Lords+and+peasants

Concept map activity:

Make a concept map that covers the following focus question: How did feudalism and the manor economy shape medieval life? For this question you will have to consider the social relations established between lords and peasants, between different members of the nobility and how the economy of the manor was organized.

Source analysis activity:

Source A: Richard Est will pay his lord one quarter of wheat in October. In November he will pay wheat, four bushels of oats and there hens. And at Christmas one cock and two hens and two pennies worth of bread. He will work one day every week ploughing his lord’s land. And he will work a second day a week mowing or reaping, or whatever other work shall be imposed on him by the lord or his bailiff [this could involve digging or clearing ditches, mending fences, shearing sheep, keeping weeds out of ponds where fish were kept]. At harvest time he shall work two extra days and on each of those days he works he shall find two other men to work with him at his own expense. Without his lord’s permission he will neither marry his son or daughter [to someone else], nor sell his oxen or calves, nor his horses, neither will he fell the oak or ash trees without permission from his lord. However often he brews he will give one penny to the lord.

Source B:

Source C: A charter sets out the granting of land and the promises of services in return for that land. Charter of Baldwin, abbot of Bury St Edmunds in favour of Peter, a knight of King William, probably after 1072 "Be it known that Peter, a knight of King William, will become the feudal man of Baldwin the abbot, by performing the ceremony of homage. He will do this by permission of the King with the consent of the monks, and in return for the service here stated, excepting always the fealty which he owes to the King, the fief having been properly received. Peter will serve on behalf of the Abbot within England with three or four knights at their own expense if he has been summoned by the King and the Abbot to be part of the feudal host. If the Knight Peter serves anywhere in England, it will be at his expense. But if he is summoned to serve outside England, it will be at the Abbot’s expense.”

Source D: An extract from the Anglo Saxon Chronicle commenting on the reign of Stephen. The Chronicle was written at the time of these events, during the XII century. “The barons filled the country full of castles and oppressed the wretched people. They levied taxes on the villages and called it protection money. When the wretched people had no more money, they robbed and burned so that you could easily go a whole day’s journey and not find a village with anyone living in it.”

1) Read source A. What can you tell from this source about the relationship between the lords and the peasants in the Middle Ages? Explain your answer with reference to the source. 2) Look at source B. What can you learn from this source about economy in the Middle Ages? Explain your answer with reference to the source. 3) source c and d - What can you learn from the source about life in the Middle Ages?