A time of war, little interest in education, plague and a reduction in population of Europe.
Feudal system: Kings granted land, called a fief, to vassals in return for soldiers. Kings, barons, knights, bishops and abbots, freemen and serfs.
Knights lived on Manors. They kept some for themselves (demesne) and rented out the rest to peasants.
Norman invasion of Britain: William the Conqueror, Battle of Hastings 1066, Bayeux Tapestry.
Norman invasion of Ireland: Rory O Connor V Dermot McMorrough king of Leinster. Asked Henry II for help.
Strongbow (Richard de Clare) marries Aoife in Waterford (1169). Normans take Dublin from Vikings.
Castle
Motte and Bailey castle: used early on or by poorer knights. Bailey was the courtyard. An example is Knockgraffon in Tipperary.
Stone castle: strategic location, moat, battlements, drawbridge, portcullis, gatehouse,
The Keep: great hall, solar, spiral staircase, arrow slits, dungeon, garderobes tapestries.
Siege: undermining the wall, giant catapult, battering ram, hot oil, scaling-ladders
Gunpowder meant the end.
The lord: controlled territory, fought wars, administered justice, attended tournaments and hunted.
The lady: ran the keep, came with a dowry, had an arranged marriage, looked after daughter’s education.
Feasts in the great hall. Jesters, musicians. Knives and spoons only. Lots of meat. Drank wine, ale and mead.
Knights
Page: 7 to 14. Learned manners and attended to lady.
Squire: 14 to 21. Trained for fighting (sword, mace, lance, crossbow, longbow). Helped with lord’s armour. Learned code of chivalry.
Knighthood: night in church. Dubbed. ‘Arise Sir…’
Tournaments and Jousts: mock battles. Coat of arms.
The Manor
The Manor was the village and the land around it.
Knight or lord: lived in manor-house (sometimes called a grange), and bailiff ran manor-farm. The demesne was kept for lord or knight. The life-style of the knight was similar to that of a lord, but was not as well off. The manor-house was made of wood and plaster.
Peasants: lived in 2 rooms. Houses made of wattle and daub and thatch. Houses had 2 rooms, one for family and one for animals. Freemen paid money rent and could go when they wanted. Serfs could not (year and a day). All had to work for lord at certain times. All had to use the lord’s mill. All had to pay tithes.
Open field system: 3 fields.1 fallow. Strips. Crop rotation. Common land. Animal parts not salted in autumn burned on ‘bonefires’ at Halloween.
Food: porridge for breakfast. Bread and cheese for lunch. Pottage (thick vegetable soup). Peasants rarely had meat. Ale or beer.
Clothes: wool spun and woven.
Tower houses: replaced manor-house for protection. Built by Gaelic Irish as well as Anglo-Norman. Rectangular, spiral staircase, murder-hole, door high up, had bawns for peasants.
Towns and cities
Normans developed Viking towns and also built new ones at: river crossings, ports, route crossings and around castles.
A town charter granted by the king gave the town the right to have a corporation, fairs and markets and courts.
Towns had walls. Houses made of wood (curfew). Open sewers. Chamber pots onto narrow streets with the shout ‘Gardez-loo’. Marketcross. Town crier.
Merchants and Craftsmen: merchants well off, lived in stone houses. Craftsmen had workshops on ground floor with a sign outside (few could read).
Guilds: controlled standards and prices, decided who became master craftsmen, looked after sick members and their families.
Apprentice at 14. Lived with master. Could be punished. 7 years.
Journeyman. Could work for anyone. Paid by the day. Had to make a masterpiece to become a master.
Markets and Fairs: markets weekly at market cross. Fairs once or twice a year on the fair green (outside the walls). Lasted a week or more. Entertainment (bear and bull baiting, jugglers, musicians, fire-eaters)
Crime and Punishment: no one on streets after curfew. Stocks or Pillory. Hands chopped off. Torture, hanging and beheading.
Churches and monasteries
Bishops (dioceses), parishes. Church very powerful. Power shown in architecture.
Romanesque:rounded arches, square towers, thick walls and columns
Gothic: pointed arches, slender columns, thin walls supported by buttresses, rose windows and lancet windows.
Medieval Monasteries: different orders such as Benedictines and Cistercians.
Rule of St. Benedict. Poverty, chastity and obedience. Lay brothers.
Main buildings: cloisters, church, almonry, refectory, dormitory, infirmary, chapter house and scriptorium.
Main Monks: Abbot, novice master, infirmarian, almoner, hospitallar (guests).
Monasteries were very important to the community.
Monk’s day: Up very early. Down to church to pray. Breakfast in refectory. Meeting in chapter house to get jobs for day, punish and read a chapter from the Rule of St. Benedict. More prayers. Work. Prayer. Dinner. Prayer. Work. Prayer. Supper. Prayer. Bed at eight.
Begging monks or friars: Dominicans and Franciscans lived among people. Did not agree with the wealthy monasteries.
Plague or Black Death: killed one quarter to one third of population. Flea on black rat. Towns hit hardest.
