Life in the Middle Ages

1. Life in the Middle Ages

2. The New Agriculture • Population increased dramatically because: • Conditions in Europe were more settled and peaceful • Food production increased • Peasants cultivated more land once trees were cut down and swamps were drained • Technology • Harnessed the power of water and wind • Iron machinery was invented • Horses were used to plow land • Crop rotation became important

3. The Manorial System • Manor – agricultural estate that a lord ran and peasants worked • Serfs – peasants that were legally bound to the land • Worked the land, built barns, dug ditches • Had to pay the lord by providing him with some of the products • Not slaves

4. The Manorial System • The Peasant Household • Cottage was a wood frame surrounded by sticks, with the spaces filled with straw • Most cottages had two rooms

5. The Manorial System • Food and Drink • Basic staple was bread • Contained wheat, rye, millet and oats • Cheese, nuts, berries, pears, vegetables, eggs, • Upper class drank wine while the commoners drank beer • Monks consumed three gallons of ale a day

6. The Growth of Cities • Lords wanted to treat townspeople as they did their vassals and serfs • Townspeople had their own unique laws and rights • Buy and sell property • Freedom from military service to the lord • Escaped serf’s became free after a living a year and a day in town

7. The Growth of Cities • City Life • Narrow and winding streets • Houses were crowded together and constructed of wood • Cities smelled from animal and human waste • Water pollution was a big problem • Butchers dumped blood and other waste into the rivers • Tannic acids were also in the river