Socials 8 Europe's High Middle Ages 2 - Life and Customs

Question 1

What were large fiefs divided into?

Answer 1

Large fiefs were divided into manors.

Question 2

What four things did a manor usually have?

Answer 2

A manor usually had a village, farming lands, woodlands, and common pasture.

Question 3

Why was a manor almost self-sufficient?

Answer 3

A manor produced enough food for everyone who lived on it.

Question 4

What types of skilled jobs were found on a manor?

Answer 4

Blacksmith, tanners, thatchers, fletchers, millers, priests

Question 5

What does fletching mean?

Answer 5

Fletching is putting the feathers on an arrow

Question 6

Why did a manor need to be near a stream or river?

Answer 6

To give fresh water, power the mill to grind grain for bread, water hay for animal feed

Question 7

How did people use the common woodlands?

Answer 7

Woodlands were used for firewood

Question 8

Why were some forests not for common use?

Answer 8

The Lord of the manor had special hunting parties in ‘his’ forests.

Question 9

What was the demesne?

Answer 9

The demesne was the land set aside for the lord’s personal use.

Question 10

Who were bailiffs?

Answer 10

The bailiff was the day to day manager of the estate.

Question 11

Who used the land not set aside for the lord?

Answer 11

Freeholders owned and farmed some of it, and the rest was farmed by serfs.

Question 12

How did medieval farmers fertilize their land?

Answer 12

They let the farm animals roam freely on the fields after the harvest so they could fertilize the land with their poop.

Question 13

What was the three field system?

Answer 13

By the 11th C. The crop in the fields was rotated yearly, and in the third year the field was left fallow…nothing was grown in it.

Question 14

Why do you have to fertilize or leave a field fallow?

Answer 14

You need to fertilize or leave a field fallow so that the nutrients in the soil can be reestablished.

Question 15

Who had the lowest standard of living on a manor?

Answer 15

The serfs and freeholders had the lowest standard of living.

Question 16

What did the serfs have to give the lord of the manor?

Answer 16

The serfs were required to donate 2-3 days a week to farm the lord’s land, they also had to give him some of the food they grew

Question 17

Could serfs own land?

Answer 17

No serfs could not own land, but they could not have the right to use/farm land taken away from them.

Question 18

How did the rights to strips of farm land pass from one serf to the next?

Answer 18

The rights to farm strips of land passed down in families like inheritance.

Question 19

If a serf was productive and had extra food, what could he do with it?

Answer 19

A serf had the right to sell extra produce at the market.

Question 20

What would the weekly difference be between a serf and a freeholder?

Answer 20

A freeholder did not have to farm the lord’s land, but did have to give him some food.

Question 21

could a freeholder leave the manor?

Answer 21

Yes, a freeholder could leave, but a serf could not.

Question 22

How was a medieval house made?

Answer 22

A medieval house was made of wood or wattle and daub, the roof was thatch with a hole for smoke to leave. The floor was dirt.

Question 23

What did people sleep on?

Answer 23

Straw mattresses, even rich people did.

Question 24

Was there plumbing or electricity?

Answer 24

No plumbing or electricity

Question 25

What lived in the house with people?

Answer 25

Animals, cows, pigs, sheep, lice, vermin (rats/mice)

Question 26

Was there school for children of serfs/freeholders?

Answer 26

No, they had to work on the farms from being small children

Question 27

What extra jobs did women do?

Answer 27

Making cloth for clothing, gathering berries, made bread/food

Question 28

Did they have grandparents to help out?

Answer 28

No, most people died very young in the middle ages.

Question 29

Who lived in the largest and best house on the manor?

Answer 29

The lord and lady and their servants lived in the best house

Question 30

What was the large hall in the manor house for?

Answer 30

The largest room was for entertaining guests, and for dealing with affairs of the manor.

Question 31

What were tapestries used for?

Answer 31

They hung tapestries on the walls to try to insulate the walls from the cold.

Question 32

What covered the floor of a manor house?

Answer 32

Rushes (dried grasses) covered the manor house floor, and they were replaced a few times a year.

Question 33

How would you describe the comfort level of a manor house?

Answer 33

Not very comfortable, they were cold and drafty, had no toilets or running water, they also had no central heating

Question 34

Where did servants sleep?

Answer 34

The servants slept beside the lord and lady’s bed.

Question 35

Why didn’t medieval people complain about these living conditions?

Answer 35

They knew no different, were used to little privacy, and spent most of the day outdoors anyway

Question 36

What were some things that only lords/ladies could own?

Answer 36

Rich lords could own falcons (hunting birds), expensive horses, expensive furniture and big houses

Question 37

What were troubadours?

Answer 37

Troubadours were traveling singers and entertainers who travelled from manor to manor. They told tales, brought news, and entertained.

Question 38

How could a lord lose his manor?

Answer 38

If a lord did not live up to his obligations to his higher lord, such as not sending enough knights to fight, then he could lose his manor

Question 39

What would happen if a lord did not marry and have children?

Answer 39

A lord was expected to marry and have children to give the manor to. If he died without children, the tenant-in-chief would take the manor

Question 40

Were noble marriages romantic?

Answer 40

No, nobles had to marry for land and power. The long term good of the family was more important than an individuals wants or needs

Question 41

Who controlled a girl’s life?

Answer 41

Before marriage the father controlled the girl’s life, after marriage her husband controlled her life.

Question 42

Why might the tenant-in-chief take back an unmarried heirhess’ manor?

Answer 42

Because the ‘lord’ was supposed to fight in war, an unmarried woman who inherited a manor was not able to fight. She would have to marry quick before she lost her manor.

Question 43

What happened to a woman’s property once she got married?

Answer 43

A woman’s property came under the control and ownership of her husband once she got married.

Question 44

What was a ward?

Answer 44

A ward is an orphan put into another person’s care.

Question 45

What was different about the rights of a woman whose husband dies and she has no son to inherit?

Answer 45

A widow, a woman whose husband has died, was entitled to keep his property. Often she could refuse to remarry so she kept her power.

Question 46

Why was a manor not divided between sons when a lord died?

Answer 46

Power was in the ownership of large pieces of land, so when the lord died the oldest son inherited the land to keep the power intact.