ESO2 Social Studies: Pre-evaluation test

Students will choose 3 questions and write texts around 100 words each. The subjects we have
studied are as follows.

Feudalism
The Vikings
Terry Jones’ Life of the Medieval Peasant The Medieval Church

Charlemagne:
King of the Franks, crowned the year 800 on Christmas Day, crowned emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire, took the order back to Europe and ended the Dark Ages. One of his functions
being a king was to judge people for this reason he traveled a lot he had a throne portable. The
Holy Roman Empire was a confederation of a micronation that lasted 1k years, the emperors
were French and then Germanic. Napoleon ended this union.

Charlemagne was the king of the Franks but on Christmas Day in the year 800 AD, he was
crowned the Holy Roman Emperor:

He received this title in the Vatican, and Rome was crowned HRE by the Pope.

Why?

The Pope would make Charlemagne his vassal and assert his ascendancy/superiority.

Charlemagne received: The title of Emperor and he is also associated with the prestige of the
Roman Empire.

The French philosopher Voltaire said the HRE is: not Holy, it is not Roman and not an
Empire.

Feudalism:
Give services to the king and lord by working in fields for 60 -50 days to pay taxes. It was less
than now.

They had a lot of holy festivities, 80 in total.

The word “Feudalism” derives from the Latin terms “Fee” or “Feodum”, meaning

fief. The word “Fee” signified land given as a payment for military service. (The land is called
fiefdom).
●
The Vikings:
1. They came from Denmark.

2. They could travel because of the hot temperatures. (For this they arrived in
Vinland, nowadays an island of Canada)

3. Ruins inspired some famous symbols like Bluetooth and Nazi SS division
symbols. (Ruins were only used for names).

4. They didn’t know how to read or write. (They kidnapped women from Ireland,
which taught them to be literate).

5. They invaded Russia because it was in a civil war, and they were expelled
from Russia, but after they just continued with the civil war and Russians
realized that with Vikings they had peace and they let them in again.

6. They chose Christianity as their religion because they could drink alcohol.

7. On the Island of Men, between the UK and Ireland, they still have Viking
traditions, and the oldest parliament made by Vikings. (On that island there is no
limit speed so on that island they do the most dangerous cars and moto circuits).

8. They conquered: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, western Russia, Central and East
England, Iceland, Greenland, Normandy, and Sicily, also they conquered some
ports in the Baltics, Ireland, Scotland, and Bulgaria.(They also colonized Vinland
{=land of wine})
 Video life as a peasant:
● Revolt(video):

● Summer 1381 - black death (outskirts London)

● The peasants wanted servitude, taxation, and aristocracy

● By that time the king was only 14

● The peasants also wanted liberty equality brotherhood

● This happened 400 years before the French Revolution

● They grabbed the archbishop and the treasurer out of the white tower and
slaughtered them

● targeted lawyers and court officials

● they burned the taxation and legal records papers

● nobles had land as long as they provided military service to the king

● primula pestis first plague

● black death + bad weather= population going down

● 60 thousand peasants revolted

● peasants assembled in Canterbury

● distinguish the enemy from a friend thanks to a battle cry.

● The king lied to them about the pardons and the barons slaughtered thousands of
peasants.

● The peasants’ enemy is sheep because the king replaced the peasants with them.
After all, the sheep could produce wool and food. Conclusion: revolt failed
● Other info:
● Food: Pottage( Anything they could find in the fields boiled for 2h because they used human
excrement as fertilizer).

● The Lords needed to be able to trust their peasants because the majority of the time they
were fighting with the king. (The only town that still works like that is Laxton)

● The feudal burden: working on the Lord’s land to pay taxes(50-60 days in the worst of
cases, that is much better than a lot of actual jobs)

● People thought being mad was contagious. (They use that in Gotham to stop the king from
traveling through there and making them pay taxes).

● What did a lord have to do for the peasants: -Protect them. -Invite them to picnic twice a
year.

Medieval church
Political power: As a privileged group, the church did not pay taxes, but
collected them. The taxes were from tithes, which were one-tenth of peasants' harvest. The
tithes were obligatory payments to help maintain the church in some cases they had more
power than the king or queen.

Economic power: The church had great economic power in the year 1050 it
was the largest landholder in Europe. Some lands were gifts from the king and wealthy nobles.

Secular clergy: This was the clergy that didn't live in the monasteries for example
priests and bishops.

Regular clergy: Lived in monasteries and followed a strict code of conduct. They
were called monks and obeyed an abbot (a man who is the head of an abbey of

monks) There were also convents for women, with nuns and abbesses).

Religious orders:
There were many religious orders, these were: Franciscans | Carathusians | Jesuits (Society
of Jesus) | Benedicities | Salesians | Dominicans | Augustians | and Carmelites.

Military orders:
Christian Knights. The orders were: the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, the Order of
Saint James, the Order of Calatrava, and the Teutonic Knights. Their members were dedicated
to the protection of pilgrims and the defense of the Crusader States (territories captured in the
Holy Land {Palestine}).

Spanish Military orders:

● Calatrava ● Montesa ● Alcántara ● Santiago