The middle ages Flashcards
Demesne
The 1/4 of the land that the king kept for his own use.
The feudal system
King
Vassals
Knights
Peasants
Feudal system
The feudal system was how society was organised and how kand was owned in the middle ages.
Peasant
A peasant was at the lowest in the feudal system. They farmed the land and consisted for serfs and freemen.
Serf
A type of peasant in the Middle Ages. They belonged to a lord and farmed his land and could not leave the manor or get married without the lord’s permission. They had to pay heavy taxes.
Freemen
Freemen were a type of peasant. They too had to pay taxes, but could travel and marry as they pleased.
Vassals
The name given to the king’s followers. (lords, bishops, abbots)
Knights
Soldiers who rode into battle on horseback.
Medieval manor
The house and the village where the lord, the peasants and the baliff lived.
Open-field system
A farming method that peasants used where they divided the land into two. One part were the commons where all their animals grazed in, and the other were divided into strips per family.
Fallow
When the peasants rotated their crops, they left one field empty (fallow)
Wimple
A headdress that rich women wore.
Pottage
A mixture of porridge and vegetable soup commonly ate by peasants at their main meal of the day.
Bailiff
The lord appointed a bailiff to keep law and order, and to make sure all peasants paid rents and taxes.
Stocks
A tool used to punish people, where their head and hands were pur into sockets and have to stand there for several hours while onlookers can throw rotten food at them.
Ducking stool
Used to punish gossiping women by ducking them in water.
Tithe
The peasants had to give 1/10 of their crops to the priest as payment.
Motte and bailey
The first castles made out of wood and were simple to build.
Keep
The keep was the main building in the castle where the king and the lady, their family and some soldiers lived in.
Battlements
The top of the keep where the sentries kept guard.
Turrets
Turrets were strong towers along the walls
Drawbridge
a bridge raised at night or if an enemy approached.
Portcullis
An iron grill that could be lowered in front of the castle gate
Ramparts
The ramparts ran along the top of all walls where soldiers could walk on.
Latrines
The toilets of the castle, usually in the corner of a tower in the keep.
Forge
where the blacksmith worked.
Ballista
A machine resembling a giant crossbow used to fire large arrows
Motte
A small hill where the lord and his soldiers lived. There is a small wooden fort on top.
Bailey
A big enclosure below the motte. The lord and his soldiers lived here most of the time but if an enemy attacked, they went up into the motte.
Solar
The room where the lady of the castle used for work such as embroidery
Tapestries
Embroided carpets hung on the walls and around the beds to keep warm.
Hawking
An activity where a hawk trained to sit on a lord’s shoulder would hunt songbirds and ducks.
Tournament
Where knights would fight mock battles with each other.
Page
The first stage of becoming a knight, He learned how fo ride a horsek yse a sword, sing dance and have good manners.
Squire
The second stage of becoming a knight. He went into war with his lord and carried weapons and helped with his armour and horse.
Chivalry
A code of honour that knights followed.
Tourney
A contest in tournaments where knights fought each other using blunt swords and lances.
Joust
A contest in tournaments where knights galloped towards each other using blunt swords and lances
Dubbing
A ceremony squires went through to become a knight. During the dubbing, he swore to uphold the code of chivalry.
Toll
A tax people had to pay at the gate id they wanted to sell goods in the town.
Curfew
All fires in the town had to be put out when church bells rang out to mark the arrival of curfew.
Charter
A legal document granted by the king to allow towns to be run by it’s people.
Guild
An organisation that people of different crafts belonged fo.
Craftsperson
A person with a craft who made things people needed.
Journeyman
The second stage of practice of a craft. The man could leave his master and travel around.
Monastery
monasteries were where people who had devoted their lives to God lived
Dormitory
Where the monks in the monastery slept.
Cloisters
A square in the monasteries where monks liked to walk and pray.
chapter house
where the monks met to discuss business or elect a new abbot.
infirmary
this was where the sick were nursed.
refectory
where the monks are their meals in complete silence.
Novice
The stage before a boy became a monk. He had to learn the rules and see if the life suited him.
Tonsure
All of the monks had their hair cut into tonsure. This was a bald patch in the middle of his head.
Matin
Prayers the monk sang when they got out of bed.
Vespen
Evening prayers that the monks spoke.
Compline
Prayers the monks did before going to bed.
Abbot
The head of the monastery.
Prior
The prior took the place of the abbot while he was away on business.
Almoner
the almoner looked after travellers who came to the monastery.
Infirmirian
The infirmirian looked after the sick.
Friar
Friars travelled from place to place working with the poor.
Dowry
When a woman got married, her parents gave her husband a dowry, which were money or goods such as cattle or household utensils.
