The Middle Ages:

Myth and Reality

 We think of knights in
shining armor, lavish
banquets, wandering
minstrels, kings, queens,
bishops, monks, pilgrims,
and glorious pageantry.
 In film and in literature,
medieval life seems
heroic, entertaining, and
romantic.
 In reality, life in the
Middle Ages, a period
that extended from
approximately the 5th
century to the 15th
century in Western
Europe, could also be
harsh, uncertain, and
dangerous.
 For safety and
defense, people in
the Middle Ages
formed small
communities around
a central lord or
master.
 Most people lived
on a manor, which
consisted of the
castle (or manor
house), the church,
the village, and the
surrounding farm
land.
 Each manor was largely self-
sufficient, growing or
producing all of the basic
items needed for food,
clothing, and shelter.
 To meet these needs, the
manor had buildings devoted
to special purposes, such as:
 The mill for grinding grain
 The bake house for making bread
 The blacksmith shop for creating
metal goods.
 These manors were
isolated, with
occasional visits
from peddlers,
pilgrims on their
way to the Crusades,
or soldiers from
other fiefdoms.
 Under the feudal
system, the king
awarded land grants or
fiefs to his most
important nobles,
barons, and bishops, in
return for their
contribution of soldiers
for the king's armies.
 Nobles divided their
land among the lesser
nobility, who became
their vassals. Many of
these vassals became
so powerful that the
kings had difficulty
controlling them.
• A product of feudalism, chivalry
was an idealized system of
manners and morals
– Restricted to nobility
• The Medieval knight was bound to
the chivalric code to be loyal to…
– God
– his lord
– his lady
• Chivalric ideals include...
– benevolence
– brotherly love
– politeness
• Sir Gawain is an example
 The education of a
young noble began
early (age 7).
 He would be sent off to
the castle of another
lord. He waited on his
hosts and learned
courtly manners. He
played chess and
learned war strategies.
 To develop fighting
skills, he would practice
sword fighting.
• At around the age of
14, the boy would
become a squire.
• A squire would act as a
servant to a knight.
• The squire took care of
the knight’s armor,
weapons, and
warhorse.
• The squire would also
escort the knight to
battles.
 At around 21, a
squire became a full-
fledged knight.
 Knights were to
abide by a complex
set of ideals, which
became known as
the code of chivalry.
 Later in the Middle
Ages battles were
often for show
 Being a knight was like being a member of an
order, like a monk. “A knight served God through
his strength, and it was his duty to protect the
weak and defenseless, women and the poor,
widows and orphans. He must be neither brutal
nor cruel, and in battle must only fight man to
man, never two against one.
 In 1215, the English
barons formed an
alliance that forced
King John to sign the
Magna Carta. It limited
the king's powers of
taxation and required
trials by jury. It was
the first time that an
English monarch was
subject to the law.
 People in towns were not serfs or peasants, but
they weren’t lords either; they were citizens,
“burghers” in Germany and “bourgeoisie” in
France
 A medieval tournament was war gaming in
times of peace, and the celebration could last
for days. Knights from all over would compete
against each other by jousting.
 “Dressed in full armor they galloped towards
one another at full tilt, each doing his best to
unhorse the other with his blunted lance”
(Gombrich 141). Pennants would fly in the
breeze, food would be sold, minstrels would
sing, children would play games – it was a
carnival atmosphere,.
 At the lowest level of
society were the
peasants, also called
serfs or villeins.
 The lord offered his
peasants protection in
exchange for living and
working on his land.
 Peasants worked hard to
cultivate the land and
produce the goods that
the lord and his manor
needed.
 They were heavily taxed
and were required to
relinquish much of what
they harvested.
 MEDIEVAL LIFE
Cooperation and
Mutual Obligations

KING

FEUDALISM:
POLITICAL SYSTEM
 Decentralized, local
government
Loyalty
 Dependent upon the
relationship between
members of the nobility
 Lord and his vassals
administered justice
and were the highest
authority in their land
MANORIALISM:
ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Fief and Peasants  Agriculture the basis for
wealth
Military Aid  Lands divided up into
LORDS (VASSALS TO KING) self-sufficient manors
 Peasants (serfs) worked
the land and paid rent In
exchange for protection
 Barter the usual form of
exchange

Food Protection Shelter

Homage Military Service

KNIGHTS (VASSALS TO LORDS)

Food Protection Shelter

Farm the Pay

Land PEASANTS (SERFS) Rent
 Whether they were
nobles or peasants,
women held a
difficult position in
society.
 They were largely
confined to
household tasks
such as cooking,
baking bread,
sewing, weaving,
and spinning.
 However, they also
hunted for food and
fought in battles,
learning to use
weapons to defend
their homes and
castles.
 Some medieval
women held other
occupations. There
were women
blacksmiths,
merchants, and
apothecaries.
 The Catholic Church was
the only church in Europe
during the Middle Ages,
and it had its own laws
and large income.
 Church leaders such as
bishops and archbishops
sat on the king's council
and played leading roles
in government.
 Bishops, who were
often wealthy and
came from noble
families, ruled over
groups of parishes
called dioceses.
 Many times, they
were part of the
feudal system and in
exchange for a fief
and peasants had to
provide homage and
military aid to a leige
lord.
 Parish priests, on the other
hand, came from humbler
backgrounds and often
had little education.
 The village priest tended
to the sick and indigent
and, if he was able, taught
Latin and the Bible to the
youth of the village
 Monasteries in the
Middle Ages were based
on the rules set down by
St. Benedict in the sixth
century. The monks
became known as
Benedictines and took
vows of poverty, chastity,
and obedience to their
leaders.
 Monks were required to
perform manual labor
and were forbidden to
own property, leave the
monastery, or become
entangled in the
concerns of society.
 Daily tasks were often
carried out in silence.
 Between prayers, the
monks read or
copied religious texts
and music. Monks
were often well
educated and
devoted their lives to
writing and learning.
 Pilgrimages were an
important part of
religious life in the
Middle Ages. Many
people took journeys to
visit holy shrines such the
Canterbury Cathedral in
England and sites in
Jerusalem and Rome.
 Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales is a series of
stories told by 30
pilgrims as they
traveled to
Canterbury.
 Most medieval homes
were cold, damp, and
dark. Sometimes it
was warmer and
lighter outside the
home than within its
walls.
 For security purposes,
windows, when they were
present, were very small
openings with wooden
shutters that were closed
at night or in bad weather.
The small size of the
windows allowed those
inside to see out, but kept
outsiders from looking in.
 Many peasant
families ate, slept,
and spent time
together in very
small quarters, rarely
more than one or two
rooms. The houses
had thatched roofs
and were easily
destroyed.
 The homes of the rich
were more elaborate than
the peasants' homes.
Their floors were paved,
as opposed to being
strewn with rushes and
herbs, and sometimes
decorated with tiles.
Tapestries were hung on
the walls, providing not
only decoration but also
an extra layer of warmth.
 The inventions of
Leonardo da Vinci and
the voyages of
discovery in the
fifteenth century
contributed to the birth
of the Renaissance.
 Few serfs were left in Europe by
the end of the Middle Ages, and
the growing burgher class became
very powerful. Hard work and
enterprise led to economic
prosperity and a new social order.
Urban life brought with it a new
freedom for individuals. 
 Adapted from the Annenberg Media/Learner.org website “The
Middle Ages”
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages/