Your Bio:
Your name is William, and you are the Duke of Normandy (present day France). The Germanic tribe known as the Saxons settled in England during mid-11th century, and when their king died, the English crowned your cousin Harold, the next heir. This angered you because you thought you had the right to the throne. So, you and your army invaded England and defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings. This triumph earned you the nickname “William the Conqueror”. After you conquered England, you brought feudal institutions from Europe with you. The feudal system brought order to England and stability to much of Europe.
Because you are at the very top of feudal society, you are expected to keep order and provide protection for your vassals (a person who has pledged loyalty to you). You believe in “divine right”, or the idea that God gave you the right to rule. However, you have to work hard to maintain control of your kingdom. In order to be a great ruler, you have to rely on your nobles to provide enough knights to protect your kingdom.
Your Quest:
Create a Monologue in which you explain your life and responsibilities as William the conqueror.
- Since you will have to act out the monologue alone, you are required to script your skit. You may also choose to use other actors as props in your monologue, if needed.
- The monologue must be between 2-3 minutes
- In your script, you must include at least 2 of the following vocabulary terms: fief, serf, chivalry, Charlemagne, feudalism, Christianity.
Your Bio:
Just like monarchs (rulers), you are members of the nobility and are the highest ranking class in medieval society. Your responsibility is to manage and defend your land and laborers. You appoint officials to make sure your villagers fulfill duties such as farming your land, or paying rent in the form of crops and meat. Because you are in charge, you also act as the judge in court, and could fine or punish those who break the laws. You could even serve in the King’s (ruler) government.
Noblewomen had all the duties that lords had, except for fighting.They ran their estates, sat as judges in manor courts, and sent their knights to serve in times of war.Ladies were also responsible for overseeing their household or households.Some households had hundreds of people, including priests, master hunters, and knights-in-training calledpagesandsquires, who assisted the knights.When they weren't hard at work, lords and ladies enjoyed hunting and hawking (hunting with birds), feasting and dancing, board games such as chess, and reading.Ladies also did fine stitching and embroidery, or decorative sewing.
Your Quest:
Create a skit in which you demonstrate the life and responsibilities of a Lord.
- You may choose to use a narrator and script your skit, or decide that each actor speaks his/her own lines.
- The skit must be between 2-3 minutes
- In your script, or actor lines, you must include at least 2 of the following vocabulary terms: fief, serf, chivalry, Charlemagne, feudalism, Christianity.
Your Bio:
You live on a large estate in the country called a manor. If you were a wealthy lord or ruler, you could possibly own several manors, and live in each for several months at a time with your family. These manors were built of wood or stone, and surrounded by gardens and outbuildings (kitchens and stables). The manor house is the center of the community and surrounded by high walls. In times of trouble, the villagers like yourself, would enter for protection. Large feasts and celebrations took place in the great hall, especially during Christmas or after Harvest (Thanksgiving).
If you were ahigh-ranking noble, you could live in a grand structure called a castle! These homes were built for military defense because they had moats (ditch filled with water that surrounds a castle), strong walls, and gates. Many had tall towers that allowed you to look out across the land, and a wide variety of rooms. Because these castles were so large and luxurious, they also served as a visual reminder to the rest of the social hierarchy that you were extremely powerful and not to be messed with. However, these castles and manors were cold and gloomy, lit only by candles. Lice and fleas infected people because baths were only given once a week, and clothes were not washed daily.
Your Quest:
Create a skit in which you demonstrate life on a manor and castle.
- You may choose to use a narrator and script your skit, or decide that each actor speaks his/her own lines.
- The skit must be between 2-3 minutes
- In your script, or actor lines, you must include at least 2 of the following vocabulary terms: fief, serf, chivalry, Charlemagne, feudalism, Christianity.
Your Bio:
You are a strong warrior! Starting as a young page or servant at the age of 7, you left home and went to live at the castle of a lord (usually a relative). For years, you trained hard, learning how to ride a horse and receiving religious instruction from a local priest or friar. During this training, you were expected to help the ladies of the castle in every way possible. In return, the ladies would teach you skills that were valued in knights, including: how to sing, dance, compose music and play the harp.
At the age of 14, you became a squire and spent most of your time with the knight. You helped care for his horse, polished the knight’s armor, and waited on him at mealtime. During this time, you learned how to fight with a sword and lance (15 foot spear). You also learned how to use a battle-axe and a mace (club with heavy metal head). A squire practiced in fake and real battles, but most importantly, was expected to help dress his lord in armor, and look after him if he was wounded.
In your early 20s, if you were deserving of honor, you became a knight. This was a complex religious event in which you prayed the night before, dressed in a long white tunic, and knelt before your lord to say your vows. Your lord would touch you on each shoulder with the flat side of the sword blade, and knighted you.
Being a knight was not only your profession, but also a way of life. You followed a strong code of behavior called chivalry. You were expected to be fair and loyal to your lord, and to protect the helpless. For fun, you sometimes compete in jousting tournaments. In these tournaments, you rode on horseback with your lance and jousted against another knight.
Your Quest:
Create a skit in which you demonstrate the life and responsibilities of a knight.
- You may choose to use a narrator and script your skit, or decide that each actor speaks his/her own lines.
- The skit must be between 2-3 minutes
- In your script, or actor lines, you must include at least 2 of the following vocabulary terms: fief, serf, chivalry, Charlemagne, feudalism, Christianity.
Your Bio:
You are the majority of the people in society. Your labor supports the entire feudal structure by allowing lords and knights to spend their time preparing for war. You are either classified as free, or unfree. If you were free, you rented land to farm and owed only your rent to the lord. If you were unfree, you were a serf and could not leave the lord’s manor. In return for your labor, you receive a small plot of land to farm.
Every day you work on the farm and raise crops and livestock (farm animals), but could also be carpenters, shoemakers, or other skilled laborers. Along with daily working, you also owe your lord taxes. A lord could demand a tax whenever he needed money, in addition to his yearly payment called “head money”.
You live in a small, simple house, with one or two rooms. This house was made out of wood and covered with straw or mud. Inside, there was a hearth fire, but no chimney. Your entire family often slept in the same room that housed your farm animals.
You eat vegetables, pork, wheat/rye bread, or fish that had been preserved in salt. As a peasant, you almost never ate beef or chicken, and herbs were used to disguise the taste of rotting meat.
Your Quest:
Create a skit in which you demonstrate the life and responsibilities of a peasant.
- You may choose to use a narrator and script your skit, or decide that each actor speaks his/her own lines.
- The skit must be between 2-3 minutes
- In your script, or actor lines, you must include at least 2 of the following vocabulary terms: fief, serf, chivalry, Charlemagne, feudalism, Christianity.