Review. Peasant who was bound to work on their lord s land

Transcription

1 Manorialism

2 Review Serf? Vassal? Knight? Fief? Peasant who was bound to work on their lord s land Lesser lord that receives fief (land) from higher lord Mounted horseman pledged to defend lord s land Land granted by a lord to a vassal Manorialism? Economic system based on feudalism

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4 Introduction It is 476 CE and Rome has collapsed. The math, the art, the engineering, the learning, the laws, and the grandeur of Rome has disappeared. In its place is a shell of its former self. Survival and protection from barbarians becomes the number one goal of all living in a time Europe calls the Middle Ages, the Medieval Age, the Dark Ages. Survive. That s it. For centuries this is the norm. Fighting rages, starvation spreads, empires rise briefly and fall. The one sustaining factor is the Catholic Church. They have power, wealth, and land. And they control the spiritual well being of all Europeans, ruler and peasant alike. Family and church bring the only solace most Europeans have; the only semblance of order for it is a daily fight against the onslaught of despair. And thus begins the story of the impact of one man and his political and economic systems that will reverberate through Europe and help kick start it toward something better

5 Stage 1 The year is 1066 and William the Conqueror of France has taken over the throne of England after his victory at the Battle of Hastings. Being an ardent supporter of William has luckily paid off for you as one of his Barons. William gives you land in return for your continued loyalty and help, following his invasion. So you quickly set out to build a house, or a manor, on the land, right near a river, and claim it as your own. Build your manor and a ½ wide river across the land.

6 Stage 2 The year is 1067 and because you, the French Baron, know that many Anglo Saxons, or the English, will be hostile, you have to make sure that you can defend yourself. So you choose to build a keep that is attached to the manor in order to house those filthy Saxons who break the law in times of peace and also to be your last line of defense in times of war. To protect your manor, you build a gate and a wall, creating a castle, and you fill it with knights who, under the Feudal System, are bound to protect you and your family. Build a keep attached to the manor, a gate, a gatehouse, a wall ½ width away from your manor, and populate the castle with knights.

7 Stage 3 The year is 1070 and William, being a devote Christian, presses upon you the importance of the church in everyday life, developing it into a central feature of your manor. The religion of the whole of Europe is Roman Catholic and it is law that people go to church on Sunday. The leading churchmen of the land, the bishops and archbishops, are very wealthy and help to govern the country. Also, the local priests look after the sick of the village as well as preaching in the church that rivals the size of your manor. Build a church that rivals the size of your manor and god s acre to house the baptized dead.

8 Stage 4 The year is 1071 and in order for your household to survive, you begin hunting in the local forest for wild boars and deer. Not only that but you set aside a 3 x3 field for your crops. Divide this field into three: one for wheat, one for olives, and one to stay fallow, or to rest and revitalize the soil. The staple food of the time was bread with olive oil. When hunting was successful, a stew was added to the meal to create something extremely hearty and satisfying. Build a 2 x2 square of woodland and the three fields, labeled.

9 Stage 5 The year is 1072 and land you have, a river you have, but enough food you do not. Your house servants, your knights, and most importantly your family is starving. They need more bread and olive oil to eat at every meal, so you set out to build a flourmill near your walls and an olive press inside the grounds of your gate in order to produce more food for your people. Build a flourmill and olive press.

10 Stage 6 The year is 1073 and your entrepreneurial wife, the Baroness, decides that the manor could make a wealth of money if it set aside some land as common land in order for the sheep and goats to graze, get fat, and produce lots of babies to sell, use for wool, and get milk. Build a 2 x2 plot of common land.

11 Stage 7 The year is 1080 and as much as your knights like working, their services are required for William s numerous wars and can t constantly be working the fields. This attracts numerous peasants to your manor. They are in search of work, a roof over their heads, and protection. So you build 20 houses in a small village on the outside of your walls. Build 20 houses right outside the castle walls.

12 Stage 8 The year is 1085 and with the amount of grain you are producing from your fields, you need a place to protect the surplus, so you build a barn. Not only does it allow you to store your food, but it also can be used to protect your animals from thieves, or those extreme storms that blow through from the coast. Not only that, but you also need to protect the knights horses when they come home from battle, forcing you to build a stable. Things are slowly but surely coming together for your household. Build a barn and a stable.

13 Stage 9 The Year is 1086 and the roving bands of thieves continue to cause problems throughout England. Protection is a high priority for you and your people. The knights you have are equipped well, but they constantly need improvements and patches to their armor and weapons to defend your people. A master blacksmith is needed in order to keep up with the demand. Build a blacksmith s forge within your walls.

14 Stage 10 The year is 1088 and with all of the people, all of the animals, and all of the waste, there is only one way to keep your manor clean from the filth, a wasteland. Provide yourself some space away from you manor house to dump the garbage, the muck, the carcasses, and the non baptized villagers so that you don t have to smell the stench created by the waste. Not only that but your river drinking water is beginning to get contaminated, so you decide to build a well inside the walls of your manor house. Build a 1 x1 wasteland and a well.

15 Stage 11 The year is 1090 and Roman lawyers have been lost to those of the Middle Age. In this time it is trial by combat or ordeal. As a sentence, a villager can fight another or can complete a task to prove their innocence. In order to execute the law, and host festivities, build a ring and stands for trials, melees, and jousting. Build a ring with a line through the middle that does not touch the ring (symbolizes the bar that separates the jousters) and some stands outside of the ring.

16 Stage 12 The Year is 1092 and your manor is flourishing. Your knights and walls protect the people and your farmland and pastures feed them, allowing them to live a meager life in the manor s village. In order to make sure the goods that are being produced by your manor are quality goods for your people, guilds develop. These guilds, or a community of craftsmen, will also train young peasants in a profession or skill that will help your manor continue to flourish. But you also need a place to sell the goods, so the guilds bring all of the goods together in one location and call it a market. Build a market in between the village and the manor.

17 Stage 13 The year is 1096 and riding through your land at the ripe old age of 60, you notice how much it has changed and how self sufficient it is. You have food, sport, law, protection, and wealth. You have everything that you need in one place. Well almost everything. Goods like silk, jade, spices, and gold can only be traded for. You can survive on your own, but those wanted goods, and even tiny tidbits of news, can only come by way of pathways, or dirt roads. Name your manor and build two pathways to two other student s manors.

18 Discussion 1. How was a manor largely self sufficient (think militarily and economically)? 2. What benefits do you think a medieval manor provided to the serfs who lived there?