Middle Ages Research Project

Derek Hurtado

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

March 24, 2022

The Dark Scary Middle Ages

Introduction

Once upon a time, fancy castles, kings and queens, and big parties used to be the way of life for the rich nobles of the middle ages in Europe, but for the average person it was not a fancy fairytale way of life at all. During the middle ages, Feudalism made it so that only a few people had power and the rest had to serve those few people to be protected. Since most of the people were not kings or nobles, most of the people were poor peasants that had to serve them to get protection and survive. Feudalism kept the king and other nobles in power by having the regular people doing all the labor and fighting wars for them.

Feudalism

“The basic government and society in Europe during the middle ages was based around the feudal system.” (Middle…). Feudalism started up between the 9th and 15th century. It was a type of government created during the middle ages in Europe to get free labor and service in exchange for land. “The lord owned the land and everything in it. He would keep the peasants safe in return for their service. The lord, in return, would provide the king with soldiers or taxes.” (Middle…). Feudalism was all about keeping the nobles rich and happy in return for protection. 

The Feudal system is organized with the King being at the top of the hierarchy of power The King is the top ruler. Below the king was the bishop, barons and nobles, lords and knights. The peasants and serfs were at the bottom. Kings lived in castles and needed people to make money for them. They did not work, so everybody below kings worked and served kings for land, money, and protection. 

This type of government worked well for kings, because it kept everybody serving them. Kings owned all the land in their area and would divide the land to give it to barons and nobles to run. The nobles would collect taxes for the king and form armies of knights to help the king. Knights would serve the nobles in return for land. Peasants and serfs were the hard workers but the poorest in this system. They mostly suffered because they could never move up. They lived in shacks little and did not make that much income or money. 

The feudal system ended because of political change and the black death disease. Kings were not strong enough to keep all the power to themselves. The nobles and common people stop giving kings all the power. Then the black death killed many of the peasants and the king suffered because of it. The peasants were the farmers and the king could not make money from the land or taxes. That is when the feudal system collapsed.

Life in A Castle

Medieval castles were giant structures that were built to show everyone how much power and money you had as a king or lord. They were made out of stone. Even though electricity and plumbing had not been invented, castles had great halls for huge dinners and parties. Castles also had chapels to pray. They had a place for the knights to train. Some castles even had dungeons to keep prisoners.  

Most people would imagine living in medieval castles would be really great. Sometimes it was nice, but most of the time castles were really hot or very cold. Plus they were dark and smelly places to live. This was also true for most medieval homes. According to the article, The Middle Ages Interactive,  “Most medieval homes were cold, damp, and dark.”

“Originally castles were made of wood and timber. Later they were replaced with stone to make them stronger,” according to the article, Medieval Age Castles. Since castles were made out of stone, it was too heavy to leave big squares open for windows with no glass. Thatś why most castles only had little windows all around. Big windows would make the heavy stone fall. Air could not go in and out quick enough to get smells out. Since electricity had not been invented, the castles were dark. The tiny windows that were left open to let air in the summertime and get rid of bad smells, so rats and other creatures could come in and out all the time. 

Plumbing had not been invented, so toilets were holes in a bench inside of the castles on the bottom floor. They were usually on the bottom floor near the dungeon, because whatever business you did in the restroom would end up in a big hole in the ground or a hole that went to the moat that surrounded the castle. 

Moats were made around castles as protection. The problem with the moats is that they would stink really bad if the toilets let out stuff into them. Even the moats that did not have toilets connected to them smelled bad because the water was used for everyday things. It was used for stuff but it was not changed out. This  made the moat’s water filthy and stink.

Homes

The home you owned during the middle ages depended on where you were on the hierarchy of power. According to the article, Middle Age Castles, ¨During the middle ages, much of Europe was divided between lords and princes.¨ That means that regular people did not have land or homes of their own. It was nobles like that the king liked that had homes and land.  The king lived in a big castle to protect himself. The king would give the lords and nobles manors in return for their loyalty and protection. The peasants and serfs were not given land or homes for their loyalty, but they did sometimes have enough to build their own cottages. 

The majority of people did not own land during the middle ages. They did not live in big castles or even live close to the castle, because the king wanted most of the people loyal to him to be spread out on the land. The king liked to spread everybody out on the land that belonged to his kingdom to protect himself and the castle from enemies. To get to the castle where the king lived the enemy soldiers would have to go through lots of farmland owned by loyal lords and nobles of the king. The king would give land to lords and nobles for their protection and loyalty to him. The lord could manage the land and build homes on the land, but the land was only lent and could be taken away at any time. 

Lords and nobles would build big manors on the land to live in to protect themselves and show others that the king liked them. Since the king visited or would send people to live there, the manors were usually big and fancy. Some manors were made out of wood, but a few powerful lords had manors made out of stone. Lords and nobles did not farm or work the land, so they let peasants and serfs live on the land to do the hard work. 

Peasants and serfs were at the bottom of the hierarchy. They were poor and usually never owned anything.  According to the article, "Middle Ages Feudalism System, ¨Around 90 percent of the people worked the land as peasants.” They lived in small cottages that only had one to two rooms. They had to build the cottage themselves out of sticks and straw. Some peasants lived in homes called cruck houses. These were made out of daub, which meant they were made out of strips of wood covered with a mixture of dung, straw, and clay. The homes smelled terrible because the animals lived really close to them. Plus their restrooms were really just a hole in the ground. 

Conclusion 

Living in the middle ages was not at all fancy. It was not even fancy for the rich people like the king and queen. Castles were stinky and had rats all over the place. The poor people that worked hard for the rich did not have homes or land. Feudalism ended when the poor finally saw that the rich people needed them more than they needed them. When the Black Death killed so many people, the rich people lost power. The poor people finally saw it was not fair to work and work for somebody else and get nothing in return. This period was important because the majority of people finally saw that following a king and queen was only good for the royalty but not for the average person.

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.

”Middle Ages Castles.'' Middle Ages for Kids. www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_castles.php. 

Accessed 31 January 2023.

¨Life in a Medieval Castle.¨ Life in a Medieval Castle. www.exploring-castles.com/castle_life/. Accessed 

31 January 2023.

¨Homes.¨ The Middle Ages Interactive. www.learner.org/series/interactive-the-middle-ages/. Accessed 31 

January 2023.

”How Did A Medieval House Look In Medieval Life?” How Did A Medieval House Look In Medieval 

Life? www.historyonthenet.com/medieval-life-housing. Accessed  31 January 2023.