By Moska Rokay

When and where was the Middle Ages? What were the people like? What kind of shelters did they have? What did they eat? What is feudalism? These are the questions that I am going to talk about in my project. The questions below interested me and I wanted to find out more information about them.

The Middle Ages occurred all across Europe, between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance. The Roman Empire took hold of Europe around 100 AD, but by 400 AD the empire started to weaken. After the Middle Ages came the Renaissance at around 1500 AD.

When the Roman Empire collapsed, small kingdoms started to appear which were ruled by strong war-lords. This period was strongly characterized by feudalism. This is what feudalism means: Kings or queens shared their power over lower classes like the peasants. Kings or Queens Lords Vassals PageKnights Serfs Peasants

Everyone in the Middle Ages had a role to take part in. Large areas of land was ruled by a king or queen. The king or queen would give parts of his/her land to a lord, to protect his/her land from an invasion. In return, the lord had to fight in battles to defend the king’s or queen’s land. The lord would then give bits of his land to one of his vassals. Now that the vassal had the lord’s land he/she has to act like a local lord. With land of his/her own, the vassal must now fight battles to defend the king’s land. The vassals had a choice to become a page or a knight. A page was an apprentice to a knight, but ranked below a squire. At seven years old, a boy would become a page to a knight. They were also servants at a castle.

A knight must be of noble birth. To become a knight you must go through 3 stages: first you must become a page, than move on to become a squire and finally you may become a knight. A page became a squire when he was 14 years old. The boy was than picked or assigned to a knight to be his personal helper. The knight would be like a tutor to the squire, teaching him everything the squire needs to know about becoming a knight. A squire would be 18 to 21 years old when dubbed as a knight. Some squires became knights by their lords, but some became knights by performing an outstanding deed.

A knightA PeasantPeasant A King

The homes of the wealthy were much more elaborate than the peasant homes. The floors were paved, there were tapestries hung on the walls. The windows let sunlight in and kept out drafts. When there was beautiful weather, the windows would be taken down. The windows had glass panes which could only be afforded by the wealthy and churches. In the homes there would be a huge fire place, in a different building then the main one. A merchants house

A Peasant homehome Peasant homes did not have any chimneys. There would be a stone fireplace in the middle of the room. The smoke would go out of a hole in the roof. The floor of the home was dirt, but they put tall grasses on the ground to cushion it. The roof was usually made out of huge reeds or wood. The roof was water- proof. Some homes had 2 floors, if there was the 2 nd floor would usually be an attic or sometimes a sleeping area.

They were very very difficult to build. Sometimes it would take centuries to build a castle! But usually, if everyone tried very hard, it would take about ten years! Castles were usually built on hills, so their enemies would have to climb a great distance in order to attack the castle. Many castles were surrounded by a very deep ditch, usually filled with water. Sometimes they would put sharp things like glass into the water, so whoever fell into the ditch would instantly be killed! The inside was usually cold, but there was some warmth from the fireplace. Tapestries were hung on the wall to make the grey castle look more beautiful. There weren’t many glass windows in the castle, so it was usually dark inside.

A Medieval CastleCastle

Peasants usually ate vegetables, porridge, stew, baked bread and some meat. Peasants living near rivers or ocean could catch fish. Peasants grew many fruits and vegetables including lettuce, tomatoes, peas, beans, and carrots. They also grew crops, which include corn, beans and wheat. If they were lucky, peasants had fruit trees. They harvested nuts and berries from a forest. The peasant women made butter and milk from their cows. In the fall, they would kill animals for meat.

A chef would make a meal for the knight or king. The food was meat, bread, vegetables mixed with spices and salt. They didn’t have any plates, spoons, forks or knives not even a cup! Instead of plates there was pieces of stale bread which was shared by some people. There was usually mashed up food or solid pieces which was eaten with fingers. A knife was the only utensil used to cut meat. To have a drink, they would signal a servant to give them ale or wine.

These are some websites I used to make this project. The Middle Ages Wikipedia