Middle Ages Research Project

Alyna Montemayor

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

March 24, 2022

Uncovering The Middle Ages

Introduction

During the middle ages, many unexplainable events happened. A great example would be the plague. The Black Death was one of the worst pandemics in history. Since it wiped out 50% of Europe’s population. Meanwhile, people also had to follow the feudal system. People were ranked by kings, nobles, and peasants. This helped organize the community to decide who does what. Crime and Punishment throughout medieval times were very cruel. For a not-so-considerable crime like stealing, the theif would be punished by having an ear or both cut off hand or death.

Feudalism

The typical government in Europe during the middle ages was based on a system. This popular system was known as the Feudal system. The feudal system, also called feudalism, was a mixture of economic, military, cultural, and political customs that thrived in medieval Europe during the 9th and 15th centuries. Feudalism was a way of building society through relationships. It also meant that the country wasn’t governed by the king, lord, or barons. These leaders “administered their own estates, dispensed their own justice, minted their own money, levied taxes and tolls, and demanded military service from vassals.” (David Ross)

The feudal society was organized by three social classes. At the top would be the king or the ruler of the town. Next, is the noble class which is “the middle” class. Then, at the bottom is the peasant class. The king owned all the accessible land and everything in it. He would part out the land to his nobles and the nobles would rent their land to the peasants. The peasants paid the nobles in produce and military service. Then, the nobles, in turn, paid the king.

Although it was a government system followed by all, most people did not benefit from this system. Of course, the leaders such as kings and lords would benefit from this system because they’re at the top of the pyramid. They control what happens in the land and who does what, but who are the people that suffer from this well-known system? To answer this question peasants were at the bottom of the pyramid. Peasants would work an average of 150 days a year. They worked the land or field to give in food, fuel, wool, and other resources needed.

After years passed feudalism ended but the question is “why?”. Feudalism ended because of political changes, diseases, and even war. The peasants wanted freedom from feudalism, while the nobles wanted to maintain status. During this time the nobles had great power over peasants. Therefore, peasants revolted again them. 

The Black Death

During the middle ages, there was a major event that would affect the whole population. This event was known as The Black Death or The Plague. The plague is known as a deadly disease the second deadliest after smallpox. The Plague was first initiated in China and then made its way through the black sea spreading across west Asia. “In October 1347, a ship came from Crimea and Asia and docked in Messina, Sicily. Aboard the ship were not only sailors but rats. The rats brought with them the Black Death, the bubonic plague. Reports that came to Europe about the disease indicated that 20 million people had died in Asia.”  (The Black Death)

The Black Death didn’t just get its name from anywhere its name has the side effects of what happens when you get this disease. It got its name because most victims of the plague died and they often had blackened tissue, the Bubonic plague also has this name due to the side effects. The Plague was shown in three different forms. The bubonic variant was the most common way shown. Bubonic would cause swelling or buboes that would emerge on the victim's neck or armpits. The bumps could form in size of an egg to an apple. Though most people survived painful Bubonic if you had this disease your lifespan would be up to a week. The second version is the pneumonic plague. The pneumonic aims for the respiratory system and was spread from breathing in the exhaled air from the victim. It was more deadly than the bubonic variant your expansion of life would be lifted to 1 or 2 days. Lastly, the septicemic category of the disease attacked the blood system. 

Back then the plague was such a deadly disease, but how did people protect themselves and survive? To survive a disease most people either quarantine or social distance, but that wasn’t enough to protect them from the plague. In the 17th century, doctors who treated the victims wore beaked masks that were almost like birds, long thick black coats, and leather gloves to protect themselves from patients. 

Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages are very different from today. “The crime and punishment concept in the Middle Ages was different depending on where a person lived and on a person’s social status”.(Crime…). For instance, In Germany, those who were accused of minor crimes just had to pay fines.  If the crime had been committed against an important person the person who committed the crime would be punished by simply paying a larger fine. On the other hand, in other areas of Germany, “where a relatively reasonable system of punishment was in place for minor crimes, the death penalty did exist for more major cities.” (Crime…) Such as, for murder, a criminal in Germany could be put to death for taking another life. 

There are many stories of prisons, torture, dungeons, and horrors inflicted on prisoners. Unfortunately, many of these stories are true. Castles in Europe during medieval times were built with torture rooms and prisons. Some of the cells were built so small the criminal could either lie or sit. The cells were usually built on the lower levels of the castle so the royals couldn’t hear the screams and pain of the prisoners. The royals typically only kept the criminals that were useful to them. If they weren’t royals would put them to death. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, medieval times were definitely an unbalanced time. The main reasons were because of feudalism, the black death, and crime and punishment.

Works Cited 

“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.

Aldington, Richard. “The Black Death, 1348.” The Black Death/Eyewitness www.eyewitnesstohistory 

.com/plague.htm Accessed 30 January 2023

“History of Black Death.” The Black Death/All About History.  allabouthistory.org/history-of-bl 

ack-death.htm. Accessed 30 January 30 2023.

“Crime and Punishment.” Camelot International. www.camelotintl.com/village/crime.html Accessed 31 

January 2023.

“Crime and Punishment.” 2020 site pdf drive.google.com/file/d/17vQWZRRiMtqCPYy0Bv2FUnXfZsn5 

9iF1/view. Accessed 31 January 2023.