The Feudal System: The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, also known as the dark ages, was a time period between the advanced Romans and the modern day. The dark ages is rightfully named because it made living conditions very hard, for the rich and poor alike. Everyone's lives were very confusing, and people were constantly fighting for land. This was no way to live. In order to stop this, the king divided the land into manors. I'm each manor, there was a feudal system. The feudal system divided all of the people into three groups. The nobles, the Knights, and the peasants. The peasants lived a life of hard work all day, with filthy living conditions, and barely any food. Above the peasants was the Knights. They lived very dedicated lives to the church and to protecting their manor.

They only had one room, which in the winter they had to share with the animals. The smoke went out from a hole in the ceiling (32). Inside the house they had a plank table held up with trestles, three legged stools, a loom for making cloth, and a pile of straw with animal skin for a bed (32). For clothes, peasants wore a garment spun from the wool of a sheep. The garment was held on the peasants body by a rope. The peasant normally walked barefoot, but on occasions they would tie a wooden block with a cloth to their feet for sandals (33). Food for the peasants came mostly from a small vegetable garden next to their hut. They normally ate simple meals that consisted of cabbage, turnips, peas, onions, coarse black bread, and little meat from a chicken, duck, or goose. Brewed wine or beer was the main drink. Food cooked in an iron kettle over an open fire. Occasionally, they would buy salt and honey for more flavor. They used water from the wells for cooking. Very few animals were kept by peasants (33). Also, the average peasant lived for about thirty years. Plagues easily killed peasants because they didn't have enough money to buy treatments. Some of the most common plagues were smallpox, cholera, and typhoid fever (33).Many peasants worked three days a week for the lord, however sometimes they had to work extra hours. They mostly sewed grain by hand, cut grain with a sickle, and plowed the fields with a wooden plow. Even after they worked, they had to

The Knights lived a life of fighting to protect their territory. One of the special things about a knight’s class was that a noble or a peasant could become a knight, without raising or lowering your class. However “the high costs of the knight’s equipment—a horse, coat of mail, armor, shield, sword, and helmet—drew a line between those who could afford to equip and train themselves and those who could not,” (Social Classes). Because of this, most of the Knights were nobles, but not all. Before you became a knight you had to become a sire. At the age of 10, boys went to training in order to become a knight. In return for fighting, the lord would give the knight land (Nicolle 10). If you were a knight you also gained power (Jordan). A while later, the Knights started to become more and more bloodthirsty. This was something the church did not like. The church tried to become more present in the knighting ceremonies, and offered the Knights the ability to go to heaven if they were “Christian Knights". Slowly, the church started getting more and more involved with the Knights, in order to try to get them to do what the church wanted (Nicolle). This worked very well, and it even convinced the Warriors that their sword was the holy cross. Soon after, worshiping became a daily thing that the Knights did. In the morning, the Knights woke up at dawn, and went to church. When church was out they made