LIFE ON A MEDIEVAL MANOR.
People of the manor.
The local medieval manor house and its surrounding land was the home and workplace of the key social classes of society. Both the knight and his family relied upon the peasants, as they on him. It was a system of bonds that worked day and night for many years and shaped the lives of men, women and children.
TASK 1.
Match the follow job description with the type of person who would have undertaken that role on the manor.
Job description. / People.My job is to make sure the household is running effectively and that the servants know what they are doing while my husband is away. Cows need milking, vegetables picked and meals prepared. I serve my husband. / Peasant/Serf/Villein. (Men and women).
I have been sent from another knightly household to do my training under the watchfully trained eye of this manors lord. I am young and have a lot to learn before becoming a knight myself and need the unbiased teaching of another and not my own father. / Bailiff
Simply put, I am ready to start work at dawn and spend the whole day either working in the fields, looking after the animals, cooking food for my family and or that of the lord of the manor. I cannot leave the manor estate (lands) and or marry without permission. I belong to the lord and his manor. / Lady of the Manor.
I have been given great responsibility by the monarch and have to be ready to serve for him under my nobles colours whenever needed. / Peasant children.
My parents do not have a say in how things are run on the manor, they speak only when spoken to and have very little to provide for me. My education consists of learning how helping in the fields whenever needed…this is very important when my mother or father become sick. / Young squire.
I have to be on the ball 100% of the time and be there whenever and wherever the lord or lady of the house call for me. I am the right hand man of this operation and am paid to make sure the manor and the entire estate is run properly. / Knight/ lord of the manor.
LIFE ON A MEDIEVAL MANOR.
What did it look like: ‘design your own, my lord’.
The owners of the manor (lord and lady) had the opportunity to both build and live in a very nice house for the time period. They were at the upper end of society and did not have to spend their lives in crude and damp wooden shacks inhabited by their serfs.
TASK: Read this following description of a manor house and try to draw both a ‘bird’s eye view and side view of the manor on either Microsoft Paint of Word. Please remember to save it to your English file.
Description:
Manor houses were generally two storeys high and built of stone and good timber. The ground level had a great hall as part of it or attached to it. The great hall was a large room for the serving of feasts and entertaining guests, such as other knightly families, nobles or even royalty. It was also a place where servants could sleep. While it could get cold and draughty due to the windows not having glass, large open fire places helped keep people warm within the poorly ventilated smoky hall. Other parts of the ground level could be used to house farm animals in the winter. The body heat from the animals would help keep the second level, knightly families personal living quarters warm during that cold time of year.
Around the manor house lay its lands that housed the peasants who did the hard labour in the fields.
LIFE ON A MEDIEVAL MANOR.
The life of peasant:
Task: Read this story of peasant life and answer the following questions:
“The working day started at dawn. The male labour ate a small breakfast, put his lunch in his pouch around his waist and then worked all day in the fields. He also cut wood, built fences, slaughtered animals and in his spare time made the family’s boots and tools carved the household utensils. The women cooked, worked in the fields, looked after the animals, grew vegetables and made all the clothing for the family. The children did not go to school; their work was needed at home and in the fields. Only if the whole family worked hard could they produce enough food for the lord and themselves.
As you can imagine, this was not an easy life, but sometimes workers were treated well. A well-treated labourer might only work for half a day, or he might send his son to work for the lord while he worked on his own land. There was one way of escaping from a bad lord. If a worker ran away to a town and stayed there for a year and a day without being caught, he became a free man. However, in medieval times there were few towns and few jobs open to run away workers. The lord offered protection against invaders and robbers, so it was safer to stay at home. Still, if the worker could not leave the land, it was also difficult for the lord to rid himself of an unsatisfactory labourer. The law forbade a lord to turn his workers off his land”.
(Source: Dan Scott and Lindsay Dann, The Growth of Western Civilisation’, Nelson, Australia, 1991, p. 42).
Questions:
- Identify three jobs in which a male peasant was required to complete?
- Identify three jobs in which a female peasant was required to complete?
- Briefly explain within one to two sentences, why were children were important members of the serf family unit?
- Explain how a villein could become a freeman?
- What is the difference between the terms: peasant, serf and villein?
LIFE ON A MEDIEVAL MANOR.
Positives and negatives of society’s people:
TASK: With your newly gained knowledge of manor life, answer the following questions about the different people who inhabited the manor and its lands:
- Identify one negative of being a lord of the manor? Explain and justify through evidence why this is a negative?
- Identify two positives of being a peasant? Explain and justify through evidence why this is the case?
- Identify and explain a negative of being a bailiff of a manor house and lands? Explain and justify through evidence why this is a negative?
- Identify and explain two positives of being a peasant child? Explain and justify through evidence why this is the case?