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LESSON 2 FEUDAL EUROPE. FIVE MINUTES to READ pages 30 and 31. VOCABULARY. Toll peaje, portazgo, a tax about trade Mill molino Demesne reserva, lord’s land, private land. Tithe diezmo, 10% they pay to the Church Fallow barbecho. What was a fief.
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VOCABULARY • Toll peaje, portazgo, a tax about trade • Mill molino • Demesne reserva, lord’s land, private land. • Tithe diezmo, 10% they pay to the Church • Fallow barbecho
What was a fief • Nobles received land in exchange for swearing allegiance to the king. This land was called fief or manor (manso). • Each manor has a castle and villages. • Part of the land on the fief, called demesne, was used by the lord himself. • The Lord also rented (alquilaba) plots (porción) of land to the peasants • The rent was paid in money, products or work on the lord’s land continue
The fief (…continue) • The fief or manors also had large forest which belonged to the lord and he decided when the peasants could hunt there • The lords administered justice and collected taxes. The peasants had to pay a tax to use the mill or the oven. • The lords also took a toll, or tax, from the merchants who crossed their bridges and their land
Serfs (siervos) and Freemen • Ninety percent of the population were peasants. Most lived on a fief and worked on the lord’s land. However (no obstante), there were differences between them: • Some peasants were serfs. They were completely subjected to the Lord’s authority. They could not leave the fief or get married without permission. Serfdom was heritable • Other peasants were freemen. They could leave the fief and take personal decisions. They paid a tithe, a percentage of the harvest (cosecha), to the Church
EVERYDAY LIFE AND WORK • The peasants usually lived in small villages. Their houses were made of mud (barro, adobe) and wood, and had one room. • People and animals often lived together • Peasants were self-sufficient. They grew food, made clothes and furniture • They rarely ate meat or fish. Life was hard. • The whole family worked from sunrise to sunset. They used very basic tools • They had no fertilisers. Every year they left half of their land fallow so that it could recover and become fertile again. • As a result, agricultural production was very low. Floods (inundaciones) and plague caused deaths.
Links… • http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/fiefs.html • http://medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/powerpoints.html • http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/fief.htm • http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/serfs.htm • http://www2.lhric.org/irvington/ims/6th/serfs.htm
ACTIVITIES • True or false? • A fief or manor was a castle • Everything grown on a demesne belonged to the lord • The lords allowed merchants to cross their land and bridges free of charge • Serfs or Freemen? • They could not get married without permission • They could take personal decisions • They paid a tithe to the Church • They could leave the fief