SOCIAL LIFE
After the Roman Empire Fell: The “Dark Ages” begin after the Roman Empire Fell .” This was the darkest period of the Dark Ages. The towns became unsafe, because barbarians had just taken over the Roman Empire. The people living in towns became scared, and fled to the country and became farmers. Thats when lords developed.The people had to ask the lords to live there. The lords then made wooden castles with big fences so if someone invaded they could run and get to a safe place. Thats when the feudal system started.
Feudalism: Feudalism is a mixture of dark and light. Peasants were basically slaves they were not allowed to leave their land, but serfs could. Feudalism was nice for the people in the higher class because they didn't have to do the hard field work so they got to live in luxury. Feudalism is an political and economical system. It started in the year 1066.By a man named William the Conquer. Feudalism is the sharing of power. The land is exchanged between local governments and and strong central governments. Even though the land was being maintained by five different groups of people the monarch still owned all the land. The reason the monarch gave land to the most important nobles was to protect the land from invaders. If there were invaders coming from the west and the monarch lived on the east side of the kingdom it would take weeks to have his knights get there, but with there being a lord there they can have their knights fight till the monarchs knights can get there. It sounds like a good system, but for the lower class the peasants/serfs life was hard. They worked very hard, and were not paid. Peasants couldn't even leave their land, but serfs could.
Dividing of a Kingdom: There are five different types of people are taking care of the land First you have your monarch. The ruler of the kingdom (king and queen). Then you have the lords. A lord is also called a vassel. The next type of person caring for the land are the lesser nobles. Then the knights and the serfs. The monarch still owns all the land, but he gives around four fifths of the land to the lords, because it is too much land to protect by himself, but it was too much for the lords to handle by himself also so the lords gave around four fifths of the land to lesser nobles. That was still too much of land to take care of so the lesser nobles kept a small amount of the land and then had peasants/serfs and knights run the rest of the land.
Dividing of a Kingdom: There are five different types of people are taking care of the land First you have your monarch. The ruler of the kingdom (king and queen). Then you have the lords. A lord is also called a vassel. The next type of person caring for the land are the lesser nobles. Then the knights and the serfs. The monarch still owns all the land, but he gives around four fifths of the land to the lords, because it is too much land to protect by himself, but it was too much for the lords to handle by himself also so the lords gave around four fifths of the land to lesser nobles. That was still too much of land to take care of so the lesser nobles kept a small amount of the land and then had peasants/serfs and knights run the rest of the land.
Role of Women: Life was very dark for many women in the “dark ages”. Women had a difficult position in society whether they were nobles or peasants. Most women were bound to house work. Such as cooking, baking bread, sewing, weaving and spinning, but some women held other occupations. Even though women did all the housework they also hunted and fought in battles. Women hunted only when they needed to.For instance they would go out a hunt if the men were out fighting or in a battle. Women also fought in battles sometimes. If there town was being attacked by invaders they wouldn't just sit there. They would fought. Some women held other roles in society though. Some were blacksmiths, merchants, apothecaries(otherwise known as a pharmacist), midwives(takes care of a pregnant woman and her baby), or became a nun and devote themselves to God, and the women in the lower class worked on fields. Women had many hobbies such as writing, playing a musical instrument, painting, and dancing. It may seem that women had it easier than men, but in certain cases women had it harder. Woman were not treated equally. In every class the men were higher ranked than the women. Also many women were believed to be a witch.They were believed to be capable of sorcery and healing. Women accused of being a witch were often killed. The most famous person who was accused as a witch was Joan of Arc otherwise known as St. Joan, or “The Maid of Orleans”. She dressed herself in armor and fought to protect France. When she was accused of being a witch she was burned alive. Woman had it way worse than men.
Medieval Law and Order: Medieval law and order was very dark. Law and order was much harsher in the medieval times then it is now. They didn't have a jury to testify in front of. So they were proven guilty or innocent by God, but God cannot directly tell the “judge”(head of the church). So depending on what crime you were charged with you had to go through a different ordeal to prove their innocence. There are three types of ordeals. Ordeal by fire, ordeal by water, ordeal by combat(battle). In ordeal by fire you had two hold a red hot iron bar in your hand and had to walk five paces. If your hand healed in three or less days you were innocent, but if it took any longer than three days there were guilty. In ordeal by water you were tied up and thrown in the water. If you floated you were guilty, but if you sank you were innocent. The problem with that was that someone had to retrieve the person, but a lot of times they were too slow and the person drowned. Ordeal by combat was only used if a man was convicted of serious crimes such as murder and rape. The man accused of the crime had to fight his accuser. The fight took place in front of a large crowd. The fight continued till one man surrendered or died. The man who was last standing was believed to have gotten the power from God. The problem with this system was if a big man was fighting a small man the larger man would almost always win. Certain laws had specific penalties. The penalty for highway robbery, theft over a shilling, arson, forgery, rioting, and high treason was all death mostly by being hung. If convicted of vagrancy you were whipped, branded with a “v” on the face, or hung if it was a repeated offence. If you were convicted with theft you could be hung, have hands and or ears cut off, branded with a hot iron, shamed in the stocks, or be whipped through the streets. If you were a noble or a woman you were punished differently for their crimes. Instead of being hung they were beheaded, because it was quicker and less painful. It was actually more of an honor to die this way instead of being hung. After a person died the body was left there they died to rot and to warn the other people about what could happen. They were really cruel in punishments making law and order dark.
Life on the manors vs. life in a town: Life on a manor was darker than life in a town. A life on a manor is much different than a life in a town. The main difference between the two was freedom. On a manor you were under the power of the king. In the town there wasn’t a specific person in charge. The king was still the ruler of Europe, but he couldn’t pay attention to every single town. That’s why if a peasant was able to escape the manor and hid in a town for a year and one day they were free. On a Manor everyone had a specific job and you had to do it. If you lived in a town there were still laws, but you were able to choose what you want to do. You get to pick your job. The towns were not very nice. The houses were run down, the roads were made of dirt or sometimes made of stone. The town were not clean since they didn’t have pluming they dumped the waste in the road. They didn’t just dump waste in the street, but they threw the trash in the road also. The town smelled very bad if you could imagine. So they let pigs roam the streets to eat some of the waste and trash. This system worked pretty good, but there were some flaws. The major problem, and that was that the pigs sometimes knocked over small children and killed them.
Tess B.
Tess B.