daily Life in MA Flashcards
author of LIFE ON THE MEDIEVAL MANOR
H. S. Bennett
The biggest building on the manor
The manor house
The manor contained
Manor house, church, perhaps an ale-house, peasants’ houses, fields f cultivation, pastures f grazing
Peasants ate their meals on what furniture?
trestle tables
The floor of a peasant house Wd most likely b made of what?
earth
a manorial court wdhandle whatkind of cases?
inheritance, sexual “incontinence” in the case of a young village gir who had become pregnant (Bennett, chap 1).
What might a peasant family ‘S simple midday meal consist of, and where wd th hot part be prepared?
Soup w beans, ale, and cheese. The soup Wd b heated in a pot hung over the hearth in the main room.
Manor, definition
A manor is an estate . It is usually owned by a lord (a knight, who was often absent) or some branch of the Church, like, for instance, an abbey.
Since peasants were illiterate, how dowelearn of medieval peasant Life?
From ms illustrations, creative writers like Chaucer and Langland, contemporary sermons, records of manorial courts. Financial records of a manor.
What is hay? What is it used for? In medieval times in what season and how was hay made?
Hay is dried grass. It is used as fodder for farm animals. In MA hay was made in high summer by peasants cutting down w SCYTHES huge tracts of grass in the fields o th lord’s manor.✔️. This is one o th peasant’s major tasks.
What is a reeve?
Essentially, the foreman on a lord’s manor. As such,h cd b resented by th people h supervised. See Chaucer’s Reeve and his hostile relationship w th Miller, precisely the sort of man he Wd supervise.
What was done legally about houses that had fallen into disrepair and were dilapidated?
The lord of the manor, through the manorial court, could order a villein, to repair his own house.
Food Peasants might growin their private gardens
Cabbages, onions,
Tithing (in H.S.Bennett,p22)
Nothing t d with collection of money for the Church. Instead it is an administrative unit that figures prominently in the proceedings of a manorial court.
What are the main crops cultivated by the medievalEnglish peasant?
Wheat, oats, barley, rye, peas, beans (Bennett, 77)
What major feature o DOMEDTIC ARCHITECTURE, invented in 11th (or 12rTh- CHECK THIS) c greatly improved the inhabitants’ comfort?
Placing a fireplace in each room by building chimneys into the wall, instead of one hole in the middle of the ceiling
Explain the income and expense of th average peasant.
The peasant Wd b paid a very small yearly wage, a pittance, for his hard work growing crops. In turn he Wd have t pay his lord, who owned the land, and from whom he merely rented.
According t Tuchman, what were the limits of a grand seigneurs authority?
He CD not have authorization over clergy por merchants in s free town (loc 567)
According t Bennett, p 79, the peasant ploughs his fallow field (one of his three fields) how many times a year?
Three: in April, June, and October.
What are the major steps, in order, that the medieval peasant takes in preparing a crop?
Ploughing
Harrowing
Sowing
He Wd take these steps in preparing, for example, a crop of oats or barley.
Put in proper TEMPORAL ORDER these tasks of the medieval peasant: harrowing, ploughing, sowing.
Ploughing
Harrowing
Sowing
How did a medieval town get a charter?
The crown granted a charter f a town. This was a big source o money f the crown. Tuchman, kindle, 586.
What does the heraldic cost of arms signify?
The right of a family t bear arms. The heraldic cost of arms became a great status symbol.
Which medieval European city considered itself the cultural capital of the West, the “medieval Athens”?
Paris
What are some of the sources of the Church’s income?
Tithes, benefices, sale of indulgences, taxes on Crusades.
When did the First Crusade take place?
1095_99
Who were theKnights Templar?
a military Xian order, originally founded at timeof the Crusades t protect pilgrims t the Holy Lamd. They acquired great wealth and power and incurred enmity of other orders and secular rulers.Theywere ultimately destroyed byKing Philip of France and Pope Clement in 1311~12
Which king suppressed and eventually destroyed the Knights Templar?
King Philip IV of France (also known as Philip the Fair), shoreigned from 1285 untilhis death in 1314.
How did The Hundred Yesrs War start?
It began as a SUCCESSION DISPUTEbetw Edward III of England, son of Isabel, who was the sister of King Philip IV of France and Philip VI of France, who was the nearest MALE relative of the late Philip IV. SALIC LAW prevented succession through the female line.
When did villages begin t b established in England?
According t JONES, LOC 234, villages began t spring up in England in 11th c. See also LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL VILLAGE by Giess.
In short describe the class system in medieval England.
At the top was the King. Below him were the NOBLES. Below them were the LANDOWNERS. (NB: most nobles were landowners, but the reverse is not true: many landowners were military people, who owed the King military service and were in return given land) Below them were the workers on the land. They in turn CD b subdivided into a VERY COMPLICATED HIERARCHY, ranging from slaves to villeins t freemen? Remember, ab 85% of peoplelived on the land. Two impt groups lived outside of this feudal hierarchy: the clergy and people in the city: merchants, artisans, guildsmen, professionalslike doctors and lawyers, civil servants, e.g. Chaucer as Clerk of Customs.
Distinguish betw knights of romance (as depicted, e.g. in SGGK, the whole Arthurian cycle, Ch’s SqT, KnT, FrkT, Chrétien de zTroyes, and, later, DON QIXOTE) and what real knights really did, for which see Tuchmanand Jones, CHAUCER’S KNIGHT.
The knights of romance sought adventures in strange lands, encountered monsters and fought with them, and rescued damsels in distress. Real knights fought and fought and fought. See Tuchman and Jones on this. The Crusaders were one such example. They professed high objective of making the holy Land safe f Christianity and Christian pilgrims , but their motives and behaviour were not always noble, The purely secular knights did not even show a veneer of nobility in their fighting. They were often cruel and brutal t their enemies.
What was THE BLACK DEATH?
It was the great catastrophe of14th c. It was the Bubonic Plague. It struck England in several waves in mid 14th c. In the end, it is estimated that it killed as much as a third of European population.
Define Reeve and Hayward.
They were both officials on a manor. Rember, in the Middle Ages most people lived on a manor. The reeve was the general superintendent or foreman of the manor. In Ch’s CT SEE HIS ENMITY W MILLER, whom he Wd supervise. The Hayward was the official who was specifically charged w overseeing the crops, from lowing t harvesting.
What is the main argument of Terry Jones’s book CHAUCER’sKNIGHT?
Thatthischaracter,” far from being the embodiment of the noble ideal of knighthood, is merely a mercenary.
