This revision pack is designed to help you prepare for the end of year exam. This is the last chance for your teachers to assess you before you start Year 8. The exam will last for one
hour. There will be shorter questions testing your knowledge. You will also have to answer questions using sources. You will also be required to write longer essay type answers. You should use this revision pack and your exercise book to revise effectively. This hand-out has been prepared to help you organise your revision timetable. Note that the exam will be on the The
Middle Ages and Islamic Civilisations.
The topics that you may be tested on are as follows.
 Background to the Norman conquest. Who should be King?
 The Battle of Hastings.
 The Feudal system and the Domesday Book.
 Castles
 The village in the middle ages .
 Problems facing a medieval king
 Henry II and Thomas Becket. Crown versus church.
 Religion in the Middle Ages
 King John. Good or bad king. The Magna Carta
 The Black Death
 Towns in the Middle ages
 The Crusades

Revise in a quiet place where there are no distractions. Turn off the television and radio.
Revise in concentrated bursts of between 20 to 30 minutes. This will be more beneficial than sitting in front of the television for an hour with a book on your lap.
Just reading is not ideal. Make notes as you read. Use bullet points and diagrams to help you remember important information. Write out key questions and then write out the main points that answer that question. For example Why was the Catholic church so powerful in the Middle Ages? Some people find using different colours helpful as a way to revise.
Discuss topics with a friend or parent and test each other. Try teaching someone a topic.
This is a good way to learn something. Some people like to record information and then play back it back to themselves. Find out which way works for you. But doing nothing and then glancing at your book the night before the exam is not good enough and you will not do as well as you could have if only you had tried.
The internet can also be a useful revision tool. http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/year7links/ This is a very good web site designed for school pupils. You will find all kinds of revision exercises, quizzes and links to other useful websites. This can be very helpful to you and you should make the most of this resource. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk
This website has sections on Medieval England but it has lots of writing and is designed for general readers, not children.
You can also ask me for help if you need it at historyaid@googlemail.com
Set yourself targets for each revision session. For example you may decide to study the topic of the Black Death. Don’t try and cover everything in one go. Your teachers and parents can only offer you advice. They cannot force you to revise. You have to be mature enough to take responsibility for your own actions.
Remember this revision pack is a guide. It can not cover in detail a whole year’s worth of work. Use it with your exercise book.

Background to the Battle of Hastings. Who should be king?
In 1066 the King of England was Edward the Confessor. He had no sons.
There were THREE men who each claimed the throne when he died.
They were
Harold Godwinson
William of Normandy
Harald Hardraada
Each man claimed he was the rightful heir.
Harold Godwinson said he should be king because
He was English
His sister was married to Edward the Confessor
His family were the most powerful family in England after the King
Harold was a brave general
William of Normandy said he should be king because
He said Edward had promised him the throne
Edward the Confessor was half Norman like William of Normandy.
Edward had been helped by the Normans earlier in his reign when the Godwinsons had tried to take the throne.
The pope was on his side
He claimed that Harold Godwinson had made a holy oath to support William when he had been shipwrecked in Normandy. (Harold denied this)
Harald Hardraada said he should be king because
He was descended from the Viking king Cnut who had been King of England earlier in the century
He was one of the greatest warriors in Europe
Many people in the north of England were Vikings like Harald.
When Edward the Confessor died Harold Godwinson proclaimed himself king. He said that Edward had promised him the throne as he lay dying. Only Harold and his sister, Edward’s wife heard this. William and
Harald did not believe Harold. Harold knew that both William and Harald would try to take the English crown from him.
Harald attacked first. He landed in the north with a large army and with Harold’s half brother Tostig. Harold marched his army north and the English fought the Vikings at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. It was a great victory for the English. Harald Hardraada was killed and the Viking army was smashed. Harold did not have long to enjoy his victory. He learnt that William and his Norman army had landed in the south of England. Harold now decided to march his tired army south to confront William of Normandy.
They met at the Battle of Hastings. William and the
Normans beat Harold and the English. Harold was killed and
England was now ruled by the Normans.

The Battle of Hastings 1066
This was a very important battle in English history because it led to the end of Anglo Saxon kings and the start of Norman French kings. Even the present Queen of Britain, Elizabeth II is descended from William the Conqueror. For hundreds of years after 1066 the rulers of England were Normans who spoke French.
The diagram above shows the two sides at the start of the battle. The Anglo Saxons led by Harold were on the top of Senlac Hill. This was a strong position as the hill was surrounded by swamps and forest so it could only be attacked from the front. The Normans led by William were on the lower ground. The battle lasted all day and eventually the Normans won.
Why did the Normans win?
 The Anglo Saxons were tired. They had just marched all the way from the north of England where they had fought and won a battle against Harald and his Vikings.
 Many of Harold’s soldiers who were mostly farmers had gone home to get in the harvest.
 William was a smart leader and used good tactics against the Anglo Saxons. He got his soldiers to pretend to run away and when the English chased them down the hill they could be more easily surrounded and cut down by the Normans.
 The Normans used cavalry which were fast and powerful.
 When the Normans thought William was dead and started to panic William showed he was not dead and rallied his troops.
 Harold was unlucky when he was killed by an arrow in the eye. This made the Anglo Saxons lose heart.
The Domesday Book
Once William was in charge he wanted to know what was in his new kingdom and how much tax he could get from it. He sent out officials to every town, village and farm in England to find out who owned what. How much land was being ploughed, how many cows and pigs there were etc. All this information was written up in a large book called the Domesday Book. This book is very useful to historians because it allows them to see how rich England was at this time and roughly how many people lived in the country.
Maintaining control
William kept control in a number of ways.
 He built castles all over the land to control the Anglo Saxons.
 He attacked the north and killed thousands and destroyed villages to frighten the Anglo Saxons into obedience.
 He replaced all the Anglo Saxon nobles with Normans whom he could trust.
 He set up the feudal system to guarantee the king’s power and soldiers to keep control.

Castles
The first castles that the Normans built were motte and bailey castles. See image below.
Why did the Normans build castles?
 As a place of safety for their soldiers.
 To control the surrounding area.
 As a safe place to keep valuables
 A place for the local Norman lord to live.
 A place where local villagers could go if there was an attack on that area.
The first castles were built of wood because there was plenty of wood available, wooden castles were much quicker to build than stone ones, wood was cheaper than stone and could be cut and shaped more easily.
Later wooden castles were replaced with stone. This was because stone was stronger and longer lasting than wood. It did not rot and it did not burn as easily as wood. A stone castle was much stronger and more difficult to attack than a wooden one.
Throughout the Middle Ages the design of castles
improved. The castles main function was to defend the people in it and make it difficult for attackers to take it.
Wooden donjons were replaced with stone square
keeps. These were towers of stone with narrow
arrow slit windows and battlements on the top. The door to the keep was usually up a flight of steps.
The bailey was surrounded by stone walls and extra walls called curtain walls to provide extra protection.
Round towers were stronger than square ones. The
gate house or barbican was strengthened with a
draw bridge and portcullis. Some castles were surrounded by moats.

As castles got stronger and stonger so the attackers came up with new ways to attack them.
There were a number of different types of catapault which were used to fire large stones at the castle’s walls to batter them down. You can see some different types below.
Ladders and siege towers were used to enable attacking soldiers to get over the high walls of the castle.
Battering rams were used to try and smash down the gates of the castle. They were often covered to protect the attacking soldiers from arrows, rocks and burning oil.
Another technique was to dig tunnels under the wlls, collapse the tunnels and then bring the walls falling down.
Many of the new ideas for castle design and attack came from the Middle East where European crusaders learnt from the Arabs.
The Feudal System
William the Conqueror set up a new system of control called the feudal system. It main purpose was to give power and control to the King. William took all the land of England but then divided a lot of it amongst his Norman barons. In return for their land they had to be loyal to the king and provide him with knights for the king’s army. Likewise the barons divided up their land and gave it out to the knights. In return for their land, called a manor, the knights had to be loyal to the baron and fight for him. The Knight divided out his manor amongst the peasants. The peasants had to work on the knight’s land, be loyal and pay taxes. In return the knight would protect the peasants on his manor.
Therefore everyone in England had a lord. The only person who did not have a lord was the king. The only person above the king was God.
The peasants were at the bottom of the feudal system. They worked very hard but were tightly controlled.
Villeins and serfs were peasants that were very much under the control of their lords. They had very little freedom. They could not leave their villages without their lord’s permission. Freemen were people who were more free to do what they wanted. In the towns people were more free but in the Middle Ages 95% of people lived in the countryside.

The Church
In the Middle Ages the Church was very rich and powerful.
It was rich because it owned lots of land and buildings such as monasteries, cathedrals and churches. It also had a lot of gold. A lot of this wealth was given to the church by people hoping to get in God’s good books. The peasants also had to pay a special tax to the Church. This was called the tithe.
The Church was also powerful because people believed it knew the way to get into heaven. If you wanted to get into heaven you had to do what the Church told you. The Church told people how to live their lives. It also was able to forgive people their sins. The priests were very influential people in their villages. If you went against the Church then you would burn in hell forever when you died.
In the Middle Ages there was only one religion in western Europe. That was the Catholic Church. No other religions were allowed. The punishment for going against the Catholic Church was to be burned alive at the stake.
The Church was ruled by the Pope. He lived in Rome. He claimed to be God’s representative on earth. The
Pope claimed that when he spoke he spoke with the authority of God and could not be wrong. The Pope claimed he had authority over all the Church in all the different kingdoms of Europe. This was known as
Christendom. Kings would try hard not to upset the Pope.
People showed how religious they were by going to church, going on pilgrimage to a holy place such as
Canterbury and giving money to the Church.
Churches were usually richly decorated and full of pictures and statues of Jesus, Mary and Christian saints. All church services were in Latin so most people had no idea what was being said.
The Village
95% of the population lived and worked in villages. They were peasants who farmed. Most people rarely left their local area. Occasionally they might go to the local market town to sell their produce.
People carried out farming according to the seasons. Sowing seeds in spring, harvesting the crops in autumn. Life was tough and the work physically demanding.
Most peasants lived in small cottages with thatched roofs. The cottages were usually just one room with a hole in the roof as a chimney. The floor was covered in rushes. There was very little furniture. In winter

animals were taken inside for warmth. Each cottage had a garden called a toft where peasants grew vegetables.
In a village there would normally be a church and the priest’s house.
There would also be the manor house that belonged to the lord.
There would be a mill for grinding corn into flour. The mill and ovens were owned by the lord and the peasants had to give some of their corn to use them.
Surrounding the village would be large fields divided up into strips. The strips would be shared out amongst the peasants. They would also have to work certain number of days on the lord’s land for nothing
The Black Death
In 1348 a terrible disease ravaged Europe. Up to 50% of the population died. There was no cure. This disease was called the Black Death.
How was it spread?
It was spread by the fleas that lived on black rats. The disease was in the blood of the rats which the fleas sucked. The fleas then jumped onto people and bit them and spread the disease.
There were two types of the disease bubonic and pneumonic. The pneumonic version was spread like a cold or flu. So people could catch it from sneezing or coughing.
What did medieval people think caused the Black Death?
Many thought it was a punishment from God and prayed for forgiveness. Some people even whipped themselves to show how sorry they were.
Some people thought it was spread by bad smelling air.
Some people blamed the Jews saying they poisoned the water.
No one guessed it was the rats.
What were the symptoms?
It started with a fever, cough and sneezes like the flu.
Then the patient developed swellings called buboes in the groin and armpits. They were full of foul smelling pus.
Then blood vessels burst under the skin leaving black patches. This was why it was called the black death
People began coughing up blood and most died.
What were the effects of the Black Death?
 50% of the population died. It took hundreds of years for the population to recover.
 Some villages were wiped out and disappeared.
 The survivors became obsessed by death. Many pictures of the time show corpses and skeletons.
 A shortage of peasants meant that the ones who were left could demand better wages and more freedom. The feudal system began to break down.

Problems facing a medieval king
Medieval kings could not rest easy. They were always worried about threats. These threats could include
Angry peasants
Powerful barons
Dangerous relatives
A powerful Church
You should make sure you look at
 1381 The peasants revolt. Richard II faced an army of angry peasants led by Wat Tyler
 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta by his barons. This limited the power of the king and gave the barons and all freemen certain rights and freedoms. As more people became free during the middle ages the Magna Carta became more important.
 King Edward II and the problems he had with his wife. Edward V and he and his brother’s murder by their uncle Richard III in 1483. The Princes in the Tower.
 Henry II and his problems with Thomas Beckett the Arch Bishop of Canterbury.
You should have notes on all of these events.
Towns in the Middle Ages
Towns were very small by modern standards. London, the biggest city, only had about 10,000 people. Most were just large villages.
Towns were crowded, dirty and noisy. There was no proper sewage so the streets were very dirty. Houses were crowded together and the streets were narrow. Most towns were surrounded by a wall for defence.
At the centre of the town would be the market square. Most towns were markets where people came to buy and sell goods. There were also craftsmen there such as cobblers (shoe makers) tailors, gold smiths etc.
The towns were run by the wealthy merchants. All trades were organised into guilds. For example all tailors had to belong to the tailors’ guild. It was against the law to be a tailor without being a member of its guild. One joined a guild as a young man as an apprentice. After seven years one got promoted to journeyman and after another seven years one finally became a master.

Many guilds were very powerful and rich and looked after their members, set prices and made sure that the quality of goods was high.
Many towns were granted their freedom by the king of local baron. This meant that they could make their own rules and laws. If a peasant could escape to a town for a year and a day he automatically became free.
The Crusades
What is a crusade?
A crusade is a holy war against a different religion. In the middle ages many Christians in Europe went on a crusade against the Muslims in the holy land to try and take the holy city of Jerusalem.
Why did people go on crusade?
The first crusade was started by Pope Urban II in 1095 when he made a speech in Clermont in France. (see picture left) He said that it was every Christians’ religious duty to go on crusade to take the holy city of Jerusalem from the
Muslims and make it a Christian city. Many people believed what the Pope told them.
Pop Urban promised that anyone who died on the crusade would go straight to heaven.
The Pope said it was not a sin to kill Muslims. This went against the teachings of Jesus but many knights loved fighting and now they could fight and kill with a clear conscience.
The Pope said that the Muslim Turks had murdered
innocent Christians in the Holy land and prevented
Christians from going on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
The Pope said the Holy Land was very rich and that knights who went on the crusade would be able to get land
and wealth. This was very appealing to the younger sons of nobles who were not going to inherit any of their father’s land.
Most people believed Jerusalem was the most holy city on earth and at the centre of the universe. They wanted it to be a Christian city.
Were the crusades successful?
Yes. The crusaders did capture Jerusalem but there was a lot of death and bloodshed on both sides. The crusaders were very brutal and could be cruel. They massacred lots of innocent people when they took the city.
The Crusaders established Christian states in the holy land but they had to fight many wars with the Arab
Muslims. This caused a lot of hatred and suspicion on both sides.
Both sides produced great leaders. Richard the Lion Heart became a hero to the Crusaders while his rival
Saladin became a hero to the Muslims.
The crusaders learnt a lot from the Muslims. New ideas and habits spread to Europe. New ideas in mathematics, science and building were brought to Europe from Arab lands.
Eventually the crusaders were kicked out of the Holy Land after a few hundred years. Once again
Jerusalem and the Holy Land came under Muslim control.
The legacy of the crusades affected both Europe and the Muslim world.