Medieval Times

• A castle from the Middle Ages is a Motte and Bailey (contained a wooden tower)
• Feudal system: king, then lords, knights and lastly peasants
• serf: a person who belonged to a lord and farmed his land
• freemen: a person who worked the land, paid tax to the king but could travel freely
• Middle ages was also known as the Dark ages (500-1500)
• A Motte and Bailey castle included a moat (water filled ditch around castle), motte (hill), bailey (large yard with houses) a wooden castle, as well as a bridge and gateway
• Towers built along the curtain wall (5m wall built behind moat) that was manned by archers
• arrow slits were small windows in the castle wall where arrows could be fired from
• the keep was the main building in the case where a lord and lady lived
• when attacking a castle the enemy army would often lay siege which could take months, and they used battering rams, catapults and rope ladders to attack the castle
• education became common after the 1300s and focused on good manners and fighting skills
• entertainment included hawking and jousting
• the lady managed the running of the castle
• the 3 stages of becoming a knight were page (7-14 years old), a squire (14-21) and then finally a knight when you turn 21
• medieval towns were very cramped, animals roamed the streets and people would throw their waste out their windows
• diseases spread very easily and most people didn’t survive after 40/45
• most people couldn't read, so medieval craftsmen used signs to show what craftsmen they were
• the black death affected half of the population of europe
• some of the symptoms for the plague was painful swelling of the lymph nodes, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and bleeding
• people in the middle ages were very religious, all peasants paid 10% of their wages to the church (tithe)
• cats were considered to be the incarnation of satan, leading to most being killed and an increase of the rat population, quickening the spread of the black death