Middle Ages Research Project

Jeshua Puente 

Encounters 6

Ms. Damante

April 8, 2022

The Crazy Medieval Times 

Introduction

Did you know that monarchy was not the system used during the Middle Ages? In the Middle Ages, a system of government was used to put order in society. People from all ages played different games. People had to live for 3 years through a deadly disease. During the Middle Ages, people had fun with games, suffered during the darkest times, and were organized by a specific system. All this marked the time of the Middle Ages.

Feudalism

Today, most countries have a republic, democratic, communist, etc., government system. But during the Middle Ages, a different type of governmental system was used. Many people today would think “Well, there were kings and queens during the Middle Ages, so their system was a monarchy, right?”. Actually, the system used during the Middle Ages was not monarchy, but something else called feudalism. Feudalism was the governmental system used during the Middle Ages. It consisted of kings and queens, which were the people from the highest class, to peasants and serfs, which were from the lowest class. Let me tell you all about the feudal system. Starting with the highest class, kings and queens. They did not control all the land, so they had to split it with the barons. According to “Middle Ages Feudal System”, “In return, the Barons pledged their loyalty and soldiers to the king.”. I will give a bit more information about barons later on, but the next person on the feudal system is the bishop. The bishop was the top leader of the kingdom’s church and controlled an area known as the diocese. The Catholic Church was strong in most parts of Medieval Europe, which means that bishops were very powerful.(Middle) Some bishops were also rich because the church received a tithe from all the people.(Middle) A tithe was 10 percent of the annual earnings someone earned. Up next, we have the barons and nobles. They ruled over fiefs, which were large areas of land.(Middle) They split those areas with lords who ruled over the manors. They always reported to the king and were powerful. Their main goal was to have an army for the king. If they did not have an army, then they would have to pay a tax, known as shield money. Next, we have lords and knights. The lords were the king’s knights, and could be called to battle by their barons. They owned everything in their manors, including the crops, peasants, and village. Lastly, we have the peasants and serfs. Some peasants owned their own businesses, like a bakery or blacksmith, but other peasants worked almost like slaves. They worked for 6 days each week and pledged to their lord. According to “Middle Ages Feudal System”, “Around 90 percent of the people worked the land as peasants. Peasants worked hard and died young. Most were dead before they reached 30 years old.” This just shows that peasants lived a pretty hard life. This is  a little summary of the whole feudal system, and I hope that it helped you understand the feudal system.

The Black Death

You may have heard a thing or two about the Black Death, which occured in 1348, and you might know that it was one of the most horrible and catastrophic events that had ever happened in the history of humanity. The total number of deaths from this event was about 75 million people, which was about one third to half the population of Europe.(History) All these deaths occured in about 3 years.(The) Many things contributed to this happening, but let's start at the beginning, when the Black Death had just begun. According to “History of Black Death”, “ History records the Black Death as having begun in the fourteenth century in southern Russian near the Crimea. From here, the disease spread along Far Eastern routes towards Western Europe to the Middle East.”. The Black Death was caused by an organism known as Yersinia pestis. This organism was carried by black rats and fleas that carried the disease. According to “The Black Death, 1348”, “Coming out of the East, the Black Death reached the shores of Italy in the spring of 1348 unleashing a rampage of death across Europe unprecedented in recorded history.”. The Black Death had three ways of showing itself. According to “History of Black Death”, “The Black Death had three manifestations -- bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicaemic plague.”. The bubonic plague, which had a 30 to 75 percent mortality rate, included symptoms such as chills, fever, joint and headaches, nausea, and malaise.(History) People that were infected by it would have swelling of lymph nodes, or buboes, on the groin, along the neck, and armpits.  The pneumonic plague, which had a ninety to ninety-five percent mortality rate, had symptoms such as blood-tinged sputum.(History) This form of the plague was transmitted from person to person. This manifestation was an airborne infection, which means that it was transmitted through the air. Last, but not least, the septicaemic plague, which had almost a hundred percent mortality rate, had symptoms like extremely high fevers and deep purple discolorations of the skin.(History) Some people fled from the cities, but this made it worse because people were now spreading the plague to other places. Other people, such as doctors from that time, tried to help, but because they did not know the cause of the plague, they were not able to help. People used herbs to “purify” the air. They thought that with the scent from herbs and flowers, they would not get sick. They also prayed to God to protect them, and others asked God in their prayers why he had caused this punishment. As you can see, people reacted in many different ways. But that did not stop the plague, and by the end of it, many people had perished. The Black Death had one of the biggest impacts to humanity that any other thing in history.

Medieval Games

Just as kids from today have modern games to play, such as video games, during the Middle Ages, people and kids had games to entertain themselves. Some games required intelligence, others required strength and accuracy, and others did not require anything at all, just kids and their friends. If you want to learn more about these games, then keep reading. One of the most popular games in the Middle Ages that tested your logical thinking was chess. Chess is considered to be one of the oldest games. It is considered to be created in India a long time ago. Since then, it has started to spread throughout the world. It is played on a black and white board with 16 pieces per player and is played by 2 players. It is considered to be one of the hardest games in the world. Another game of thinking in the Middle Ages is Nine Men’s Morris, which is sort of an old version of tic-tac-toe.(Medieval) The game was played with nine counters per player, which now gives sense to the name. It is played by placing the counters on an intersection of a line in the board, taking turns when doing so. Then, the players start moving their counters around until they make a “mill”, which is when three counters from a player are in a line. Then you are able to remove a piece from the opposing player. The first person to end up with less than three pieces loses. These were not the only games during the Middle Ages. Some games required accuracy, such as Ring Toss. In this game. A little pole was placed in the ground, and players took turns trying to throw a horseshoe or ring towards it so that it was able to hook itself around the pole. This game was played by both kids and adults. Some kids played a game known as Prisoner's Base, which was basically an English game of chase and tag. According to “Medieval Games and Recreations”, “was banned in the 1300s by King Edward III.”. Kids also did things that they saw in Medieval Fairs, such as people walking on stilts. These were just some of the games in the Middle Ages, and there were many more. I hope that these examples helped you understand better the ways people and kids entertained themselves during the Middle Ages.

Conclusion 

As you can see, the Middle Ages were very crazy and exciting. From a system used for everything, to a dangerous plague, to many different games used for entertainment, these were just few of the many things that happened during the great and dark Middle Ages.

Works Cited 

“History of Black Death.” All About History. allabo uthistory.o rg/history-of-black-death.htm 

Accessed 7 February 2022.

“Medieval Games and Recreation.” Eastern Illinois University.  castle.eiu.edu/reading/MEDIE 

VALGAMES.pdf Accessed 17 February 2022.

“Middle Ages Feudal System.” Ducksters. www.ducksters.com/history/middle_ages_feudal_syst 

em.php Accessed 7 February 2022.

Ross, David. “Feudalism and Medieval Life.” Britain Express.www. Britainexpress.com/Histor 

y/Feudalism_and_Medieval life.htm  Accessed 7 February 2022.

“The Black Death, 1348.” Eyewitness to History. www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/plague.htm 

Accessed 7 February 2022.