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.