MEDIEVAL VILLAGE

1ST YR

Medieval manor• This was the

area owned by a lord

• All the land belonged to the lord

• The land that the lord kept for himself…

• …was called the demesne

Things in the manor

• The manor house or castle• Serfs’ house• A forge• A water mill• Church• Bailiffs house• River and Forest

Life in a village

• A blacksmith worked in a forge• Made nails, axes, horseshoes• Miller worked in mill• He ground the peasants wheat

into flour• Made bread

The land

• Called an open-field system• Split into two• Big meadow called the commons• Other part was fields for crops

The Commons

• Big meadow• No crops• All animals belonging to the

peasants grazed there

The Open Fields

• 3 large fields divided into strips (lines)• Each peasant owned a strip in each field• Crops were rotated each year in each

field• Oats and barley, then wheat, then left

fallow• Every 3 years, one field left fallow• The ground had to be rested to keeps its

fertility

Life in the manor – peasant houses

• 2 rooms – 1 eating, 1 sleeping• Made of wattle and daub• Thin braces weaved together for

frame – wattle• Mud plastered onto it for warmth –

daub• Thatched roof with straw• Animals slept in house in winter

Peasant clothes

• Made their own clothes• Grew flax – women wove into linen• Spun wool• Women – long dress• Scarf called wimple• Shoes were leather stockings – no soles• Men – woolen tunics with belt

Peasant’s food

• Only ate meat on special occasions• Why?• Too expensive• Ate bread, cheese• Pottage (soup with porridge)• Drank ale• Water too dirty to drink

Pastimes

• No work on Sundays• Board games – noughts and

crosses, draughts• Wrestling and bearbaiting• Hoodsman blind

Life of a peasant

• Very hard – worked in fields• Serfs had to also work on lords fields• Spent most of their day working in fields• Sowed crops in spring• Harvested it with scythe• Looked after their veg garden behind

their house• Looked after their animals on commons

Tithe

• Paid a tithe to parish priest• 1/10 of their salary• Also taxes to the lord

Law and order

• A bailiff worked for the lord• Made sure peasants paid rent and

tax• Also looked after law and order• Peasants poached from orchard or

forest• Or started fights

Serfs

• Serfs might run away• If a serf ran, and lasted a year and

a day…• …he became a freeman• Also, accused people could run

into a church• Could not be arrested there• Called ‘sanctuary’

Punishment • Bailiff brought people to lord’s manor

house• Lord decided punishment• Common punishment – stocks• For petty criminals• Hands and legs locked in• Left in public• People jeered and threw rubbish at them• Or pillory• Persons hands and head locked in

Stocks

Other punishments

• Thief – hand cut off• Gossiping women – ducking stool• No prisons• Dungeons – castle used for

captured soldiers only• Serious criminals were publicly

hanged

VOCAB REVISION – What are these words?

• Sanctuary• Tithe• Wattle and daub• Serf• Fallow• Pillory• Bailiff• Forge

Vocab revison (2)

• ‘Hoodsman blind’• The commons• Pottage• Wimple• Demesne• Tunic• Stocks

Revision questions

• 1. Explain the open-field system.• 2. Write about a peasant’s diet.• 3. Describe the job of a bailiff.