The Middle

Ages
AD 500 to
1485
 Society in The Middle
Ages
When Geoffrey Chaucer wrote his Canterbury Tales in the 1380s,
he set them in the context of the time – he imagined a group of
pilgrims going to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury.

In his introduction, he tells us about the

people who were there, including:

carpent
miller
er soldier
monk
cook squire
nun
doctor tapestry
ploughma
dyer weaver
n
friar weaver
priests
knight
prioress
lawyer
reeve
mercha
sailor
nt
 Society in The Middle
Ages

Medieval writers divided society

into ‘those who fight’, ‘those who
pray’ and ‘those who work’, and
Chaucer included all three sorts of
people in his book.

From the list of his characters,

which would you put into each
category?
 Society in The Middle
Ages
Chaucer grouped them in this order:
Reeve – an
Knight, squire, soldier (i.e. those who fight) official with local
responsibilities
under the Crown,
Prioress, nun, priests, monk, friar such as the chief
magistrate of a
(i.e. those who pray)
town. However,
after the Norman
Merchant, lawyer, carpenter, weaver, dyer, conquest, a
reeve was an
tapestry weaver, cook, sailor, doctor,
office held by a
ploughman, miller, reeve (i.e. those who work) man of lower
rank, appointed
Merchant - as manager of a
Prioress - a manor and to
Squire - a anyone who is
woman who is oversee the
knight’s involved in
head of a house peasants.
apprentice. business or
of nuns. trade.
 The Feudal System
These groups were ordered into a
social hierarchy, known as the Feudal
System. It had the king at the top with
all of the control, and the peasants at kin
the bottom doing all of the work. g

The feudal system provided lords and nobles

order and stability.
Everyone knew their place
and what they had to do.
knigh
The manorial system ts
provided for an economy
that was based on farming peasan
and being self-sufficient on ts
the manor.
 Who Were Peasants?
The majority of the population lived in the countryside in the Middle
Ages and could be described as peasants.

Peasants worked the land to produce food, fuel, wool and other
resources.
There was even a social order that divided the peasantry.
 Peasantry Social
Hierarchy
At the bottom of the structure
were the serfs.

At the upper end of the

hierarchy were the
freemen. Serfs were legally tied to
Freemen were often the land they worked.
resourceful They
smallholders, renting laboured for the
land from the lord, or landowner
even owning some and were essentially
land outright. owned
They were able to by them too.
make considerable
amounts
of money.
 Manors
The manor was the lord’s
estate. The manor system
was an economic
arrangement between a lord
and his serfs.

The lord would provide serfs

with housing, strips of
farmland to grow their own
food, and protection from
bandits. In return, the serfs
tended the lord’s lands,
cared for his animals and
performed other tasks to
maintain the estate.

The manor was largely a self-

sufficient community.
 A Day in the Life of a

Medieval Lord
Dawn: Hear Mass, followed by a breakfast of
white bread and wine.
Morning: The lord would speak with his
reeve (the general manager for his manor). His
lady would perhaps do embroidery. Knights and
pages would practise fighting.
10 a.m.: Lunch was normally half a dozen
simple dishes, but if the lord was entertaining
guests there would be many more dishes, as
well as entertainment such as jesters, fools and
jugglers.
Afternoon: Hunting or hawking, or chess and
backgammon if the weather was bad.
Late afternoon: Prayers, then a meal. If
there were guests, this would be magnificent!

After supper: Listen to the news and stories

brought by a travelling minstrel or just sit and
talk.
Bedtime: When the lord decided he wished
to go to bed, the household would have a light
supper, say prayers and go to sleep.
 Castle life in the Middle
Ages
Many nobles lived in castles. The great hall was the centre of a
castle. The walls were decorated with tapestries. Everyone except
the lord sat on benches. There was a minstrel gallery for musicians
and singers. At night, the servants slept on the floor.
The great hall would have at least one fireplace with a chimney.
This was a Norman invention and stopped the room filling with
smoke.
The lord had his own room, called the solar,
and his own four-poster bed, with curtains
for privacy.

At the top of the castle, the lady would have

a day room for herself and her maids-in-
waiting. This had the largest windows and
the best views.

The toilet was called the ‘garderobe’ and

was usually a chute straight into the moat.
One way to capture a castle was to climb up
 Knights
The education of a young noble began early
(age 7). He would be sent off to the castle of
another lord. He waited on his hosts and
learned courtly manners. He played chess
and learned war strategies. To develop
fighting skills, he would practise sword
fighting.

At around the age of 14, the boy would

become a squire and would act as a servant
to a knight. The squire took care of the
knight’s armour, weapons and warhorse. The
squire would also escort the knight to battles.

At around 21, a squire became a fully-fledged

knight. Knights were to abide by a complex
set of ideals which became known as the
code of chivalry.
 Knights
Later in the Middle Ages,
battles were often for show.
Knights were bound by a
strict code of conduct called
chivalry.

According to this code,

knights were expected to be
brave, loyal, true to their
word and protective of
women and those weaker
than themselves.
 Life as a
Life as a Peasant
Peasant
In the early Middle Ages,
under the feudal system, the
life of a serf was hard.

Even in the later Middle Ages,

the medieval peasant’s life
was hard and the work was
back-breaking.

It followed the seasons –

ploughing in autumn, sowing
in spring and harvesting in
August. Work began at dawn,
preparing the animals, and it
finished at dusk, cleaning
them down and putting them
back into the stalls.
 Life as a
Life as a Peasant
Peasant
A peasant’s hut was
made of wattle and
daub with a thatched
Many peasants’ huts included a roof and no windows.
simple loom. The daughter would
spin wool using a distaff and spindle
and the wife would weave it into A fire burned in a
rough cloth. hearth in the centre of
the hut so the air was
permanently eye-
Inside the hut a third of the area wateringly smoky.
was penned off for the animals
which lived in the hut with the Furniture was maybe
family. a couple of stools, a
trunk for bedding and
a few cooking pots.
 Life as a
Life as a Peasant
Peasant
Peasant food was
mainly vegetables
plus anything that
could be gathered:
nuts, berries, nettles.

The usual drink was weak, home-brewed beer. Honey provided a

sweetener.

If they ate bread, the peasants did not eat white wheat bread but
black rye bread.

The most difficult time was late spring when food stores were
running out and new food was not yet ready to be eaten. A poor
harvest meant that some of the villagers would starve to death.
 Life as a
Life as a Peasant
Peasant
A male peasant would wear a rough tunic with
a hood, gloves, and leather shoes with wooden
soles. Women wore a coarse gown over a
sleeveless slip.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages, when some

peasants were growing quite rich, ‘sumptuary
laws’ forbade them to wear clothes above their
class.

Village life was not all misery and hardship.

Holy days meant a day off work. Peasant fun
was rough – wrestling, shin-kicking and cock-
fighting. The ball was almost unnecessary to a
medieval ball game, which was basically a fight
with the next village. Occasionally, a travelling
musician or bear-baiter would pass through.
 Life in A Medieval
Life in A Medieval Town
Town
A medieval town would seek a
charter giving it the right to
become a borough. The rich
merchants would then be allowed
to choose a mayor and hold a
market.

Houses were made of a wooden

frame with the gaps filled with
woven strips of wood, known as
‘wattle’, and covered (or
‘daubed’) with clay and horse-
dung.
Most roofs were thatched.
 Life in A Medieval
Life in A Medieval Town
Town
Medieval shops were workshops that were
open to the street for customers with the
craftsman’s house above. Because few
people could read, shops signs were a huge
model showing the craftsman's trade.
People of the same trade often worked in
the same street.

The streets of a medieval town were narrow

and busy. They were noisy - with the town
crier, church bells and traders calling out
their wares. There were many fast food
sellers, selling such things as hot sheep’s
feet and beef-ribs.

Nobody was supposed to carry a weapon or

wear a mask.
 Life in A Medieval
Life in A Medieval Town
Town At dusk, a bell rang
for curfew - when
everyone was
supposed to shut up
their house. The
gates to the town
would be closed
before a watch
would patrol the
streets looking for
thieves and
apprentices who
stayed out late.

Criminals were put in the stocks or the pillory. These were

wooden boards with holes for feet, hands or head. Medieval
punishments were cruel and crimes such as theft were punished
by hanging.
 Life in A Medieval
Life in A Medieval Town
Town
In November, the poor of the
town would elect a ‘lord of
misrule’ who would wear a
paper crown and get up to
mischief. At Christmas, poor
people would go around town
demanding traders give them
charity.

Holy Days would be marked by colourful processions as the

different guilds competed to make the best display.

If a serf ran away from his village to a town and remained free
for a year and a day, he could become a ‘freeman’ of the
town.
A Day in the Life of a Medieval
Town
4 a.m.:
The Angelus bell rang to announce the first Mass
of the day and the end of the night watchman’s
duty.
6 a.m.:

Shops and market stalls opened

8 a.m.:
Foreign merchants were allowed to start
trading.
9 a.m.:
Breakfast.
3 p.m.:
Most shops and market stalls closed.
8 p.m.:
Curfew Bell. Town gates closed, houses shut up, the night watch
began.
 The Church and
The Church and Feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism and the manor system created divisions among people.
Shared beliefs in the teachings of the Church bonded people
Priests and other religious
together.
officials administered the
sacraments, or important
religious ceremonies.

Kings and peasants were

subject
to canon law, or the law of the
Church, in matters such as
marriage and religious
practices.

The Holy Roman Empire became

the strongest kingdom.

 Farming
Farming Improvements
Improvements
The use of horses instead of oxen was introduced. Horses could
plough twice as much as an ox in a day.
The Three-Field System emerged, which enabled people to use 2/3
of their 600 acres of farmland instead of just 1/2.

Field 1
200 acres for a winter
crops, such as wheat or
rye.

Field 2
200 acres for a Field 3
spring crops, such as 200 acres lay fallow
oats, barley, peas or for animals to graze.
beans.
 England Develops
By the early 800s, there were many small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
throughout the former Roman province of Britain.
For centuries, invaders from various regions in Europe landed on
English shores. Many of them stayed, bringing their own ways and
changing English culture.
 England Develops: The
Law
The royal courts of justice sent royal
judges to every part of England at least
once a year. They collected taxes, settled
lawsuits and punished crimes.
There was the introduction of the use of
the jury in English courts. A jury in
medieval Europe was a group of loyal
people (usually 12 neighbours of the
accused) who answered a royal judge’s
questions about the facts of a case.
Jury trials became a popular means of
settling disputes. Only the king’s court
was allowed to conduct them.
 England Develops: The
Magna Carta

King John was forced to sign the Magna

Carta (Great Charter).

This guaranteed the nobles certain basic

political rights and put a limit on the
king’s powers.
 England Develops:
Parliament
Two groups gradually formed in Parliament:
• House of Commons (Knights & Burgesses).
• House of Lords (Nobles & Bishops).
At first, Parliament was meant to be a tool to weaken the great
lords.
As time went by, however, Parliament became strong. Like the
Magna Carta, it provided a check on royal power.