11/30/2023 0 Comments Year of medieval period![]() ![]() In the Middle Ages, the great hall was still the center of a castle but the lord had his own room above it. In Saxon times a rich man and his entire household lived together in one great hall. They had to live in stone houses for safety). ![]() (The first ordinary people to live in stone houses were Jews. In the towns, wealthy merchants began living in stone houses. In the early 12th century stone replaced them. The Normans, at first, built castles of wood. Their body heat helped to keep the hut warm. Parts of it were screened off for the livestock. Candles were expensive so peasants usually used rushlights (rushes dipped in animal fat).Īt night in summer and all day in winter the peasants shared their huts with their animals. The peasant’s wife cooked on a cauldron suspended over the fire and the family ate from wooden bowls. Instead, they rested their heads on wooden logs. The peasants slept on straw and they did not have pillows. Tools and pottery vessels were hung on hooks. They would have a simple wooden table and chests for storing clothes and other valuables. Chairs were very expensive and no peasant could afford one. In the middle of a peasant’s hut was a fire used for cooking and heating. The floors were of hard earth sometimes covered in straw for warmth. ![]() There were no panes of glass in the windows only wooden shutters, which were closed at night. Slightly better-off peasants lived in huts with one or two rooms. The poorest people lived in one-room huts. Peasant huts were either whitewashed or painted in bright colors. However, in some parts of the country huts were made of stone. They had wooden frames filled in with wattle and daub (strips of wood woven together and covered in a ‘plaster’ of animal hair and clay). Medieval peasants’ homes were simple wooden huts. Warrior kings who fought successful wars were the most powerful as they were popular with the nobility. If he were weak or indecisive the barons would often rebel. If he was a strong character he could control the barons. A great deal depended on the personality of the king. However, that did not stop rebellions! Kings had limited power in the Middle Ages and rebellion was easy. In other words, people believed that God had chosen him to be king, and rebellion against him was a sin. In the Middle Ages, the king ruled by divine right. By the 15th century, the system of serfdom or villeinage had broken down in England. Parliament tried to fix wages by law to prevent them from rising but this was impossible to enforce. So many people died there was a serious shortage of labor and lords were willing to ‘poach’ workers from other lords by offering them higher wages. The Black Death of 1348-49 killed about one-third of the population of England. However, in the early 14th century, the climate of the world cooled and there were a series of famines. By the end of the 13th century, it had probably risen to about 6 million. At the time of the Domesday Book, the population of England was around 2 million. Moreover, the Black Death severely weakened the villeinage system. However, if you could escape from your village to a town for a year and a day you then officially became free. In some places, they also had to bake their bread in the lord’s oven. Usually, peasants had to grind their grain to flour in the lord’s mill (and give him a portion of their grain). For instance when a villein died his son had to give the lord the best animal before taking over his father’s land. (Although in time more and more lords allowed them to pay money rents instead of doing labor service). They also had to work extra days for him at busy times like harvest. Furthermore, as well as working on their own land they had to farm the lord’s land for 2 or 3 days a week. They were not free and could not leave their land without the lord’s permission. They used the money to pay soldiers when they needed them.Īt the bottom of society were peasants. Kings began to allow the barons to pay ‘shield money’. If a knight had to fight, say, 40 days a year when the 40 days were up he would return home even if the king were in the middle of a campaign. In return, they had to fight for so many days a year. They also had to swear an oath of loyalty to the king and they became his vassals. ![]() The king granted them land and in return, they had to provide so many soldiers to fight for so many days a year. Below him were the barons or tenants-in-chief. Under the feudal system, introduced by the Normans society was like a pyramid. By Tim Lambert Society In The Middle Ages ![]()
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