1. MEDIEVAL VILLAGE
1ST YR

2. Medieval manor This was the area owned by a lord
All the land belonged to the lord
The land that the lord kept for himself…
…was called the demesne

3. Things in the manor The manor house or castle Serfs’ house A forge
A water mill
Church
Bailiffs house
River and Forest

4. Life in a village A blacksmith worked in a forge
Made nails, axes, horseshoes
Miller worked in mill
He ground the peasants wheat into flour
Made bread

5. The land Called an open-field system Split into two
Big meadow called the commons
Other part was fields for crops

6. The Commons Big meadow No crops
All animals belonging to the peasants grazed there

7. The Open Fields 3 large fields divided into strips (lines)
Each peasant owned a strip in each field
Crops were rotated each year in each field
Oats and barley, then wheat, then left fallow
Every 3 years, one field left fallow
The ground had to be rested to keeps its fertility

8. Life in the manor – peasant houses
2 rooms – 1 eating, 1 sleeping
Made of wattle and daub
Thin braces weaved together for frame – wattle
Mud plastered onto it for warmth – daub
Thatched roof with straw
Animals slept in house in winter

9. Peasant clothes Made their own clothes
Grew flax – women wove into linen
Spun wool
Women – long dress
Scarf called wimple
Shoes were leather stockings – no soles
Men – woolen tunics with belt

10. Peasant’s food Only ate meat on special occasions Why? Too expensive
Ate bread, cheese
Pottage (soup with porridge)
Drank ale
Water too dirty to drink

11. Pastimes No work on Sundays
Board games – noughts and crosses, draughts
Wrestling and bearbaiting
Hoodsman blind

12. Life of a peasant Very hard – worked in fields
Serfs had to also work on lords fields
Spent most of their day working in fields
Sowed crops in spring
Harvested it with scythe
Looked after their veg garden behind their house
Looked after their animals on commons

13. Tithe Paid a tithe to parish priest 1/10 of their salary
Also taxes to the lord

14. Law and order A bailiff worked for the lord
Made sure peasants paid rent and tax
Also looked after law and order
Peasants poached from orchard or forest
Or started fights

15. Serfs Serfs might run away If a serf ran, and lasted a year and a day…
…he became a freeman
Also, accused people could run into a church
Could not be arrested there
Called ‘sanctuary’

16. Punishment Bailiff brought people to lord’s manor house
Lord decided punishment
Common punishment – stocks
For petty criminals
Hands and legs locked in
Left in public
People jeered and threw rubbish at them
Or pillory
Persons hands and head locked in

17. Stocks

18. Other punishments Thief – hand cut off Gossiping women – ducking stool
No prisons
Dungeons – castle used for captured soldiers only
Serious criminals were publicly hanged

19. VOCAB REVISION – What are these words?
Sanctuary
Tithe
Wattle and daub
Serf
Fallow
Pillory
Bailiff
Forge

20. Vocab revison (2) ‘Hoodsman blind’ The commons Pottage Wimple Demesne
Tunic
Stocks

21. Revision questions 1. Explain the open-field system.
2. Write about a peasant’s diet.
3. Describe the job of a bailiff.