Medieval Europe

Motte-and-Bailey Castles

• Wooden Fortresses on the top of a mound of Earth called a motte
• The open area below was called the bailey
• The bailey was were the barn, shops and stables were located
• Surrounded by a ditch, sometimes filled with water
• Wooden fence with a secure gate and earth bank were extra security
• Easily burns and rots
• Didn't last longer then a few years

Early Stone Castles

• Stone walls called curtains walls and stone keep replaces timber
• The keep provided living quarters for the nobleman and his family
• The keep was the most secure part
• Norman keeps were four-sided
• replace the traditional square towers to round ones
• Round towers were stronge

Contrete Castles

• Had 2 curtain walls to provide extra barriers against attacks
• The curtain walls closest to the centre were higher so the guards could see over the outer wall
• There was only 1 entrance
• Entrances were usually heavily protected
• This means it was more secure and safer

Noble Families

• Began at sunrise
• Servants up light the fires in the kitchen and great hall, and preparing meals.
• They had blankets, sheets, feather pillows and fur coats on their bed
• Tapestries covered the walls
• Wash in tubs and get dressed ever morning, often with the help of servants
• Nobleman and wife visits their private chapel
• servants keep the house running by cleaning

Occupations

• Steward - Appointed by the lord of the manor to keep the accounts, preside at the manor courts when the lord is away, and organise farm work on the manor
• Bailiff - Appointed by the lord to manage the farm work in the village
• Reeve - One of the peasants, elected each year to make sure people are at work on time, carry out their duties, and their proper share of the of products to the lord. His job is difficult and unpopular
• Gamekeeper - Patrolled the forest near the manor to ensure peasants didn't hunt there
• Miller - Ground grain and corn for the manor in the Lord's mill. He kept a portion as payment for his work
• Parish Priest - Appointed by the lord to run parish church services. Villages had to pay taxes to him as well as the lord
• Hayward - Was responsible for looking after crops and preventing animals from damaging them
• Cowherd - Looked after the cow during the day when they were grazing - fined if he allowed them to graze in cropland
• Swineherd - Looked after the villagers' pigs. Everyday he collects them from the cottages, took them in the woods, then brought them home before night fall
• Thatcher - Made roofs from bunches of reeds collected from swamp and riverbanks
• Peasants and Serfs - They farmed their own strip of land, tend their own livestock, harvest crops. Serfs build roads, took care of stables, worked as blacksmiths, laundered clothes and practised crafted. Peasant women cooked, spun and wove the family's clothes, grew vegetables and kept chickens

Peasant Families

• Typical house made of woven sticks and mud and a roof of reeds
• 1 or 2 rooms that were dark, smoky, and cold which they shared with their chickens and pigs
• Central fireplace used for cooking and heating
• Smoke made it's way out the hole in the roof
• Earth's floor covered with straw
• Windows made tiny to keep out the cold
• Furniture was a couple of 3 legged stools, trestle table which could be folded away after meals
• Animals skins used as bedding and perhaps a coarse woollen blanket
• Slept in day clothes
• Didn't eat much food until harvest time
• Most larger animals were unable to be kept over winter so they were killed and preserved with salt
• Death form starvation was common

Town

• Surrounded by walls for security
• Walls controlled entry in and out of the town
• Gates oped at sunrise and closed at sunset
• Stone walls were expensive so the towns were small
• Streets narrow and houses very close together
• Animals wondered the streets
• Smelly from animal manure, household rubbish and human waste
• Chamber pots were usually emptied directly onto the streets
• Unhealthy living conditions
• Disease and death rate higher then in the countryside
• Fire was a constant danger because buildings were made of wood
• Coal was a cheaper fuel then wood, particularly in trade such as brewing, cloth dying and tanning
• Air was polluted from the smoke
• People still came from the countryside in search for a better life even with the living conditions

Education - Peasants

Education - Wealth