The Medieval Period & Project Work

Savannah, Lea and Lara.

Motte and Bailey Castle.

 As soon as a lord got land from his king, he built a castle on it. He needed it to defend himself and his people from enemies.

The first castles were called motte and bailey castles. They were made of wood and very simple to build, this is what one looked like:

1.    The lord got his peasants to build a small hill. This was a motte.

2.    On top of the motte they built a wooden fort. From this lookout post, the lord’s soldiers could see an enemy approaching.

3.    Below the motte was a big enclosure. This was called the bailey. Most of the time, the lord and his soldiers lived in the bailey but if an enemy attacked, they went up into the motte.

Kelly and Nicole C: Open Field Farming.

The peasants knew that if the grew crops in the same spot every year, the soil lost its fertility. To stop that happening they rotated (varied) the crops they planted. Every third year they rested the ground by growing nothing in it, we call that leaving the ground fallow. You can see how it worked in one field. Men woman and children helped to tend the animals or to get the crops. Their only source of food was what they grew themselves. If there was a bad harvest or the crops were lost they could face a famine. The peasants farmed using a method called OPEN FIELD FARMING. The land was divided into two ways –harvesting and grazing. All the animals of every family in the manor grazed in the one field—this was the commons. Every peasant family also harvested their crops in a common field too. The three open fields that were used for harvesting in the manor were sub divided into long strips. Each peasant had a strip of land to themselves in each of the three fields. The peasants knew that they had to rotate the crops every year otherwise the ground would become unfertilised.  

Dara Dornan and Nicole G

Stone Castles

When a lord had control of the local countryside he replaced the motte and bailey castles with stone castles.

Keep: The keep was the main building in the castle. This was where the lord and  the lady, their family and some soldiers lived. The windows were narrow slits. That made it difficult for the enemy to fire their arrows through them.

Battlements: The battlements were at the top of the keep. All day long, sentries kept guard on the battlements, watching for an enemy.

Curtain Walls: Curtain walls were the outer walls of the castle.

Turrets: Turrets were strong towers along the walls.

Drawbridge: The drawbridge was raised at night or if an enemy approached.

Portcullis: The portcullis was an iron grill that could be They were wide enough for soldiers to walk along.

Moat: The moat was a water-filled ditch around the castle walls. Often it was a part of a nearby river or stream.

Courtyard or bailey: in front of the keep was a open space called a courtyard or bailey

Latrines: lowered in front of the castle gate.

Ramparts: The ramparts ran along the top of all the walls. The latrines were the toilets of the castle.

Stone Castle: Made by Danielle

A Castle's Keep: Made by Amber and Nicole G

Lauren B and Shauna B:

Keeping Law and Order

  The lord appointed a bailiff to oversee the village for him. The bailiff made sure that medieval law was upheld. How also made sure that peasants paid rent and taxes. He brought anybody who was accused of a crime to the manor house to sentenced and punished by the lord.

  Peasants often stole fruit from the orchard of the lord. If you committed theft your hand would usually be chopped off. They also stole animals from the lord’s forest (most often deer) Peasants often drank too much alcohol and started fights.

  People were often held in the stocks. Passersby threw rocks and spat at them. Women who gossiped or nagged too much were subjected to the ducking stool.

     The ducking stool was where women were tied to a chair and lowered into the water repeatedly. Murderers were hung. Nobody was put in prison as punishment but people captured at war were kept in dungeons.

Cara and Katie G:

A Medieval Poem

A knight goes into fight,

 Wearing Armour very bright,

He works for the Lord,

And is high on the board,

By the board we mean the feudal system,

When he’s in battle his lady will miss him.

If he battles for the Lord,

He will get some land in return.

If he does so he might even get some money to earn.

Caithlin

A Medieval Poem:

A serf is like a peasant

His cloths aren’t very pleasant

He has to eat pottage

 It tastes a bit like snottage

He is owned by the lord

His freedom he can’t afford.

Katie B

A Knight’s Tail:

To become a knight there are three stages. The first is a Page. A page is a boy around seven years old. His father sends him to another manor for training. He learns how to ride on horseback, entertain and good manners. When he turns fourteen he turns into a Squire. A Squire learns how to fight on horseback goes to battle with the lord and helps dress the Lord. At the age of twenty one he becomes a knight in a ceremony called Dubbing. In Dubbing the knight takes the code of chivalry which means he shall never run away from battle.

 In battle they wear armour to protect themselves. They used swords, maces, lances and shields as weapons. They also wear a helmet, an eye visor and the horse is even covered.

When they are not at battle they have lots of stuff to do. These include hawking and mock battles. Hawkins is where they train a bird to catch songbirds and other small birds and kill them. In mock battles the knights use real weapons and some of them even die. A knight has two main meals a day. Their main meal (or dinner) is at 4pm. In one meal they eat lots of meat and sometimes their plates are even made out of bread. They drink a lot of ale because it was cleaner then water.

Knight Project made by Lauren C.

 Knight project made by Katie G.

A Serfs Story – Shauna C, Louise and Grace.

My name is Sean I am a serf in a medieval village. I farm land for my Lord.  I am not allowed leave without him saying so. My family have been serfs in this village for many generations. My house it quite small It only has one room. It is made from the wattle and daub method. This means that thick planks of wood are stuck in the ground and branches are woven in and out of them. The branches are then covered in daub a mixture of mood and straw.

I don’t really eat meat. I only eat it at Christmas time. My usual meals for the day are breakfast; lump of dark bread and a drink of ale , lunch; dark bread cheese and a drink of either ale or cider. My main meal would consist of pottage (vegetable soup with porridge) bread cheese and a drink of either ale or cider. My friends and I love to play draughts and cards. We also love to sing and play noughts and crosses. Rich men wore long tunics but as I am not rich I wear tattered tunics .My wife wears long dresses usually made of wool. I Grow flax and my wife weave this into lines of cloth. Expensive silks are bought over to Europe from the East. We cannot afford these nice garments.

A Serf is a type of peasant, the difference between a serf and a freeman (the other type of peasant) is that I am the property of the Lord. I must do what he says and I cannot gain my freedom unless I run away without being caught and stay away for a year and a day. A freeman works for the Lord farming his land but is not owned by the Lord. He can come an go as he pleases but he has to pay tax to the Lord.

Tara, Cara and Katie G.

Inside the medieval town:

Only the main street was paved with stones or wooden planks. It was often called High Street. Other streets were narrow lanes. They were unpaved so they usually became very muddy in the winter. Every town had its parish. It was made of stone and towered above the other buildings.

Fairs

The highlight of the year for townspeople was the annual fair. It could last up to three weeks and was held on the fair green outside the town walls. Merchants came from all over the world. Crafts people brought things they needed for their work. Acrobats, musicians and jugglers entertained the crowds.

Curfew

Because the houses where made of wood, there were strict rules about fire safety. At sunset church bells rang out to mark the arrival of curfew.

Houses

Most other buildings in a medieval town were made of wood. Rich merchants had their houses on the high street. These had three storeys, each storey leaning out over the one below, which must have made the street dark. Some streets were so narrow that two people could shake hands with each other out of the windows of the third storey! As you moved from the centre, the houses became smaller and the people poorer.

Food and Trade

There were no food shops in the town. Every house had a long back garden where the family grew their own vegetables and kept pigs, hens and even a cow. They could also buy food from the peasants who came to the town once a week on market day. The market took place on the market square on the centre of the town.

Dirt:

 Towns were very dirty. There were no sewers. An open drain ran down the middle of the street. People threw everything on it including the contents of their chamber pots people walking by had to be careful that they didn't get something nasty on their heads!

Disease:

People seldom washed and they all had fleas .Many suffered from skin diseases .A common one was leprosy. Sores broke out all over a person’s body. Lepers were not allowed to mix with others. They had to live in a special place, usually outside the town walls. This is how Leopardstown, near Dublin, got its name.

Medieval Town Project: Hannah and Katie G.

Medieval Town Project : Lara.

Medieval Town Project: Tara and Becky.

The Neolithic Period

By Lauren C, Shauna B, Savannah, Nicole C, Danielle, Cara and Katie G.

The Neolithic people started to build more permanent places to live. The skills of farming spread very slowly from the Middle East across to Europe. The first farmers who came to Ireland properly came from Britain. They used boats or rafts to transport their seeds and animal across the Irish sea.

Who are the Neolithic people?

The Neolithic people were the New Stone Age people. Before 4000 BC the country was covered in forests. Only wild plants grew and animals were found in the wild and were hunted.  After 4000 BC trees were cut down to make way for grasslands and pasture, crops were planted by the people and the people began to raise animals.

Farming began in Mesopotamia  (modern day Iraq/ Iran) around 8000 BC. some  people started to collect and sow seeds and to tame wild animals. Farming provided them with a regular supply of food. Since crops and animals needed to be cared for, people became more settled.

Clothes:

With farming coming to Ireland you were now able to get and use a lot of new materials (e.g) leather came from cows.  People also discovered how to weave during this period.

Pottery:

Neolithic farmers discovered how to make pottery from clay. Neolithic farmers were the 1st people to do this. Clay pots were used for storing food or cooking. Archaeologists found grains of wheat in the pottery found. Because of this they know that they grew crops.

Tools and Weapons:

Neolithic people had better tools and weapons than Mesolithic people. Neolithic people didn't just use flint, they also used porcellanite, which is a lot heavier and stronger than flint. Porcellanite was great for axe-heads. They also used animal bones to make handles for the axes.

Types of Neolithic Settlement:

Court cairns

A court cairns can also be called court tombs. They get their name form court because courts open up into a big area which the court cairn does. The word cairn means a mound of stones. Bowls containing (burnt) human remains have been found in some chambers objects such as stone axes and pottery these are quite amazing tombs. 

Dolmens

Dolmens look like huge stone tables. There are two stones with a very large stone on top called a capstone. Some capstones weigh over 100 tonnes. The Proleek dolmen in Donegal is thought to be 3’500 years old.

Lough Gur:

Lough Gur is in Co.Limerick .Excavations in Limerick give us an idea of how the first Irish farmers lived. The houses were made from wood and were either rectangular or round in shape. They had one room inside and a big hearth in the centre for a big, open fire. These houses must have been very dark and smoky. The walls were made from planks of wood and branches weaved together. There was also mud plastered on the walls to fill in any gaps. This method of house building was called Wattle and Daub. The Neolithic people either slept on wooden benches or straw.

Mesolithic Ireland

Hannah, Dara and Shauna C.

Mesolithic Ireland

Archaeologists believe that the first people who settled in Ireland arrived about 9000 years ago. (7000bc to 3500bc). Before these people came to Ireland it was covered in thick sheet of ice. These people arrived in Ireland about 7000bc. The country was covered in dense forests with lots of rivers and lakes. Archaeologists named these people Mesolithic people. All of their tools were made from stone and they lived by hunting and gathering food such as berries, apples and nuts. Mesolithic people left us no written records. They lived at Mount Sandel .Archaeologists think that small family groups lived there.

Mesolithic Huts

At Mount Sandel archaeologist found evidence of Mesolithic huts. They discovered a circle of post-holes with a hearth in the centre. Fires where lit in the hearth for cooking and heating. These post-holes tell us that wooden branches where placed here. These branches were then bent to make the shape of an upside down bowl or a dome. Animal skin of earth were probably then put on top.

Mesolithic Tools and Weapons

When archaeologists excavated Mount Sandel lots of stone tools and small pieces of broken flint were found. Mesolithic people would have used flint to make spears and axe-heads for hunting and fishing .They also used small pieces of flint as knives and scrapers to skin animals and cut meat. Flint is not found everywhere in Ireland but along the north east-coast it is plentiful. This may be the reason why people settled at Mount Sandel.

Newgrange

Becky and Nicole G

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Newgrange was built between 2675 BC and 2485 BC.  The passage of Newgrange  is over 19 metres long and the chamber is 6 metres high. Newgrange is in Co. Meath. It is older than the pyramids in Egypt. the walls are made from standing stones , some of the stones were brought from Wicklow , over 60 kilometres away . It could have taken 400 men and over 16 years to build.

Many of the stones along the passage and in the chamber were decorated with spirals, circle and diamond patterns. The most dramatic decoration is on the huge stone at the entrance of the tomb.

The roof is an extension of the walls. Each layer of the wall is placed slightly inside the ones below, overlapping until they meet at a single stone in the centre, making a cone effect. This is called a corbelled roof. After 4,500 years there are no leaks in the roof at Newgrange

Archaeology

By Lea, Lara, Tara, Grace, Amber and Lauren B 

How do Archaeologists decide how old an object is? 

When archaeologists find objects in the ground they are cleaned, bagged and labelled according to where they were found in the site. Computers can help to record information. Archaeologists find it hard to date some artefacts that they find. They would be able to date an object if it was near a coin with a date on it. Pollen from plants found at a site can also date objects. 

There are three main methods that archaeologists use to date objects found in the ground: 

1. Radio Carbon Dating 

Carbon or radio carbon dating is a scientific method used to find out how old something that once lived. All humans, plants and animals have Carbon 14. Carbon 14 is tiny dots scattered on our bones. When we die the amount of carbon on our bones begin to decline so the older the object is, the less carbon 14 will be on it. 

2. Stratigraphy: 

Stratigraphy is a method used to help date objects found in the ground. You date the objects depending on how deep in the ground they are found (what layer of soil). In most cases the deeper they are found the older they are. 

3. Dendrochronology: 

Dendrochronology is the dating of wooden objects. Archaeologists can determine how old a log or a tree is by looking at the amount of rings a tree has. Every year a wooden object grows a new ring, so if the tree was two years old it would have two rings and if it was three years old it would have three rings and so on. 

How do objects end up in the ground? 

Objects end up in the ground for many reasons when people loose objects they maybe found years later in the soil. When people die they are often buried with some of their personal possessions, others may have buried them for safe keeping. From these objects we can gather a picture of the past. 

What is the difference between history and archaeology? 

History is the study of the past using sources. 

Archaeology is the study of the past using artefacts. 

How are sites chosen to be excavated? 

Archaeologists choose a site by doing research on the site. Sites are also excavated when big structures are about to be built. For example, when roads are going to be built, archaeologists will excavate the site to make sure nothing from the past is lost. 

How do archaeologists excavate a site? 

Archaeologists excavate a site by using modern techniques such as a geophysical survey. They use a machine like an x-ray to look at the soil under the ground. They dig test trenches and take areial photographs to make a detailed plan of the site. Then they divide it into one meter square areas so that the archaeologist will investigate the site more carefully.

What is History?

By Louise, Caithlin and Katie B.

What is History?

History is the study of the past. The people who study history are called historians. History is not just the study of battles or important people, it also is the study of the lives of normal people and the way they lived their life.

What is Pre-history?

Pre-history is the study of the past before writing was used. Archaeologists find out how these people lived by examining their objects e.g. their tools and weapons.

Propaganda:

This is information used to influence people’s opinions. For example, television advertisements.

Bias:

Bias is a one-sided view of something. It is favouring one side of a story over another. Newspapers can often be very bias.
What is a source?

Sources:

A source is an object that can help historians find out about what happened in the past. It can be anything written (for example, a book or diary) or anything spoken (a speech) Objects such as jewellery and clothes may often be used
What is a primary source?

What is a primary source?

A primary source is a source that comes directly from the past (for example, a diary). Diaries are a record of what happened during that time. Photographs are another primary source because you cannot take the same picture twice, it captures a specific moment in time.

 What is a secondary source?

A secondary source does not directly from the past. It was written afterwards by somebody who was not directly involved (for example, a history book or documentary).

Ways in which we measure periods of history:

1. Decade: A decade is ten years.
2. Century: A century is one hundred years.
3. Millennium: A millenium is one thousand years.