topic 1

• tenants-in-chief is a noble or bishop who pays homage to the king, provides knights, advised the king and gave land to knights.
• under-tenants is a knight who pays homage to their tenant-in-chief in return for land and service
• freeman are merchants, farmers and craftsmen's who pay rent to their lord and could travel and work wherever they wanted
• peasants provided labour service to their lord in return for protection, shelter, small stripes of land, could be sold and bought by lords and couldn't leave without permission
• the king owned all the land, enforced laws and protected people from invasion
• the demesne was 20% of england that the king has to himself
• homage is where all land holders swore an 'oath of loyalty' to their lord in public to become a vassal, if they broke the oath it resulted in death or forfeiture
• forfeiture is when a vassal broke their 'oath of loyalty' or failed to provide their service then land was taken away from them and granted to someone else for their loyalty; this maintained the feudal system
• knight service


  -ensured the king had an army

  -amount of land held by a tenant-in-chief determined how many knights he owed

  -instead of providing knight service some paid scutage instead
• what are knight duties?

  -served in army for 2 months a year

  -raised money to pay for ransom

  -guarded castles of their lords/ the kings for up to 40 days a year
• labour service

  -unfree peasants expected to work on their lords land

  -ensured that enough food and wool for clothes was produced to provide for everyone in the country

  -'boon-work' was working on lords land gathering in the harvest

  -'week-work' was working on lords land on certain days every week, looking after animals, sowing crops and ploughing in the land
• a vassal was someone who held land from someone else and provided a service in return
• fief/ feud was land held
• under-tenant held fiefs from tenant-in-chief
• what were the 4 duties of kingship?

  -lawmaker

  -christian

  -protector

  -decision maker
• how did the king fulfil the duty of being a protector?

  -had to have an army, skills and strategy

  -lead battles themselves
• how did the king fulfil the duty of being a lawmaker?

  -consulted barons and churchmen in making laws

  -heard court cases himself
• how did the king fulfil the duty of being a decision maker?

  -consulted barons and churchmen
• how did the king fulfil the duty of being a christian?

  -supported and respected the church

  -follows churchmen advice
• features of the coronations?

  -west minister abby in front of nobles and churchmen

  -smothered the king in holy oil to show be was chosen by god

  -the king took a coronation oath

  -tenants-in-chief swore homage
• features of the crown wearings?

  -3x a year (easter, christmas, whitsuns)

  -nobles attended

  -took place in cathedrals
• importance of religion

  -most people believed god controlled everything and decided if they went to Heaven or hell

  -pleasing god was vital and the church taught people how to please him

  -church was an international organisation
• who was the head of the church?

  archbishop of canterbury and the pope
• who appointed the archbishop?

  the pope
• who had authority over the king?

  pope
• what was the church social influence?

  -taught people how to read and write

  -roles in court

  -looked after elderly and poor
• what was the church spiritual influence?

  -the clergy preformed services such as mass, marriages and funerals

  -taught people how to live according to church teachings such as accepting feudalism which helped control society
• what was the church political influence?

  -it could influence kings policies and actions

  -important churchmen and barons advised the king

  -due to many clergy being educated they become clerks in important households

  -members of the clergy provided knight service
• what was the church economical influnce?

  -everyone has to pay a tithe each year to the church

  -people often donated money or land or left money in their wills

  -it was very wealthy as it earned money from rents and profits from agriculture on its land

  -it had many vassals and employees which meant people depended on it for food and employment

  -it was a source of money for the king as it paid taxes to him on money it earned from its land
• features of merchants

  -sold materials

  -sold food

  -travelled across England and europe
• features of tradesmen

  -trained as apprentices to highly skilled master craftsmen

  -often members of a guild who had rights to trade in town

  -members of the guild had to pay member fees and taxes
• what was life like in medieval towns?

  -everyone was free

  -church was in the centre and everyone attended it on sundays

  -on sundays markets were held

  -tradesmen paid to rent a stall in markets

  -large towns paid king a license to hold a market

  -kings collected taxes on sales and purchases

  -town authorities built and maintained roads/ bridges

  -plots of land where people grew crops in surplus to sell

  -stone walls
• features of town authorities

  -built and maintained bridges and roads

  -made trading easier

  -tolls paid to the king for using certain roads and bridges
• features of markets

  -happened on sunday after church

  -king collected tax on sales and purchases

  -tradesmen paid to rent a stall

  -large towns paid a license to hold one
• what did the town watchman do?

  Patrolled stone walls and gateways at night
• features of villages in the countryside

  -lord lived in the manor house

  -peasants lived in one-room crock houses

  -freemen

  -christian festivals

  -sunday church

  -had 3 fields
• features of peasants in the countryside

  -lived in one room crock houses with thatched roofs

  -worked from dawn to dusk

  -had to pay lord to use equipment (eg, the village mill)

  -had sunday off and were expected to go to church

  -the lord owned unfree peasants and split some land for them
• how did freemen and peasants differ?

  The freeman paid rent and sometimes worked on the lords land but was paid
• features of the christian festivals in countryside

  -celebrated by enjoying music

  -there was sport

  -there was drinking
• who was usually the lord who lived in a manor house in the countryside?

  a knight or baron