Middle Ages Research Project

Evva Lopez

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

March 24, 2022

The Era of the Dreadful Middle Ages

Introduction

Have you ever wondered how things were in the Middle Ages? Or how alot people suffered because of  rules people had to follow in the Middle Ages? Well you will be surprised by how many tragic events that happened during this time and how different this era is to our time now. Feudalism was a system organized by ranks most commonly going from the richest to the poorest, but because of this many people suffered during this time. In the Middle Ages there was a terrible disease, named the Black Death, this disease killed many people while spreading throughout Europe. Religion in the Middle Ages had started and at this time Christianity was the biggest and ruled religion at this time. The Middle Ages had a dark history mentioning, deadly 

plagues, a system of rulers, and rules created from worshiped gods.

Feudalism

Feudalism started long ago in the Middle Ages where this system was organized by ranks which made life for low society very hard, but many high society´s lives felt rich and wonderful because they didn't have to worry about money or work for their families. And the king/queen had the most power, the lords would supply the king with knights when he needed them, also the lords would be the ones that would give land to the peasants when they would work for them which also made the peasants' life more worse and tyring.

Although it was a government system followed by all, most people did not benefit, such as peasants. While on the other hand the lords, or kings would profit from this event and would offer a deal to the peasants such as the lord would offer to keep them safe, but in return they would have to give their service to the lord. As a result most wouldn't survive long because of the territory or tiredness since their long hours serving the lord, and so peasants would only reach the age of 30. But the lords, kings, barons, or even any other high society did not care about what happened to the presents because in the end they would get what they want or need without really working hard to get it.

The Feudal System was organized by ranks, such as the king/queen would be the highest rank which meant they had the most power. The nobles would be the second highest, like for example lords would also be nobles, the lords would give the peasants land,  but in return for their service, while the lords would provide the king/queen with soldiers or taxes because, ¨If they did not have an army, sometimes they would pay the king a tax instead. This tax was called shield money¨(Middle). Next would be the nights at the 3rd rank, this was the second lowest rank, they served for protection to the upper class like the nobles and kings/ queens. And lastly the final and lowest rank would be the peasants. Peasants would work the most to have land, food, and many other common things because of their low rank. They would also suffer by doing many things because of how difficult it was to maintain their families or even let alone survive themselves.

Feudalism was the cause of many problems in the Middle Ages for some people, by making their life miserable, but for high society like nobles and kings/ queens, they were treated like royalty.But because of these unfair rules that peasants or maybe knights had to follow, this meant feudalism wasn't such a good benefit for them since that's what basically got them to being treated poorly by others, and were ordered to work day and night, even if they were tired or wanted to go home to their families. So when Feudalism ended peasants were finally happy that they were freed, but the nobles and kings/queens were not as happy because when Feudalism did stop that meant the nobles and kings/ queens wouldn't have as much power as they used to.

The Black Death 

The Black Death was a very terrible disease that started to develop over the years around the Middle Ages this disease had horrible backstories, and when people would get this disease at that time there weren't many good doctors to cure the disease which meant a lot of people died while knowing they were gonna die either way even if they didn't want to.

The Black Death began in the fourteenth century in Southern Russia near the Crimea. From this time the disease started to spread through the Eastern routes all the way to Western Europe. This terrible disease was caused by an organism which was called Yersinia pestis which was carried from the bodies of black rats because of fleas. And when the victims would get this disease they would be covered with dark blotches due to the damage to the underlying skin and tissue. But of course the Black Death disease did kill a lot of people, in fact this disease killed 75 million people, but if people did manage to survive from it they would just end up having to tell horrible stories from their experience of this disease.

In the Middle Ages many people taught that the Black Death was a punishment from god. The people thought this was true because they had proof which was, ¨The classic example of this is the Ten Plagues brought against the Egyptians when pharaoh refuses to release God's people, Israel¨ (History). But one of the most extreme things people did to show their love to god was the flagellants, these people would whip themselves, hoping that god would forgive them and would not cause them to get the Black Death. This awful disease did have other manifestations (3 manifestations) which were, the bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague. The bubonic plague was also the most common of these three, it had a thirty to seventy-five percent mortality rate. The pneumonic plague was the second most common form of disease; this manifestation was passed on person to person, an air carried disease. And lastly the septicaemic plague, this type of disease had almost one hundred percent mortality rate, this disease was pretty rare.

Religion

Religion in the Middle Ages had many rules to follow and different rules for each religion, every person from the Middle Ages that were christian had to follow every single rule from the church and some people might of hated these rules or even having a religion but even so they did not have a choice which meant they had to follow the rules, also the only church in Europe during the Middle Ages was the Catholic Church.

Religion in the Middle Ages was ruled by Christianity. This was the age when the great cathedrals of Europe were being built or when they started to appear and the Catholic Church started its universities in Tubingen, Paris, Cambridge and Oxford. During this time, (in the Middle Ages) the Catholic Church was the only church in Europe. The life of the medieval people was ruled fully by the church, from birth to death, and many religious organizations or society gained some power and wealth. Pilgrims were a very important part of religious life in the Middle Ages. A lot of people would visit and take journeys to see holy shrines, one was the Canterbury cathedral in England, and also to sites/places in Jerusalem and Rome.

When it was the twelfth century the population of Europe started getting bigger and bigger, this was when some things had to be changed or else these problems would grow or get worse over time while the population of Europe also kept being a big problem as it grew, there were some problems that included churches such as, ¨… the Churches that had been built in the Roman style with round-arched roofs became too small ¨ (Newman). And to fix this problem people started to build taller churches or cathedrals, but sometimes these buildings would just collapse within a century or less which was also bad.

Conclusion 

The Middle Ages had a disturbing history stating, terrifying epidemics,tyrants in power, and rules established in the name of god. Feudalism in the Middle Ages was not a very well liked system especially by the lower classes, since they had to be demanded by and ruled over by the richer people because of this system. There was also an awful disease which was called, The Black Death, during the time of the disease many people were terrified and scared they would catch it and then die right away because of how deadly it was. During many plagues the people that became desperate started believing and praying to gods. Because of the Middle Ages many things have changed in today's day, but there still many tragedies and history that rather not be brought up that happened during that era, even so the Middle Ages was a very interesting time, full of adventure, sadness, and religious beliefs.

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.

“History of Black Death.” All About History. allabouthistory.org/history-of-black-death.htm. Accessed 30 

January 2023.

“The Black Death of 1348 to 1350.” History Learning Site. www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medieval 

-england/black-death-1348-1350/. Accessed 5 February 2023.

Newman, Simon. “Religions in the Middle Ages.” The Finer Times. 29 May 2012, www.thefinertimes.c 

om/religion-in-the-middle-ages. Accessed 5 February 2023.

“Religion.” Annenberg Learner. www.learner.org/series/interactive-the-middle-ages/. Accessed 5 

February 2023.