LEVEL E KU
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
THE BOSS
Feudalism is the name given to the system of
government William the Conqueror introduced
after he defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
William could not rule every part of the country
himself - this was physically impossible. So he
needed a way of controlling the country so that
the people remained loyal. Building Castles was
one way of maintaining control. However, he
needed a way of actually governing the country.
This was the Feudal System.
THE BOSS
HOW DID IT WORK?
William divided up the country into very large plots of land - similar to our regions today.
These were 'given' to those noblemen who had fought bravely for him in battle. The land
was not simply given to these nobles.
BUT
BUT
They had to swear an oath of
loyalty to William, they
collected tax in their area for
him and they had to provide
the king with soldiers if they
were told to do so. The men
who got these parcels of land
would have been barons,
earls and dukes. Within
their own area, they were the
most important person there.
These men, the barons were
known as tenants-in-chief.
THIS IS WILLIAM THE
CONQUEROR THE MAN
THAT INTRODUCED THE
FEUDAL SYSTEM
Even these pieces of land were
large and difficult to govern.
The barons had to further
divide up their land and these
were 'given' to trusted Norman
knights who had also fought
well in battle. Each knight was
given a segment of land to
govern. He had to swear an
oath to the baron, duke or earl,
collect taxes when told to do so
and provide soldiers from his
land when they were needed.
FINALLY
At the bottom of the ladder were the peasants or serfs who had to do what they were
told. The Peasants were given land by Knights. They had to provide the Knight with
free labour, food and service whenever it was demanded. They had no rights. They
were not allowed to leave the Manor and had to ask their Lord's permission before
they could marry.
LEVEL E KU
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM
PROVIDES
KING
Gives land to
Barons
PROVIDES
Gives land to
Knights
Gives land to
PROVIDES
Peasants
1. Copy and complete the above diagram into your workbook.
2. Why did William need to introduce the Feudal System?
3. What other method did the Normans use to maintain law and
order?
4. Your teacher will give you the diagram over the page complete
the pyramid using all of the information that you now know.
2
I AM THE ______ I
OWN ALL OF THE
______ I MAKE ALL
OF THE LAWS.
We are the ____
We swear an
oath
of
allegiance to the
_____.
We are the ____
We swear an
oath
of
allegiance
to
the_____.
We are the ____
We own ______
We
owe
allegiance
to
the_______.
3
KEEPING THE LOCALS UNDER CONTROL
UNDERSTANDING CASTLES
KU LEVEL E
After their successful invasion the Normans began a period of castle building that was to last right through the
medieval period. The earliest castles built by the Normans were Motte and Bailey castles. These were soon
replaced by Stone Keep castles as they offered better protection from attack. Concentric castles developed during
the 12th and 13th Centuries and were virtually impossible to conquer.
Motte and Bailey castles had two parts: the Motte and the Bailey.
The Motte was a large hill made of earth on top of which was built
a wooden keep or lookout. The outer edge was then surrounded
with a large wooden fence called a palisade. The Bailey was
separated from the Motte by a wooden bridge that could be
removed if the Bailey was occupied by enemies. The Bailey was
the part of the castle where people lived and animals were kept.
The castle would be surrounded by a ditch, sometimes filled with
water. A drawbridge was used for access to the castle. The fact
that they were wooden made them vulnerable to fire. They were
easy to build. (They could be built in less than a week) and easy to These castles were usually temporary and
defend. They could easily be modified later with a stone tower. after a while start to rot. The steep sides on
Over 70 were built during William's reign.
the Motte helped to stop cavalry attacks.
The stone keep castle soon replaced the Motte and Bailey castle
as it offered a better form of defence. A stone keep was the
central feature, with thick walls and few windows. Entrance to
the keep was by stone steps leading to the first floor. The
kitchens were situated on the ground floor while living quarters
were on the upper floors. The first keeps were rectangular in
shape but later ones were often circular. The Stone Keep would
be surrounded by a thick stone wall containing turrets for
lookouts. The Bailey was now the area outside the keep but
within the outer walls and shelter for animals or craft workshops
might be built against the walls. The entire castle might be
surrounded by a ditch or moat and entrance to the castle was by
drawbridge.
The Concentric castle was the best protection against attack. The
main feature is its walls. An inner wall built of thick stone with
turrets positioned at intervals is then surrounded by a thick but
lower stone wall. The walls are built at different levels so that
archers on the inner walls can fire over the archers on the outer
walls. The space between the two walls was known as the 'death
hole' for being trapped within the walls would almost certainly
result in death for the attacker. The entire castle was then often
surrounded with a moat. Round towers couldn't be mined as easily.
They held more troops. Once inside the outer wall an attacker was
still vulnerable to archers. Low walls mean that defenders on the
inner and outer walls can see attackers. A small number of men
could defend a large part of the castle. These castles were very
expensive to build.
4
KEEPING THE LOCALS UNDER CONTROL
CASTLES KU LEVEL E
FACT FILE ON CASTLES
MOTTE & BAILLEY
FEATURES
GOOD POINTS
BAD POINTS
STONE KEEP
FEATURES
GOOD POINTS
BAD POINTS
CONCENTRIC
FEATURES
GOOD POINTS
BAD POINTS
5
INTRODUCTION
Medieval Arms Race
War in medieval times was about the control of land. Soldiers who lived in castles controlled the land
around their stone fortresses. To conquer a territory, an attacking army would have to strike and take
these strongholds. To do so, they would launch a siege. Over the centuries, medieval armies developed
military strategies to fight a siege. Weapons of war also evolved. By the mid-12th century, siege
warfare had developed into a science Here we describe some of the major weapons and strategies used
in what became a medieval arms race. Let the siege begin!
Siege Tower
Attackers sometimes built a siege tower to
scale castle walls. Soldiers lay in wait inside
the structure as others wheeled it to the
castle. Once there, the soldiers lowered a
drawbridge at the top of the tower onto the
castle wall.
Siege towers were difficult and timeconsuming to build and castle defenders
could burn them down with fire arrows or
fire pots (flaming liquids such as tar).
Sometimes castle knights launched surprise
raids on a tower to destroy it during
construction. To protect their siege engine,
attackers draped it with rawhides of mules or
oxen.
Tunnelling
Men called sappers sometimes dug tunnels to gain entrance to a castle and thereby launch a sneak attack,
but more often, these miners dug tunnels beneath a castle wall to destabilize and topple it. They supported
their tunnels with timbers, which they then burned to collapse the tunnel -- and, hopefully, the wall above.
To defend themselves, castle dwellers put out a bowl of water and watched for ripples that might indicate
digging. Sometimes the castle's garrison built counter-tunnels; if the two tunnels met, fierce battles ensued
underground.
6
Direct Assault
This was the most dangerous way to try to take a castle. It involved scaling walls
with ladders, overrunning castle walls breached by tunnels, battering rams, or
artillery. Soldiers attacked two or three spots around the castle at once to surprise
their foe or divide castle defences. Archers and crossbowmen would cover soldiers
while they tried to break a wall or storm over it.
Defenders perched on the castle wall or in narrow windows called loopholes had the
advantage. Archers rained arrows down on attackers, while soldiers pushed ladders
off the wall with forked poles, dropped rocks or fireboats filled with burning tar, or
poured scalding water, wine, or hot sand (which could enter armour) down onto
those below.
Attackers used blockades. They tried to starve occupants out of a castle. It was not
easy as attackers often hired mercenaries, who were reluctant to wait during winter.
Defenders had stores of food and drilled water wells within the castle's walls.
Battering Ram
Siege armies used a battering ram to break down a gatehouse door or even smash a
castle wall. To shield themselves from attack, they built a covered shed, in which
they hung a thick tree trunk on chains suspended from a beam above. Carpenters
tapered the trunk into a blunt point and capped it with iron. They battered the target
until they were broken down.
Castle defenders tried to burn the shed down with flaming arrows, though attackers
responded by covering the shed with animal pelts or earth to make it fireproof.
Defenders lowered grappling irons to grasp the trunk, preventing it from swinging.
Moat
Moats surrounding castles protected them from siege towers
and battering rams. It also made digging tunnels underneath the
wall far more challenging. To get across a moat, the attacking
army sometimes filled the moat with rocks and soil or built
portable wooden bridges
7
Trebuchet
During a siege, these missile launchers were one of the most fearsome weapons of
medieval times. Early trebuchets relied on a huge counterweight that swung a
long arm. When the counterweight was dropped, the device launched a missile
from a sling at the end of the arm. Trebuchets could launch missiles hundreds of
yards in large, lobbing missiles over a castle wall. The best trebuchets fired stone
missiles weighing up to 400 pounds -- big enough to do serious damage to a castle
wall. Attackers also used them to launch dung or dead animals into the castle with
the intention of spreading disease. They even shot out the severed heads of
enemy soldiers or even messengers who delivered unsatisfactory peace terms. If a
trebuchet was set up too close to a castle, archers would fire arrows. Castle
defenders also would try to destroy rising trebuchets with catapults shot from the
castle wall or with sneak attacks to burn it down.
Archers
Both sides had archers. Castle archers were almost always launching arrows from a
higher position than castle attackers, which extended their range and provided them with
a good view of their targets. The defending archers had the advantage.
The castle wall protected them well. Loopholes, the narrow slits that archers shot through,
allowed castle archers a wide view of targets. The design enabled archers to hide off to
the side of the loopholes while reloading, giving them protection from the rare arrow that
did find its way in.
The archer had a number of weapons to choose from. The most powerful was the
crossbow. They could pierce armour and were so powerful that the Pope later banned
them. Longbow archers could shoot 12 arrows in the time it took to launch a single
crossbow. Moreover, the longbow could send arrows as far as 1,000 feet. But longbows
took huge strength to shoot and much practice to control.
Gatehouse
The gatehouse, the castles entrance, was the early castle's most vulnerable
point. It was bolstered with impressive defences. A drawbridge could be
pulled back. Castle dwellers could also slide wooden beams behind the
doors to reinforce them. If attackers entered the gate's passageway, they ran
the risk of being trapped. Sometimes defenders would drop a portcullis
behind them. Roofs often had so-called "murder holes" through which castle
soldiers could drop burning oil, hot sand or scalding water onto enemy
soldiers. Loopholes in the walls of the gate passage also gave defending
archers -- only feet away from trapped attackers -- a deadly advantage.
8
LEVEL E PRESENTING INFORMATION
Ways to Attack a Castle
How it Works
Fire Arrows
Battering Ram
Ladder
Belfry Tower
Good Points
Bad Points
LEVEL E PRESENTING INFORMATION
Ways to Attack a Castle
How it Works
Good Points
TREBUCHET
TUNNELING
DIRECT SIEGE
10
Bad Points
LEVEL E KU
Medieval
Law and Order
Law and order was very harsh during the Middle Ages. It was believed that people
would only learn how to behave properly if they feared what would happen to them if
they broke the law. Even the ‘smallest’ offences had serious punishments. Each
accused person had to go through an ordeal. There were three ordeals:


Ordeal
by fire. An accused person held a red hot iron bar and walked three paces. His
hand was then bandaged and left for three days. If the wound was better after three days,
the accused was innocent. If the wound had not got any better the accused was guilty.
Ordeal
by water. An accused person was tied up and thrown into water. If they floated
they were guilty of the crime you were accused of.
Ordeal
by combat. This was used by noblemen who had been accused of something.
They would fight in combat with their accuser. Whoever won was right. Whoever lost was
usually dead at the end of the fight!
Henry II of England (1154-1189) did not think these methods were fair or sensible. When
Henry II came to the throne in 1154 his first job was to restore order and make everyone
obey his laws. Scotland adopted similar laws.
By the time of Henry II, the system of law had been improved because Henry sent out his
own judges from London to listen to cases throughout the country.
SOURCE1 FROM HISTORY TEXTBOOK
In 1215, the Pope decided that priests must
not help with ordeals. As a result, ordeals
were replaced by trials by juries. To start
with, these were not popular with the
people, as they felt that their neighbours
might have a grudge against them and use
the opportunity of a trial to get their
revenge. After 1275, a law was introduced
which allowed people to be tortured if they
refused to go to trial before a jury.
What Henry II did to
restore order:
Henry
brought in
trial by jury and did
away with trial by
ordeal and battle.
Henry
sent
his
judges to different
towns to try cases so
everyone saw the law
working.
11
Medieval
Law and Order
If someone was found guilty of a crime they would expect to face a severe punishment.
Thieves had their hands cut off. Women who committed murder were strangled and
then burnt. People who illegally hunted in royal parks had their ears cut off and high
treason was punishable by being hung, drawn and quartered. There were very few
prisons as they cost money and local communities were not prepared to pay for their
upkeep. It was cheaper to execute someone for bad crimes or mutilate them and then
let them go.
Most towns had a gibbet just outside of it. People were hung on a gibbet. This was a large
wooden pole were the bodies would be left to rot for a few weeks so that people would be put off
committing a crime and as a warning to others. However, such violent punishments clearly
did not put off people.
SOURCE 2. FROM A WEB SITE ON CRIME & PUNISHMENT.
In 1202, the city of Lincoln had 114 murders, 89 violent robberies and 65 people were
wounded in fights. Only 2 people were executed for these crimes and it can be
concluded that many in Lincoln got away with their crime.
TASKS – Put the title ‘Medieval Law and Order’ in your exercise
books. Copy out these questions and answer them in you books.
1. Why were punishments so severe in the Middle Ages?
2. What things did Henry II do to restore order?
3. (a) Describe the 3 types of ordeal and (b) do you think they
are fair methods to decide whether someone was guilty of a
crime?, explain your answer.
4. In 1215 the Pope did something which helped to replace
ordeals, what did he do?
5. List 3 different crimes and the punishment you might expect for each.
6. Why were there so few prisons in the Middle Ages?
7. (a) What was a ‘gibbet’ used for? and (b) why were the bodies left to rot?
8. How useful is Source 1 as evidence of crime in the Middle Ages?
12
PUNISHMENT
LEVEL E KU
THE VILLAGERS PUNISH
THOUGHT WERE GUILTY?
RS PUNISH PEOPLE THAT THEY
PEOPLE THAT THEY
THOUGHT WERE GUILTY?
Many crimes such as murder were
punished by death. Ordinary people
were hanged. Rich people were beheaded.
a. Burning
If a person said bad things about God they were called a heretic and were burned at the stake.
This was a very slow and painful death, but the idea was that the guilty person would then be
allowed into heaven by God rather than sent to hell – because they had already burned enough!
b. Mutilation
Cutting off parts of the body was common. A person who stole a purse might have their hand cut
off; a person who had spread vicious rumours could have their tongues cut out!
c. Hung, drawn and quartered
A person guilty of treason (planning to kill or overthrow the King) would get the nastiest
punishment of all. They would firstly be hanged until they were blue in the face. They would then
be cut down, and sliced open from the neck to the belly. Still alive, their guts would be pulled out
and thrown into a cauldron of boiling water. Finally, they would be chopped into four pieces, from
the legs upwards.
d. The Stocks
Lesser criminals would be locked into the stocks and have rotten food thrown at them. Bakers who
put sawdust in their bread or brewers who watered down their beer were often punished like this.
TASK 1: Diagram
• On a clean side, put the title – “Types of punishment in the Middle Ages”.
• Divide the page into 3 columns.
• Put the following headings in each column:
1. Name of the punishment
2. What sort of crime got this punishment?
3. What did the punishment involve?
• Fill in the table for the first punishment (“Burning”).
• Repeat this process for the other three punishments.
TASK 2:
A. What one word would you use to describe these types of punishments
(examples – unfair, mean, soft, and reasonable).
B. Explain why you chose the word in as much detail as you can.
C. Do you think that it is right to have a death penalty (in other words,
should we ever be able to execute people for their crimes)? Explain your
answer by considering two sides to the case.
13
SOURCE 1
SOURCE 2
SOURCE 4
1. Wooden Ruff. For women who violated clothing
regulations.
2. Mask of Shame. For women. The long tongue
and big ears symbolize gossip and nosiness.
3. Rosary. Church punishment for people who did
not go to church, or fell asleep during the service.
4. Mask of Shame (with long snout).
5. Drunk Barrel. For imbibers.
6. Mask of Shame. For men who acted like a swine.
7. Chastity belt. guarantees faithfulness of the wife.
8. Double-neck-violin. For quarrelsome women.
13. Stock. For men being exposed publicly.
14. Iron Maiden. A mantle of infamy for women
and girls, 16th century.
15. Mask of Shame. For men.
16. Donkey of Shame. For lazy pupils.
18. Neck-violin. Degrading punishment for women
and girls.
19. Shame-flute. For bad musicians.
SOURCE 3
"Baker's Baptism" was the
common penalty of the
day for a baker whose loaf
of bread did not weigh
enough. The baker was
dunked in the central
fountain
until
the
punishment administers
thought that the baker was
out of breath. There was
no standard amount of
time; it was left up to the
"Master of Ceremonies."
Above is a Double-neckviolin. For quarrelsome
women.
Spiked Chair17. Spiked-chair.
An instrument of torture
14
AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE CHURCH IN THE
MIDDLE AGES
LEVEL E KU/EV
INTRODUCTION
Today, only a small percentage of the population go to church every Sunday,
but in the Middle Ages, everyone was religious. The Church was the centre
of their lives. The biggest building in a town or village was the church. It was
a Catholic church because in the Middle Ages the Catholic religion was the
only one. All men and women believed in Heaven and Hell. Rich people
would even leave their land and money to the Church, hoping it would get
them into Heaven.
Keywords
Catholic – the only religion in
Medieval Britain
Priest – man in charge of religious
ceremonies in a village or parish.
Doom painting – picture to show
people what Heaven and Hell were
like.
Latin – language used in Catholic
services.
Christendom – all the countries
where Christianity was the main
religion.
Source 1 - A Doom Painting.
BOX 1
THE ROLE OF THE PRIESTS
Why were parish priests so important?
Village priests were simple men, but they had very
important jobs. After the Lord of the Manor, the
priest was the most important man in the village.
On Sundays, during mass, he would tell people all
about Heaven and Hell.
Because services were in Latin, many ordinary folk
could not understand them. Statues and ‘Doom
Paintings’ were used to explain to people the
horrors of Hell and the joys of Heaven. Look at the
doom painting above. What things can you see
going on?
1
BOX 2
The Parish Priest will:
Say mass in the village church (and say it in Latin).
Perform weddings and baptisms.
Hear confessions.
Visit villagers regularly and listen to their problems.
Bury the dead.
Heal the sick.
Teach children of wealthy families to read and write.
Work the land, growing crops in the church grounds.
Make sure everyone pays their tithe.
Keep village records.
THE CHURCH IN
THE MIDDLE AGES
LEVEL E KU/EV
ACTIVITIES
1) In your book, write out the following KEYWORDS and their meanings.
Catholic
Priest
Doom Painting
Latin
Christendom
2) Copy and complete these few sentences.
In the middle ages, the only religion was the ______________ religion.
Everybody went to church. The services were in ____________ but there were
statues and ___________ to help ordinary people understand.
3) Look at source 2. Draw a similar diagram in your book showing the organisation
of the church.
4) Write a paragraph to explain how the church was organised. Use the following
words in your paragraph. Pope, Archbishops, Bishops, Parish priests, Ordinary
people.
5) You read that the church was powerful. What made it powerful?
6) What were Doom Paintings and why were they used. Write down some of the things that you can
see happening in source 1?
7) Draw your own Doom Painting. Try not to copy the one shown in source 2.
Remember that your picture should show scenes from Heaven and Hell.
8) Look at BOX 2. Write a short paragraph explaining what priests were
expected to do in a village.
9) Some of the jobs done by parish priests in the middle ages are done by
someone else today. Find four of them. For each, write down the job, who did it
in the middle ages, and who does it today. E.g. Healing the sick – in the middle ages, this job was done
by the parish priest. Today, it is done by doctors
17
THE CHURCH
The Medieval Church played a far greater role in the middle ages than the Church does today. In the
middle ages the Church controlled everybody’s life. All Medieval people believed that God, Heaven and
Hell all existed. From the very earliest of ages, the people were taught that the only way they could get to
Heaven was if the Roman Catholic Church let them. Everybody would have been terrified of Hell and the
people would have been told of the sheer horrors waiting for them in Hell in the weekly services they
attended.
WHY WAS THE CHURCH SO RICH?
The control the Church had over the people was total. Peasants worked for free on Church land. This proved
difficult for peasants as the time they spent working on Church land, could have been better spent working on
their own plots of land producing food for their families. They paid 10% of what they earned in a year to the
Church (this tax was called tithes). Tithes could be paid in either money or in goods produced by the peasant
farmers. As peasants had little money, they almost always had to pay in seeds, harvested grain, animals etc. This
usually caused a peasant a lot of hardship as seeds, for example, would be needed to feed a family the following
year. What the Church got in tithes was kept in huge tithe barns; a lot of the stored grain would have been
eaten by rats or poisoned by their urine. A failure to pay tithes, so the peasants were told by the Church,
would lead to their souls going to Hell after they had died. People were too scared not to pay tithes despite
the difficulties it meant for them. The Church could also sell what was known as indulgencies, simply put this
was buying forgiveness in order to get a path straight to heaven. Rich people very often left land, money and
gold to the Church. This would lessen the time in purgatory (hell).
You also had to pay for baptisms (if you were not baptised you could not go to Heaven when you died),
marriages (there were no couples living together in Medieval times as the Church taught that this equalled
sin) and burials - you had to be buried on holy land if your soul was to get to heaven. Whichever way you
looked, the Church received money! The Church also did not have to pay taxes. This saved them a vast
sum of money and made it far more wealthy than any king at this time.
CHURCH WEALTH
AND FINALLY!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Why were so many people religious during this period?
What was meant by a tithe?
Why did paying the tithe cause problems for so many people?
Give a reason why paying the tithe was often a waste.
What were indulgencies?
18
Copy and complete the diagram opposite.
THE POWER
OF THE
CHURCH
CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL
YORK CATHEDRAL
To work on the building of
a cathedral was a great
honour. Those who did the
skilled work had to belong
to a guild. They would have
used just the most basic of
tools. However, if you were
killed in an accident while
working in a cathedral or a
church,
you
were
guaranteed a place in
Heaven - or so the workers
were told!
SOURCE
SOURCE1 2
The sheer wealth of the Church is best shown in
its buildings cathedrals, churches and
monasteries.
The
most
famous
cathedrals
were
at
Canterbury and York.
Cathedrals are big by our
standards today, but in
Medieval times they were
bigger than all buildings
including royal palaces.
Their sheer size meant
that people would see
them from miles around,
and remind them of the
huge power of the
Catholic Church.
SOURCE 3
The church was therefore the centre of community
life, the place where you met your husband or
wife, where your children were christened, where
you sought sanctuary during bad weather, where
you would be blessed in health and buried in the
grounds of the church after death. As most people
never travelled further than the limits of the
community, the church and all it could provide
was as much as the people ever knew. The Church
was very powerful in Britain. An example of this
power is the crusades. The First Crusade had been
called by the Pope, who was the head of the
Roman Catholic Church. Many thousands of men
had travelled to the Holy Land to fight against the
Muslim invaders who took over Jerusalem.
THE CHURCH WAS THE:
Community centre
Market place
Place of refuge when under attack or during bad
weather
Newsroom and gossip corner
Courting, marriage and divorce court
Storage area for weapons
Prison
Library
Hospital
(Primitive) School
Training school for priests
Emblem of the Catholic Church
Sanctuary for poor, homeless and infirm
19
LEVEL E
PRESENTING
INORMATION
You have just traveled back to the Middle Ages and your time machine
has landed beside a cathedral of all places! You have met up with some
of the locals and yes you’ve guessed it you want to find out how
important the cathedral is in the community.
Here are the questions you thought up, write down what they told you.
YOUR TIME MACHINE
1. This seems really strange to me but perhaps you can tell me why
everyone seems so religious around here? All I seem to hear is God
this and God that!
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_
2. I must say those
buildings are magnificent,
who do they belong to and
how can they afford to
build them?
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
-+________________________
3. You say that you have
worked on Canterbury
Cathedral. What is it like
and was it not dangerous?
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
4. I hear that the Cathedral
is also used as a market
place and a prison is this
true?
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
5. What ceremonies have you been involved in at the Cathedral?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
20
18
1. It owned land.
The Church owned many large areas of farmland. People who grew crops on this land had to give one
tenth of everything they grew to the Church. This was called the Tithe. This was a lot of crops for many
poor people to lose.
2. It controlled people’s beliefs.
The Church told people that when they died, their souls lived on either in Heaven or in Hell. Hell, they
said, was a place of great pain and suffering. The people were understandably frightened of going there.
So, the Church gave them hope. It said that after you die your soul goes first to a place called Purgatory,
where it would stay until any sins had been burnt away.
3. It was rich.
As you can imagine, people wanted to be in purgatory for the shortest possible time. The Church said
that you could shorten your stay in purgatory if you did several things.
These included:
These pardons were known as Indulgences.
The Church made a lot of money this way, as people - especially rich people - tried to buy their way to
heaven. The Church also made money through the Tithes.
4. It was not controlled by the King.
The Church was Roman Catholic and therefore was lead by the Pope. This meant that the King could not
tell anyone from the Church what to do. Even if a churchman committed a crime, they could not be tried
by a normal court, but instead were tried by fellow churchmen, who were often very lenient.
THE
POWER OF
THE
CHURCH
TASK
Use the
information that
you have gathered
to make a poster
based on the
diagram opposite.
21
LEVEL E KU
The Almoner
It is your job to
make sure the poor
in your area are well
cared for. You give
gifts of charity e.g.:
money, food of
clothes – to beggars
outside the gates
Nurse
You are a nun that
works in a medieval
hospital. It is your job
to wash and feed
patients you also make
and give medicines to
the sick. You often
have to help with the
burial of dead patients.
A Friar
You come from an
order of monks who
travelled
around
rather than setting up
monasteries. It is your
job to teach and
preach to all the
people you meets on
your journeys.
Craftsman.
It is your job to make
and repair all the
furniture used in the
Monastery.
The Cellarer
It is your job to
make sure there is
enough food for the
monks. You have to
look after the stores
and make sure they
last all year round.
The Abbot
You are the leader of
the Monastery. It is
your job to look after
the monks and make
sure they obey the rules
of the Monastery. You
will
also
receive
important guests who
come to the monastery.
Farmer
You are a monk who works the land given to the
Monastery by the rich. You are part of the
workforce that provides food for the monastery.
22
The illuminator
It is your job to copy
down the books in the
Monastery library. All
of this needs to be done
by hand. The first letter
on each page is often
very decorated and
contains many pictures.
Novice Master
It is your job to teach the
novices what they need
to know to become
monks. You will teach
the boys Latin (so they
can read and write) and
all about the Christian
faith and how to take
part in the monastery
services.
The Hospitaller
It is your job to make
sure all pilgrims to the
monastery and other
guests are well cared
for. You need to
provide
food
and
lodgings. You also find
medical care for those
that need it.
The Infirmarian
It is your job to care for the Nuns who become ill. You also
have to care for any old and sick people living at the nunnery.
The Preceptor
You
are
responsible for the
music making in
the monastery. It is
your job to train
the monks in plain
chant for the daily
services
and
prayers.
Knight Templar
You belong to a special order of
monks. It is your job to fight in the
Crusades in the Holy land. You are
expected to take care of the holy
shrines in Jerusalem.
23
The Abbess
You are the head
of the Nunnery. It
is your job to make
sure the Nuns are
doing their jobs
properly. You are
their to protect,
teach
and
discipline the nuns
in your care
Using all of the information over the
pages copy and complete the table.
LEVEL E KU
JOB TITLE
DESCRIPTION
OF DUTIES
DID THIS AFFECT
ORDINARY
PEOPLE?
24
FOUL FOOD !
WHAT DID PEOPLE EAT?
LEVEL E KU
MEAT
FISHING
The peasants relied mainly on pigs for
their regular supply of meat. As pigs
were capable of finding their own food
in summer and winter, they could be
slaughtered throughout the year. Pigs ate
acorns and as these were free from the
woods and forests, pigs were also cheap
to keep. Peasants also ate mutton. This
comes from sheep. But sheep and lambs
were small, thin creatures and their meat
was not highly valued. People also used
the blood of the dead animal to make a
dish called black pudding (blood, milk,
animal fat, onions and oatmeal).
Animals such as deer, boar, hares and
rabbits lived in woodland surrounding
most villages. These animals were the
property of the lord and villagers were
not allowed to hunt them. If they did and
were caught killing these animals, they
faced being punished by having their
hands cut off. However, many villages
did get permission from their lord to
hunt animals such as hedgehogs and
squirrels.
Lords might also
grant permission
for people in his
village to catch
dace, grayling and gudgeon
from the local river. Most
villages were built next to a
river so these could be a good
source of food even if they
were small. Trout and salmon
were for the lord only. Many
lords kept a large pond on their
estates filled with large fish. If
a peasant was caught stealing
from this, he would face a very
severe punishment.
BREAD
Most people in Scotland during
the Middle Ages had to make
their own food. Most people ate
bread. People preferred white
bread made from wheat flour.
However, only the richer farmers
and lords in villages were able to
grow the wheat needed to make
white bread. Wheat could only be
grown in soil that had received
generous amounts of manure, so
peasants usually grew rye and
barley instead. Rye and barley
produced dark, heavy bread.
Maslin bread was made from a
mixture of rye and wheat flour.
After a poor harvest, when grain
was in short supply, people were
forced to include beans, peas and
even acorns in their bread. Lords
of the manor did not allow
peasants on his land to bake their
bread in their own homes. All
peasants had to pay to use the
lord’s oven. How greedy was
that?
POTTAGE
People ate a great deal of pottage. This is a kind of soup-stew made from
oats. People made different kinds of pottage. Sometimes they added beans
and peas. On other occasions they used other vegetables such as turnips and
parsnips. Leek pottage was especially popular - but the crops used depended
on what a peasant had grown in the croft around the side of his home
ALE
The villagers drank water and
milk. The water from a river
was dirty and the milk did not
stay fresh for long. The main
drink was ale. It was difficult to
brew ale and the process took
time. People in most villagers
were not allowed to sell their
beer unless they firstly had
permission from their lord. To
get permission to sell ale at a
fair, you needed a license which
had to be paid for.
FOUL FOOD!
WHAT DID PEOPLE EAT?
In the Middle Ages the Church
had rules about what you could
(or could not) eat. Until the start
of the 13th century, for
example,
adults
were
‘forbidden four footed flesh’.
And no one was allowed meat
on a Friday – only fish. The
trouble was, people cheated. If
they couldn’t eat ‘four-footed
flesh’ then they ate large birds. Villagers ate the food that
When it came to sweet dishes they grew so if their crops
failed then they had no
the rich people ate all the sugar
they could get their teeth on …
food. Sometimes if
until the sugar rotted their teeth, peasants were desperate
of course. One flavour that was they might eat cats, dogs
popular then is rare now – the
and rats!
flavour of roses.
Rich people always had plenty to
eat. They ate fresh meat,
chickens and geese. Salted meat
was eaten in winter and boiled
in large cauldrons and served as
stew. Everybody drank cider,
beer and wine. Even children
drank beer for breakfast. Large
towns even had takeaway food!
You could buy delicious hot
thrushes, two for a penny, and a
tasty hot sheep's foot. They
would even deliver food to your
door. Some food sellers cheated
though. Many added sand to
their loaves and in one
disgusting case a loaf was found
that contained cobwebs.
ACTIVITIES
1. What was Bread like in the Middle Ages.
2. Make a list of the type of animals that were eaten.
3. What was the punishment for killing animals in the lord’s
forest?
4. Why was ale so popular during this period?
5. What was pottage?
6. What was the rule introduced by the Church and how did
people get round this?
7. What kind of things could you buy for a takeaway?
26
PLANS GOING WELL
THE
EDINBURGH FOR THE BIG FEAST
LOCAL BUTCHER
GAZETTE
YOUR GUIDE TO WHAT’S HAPPENING IN
SCOTLAND
The Manor House at
Morningside with
its large kitchen and
four huge fireplaces
is a hive of activity
today
in
preparation
for
the great feast
that takes place tomorrow. The Manor is
expecting a large number of visitors from all
over the country to celebrate the birthday of the
Lord. Joints of fresh meat, venison, chickens
and geese were delivered this morning and the
scullion boys are preparing the large fires and
spits where most of the meat is slowly turned
and cooked. After the first course of chicken
the guests are expected to delve into the meat
that has been salted all winter in order to ensure
that it stays fresh. The stew will be served in
big cauldrons. A variety of fish is also being
served. Ale and wine have also been delivered
in huge caskets.
COMPLAINTS OVER PRICE OF ALE
The Lord of the manor has
brewed ale and is expecting his
workers to buy it at a good price.
Complaints have been made by
locals suggesting that it is unfair that
he is selling it at a high price and that it is just
another form of tax. In response the Lord has
declared that the bachelors of the village are in
for a challenging treat. They can drink as much
of the ale as they want, free … so long as they
stand on their feet. If they sit down they will
have to pay.
2 PENCE
CONVICTED
Butchers will no longer be
allowed to sell meat by
candlelight. This is so the
customer can see what they
are getting! It follows
the trial of a local
butcher who has been
caught trying to sell
pork from a dead pig
he found in a ditch. He is to be fastened in
the pillory and will be forced to eat the
meat himself - a common punishment for
this sort of fraud. Last year the town had to
start checking bread after some were
bakers were found guilty of adding sand to
loaves, in one disgusting case, a loaf
contained cobwebs.
ANIMALS ON VERGE OF
EXTINCTION
The popularity of Bustards is becoming so
worrying that they may be on the verge of
extinction in Britain! Fancy a bit of red
meat on a Friday? Then eat a beaver! Not
Anymore! They are almost extinct.
Beavers use their tails for swimming, so
they could be called fish … cant they?
Remember the church forbids four legged
animals to be eaten on Fridays. For the
sake of your soul don’t break this order.
STOP PRESS STOP PRESS STOP PRESS
NEW TAKEAWAY OPENED 158 HIGH STREET
HOME DELIVERY AVAILABLE SPECIAL
OFFER ON THRUSHES – 2 FOR A PENNY
SHEEP’S FOOT ONLY 2 PENCE EACH!!
FOUL FOOD
WHAT DID PEOPLE EAT?
1. What types of food has been brought in to the House for preparation?
2. How is the meat A) Preserved B) Cooked?
3. How are the birds cooked?
4. What happened to the local butcher and why?
B) Can you think of an alternative punishment for him?
5. For what other reasons might you need to see the food you are going to buy?
6. What animals are on the verge of being wiped out?
7. Why did people eat beavers?
8. Why are the locals complaining about the price of Ale?
9. What has the Lord decided to do in response?
10. Complete the task below using all of the information that you have read about.
YOUR CANTEEN
ACTIVITY
Complete the table
opposite.
You are an owner of a
canteen in the middle
ages. Make up a poster to
advertise your canteen.
Remember you want to
make as much money as
possible so make it sound
good!
WHAT WE SELL
__________________________________
__________________________________
SPECIAL OFFERS ON
_________________________________
_________________________________
DELIVERY?
_________________________________
_________________________________
THE BEST QUALITY FOOD
DON’T GET CAUGHT OUT - DID YOU KNOW?
_________________________________
_________________________________
LEVEL E KU/ EV
WORK RENT TAXES TITHES
WORK RENT TAXES TITHES
The lifestyle of peasants in the Middle Ages was extremely hard and harsh. Many worked as
farmers in fields owned by the lords and their lives were controlled by the farming year. Certain
jobs had to be done at certain times of the year. Their lives were harsh but there were few
rebellions due to a harsh system of law and order. The peasants were at the bottom of the Feudal
System and had to obey their local lord to whom they had sworn an oath of obedience on the
Bible. Because they had sworn an oath to their lord, it was taken for granted that they had sworn
a similar oath to the duke, earl or baron who owned that lord’s property.
SOURCE 1. The position of the peasant was made clear by Jean Froissart when he wrote:
It is for the nobility to have great power over the common people, who are serfs. This means that
they are bound by law and custom to plough the field of their masters, harvest the corn, gather it
into barns, and thresh and winnow the grain; they must also mow and carry home the hay, cut and
collect wood, and perform all manner of tasks of this kind. (Written in 1395)
The peasants had to pay rent for his land to his lord and also
pay a tax to the church called a tithe. This was a tax on all of
the farm produce he had produced in that year. A tithe was
10% of the value of what he had farmed.
A peasant could pay in cash or in kind – seeds, equipment or
even food. Either ways, tithes were a deeply unpopular tax.
The church collected so much produce from this tax that it
had to be stored in huge tithe barns. Some of these barns can
still be seen today.
Peasants also had to work for free on church land. The power
of the church was such that no-one dared break this rule as
they had been taught from a very early age that God would
see their sins and punish them.
After taxes, rent, tithes and work peasants could keep what
was left – which was not a great deal. Giving away seeds
could be especially hard as peasants might end up with not
having enough to grow let alone to feed themselves.
A tithe barn from the middle
age
29
ACTIVITIES LEVEL E KU / ES
1. Box one states that the life of a peasant
was harsh. Why then did the peasants not
revolt?
2. What did the oath of obedience mean for
the peasants?
3. Using source 1 make a list of bullet points
explaining what the peasants had to do?
4. What was the tithe and how much was this?
5. Why was the tithe such an unpopular tax?
6. Why did peasants not complain about
working for the church for free?
THE LIFE OF A PEASANT
The lives of peasant children would have
been very different compared to today.
They would not have attended school for
a start. Very many would have died
before they were six months old, as
disease would have been very common.
As soon as was possible, children joined
their parents working on the land. They
could not do any major physical work but
they could clear stones off the land –
which might damage farming tools – and
they could be used to chase birds away
during the time when seeds were sown.
Peasant children could only looked
forward to a life of great hardship.
Copy and complete the table
ticking the correct box.
The children of peasants had a good
life.
The children would do all of the
heavy jobs on the farms.
Many children died before the age of
one year old.
Most of the children at the time
would have been well educated
30
TRUE OR
FALSE
LEVEL E
KU / EV
A CRUCK HOUSE
Peasants lived in cruck houses. These had a wooden frame onto
which was plastered wattle and daub. This was a mixture of mud,
straw and manure. The straw added insulation to the wall while the
manure was considered good for binding the whole mixture
together and giving it strength. The mixture was left to dry in the
sun and formed what was a strong building material. Cruck houses
were not big but repairs were quite cheap and easy to do. The roofs
were thatched. There would be little furniture within the cruck
houses and straw would be used for lining the floor. The houses are
likely to have been very hot in the summer and very cold in the
winter. Windows were just holes in the walls as glass was very
expensive. Doors might be covered with a curtain rather than
having a door as good wood could be expensive.
WHAT ABOUT THE ANIMALS!
At night, peasants animals would be brought inside
for safety. There were a number of reasons for this.
First, wild animals roamed the countryside.
Scotland still had wolves and bears in the forests
and these could easily have taken a pig, cow or
chickens. The loss of any animal could be a disaster
but the loss of valuable animals such as an ox would
be a calamity. They could also have been stolen or
simply have wandered off. If they were inside your
house this would not happen and they were safe.
However, they must have made the house even
more dirty than it usually would have been, as none
of these animals would have been house-trained.
They would have also brought in fleas and parasites,
increasing the unhygienic nature of the house.
Families would have cooked and slept in the same
room as the animals.
HEY, LET ME
IN ITS COLD
OUT HERE!
ACTIVITIES
1. Draw a picture of a cruck house and label it using the
information in the box. Use as much detail as you can.
2. Why were animals so important to the peasants?
3. What did the peasants do with their animals at night?
4. What problems did this cause?
31
LEVEL E KU/ EV
The houses would have had none of the things we accept as normal today – no running water, no toilets,
no baths and washing basins. Soap was unheard of as was shampoo. People would have been covered
with dirt, fleas and lice. Beds were simply straw stuffed mattresses and these would have attracted lice,
fleas and all types of bugs. Your toilet would have been a bucket which would have been emptied into
the nearest river at the start of the day.
Water had a number of purposes for peasants –
cooking, washing etc. Unfortunately, the water
usually came from the same source. A local
river, stream or well provided a village with
water but this water source was also used as a
way of getting rid of your waste at the start of
the day. It was usually the job of a wife to
collect water first thing in the morning. Water
was collected in wooden buckets. Villages that
had access to a well could simply wind up their
water from the well itself. A rich person might
have a bath just several times a year but to make
life easier, several people might use the water
before it was got rid of! It was said that a
peasant could expect to be fully bathed just
twice in their life; once, when they were born
and when they had died! Face and hand washing
was more common but knowledge of hygiene
was non-existent. No-one knew that germs
could be spread by dirty hands.
Copy and complete the passage below filling in
the blanks as appropriate.
Washed
toilets poured
flies
person
life
hygiene
wife
One of the problems with living in a cruck house was the lack of __________. People very rarely
_________and would be covered with dirt, lice and ________. These carried disease and this would easily
spread from person to _______. There were no _________ and people used buckets. Again this could also
caused disease because the waste was _________ into the local rivers that people used for drinking. It was
usually the job of the ______ to collect the water from the river. At that time people did not realize that there
was a link between health and hygiene and as a result people did not wash often. In fact it was common for
people to go through their whole ______ having just two baths.
32
THE FARMING YEAR OF A PEASANT
MONTH
Work that needed to be done
Weather the farmer wanted
JANUARY
MENDING AND MAKING TOOLS,
REPAIRING FENCES
SHOWERS
FEBRUARY
CARTING MANURE AND MARL
SHOWERS
MARCH
PLOUGHING AND SPREADING MANURE
DRY, NO SEVERE FROSTS
APRIL
SPRING SOWING OF SEEDS,
HARROWING
SHOWERS AND SUNSHINE
MAY
DIGGING DITCHES, FIRST PLOUGHING
OF FALLOW FIELDS
SHOWERS AND SUNSHINE
JUNE
HAY MAKING, SECOND PLOUGHING OF
FALLOW FIELD, SHEEP-SHEARING
DRY WEATHER
JULY
HAY MAKING, SHEEP-SHEARING,
WEEDING OF CROPS
DRY EARLY, SHOWERS
LATER
AUGUST
HARVESTING
WARM, DRY WEATHER
SEPTEMBER
THRESHING, PLOUGHING AND PRUNING
FRUIT TREES
SHOWERS
OCTOBER
LAST PLOUGHING OF THE YEAR
DRY, NO SEVERE FROSTS
NOVEMBER
COLLECTING ACORNS FOR PIGS
SHOWERS AND SUNSHINE
DECEMBER
MENDING AND MAKING TOOLS,
KILLING ANIMALS
SHOWERS AND SUNSHINE
33
LEVEL E INVESTIGATING
The land that was owned by the lord was
called the manor. A manor consisted of
a village with land around it. The
peasants lived in the village, which was
surrounded by three large fields. Each
field was divided into long strips. A
peasant would farm strips in each of the
fields. This made sure that everyone had
a share of the good land and the bad
land. The strips were divided by mounds
of earth or by rocks. Each year, the
peasants changed the crops they grew in
each field. This was called crop
rotation. Have a look at the table below
to see how it worked.
Source 1: Crop Rotation
YEAR
1
2
3
NORTH FIELD
Fallow
Barley
Wheat
WEST FIELD
Barley
Wheat
Fallow
SOUTH FIELD
Wheat
Fallow
Barley
Every year, one field was left fallow, or empty, so that the soil could get its goodness back.
Strip farming meant that peasants had to work together. A whole field would be sown and harvested, and
each peasant worked closely with his neighbour to get his work done. The other land around the village was
also important. People collected wood from the woodland; their animals grazed on the common land, fish
could be collected from the river, which was also used for washing and cooking. The land around the village
supplied the peasants with nuts, berries and mushrooms.
As you know, peasants lived on the manor in cruck-houses. Their house would have a small garden, where
vegetables like carrots and cabbages could be grown. The peasants usually built their own house, and had
very few possessions. They would have some animals like pigs, sheep, cows and chickens, but other than
their day-to-day tools and equipment, they owned very little.
Keywords!
34
Source 3: A Peasants food for the day.
Source 4 A Peasants possessions.
6 a.m – Breakfast. Coarse black bread, with ale
to drink.
10 a.m – Dinner. Coarse black bread, eggs and
cheese,
with ale to drink.
4 p.m – Supper. Coarse black bread, pottage (a
thick soup of vegetables and sometimes meat),
with ale to drink.
-house
cover the floor & to use as
mattress
1. On your own copy of the Medieval manor map, below add the following
labels: Woodland, River, Road. Then, draw and label a church, tithe
barn, water mill and cottages. Finally, add colour.
Source 2: A Cruckhouse
2. a) Copy and complete the paragraph:
A Village had __________ fields around it. Each field was divided into
______ and each strip was farmed by a ________. Different crops were
grown in each field, and every year the Peasants changed the crops they
grew. This is called _______ _________. One field was always left
________ so that the soil could get its goodness back.
b) Make your own copy of source 1.
3. The Woodland, River, Common land and land around the village were important too. Make a list of each
area of land and give reasons why it was important. E.g. The River was important for cooking and washing
and for collecting fish.
4. Look at source 4. List all the items that a
peasant would own.
5. Look at source 3. What did a Peasant eat for:
a) Breakfast? b) Dinner? c) Supper?
d) What kinds of meat did they eat?
e) How did they keep meat fresh?
35
LEVEL E EV
Very few people cared about the poor during the Middle ages and the lifestyle of peasants was harsh
with no structured support services available to them if things went wrong - though a local monastery
or convent might help though this depended on the abbot or mother superior in charge.
This is a poem called "The Crede of Piers the Ploughman". It was written by William Langland about
600 years ago. It must be remembered that few people could read or write when Langland lived, so
very few people would have read this poem. Some estates had a reeve employed to ensure that
peasants worked well and did not steal from a lord.
SOURCE A
"The Crede of Piers the Ploughman". W Langland
SOURCE B
Written by Walter of Henley in 1275
"As I went on my way,
I saw a poor man over the plough bending.
His hood was full of holes,
And his hair was sticking out,
His shoes were patched.
His toes peeped out as he the ground trod.
His wife walked by him
In a skirt cut full and high.
Wrapped in a sheet to keep her from the weather.
Bare foot on the bare ice
So that the blood flowed.
At the field’s end lay a little bowl,
And in there lay a little child wrapped in rags
And two more of two years old upon another side.
And all of them sang a song
That was sorrowful to hear.
The all cried a cry,
A sorrowful note.
And the poor man sighed sore and said
"Children be still."
Let the reeve be all the time with
the serfs (peasants) in the lord's
fields.....because serfs neglect
their work and it is necessary to
guard against their fraud......the
reeve
must
oversee
all
work...........if they (serfs) do not
work well, let them be punished.
Questions
1. In your own words describe what the life of the poor was like according to William Langland.
2. This is a sad poem. Which words and phrases make it sad?
3. Using your knowledge of the poor, is this poem by Langland accurate? Explain your answer.
4. One writer called life then "nasty, brutal and short". Does the poem by Langland agree with this
description ? Explain your answer.
SOURCE B
1. What is the attitude of the Lord towards the Peasants?
2. What was the job of the reeve?
36
Decision Making
Where to locate a
business?
IVESTIGATING PLANNING
PROBLEM SOLVING
LEVEL E
Help me decide
where to set up my
business. Look at
the map and use the
descriptions to
complete the table
over the page.
TOWN
Town A
Town B
Town C
Town D
Town E
DESCRIPTION
Situated near a bridge which crosses a river. It is a small town with a low population. It has a
small market held twice a week. It is quite a poor town with little money, but it is near a
number of villages
Situated on the coast near to the sea. A main feature of the town is its castle. The town is
built around the castle which is on a hill overlooking both the coast and inland areas. The
town does not have a market, but it does have a number of tradesmen who depend upon
the castle for most of their business. It has a medium size population. The town has a
quarry nearby.
Also has a Bridge over the river. Its main feature is a large and important Monastery which
is visited by many pilgrims. The town has a small but busy market. The main problem for the
town is that it is often affected by disease brought by the pilgrims. This affects trade.
Situated in a country area on a main road to other larger settlements. It has a population
that changes all the time. A small number of Rich people live in the area and a market is
held three times a week. The town is surrounded by flat well watered land. The main
problem is that the town is often affected by disease.
Situated on a busy crossroads. Many pilgrims and other visitors pass through the town. The
population is very small and it only holds a market once a week. It has a large number of
small villages nearby who use the town as a point of trade.
Decision Making
Where to locate a
business?
LEVEL E
You are an Apothecary
Your job was to mix and sell medicines, making them out of herbs
and other ingredients. You have worked all over Europe and you
are well known especially among the rich. Since you use herbs
and spices your cures have been very successful.
.
You are a Miller
A Miller was a person who ground up grain to make flour. Once
you make the flour, you sell it to people so that they can make
bread. You have decided to move to an area that requires a
miller so that you can make more money.
You are a Goldsmith.
A Goldsmith was a person who made jewellery, fine tableware and other
precious objects. You have customers all over the country but now want to
settle down.
You are a Blacksmith.
A Blacksmith was a person who made and repaired iron objects, like
tools and cooking pots. You could make weapons and horse shoes.
You are a Mason.
A Mason was a person who used heavy mallets and chisels to cut
stone blocks into shape. You would work on monasteries castles and
cathedrals. You are in demand especially from the rich and the church.
You are a Spicer.
A Spicer was a person who sold spices. You sell to shops
especially butchers but you also sell to individuals at the market
place. Your spices are used by the rich especially when banquets
are being held. Your specialty is in preserving meat.
IVESTIGATING
PROBLEM SOLVING
LEVEL E
Complete the table below
PICTURE
WHO
AM I
WHAT DO I
DO
Apothecary
I MAKE
MEDICINES
TO CURE
PEOPLE
FROM
DISEASES
SITE
CHOSEN
Miller
Goldsmith
Blacksmith.
Mason.
Spicer
39
MAIN
REASON
OTHER REASONS
A MEDIEVAL TOWN
TOWNS IN BRITAIN
There were few towns in
Medieval Britain and those
that existed were very small by
our standards. Most people
during the Middle Ages were
village peasants but religious
centres did attract people and
many developed into towns or
cities.
Outside of London, the largest
towns in were the cathedral
cities of Lincoln, Canterbury,
Chichester,
York,
Bath,
Hereford and in Scotland it
was Edinburgh, Stirling and
Glasgow. That many of these
cities were big can be
explained simply because they were cathedral cities.
These cities attracted all manner of people but especially
traders and pilgrims. The Domesday Book of 1087 only
included six towns in its enquiry. By the time of the
Middle Ages we do not have accurate figures for these
towns and cities as no count was ever made of population
and the figure would have changed throughout the year
in all large towns and cities. It is estimated that about ten
percent of the population lived in towns and cities during
the Middle Ages.
VISITING THE TOWN
Village people came to towns to
trade therefore those who were in
charge of a town had to do what
was needed to ensure that their
town was safe. Many towns had
large fences built around them and
the gates of these fences were
locked at night to keep out undesirables. Cities such as
York and Canterbury had city walls that served the
same purpose - but a town would not have had enough
wealth to build such an expensive protection.
Successful towns attracted many merchants to it.
Medieval houses that exist today appear odd in that
they have a small ground floor, a larger second floor
and an even larger top floor as builders built up and
out. This kept the cost down The shops also doubled as
a home for the craftsman that worked in it. A sign
outside of the shop showed people what that person did
for a living. Signs had to be used as so few people
could read or write.
A ROYAL CHARTER
A charter gave people in a town certain
rights that were clearly stated in the
charter that town had. Many charters
gave towns the right to collect their own
taxes thus removing corrupt sheriffs from doing so. It
was also common for a town to ask for its own law
court so that legal problems could be settled quickly.
SAFETY?
As homes were made of Royal Charters would be given by the King.
wood, fire was another
HOW CLEAN WERE THE TOWNS?
danger in a town or city.
Walking in a town at night
Towns were dirty places to live in.
could also be dangerous.
There was no sewage system as we
Though towns had a curfew
would know it today. Many people threw
(a time when everyone had
toilet waste into the street along with
to be in their homes) no town
other rubbish. Rats were very
had a police force to deal
common in towns and cities and lead
with those who broke the to the Black Death of 1348 to 1349. Towns might use
law. No town had street pigs to eat what rubbish there was. Water was far from
lights - the only choice was clean as a local river would have been polluted with
candles but in a wooden city toilet waste thrown into it from villages both upstream
or town, these ‘street lights’ and downstream. Therefore, as people would have used
could prove disastrous.
this as a source of water (they had no other choice) and
because people knew little about health and hygiene,
disease was common. Life expectancy could be short.
A MEDIEVAL TOWN
LEVEL E KU
Your Teacher will read through this short play with you. It will give you an idea of what it was like to visit a
town in the Middle Ages.
Presenter – Hello this is ________. I am going to take you on a tour of Chichester. You cannot mistake the town. Even from here I
can see the walls and the great spire of the church. Why walls? Well there was plenty of fighting in the Middle Ages and they needed
protection. They could also control who came in and went out by controlling the gate. Let’s go in through the gate.
Market seller 1.Come and buy your silken hose only 2 pence.
Market seller 2 Capons plump capons only 3 pence each.
Market seller 3. Cherry pie lovely cherry pie only 4 pence, come and buy your cherry pie.
Market seller 4. Come and get your goose grease, get your goose grease here now only 5 pence, help ease those sores!!
Presenter – What a noise, and we’re not in the town yet. These traders are getting to the customers first and not paying rent for the
stalls. Clever eh!
Guard – Good Morning young ones. Welcome to the town of Chichester. Don’t forget that the gates to the town close at sun down.
Presenter – No ,I won’t. It’s dark here – the houses almost touch each other at the top and block out the sunlight
Presenter - Watch it woman!! She has just thrown the contents of the Chamber pots all over me! No wonder there is a terrible smell
in this town. Watch where you are walking everybody. There are even pigs sniffing around. People seem to be hurrying towards
somewhere. I will try to find out what is going on, follow me!
Presenter – What is happening?
Passer By - Why young Sir / Madam it is the Town Crier. If you and your group don’t hurry you will miss the announcements! All
the important messages for the people of this town will be read out by the town crier.
Presenter – There is quite a crowd straightahead by the cross. Oh look there is the town crier mounting the steps now!
Town Crier – Oyez, Oyez, Oyez, Hear Ye , Hear Ye. Good people of Chichester. The news on this day is that there are pickpockets
in this town of Chichester. Look after your belongings, and keep all valuables safely with you at all times. If we catch these
pickpockets their punishment will be the chopping off of one hand. So if pickpockets are listening now you have been warned! I
notice a large group in the crowd, be very careful!
Presenter – Right we had better be careful everyone. Lets move on around the town.
Market Seller – Water, pure water. Clean water, fresh from a spring. Water, water come and buy your water.
Presenter – Hello can I have 19 bottles of your finest spring water please, here 19 pence should cover the cost, thank you. Right drink
up we need to think about leaving the town now, if we don’t leave before sunset we get locked in the town for the night, and I don’t
know about you lot but I don’t fancy staying out all night, there will be beggars and thieves around no doubt about that!
Snobby man – Out of my way fellow, out of my way can’t you see I am busy, clear the way.
Presenter – Hey look out. You nearly knocked me over then. He was a posh looking fellow was’nt he full of his own importance
though, very rude. Right we have to find a way out of here now. Oh look there is a Punch and Judy show down there, at least it is
better than bear baiting, come on we will try down here.
Presenter – I will ask this person how we get can get out of the town. Excuse me can you tell me in which direction we have to go to
leave this town? Can you direct me to the Eastgate please.
Helpful person – Why good sir / madam it just behind you. But if you want to leave Chichester tonight you and your group will have
to hurry. The keepers close the gate promptly at 6 of the clock and it is nigh that now. So quickly go just behind you.
Guard – You and your group have just made it Sir. I have already got my keys out, you were all close to spending the night in the
town, and unless you had somewhere to stay it could have been a very nasty night for you.
Presenter – Why is there a hand nailed to the gate Guard?
Guard – Oh well, we caught one of the pickpockets earlier on today, lets hope that it acts as a deterrent for any other would be
pickpockets, Chichester does not want them! Now God Speed, come again!
Presenter – Well I hope you enjoyed our brief tour of the town of Chichester. It is certainly very different from today! As for me I
prefer 2004 to 1397. At least you don’t get a chamber pot tipped all over you!
41
LEVEL E KU
A MEDIEVAL TOWN
SUB HEADING 1 – MIDDLE AGE TOWNS IN BRITAIN
1. Why were towns small in the middle Ages?
2. What were the main reasons for people going to the towns?
3. Make a list of some of the main towns at the time.
4. Draw a Pie Chart showing the distribution of population during the Middle
Ages.
SUB HEADING 2 – LIFE IN THE TOWN
1. How safe were towns in the middle ages? Explain your answer in detail.
2. What did towns do to for protection?
3. How could you tell if a town was successful?
4. What seems odd about Middle Age Housing in towns?
5. Why were signs used instead of words in the towns?
6. Draw a sign for the a) Baker b) Butcher c) Blacksmith d) Barber e) Ale House
SUB HEADING 2 – CLEANLINESS
1. Using the information you have read over the page complete the diagram below giving all of
the reasons why the towns were unpleasant places to live.
42
LEVEL E ES
USING SOURCES
What were medieval towns like?
How clean were medieval
towns?
Medieval towns were small, dirty and smelly places.
Parliament passed laws to clean up the towns. But
people did not take much notice of these new laws.
They still threw their waste into the streets. The
sources below help us to understand what towns were
like in medieval times:
A
Ebgate Lane used to be a
public path until Thomas
White built toilets on the
first floor of the houses.
The filth from these toilets
fell onto the heads of the
passers-by.
From Court records of 1321
B
The streets and lanes
must be cleared of
objects such as dung.
Each person must
clean away the filth
from the front of his
house.
From the White Book
of London in 1419. It
was a book of rules to
clean up the streets.
C
The floors of the
houses are made of
clay covered with
straw. Under this
there are layers of
dirt which have
never been
cleaned. The dirt is
a mixture of beer,
Grease, bones and
the body waste of
men and animals.
Written by a foreign
visitor to London in
the early 1500s.
1. In Source A, why was it risky for people to walk along the lane next to the houses?
2. The houses and streets in Source B and C were very different from our houses and
streets. Write down two things about them which were different:
3. Source C was written a long time after Source B. How do we know from Source C that
the rules in Source B did not work?
4. There was a lot of disease in medieval towns. Why do you think disease spread so quickly?
43
LEVEL E
Keep in mind that this little creature was
responsible for what you are about to read!
WHAT WAS THE BLACK DEATH?
In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. Plague mainly affects rodents,
but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly.
Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes, which is how it gets its
name. The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black. Since China was one
of the busiest of the world's trading nations, it was only a matter of time before the outbreak of plague in
China spread to western Asia and Europe. In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned
from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China. When the ships docked in Sicily, many
of those on board were already dying of plague. Within days the disease spread to the city and the
surrounding countryside.
SOURCE 1
An eyewitness tells what happened in 1347
"Realizing what a deadly disaster had
come to them, the people quickly
drove the Italians from their city. But
the disease remained, and soon death
was everywhere. Fathers abandoned
their sick sons. Lawyers refused to
come and make out wills for the
dying. Friars and nuns were left to
care for the sick, and monasteries
and convents were soon deserted, as
they were stricken, too. Bodies were
left in empty houses, and there was
no one to give them a Christian
burial."
BUBONIC
SYMPTOMS
Swellings blotches sneezing
high temperature.
OUTCOME
Death in 5 – 7 days. Possible
to recover from this.
SOURCE 2
The Italian writer
Boccaccio explains
how the disease
“It’s
ate
struckvictims
and killed
lunch with
withterrible
their
people
speed.
said
its
friends and
victims
often
dinner
with
their
ancestors in
paradise."
SOURCE 3
A contemporary writer states
"The first signs of the
plague were lumps in the
groin or armpits. After
this, livid black spots
appeared on the arms and
thighs and other parts of
the body. Few recovered.
Almost all died within
three
days,
usually
without any fever."
THE 3 TYPES OF PLAGUE
PNEUMONIC
SYMPTOMS
Attacked lungs pain in chest spitting
of blood highly infectious. Passed
through a patients breath.
OUTCOME
DEATH IN TWO DAYS
SEPTICAEMIC
SYMPTOMS
Infection of blood. Sudden
agonising pain.
OUTCOME
FATAL. DEATH
WITHIN A FEW HOURS
Keep in mind that this little creature was
responsible for what you are about to read!
LEVEL E
1. Make a diagram to Explain how the Plague spread to Europe.
2. Describe the reactions of some of the citizens when they heard of the Plague?
3. Copy out Source 2 and explain what point it the writer is trying to make.
4. Write down the symptoms of the each type of Plague.
5. Match up the letter with the correct plague.
STATEMENT
A. Many people who were healthy in the
morning, before mid day were snatched
from human affairs.
B. Men suffer in their lungs and breathing
and whoever has these corrupted even
slightly cannot by any means escape.
C. The victim complains, either of a blotch
or a purple swelling on any part of his
body, or falls otherwise dangerously sick.
TYPE OF PLAGUE
45
EVALUATING & INVESTIGATING LEVEL E
SOURCE 1
Information Box 1
Lack of medical
knowledge
meant
that people tried
anything to help
them escape the
disease. One of the
more extreme was
the flagellants. These
people wanted to
show their love of
God by whipping
themselves, hoping
that God would
forgive them for
their sins and that
they would be spared
the Black Death.
Source 2. From a
History textbook.
The filth that littered
streets gave rats the
perfect environment to
breed and increase
their number. It is
commonly
thought
that it was the rats that
caused the disease.
This is not true – the
fleas
did
this.
However, it was the
rats that enabled the
disease to spread very
quickly and the filth in
the streets of our
towns and cities did
not help to stop the
spread of the disease.
INFORMATION BOX 2
In towns and cities people lived very close together and they knew nothing about contagious diseases.
Also the disposal of bodies was very crude and helped to spread the disease still further as those who
handled the dead bodies did not protect themselves in any way.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Draw your own diagram of how the Black Death spreads.
According to box 1 why was the plague spread.
Who were the Flagellants?
Is source 2 useful as evidence of how the plague spread?
What does box three say about the spread of the disease?
46
EVALUATING & INVESTIGATING LEVEL E
The Plague probably began in China. Many people visited China to buy and sell goods and they
travelled there and back along the trade routes. When they came back to Europe they brought the
Plague with them.
In 1347 the Disease reached the port of Kaffa in the Crimea. This Port belonged to the Italian town
of Genoa. When the Black Death broke out in Kaffa the Italian traders were terrified. They were so
frightened that they sailed back to Italy, hoping that they might escape the Plague
Within a few years the disease reached all of the major towns in Europe. Paris, London Vienna,
York, Birmingham, Florence and Milan.
MAP 1
MAP 2
Your Teacher will give you a copy of Map One Fill it in and stick it in your jotter
using the information below. Put some colour into your Map using the information in
KAFFA January, 1347
G ----January, 1348
p ---- June, 1348
Y ---May, 1349
SICILY October, 1347
V ----- Januarys 1348
B ------ June, 1348
SCOTLAND
m---------December 1347
F ------- Spring 1348
L ----- January, 1349
Spring 1350
Map 2.
IMPACT OF THE PLAGUE
The Black Death was to kill 1.5 million people out of an estimated total of 4 million in Scotland and
England between 1348 and 1350. No medical knowledge existed to cope with the disease. After 1350, it
was to strike another six times by the end of the century. Understandably, peasants were terrified at the
news that the Black Death might be approaching their village or town. Its impact on society from 1348 to
1350 was terrible. No amount of medical knowledge could help when the bubonic plague struck. It was
also to have a major impact on social structures which lead to the Peasants Revolt of 1381.
SOURCE 1
SOURCE 2. The Black Death had a huge impact on society
DISASTER STRIKES
Estimated population of
Europe from 1000 to 1352.
1000 38 million
1100 48 million
1200 59 million
1300 70 million
1347 75 million
1352 50 million
ACTIVITIES
Fields went unploughed as the men who usually did this were victims of
the disease.
Harvests were not brought in as the manpower did not exist.
Animals would have been lost as the people in a village would not have
been around to tend them.
Therefore whole villages would have faced starvation. Towns and cities
would have faced food shortages as the villages that surrounded them
could not provide them with enough food..
One consequence of the Black Death was inflation – the price of food
went up creating more hardship for the poor. In some parts of England,
food prices went up by four times.
Peasants could demand higher wages as they knew that a lord was
desperate to get in his harvest.
1. How many people died from the Black Death between the years 1348 and 1350?
2. Using the Information in source 1 draw a line graph - headed “European
Population 1100 – 1352 (In millions)”. On the left of your graph start at 0 and go up in
10’s. Along the base of your graph put in the dates as indicated in the box. Highlight the
years of the Black Death and indicate beside the line on the graph what is happening.
3. Complete this
The Price of food went up because…..
Wages went up because….
People went hungry and even starved because….
Animals were lost because….
48
As you are aware people were so frightened of the
Black Death that they prayed to God for
forgiveness. People believed that perhaps it was
their sins that caused them to be punished from
God. Others, like the flagellants whipped
themselves in public to show God that they were
sorry. The Black Death continued and people
looked for a Scapegoat (someone to blame). The
Jews, because of their different religion and culture
were a perfect target. In Europe and especially in
Germany Jews were blamed for poisoning the water
supplies with plague infected liquid. The confession
of Agimet of Geneva on October 20, 1348 gave
authorities the excuse they wanted.
The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry St. Valentine's Day, February 14
1349 - About The Great Plague And The Burning Of The Jews.
These sources come from an eyewitness account of what happened to Jews in Germany in 1349 after one
Jew confessed under severe torture to the crime of poisoning a well and thus spreading the plague.
In Basel the citizens marched to the city-hall and compelled the council to take an oath that they would burn
the Jews, and that they would allow no Jew to enter the city for the next two hundred years …… and wherever
they were expelled they were caught by the peasants and stabbed to death or drowned. . . .
On St. Valentine's Day-they burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about two
thousand of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared. Some say that about a thousand
accepted baptism. Many small children were taken out of the fire and baptized against the will of their parents.
Everything that was owed to the Jews was cancelled. The council took the cash that the Jews owned and
divided it among the working-men. The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. If they had been poor
and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt. Some gave their share to
the Church on the advice of their confessors.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What is meant by a Scapegoat? B) Why were Jews a perfect target?
What two things were the council forced to do to the Jews?
What happened to the Jews on Valentines Day?
Were all of these Jews killed?
What is meant by “the money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews”?
EVALUATING LEVEL E
PRIMARY SOURCE 1
PRIMARY SOURCE 2
“Some shut themselves
away and waited for
death, others rioted
from tavern to tavern.
The sickness fell upon
all classes
without
distinction. The rich
passed out of this world
without a single person
to comfort them. The
poor fell sick by the
thousand and most of
them died. The terror
was such that brother
even fled from brother,
wife from husband, yea
the mother from her
own child.”
Peasants dropped dead on
the roads, in the fields, and
in their houses. Oxen and
sheep, goats, pigs, and
chickens ran wild and also
succumbed to the disease.
Sheep, bearers of the
precious English wool, died
throughout
the
land.
Knighton reported 5,000
dead in one field alone,
"their bodies so disgusting
that neither beast nor bird
would touch them." Hungry
wolves, descending from
the mountains to prey on
sheep, "as if alarmed by
some invisible warning,
turned and fled back into the
wilderness."
1. Plague infected flea bites
victim.
5. Victim feels giddy appears dazed
and begins to talk wildly.
2. Victim develops fever and
pain.
6. Swollen glands appear in groins
and armpits or neck called buboes.
3. Victim feels tired and weak
but finds it difficult to sleep.
7. Bleeding under the skin causes
blue black or purple blotches.
4. Body temperature increases.
8. Red rash with small red spots
appear on buboes.
DEATH
50
EVALUATING LEVEL E
Put the heading in your workbook Symptoms of the Plague.
1. How long did it take someone to die from the plague?
2. What were the chances of someone surviving the plague?
3. Imagine that you are a monk and that you have just visited someone who has the
plague. Make a diary entry about what happened to the person, what the person
was saying and how the person looked. YOU CAN DECIDE WHAT
HAPPENS TO YOUR PATIENT!
4.
a) Draw the outline of a person in your
workbook.
b) Highlight the main areas of the body
that would affected by the plague.
c) Label at some of the main symptoms
of the plague on the body that you
have put into your jotter.
5. Give three pieces of evidence from Source 1 that
shows that the plague caused widespread fear and
panic.
6. “The sickness fell upon all classes without distinction”. What does this mean?
7. What impact did the plague have on animals?
8. What evidence in source 2 tells us that even the wolves were frightened of the
disease?
51
LEVEL E EV
Healing the Sick?
If you were an ordinary doctor what could you do?
You could wear your special protective suit. The nose of this
frightening looking costume was supposed to act as a filter,
as it was filled with perfumes and what were thought of as
cleaning vapours. The lenses were glass and protected the
eyes from bad air (miasma). You were protected with gloves
and a long robe as well as boots. You could make sure your
patient had sweet smelling perfumes and herbs around to get
rid of bad smells, you could try bleeding them. These outfits
were known as Quacks.
The Black Death
Vinegar and water
treatment
Patients must be put to bed. They should be washed with vinegar and rose water
Lancing the
buboes
The swellings should be cut open to allow the disease to leave the body. A mixture of
tree resin, roots of white lilies and dried human excrement should be applied to the
places where the body has been cut open.
Bleeding
The disease must be in the blood. The veins leading to the heart should be cut open. This
will allow the disease to leave the body. An ointment made of clay and violets should be
applied to the place where the cuts have been made.
Diet
We should not eat food that goes off easily and smells badly such as meat, cheese and
fish. Instead we should eat bread, fruit and vegetables
Sanitation
The streets should be cleaned of all human and animal waste. It should be taken by a cart
to a field outside of the village and burnt. All bodies should be buried in deep pits outside
of the village and their clothes should also be burnt.
Pestilence
medicine
Roast the shells of newly laid eggs. Ground the roasted shells into a powder. Chop up the
leaves and of marigold flowers. Put the egg shells and marigolds into a pot of ale. Add
treacle and warm over up. Patients should drink this mixture every morning and night.
Witchcraft
Place a live hen next to the swelling to draw out the pestilence from the body. To aid
recovery you should drink a glass of your own urine twice a day.
1. Draw a picture of the Doctor at the top of the page label your drawing.
2. Copy and complete the table below.
CURE
GOOD CURE
BAD CURE
52
NO DIFFERENCE
REASON
A MESSAGE FROM YOUR KING
How to avoid the plague
1. Avoid breathing in the same air as a plague victim.
2. Sit next to a blazing hot fire, (it worked for the Pope in the summer of
1348).
3. Live in a house sheltered from the wind and keep the window closed.
4. Attack foreigners and people of a different religion. (Twenty thousand
Jews were burned to death in Strasbourg in 1348).
6. You could walk around carrying flowers, herbs or spices, which you
would often raise to your nose.
7. Go to church and ask for forgiveness.
8. Go on a pilgrimage. Punish yourself by joining the flagellants.
9. . “No poultry should be eaten, no pig, no old beef, altogether no fat
meat. ...It is injurious to sleep during the daytime... Fish should not be
eaten, and nothing should be cooked in rainwater.
10. “In the first place no man should think on death.... Nothing should
distress him, but all his thoughts should be directed to pleasing, agreeable
and delicious things... Beautiful landscapes, fine gardens should be
visited, particularly when aromatic plants are flowering.... Listening to
beautiful, melodious songs is wholesome. The contemplating of gold and
silver and other precious stones is comforting to the heart.”
Task
Can you create a poster advertising ways of avoiding the
plague? Use colour and remember not to use any words
about germs – they didn’t know about them.
53
LEVEL E KU
Medicine in the Middle Ages
No one knew what caused diseases in the Middle Ages. There was no
knowledge of germs. Medieval peasants had been taught that any illness was
a punishment from God for sinful behaviour. The fact that people lived so close
together in both villages and towns meant that contagious diseases could be
rampant when they appeared; as happened with the Black Death. Many
physicians believed that illness was due to common sense reasons (bad smells
etc.), imbalance of the four humours, position of the sun and planets,
punishment from God, or poisonous fumes.
THE FOUR HUMORS?
Four humors, or body fluids, were related to the four elements: fire=yellow bile, water =phlegm;
earth=black bile; air=blood. These four humors had to be balanced. Too much of one was thought to
cause a change in personality—for example, too much black bile could cause depression.
THE PHYSICIAN
Experiments on dead bodies were forbidden. Physicians went to
universities. Physicians charged for their services and only the rich
could afford them. Their cures could be bizarre though some cures,
including bleeding and the use of herbs, had some logic to them even if
it was very much a hit-or-miss approach. Physicians would often study
a patient’s urine before deciding on a suitable treatment. They often
worked as army doctors, treating those injured during the many wars of
this period. Herbal concoctions such as hemlock, mandrake, wine or
opium were used for pain relief. Herbal remedies were widely used for
many everyday illnesses. When by some luck, a patient got better or
simply improved, this was a sure sign that a cure worked. It also meant
that the cure used would be used again. If it did not work on the next
patient, this was the fault of the patient rather than of the cure.
Physicians would have
had their own ideas as to
what caused illnesses.
1. Those who blamed bad
smells developed a ‘cure’ to
make the bad smells go
away.
2. Those who blamed bad
luck used prayers and
superstitions.
3. Those who blamed the
body’s four humours used
bleeding, sweating and
vomiting to restore the
balance
of
the
four
humours.
THE SURGEON
Operations were carried out by ‘surgeons’. These men were unskilled and had other jobs such as
butchers and barbers. The traditional red and white pole outside of a barber’s shop today is a
throwback to this period. When barbers did operations. The red stood for blood and the white for the
bandages used at the end of an operation. Operations could end in death as infections were
common. Instruments used in an operation were not cleaned - as there was no knowledge of germs,
there was no need to clean instruments used in operations. Patients might recover from small
operations, such as a tooth extraction, but operations that included a deep cut through the skin were
very dangerous. Some monasteries had cottage hospitals attached to them. The monks who worked
in these hospitals had basic medical knowledge but they were probably the best qualified people in
the country to help the poor and those who could not afford their own physician. By 1200, there may
have been as many as 400 hospitals in the Scotland and England.
54
Medicine in the Middle Ages
LEVEL E KU
SOURCE 1. Margaret Paston writes to her husband in 1451.
I ask you heartily that you will send me a pot of treacle quickly.
For I have been very worried, since you rode away. One of the
tallest young men in the parish lies sick and has a great fever.
What will happen to him, God only Knows? I have sent my
Uncle Berney the pot of treacle that you had bought for him.
Source 2. John Paston III writing to his brother on 6th November 1479.
Sir, I ask you to send me, two pots of treacle from Genoa. They will cost 16 pence. I have used all
that I had on my young wife and my young people and myself. I ask that you do it quickly. Many
people are dying in Norwich and especially around my house. We dare not go out.
Source 3. From a History Textbook.
At the end of the Middle Ages it was a common sight
at fairs to see a “Toady” a man that swallowed
poisonous live toads. The toad eater was employed
by a “Quack” - a fake doctor. After swallowing the
toad the man would fall to the ground in a faint. The
Quack would then bring him back to life with a
potion, which he would then sell to the crowd as a
cure all medicine.
Source 4. For Stomach Pains John of Gaddesden
writes.
I cut off the heads of crickets and mix them
with beetles and oil in a pot. I covered it and
left it a day and a night in a bread oven. I
drew out the pot and heated it at a moderate
fire. I ground it all together and rubbed the
sick parts. In three days the pain
disappeared.
Monasteries
Hospitals
St. Benedict, founder of the
Benedictine monks believed
that the cure of the sick was
one of the most important
duties of monks. During the dark ages, monasteries
were the only hospitals in Europe. Patients were
cared for in the hospitals until they recovered or died.
Their fate was God’s will. Prayer and/or pilgrimages
to holy shrines were considered the best methods of
effecting a cure.
The Catholic church taught that it was a
religious duty to care for the sick, but it was
not until the twelfth century that the church
provided medical schools. Of the hospitals
that were in existence, only 10% actually
provided medical care. They were called
hospitals because they provided hospitality
(housing, food and clothing) for the needy.
Monks and nuns cared for people in
hospitals. Physicians were rarely seen in
hospitals, they treated kings, nobles and
wealthy merchants, not ordinary people.
55
For toothache:
Take a candle and burn it close to the
tooth. The worms that are gnawing the
tooth will fall out into a cup of water
held by the mouth.
For general illnesses:
People were told that a pilgrimage to a holy
shrine to show your love of God would cure
them of illnesses especially if they had some
holy water sold at the place of pilgrimage.
After the death of Thomas Becket in 1170,
Canterbury Cathedral became a place of
pilgrimage.
For evil spirits in the head:
For this, surgeons used trepanning. This was where a surgeon cut a hole
into the skull to release evil spirits trapped in the brain. The operation
might also include cutting out the part of the brain that had been ‘infected’
with these evil spirits. Incredibly, people are known to have survived
operations such as these as skulls have been found which show bone
growth around the hole cut by a surgeon – a sign that someone did survive
such an operation if only for a while.
.
Cauterisation:
This was where a
physician identified
that a certain part of
your body was ill and
it was cured by
having red hot pokers
put on it.
Blood letting:
This was when blood was drained from a
certain spot in your body. The idea behind
this was similar to trepanning in that it
released bad blood from your body. The
use of leeches was common for this but
dirty knives were also used which only
increased the risk to the patient.
Astrology:
"A man suffering
from fever should be
bled
immediately
the moon passes
through the middle
of the sign of
Gemini."
56
ACTIVITIES
Medicine in the Middle Ages
LEVEL E KU
1. What did people think caused diseases?
2. What were the four Humours?
3. Copy and complete the table into your jotter.
SKILLS
PHYSICIANS
SURGEONS
Education
Patients
Cures
Other Experience
Methods used
Success
4. In what way do sources one and two agree about the importance of treacle?
5. After reading sources three and four do you think that people were desperate to find cures for
illnesses? Explain your answer with evidence from the source.
6. How important were hospitals and monasteries in providing help for the sick?
7. You are a physician. Draw an advert showing what you sell and what you can cure. Remember make
it colorful and make it realistic.
57