Where is
programming, but amazing news has just come in. Thomas Thomas Becket, traitor to the king and country?’
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, has been found dead at
Becket stood in front of his attackers and said, ‘I am no traitor
Canterbury Cathedral. Over to Annette Ball, our reporter, live at
and I am ready to die.’ The knights then grabbed hold of the
the scene.
Archbishop and tried to drag him outside in order to kill him.
TV reporter: I can confirm the news that Thomas Becket, the Becket clung to a pillar but, realizing that his time on earth
man in charge of religion in England, has been hacked to death was nearly over, he bowed his head in prayer and made his
inside the most important cathedral in the country. I can also peace with God.
exclusively reveal that the four men who have been officially
This was too much for the murderous knights and a sword
linked with the murder are knights and were apparently
was brought crashing down on Becket’s head, nearly chopping
acting under orders from King Henry! The knights, named as
my arm off as it passed. Then another sword slashed down,
Reginald Fitzurse, William de Tracy, Richard Brito, and Hugh de
again at his head, but still Becket stood firm in his prayers.
Morville, have fled into the stormy night. But if it is confirmed
The third blow was swung with such force that it knocked the
that they are Henry’s men, it will be the most sensational story
Archbishop to his knees.
of the century!
TV newsreader: Were there any witnesses?
TV reporter: I do have an eyewitness, Jill. His name is Edward
Grim, a monk who claims to have seen it all. What can you tell
us, Brother Edward?
Edward Grim (monk): It was truly awful, you’ll have
to forgive me – I’m still shaking with anger and fear. The
murderers entered this house of God in full armour and with
their swords drawn. Some of my brother monks had tried to
bolt the doors to keep the knights out, but the Archbishop
ordered them to be re-opened. He said, ‘It’s not right to make a
fortress out of a house of prayer.’

106 6 Who rules?

As he knelt on the floor, a fourth and final SOUrCe A: A medieval
blow cut off the top of his head – the sword picture of the murder. Can
Presentation
of the murderer smashing to pieces on the youOther
see the four knights? Who
– For file types/resources we
do youcan't
thinkyet
theenvisage
man behind
cathedral floor with the force of the strike. Becket is?
But these evil men weren’t finished yet.
One knight put his foot on the holy priest’s Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan
neck and scattered his blood and brains all
over the floor. I couldn’t bear to look any
more but Brother William said he saw one
of them scooping Becket’s brains out of his Animation
skull with his sword. The last thing I heard
was one of the knights saying, ‘Let us away,
this fellow will get up no more!’ With that,
the murderers disappeared into the night.
TV reporter: Incredible scenes, Jill. This
Image Spreadsheet
news will shock the country. People are
already dipping rags in Becket’s blood. King
Henry II is yet to release a statement but we
are standing by to get his reactions to this
ImageAudio Weblink
Spreadsheet
shocking story! Back to you in the studio.
TV reporter: That’s the big question tonight. The knights claimed National sensation
to be acting on King Henry’s orders, but how will the king respond? Although this TV report is imaginary, the
Audio Video events it describes are recorded in witness
Resource Package
Weblink
SOUrCe B: This statements and other evidence available to
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
diagram gives a bird’s historians. The people of England were indeed
eye view of the attack.
shocked by Becket’s murder and wondered
what was going to happen next.
Video Document Zip Package
Resource Archive
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Work
1 Why do you think the knights tried to drag
Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive Becket outside the cathedral?
– For file types/resources we
2 Why do you think some people dipped
can't yet envisage
Becket rags in Becket’s blood shortly after he was
killed here murdered?
Interactive
Presentation Other Lesson Player (short term plan)
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Animation
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

Animation

6 Who rules? 107

6.2B Newsflash: murder in the cathedral

SOUrCe A: Canterbury Cathedral in

Kent was the scene of Becket’s murder.

How did Henry II react?

Henry was horrified when he heard the news.
He hadn’t exactly ordered the knights to go to
Canterbury but he knew he was going to get
the blame. He was terrified that he might be
excommunicated by the Pope, the world leader
of the Christian Church. So he decided to say
sorry – in a big way! Henry walked the streets
of Canterbury with no shoes on and, when his
feet were cut and bleeding, he approached the
cathedral. He then prayed at Becket’s tomb while
monks whipped his bare back. He spent the
night on the hard stone floor – on the very spot
where Becket was killed. It worked – the Pope
forgave Henry.

SOUrCe B: An engraving of
Henry II being whipped.
108 6 Who rules?
 can't yet envisag

What happened to the knights? Interactive Lesson Player (sho

The knights were not as fortunate as Henry.
They were sent on a pilgrimage – all the way to
the Holy Land. None of them survived the long
journey there.
Animation
Saint Thomas Becket
People started claiming miracles were taking
place at Becket’s tomb as soon as he died. Blind
people claimed they could see and deaf people
claimed they could hear after visiting his tomb.
In 1173, Becket was made a saint by the Pope,
and before long, the journey to pray at Becket’s
tomb was one of the most popular pilgrimages
in Europe.

What Happened 1170

When?
In 1170, the same year that Becket is
murdered, the Normans captured Dublin,
SOUrCe C: People in the Middle Ages weren’t so different from
Ireland.
us in some ways! This is a lead badge that a pilgrim would have
bought to show he had been to the tomb of Saint Thomas Becket.
Have you ever bought a badge or other souvenir when you’ve visited
somewhere special?

Work
1 Who do you think was to blame for Becket’s death? Find bell and announcing the major news stories of the
one reason to blame: day. Write out how you would announce the death of
• the knights Thomas Becket. Think about:
• King Henry II • What one sentence would you say first to attract a
• Becket himself. crowd?
Overall, who do you blame most for the murder? Was • How will you make the story exciting and
it a combination of some or all of them? Explain your informative, and keep people listening?
answer. • How will you portray the king and Becket? Who will
you support?
2 The Big Write!
• How will you end your amazing story?
EITHER: Design a front page for a newspaper article Your announcement should be no more than two
reporting the events of 29 December 1170. minutes long.
Try to include the following details: 3 Why do you think Henry reacted to Becket’s murder the
• An eye-catching headline (can you use alliteration?) way he did?
• the most important parts of the story in your first
few sentences 4 Design a lead badge for pilgrims who visit Becket’s
• Some quotes from an eyewitness tomb. Remember, it must have no words on it but must
• A picture of the crime scene get the message across of where the pilgrim has been.
• An interview with King Henry II 5 Who had the most power in medieval England – the
OR: Imagine you are a town crier in 1170. These were Church or the Crown? Give reasons for your answer.
people who stood in the centre of towns, ringing a

6 Who rules? 109

6.3 King John:
Magna Carta man
The king’s job was often complicated. It’s true that kings lived
tives
a life of luxury, but they also had a job to do – they had to Mission Objec
keep law and order, protect the country from attack, collect
taxes, organize armies, and more! And sometimes kings made Analyse the consequences of
mistakes. They made poor decisions and upset or annoyed the King John’s mistakes.
people who helped them run the country. This double page Explain the importance of
investigates a king who made several mistakes… and explains Magna Carta.
how his actions changed the country forever.

King John’s struggles So what did the barons do?

King John was the son of Henry By 1215 the barons had decided they’d had enough.
II and younger brother of King They put together an army and marched towards
Richard. When his older brother London. Then they gave King John a choice – change
died in 1199, John had little the way he was running the country… or fight the
money left because Richard had army that was heading towards London!
spent so much of it fighting King John gave in and asked the barons what they
abroad! Unfortunately, King wanted. The barons made a list of 63 rights that they
John soon did things thought they should have. The main points are listed in
that turned many people Source A.
against him. The cartoon
below sums up the main King John agrees
complaints of the barons and In June 1215, the barons met the king in a field at
Image
church leaders. Runnymede,Spreadsheet
near Windsor, by the River Thames. After
four days of discussions King John agreed to the list
(known as ‘Magna Carta’)… and the barons agreed to
be loyal to the king.
We have evenAudio
lost Weblink
King John is a poor Normandy in France, And he keeps demanding King John has argued
leader in battle. A the birthplace of higher and higher taxes with the Pope many John can be cruel too,
few years ago, England William the Conqueror. to pay for battles he times. He made the Pope or so I hear. He left
ruled over lots of land I hear some people keeps losing! He has even so angry that he closed the wife of one of
in France… but not any use the nickname
Video Resource Package for
started taxing sons when all our churches his enemies to starve
more! The French have ‘Softsword’ to describe –seven
Assessment/Homework/Assignment
their fathers die! It’s all years. No one could to death in prison.
defeated us many times King John! money, money, money get married or have a And he murdered his
and regained much of
with King John! proper Christian burial. nephew in a drunken
their land as a result of
John’s mistakes. rage… apparently.
Document Zip Archive

Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

110 6 Who rules? Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

 s
Wise Up Word
MAGNA CARTA 1215: Magna Carta
THE MAIN BITS!
I, King John, accept that I have to
run my country according to the law. I
agree: What Happened When? 1776
1. not to interfere with the Church The Magna Carta inspired Americans when,
2. not to imprison nobles without a trial in 1776, they began writing the rules by which their
3. that trials will be held quickly and country is governed. They included: ‘No person shall
be held to answer for a crime without trial by jury nor
fairly
shall their life, liberty or property be taken without
4. to stop unfair taxes following the law.’
5. not to ask for extra taxes
6. to let merchants travel around the
country to buy and sell without
having to pay large taxes. Work
1 Think of three words that best describe King John. Say
why you chose them.
2 Imagine you are a baron in England in 1214. Write King
John a letter explaining why you’re angry with him.
SOUrCe A: ‘Magna Carta’ means ‘great charter’. King Make sure you tell him what angers you most and
John never actually signed it because he couldn’t write! So he why. Remember to set it out like a proper letter with
stamped it with his royal seal to show he agreed. the address of your castle and the king’s address at the
Tower of London at the top.
What happened next?
3 a Make a list of the main points in Magna Carta.
King John never liked the Magna Carta. He said he
b Which of the points are still important today?
had been bullied into it. People accused the barons
of being selfish too. After all, Magna Carta didn’t apply 4 a In a group, discuss the difference between ‘short-
to peasants, only to rich, important men like barons, term’ and ‘long-term’.
knights and merchants. b Was Magna Carta a short-term or a long-term
success? Explain your answer.
However, as the years passed, Magna Carta became
more and more important. It introduced the idea that 5 Create your own Magna Carta for your school. List at
least six changes you would like to see. These rules
there are certain laws and rules that even the king
must apply to everybody – students and staff – and
must accept… and that he couldn’t do whatever
they must improve your school or education. Explain
he wanted. After King John died, other kings signed your reasons for each rule.
Magna Carta too, and today it is known as one of
Britain’s first steps on the road to becoming one of the
most famous democracies in the world. In fact, some
of the best-known parts of Magna Carta still apply to
everyone today. For example:
• British people have the right to a fair trial before they
can be punished.
• British people cannot be taxed unfairly.

6 Who rules? 111

6.4A Where did our Parliament
come from?
Kings had always asked rich, powerful landowners (called barons,
tives
earls, lords, and nobles) for advice on things like raising money Mission Objec
or going to war. When kings met with advisors it was often called
a Great Council. Sometimes there were arguments at these Examine why King Henry III
meetings… but the king nearly always got his own way! argued with the barons.
This all changed in 1215 when King John ruled. The rich landowners Discover the origins of
rebelled and forced him to sign the Magna Carta, which said that Britain’s Parliament.
the king couldn’t do whatever he wanted! However, King John died
in 1216 and his son became King Henry III when he was only nine
years old. So what happened next? Would young Henry also agree to
follow the rules laid down in Magna Carta… or would he just ignore
them and rule however he wished? And how is all this linked to
Parliament and the way Britain is ruled today?

The boy king

To begin with, young King Henry regularly met with the Great Council and took advice. But
Henry didn’t stay a boy forever – and when he got older, and got married, he began to ignore
advice and ran things how he wanted. As you might imagine, this annoyed members of the
Great Council. The cartoon below sums up their complaints.

Henry is spending a fortune And just like his father,

on living a life of luxury. he’s not a very good soldier.
He even tried to buy the He tried to take over large
Italian island of Sicily as a parts of France… and lost!
And who’s paying for present for his son! A Frenchman, Peter des
And he expects us to provide Rivaux, has all the top jobs
all this? That’s right soldiers and money for his
– us! Our taxes too. He’s got over 20 jobs!
expensive wars! In fact, Henry seems to
go up because he
spends so much. give all the best jobs to his
wife’s friends and relatives.

And he’s meddling with

religion. Or rather, his
wife is. She begged Henry
to make her uncle –
a Frenchman – the
Archbishop of Canterbury.
He doesn’t even take our
advice any more. He just
listens to his French wife
and her French friends
and relatives!

112 6 Who rules?

enough is enough! s
By 1258 the barons had had enough. They were fed up with high taxes Wise Up Word
and the fact that Henry listened more to his wife than to them. So the
Great Council Parliament
barons threatened to fight King Henry unless he agreed to meet up
to discuss things. At a meeting in Oxford, the barons showed Henry a
document called ‘The Provisions
of Oxford’ (see Source B). As you
can see by reading the document,
if Henry agreed to this, the barons
would have a lot more power… but
Henry felt he had no choice – and
signed it.
However, the king’s son, 19-year-old
Prince Edward, was furious that his
father had been treated this way…
and swore to get revenge!

Be a Top
Historian
Top historians know that some
things develop slowly over
time. Parliament is a good
example of how something
that began in medieval times
evolved over several centuries SOUrCe A: This picture shows Henry III
into the important body that it meeting with Parliament. By 1258 the barons
is today. were utterly fed up!

The Provisions of Oxford

• The king cannot make decisions without the Great
Council’s agreement.
• The Great Council should choose the king’s main
advisors.
Work
1 Write a sentence or two to explain the following terms:
• A Parliament consisting of fifteen members of the
a Great Council
Great Council, plus twelve other barons, has to
b Provisions of Oxford
meet at least three times a year.
Signed, 2 a Make a list of things that made Henry unpopular
with his barons.
Henry III and the Great Council b Which of these things do you think upset the
barons the most? Make another list, putting them
in order. Start with what you think annoyed the
SOUrCe B: The Provisions of Oxford was signed in barons the most.
1258. The word ‘parliament’ is from the French word c Can you connect the different problems in any
‘parler’, which means ‘to talk’. way? Explain how some of them are linked.

6 Who rules? 113

6.4B Where did our Parliament come from?

Image Spreadshee

SOUrCe A: The illustration shows the death of Simon de Montfort and is from the
1200s. It works a bit like a cartoon strip – first, de Montfort is stripped of his armour, then
his body is cut to pieces. Later his head was sent to a man who hated him as a present!
Audio Weblink
King Henry the prisoner Parliament lives on
In 1264, King Henry III got an army together to fight Although de Montfort died, his idea lived on. When
the barons. He was unhappy that they’d made him Henry III died in 1272, Prince Edward became King
sign the Provisions of Oxford because it took away Edward I. He didn’t want to risk more fights with the
a lot of his power. The king’s army was led by Prince Video Parliament, so he kept meetingResource Pa
barons by scrapping
– Assessme
Edward, Henry’s son. The baron’s army was led by with them. Soon, the barons in Parliament realized
Simon de Montfort, who was married to King Henry’s that they were quite powerful. For example, if the
sister. On 14 May 1264, the two sides fought a battle at king needed money (which he often did) he knew he
Lewes in Sussex. The barons won, and King Henry and couldn’t go around collecting it all himself – he needed
Document Zip Archive
Prince Edward were taken prisoner. Parliament to get it for him. In return, Parliament could
ask the king for permission to introduce new laws. So
What happened next? although Parliament couldn’t exactly tell the king what
In 1265, Simon de Montfort called a meeting of the
to do, it was certainly a powerful force in the country
Presentation Other
Great Council. But this time, he didn’t just invite the
because it controlled the king’s money and could – For file typ
rich, important bishops and barons. He also included can't yet e
make new laws… just like today!
two ordinary wealthy people from each large town
and two knights from each county. This was the first
time that ordinary people had been included in any Interactive Lesson Playe
sort of discussion about running the country. This
meeting is often called ‘the first Parliament’.
De Montfort is doomed!
Not surprisingly, the king and the young prince Animation
fought back. Prince Edward escaped from prison and
gathered another army together. In August 1265,
de Montfort’s army was defeated at the Battle of
Evesham. Source A shows the rather nasty way in
which de Montfort was killed.

SOUrCe B: This picture wrongly shows rulers

from Wales and Scotland at this Parliament.
Llywelyn (Wales) and Alexander (Scotland) did
not attend at the same time as King Edward.
114 6 Who rules?
 SOUrCe C: By the mid-1300s,
Document Zip Archive The king
meetings of Parliament had settled
into a pattern that lasted for centuries. • The king decided when Parliament
The British Parliament, made up of was to meet, usually for a few
the House of Lords and the House of weeks a year.
Commons, still meets like this today.
Presentation Other • Parliament couldn’t stop collecting
– For file types/resources we king if they didn’t
taxes for the
can't yet envisage
like what he was doing.

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

The Lords
• Rich barons and bishops met
Animation
in the House of Lords.
• The right to attend passed
from father to son.

Image Spreadsheet

Audio Weblink

The Commons
Video Resource Package
• Voting took place in public. The men chosen were usually the
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
richer people of the town and land-owning knights.
• These people became known as the ‘commoners’ or ‘Commons’
and met in the House of Commons.
Document Zip Archive

Work
1 Look at Source A on page 112 and Source B on Other b Which of the men do you think was the most
Presentation
this page. What are the main differences? – For file types/resources
important in thewedevelopment of Parliament?
can't yet envisage
Give reasons for your answer.
2 Explain the importance of the following dates in the
development of Parliament: 4 a How did Simon de Montfort die?
a 1264 Interactive Lesson b In what
Player ways
(short could
term de Montfort be seen as both a
plan)
b 1265 hero and a traitor?
c 1272
5 What were the advantages of having a Parliament:
3 a In what ways were each of the following men a for the king?
important Animation
in the development of Parliament? b for the barons, bishops, knights, and townspeople?
i Simon de Montfort
ii King Edward I

6 Who rules? 115

6.5 Why were peasants so
angry in 1381?
tives
In today’s world, large groups of people sometimes
gather together because they are angry about
Mission Objec
something. They might hold a big meeting or march Examine why peasants were so angry
through the streets carrying banners and shouting in 1381.
slogans to express what they are unhappy about.
Link some of the causes of the
When this happens it is called a protest and the
peasants’ anger together.
people taking part are called protesters.

You may have seen scenes like the one in Source A

on news reports. Protests like this have taken place in Hungry
Can you think of any protests that for
More?
recent years in Britain and in the rest of the world. have taken place recently? They
Sometimes, though, the protesters could have taken place either in
Britain or abroad. If so, do you know what the
are so angry about things that they
protest was about?
are prepared to use violence, which
is illegal in today’s society. Some
protesters might get weapons
and tell the leaders of a country
to change things… or else! When
this happens, it is usually called a
revolt or a rebellion.
One of the best-known examples
of rebellion in Britain happened
during the summer of 1381.
Ordinary people were so angry
about the way they were forced
to live that thousands of them
marched to London, set fire to
houses, murdered some of the
king’s men, and demanded that the
king make changes to their lives.
This event became known as the
‘Peasants’ Revolt’.
So why were the people so angry?
Read some of the reasons for their
anger on the next page.

SOUrCe A: This photo shows students

protesting about tuition fees in London.
116 6 Who rules?
 I don’t own my own land – the local When we’re not doing work service and
lord gives me some and I try to make actually get paid, our wages are very
There is a new tax called a living from it by growing and selling
the Poll Tax. The king needs low. But it wasn’t always like this! When
crops. But I still have to work a few the deadly disease called Black Death
money to pay for his war days a week for no wages. This is
with France and he wants 12 killed lots of workers, there were not
called ‘work service’ and I hate it. I enough people to do all the jobs. So we
pence from everyone, rich just want to own my own land…
and poor. asked for more wages or else the work
would not get done. For a time, our
wages rose and rose. But then the king
introduced a new law called ‘Statute of
The rich can afford the Labourers’ that said we couldn’t earn
taxes, but we can’t. And more money than we did before the
they keep going up! We paid Black Death. It’s not fair!
4 pence in 1377… and now,
in 1381, it’s 12 pence!

Our king is only young.

I have been very interested in
Richard II is 14 years old and
what a priest called John Ball
is badly advised by greedy
has been saying. He says that all
evil men who care only about
men are equal in the eyes of God,
making themselves rich… or
and that this country won’t be
so I’ve heard!
right until there is no difference
between rich and poor.

What sparked the revolt?

On 30 May 1381, a group of King Richard’s tax collectors arrived in the
village of Fobbing in Essex to collect the hated Poll Tax money. The
Image Spreadsheet
s
peasants refused to pay and attacked the tax collectors. Three of the
king’s men were killed but another escaped and rode back to London to
Wise Up Word
tell the king. Soon, other tax collectors were attacked all over Essex and protest protester
Kent. Before long, a large group of up to 60,000 angry peasants decided rebellion revolt
Audio– the Peasants’ Revolt had begun…
to march to London Weblink

Work
1 In your own words, explain what you think is
Video
a Prepare a short speech outlining your reasons for
Resource Package
meant by the following terms: taking part in the revolt. It should focus on why
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
a protest c revolt you’re so angry about the life you lead. In your
b protester d rebellion opinion, is one reason more important than the
others? If so, focus on this one a bit more.
2 Working in a small group, imagine that you all
Document b Design a poster that tries to persuade fellow
Zip Archive
live in a village in Essex or Kent in May 1381.
villagers to support the revolt.
Your small group is determined to be part of the
c Make a list of slogans that you might sing, chant,
Peasants’ Revolt… but some of your fellow villagers
or write on banners that you might carry while
aren’t so sure! Your task is to convince other people in
marching to London.
your village toPresentation
join the Peasants’ Revolt and march to Other
London with you. – For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

6 Who rules? 117

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
6.6A Power to the people
tives
Mission Objec
In 1381, 14-year-old King Richard II decided he needed money for his Discover what happened
war against France – all those weapons, armour and equipment were to the angry peasants
expensive! He asked his officials to make lists of the people living in when they took their
each town and village, and then got his tax collectors to go round the revolt to London.
country collecting money from anyone over the age of 15 to help pay Examine evidence and
for his costly war. identify similarities and
The new Poll Tax (a list is sometimes called a ‘poll’) was hated, differences.
especially by the poor, who said they couldn’t afford to pay it.

Chaos in the streets of London

The Peasants’ Revolt started in May 1381 when peasants in Essex refused to
pay the Poll Tax. This led to more attacks and the situation soon escalated!
Read through the story below to find out what happened next.

1 Peasants began rebelling all over 2 Peasants burned important

the south-east of England. documents, books and papers. Now the Lord won’t
know who to tax.
He’ll have
no records
Who do these
at all!
peasants think
they are?

Fire! Fire!

Fire!

4 In June, up to 60,000 peasants marched towards London.

They chose a former soldier called Wat Tyler as their leader.
The gatekeepers at London let the peasants into the city,
Come and join as they didn’t like the rich lords either.
3 Some peasants broke into Maidstone prison
and freed a priest called John Ball. us, We’re off to
London. What’s the plan
when we get there?

You’re Tyler says he’ll meet

free! with the king and
get him to make our
lives better.

Ball had been put in prison for encouraging the

poor to rebel against their lords. I want taxes reduced!

118 6 Who rules?

5 The angry mob ran riot. They burned 6 Meanwhile, the king watched the rioting
down the houses of rich Londoners. from the safety of the Tower of London. But…

I suggest you meet

Let’s go and attack the I must go and them in a place
Tower of London! meet them. where they cannot
get near you.

But it’s not

safe, my lord!

7 The king decided to meet the peasants and spoke

to them on a boat on the River Thames.

We want you to be our

What do you king… but we cannot
want? stand how we are 8 Tyler told the king that peasants wanted higher
wages and didn’t want to be forced to work for their Can we
treated any longer. trust him?
lords for free for a few days a week.

I agree to your demands and

forgive you… but go home!

It is dangerous here,
my Lord. Let’s return to
the Tower of London.

10 When the king realized that even the Tower of

London wasn’t safe, he knew he had to meet the
rebels once more.

Arghh…
9 Meanwhile, a group of peasants broke into the Tower Tyler! The mob has
of London and murdered both the Archbishop of murdered people. This
Canterbury and the king’s treasurer. must stop. Tell me what
you want!
The king’s not Die, you
back yet, but traitor!
the man who
looks after the
king’s money is
here… so is the
Archbishop of
Canterbury.

6 Who rules? 119

6.6B Power to the people A

What happened next? V

On 15 June 1381, the king once ‘At that moment the Mayor of London arrived with 12 knights, all
again met with Wat Tyler, who was well armed, and broke through to speak to the crowd. He said to
joined by around 25,000 peasants. Tyler, “Halt!Image
Would you dare to speak like that in front of the king?”
Spreadsheet
With the king were around 75 The king began to get angry and told the Mayor, “Set hands on him.”
knights and nobles, including the Tyler said to the Mayor, “What have I said to annoy you?” “You D

Lord Mayor of London. Tyler asked lying, stinking crook,” said the Mayor. “Would you speak like that
the king to divide up all Church in front of the king? By my life, you’ll pay dearly forWeblink
Audio
it.” And the
land amongst the peasants and Mayor drew his sword and struck Tyler such a blow to the head that
make everyone, with the exception he fell down at the feet of his horse. The knights clustered around him P
of the king, equal. The king agreed! so that he couldn’t be seen by the rebels. Then a squire called John
Standish drew out his sword and put it to Tyler’s belly and so he died.
We are not exactly sure what
Seeing their Video
leader killed, the people began to murmurResource Package
and said, “Let
– Assessment/Homework/Assign
happened next, as the only people
us go and kill them all.” And they got themselves ready for battle.’ I
who wrote about the event were
on the king’s side. However, the
events of the next few minutes of A: This was written by Jean
SOUrCeDocument Zip Archive
the meeting were amazing. Read Froissant, a French knight, who wasn’t at the revolt.
Sources A and B to see if you can A
work out what happened.

Presentation Other
‘The commons were arrayed – For file types/resources we
in battle formation in great can't yet envisage
numbers. Tyler dismounted,
carrying his dagger. He called for
some water and rinsed his mouth Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
in a very rude disgusting fashion
in front of the king. Tyler then
made to strike the king’s valet
[bodyguard] with his dagger. Animation
The Mayor of London tried to
arrest him, and because of this
Wat stabbed the Mayor with his
dagger in the stomach. But the
Mayor, as it pleased God, was
wearing armour, and drew his
cutlass and gave Wat a deep cut
on the neck, and then a great cut
on the head.’

SOUrCe B: A different
account of the meeting in SOUrCe C: This picture is taken from an account of the murder of Wat Tyler and
June 1381, written in the City was painted 60 years after it happened. It is in two parts. On the left, King Richard II
Record Book. sees the murder and on the right he rides out to speak to the rebels.

120 6 Who rules?

The aftermath
As you can imagine, the rebels were shocked by Wat Some peasants bought or rented land from a
Tyler’s death and some looked ready to attack the king. landowner. Having their own land meant they didn’t
Despite this, the king rode out to them, alone, and have to rely on a lord to give them land – which meant
said, ‘Sirs, what is the matter? You shall have no leader they didn’t have to work for him for free for a few days
except me. I am your king. Be peaceful.’ (See Source C.) a week in return! Gradually, peasants became more
independent and relied less on a lord to run all aspects
Almost immediately, the situation calmed down and
of their lives – which is what the peasants who took
shortly afterwards, the peasants began to go home.
part in the Peasants’ Revolt really wanted!
But King Richard didn’t keep any of the promises he’d
made. His army hunted down many of the ringleaders Be a Top Historian
of the revolt and killed them. John Ball, the priest, was
Top historians need to understand that it’s very
cut into pieces in front of the king and his head was
difficult to know exactly what happened at the
stuck on a spike on London Bridge. It was joined by Peasants’ Revolt. Different people tell different
the head of Wat Tyler! However, the hated Poll Tax was stories depending on their attitudes and beliefs.
scrapped and taxes were never as high again. Some details might be left out while others are
Also, over the next 50 years the peasants ended up exaggerated. This is why it’s very important to try
and find out about the person writing the account –
getting most of the things they asked for. Eventually,
who are they? What might they believe? Whose side
Parliament stopped trying to control peasants’ wages
might they be on?
and they were allowed to work for the best wages they
could get.

Work
1 Match up the names on the left with the correct 3 Look at Source C.
descriptions on the right. a What does the picture show?
• Wat Tyler • 14-year-old king b Does the source tell us anything about the character
of Richard II?
• John Ball • Killed Wat Tyler
• Richard II • Leader of the Peasants’ Revolt 4 EITHER: Imagine you were one of the peasants who
• Mayor of London • Priest who believed all men marched to London with Wat Tyler. The revolt is over
were equal and should not be and you are back at home in your village… but the
forced to work for free villagers who didn’t go with you are keen to know what
happened. Write down what you would tell them – and
2 Read Sources A and B. remember to make it accurate and exciting!
a Find two ways in which the two sources are different.
OR: Finish off the cartoon strip on pages 118 and
b Find two ways in which the two sources back each
119. You will notice that the final cartoon ends with
other up.
King Richard II meeting with the peasants on 15 June
c The two sources were written by people who
1381. But, as you know, such a lot happened at that
supported the king. How might that affect what was
meeting… and afterwards. Complete the cartoon strip
written?
by adding another two to five pictures to explain what
d Why do you think no peasants wrote down what
happened next.
happened on 15 June 1381?

6 Who rules? 121

Assessing Your Learning 2
Was King John really such a bad king?
In History, a lot of what we know about people or events in the past comes
from what people wrote down at the time. But historians (like us) have to be
careful! We have to know about something called interpretation. Basically, this
means that the person who wrote down what we’re reading about someone (or
something) gave their opinion at the same time. For example, if a monk didn’t like
a baron, he might write bad things about the baron. And two people can have
very different views – or interpretations – of the same person. For example, if two
people, supporting rival football teams, watched the two sides play each other,
they would interpret the match differently. So, it is the job of the historian to:
• show how opinions (or interpretations) are different
• explain why opinions are different.

So what’s this got to do with

‘He was cruel. His punishments included the
King John? starvation of children and the crushing of old men
King John, who ruled between 1199 and 1216, is an
under heavy weights. No women were safe near him
ideal person to show how opinions of people at the and he scoffed at [mocked] priests. Hell itself is made
time can influence our view of someone today. Source worse by the presence of King John.’
A demonstrates what lots of people think about King
John today.
SOUrCe B: Written in 1874 by J.R. Green.
But where does this view
come from?
Many of the bad things written about John were based ‘The servants brought a robber to King John. The
on a book written in Victorian times (see Source B). robber had murdered a priest. John said, “He has
killed an enemy of mine, let him go.”
So where did the man who wrote In 1209, Geoffrey, a priest, said it wasn’t safe to
Source B get his information from?
work for King John and when John found out
J.R. Green never met King John or knew anyone Geoffrey was imprisoned and starved. He died an
who did. He got his information from books written agonizing death.’
by monks who were alive at the time of John (see
Sources C and D). SOUrCe C: Written in the 1200s by Roger Wendover,
a monk. Note that the ‘Geoffrey’ mentioned in this source did
‘John is generally looked upon as the worst king not die until nine years after King John!
England ever had. He probably deserved the title.
Although he was good looking and clever, he was a
complete scoundrel and a selfish fool.’ ‘John was a tyrant, a destroyer who crushed his own
people… He hated his wife and she him. He gave
SOUrCe A: From a modern history book. orders that her lovers were to be killed on her bed.’

SOUrCe D: Written by Matthew Paris,

a monk, in the 1200s.

122
Can we trust Sources C and D?
To decide how reliable the sources are, it is important to
know that John quarrelled a lot with monks and taxed

Assessing Your Learning

churches heavily. Matthew Paris, the monk who wrote
Source D, was also the supporter of a group of barons
who rebelled against King John.
Was anything else written about
King John at the time?
Not a lot was written about John, but Source E is a
picture of him created at the time and Source F is one of
SOUrCe e: King John and his dogs.
the orders he gave. Do these two sources surprise you?
Over to you ‘The Jews living in your city are in your
Now it’s time to think about the sources and analyse how care. If anyone attempt to harm them,
and why opinions (or interpretations) of King John might always protect and assist them.’
have changed over the centuries.
SOUrCe F: John’s orders to an English city.

Work Assessing your work

1 Look at Sources A to D.
a Find three opinions (or In a good set of • select and combine some information
interpretations) answers, you would… from different sources
• structure your work well
about what sort of a man King
• show that you understand that
John was. Good people and events of the past can be
b Are there any facts in the sources, interpreted in different ways.
or just opinions?
In a better set of • begin to evaluate different sources
2 Look at Sources B, C, and D. answers, you would… and use the ones that are best suited
a Is there anything in Source B to the task
that makes you think that the • select and combine information from
writer might have read Sources C different sources
Better • structure your work well
and D?
• suggest reasons for some different
b Can Sources C and D be totally
interpretations of the past.
trusted? Give reasons for your
answer. In the best set of • evaluate sources well
answers, you would… • select, organize and use different
3 Look at Sources E and F. sources
a What impression of King John do • structure your work well
these sources give you?
Best • explain how and why different
b If all you knew about King John interpretations of the past exist.
was what was shown in Sources
E and F, would Sources A to D Hungry
surprise you? Give reasons for King John has been famously for More?
your answer. interpreted in different ways. Choose
4 a Read Source A again. Why do another historical figure and research
you think King John is often different ways in which they have been
portrayed as a bad, evil king? interpreted. Oliver Cromwell, Emmeline Pankhurst
b Is it possible to prove what King and Richard III are good examples.
John was really like?

123
 7.1A We’re all going to die!
In the spring of 1348 the people
tives
of Britain were gripped by fear. A Mission Objec
killer disease was spreading across
the country and killing thousands and Define the main symptoms of Black Death.
thousands of people. Whole villages were being Discover what people thought caused the
wiped out and no one seemed able to stop it. The disease at the time and how they tried to
disease was known as ‘Black Death’ and it would protect against it.
go on to kill around one out of every three people!

Read the following accounts of the impact the disease

had on people. Victims of Black Death really did suffer
from the symptoms described by the villagers pictured
here. Also, the causes of the disease were all genuinely • Eleanor Carter, who works 2
believed by people at the time. As you will discover, it for the local landowner
is no wonder people were so scared… • 26 years old
• Married, two children

It’s 12 August 1348 and I am so worried.

Father Peter has visited most of the houses
in the village and says that lots of people
have been unable to work today. He says
many people are hot and sweaty, like they
have a fever, and that their muscles and 1
bones ache. We are to pray that it is not
the terrible disease that everyone is talking Seven more families in the village are ill today.
about. My friend Eleanor tells me that her My mother, who had a fever yesterday, has
mother has the fever. found boils under her armpits and in her groin.
I’ve been told that some people have found boils
as big as apples. Father Peter has been mixing up
some soothing ointments to smear over the boils,
so perhaps that will help.

• Father Peter, local priest 3

• Emma Langdale, a baker’s wife

• 28 years old
• Three children
More and more people are becoming ill. And it
attacks anyone – rich and poor, good and bad.
Just yesterday, I was called to Emma Langdale’s
bakery because her little boy has a fever. Why
him, O Lord? What harm has he ever done?
And Eleanor Carter’s mother is now covered in
a red and black rash. She says she tried to stick
a needle into one of the boils last night but it
wouldn’t burst. Nothing seems to work.
124 7 Health and medicine
 • Adam Smith, village blacksmith
4 • 5

Depth Study
48 years old
• Sir James Bickley, local
landowner • Husband, father and grandfather
• Owns lots of land that
the villagers work on
• Married, three children

It’s 15 August today and it’s like the whole village

is ill. It seemed to start three or four days ago after
the weekly market in the centre of the village. I
wonder if anyone from other villages who came to
buy and sell here that day was poorly. The Langdale
family, who run the bakery, have been badly hit.
They’re all poorly, but their little boy is particularly People are dying! Twelve died during the night
ill. Boils have appeared on his body and his breath
smells foul. He has terrible diarrhoea too. What sins
and three more already today, including Eleanor
have we committed? Have we danced or drunk too Carter’s mother. Before she died, she was
much? God is punishing us all! screaming for water. Eleanor gave her some,
but her throat was so swollen that she couldn’t
swallow. Perhaps God punished her for drinking
ale on Sundays. Eleanor said that the boils under
her arms burst as she died and smelly black pus
dripped onto the deathbed. All the Carters are
ill now and I fear for their lives.
• John Edwards , works for Sir James
• Married, four children
6
It’s been a week since Ellie Carter’s mother became ill…
and now she’s dead! Someone told me that Ellie herself
Work
has huge boils as big as onions under her arms too. The 1 Write a sentence to explain the
Langdales are suffering too. The young boy has been
covered in a rash for a few days now and his boils are word ‘symptom’ using a modern-
getting bigger. Perhaps he’s close to death. I know Emma day example of a common
Langdale and her older daughter are in bed today with symptom of an illness in your
a fever and even Father Peter is ill. I’m worried about my
youngest son who was up all night sweating and sneezing. answer.
2 a From what you have read,
identify at least five symptoms
of Black Death. Try to put them
in the order in which a victim
would get them.
b Can you think of any reasons
We have decided to dig a large pit just why the disease was called
outside the village in which to bury all
the dead. But will it be big enough?
‘Black Death’?
Will anyone survive? Perhaps we’re all
going to die! 3 a In what ways did people try to
treat the disease?
b List any reasons why people
thought someone might catch
Black Death.

7 Health and medicine 125

 7.1B We’re all going to die!
So what exactly was A deadly combination
Black Death? Bubonic and pneumonic plague combined to make
The Black Death was a plague, which is Black Death. It was possible to get one plague without
a disease that spreads quickly. In fact, to the other but pneumonic plague was so deadly that
be more accurate, experts who have studied the illness if you caught it you’d probably die anyway. About 30
think that Black Death was two different plagues that per cent of people who caught only bubonic plague
struck at the same time. survived. But sadly, millions all over the world caught
both plagues at the same time and stood no chance!
Bubonic plague What did people think caused
This is a germ which lived in the blood of black rats and
Black Death?
in the fleas on their bodies. Doctors didn’t know that germs caused disease so
looked for other reasons to explain why something
The fleas would hop off the rats onto humans and bite
them… passing on the disease.
so terrible was happening. Sources A to E show the
different ways in which people at the time tried to
Victims would get a fever and large boils (called explain the cause of Black Death.
‘buboes’) in their armpits, groin and behind their ears.
Then the victim would
t from God.’
develop a rash of red ‘The plague was a punishmen
and black spots.
The illness lasted about
SOurce A: By a medieval Italian writer.
a week. Seven out of
ten people would die.
‘In many German cities, Jew
s were thought to
have caused the deaths by po
Ow! Something isoning the water
supply. Many Jewish men,
bit me! women and children
were burned to death for thi
s.’

SOurce B: From a book written in 1349.

‘You should avoid overeating and avoid having a

bath. These open up the pores of the skin through
Pneumonic plague which the poisonous air can enter.’

Also a deadly germ, it travelled in the air. It was caught SOurce c: A French writer, 1365.
by breathing infected air.
It attacked the lungs, causing victims to cough up planets.
blood and spread deadly germs as they sneezed. ‘The long term cause is the position of the
with the
It is also caused by evil smells which mix
you breathe in
The victims’ breath air and spread on the wind. When
would smell as their
the corrupted air you catch the plague.’
lungs rotted inside
them.
Victims would die SOurce D: Based on a report written
within a week. by doctors at Paris University in 1348.

‘The disease was spread by contagion. If a healthy

man visited a plague victim, he usually died himself.’

SOurce e: Written by Jean de Venette around 1348.

126 7 Health and medicine

How did people try to ‘cure’ the plague? If you pop them, they
There were all sorts of ‘cures’ suggested. It’s easy to laugh at some of them, but try to go away apparently.

Depth Study
appreciate that people were scared – not stupid – and were prepared to try anything.

I’ve been told that shaving a

My doctor told me chicken’s bottom and strapping Why not kill all the
to drink vinegar and it to the boils will do the trick. cats and dogs?
mercury.

Just kill a toad,

dry it in the sun,
hold it on your
boils and watch
the poison get
sucked out.

SOurce F: In Europe,
s large groups of people called
Wise up Word flagellants went around
whipping themselves, hoping
bubonic pneumonic that God would take pity on
them and stop the plague!

Work
1 Copy and complete the following table. c Which explanation comes closest to the real
cause of plague?
Bubonic plague Pneumonic plague
3 Design a Black Death information leaflet for 1348.
How was it caught? Remember that nobody knew what we do about the
causes of the plague, so don’t mention fleas, germs
What were the symptoms? or rats. Your leaflet should:
How long did it take to die? • warn people about the causes – add pictures to
make the message stronger
2 Look at Sources A to E. • advise people about the cures available
a Make a list of all the different explanations that • be eye-catching and informative.
people in the Middle Ages gave for the cause of
Remember that few people at the time could read.
Black Death.
How does this affect the sort of leaflet you will
b Why do you think there were so many different
create?
explanations of the cause of Black Death?

7 Health and medicine 127

 7.2 How deadly was
Black Death?
Black Death was perhaps the worst disaster
tives
of the Middle Ages. Worldwide, it killed Mission Objec
around 75 million people. In Europe, about 25 million
people died (around half of the population). In Britain, at Discover how the plague spread
least two million people died in just one year… which was throughout the world.
Image Spreadsheet
about one third of all people in the country. But where did Analyse the spread of the disease.
Black Death come from? And how did it spread?

The map on thisAudio

page shows how the plague spreadWeblink
into Europe.
Historians think that the disease probably started in Asia (possibly FAcT!
China) and was carried by infected rats and people on ships that were
transporting goods like spices and cloth into Europe. As you know, Black Death was
Video Resource Package actually two plagues (bubonic
Try to match up the medieval descriptions of the spread of Black Death and pneumonic) attacking at the
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
(Sources B to E) with the correct number on the map. same time. But did you know
that both plagues still exist
today? Thankfully, both can be
Document Zip Archive treated if medical attention is
sought quickly!

Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)

Animation
‘In January of the year 1348
,
three galleys [ships]put in at
Genoa, Italy. They had come
from the East and were horri
bly
infected with the Plague. No
one would go near the ships
,
even though they had a valua
ble
cargo of spices and other good
s.’

SOurce B: Medieval description

SOurce A: The spread of Black Death in Europe. of Black Death.

128 7 Health and medicine

 ‘Jews were burned in Strasbourg, Germany. It
was believed that they had caused the plague

Depth Study
]
by poisoning drinking water.’ ‘In this year at Melcombe [now Weymouth
Dorset, a little before the feast of St John
the Baptist [24 June], two ships came into
t
SOurce c: From the chronicle of Neuberg
the harbour. One of the sailors had brough
monastery, written at the time of Black Death. and
him, from Gascony in France, the disease,
the
through him the people of Melcombe were
first in England to be infected.’
‘The cities of Dublin an
dD
almost entirely destroyed rogheda were SOurce D: From the Grey Friars Chronicle,
an
men… There was scarce d wasted of written by monks in 1348.
ly a house in which
only one died and comm
only man, wife and
children went one way,
crossing to death.’
Image Spreadsheet
SOurce e: Friar John Clyn, 1348.

Be a Top Historian ImageAudio Weblink

Spreadsheet
Top historians can use information written by people at
the time to analyse the past. Here we’re using sources to
show where the plague spread to. Some of the sources
also give us clues about the impact of Black Death
Audio Video Resource Package
Weblink
and how people at the time blamed Jewish people for
starting the plague. Work – Assessment/Homework/Assign

1 Match up Sources B, C, D, and

E with the correct place number
Black Death disaster Video Document ZipA).
on the map Resource
(Source An atlas
Archive
Package
might help you with this.
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Black Death affected all sorts of people – rich and poor, adults and
children. No one was safe. Sometimes whole villages were wiped 2 a How do historians think the
out. In places, fields and streets were littered with bodies and plague arrived in Europe?
houses stood silent and empty. Presentation
Document b How do you
Zip think the plague
Other
Archive
got into England? (Does
– For file one
types/resources we
Within a year, Britain’s population plunged from around five million can't
of the sources help youyet envisage
with
to three million. And it kept falling as small outbreaks of plague your answer here? If so, say
hit Britain in 1361, 1368, 1371, 1373 and 1390. By 1450, there were which one.)
barely two-and-a-half million people left. Interactive
Presentation OtherLesson Player (short term plan)
3 Using–the
Formap
file and
types/resources we
sources can't
on these pages,
yet envisage
Hungry write an essay that explains how
Find out about one of the recent outbreaks of for More? Black Death spread. Remember
pneumonic or bubonic plague. Where was it? HowInteractive
Animation to plan yourLesson
work and structure
Player (short term plan)
many were infected? How were people treated? your writing into paragraphs.

Animation

7 Health and medicine 129

7.3A Who healed the sick in the
Middle Ages?
tives
It is 1350 and you feel ill. If you are poor you might ask people in Mission Objec
your village if they know of any treatments. You will probably get
a variety of answers telling you to try all sorts of strange herbs, Investigate the theories
plants and potions. Some might even make you feel a bit better. behind different treatments
But if your neighbours don’t help, you might try praying a bit in the Middle Ages.
Image Spreadsheet
harder or plan a pilgrimage to a holy place and hope that God Evaluate ways in which
might cure you. As a last resort, you might take what money you doctors diagnosed illness in
have and travel to the nearest town to see the doctor. the Middle Ages.
However, he won’t have modern drugs like antibiotics or any
antiseptic to prevent infection. He doesn’tImage Audiothat germs and
know Weblink
Spreadsheet

viruses make us ill either. In fact, he doesn’t know much about

the real causes of illness at all. So what will he do to make you
feel better?
Audio Video Resource Package
Weblink
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
Trying to work out what’s wrong He would probably examine your
blood too, look at your tongue
To find out what was wrong
and take your pulse… although he
with you, the doctor would
Video Document Zip Package
Resource
wouldn’tArchive
really know what he was
probably ask you to wee in a
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
looking for!
clear glass bottle.
He would then examine it
three times – once when it’s
fresh, again when it has been
cooling for about an hour, Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
and finally when it has gone – For file types/resources we
completely cold. He might can't yet envisage
even taste it to see if it was
sweet or sour, bitter or salty.
Interactive
Presentation Other Lesson Player (short term plan)
– For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Animation
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
He might even ask you to poo on a
tray so he could have a good look
through it… but, again, he wouldn’t
really know what he was looking for!
Animation
FAcT!
Good doctors were in short supply and could be
expensive. This left things open for ‘quacks’, people
Your doctor would then go off to look at his charts and flick who sold all sorts of potions that were supposed to
through his books. The colour of your urine would be matched cure everything. These potions were sold at fairs and
against the shades on a special diagram – they did this because by the side of roads… and usually contained nothing
they thought that every shade had a different meaning.
at all to help you to get better!

130 7 Health and medicine

Bad blood
s
Doctors often thought that your own blood was the Wise up Word
cause of illness. This was based on an old Greek idea
that a person’s humours (main liquids in the body, of apothecary barber-surgeon bloodletting
which blood was one) could be out of balance and humours leech purging trepanning
cause illness. Many doctors thought that the answer
was to make the patient bleed, so that their ‘bad’ blood
would disappear and their body would be in balance
again. This was called bloodletting and special tools
‘A doctor must know how to read so that he can
understand medical books. He must know how
and bowls were used to cut open a vein and bleed
to write and speak well so that he can explain
a patient (see Source A). Sometimes leeches were the diseases he is treating. He must have a good
used to suck the blood out too. If you were selected mind to investigate and cure the causes of disease.
for a bleeding session you would pray your doctor was Arithmetic is also
Imageimportant, so that he can be Spreadsh
skilled enough to know when to stop before you lost a great help to the sick… Lastly, he must know
too much blood! astronomy so that he can study the stars and the
seasons, because our bodies change with the planets
and stars.’
Audio Weblink

SOurce B: An early medieval writer.

‘Doctors possess three special qualifications and

these are: to beVideo
able to lie without being caught Resource
– Assessm
out; to pretend to be honest; and to cause death
without feeling guilty.’

SOurce c:Document
Written in 1380. Zip Archiv

Work
1 Look at Source A. In your own words, describe Other
Presentation
what’s going on in the picture. – For file
can't ye
SOurce A: If your doctor recommended a bloodletting 2 Read Source B.
session, you might get the job done by a barber-surgeon. He a Make a list of the skills required by a doctor in the
was usually a bit cheaper than a doctor and you could have
Middle Ages. Put them in order of how useful they Lesson Pl
Interactive
your hair cut at the same time (sharp knives, you see!). His shop
would be when trying to cure people.
would be easy to spot because it had a red and white pole
outside (red for blood, white for bandages). Some barbers still b Do you think a modern doctor needs the same
have poles like these outside their shops today. skills? Explain your answer.

‘If you would strength and fitness keep, shun care 3 Read Source C.
Animation
and anger while you sleep. All heavy food and wine a What is this person’s opinion of doctors in 1380?
give up, and noon day slumber too must stop. Walk b Can you think of any reasons why the person might
awhile each day you should, for this will only do have thought this?
you good. These rules obey and you will find, long 4 Read Source D.
life is yours and peaceful mind.’ a What four things does the writer advise people to
do to keep fit and healthy?
SOurce D: A medieval poem which proves that there b Do you think you could do anything else to keep fit
were some ideas about health and fitness long ago that still and healthy?
stand today.
7 Health and medicine 131
7.3B Who healed the sick in the
Middle Ages?
Terrifying treatments SOurce A: A doctor ‘purging’ a patient.
Some doctors might have even tried treatments
which sound terrifying today. They might have tried
purging you, which meant giving you something to
eat to make you vomit or go to the toilet a lot. The idea
was to get the ‘badness’ out of your body (see Source
A). And if you had a headache, the doctor might try
trepanning – he would drill a hole (yes, drill a hole!)
in your head to let out the evil spirits that were making
your head sore (see Source D). However, he would
make sure he consulted his Zodiac chart to check
he was operating on you when it was safe to do so
(see Source C). Source B gives some more strange
treatments from the Middle Ages.

For an ache that is found in the teeth, SOurce B:

take a whole corn of pepper and chew Medieval treatments
on them. published in a book
during the Middle
For swollen eyes, take a live crab, Ages.
poke out its eyes and put it back in the
water. Stick the eyes onto your neck
and you will be well.
For wheezing and shortness of breath,
kill a fox and take out its liver and
lungs. Chop them up and mix it with
wine. Then drink the mixture out of a
church bell.
If you are bitten by a snake, smear
ear wax on the bite, then ask the
priest to say a prayer for you. If you
accidentally drink an insect in the
water, find a sheep, cut into it and
drink the blood while it’s still hot. If
you take good long gulps, all will be
well.
For warts, hold a live toad next to the
skin and soon your skin will soften
and the warts will disappear.

SOurce c: A zodiac chart. If doctors needed to treat you, they

would use a zodiac chart to find a safe date. The chart showed a man
surrounded by figures to show which constellations (groups of stars)
were thought to ‘rule’ different parts of the body. Different parts had
to be left alone during the time when their stars were high in the sky!
132 7 Health and medicine
 – For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage

Herbal treatments
Interactive As you may Lesson Player (short
have worked term plan)
out, visiting a doctor could be a risky business
(see Source E), and many of the treatments had no real chance of working.
But doctors weren’t the only people treating the sick. Apothecaries were
specialist medicine-makers who experimented with plants and herbs –
Animation like poppy, willow leaves and garlic – to treat people. And today we know
that they must have had real success. Modern scientists recently analysed
a medieval apothecary book and concluded that over half of the herbal
remedies prescribed to ease pain and help fight infection would have
actually worked. Poppies and willow leaves, for example, contain a natural
form of painkiller, whilst garlic is known to kill bacteria.

SOurce D: A medieval
‘cure’ for a headache.
Poppy Willow leaves
Garlic
‘An Arab doctor was asked to treat a knight with a cut on his leg and
a woman with lung disease. He cleaned the knight’s leg and put a fresh FAcT!
dressing on it and changed the woman’s diet to make her feel better.
A European doctor appeared and laughed at the Arab doctor’s ideas. He Surgeons were often viewed as
told the knight that it would be better for him to live with one leg than being no better than butchers. They
not to live at all Image
and ordered that the wounded leg shouldSpreadsheet
be removed. The didn’t need to go to university but
knight died with one swing of the axe. did need to pass a test to get their
The European doctor then cut open the woman’s skull and removed her licence. They pulled teeth, lanced
brain. He rubbed the brain with salt, claiming that this would wash boils, treated burns, set broken
away the devil inside her. The woman, of course, died instantly.’ bones, and let blood. Military
Audio Weblink surgeons were experts at removing
arrowheads and repairing cuts.
SOurce e: European and Arab treatments
are described in a story written by a Muslim.

Work Video Resource Package

– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
1 Make a list of at least five different treatments used 4 Read Source E.
by medieval doctors to try and cure people. For each a Who appears to have the best understanding of
treatment, see if you can explain why a doctor might medicine – the European doctor or the Arab doctor?
have believed the treatment would work. Explain your answer.
Document Zip Archive
b European doctors’ understanding of medicine
2 a What was the difference between a barber-surgeon
improved greatly after many years of war against the
and an apothecary?
Arabs. Why do you think this might have happened?
b Which one would you rather visit if you were sick?
5 The Big Write!
3 Look at Sources A and D.
Presentation Other
a What is happening in each picture? – For fileIntypes/resources
pairs write a shortwescript for a role-play activity about
can't yet envisage
b Why is the doctor trying to cure his patients using a sick person’s visit to the doctor in the Middle Ages.
these methods? One person should act out the role of the patient, the
other the role of the doctor. Look back at this section for
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
some gruesome ideas!

7 Health and medicine 133

7.4 Was it dangerous to be
the king?
Would you like to have been a King of England during the
tives
Middle Ages? Surely it was one of the best jobs in the world – a Mission Objec
luxurious lifestyle with the best clothes, the finest homes and
Develop an opinion – do you
the tastiest food. You would have all the brightest, best and
think England’s medieval kings
most hard-working people in the land to attend to your every
need. But could a king’s great status, wealth and power
were a particularly healthy
buy him a long and happy life? Indeed, just how dangerous was bunch?
it to be King of England in the Middle Ages?

King Harold II of William I (1066–1087) William II Henry I Stephen (1135–1154)

England (1066) Killed in France when his (1087–1100) (1100–1135)
Grandson of William I,
Killed fighting bladder burst in a riding Son of William I. Younger brother nephew of Henry I.
at the Battle of accident. Died in agony. Shot and killed of William II. Spent most of his time
Hastings. by an arrow in a Spent a lot of fighting for the throne
hunting accident. time fighting. against his cousin
Some historians Died of eating Matilda (who ruled
think he may have too much. briefly in 1141).
been murdered, Died of a stomach
though! infection and internal
bleeding.

Henry VI (1422–1461 Henry V (1413–1422)

and 1470–1471) Son of Henry IV. Died
Edward IV (1461–1470 of dysentery while Henry IV (1399–1413)
Son of Henry V. Fought Cousin of Richard II.
and 1471–1483) the Wars of the fighting in France.
Great-great-grandson Henry had lots of
Roses. Went mad, illnesses during the
of Edward III. Fought lost his throne
the Wars of the Roses. last few years of his life,
twice and was possibly including
Caught a fever after murdered in the
going to bed because leprosy (a disfiguring
Tower of London. skin disease).
he’d eaten too much.

Edward V (1483) Richard III (1483–1485) Henry VII (1485–1509)

Son of Edward IV. Brother of Edward IV, Great-great-great-grandson of
Disappeared aged 12, uncle of Edward V. Killed Edward III. Ended the Wars of the
possibly suffocated or while fighting at the Roses by marrying Elizabeth of York,
died of a mystery illness. Battle of Bosworth Field, a member of the opposing family.
near Leicester. Died of tuberculosis and replaced
by his son, Henry VIII.

134 7 Health and medicine

 FAcT! Work
1 a Make notes of how many kings were killed by the following:
Historians give names to the different • battle • accident • eating too much
groups or families who ruled England • murder • old age • illness
between 1066 and 1509. This also makes it b Draw a bar chart to show your findings.
easier to remember the stories about them. c What was the biggest cause of death? Why do you think this?
2 Which cause of death surprises you the most?
KEY Plantagenet – family Explain your answer.
Harold – Anglo-Saxon name

Norman, because
Lancaster – family name 3 Write a paragraph to explain whether or not you think that
they first lived in York – family name being a medieval King of England was a dangerous job,
Normandy, France
Tudor – family name giving your reasons.
Note: The dates in the diagram are the dates of his reign,
not his life.

John (1199–1216)
Brother of Richard I. Henry III (1216–1272)
Richard I (The Spent a lot of his time Son of King John.
Henry II (1154–1189)
Lionheart) (1189–1199) fighting wars in France Thrown in prison by
Son of Matilda, and arguing with his rebel barons in 1264,
grandson of Henry I. Son of Henry II. Shot in
the neck by a crossbow barons. but regained his throne.
Spent years fighting
bolt while fighting in Died from dysentery, a Died of old age,
with his wife and sons.
France. The wound nasty form of diarrhoea. possibly a stroke.
Died from a bleeding
became infected when
stomach ulcer while
doctors tried to treat him.
fighting in France.
Died as a result of the
infection. Edward I (Hammer
of the Scots) (1272–
1307)
Edward II (1307–1327)
Son of Henry III. Died
Son of Edward I. Lost all the land of dysentery on his
in Scotland that his father had way to fight the Scots.
won. Hated by his wife Isabella,
who wanted their son (also named
Edward) to be king instead. She
eventually killed him by ordering
two men to either suffocate him…
or stick a red-hot piece of iron up
his bottom!
Richard II (1377–1399)
Grandson of Edward III. Had Hungry
no children. His cousin Henry The diagram looks at 20 kings and
(also the grandson of Edward III)
for More?
mentions one queen (remember
fought Richard II for the throne.
Edward III Matilda?). Five of the rulers were
Henry eventually beat Richard
(1327–1377) under 15 years of age when they became
and became Henry IV. Richard
was put in prison at Pontefract Son of Edward II. Ruled king. But who were they? Try to find out the names
Castle and starved to death. during the Black Death. and ages of the five youngest kings – one was only
Died aged 64 of a stroke. nine months old. He sat on his mother’s knee and
cried when he was crowned! Another king’s head was
so small that they had to use a bracelet as a crown!

7 Health and medicine 135

Assessing Your Learning 3
What were the consequences of Black Death?
As historians, you will know that events (like wars or rebellions) usually have lots
of different causes. You should also know that there are often lots of different
results of an event when it takes place. These results are sometimes called ‘effects’
or ‘consequences’. This assessment is going to look at the consequences of Black
Death, the killer disease that hit Britain in the fourteenth century. Look at the
sources carefully and answer the questions that follow.

‘Sheep and oxen wandered free through the fields and ‘At the deserted village of Wyville in Lincolnshire
among the crops, and there was nobody to drive them the land is worth little because it is poor and stony.
off… When harvest time came, higher wages were It is not being used because there are no people left
not enough to get people to gather in the crops which to farm it after the plague.’
rotted in the fields.’

SOurce A: From Knighton’s Chronicle SOurce B: From the records of

1337–1396 by Henry Knighton. Eynsham Abbey, around 1385.

‘The King sent an order to all the counties that

labourers should not be paid more than before
the plague. But the labourers were so proud and
stubborn that they would not listen to the king’s
command. If anyone wanted to employ then he had
to pay them what they wanted or lose his fruit and
crops… Then the king ordered many labourers to be
arrested and put in prison.’

SOurce D: From Knighton’s Chronicle

1337–1396 by Henry Knighton.

‘It is sad but the whole world was changed for the
worse. People were meaner and more greedy than
before, even though they had more things. They were
jealous of each other and there was an increase in
the number of fights, arguments and law cases.’

SOurce e: Written by Jean de Venette around 1348.

SOurce c: This map shows the number of

deserted medieval villages after the plague had killed
their inhabitants.

136
 Year Wages for farm work
‘As soon as masters accuse their workers of
1346 5 pence
bad work or try to pay them less they leave

Assessing Your Learning

1349 5 pence and quickly find jobs in new places at higher
1353 10 pence wages. Masters dare not upset their workers
SOurce F: A table showing the increase in wages for farm and have to give them whatever they ask for.’
workers after Black Death had passed. The workers who survived
realized that there were lots of jobs for them because there were
fewer people around to do the work. So workers began to ask for SOurce G: The introduction to a law from 1376.
more money to do the same jobs. The lords had to pay them the
extra money or risk all their crops rotting in the fields!
Over to you
Now it’s time to analyse the sources and think about what they tell us about the
effects of Black Death.

Work
1 Firstly, copy out and complete the table below, which gives some of the effects of
Black Death. Read each source again and tick the effects that it mentions.
Effect Some villages There was a People wanted People became
were deserted shortage of higher wages mean and greedy
Source workers
A
B
C

2 The king has asked you to write him a brief report (no more than 200 words) on the
consequences of Black Death. Use the sources on these pages to help you.

Assessing your work

In a good • identify some of the effects mentioned in the sources
Good report, you • select information from some sources to help write your report to the king
would… • organize your ideas to produce structured work, using the correct historical terms.
In a better • identify at least one of the four main effects from each of the sources
report, you • select information (including quotations) from the sources and use it correctly when
Better would… writing the report
• organize your ideas to produce structured work, using the proper historical terms and dates.
In the best • identify each of the effects mentioned in the sources and categorize them correctly
report, you (remembering that some of the sources mention several effects)
would… • explain the effects of Black Death in an accurate and detailed way, perhaps saying why some
Best effects are more important than others, or will have long-term consequences
• select, organize and use relevant information and use the correct historical terms to produce
structured work.

Hungry
Plague has hit Britain many times since the in 1665. Find out about another outbreak of
outbreak in the 1300s. Most famously, plague plague. When was it? Where were outbreaks
for More?
swept through London and other parts of Britain recorded? How many died?

137
8.1 Keeping law and order
The topic of crime and punishment is big news in today’s world.
tives
The latest crime figures and the big murder trials are often on our Mission Objec
television screens, the radio, and in our newspapers. Special TV
Recall how towns and villages
programmes are dedicated to catching criminals or showing us
tried to keep law and order in
how the criminal justice system works. We know that the police
the Middle Ages.
investigate crime and try to catch lawbreakers. Then the courts
decide if a person is guilty or not and, if they are found guilty, Compare medieval types of
decide on a punishment. This could be a fine or even prison. punishment with modern
But what was it like in the Middle Ages? How were criminals methods.
caught? And how were people punished?

Keeping the peace

There were no policemen in the Middle Ages. If towns
and villages wanted to keep law and order they had to
do it themselves. If you ever saw someone committing
a crime you had to raise the hue and cry. This meant
that you had to shout loudly and people would come
to help you track down or catch the criminal.
In some areas, all men and women over the age of
twelve were put into groups of ten. These tithings,
as they were known, were responsible for each other’s
behaviour. If a member of the tithing broke the law
the others had to take him or her to court and pay
their fines.
Some places set up a watch – a group of people who
patrolled the streets each night – and a constable
was chosen to coordinate them. But these weren’t
particularly popular jobs. People didn’t get paid for ‘The township of Stansfield did not raise the hue and
a start… and you lost a lot of sleep whilst walking cry on the thieves that burgled the house of Amery of
around the streets all night. As a result, constables and Hertelay, nor ever found or prosecuted them. They are to
watchmen didn’t always do their jobs properly – if they be fined 40 shillings.’
did, they might be chosen again.
SOURCE A: From Wakefield
Because there was no police force, criminals must Manor court records, October 1315.
have got away with very serious crimes as they were
rarely caught. So sometimes even the king himself
FACT!
got involved in investigations. In 1129, for example, Prison wasn’t really a punishment in the Middle
King Henry I fined four whole villages for not finding a Ages because there weren’t any prisons as we know
murderer quickly enough. them today. Some towns had a cell where captured
criminals were kept until they were punished, but big
prisons with hundreds of inmates didn’t exist.

138 8 Could you get justice in the Middle Ages?

Punishment fits the crime s
When a criminal was caught, they would usually be taken to
Wise Up Word
the local lord’s manor house. The lord would then decide on a constable hue and cry pillory
punishment, which would usually be a fine. Sometimes, the lord stocks tithing watch
would try to make the punishment fit the crime. So a person
who sold bad wine might be forced to drink some while the rest
was poured over their head. A baker who sold stale bread might Nicholas Hopwood for hitting Magota,
be dragged through the streets with mouldy bread tied around daughter of Henry – fined 2d.
their neck while people threw rotten food at him. Sometimes
thieves had fingers cut off and people who told lies about their Margaret Webb for breach of peace –
neighbours had their tongues cut out (see Sources B and C.) fined 2d.

While criminals could sit down in the stocks, prisoners had

Amos Walter for theft of his lord’s pigs.
to stand up in the pillory. Sometimes a prisoner’s ears were
Also carrying a bow and arrow in his
nailed to the wood or a large stone was hung around their
lord’s wood – two fingers on right hand
neck; naughty children might be taken to a finger pillory, which
struck off; fined 2d for bow and arrow.
trapped just the fingertips!
SOURCE B: The records of Rochdale
Court, from November 1335, describe crimes and
the related punishments. ‘d’ was a medieval way
of writing ‘p’ for ‘pence’. Two pence was a lot of
money in the Middle Ages!
SOURCE C: Medieval punishments were often
carried out in the middle of town to make other people
think twice about commiting crimes themselves.

Two drunks in the pillory

A man found guilty of assault
A man who sold bad bread

Work
1 Match each word or phrase from List A with the correct 2 What is meant by the phrase ‘the punishment fitted the
definition from List B. crime’? Give an example to go you’re your answer
List A List B 3 Explain the difference between the stocks and the
Tithing A loud noise to make people chase a pillory. Which one do you think a criminal would like
criminal least?
Hue and cry A group of ten people who are
responsible for each othe 4 Look at Source B.
Stocks An official who looked after law and order a What crimes has Amos Walter committed?
Constable A group who watched over a town b Why do you think Amos was punished in this way?
Watch A wooden frame used to hold prisoners

8 Could you get justice in the Middle Ages? 139

8.2 Trial and punishment
tives
Mission Objec
In medieval times, most minor crimes were dealt with by the
local lord. So, for example, a villager who let his pigs wander into Investigate the medieval
another person’s crops might be fined. But sometimes crimes were trial system.
so serious that they were dealt with by one of the king’s special Judge the effectiveness of
courts – crimes such as murder, violent assault or major theft. Image ‘trial by ordeal’.
Spreadsheet

These courts were known as Shire Courts or Royal Courts.

Serious stuff ImageAudio

Trial by ordeal Weblink
Spreadsheet
A judge, appointed by the king, would travel to each county Sometimes judges couldn’t make up their
(perhaps twice a year) to deal with serious crimes. Working with minds about whether a person was guilty or
advisors, the judge would look through the evidence, listen to not, so they would order a trial by ordeal
witnesses, and come to a decision. If a judge thought a person as a way of letting God decide someone’s
was guilty, he could punish them any way he chose… and some AudioVideo felt,Resource
Weblink
guilt. Trial by ordeal, the judge was a Package
– Assessment/Hom
of the punishments were brutal! Source A shows you the type of good way for God to help the innocent and
punishment a guilty person could expect for serious crimes. punish the guilty. The most common trials
by ordeal were fire, water and combat.
Serious assault, forgery, repeated stealing VideoDocument Zip Archive
Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework
Ordeal by fire
Step 1 The accused carries a red-hot iron bar for
three steps, or takes a stone from the bottom of a
pot of boiling water.
Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
Step 2 The prisoner’s hand is bandaged, and he file types/res
– For
whipping fingers, hands, ears cut off returns to court three days later. can't yet envisag
Verdict If the wound has healed, God must think the
Murder, very serious assault, stealing anything prisoner is worth helping because he is innocent. If
worth a lot of money the wound is infected, God must think the prisoner
Interactive
Presentation OtherLesson Player (shor
is not worth helping and so he must be guilty. He
– For file types/resource
must be punished by being put to death.
can't yet envisage
Men usually
hanged (richer Women usually
people often burned
had their Animation
Interactive Lesson Player (short term
heads cut off )

Treason (a crime against the king or country)

Animation

Drawing (pulling out quartering (cut into

Hanging a criminal’s insides) pieces)

SOURCE A: Serious crimes were dealt with brutally.

140 8 Could you get justice in the Middle Ages?

 Ordeal by water Ordeal by combat
Step 1 The accused is tied This was a trial for rich people. The accuser would fight the accused.
up. It was possible to get someone called a champion to fight for you.
Step 2 He is thrown into a Some people did this for a living, earning huge amounts of money
lake or river. fighting on behalf of different lords.
Verdict Water is pure, just Step 1 Both sides should select their weapons. These would be made
like God. If the prisoner from wood and bone.
floats, the water doesn’t Step 2 The accuser and the accused (or their champions) must fight
want him, nor does God. If for as long as possible, starting at sunrise.
God has rejected him, he Verdict People believed God would give the person telling the truth
must be guilty, and must be extra strength. The first person to surrender was thought to be guilty
put to death. If the prisoner and therefore must be
sinks and drowns, God punished by being put
must want him in heaven. to death.
He must be innocent.

Trial by jury
Thankfully, trial by ordeal didn’t last long. It was
used less and less in the thirteenth century, when
Church leaders objected to it. Instead they were
gradually replaced by a system still used today –
trial by jury. The jury was a group of 12 local men
who had the job of saying whether the person was
telling the truth or not. The judge then decided if
the person was guilty. In later years, the jury would
decide on a guilty or innocent verdict – something
that still survives in today’s crown courts.
FACT!
As you can see, God featured heavily in the criminal
justice system. In fact, if you could read a verse from
s
Wise Up Word the Bible you were allowed to go on trial in a church
court (usually reserved for naughty priests) and these
jury trial by ordeal often ordered lighter punishments than other courts

Work
1 Write down what sort of punishments these people c Why do you think punishments at the time were so
might have received: tough?
a A woman who made fake coins d What was ‘trial by jury’? Do you think this was fairer
b A rich male murderer than ‘trial by ordeal’? Explain your view.
c Someone who tried to kill the king
3 Imagine you work for one of the king’s judges
d A man who kept stealing vegetables from his
and you are about to visit a town for a series
neighbour
of trials.
e A poor female murderer
EITHER: write a short speech
2 a Why do you think many people in the Middle Ages
OR: design an information leaflet
believed that ordeals were a good way to find out if
explaining how the judge will try to find out whether a
someone was guilty or not?
person is guilty or not.
b Do you think ordeals were a good way of finding out
whether someone was guilty or not?

8 Could you get justice in the Middle Ages? 141

9.1 England and its
neighbours: Wales
Do you know anyone who has argued with their neighbours?
tives
Do you know why they quarrelled? Was it about house or garden Mission Objec
boundaries? Or perhaps they just didn’t get on with each other?
The country of England has two next-door neighbours with whom Identify how and why England
it shares a border – Wales and Scotland – and Ireland is not very tried to conquer Wales.
far away by sea, either. Not surprisingly, they haven’t always got Judge how successful these
on with each other. In fact, in the Middle Ages, English kings tried attempts were.
to take over and control their neighbours. But why? How did they
try to do it? And how successful were they?

England versus Wales SOURCE A: This

In 1066, William the Conqueror won map shows how English
the Battle of Hastings and became King barons took over large
of England. At this time, Wales was areas of Wales.
a completely separate country from
England. It had its own laws, customs
and language. Wales didn’t have a king,
but instead each region or area was
controlled by a chief or prince.
King William of England wasn’t very
interested in conquering Wales, but he
did worry about the Welsh attacking
England! So he gave some of his most
trusted barons land along the Welsh
border and told them to make England
safe from attack. So the barons built
castles to stop the Welsh getting into
England. As time went on, some of the
English barons attacked the Welsh and
took some of their land. By 1247, the
English had captured most of Wales,
except for a mountainous area in the
north (see Source A).

142 9 England at war

The Welsh fight back
From 1247 onwards, the Welsh began to fight back more fiercely
against the English and take back some of their land. The Welsh
were led by a man called Llywelyn, who called himself ‘Prince of
Wales’ (see Source B).
SOURCE B:
A new English king Llywelyn, pictured here,
In 1272, Edward I became king of was known by some as
England – and he didn’t like the ‘Llywelyn the Great’.
growing power of Llywelyn and the
Welsh. So the English king told Llywelyn
that he must promise to be loyal to him
and accept him as his ruler. Llywelyn
refused so Edward attacked Wales and
took back lots of land.
Edward wins
Llywelyn survived Edward’s attack on
Wales and soon rebelled again. Once
more Edward’s army invaded Wales, but
this time Llywelyn was killed. His head
was stuck on a pole outside the Tower
of London.
Edward’s ‘Iron Ring’
Edward wanted to make sure that the
Welsh didn’t rebel again. So he built lots
of large, stone castles throughout Wales
to keep them under control. These
castles, and the towns near to them,
were filled with Englishmen, and were
known as the ‘Iron Ring’. By 1274, Wales
was officially under English rule... and it SOURCE C: The set of
is still part of Britain today. huge, new castles Edward
built in the north of Wales was
Prince of Wales known as the ‘Ring of Iron’.
King Edward introduced a new
tradition too. In 1301 he gave his son Work
the title ‘Prince of Wales’ so that no 1 In what way is each of these dates important in the
Welshman could claim the title for history of England versus Wales’?
himself. Ever since, the eldest son of a • 1066 • 1247 • 1272 • 1277 • 1284 • 1301
British king or queen is given this title.
2 a What was Edward I’s ‘Ring of Iron’?
b Why do you think Edward chose to build his
Hungry
One of Wales’s most famous castles is strongest castles in the north of Wales?
for More?
Beaumaris in Anglesey (see Source 3 Can you think of reasons why Edward’s decision to
C). However, Beaumaris was never make his young son ‘Prince of Wales’ might be:
finished! Find out about the construction of a hated by the Welsh?
the castle… and why it wasn’t completed. b liked by the Welsh?

9 England at war 143

9.2 England and its
neighbours: Scotland
In the early Middle Ages, tives
Scotland was ruled by its own Mission Objec
kings and was a separate Identify how and why England tried to conquer Scotland.
country from England… but all
Judge how successful these attempts were.
that changed in 1286!

The king dies A new leader

In 1286 Scotland’s king, Alexander III, died in a riding In 1306, the Scots found a new leader in Robert the
accident. He had no clear heir to take his place. Bruce. Edward once again marched north to invade
Thirteen Scotsmen all wanted to be king, so the Scots Scotland, but he died on the journey. He was 68 years
asked the King of England (Edward I) to choose for old and left clear instructions as to what he wanted
them. In 1292, Edward picked a man named John written on his grave. His tomb in Westminster Abbey
Balliol, a distant relative of a past king of Scotland, to in London reads, ‘Here is Edward I, the Hammer of the
be king. However, Edward forced Balliol to make a Scots: keep my faith’.
promise. Balliol was allowed to be king, but he was told
King Edward’s son was also called Edward. He
he had to obey Edward at all times. Balliol agreed… but
was crowned King Edward II in 1307. He wasn’t a
changed his mind once he was crowned – he wanted
particularly good soldier and Robert the Bruce took
complete control of Scotland!
full advantage of this. In June 1314, Edward II sent a
Scotland is attacked huge army of around 25,000 men to Scotland to fight
Edward was furious that Balliol refused to obey him, Robert and his army of 7000. At Bannockburn the Scots
so he decided to teach him a lesson. In 1296, Edward defeated the English in just two days.
gathered a massive army in Newcastle, in the north
Robert the Bruce remained King of Scotland whilst
of England, and marched into Scotland. The Scottish
Edward II and his battered and bruised army returned
warriors were beaten and Balliol was thrown into
to England. Scotland remained a separate country, not
prison. Like Wales, Scotland was now controlled by the
tied to England at all, for the next 300 years.
King of England (see Sources B and C).
Scottish rebellion
However, when Edward returned to England the Scots FACT!
rose up in rebellion. Their new leader was William
You will notice a lot of King Edwards and Richards
Wallace and they defeated the English in a famous
and Henrys during your studies this year. Similar to
battle at Stirling Bridge in 1297. Wallace skinned one of today, people in the Middle Ages liked to name their
the men he killed and turned his skin into a sword belt. children after relatives, and often, after themselves.
Edward returned to Scotland the following year and So, King Edward named his son Edward, who
defeated the Scots at the Battle of Falkirk. Wallace was became King Edward II after his father died… and
captured in 1305 and suffered the terrible fate of death who named his son Edward too!
by hanging, drawing and quartering. His head was put
on a spike on London Bridge. An arm and a leg were
each sent to Perth, Stirling, Newcastle and Berwick.

144 9 England at war

 s
Wise Up Word
rebellion

‘John Balliol, the King of Scotland, promised to

obey me. Then he and some of his nobles Spreadsheet
Image began a plot
against me. English ships that were in Scottish ports
were burned, and the sailors were killed. An army of
Scots invaded England. They burned villages, mon-
asteries and churches. In one place, they set fire to a
Audio
school with the children still in it. I couldWeblink
stand it no
more. So I declared war and invaded Scotland.’

SOURCE C: Part of a letter from EdwardResource

Video
I to Package
the Pope in 1301, explaining his actions. – Assessment/Homewo

Hungry
Mel Gibson played William Wallace in for More?
the film Braveheart. Some historians
Document Zip Archive
SOURCE A: Edward I named himself criticized the film because they said it
‘the Hammer of the Scots’.
wasn’t true to life. Try to find out what parts of
the story were changed and what was added.
‘You seized my castles and land without any excuse. Presentation Other
You robbed me and my subjects. You took Scotsmen – For file types/resourc
off to England to be prisoners in your castles. Things can't yet envisage
just go from bad to worse. Now you have crossed
the border with a great army and have started
killing and burning.’ Interactive Lesson Player (short ter

SOURCE B: Part of a letter from John Balliol

to Edward I in 1296.
Animation

FACT!
In 1296, Edward stole the ‘Stone of Destiny’, an
ancient rectangular block of stone on which Scottish Work
kings sat when they were crowned. The stone was
1 a Look at Source B. What can we learn about how
taken to London and made part of a specially built
Edward treated the Scottish from this source?
throne on which English kings and queens were
b Look at Source C. What does this source tell us
then crowned. In 1996, the stone was returned to
about Edward’s reasons for invading Scotland?
Scotland. However, it will be returned to London
every time a new British monarch is crowned. 2 Create a timeline covering 150 years, from 1200 to
1350. On your timeline, add the key events (with
a short explanation) in the relationship between
England and Scotland at this time.

9 England at war 145

9.3 England and its
neighbours: Ireland
During the Middle Ages, England fought many wars tives
against its neighbours – the Welsh, the Scots, and the Mission Objec
French – in an attempt to conquer their countries. Analyse how the English tried to
Sometimes the wars were successful and England control Ireland.
took over large parts of these countries for a long
time. Sometimes, however, the English were beaten
Assess why medieval kings failed to
and driven out. But what about Ireland? Did English conquer Ireland.
kings try to control Ireland too?

Medieval Ireland English control weakens

At the beginning of the Middle Ages, Ireland was But English kings didn’t really have true control over
divided up into several small kingdoms. There was no Ireland. It was too far away, and the Irish often attacked
single ruler and rival Irish kings or chiefs fought each the English settlements in Ireland. King John built
other for control of the different areas. It had been castles there to try to protect the English settlers and
like this for centuries. Sometimes the Vikings invaded control the Irish… but this didn’t work particularly well
Ireland – some Vikings even managed to settle in either (see Source D).
Ireland and set up small villages.
The English kings Edward II and Richard II made
The English kings get involved attempts to conquer Ireland, but with little success. By
Some of the early Norman kings (like William the the end of the Middle Ages, English power in Ireland
Conqueror and Henry I) showed no interest in had shrunk to a small area around Dublin. This was
conquering Ireland. The Irish Sea was rough and called ‘the Pale’ and had to be defended with castles,
difficult for boats to cross. In addition, Ireland wasn’t high walls and ditches. Some English settlers married
a particularly rich country so the English felt they into Irish families, took Irish names and adopted Irish
wouldn’t gain much from taking it over. ways. Scottish settlers moved into the northern part of
But in 1166, the Irish leader of an area called Leinster Ireland too.
asked King Henry II of England for help. His name was
Dermot MacMurrough and he was busy fighting the FACT!
leader of another Irish kingdom. Henry sent English
barons to help… but they just took Irish land for The area of Ireland called ‘the Pale’ was heavily
themselves, and within a few years, English barons fortified. ‘Beyond the Pale’ is a saying that is still used
controlled more land in Ireland than the Irish! Henry II today to describe something that is completely
even visited Ireland and declared himself its ‘overlord’. uncivilized or uncontrollable.
Eventually, the Irish kings accepted Henry’s rule and
agreed to obey him (see Source B).

What Happened When? 1492

The English struggles in Ireland are an early example
of the English trying to explore and increase the
number of places they control and trade with. This
really kicked off in 1492, when Christopher Columbus
discovered the ‘New World’ of America.

146 9 England at war

 ‘The Irish have become wicked thr
ough mixing
with the English. Different from
us in language
and customs, all hope of staying pea
ceful with
them is out of the question.’

SOURCE C: The Irish chiefs and kings

sent a letter to the Pope in 1317, explaining why
they couldn’t get on with the English settlers.

SOURCE A: This map shows

the main Irish ‘kingdoms’ – Ulster,
Connaught, Leinster and Munster.

g Henry
‘When the Irish understood that Kin
to bring
only meant peace and that he wished
to discuss
law and order to Ireland, they met him
peace
peace. Since they had trouble keeping
er over to
amongst themselves, they handed pow SOURCE D: King John’s castle in
ce.’
Henry II so that they should have pea Limerick, Ireland, was built around 1200.

SOURCE B: This account was

written by an English monk in 1172.
Work
1 Look at Source B.
a According to this source, why did King Henry II go
Be a Top Historian to Ireland?
b Why did the Irish kings accept him?
Top historians don’t just study their own
2 Compare Sources B and C.
country. It’s important to study the relationships
a How had the Irish attitude to the English changed?
between countries and how these have changed
b Can you suggest reasons why this change in
over time.
attitude happened?

9 England at war 147

9.4A Why do we give the
‘V sign’ as an insult?
Most people know what the ‘V sign’ is! It is usually
Image Spreadsheet
tives
when a person puts two fingers up at someone in Mission Objec
order to insult them. Believe it or not, people have
Identify the causes of the Hundred
been sticking up two fingers as an insult for around
700 years. Legend has it that it all started during
Years War.
ImageAudiothe Weblink
Spreadsheet
Hundred Years War – a long series of battles between Summarize the key events of the
England and France that began in 1337. So how did Hundred Years War.
the fighting start? Did the fighting last for exactly Discover how one of Britain’s best-
one hundred years? Which country finally came out known insults reputedly
AudioVideo Resourcehas
Weblink its origins
Package
on top? And how is the V sign insult linked to it all? in the Hundred Years War.
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment

Reasons for war VideoDocument Zip Archive

Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
In 1337, the King of England was Edward III. He was 24 years old and
determined to be a stronger ruler than his father, Edward II. The young king
enjoyed fighting and viewed a war with France as a way of achieving glory
on the battlefield. But there were other reasons why war broke out too:
Presentation
Document Other
Zip Archive
– For file types/resources we
• England controlled large areas can't yet envisage
of France (see Source A). One of
these areas was where a lot of
wine was made. When the wine Interactive
Presentation OtherLesson Player (short term plan)
– For file types/resources we
was brought over to England it can't yet envisage
was taxed, and King Edward made
lots of money from this. However,
the French threatened to take Animation
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
over this wine-producing area.
• England sold lots of wool
abroad. Areas near France (for
example, Flanders – see Source Animation
A) turned this wool into cloth.
Both the English and the people
in places like Flanders made lots
of money doing this. But the
French threatened to take over
these areas. If the wool trade was
stopped it would make England
poorer… and people wouldn’t be
able to afford to pay King Edward
as much tax.
SOURCE A: England held a lot of land in
France at the start of the war, and England traded
wool and wine with France and other areas.
148 9 England at war
There were other reasons why war broke out too:
• Edward III was closely linked to France. His grandfather had been King of
FACT!
France and his mother was the daughter of a French king. He thought Every English king between
he had a better claim to the throne of France than the actual French 1199 and 1461 married a French
king at the time, Philip VI. princess or noblewoman.
• Edward was trying to conquer Scotland at the same time. The French
promised to help the Scots, which made Edward furious!

Fighting the French

In 1337, England and France started
fighting. There were battles at
sea, but most of the fighting was
done on French land. None of the
fighting happened in England. The
Hundred Years War features one
of the most legendary victories
in military history, where 10,000
English soldiers beat around
40,000 Frenchmen at the Battle of
Agincourt. The war lasted, off and
on, until 1453 – a total of 116 years.
However, historians chose to call
it ‘the Hundred Years War’, which
sounds a bit better than ‘the One
Hundred and Sixteen Years War’!

SOURCE B: This picture shows Henry V leading

the English to victory at the Battle of Agincourt.

Work
Be a Top 1 a Create a spider diagram that shows each of the causes of the Hundred
Historian Years War.
Top historians try to judge b Number the causes on your spider diagram in order of importance – the
whether they think some cause you think was the most significant should be number 1, and so on.
causes of an event are more c Compare your order of causes with a partner’s order. Do you agree or
important (or significant) disagree? Explain your reasoning to each other.
than others. Sometimes they 2 Imagine you’ve been asked to write a short article for a new website
try to put them in order of on the Hundred Years War. The paragraph is entitled, ‘What caused
importance (or significance). the Hundred Years War and your editor has allowed you 150 words for your
(See Work activity 1b.) paragraph. Hand write or type up your article.

9 England at war 149

9.4B Why do we give the ‘V sign’
as an insult? 1356
English victories continue at the Battle
of Poitiers, led by Edward’s son, the
Roller coaster ride Black Prince. Philip VI was captured
Like most wars, the Hundred Years War was a and held to ransom for £500,000.
bit of a roller coaster with its ups and downs. That’s five times more than Edward
1347 normally earned in a year!
First one side did well and was on the up, and Edward makes it a hat-trick
then the other side did well, and so on. Read of victories by capturing the
the roller coaster story of the war carefully. French port of Calais. This is
the closest port to England
and was to remain in English
hands for over 200 years. 1356
1346
Edward enjoys another clear
victory on land. At the Battle
of Crécy, his 12,000 archers
1340 and 2400 knights smash
England wins the Battle 12,000 French knights, 6000

47

13
13
of Sluys. The English crossbowmen and 20,000

70
surprise the French ships militiamen. The English
while they are anchored. archers prove that they are far
Although the battle takes superior to the crossbowmen.
place at sea, it is fought by
soldiers jumping from ship
to ship fighting as if they
are on land. The French
defeat means England
46
13

controls the Channel

and can invade France
whenever it feels like it.

40
13

Winning battles… but losing the war

Despite famous victories at Sluys, Crécy, Poitiers, and
Agincourt, the English armies were never strong enough
to defeat the French once and for all. By 1453, the French
had pushed the English out of France almost completely.
All England had left was the port of Calais.

150 9 England at war

The ‘V sign’ So, if an English archer was captured, the French would
Now back to the question of why the V sign is used cut off the first two fingers of his hand. Can you think
as an insult. The answer lies in the fact that the why? And in response to this, some English archers,
English archers, who shot their arrows so brilliantly, when they saw a captured Frenchman, would run
were greatly feared by the French. A good English up to him and stick up their two fingers to show that
archer could fire ten arrows a minute and kill a man they were still a threat! Over time this gesture became
up to 200 metres away. At the Battle of Crécy, King known as an insult.
Edward’s archers shot 72,000 arrows in 90 seconds,
killing thousands.
Be a Top Historian
Top historians can spot what are known as
1370 ‘turning points’ in history. These are key events
The French start to fight back and, that changed things completely. Can you spot any
when the Black Prince falls ill, they key turning points in the Hundred Years War?
win back some of their land.

1422
Disaster! Henry V dies before becoming king of both
England and France! His son is only nine months old
and the French strike back under the leadership of a
1415 17-year-old peasant girl called Joan of Arc. (Find out
more about her on pages 152 and 153.)

1377

1415 1453
14
22

The new English king, Henry V, The French regain all their
decides to renew the English land except for the tiny area
claim to the French throne. around Calais.
1377 He invades France and wins a
The Black Prince dies in famous victory at Agincourt.
1376 and his father dies the The French king lets Henry
following year. marry his daughter, and agrees
that Henry should be the next 14
The French take advantage 53
of the lack of English leaders King of France when he dies.
and use cannons to recapture
English castles in France.

Work
1 a How many years did the Hundred Years War last? idea to a Hollywood film studio to get the money you
b Why do you think it got its nickname? need to make the film. You will have a short amount
of time (one to two minutes) to explain to a group of
2 What are the origins of the ‘V sign’ insult? Explain your
Hollywood businesspeople why the Hundred Years War
answer.
would be a good subject for a film and why people
3 The Big Write! should be told about it. Plan and write your pitch. You
might want to storyboard the film too… and decide
You are part of a group that is going to make the story
who plays who!
of the Hundred Years War into a film. You must ‘pitch’ the

9 England at war 151

9.5 Joan of Arc – the teenage
girl who led an army
tives
In the 1420s, during the Hundred Years War, England Mission Objec
was on the verge of conquering the whole of France.
But that all changed when a 16-year-old peasant Recall who Joan of Arc was and how
girl went to see the French king and persuaded him she affected the outcome of the
to let her lead one of his armies! So what on earth Hundred Years War.
made the French put a young girl in charge of an Examine why she is still a national
army? What made her such a good leader? And what hero in France today.
happened to the greatest heroine in French history?

1 Joan was born in Domrémy around 1412.

At the age of 12, she claimed that Saint
Catherine, Saint Margaret and Saint Michael
‘visited’ her and told her to attend church
regularly.

3 Joan saw the desperate French king, who

2 In 1428, with France on the verge of had been praying for a miracle. She told him
defeat, Joan claimed that the saints that she knew he had asked God to save the
visited her again and told her to go French people from suffering. The king was
to the king and tell him to let her amazed! He hadn’t told anybody about his
drive the English from France. prayers – she must have spoken to God!

4 Joan was questioned about her visions by a 6 Joan led an attack on

panel of holy men for three weeks. They told the English. Despite
the king that she must be telling the truth being injured, she
and to put her in charge of one of his armies! inspired the French
to victory! Soon, the
English armies were
being pushed back
by the French. Never
again would the
English control so
much of France.

5 Joan believed it was God’s wish for her to go to Orléans,

which was being attacked by the English. She wore a
suit of armour and immediately made the soldiers go to
church, give up swearing and stop stealing. People said
she was sent by God and men flocked to fight for her.

152 9 England at war

7 Joan continued to lead the French to victory 9 Joan was put on trial by the Church for being a witch but
in other battles. When the new French there was not enough evidence. In the end, they found her
king was crowned, Joan stood next to him, guilty of dressing as a man, which was against church law,
carrying her banner. she was burned at the stake!

Image Spreadsheet

Audio Weblink

8 Joan continued to fight for France but

was betrayed. She was captured at the
town of Compiègne and sold to the
Video Resource
English. The Package
French were devastated; the
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
English were overjoyed!

Joan of Arc’s revenge!

Document Zip Soon
Archive
after Joan’s execution, people on both sides
started to believe it was a mistake. Even while Joan
was burning, an English onlooker is said to have cried
out, ‘We are lost, for we have burned a saint.’ The King
Presentation of England’s own secretary hurried back from the
Other
– For file types/resources
execution weare all ruined, for a good and
and said, ‘We
can't yet envisage
holy person was burned.’ By 1453, England had lost all
of its land in France apart from a tiny area around Calais.
Interactive Lesson Player (short term plan)
Work
1 Describe ways in which Joan of Arc was different
from the kind of people who usually led armies in the
Animation Middle Ages.
2 Why do you think so many people followed Joan into
battle?
3 Why do you think that Joan of Arc is such a heroine in
SOURCE A: This statue of Joan of Arc is in
France today?
the centre of Paris. She is still greatly admired
by French people today. 4 You have been asked to contribute to a
children’s history book called Who’s Who in
FACT! French History. You are to write the entry for Joan of
Arc but have been told there’s only enough room for
Twenty-five years after her death, the Church said that five sentences! Write the five sentences for inclusion
Joan of Arc should never have been killed and that she in the book.
was not a witch. In 1920 she was made a saint after
French soldiers in World War One reported miracles
after praying to her.

9 England at war 153

9.6 Choose your weapons!
tives
Mission Objec
Medieval warfare was a horrific experience. Archers and Identify different weapons
crossbowmen could stand 150–250 metres away from their that were used in medieval
enemy and fire arrows or crossbow bolts with savage accuracy. warfare.
But sometimes soldiers would have to get close to each other
and fight hand-to-hand. As a result, you’d be close enough to the Judge which weapons were
man you were fighting to smell the fear on his breath. You would the most effective and
feel your weapon slice through his flesh and crunch through his explain why.
bones. At any moment, you could lose an arm or a
leg or be stabbed straight through the chest and
left to die an agonizing death on the battlefield.
Improvements and changes in technology saw
a variety of weapons used in the Middle Ages.
Study these pages – and choose
F
your weapons!

A English longbow E
One of the deadliest weapons on the
battlefield, the longbow could be fired from
over 200 metres away. It was around six
feet long and made from wood with a linen
string. Several English kings introduced laws
that made it compulsory for men to practise
archery.

B Crossbow
Crossbows were mini wooden catapults
used to fire bolts through armour at a range A C
of over 100 metres. They were easier to use
than longbows, but couldn’t fire as far.

C Mace D
In around 1300, the mace started to be used
more often. This was a heavy metal club
with short, thick blades – or flanges. It was I
brought crashing down onto opponents,
shattering bones and crushing skulls

D Caltrop
These iron spikes were thrown on the
ground and stabbed through the feet of
charging horses and men.

154 9 England at war

 VideoDocument
E Pike H Gunpowder
One of the most basic weapons on the battlefield, pikes (long sticks Gunpowder was used in China way back in the ninth century ad, but
tipped with steel) were perfect for footsoldiers facing knights on it wasn’t until the fourteenth century that it was used as a weapon
horseback. Charging knights would be brought to the ground by large in Europe! At first, cannons were used to fire large metal balls at an
groups of pike-wielding men who stabbed the horses. enemy – but they weren’t very accurate. Things did improve, though,
Document
and handguns started to appear on the battlefield Presentation
by the fifteenth
F Battleaxe century. Although useful for scaring horses, guns and cannon didn’t
Battleaxes were devastating weapons that could slice a man in half become really effective until the very end of the Middle Ages.
with a single blow. A lot of space was needed to swing them, though,
and they had to be held in both hands. I Swords and daggers
At the beginning of the Middle Ages, swords were large chopping
Interactive
Presentation
G Flail weapons with a razor-sharp double-edged blade. As armour became
Flails appeared in around 1500. Because of the chain they could be stronger, shorter swords with extremely sharp points became more
swung much faster and with much greater force than a mace. They were popular. Many men also chose to take a small dagger with them into
often used to stick into armour and drag knights from their horses. battle. It came in useful when things got up close and personal and
was often used to finish opponents off! Interactive
Animation

G
Animation

H
Work
1 Explain which two weapons
you would choose if you were
fighting a knight on horseback.
2 Why do you think guns weren’t
used more often on the
medieval battlefield?
3 EITHER: Draw a medieval
knight or footsoldier carrying
the weapons you would choose
to take onto the battlefield (a
maximum of three). Label your
picture, clearly showing the
names of the weapons and
explaining why you have
chosen them.
I OR: Imagine you own a
medieval weapons shop.
Design a website (on paper) that
describes the weapons you sell
and why they would be useful in
battle. Look at the website
homepage on page 56 for an
example of how a website could
be structured.

9 England at war 155

9.7A What were the Wars of
the Roses?
Families can be very complicated. They can be very large tives
and full of people of different ages and personalities. Mission Objec
Sometimes certain people in the family don’t get on with
each other – and there are often step-parents and half- Recall why England went to war
brothers and sisters to deal with too! Also, families usually with itself in the fifteenth century.
have different ‘sides’ to them. There’s often a ‘mother’s side’ Discover why England came to be
and a ‘father’s side’, which have different surnames. And ruled by Henry Tudor.
sometimes one side might fall out with the other side.

A right royal row An opportunity for the Yorks

Don’t think for a minute that royal families are any During one of Henry’s bouts of insanity, a distant
different to ordinary families when it comes to falling relative from the other side of the family (the Yorks)
out with each other. Throughout history, kings have was chosen to be England’s ‘Protector’ in Henry’s
argued (and even fought) with brothers, half-brothers, place. His name was Richard, Duke of York, and he
cousins, wives, and sons. Edward II, for example, was ruled England until Henry recovered.
murdered on the orders of his own wife so that their
When Henry was well again, Richard lost his power…
son could be king. And Richard II was put in prison and
but he wanted it back! So, he gathered an army to
starved to death by his cousin. The cousin then became
fight King Henry. Henry was beaten and Richard
King Henry IV!
became ‘Protector’ again. Henry was forced into
Lancasters and Yorks hiding but his wife, Margaret, gathered her own army
In the early 1400s, members of England’s royal family and beat the Yorks. Richard was killed and Henry was
began arguing amongst themselves over who should now in control again.
be king. The argument involved two different sides of
However, Richard’s son, Edward, was devastated by
the same family – the York side and the Lancaster side.
his father’s death and swore revenge. And so began
Both sides of the family were directly related to King
a series of violent and bloody battles between two
Edward III (who ruled England between 1327 and 1377)
sides of the same family – Edward and the Yorks
and both felt they had good reason to rule.
versus Henry and the Lancasters.
The argument began when Henry VI was King of
England. Henry was from the Lancaster side of the
family. He was a gentle, religious man who struggled to
FACT!
control the country – and he was a poor military leader
too. Tragically, he also suffered from bouts of madness The fighting between the York
and memory loss, and would sit silently for hours on family and the Lancaster family
end in a dark room. later became known as the Wars of
the Roses. This is because the two
families chose different coloured
roses as emblems for their shields
and banners. The Lancasters chose
a red rose and the Yorks chose a
white one.

156 9 England at war

The Wars of the Roses
The two sides fought each other for over
30 years. First one side would win a battle
and choose a king to rule the country,
then the other side would win and choose
their own king. Source B shows how each
side won lots of different battles.

Hungry
The Lancaster and York for More?
families fought many
Image Spr
battles with each side
winning their fair share. Pick a
battle from the map below. Research it,
using the library and the Internet, and
produce a brief fact file on it. Audio We

Image

Video Res
–A
SOURCE A: King Henry VI came
from the House of Lancaster.
Audio

Document Zip

Video

Presentation Oth
–F
Work c

1 a Who were theDocument

Lancasters?
b Who were the Yorks?
Interactive Les
c How did the Wars of the
Roses get their name?
d According to the
Presentation
map (Source B), how many
Animation
battles made up the Wars of
the Roses?
2 In your own words, explain
Interactive
the role played by each of the
following people during the
Wars of the Roses:
a Henry VI
b Richard, DukeAnimation
of York
c Margaret of Anjou,
Henry VI’s wife
SOURCE B: A map showing the locations of d Edward, Richard of York’s son
battles in the Wars of the Roses.
9 England at war 157
9.7B What were the Wars of the Roses?
All change SOURCE A: Edward IV was
As a result of each side winning different battles, king from 1461 until 1483.
the throne changed hands many times. Look at the
diagram below. It illustrates how the job of ‘King of
England’ swapped between the York family and the
Lancaster family during the period known as the Wars
of the Roses.

1461 Henry VI (Lancaster) wins

some of the early battles but is
defeated at Towton by Edward 1470 Henry beats Edward IV
(York). Edward becomes King and becomes king again.
Edward IV… and Henry flees. Edward escapes to the
Netherlands.

So what happens next?

1471 Edward returns and beats
Henry’s armies. Edward is re-crowned.
Most people thought Henry VII – who was a Lancaster –
Henry is taken prisoner this time – would soon be attacked and killed by supporters of the
and killed in the Tower of London. York family. But Henry held onto the throne and went
on to rule England well. One reason why Henry was
able to do this was because he cleverly married Edward
IV’s daughter, Elizabeth! This meant that the king was
from the Lancaster family and the queen was from the
York family, so their children would be both Yorks and
Lancasters (see Source C). The marriage united the two
1471–1483 Edward IV rules families and ended the wars. The new king even united
until his death in 1483. the York and Lancaster roses to create a new national
symbol – the Tudor rose! (See Source B.)
1483 After Edward’s death, his
brother becomes King Richard III.
1485 The last important member
of the Lancaster family challenges
Richard III for the crown. His name is
Henry Tudor (Henry VI was his half-
uncle). At the Battle of Bosworth
Field, Henry Tudor and his Lancaster
supporters beat Richard III and the
Yorks. Henry Tudor becomes King
Henry VII – the first Tudor king.
SOURCE B: The Tudor
rose is a combination of the
roses of Lancaster and York.
158 9 England at war
 SOURCE D: The Tudor rose can
still be seen today in all sorts of
places. You probably didn’t realize
that there are ten of them on the
England football badge.
SOURCE C: This double portrait of
Elizabeth of York and Henry VII shows the red Work
and white roses of Lancaster and York uniting
because of their marriage. 1 Copy out and complete the sentences below. You will find the
words in the box, but some words won’t fit!

FACT! The Wars of the is the name given to a series of

for the English. The wars were fought between
two families, the and
King Richard III’s bones were found in
the Yorks. Over the years, depending on which family
2012, buried underneath a car park which
was winning, the throne changed hands many times. The
was built on the site of an old church. The
who ruled as king during the majority of the
bones showed that Richard suffered from a
wars were VI (from the Lancaster family) and
crooked spine and was probably killed by a
IV (from the family).
heavy blow to the head (the back of his skull
was sliced off ). There were eight wounds on Henry chair Lancasters York
his skull in total. Analysis of the soil around Roses battles Daffodils throne
the body showed that he probably suffered women Edward Richard men
from ringworm (a parasite that gets inside
your body). 2 a Who was Henry Tudor?
b Which battle did Henry Tudor win?
c Which king did Henry Tudor defeat?
d After Henry Tudor was crowned King Henry VII, how did he
end the fighting between the families of York and Lancaster?
3 In 2012, researchers found the body of King
Richard III, the York king killed at the Battle of Bosworth
by Henry Tudor’s army in 1485. This renewed interest in the
Wars of the Roses and there were many news reports on the
wars on TV. Imagine you’ve been asked to produce a short
report for a children’s news programme on the Wars of the
Roses. The report is scheduled to last no more than 60 seconds
and must contain everything a young historian would need
to know.

9 England at war 159

 9.8A The Princes in
the Tower
You are about to learn about one of history’s greatest mysteries. This
fascinating ‘whodunnit’ has had historians baffled for over 500 years.
When you have looked at the evidence, see if you can draw any conclusions.

Edward IV loved drinking, dancing and hunting. Most In June, a rumour started to spread across London.
of all he loved eating. After one huge meal in April People were saying that young Prince Edward’s father
1483, he was so full that he went to bed for hours. had not been married to his mother. This meant that
He caught a fever there and died. His son, also called Prince Edward couldn’t become king. The Bishop of
Edward, travelled to London to be crowned. His other Bath and Wells said that the rumours were true, so
son, Richard, was due to join them later. Prince Edward two weeks later Prince Edward’s uncle, Richard, was
was twelve years old and Prince Richard was nine. crowned king instead. He became King Richard III.
The two boys stayed in the Tower of London while But what about the two boys? In the summer of 1483,
Prince Edward prepared for his coronation. The boys’ they were seen playing in the gardens of the Tower
uncle, also called Richard, had been asked to look after of London. After that, they were never seen again.
the princes and help young Edward until he could rule What had happened to them? Could they have been
the country on his own. murdered? If so, who did it? The History Mystery
detectives need to investigate!

SOURCE A: This painting was created

long after the princes were alive. It is one
artist’s interpretation of how the princes might
have looked.
160 9 England at war
 Audio Weblink

s
Wise Up Word Video Resource Package
– Assessment/Hom
coronation

Document Zip Archive

Presentation Other
– For file types/re
can't yet envisa
SOURCE B: This painting is from the
twentieth century, and also is an artist’s
interpretation of what happened to the princes.
Interactive Lesson Player (sho

Animation

parts of the
skeletons
found

Hungry
Carbon dating is a technique scientists for More? Work
use to find out how old something is. Starting your investigation
When the remains were examined in
1933, carbon dating was not available to the Think about what you’ve learned so far:
scientists, and in 1955 they only had photographs 1 What do you think happened to the princes?
of the bones; they had to try and estimate how old
things were by the way they looked. Do you think the 2 What makes you think this? List the evidence that
bones should be re-examined so scientists can give us led you to this decision.
a better idea of the age of the bones? How would this 3 Do you trust all the evidence? Can you think
help us decide if the bones are indeed those of the of reasons why some of the things you’ve
Princes in the Tower? read so far might not be totally reliable?

9 England at war 161

 9.8B The Princes in
the Tower
A different story?
In 1485, King Richard III was killed in battle. He was beaten by a rival for
the throne named Henry Tudor. Henry was crowned King of England and
became Henry VII. Now it’s time to look at more evidence.

SOURCE C: Henry Vll would

never have become king had
the boys survived.

SOURCE D: Richard lll, the

man who was king when the
boys disappeared.

162 9 England at war

Work
Now it’s time to try to solve this mystery. You need to 4 Find any evidence for murder.
look closely at all the evidence. Is there any evidence to support the idea that
1 Find out about the events leading up to the the two princes were murdered? If so, how and
disappearance of the two princes. by whom?
Think about where and when the princes were last 5 Consider whose evidence might not be reliable.
seen. Why were they there? Could someone be making things up? Why might
2 Find a motive – who might want them dead someone lie? Does any one piece of evidence
and why? contradict another? Write down your theories.
Is there anybody who might benefit from the princes’ 6 Now make your decision.
deaths? Why are Richard III and Henry Tudor both Write a short paragraph to explain what you think
suspects? Explain your ideas. happened to the Princes in the Tower.
3 Find any evidence to show it might not have
been a murder.
Perhaps the boys died of natural causes? Write down
any ideas you have to support this theory.

9 England at war 163

9.9 Was King Henry VII
a gangster?
tives
Mission Objec
Stop and think: have you ever heard of a
‘gangster’? Some of you will have. Take a
moment to think and talk about what a Investigate the life of Henry VII.
gangster is and what the word means. Assess the tactics Henry VII used to
become more powerful.

A gangster is usually someone He married a

who is powerful. And they are rival
often involved in unfair or criminal Henry was a member of
activities. They get money from the Lancaster family. The
people (sometimes unfairly) and Lancasters’ bitter rivals
were the members of the
make deals to increase their power. York family, who were also
They often live lavish lifestyles and keen to rule the country.
enjoy showing off their wealth and In 1486, Henry married a
power. They sometimes even use member of the rival family
– Elizabeth of York. Now
weapons to bully people. the Lancasters had a king
and the Yorks had a queen.
Now Henry VII was not a criminal:
he was King of England and Wales.
He banned
In 1485, when he was plain, old
private armies
Henry Tudor, he had beaten King
Some powerful men in
Richard III in the Battle of Bosworth England had their own
Field, near Leicester. Richard was private armies. Henry knew
killed and Henry Tudor became the these armies could be used
against him… so he made
new king – Henry VII.
a law that banned them.
Henry VII, who had become king by One rich lord who failed to
get rid of his private army
fighting, was desperate to remain was fined £10,000!
king. So he had to do things to
keep his position safe. Now that
you know what a gangster is, see if He made sure
you think Henry VII acted like one. he had the best
weapons
Cannons first appeared in
Britain in the 1300s. They
were the most destructive
and feared weapons by the
time Henry became king,
so he made sure he had the
finest cannons in the land.

164 9 England at war

 He forced people to What Happened 14
give him money
When? Video 86
Henry made the rich people
in his kingdom pay him heavy In 1486, the same year Henry VII
taxes. He sent ministers around married Elizabeth of York, the
the country looking for large, word ‘football’ was first used to
expensive houses. If they found describe a game where a ball is
Document
one, the minister would force
kicked (see pages 84 and 85).
the owners to lend the king
money (because they were
obviously very rich). But Henry
never paid the loan back.
Presentation

He made deals with Interactive

other countries
Henry once got Parliament to give
him money to fight the French –
then got the French king to pay him
not to fight! He also made his eldest Animation
son, Arthur, marry a Spanish princess
called Catherine of Aragon in order
to become friendlier with Spain.
And when Arthur died he said his
youngest son, Henry, should marry
her as well. He even encouraged
his 18-year-old daughter (Mary) to SOURCE A: A painting of Henry VII
marry the 52-year-old king of France, dating from 1505. He sent his picture to
and his other daughter (Margaret) to a possible new wife after his first wife,
marry the King of Scotland. Elizabeth of York, died in 1503. Notice
that he is clutching a rose in his right
He made sure everyone hand, one of the many Tudor symbols.
knew he was king
Henry spent huge amounts of money Work
on lavish parties and entertainment.
The Tudor rose symbol appeared 1 In your own words, explain what
all over the country – in churches, is meant by the word ‘gangster’.
paintings, palaces and cathedrals.
2 Imagine you are Henry
VII and have been on the
throne for several years. A new
king in another country has
written you a letter asking how
you have become so powerful,
raised so much money, and
made yourself safe and secure.
Write him a letter back.
3 Look again at your answer to
Henry dies question 1. Do you think Henry
When Henry VII died in 1509, the throne was safe and England VII acted like a gangster? Explain
was at peace. He also left his son and heir, Henry, a fortune! your opinion.
But what do you think? Was Henry VII a bit of a gangster?
9 England at war 165
10.1A What does John know that
Edwin didn’t?
tives
Mission Objec
The world we live in is always changing. Sometimes small
changes over a long period of time add up to large changes.
Often a single invention, idea or discovery can have a huge Examine some of the key
impact on people and their way of life. For example, think how discoveries, theories, ideas, and
the invention of the Internet or the aeroplane has changed the inventions of the Middle Ages.
way we live.
Assess how new ideas, theories,
But sometimes things don’t change a great deal. For example, discoveries, and inventions
the way some people worship God has remained unchanged for
changed Britain.
hundreds of years. But what about changes in the Middle Ages?
If someone in early Tudor times could look back a few hundred
years to 1100, would they think life had changed much, and
what more would they know about the world?

Meet Edwin, a man who lived around the time of the Norman Conquest, which started in
1066. Look below at what he thinks and believes about the world he lives in.
Most people can’t read or
A long time ago, people thought write. Some rich children are
People in Europe, like me, know that the earth was flat… but not any taught by priests or monks,
Africa and Asia exist, but don’t know more. We know the Earth is a but books are still rare and
much about them. Africa has hardly globe, but aren’t sure how big it is. expensive. They are usually
been explored by Europeans at all. There The Earth is also the centre of the written out by hand, in Latin,
are rumours of faraway lands in the universe and all the planets, the sun by monks – and it sometimes
south and west… Explorers and traders and the stars move around us. takes them a whole year to
go on long journeys over land or by sea. copy out a Bible.
But travelling by sea can be dangerous
because ships are so difficult to steer.

The king rules over everyone.

His loyal friends help him rule
Doctors say bad blood is a common
the land and control different
cause of illness, meaning that
areas. Most people live in the
your body is ‘out of balance’. They
countryside and farm the land.
will cut you to make you bleed, or
However, there aren’t many
attach leeches to you to suck out
large towns – only eight have a
the ‘bad blood’. Sometimes holes
population of over 3000.
are drilled into a patient’s head to
get rid of a headache… but the
patient often dies.
War is very brutal and armies
fight up close with swords
Poor people make their own Edwin and axes or charge at each
medicines from plants and herbs, other on horses. Some soldiers
or ask the local wise woman to are trained to use bows that
make a special potion. There Religion is a vital part of everyday life.
can fire arrows a long way.
aren’t many doctors – and they Everyone goes to church and knows
Castles are dotted all over
get their medical knowledge that God controls everything – bad
the country too – barons and
from books written by the harvests, good weather, births, deaths…
knights live in them.
Ancient Greeks or Romans. it’s all God’s work (or the Devil’s!).

166 10 Medieval Britain: what changed?

Now you’ve met Edwin and got to know him
a little, take a journey through some of the big
ideas, new advances and major inventions and
discoveries of the next 400 or so years. 1167
University of Oxford
1182 began to grow, here,
Simple compasses first used in men learned how
1150 Europe, making it easier for sailors to become doctors, 1180
Paper-making to sail in the right direction priests and lawyers Rudders used on
introduced in Europe ships so they could
be steered better

1185
Windmills first
used to grind
grain into flour in
Britain

1231
1279 University of
Glass mirrors brought back by 1265 Cambridge
Crusader knights who had been First Parliament meets; after founded
fighting in the Holy Land this, more people began to
have more say in how the
country was run
1280
Spinning wheel invented,
which sped up cloth-making

1280
Mechanical clocks invented; they
began to appear on big buildings so
people didn’t have to listen to church
bells to find out the time

1282
Spectacles first used

Around 1300
Gunpowder (invented in
China) first used in cannons 1300
Foods like sugar, lemons,
and apricots and spices
like ginger brought back
by Crusaders from the Holy
Land and became more
common in Britain

10 Medieval Britain: what changed? 167

10.1B What does John know that
Edwin didn’t?
Be a Top Historian
Top historians must understand change and
continuity. This means that in any point in history, there 1500
are things that change and things that stay the same London’s population reached around
(known as ‘continuity’). Can you think of something 50,000 people. By this time, there were
about Britain that hasn’t changed at all in recent years? about 30 towns with a population of
more than 5000 people, but most people
What about something that’s changed a lot?
still lived in the countryside

1492
Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, reached
the ‘new world’ of the Americas whilst trying to
find a new sea route to islands around India. In the
years to follow, lots of countries will send explorers
to the ‘new world’ of North and South America.
These voyages of discovery will begin to change
people’s view of the world and bring new goods
and knowledge to Europe

1477
William Caxton began printing books in
Britain. Many of his books were printed in
English, rather than Latin, so more people
read them. By the late 1500s, around a
third of the population could read

1464
Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland
was the first castle in Britain to have
its walls knocked down by cannon
fire. Soon, lords and barons began to
build castles for comfort rather than
defence. Castles became smaller and
were made from brick, with much
thinner walls, more doors, and 1450
larger windows A German, Johannes Gutenberg,
invented his printing press; books
could be printed onto paper rather
than copied out by monks. Books
1326 became cheaper and covered all sorts
Handguns first used; cannons and of subjects… so people began to
handguns changed the way battles read more and gain more knowledge
were fought. Swords, axes, and bows
and arrows were no match for guns
and cannons: even castle walls 1450
could be knocked down easily The numbers 1 to 9 used
in Britain; copied from
the Arabic system used in
168 10 Medieval Britain: what changed? Muslim countries
Now it’s time to meet John, a gentlemanImage
who lived in the early 1500s, Spreadsheet
around the time Henry VII was King of England. Based on the new ideas,
inventions and discoveries that are featured in the timeline and the rest
Image Spreadsheet
of this book, discuss with a partner (or small groups) the answers to the
questions dotted around John. Audio Weblink

Have there been any major medical

Is the king still inAudio advances? WhatWeblink
could this mean
complete control of about the development of health
the country? Video and medicine?
Resource Package
– Assessment/Homework/Assignment
How has warfare
changed… and Video Resource Package
How has travelling
what has caused – Assessment/Homework/Assignment
by ship changed?
this change? Document Zip Archive

Document Zip Archive

Are books still as
expensive as they
How has John’s Presentation Other were?
knowledge of the – For file types/resources we
can't yet envisage
world changed
(especially after 1492)? Presentation Other
– For file types/resources we
Interactive can't yet
Lesson envisage
Player (short term plan)
What new technology
or inventions would
What new foods John know about? How
and ideas might Interactive might
Lesson these(short
Player thingsterm
have plan)
John know about? changed people’s lives?
And how would he Animation
know of them?
Hungry
John Choose an invention or discovery for More?
Animation
Have there been from the timeline. Research it
any developments in carefully. Who invented it? When?
knowledge about the
Where? How? Was there a special reason for
position of the earth in
relation to the sun and its invention or discovery? How has it developed?
other planets? Is it still used today? If so, where?

Work
1 a Write down at least five things that Edwin might 2 Inventions change things. For example, the invention
think about Britain, the world, science, or medicine. of the passenger aeroplane meant that we could travel
b For each thing you’ve written down in part a, say further and faster than ever before. Think about the
whether you think someone living 400 to 500 years following inventions:
later (like John) would still think the same thing • the spinning wheel, for winding wool into threads
or whether they’d think differently. Write in full • gunpowder
sentences and explain yourself clearly. • compasses and rudders for ships
c Do you think we know all there is to know? Or are • printed books
there lots of things we don’t know or understand Write a few sentences about each invention, saying
about the world, science, and medicine? Explain why each of them was important and how you think it
your answer. might have helped to change things.

10 Medieval Britain: what changed? 169

Glossary
Abbey A building where a community of monks or Chivalry The moral and social code followed by
nuns lived medieval knights
AD ‘Anno domini’; used for dates after the birth of Chronicle A account of important historical events,
Jesus Christ most often written by a monk
Ale An alcoholic drink similar to beer Chronology The arrangement of dates or events in
Apothecary A person who prepared and sold the order they happened, starting with the earliest
medicines Church The collective name for Christians across
Barber-surgeon Men who performed surgery and England and the world
dentistry as well as cutting hair Coat of arms A distinctive design belonging to a
Barbican The outer defensive tower of a castle, found knight or family, often used on shields, flags and
above the drawbridge clothing
Battering ram A heavy beam swung or rammed Concentric castle A castle built with several walls of
against a door to break it down decreasing heights, so soldiers could shoot attackers
Battleaxe A large, broad-bladed weapon more effectively
Battlements The top of a castle wall with openings for Conqueror A person who takes over a place or
archers to shoot through people, often by invasion
BC ‘Before Christ’; used for dates before the birth of Consecrated When someone is officially given a
Jesus Christ position of religious responsibility and duty
Beaker people A European Bronze Age people who Constable A man in charge of a group of watchmen
settled in Britain and made decorated pottery Coronation The ceremony of crowning a king or
Black Death A killer disease that wiped out millions of queen
people across Europe Crusades A series of journeys made by Europeans to
Bloodletting The practice of making someone bleed take the Holy Land back from Muslims in the Middle
to help cure an illness Ages
British Isles The group of islands including Britain, Curtain wall A strong wall around a castle that linked
Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands, and the towers together
Shetland Islands Doom painting A painting in a church designed to
Bronze Age A period when weapons and tools were show people images of heaven and hell
made of bronze; it came between the Stone Age and Dowry Money that a bride’s family give to her
the Iron Age husband when she marries, or to a nunnery when
Bubonic One of the two types of plague in Black she becomes a nun
Death; carried by fleas Dubbed When a man is touched on the shoulder with
Chain mail Flexible armour made of small metal rings a sword and becomes a knight
linked together Dysentery A disease that causes terrible diarrhoea
Chancellor The most important position in England Earldom The piece of land that was controlled by
after the king; it involved sending out royal letters an earl
and charters Evidence The facts or information that we have about
Charter A statement of a group of people’s rights, a particular event, person or place
written by the king or a lord Excommunicated When someone has been officially
excluded from the Christian Church

170
Export A product that is sold to another country Iron Age A period when weapons and tools were
Feudal system A system developed by King William made of iron; it came after the Bronze Age
where each group of people owed loyalty to the Javelin A light spear thrown as a weapon

Glossary
group above, starting with villeins, knights, barons Jury A group of people who decide whether
and ending with the king someone is innocent or guilty of a crime
Fyrd Warriors who fought for Harold at the battle of Lance A long weapon with a pointed steel tip,
Hastings; they were numerous, but not very well used by warriors on horseback
trained Leech Blood-sucking creatures used in medieval
Garderobe A toilet in a medieval building medicine
Great Council A group, including the king and his Loyalty Staying true to someone, and being
barons, that met to discuss how the country should honest and helpful to them
be run Mace A heavy club with a spiked metal head that
Guild A group of a certain type of craftsmen, with their could break armour
own rules Magna Carta A document setting out people’s
Hauberk A full-length coat of chain mail rights; the barons made King John sign it in 1215
Heir The person who is next in line to become king or Mangonel A device used in sieges that could
queen throw stones and other objects
Herald A person who supervised tournaments, made Manuscript A book that was written by hand,
annoucements and carried messages often by monks, and was sometimes illuminated
Heraldry The way in which coats of arms were created Marshal A man responsible for supervising
and used to identify knights or families tournaments and making sure competitors
Housecarl A type of well trained warrior who used didn’t cheat
battleaxes and fought for Harold at the Battle of Massacred When a large group of people has
Hastings been brutally killed by someone else
Hue and cry A loud cry calling for people to pursue Merchant A person who is involved in the buying
and capture a criminal and selling of goods
Humours The four main liquids in the body; illness Minstrel A medieval singer or musician who often
was thought to be caused by them being out of sang tales of heroic deeds
balance Miracle play A popular medieval play based on
Hundred Years War A series of battles between biblical stories or the lives of the saints
England and France that began in 1337 Monastery A building where a community of
Hunter-gatherer A person who lived mainly by monks lived
hunting, fishing and harvesting wild plants Monk A member of a community of men who
Illuminated A manuscript that is decorated with gold, lived under religious vows in a monastery
silver and coloured designs Motive The reason that a person has for doing
Immigrant Someone who has travelled from another something
country to settle Motte and bailey An early castle that featured a
Inferior A person who is lower in rank or status than fort on a hill surrounded by a fence or wall
someone else Norman People from Normany, France, who
Infidel A person who has no religion or whose religion is invaded Britain in 1066 and were led by William
not the same as that of another group of people of Normandy
Inhabited A place where people live Norman Conquest The invasion and settlement
Invasion Coming into another country, normally with of England by the Normans, starting with the
an armed force, with the intention to take over Battle of Hastings in 1066

171
Oubliette A secret dungeon in a castle castle, cutting off essential supplies, until the enemy
Page A boy, in service to a knight, who is training to is forced to surrender
become a knight himself Spear A weapon with a pointed tip on the end of
Parliament Controls the country and is made up of a pole
the monarch, the House of Lords and the House of Squire A young man, in service to a knight, who is
Commons training to become a knight himself
Paying homage When a man publicly shows respect Stocks A wooden frame with holes for feet that was
and loyalty to his lord used as a punishment
Peasants’ Revolt An uprising where peasants, led by Stone Age A period when weapons and tools were
Wat Tyler, marched on London in 1381 made of stone; it came before the Bronze Age
Pilgrim A person who travels to a holy place for Tilt The barrier between jousting knights that prevented
religious reasons a fallen knight being trampled by the horses
Pillory A wooden frame with holes for head and Timeline A diagram showing events or dates in
hands that was used as a punishment chronological order
Pneumonic One of the two types of plague in Black Tithe The tenth of the food peasants grew that had to
Death; carried in the air be given to the Church
Pope The head of the Catholic Church Tithing A group of ten people who were responsible
Portcullis A heavy, strong barrier that can be lowered for each other’s behaviour
to block a castle gateway Tournament A medieval event in which knights
Protest An action that shows that someone is mounted on horseback jousted with blunted
unhappy or angry about something weapons
Protestor Someone who takes part in a protest Trade The buying and selling of materials
Purging Making someone sick or go to the toilet in Trebuchet A machine used in siege warfare that could
the belief that this would cure their illness throw large stones or other objects
Rebellion A violent protest Trencher A thick slice of bread used as a plate
Retreating When an army pulls out from a battle Trepanning Drilling a hole in a patient’s head in the
because they are being defeated belief that this would cure their headache
Revolt Another word for a rebellion or uprising Trial by ordeal A way of letting God decide whether
Sapper Soldiers who mined under castles in order to someone is innocent or guilty; common trials were
collapse the walls fire, water and combat
Saracen A name for a Muslim at the time of the Undermine To dig beneath a castle’s walls in order to
Crusades make them collapse
Scavenger A person employed to clean the streets Vellum Fine parchment made from animal skins
Scold’s bridle An instrument of punishment for a Viking People from Denmark, Norway and Sweden
scolding woman; it fitted over the head and made who invaded Britain after 800 ad
talking difficult or painful Villein A peasant who worked for a lord in return
Scriptorium A room in a monastery in which for land
manuscripts were copied Wars of the Roses A series of battles between the
Scythe A weapon with a long, curved blade at the end English houses of York and Lancaster
of a pole Watch A group of people who patrolled the streets
Shield-wall A long line of shields used for defence in at night
a battle Wattle and daub A medieval building material made
Siege A method of attack where an army surrounds a of interwoven sticks covered with mud or clay

172
 Index
NOTES TO HELP YOU USE THIS INDEX: coat of arms 98–99 H

Index
Columbus, Christopher 168 Hardrada, Harald 21, 23
Kings and other royals are listed by their
concentric castles 44, 45 Harold II 21, 22–24, 26–28, 30–31, 90
first name, so look for ‘Richard II’ and not
conquerors 29 Hastings, Battle of 24–29
‘King Richard’. Other people are listed by
consecrated 63 hauberks 25
their surname, so look for ‘Becket, Thomas’
constables 138 heirs 20
and not ‘Thomas Becket’.
coronations 160 Henry I 102, 134, 138
Crusades 65–69
A curtain walls 42, 52
Henry II 103, 104–108, 135, 146
Henry III 112, 113, 114, 135
abbeys 30, 60 Henry IV 91, 134, 135, 156
AD 7
ale 86, 92
D Henry V 134, 151
Henry VI 134, 156, 157, 158
Domesday Book 38–39
Alexander III 144 Henry VII (Henry Tudor) 8, 134, 156, 158,
doom paintings 59
Anglo-Saxons 14, 21, 134 162–165
dowry/dowries 62, 101
apothecaries 133 heraldry 98–99
drawbridges 36, 52
archers 25, 47, 70 heralds 96
dubbed 95
housecarls 24
dysentery 29, 134, 135
B hue and cry 138
Hundred Years War 148–149
baileys 36, 42, 53
Ball, John 117, 118, 121
E hunter-gatherers 10, 11
earldoms 16, 17
Balliol, John 144, 145
barber-surgeons 131
Edgar, Prince 33, 34
Edward I 114, 135, 143, 145
I
barbicans 42 illuminated/illuminating 61
Edward II 135, 144, 146
barons 40, 41, 50 immigrants 10
Edward III 85, 91, 135, 148–149
battering rams 46, 47 inferior/inferiority 100
Edward IV 134, 156, 158, 160
Battle of Hastings 24–29 infidels 65
Edward V 134, 160–163
Battle of Stamford Bridge 22–23 inhabited 10
Edward the Confessor 16, 20
battleaxes 24, 155 inventions 166–169
Edward, Prince (Edward V) 160–161
battlements 42 Ireland 10, 146–147
England 10, 16–19, 32–35, 142–153
BC 7 Iron Age 12
evidence 19
Beaker people 12
excommunication/excommunicated 105,
Becket, Thomas 104–107, 109
Black Death 124–129, 136
108
exports 78
J
Black Prince 150, 151 javelins 24
bloodletting 131 Joan of Arc 151, 152–153
British Isles (definition) 10–11
Bronze Age 12
F John 46, 48–49, 80, 110–111, 122–123
juries 141
feudal system 40–41
burgess 79
flagellants 127
food 18, 92–93 K
C France 148–153
fyrd 24
keeps 36, 37, 42, 44, 49
castles 35–37, 42–55 kings, causes of death 134–135
Celts 12 knights 25, 27, 41, 51, 94–95
chain mail 24, 25 G
Chancellors 104
charters 76, 77, 111
garderobes 50, 80, 81
Godwinson, Harold (Harold II) 20, 21
L
chivalry 94 Lancasters 135, 156, 157, 158
Great Councils 112 lances 30, 96
chronicles 18, 61
guilds 77 language 59, 90–91, 168
chronology 6–7
churches 18, 19, 58 leeches 131
clothing 88–89 Llywelyn, Prince of Wales 114, 143
loyalty 40, 41

173
M Richard, Duke of York 156
Richard I 68, 135
villages 72–75, 100, 136
villeins 41, 72, 74–75
maces 25, 154
Richard II 118–121, 135, 146
Magna Carta 110–111
mangonels 46, 47
manuscripts 61
Richard III 158, 159, 160, 162–163
Richard, Prince (son of Edward IV) 160–163 W
Robert the Bruce 144 Wales 10, 16, 142–143
marshals 96
Rochester Castle 46–49 Wars of the Roses 156–159
massacres/massacred 34
Romans 13, 14, 16, 18 watches 138
Matilda 102–103
Roses, Wars of 156–159 wattle and daub 73, 74, 75
medicines 18, 61, 130, 132–133
weapons 24–25, 47, 154–155
merchants 77
minstrels 87
miracle plays 87
S William the Conqueror (William I/William of
Normandy) 20, 22, 26–29, 32–41, 90
sappers 47, 48 William II 134
moats 42, 52, 80
Saracens 65, 69, 70 women 88, 100–103, 152–153
monasteries 18, 60–61
scavengers 81
monks 19, 60–61
motives 66
motte and bailey castles 36–37
scold’s bridle 100
Scotland 10, 15, 16, 144–145, 149 Y
scriptoriums 61 Yorks 135, 156, 157
scythes 24
N shield-walls 27
sieges 46–49
Normans 20, 25, 32–41
soldiers 51
Norman Conquest 32–41
spears 25
Northern Ireland 10
sport 82–83
nuns/nunneries 62–63
squires 94, 95
Stamford Bridge, Battle of 22–23
O Stephen 102–103, 134
stocks 139
oubliette 51
Stone Age 11

P T
pages 94
Parliament 112–115 technology 70, 166–169
paying homage 94 tilts 97
Peasants’ Revolt 116–121 timelines 6–7
pilgrims 64, 109 tithes 59, 73
pillories 139 tithings 138
plagues 124–129, 136 toilets 50, 80, 81
Poll Tax 117, 118, 121 Tostig 21, 22, 23
Popes 59, 65, 68, 85, 108 tournaments 83, 96–97
portcullis 43 towns 76–79, 101
poverty 18 trebuchets 44, 46, 47, 70
priests 59 trenchers 93
Prince of Wales 143 trepanning 132
Princes in the Tower 160–163 trials 140–141
products 70, 78 turning points 151
protests 116–117 Tyler, Wat 118, 119, 120–121
punishments 138–141
purging 132 U
undermining 44, 48–49
R
rebellions 116–121, 144
religious beliefs 18, 58–65
V
V sign 150–151
Republic of Ireland 10
vellum 61
retreating 28
Vikings 15, 16, 21, 22–23, 34
revolts 116–121

174
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Acknowledgements
The publishers would like to thank the following for permissions to We are grateful for permission to reprint from the following
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Cover illustration by Matthew Hollings
Illustrations by Moreno Chiacchiera, Jamil Dar, Rudolf Farkas,
Tony Randell, Martin Sanders and Clive Wakfer
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