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Medieval Life - Source Sheet

Source A – A drawing of a Medieval family from a modern school History textbook in the 1990s.

Source B – Two pictures from the 14th Century showing life on a Medieval farm.

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Source C – A description of Medieval life from a school history website.

The land that was owned by the lord was called the manor. A manor consisted ofa village with land around it. The villeins lived in the village which was surrounded

by three large fields. Each field was divided into long strips. A villein would farm

strips in each of the fields. This made sure that everyone had a share of the

good land and the bad land. The strips were divided by mounds of earth or by

rocks.

Strip farming meant that villeins had to work together. A whole field would be

sown and harvested and each villein worked closely with his neighbour to get his

work done. The other land around the village was also important. Villeins collected

wood from the woodland, their animals grazed on the common land and fish could

be collected from the river which was also used for washing and cooking. The land

around the village supplied the villeins with nuts, berries and mushrooms.

Villeins lived on the manor in cruck-houses. Their house would have a small

garden where vegetables like carrots and cabbages could be grown. The villeins

usually built their own house and had very few possessions. They would have some

animals like pigs, sheep, cows and chickens but other than their day-to-day tools

and equipment they owned very little.

www.schoolhistory.co.uk , 2003 

How many ploughs are there in the manor ?How many mills and fishponds ?How many freemen, villagers and slaves are there in the manor ?How much woodland, pasture, meadow ?What does each freeman owe in the manor ?How much is the manor worth ?

Source D: The Domesday Book forms a remarkable record of the state of England in the mid-1080's. A sample of the questions asked is found at Ely Cathedral 

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Camlann Medieval Village, a livinghistory project portraying ruralEngland in the year 1376, is

dedicated to interpreting our cultural and artistic heritage from14th century Europe in all of its

colorful complexities. Role-playingvillagers, hand-craft demonstrators

and skilled musicians presentevery day village life; medieval

meals and festivals are presentedin settings designed to allow

visitors to experience firsthand thisoft misunderstood period of 

history.

10320 Kelly Road NE Carnation,WA 98014 USA.

Our phone is: 425 - 788 - 8624

Source G: Description of a commercial 

tourist attraction in the USA, 2007.

While noblemen and their ladies flounce around in sumptuous clothes and areentertained at court and tournament, an army of unlucky souls toils away in somespectacularly hideous employment. In this time of thanes and barons, the lowlypeasant is in for a rough time. The worst jobs in the Middle Ages are pretty grim.

Source H: From “Tony Robinson’s Worst Jobs in History”, a television series onChannel 4.

"Being a peasant after the Norman Conquest would have been a pretty rough time, but by

the 14th century, peasants would probably have been having a pretty good time," he says."They had a lot more free time - 80 Holy Days a year, compared with nine now. I don’t

think people realise how awful the Industrial Revolution has been in reducing the quality

of life for people."

Most peasants, he says, were required to work just 60 days per year, as their "feudal

 burden" to their landowner. In return, the lord would provide two banquets every year.The rest of the time, they lived off their own pickings, working the ten or 20 acres given

them.

Source I: Interview with Terry Jones, author of ‘Terry Jones’s Medieval Lives’, abook and BBC television series.