1. Title: Serfs Up! How did the Paston family’s freedom change during the Middle Ages? Learning Objective: to describe how the feudal system affected people’s freedom. History Skill: Change and Continuity. PLTS: Today we are Creative Thinkers. Study Source A. This source shows how society was organised in the Middle Ages. In the back of your book organise the shapes below to show how you think the Feudal System worked. King Nobles Bishops Merchants Freemen Villeins / Serfs Most Freedom Least Freedom Source A Serf – from the Latin servus meaning slave. 10 minutes.

2. King Nobles Bishops Merchants Freemen Serfs Most Freedom The Feudal System 1100 – 1400. Source A Least Freedom

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES ALL students will be able to describe how the life of the Paston family changed between 1350 and 1500. MOST students will be able to give simple explanations for the changes. SOME students will be able to predict how the Black Death and the Peasant’s Revolt changed England. Things to think about… What is the link between Freedom and Power? What is the one thing that stops us being totally free today? Does this motivate you or dishearten you? Is there a way around this?

4. Discussion: What does it mean to have ‘ FREEDOM ’ ?

5. I have to work on my lord’s land for two days every week without pay. I need the lord’s permission to leave the village or let my daughter get married. I had to give the lord my best cow when I took over my father’s land. At Easter we give him six eggs, a goose and a chicken. Around 40 percent of the villagers in England were not free. These people were called Villeins. Villiens could only become free by buying their freedom or running away to a town. If they stayed there fro a year and a day the law said they were free. The Lord could not take them back. Title: The Life of a Villein (Serf) in 1300 Discussion: Did a villein have freedom ?

6. Clement Paston (1350-1419)Beatrix Somerton William Paston (1378-1444) Agnes Berry, the daughter of a knight. John Paston (1421-1466) Member of Parliament. William Paston II (1436-1488) Knighted. Clement Paston was born around 1350. He was a villein in the village of Paston in Norfolk. He spent his life as a ploughman, but he owned a horse that he rode (bareback). With his lord’s permission he drove his horse-drawn cart to market to sell the corn he had leftover. He married Beatrix Somerton who was also the daughter of a villein so they needed to ask the permission of their lord. The Paston Family History Part 1: Ploughman and Villein. 1.Study the Paston Family Tree and read the information below. 2.Write down the best three enquiry questions you would like to ask about the Paston family history. Use the 5Ws and H.

7. Clement Paston (1350-1419)Beatrix Somerton William Paston (1378-1444)Agnes Berry, the daughter of a knight. John Paston (1421-1466) Member of Parliament. William Paston II (1436-1488) Knighted. By the end of the fourteenth century, Clement had become a free man. He could work for wages and was able to run his own affairs without an interfering lord. He saved from his wages and borrowed money from Beatrix’s brother to send their son William to school. William became a lawyer and a judge. He married Agnes Berry, the daughter of a knight and bought land in different parts of Norfolk. Their eldest son John became an M.P. and the owner of the castle at Caister. Both his sons were knighted and became courtiers. By the 1470s, just 100 years since Clement won his freedom, his great grandsons were working in the king’s household and mixing with the most powerful people in the country. This is what freedom did for the Paston family! The Paston Family History Part 2: Lawyer and Courtier.

8. No more working without pay! We can leave the village to find better paid work whenever we want. We do not have to pay any taxes when we inherit land or ask permission to marry. By 1500 there were no villeins. Everyone was free! These great changes happened mainly because of two events we will study next week: The Black Death in 1348 and The Peasants Revolt of 1381. Title: The Life of a Villein (Serf) in 1500 Discussion: Did a villein have freedom ?

9. The Life of Clement Paston in 1350 The Life of Clement Paston’s family in 1500 You now must write two paragraphs to describe the changes in freedom between 1350 and 1500. Split your page into three columns like this slide. Write a paragraph in the blue box about the life of Clement Paston in the 1350 and then in the green box show how things had changed by 1500. You may want to talk about… Position in the Feudal System? Job? Possessions? What freedoms did he not have.? Position in the Feudal System? Jobs? Possessions? Freedoms? The Black Death 1348 Leave this box empty, it explains the change. You will fill this in next week. The Peasant’s Revolt 1381 Leave this box empty, it explains the change. You will fill this in next week. Can you predict why these events may have caused changed the feudal system?