Middle Age Project 

Alejandro Vargas

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

April 19, 2024

Middle Ages life experience 

Introduction

Have you ever thought how was life back in the middle ages because I have, and it's pretty interesting talking about how the government system worked and talking about how was living inside of the castle that the king and his family lived in and including the deadly pledge that happened during this time called the Black death which was a deadly plague that was airborne and kill a fourth of half the population of Europe.

Feudalism

Feudalism is the government system back in the Middle ages the system was controlled by the king which is the ruler of the land but he couldn't control it all by himself so he divided the land with its own Barons which is the role of that section of the land according to Ducksters, “The top leader in the land was the king. The king could not control all of the land by himself, so he divided it up among the Barons.”Including all the land he owns, everything on his land examples are peasant, animals, crops, and villages; this was also stated by Ducksters, “The lords owned everything on their land including the peasants, crops, and village .” Talking about the  system it is unlimited the reason why is if king has a daughter or a boy they will inherit the throne and become the next higher up/king or queen this is shown by Britain express,”“... If a daughter inherited, the lord arranged her marriage.  The lord had absolute power in the court system and their punishment of the guilty over their crime. So that mean if he does a felony or a crime he could just say he's not guilty and he won't be punished because he own the court system and that also mean he could make the other person guilty and give them a punishment even if he did do it this is shown in Ducksters,“The Lord held absolute power over the fief or manor including holding court and deciding punishments for crimes.”

Life in the castle 

The castle is  one of the most recognizable part of being a king or queen but the life inside the castle is different from how they tell us its not luxury and everything is gold it's more dark and cold and dim it's not all what the show or stories tell us this is show by {Exploring…}, ““This mean that most structures could only support tiny windows – which resulted in dark rooms that were constantly cold, as the thick stone could never be fully warmed by the sun. ” In addition, the rooms where privet, comfort and usually warmth by the great hall that would heat up there rooms this can also be proven by {Explore..},”“In these rooms, they could enjoy privacy, comfort, and usually a greater deal of warmth and sunlight – as heat from the Great Hall would rise to warm up their private chambers.” The only bad thing is that sanitation was not really a thing back then it was truly disgusting and there toilet were just a hole in a wood seat and this was the time before surewage where made and this is told by {Explore…},”When it came to sanitation, though, things were always truly disgusting. The link between sewerage and disease wasn’t made until the c18th, and medieval people remained blissfully ignorant about the health consequences of poor toilet hygiene.”  Also, the cattle had a lot of  security and protection so because a lot of people or enemies tried to assassinate or kill the king or his/her family so they need a way to protect themself by so they add a moat and a gatehouse the moat is a trench around the cattle sometimes filled with water or not and they use a drop down gate to cross like a bridge a gatehouse was a fortified gateway, enclosing or entry control point to a castle, manor, religious house, or town so they need the defenses because the enemy or kingdoms want to invade or takeover the kingdom  this is told in [duck…],”Moat, A moat was a defensive ditch dug around the castle. It could be filled with water and there was typically a drawbridge across it to get to the castle gate.” and ,”Gatehouse - The gatehouse was built at the gate to help reinforce the castle defenses at its weakest point.”

The Black Death 

The Black Death was a plague that killed thousand or millions this mean 25% to 50% were a victim of this disease this disease started in the 1348 to 1350 that is a 2 year pledge and it killed that many people in that amount of time is crazy and this is told by [Eyewitness…],”anywhere between 25% to 50% Europeans population fell victim.”  In addition, the disease caused a tumor and  the tumor was about the size of an apple that big and some are the size of an egg this is told by {Eyewitness…],”“These tumors could range in size from that of an egg to that of an apple. .” In addition, the bad thing is that there's no known medication to  cope with the black death so if you cut it you're basically dead you couldn't do anything against it and this is told by {history…],”“ . No medical knowledge existed in Medieval England to cope with the disease. ” Also, people thought the Black Death spread by fly, mouse and rat but it actually spread by the air so it was airborne so even if you think you didn't catch it you probably already did it just hasn't affected you yet and this is told by [History…],”“However evidence produced by forensic scientists and archaeologists in 2014 from human remains in the north of the City of London suggests that fleas could not actually have been responsible for an infection that spread so fast – it had to be airborne. .”  Although some people could have survive they have very limited time for about a week so it's basically survive the pledge and die in a week in pain or die quicker do to the pledge both lead to death this is by Eyewithness…,”“ although some survive the painful ordeal, the manifestation of these lesions usually signaled the victim had a life expectancy of up to a week.

Conclusion 

To sum it up the life in the middle  ages was way different than current time for example living in the castle is not how the show or books tell us it's colder and darker another example is the government system is unlimited which mean the leadership can be passed down to generation to generation which all means life in the middle ages is different than the current times.

Works Cited 

”Life In A Medieval Castle: Smell, Sounds And Structure Of Medieval Castle Life.” Exploring Castles. 

www.exploring-castles.com/castle_life/. Accessed 23 February 2024.

”Middle Age Castles.” Ducksters. www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_castles.php. Accessed 23 

February 2024.

“Middle Ages Feudal System.” Ducksters. www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_feudal _system.php  

Accessed 22 February 2023. 

Ross, David. “Feudalism and Medieval Life.” Britain Express. www.britainexpress.com 

/History/Feudalism_and_Medieval_life.htm Accessed 7 February 2023.

“The Black Death Of 1348 To 1350.” History Learning Site. 5 March 2015. www.historylearningsite 

.co.uk/medieval-england/black-death-1348-1350/#google_vignette. Accessed 23 February 2024.

“The Black Death, 1348.” EyeWitness To History.com.  www.eyewitnesstrrohistory.com/plague.htm. 

Accessed 25 February 2024.