Middle Ages Flashcards
What is feudalism
The system of land ownership where rulers (kings, lords) divided land among their followers in return for loyalty and taxes
Peasants
The people who worked on a lord’s land
What is the Oath of chivalry
Sworn by a knight to be loyal to his lord, protect the poor and weak and be brave in battle
What is the open field system
The system of framing where peasants were each given strips of land to farm in large fields
What was the fallow field
A field left uncultivated for a year so that the soil could recover its nutrients
What as the commons
A field used for grazing the animals that belonged to the peasants
What was a tithe
The payment of one-tenth of a peasant’s annual income to the Church
What was a charter
A contact whereby a town was granted freedom to run its own affairs but paid taxes to the king
What was a guild
An organisation of skilled people who worked in the same trade
What was a guild
An organisation of skilled people who worked in the same trade
