Middle Ages Research Poroject

Abigail Martinez 

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

April 8, 2022

Middle Ages

Introduction

In the Middle Ages there were many things that they did, like Jousting, Halloween and they did a feudalism system. Like, did you know that they could only strike the other person four times in jousting, or like in the Middle Ages did you know that they did multiple different things on Halloween than they do now? Also, ninety percent of the people who lived on the land owned by  a king would be peasants.

Feudalism

The Feudal System is where people would get put in different class rankings. The government system used in the Middle Ages is classified by rankings of people. The rankings are King, lord, noble, and peasant. How the system worked was that the highest class was the king, the ruler of the kingdom, they would collect taxes for shield money but they wouldn’t be able to control all the land by themselves so then they would divide it up among the Barons. Then Barons would pledge both their loyalty and soldiers to the king. Then a Bishop is the top church leader in the kingdom and would manage an area called a diocese, the Catholic Church was very powerful in most of the parts of Medieval Europe and this would make a Bishop powerful too, and the church would receive a tithe of ten percent from all of the people.  So then that would make some of the Bishops very rich. Both Barons and high ranking nobles would rule large areas of lands called fiefs, they would report directly to the kings and they would be very powerful as well. Barons and high ranking nobles would divide their land among Lords who ran individual manors. Their job would be to maintain an army that would be at the king’s service, and if they didn’t have an army then they would pay taxes instead to the king which would be called “shield money”. The Lords would run the local manors and they owned everything on their land, including peasants, crops, and villages. They would also be the king’s knights and could be called into battle at any moment by their Baron. The manor would have been ran by the local lord and he would live in a large house or castle where people would gather for celebrations or if they get attacked they would use the castle as protection, a small village would form around the castle and would include the local church too. Then farms would be spreaded out from there and would be worked on by the peasants there.

Halloween in the Medieval Ages

In Halloween in the Medieval Ages they used to do it on November 1st and they left out “Soul cakes” for good spirits and a lantern for the evil spirits but now we use a Halloween pumpkin, it’s to ward off the evil spirits that also happened to pierce the thin veil of the underworld during this time of year. They believed that November 1st was the day they believed dead souls would walk on the earth. Then in the eighth century the church named November 1st “All Hallows Day”, the day for the holy ones. Then two centuries later, they named November 2nd “All Souls Day” in honor of the dead. Halloween is also a descendant of the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sah-een), also called “summers end” in the original Scots Gaelic. Halloween was so deeply imbedded in the human psyche that it survived for centuries by the Samhain tradition. 

Jousting

Jousting was a medieval sporting contest where two knights charged at each other on a horseback trying to knock the other person off their horse with their lances in order to win. Jousting competitions would take place at medieval tournaments known as tourneys, jousting also gives the knights an opportunity to practice and display their skills against opponents in competitive combat, and not only that but if they won then it could build their reputation but if they lost then it could ruin their whole reputation. In the competitions the knights would only be allowed to be able to charge with their lances only up to four times. If there was no winner then they would give the knights some other weapons, like maces or flail weapons and they would charge at each other four more times. If there was still no winner then they would dismount their horses and get on the ground battlefield then charge at each other with the other weapons four more times. If they still have not decided the winner then the judges would vote on which knight should win based on their skill and their accuracy and also make deductions if there were any foul strikes. Heralds was the name for the judges who kept order at the jousting events.

Conclusion

During the Middle Ages, many fascinating events happened in the history of the Middle Ages including jousting, the Feudal system, and Halloween back then because jousting seemed like it was at least a little fun because then you get to ride a horse and then you have to strike the opponent with the lance to knock the opponent off to win and you only get 4 strikes so it’s limited to there which means it makes it more exciting because you have to be very careful with what you do during jousting. Then the Feudal system, your power in the world depended on what class you’re placed in or born in. The king is at the top of the feudal system, he controls owns the kingdom’s land but since he can’t control it all, he would have to divide the land among the Barons. Lords and Barons both had a large amount of land that were called fiefs. They would also report directly to the king and would also be very powerful. Then the Barons and high ranking nobles would divide their land among lords who ran individual manors. Their job would be to retain an army at the king’s service and if they didn’t have an army then they would pay tax to the king instead called “shield money”.

Works Cited 

“Halloween in the Middle Ages”  http://newyorkcarver.com/halloween.htm Accessed February 23, 2022

“Knights Jousting”. Midievalchronicles.com https://www.medievalchronicles.com/medieva 

l-knights/medieval-jousting  -2/ Accessed February 23, 2022.

“Middle Ages Feudal System” https://www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_feudal_ 

system.php Accessed February 23, 2022

Ross, David. “Feudalism and Medieval Life” Britain Express https://www.britai nexpress.com/Hist 

ory/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htm Accessed 7 February 2022.