The Middle Ages
Clare Kellough & Rebecca Lane
Middle Ages Feudal System
King
Church Officials / Nobles
Church officials and Nobles are equal in the feudal system. Church officials are responsible for controlling peoples' access to heaven by delivering sacraments and absolving sins.
Land-owning lords offer land, known as "fief" to knights in exchange for their loyalty and promise to protect the lord's land.
Knights
Peasants
Peasants worked on the lord's land in exchange for land to live. Some peasants were surfs and could not leave the lords' land. Peasants were the bottom of the feudal system and some has little rights and were treated as slaves. They had to pay taxes to use the lord's mill and life expectancy was about 35 years.
The castles and walls protected the king, lords', knights, and peasants and in the feudal system, the levels of hierarchy depended on one another.
Technological Advances
Gunpowder
Due to the nature of gunpowder, it became increasingly popular for being easy to use, light and cheap. Before the 14th century, men had to be completely devoted to war, but this changed with the introduction of gunpowder when an unskilled arquebusier could kill a knight easily.
This brought some major changes to medieval life. Men no longer needed to train for years in order to be useful at battle - a simple peasant could be equipped with an arquebus and prove devastating against the traditional soldiers. At first gunpowder was mostly used to scare the enemy soldiers due to its ineffectiveness and only until later was it widely used as an effective way to kill.
Cannon
Bombards were usually used during sieges to hurl various forms of missile into enemy fortifications. Projectiles such as stone or metal balls, burning materials and weighted cloth soaked in quicklime were common. Eventually bombards were superseded by weapons using smaller iron projectiles with more powerful gunpowder.
A petard was a small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. It was commonly either a conical or rectangular metal object containing 5 or 6 pounds of gunpowder, activated with a slow match used as a fuse. Petards were often placed either inside tunnels under walls, or directly upon gates.
Compass
The compass is a simple, magnetic, very important device invented to help people decipher direction accurately on a ship or boat. In the middle ages, it was invented and used to help renaissance sailors navigate their way through the fog. It is one of the oldest navigational tools in history. The purpose of the compass was to allow ships to go the direction they want to go. It is also the first mechanical measuring device and it is an important tool to determine where you are and where you are headed. Ships today still have compasses because they are reliable to use when sailing, going on an adventure, a hike, or wherever you are.
The Role of a Knight
During the Middle Ages knights wore heavy armor made of metal. There were two main kinds of armor: chain mail and plate armor. However plate armor offered better protection but was heavier and less flexible.
Greaves - ankles and calves
Sabatons - feet
Poleyns - knees
Cuisses - thighs
Gauntlets - hands
Vambrace - lower arms
Pauldron - shoulders
Breastplate - chest
Rerebrace - upper arms
Helmet - head
Knights of the Middle Ages used many weapons and some were more effective than others. Common weapons in the Middle Ages included:
Lance- the lance was a long wooden pole with a metal tip. Due to the pole being extremely long, the knight could attack from his war horse. This weapon gave the knight a large advantage against foot soldiers. The lance could also be used to knock enemy knights off their horses.
Sword- The sword was the preferred weapon after the knight was dismounted from his horse.
Mace- The mace was a club with a large steel head; these weapons designed to crush an enemy.
Longbow- Many knights considered the longbow to be a cowardly weapon. However the longbow became a major part of winning battles in the Middle Ages because the longbow could attack from a distance of even a castle wall.
Siege Weapons
Belfry- The belfry was a tall rolling tower that would allow knights to safely apporch the castle walls.
catapult- a catolpult could throw huge boulders onto the walls of a castle. These boulders could break down the walls and destroy the castle itself.
Battering ram- The battering ram was a huge heavy log used to smash down the gates of a castle.
Life of a Knight in the Middle Ages
It was the duty of a Middle Ages knight to learn how to fight and serve their liege Lord according to the Code of Chivalry. The Code of Chivalry dictated that a knight should be brave and fearless in battle but would also exhibit cultured knightly qualities showing themselves to be devout, loyal, courteous, and generous.
Roman Church Hierarchy
Pope
Pope's in the Middle Ages became central figures of power and influence. During this time many people from all walks of life flocked to the Holy Land to see the pope.
In effect of this, the Catholic Church soon became the collective, uniting religious institution.
Cardinals
Chosen by the pope, usually from among the bishops.
Cardinal priests attended not only to their own ministry or parish but also convened regularly to oversee matters of Church discipline in the diocese of Rome.
Cardinal Deacons performed numerous duties but chief among them was record-keeping and the coordination of the care of the poor, cemeteries and the like.
Cardinal Bishops The Pope increasingly came to call on bishops of nearby dioceses (esp. Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Santa Rufina, Albano, Frascati (Tusculum), Palestrina (Præneste), and Sabina) to represent him in an official capacity and to give him counsel. In a way it was like the modern notion of a local synod.
Bishops & Archbishop
Bishops were the head diosces.
Archbishops were the highest ranking bishop heads archidiocese or province.
Pastor
Abbot
Priest
In the middle ages, the clergy and the Church in general were very influential. The kings and local lords appointed members of the clergy including the bishops and priests, and in return, the clergy would play a great role in establishing the rules of the land. Nevertheless, priests in the middle Ages were not as influential as the bishops and archbishops who came from rich families.
The priests in the middle ages were exempted from paying taxes because their work was considered noble. They provided care for the members of the community and conducted Mass in the parishes. The priest had a special place in society. He presided over baptisms and wedding and he usually was the sole source of education. The priest was in charge of ensuring that the religious occasions and events were observed and he performed the final rites to the dying. Other roles that the priest played include offering spiritual guidance and absolving the sins of his parishioners. The priests were also in charge of overseeing the manor and passing on messages to the community.
Role of the Roman Church to Peasants
The church had total control over commoners. The commoners believed that the church officials decide their fate- heaven or hell. Therefore, most commoners spent their time working on church land for free when they could have been working on their own land to make food for their family.
In addition, the peasants had to pay taxes and were told they were going to hell if not paid. The tithes, taxes, were sent to a tithe barn where everything was held, and they found would usually be eaten and poisoned by rats or contaminated.
The influence of the church on the peasants was a way to manipulate them to pay taxes, work on land, and to complete the actions that were under minded. In the Middle Ages, church was the most influential part of a person's life.
Word of the Black Plague
A Letter to the Editor
Good evning sir, my name is Fredrick Bryar and I am servnt for Lord Baltimore of England. I am riting to you in order to ask for permission to releeve my dutees as servent to my Lord. Evryday I rise at dawn, wake my children frum the loft above, and begin to work our long, dificult hours. At noon, we ask for permission to eat lunch. My to kids and me eat one egg each and a piece of bread. We work till 8:00, when the sun gose down in the summer. Once last year, we worked until midnight with the sorce of one lantern in 30 degree weather at the request of our Lord. My chilren complain to me everyday and without a mother to help care for them (who passed) the responsibilitees are up to me to care for my boy and girl. The working conditions consisst of a small shack to live in, minimal food (we receive after work), and no plumming or elelctricite. My chilrun do not go to school and I taught myself to read and rite I work to teach them to read and rite but I aint to good myself.
Last month, there was an attempt at an intrusion of the castle, a catapult was used to break the cassle walls. The knights gathered the King, the Lord, and even us servants however many servants were killed (men, women, and chilrun) do to lack of protection from knights. The many deaths did not seem to affect the knights and my chilrun and I asked permission to go to the church; but we were declined that rite. I am riting to you, to ask you to consider the removal of my family from Lord Baltimore.
Thank you sir,
Fredrick Bryar