Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Medieval England
- Religion
- Christianity
- The Catholic Church
- Incredibly powerful and wealthy -
owned a lot of land and property - in
most cases had more money than kings
- Was fully believed in by mostly everyone - it's
teachings were rarely questioned during the Middle Ages
- People required to support the
church by paying tithes to the church
- Tithe - 10% of a person's income -
usually paid for in goods or grain
- Had both political and religious influence
- Taught people that they had to follow
God's teaching's to get into Heaven
- (People were so scared of Hell that
they would do anything to stay out of it!)
- Had 'indulgences' - money paid to the
church, ensuring you to go to Heaven
- Kings + Emperors would
consult church for advice
- The Pope also had the power of
excommunication (cutting a person off
from the church, and therefore Heaven)
- Christianity made official
religion by Romans - 391AD
- Roman empire collapsed - Christianity remained and
by the 1100's was the dominant religion in Europe
- Cathedrals
- Used Gothic arcitecture
- Flying buttresses, gargoyles
- Larger, fancy churches
- Were built to inspire awe - to show the power
of not only God, but also of the church
- Took decades to build
- Were built in the shape of a cross
- The Crusades
- Muslims controlled Jerusalem, but allowed
Christians to live and build temples there
- 1095AD - Christians
forced to leave Jerusalem
- Pope Urban II called for all
Christians of Europe to rise
up, take back Jerusalem
(This was the first Crusade)
- The Pope promised a guarantee
into Heaven for everyone that
came on the journey
- Took the crusaders 2 years to get to Jerusalem
- During their journey, the crusaders ran out of
supplies - Had to do many things to survive
- The crusaders had to:
- - Drink urine, blood, and sewage water,
- Steal supplies from innocent civilians,
- Eat dead animal carcasses (and in
extreme measures, even dead humans)
- Disease was very common, many died
- Jerusalem was successfully captured
- The crusades didn't end there - 9
crusades in total - Christians never
fully regained control over Jerusalem
- The first crusade - 1095AD
- The second crusade - 1147AD
- The third crusade - 1187AD
- The fourth crusade - 1202AD
- A peace treaty was signed after the third crusade, but the
battles resumed after the two people that signed the treaty,
Saladin and King Richard (the Lionheart), had both passed away
- The crusaders with enough money
took boats to the Holy Land to fight
- Medicine
- The Black Death
- More commonly know as the
bubonic or pneumonic plague
- 1 in 4 people would die from Black Death
- Name originated from a symptom of the disease, where
lumps on patient's body turned dark purple/black
- Returned to England many times
before finally leaving for good
- A religious procession known as
flagellants would whip themselves to
make up for their sins, in an attempt
to stay safe from Black Death
- 'Ring a ring of rosies'
originated from the
patients of Black Death
becoming sick and dying
- Killed around 1.5 million people just in England
- First known to be in England around 1348
- Diseases believed to be punishments
from God, as the patient had sinned
- Not very advanced surgically - would turn to
amputation - most would die from amputation
- Most 'potions' made to heal wounds and diseases were actually
completely useless, yet some were very effective, and are still used today
- Crime and punishment/Law and order
- Forms of torture
- - The rack,
- Head Crusher,
- Cats paw,
- Knee splitter,
- Scavengers
daughter,
- Judas Chair,
- Spanish donkey,
- Choke pear,
- Lead sprinkler,
- Iron maiden,
- Crocodile
shears
- Ordeals
- When it is impossible to determine s person's guilt,
suspect had to go through "trial by ordeal"
- Ordeal by fire - Suspect was to hold a hot iron bar and walk
three paces or place hand into a pot of boiling water - if
wound didn't heal within three days, suspect was found guilty
- Ordeal by water - Suspect thrown into river - if
suspect sunk, they were innocent, and if suspect
floated, they were guilty. (Most innocent drowned)
- Ordeal by combat - Two suspects put into battle - the losing
suspect is guilty. (Richer suspects were able to pay soldiers to fight
for them - resulted in guilty but rich suspects being left "innocent"
- Those found guilty were punished in public to show
humiliation and brutal punishment - Bodies of the
executed were displayed outside towns in cages known as
gibbets - This was done to discourage commiting crimes
- Witchcraft
- Considered a serious crime punishable by death
- Witches believed to be followers
of the devil - enemies of Christ
- Believed that they caused plagues,
crops to fail, and animals to die
- People often thought to be witches were:
- The physically deformed
- The insane
- People disliked by their neighbours
- Those critical/insulting of the church
- People 'different' from others
- Those who actually practised witchcraft
- Forms of crime and punishment
- Gossiping (Usually women) -
Had to wear scolds bridle
- Nagging - Tied to dunking stool,
dunked in river three times
- Not working hard enough - Chained
to pole and flogged (whipped)
- Cheating/Drunkeness - Put into
the stocks or pillory, could be fined
- Theft - Have hand/s cut off
- Heresy (Going against God/the church) - Banishment if repented (admitted being guilty) -
Burnt at stake if they did not repent (Did not admit to being guilty) (known as auto de fay)
- Murder - Hanging or
decapitation
(beheading)
- Treason (trying to take out royalty/someone higher
than you) - Were hanged, drawn and quartered
- Social structure/Feudalism
- Began around 900CE
- An economic, political and social
system - not an organised government
- Pros of the Feudal system: - Ensured people protection from attack,
supplies of food and clothing, and made people feel as if they were
part of a big group, spreading a sense of community
- Cons of the Feudal system: - Was found as a somewhat
controlling system, some people believed it was
restricting their freedom and controlling their lives
- Social Structure:
- The King
- Provides land to the tenants-in-chief
- Tenants-in-chief
- Provide loyalty, soldiers and taxes to the King
- Knights
- Provide loyalty, soldiers and taxes to the tenants-in-chief
- Provide protection, lodgings and work to the serfs
- Serfs
- Provide loyalty, food, money and labour to the knights
- Manorialism
- Manor house - The Lord
(knight or tenant-in-chief) lived
- Some Manor houses had
walls that peasants could hide
behind in times of danger
- Three field system - fields belonging to the Lord took on the system - Two
fields were to grow crops (usually wheat and barley), one field was left fallow
(so the soil was fresh for when the soil in the other fields became unusable)
- Fields divided into strips - the Lord kept
1/3rd of the land, the remaining strips were
divided amongst the peasant families
- Lord's mill - Peasants could use the
Lord's mill to ground their grain into flour
for baking - had to pay to use Lord's mill
- Lord's oven - Peasants could use
the Lord's oven to bake their goods
- had to pay to use Lord's oven
- Serfs lived in the village -
Serfs' houses made of wattle
(woven twigs) and daub (mud)
- Manor Courts
- Many minor crimes
dealt with by the Lord of
the village (= the manor)
- Punishments for minor crimes included:
Extra work, time in the stocks or pillories
- Battle of Hastings
- Also known as 'The Battle
for England' - 1066AD
- Three contenders for the new king were: Harold Godwineson,
William of Normandy and Harald Hadrada of Norway
- Edward the Confessor, the King of England, died on
January 6, 1066 - The new king was undecided at this point
- William of Normandy crowned king on
Christmas Day 1066 at Westminster Abbey
- With Harold Godwineson and Harald Hadrada of
Norway dead, William of Normandy had won the battle
- The Battle of Hastings consisted of two armies: The Normas
(led by William) and the Anglo-Saxons (led by Harold)
- The Anglo-Saxons were already weak from fighting and defeating
Harald and Tostig's army, giving the Normans an advantage
- The Battle of Stamford Bridge took place on the
25th of September, 1066 - Two armies fighting were
the Anglo-Saxons and Harald and Tostig's army
- After being crowned king, William had a tapestry made
showing his way to royalty - The Bayeux Tapestry