Middle Ages Research Project

Middle Ages Collage

Middle Ages Research Project

The Dark Times In the Middle Ages 

Introduction

Did you know that a serious disease decreased the population in Europe during the Middle Ages by about one-third? It was decreased because of a negative impact caused by a disease called, ¨The Black Death¨. The Middle Ages was formed by a type of government called feudalism. Jousting was a sport event that was very popular back then, but it isn't really practiced by many people nowadays. The Middle Ages may have been negatively impacted, but it was also positively affected in a way.

Feudalism

During the Middle Ages, feudalism was the feudal system in Europe. It was a basic type of government. Feudalism took place from the 8th century through the 15th century. The feudal system was formed for more security for the kings and a more balanced ecosystem. It was also formed for an exchange of land for money, loyalty, protection and for food. This all helped to have a more secured environment, and king.

The order of the feudal system was the kings, the bishops and barons and nobles, knights or vassals, and at last there were the peasants or serfs. Although the king was on top of the feudal system, the lords were the ones who were responsible for many things. For example, the lords were on top of their own land. He owned the land and everything that was a part of it. According to ¨Feudalism and Medieval life¨, ¨Usually, the lords could field greater armies than the king. In theory, the king was the chief feudal lord, but in reality, the individual lords were supreme in their own territory.¨. This means that although the king was ¨top tier¨,  it still received help and service from the lower classes. 

The middle ages was mostly filled with lower classes, called peasants or serfs. They had to go through a very rough and harsh time. Some couldn't even own their own property. While the lords were enjoying their nice full meal, the peasant often barely had any food to be able to survive. During the feudal system times, the table manners were not ¨perfect¨. This was because they had to use whatever they could find, to use as what we call now, tableware and utensils. ¨Middle Ages Feudal System¨ stated, ¨Some peasants were considered free and could own their own businesses like carpenters, bakers, and blacksmiths. Others were more like slaves.¨ This shows that the peasants' life was hard and that they didn't have many things. Also, that they worked hard to get their necessary resources.

Jousting

The first ever jousting event was performed in 1066. Jousting events were mainly to show the crowd their talents and abilities to go against their rivals. To be able to participate in a jousting competition, you needed to be a nobleman or one of their sons. The knight's goal was to knock their rival off of their horse and take all of their armor. According to ¨Knights Jousting¨, ¨Jousting matches also allowed knights to hone their skills and become better warriors, as in battle knights would wear armor to create a realistic contest and to protect themselves.¨ This means that the knights developed more skills and battle knowledge, from practicing and participating in jousting matches. 

Jousting was also considered to be a very dangerous sport. Some knights would even end up very fractured. Some had a broken nose, broken bones and some might not even have made it out alive.  This is why the knights had to wear armor, to protect themselves from getting severely hurt. In the article ¨Knights Jousting¨ the author wrote, ¨Knights took the jousting tournaments very seriously because of this and they realized that they could easily be injured or killed in a jousting match¨. This article shows that jousting matches were important to knights, because they knew that anything could easily go wrong. 

The main weapon used in Jousting competitions, were called a lance. The lance was also known as a jousting stick. The lances were used to try and knock off the knights' opponents off their horse. The judges in charge of these jousting events were called heralds. Knights would use a special type of equipment to practice for their upcoming jousting events, called a Quintain. They would hit the shield, as if it was their opponent. Before every jousting competition started, there were people playing on the trumpets, and a person announcing the rules of the competition. This person went by the name of a ¨Grand Marshall¨.

The Black Death

The Black Death was a deadly pandemic during the medieval times. It started spreading around the fourteenth century. The Black Death started in southern Russian, near the Crimea. This infection caused more than 75 million deaths. It was believed, to have gotten rid of about one-third of the European population. The worst part, was that there was no medical knowledge to help with this sickness. The pandemic was mainly caused by rats that carried a harmful plague of fleas on them. ¨History of Black Death¨ stated, ¨It was caused by the organism,Yersinia pestis which was carried about from the bodies of black rats by fleas.¨ From this article, it also shows that it was most likely to find these infected rats, in towns and cities. 

The disease spread because of trading, selling and travel. Because of the loss of workers, due to sickness and the lack of food, their economy was negatively changed. It had led to poverty and to violations of the law. ¨History of Black Death¨ stated, ¨The loss of laborers, due to famine and sickness, negatively affected economy which led to poverty and crime.¨ This means, that because of this harmful disease, many people were affected and led them to do bad things for their safety. Some people even had to go into quarantine, to avoid getting others infected. Some symptoms that the victims of this pandemic experienced were painful swelling and dark spots. Most of them had passed away within three days of catching the disease. Because of all the deaths, the Black Death then soon led to the Peasants Revolt in 1381.

Conclusion 

The middle ages went through rough times, but also went through some well organized times. It was affected by deadly diseases, but it was also going through an ¨organized¨ type of government. This time period is very important because it shows how negatively an ecosystem can be changed, and how it gets better.