Problems of

medieval
kingship
Starter:
In 1 minutes write your
name in the paper
provided and

I am Mr Garavito
For todays lesson I am going to ask you
two simple things
If you dont understand something
because of my accent, please ask.
Lets listen to your teacher an
classmates in a respectful and
organised way.

Key Question: What were the problems of Medieval

kingship?

Aims - by the end of this lesson you

should:
-Understand what was the problem with the
Medieval Kingship
-Be able to explain why some people felt
unhappy about the kingship
How will my work be marked / assessed ?

You are able to create a replica of the social system

You can answer the questions related to a story

Extension: You can answer questions in your group

for a short plenary

What were the Middle Ages?

The middle Ages, or
Medieval period, started
just before the Norman
Conquest of 1066, and
lasted until around 1500
AD.
The early years were
known as the Dark Ages
because many good things
the Romans gave us were
destroyed and there were
many battles around
Europe.

Key words
Peasant a medieval farmer
Baron - Someone who owns land.
Feudal system the hierarchy of Medieval society from top
to bottom
Villain another worked for peasant
Manor area of land owned by the Lord
King a male sovereign

How all started

How did King William gain

control of England?

He built castles
This
Thismeant
meantthat
that
rebellions
rebellionscould
couldbe
be
dealt
dealtwith
withquickly
quickly
and
andcriminals
criminalscould
could
be
belocked
lockedup
upin
in
dungeons
dungeons

He started the Feudal System

This
Thisprovided
providedhim
him
with
withan
anarmy
armyand
and
made
madesure
surethe
the
population
populationwas
was
kept
under
control
kept under control

He needed to collect tax

This
Thismeant
meanthe
hehad
had
to
toknow
knowhow
howmuch
much
land,
property,
land, property,
animals
animalsand
andmoney
money
each
eachperson
personowned.
owned.

Each
Eachperson
personhad
hadto
to
give
giveone
onetenth
tenthof
of
what
whattheyd
theydearned
earned
or
produced
as
or produced asaa
tax
taxcalled
calledaatithe
tithe

To discuss
Can you identify the different people who appears in the
videos?
What do you think they were supposed to do in the society?
Who had the power?
How do you think they felt?

Society under the feudal Regime

People were divided
into three estates
First Estate

King
Lords
High-ranking members
of the Church
Privileged class

Second Estate

Nobility
Privileged class

Third Estate

Everyone else from peasants in

the countryside to wealthy
bourgeoisie merchants in the cities
Unprivileged class

The Three Estates

Estate

Population

First

Circa 130,000

Second

Circa 110,000

Privileges

Collected the tithe

Censorship of the press
King
Control of education
Lords
Kept records of births, deaths,
High-ranking clergy marriages, etc.
Catholic faith held honored position
of being the state religion
(practiced by monarch and nobility)
Owned 20% of the land

Knights

Collected taxes in the form of

feudal dues
Monopolized military and state

The Three Estates

Estate Exemptions

Burdens

First

Paid no taxes
Subject to
Church law
rather than
civil law

Moral obligation (rather

than legal obligation) to
assist the poor and needy
Support the monarchy and
Old Regime

Second

Paid no taxes

Support the monarchy and

Old Regime

Estate

Population

Third Circa

25,000,000
Everyone
else:
artisans,
bourgeoisie,
city
workers,
merchants,
peasants,
etc., along
with many

Privileges Exemption
s

None

None

Burdens

Paid all taxes

Church tax
Tax on goods brought into
cities)
Forced road work
Poll tax
Income tax
Salt tax
Land tax
Feudal dues for use of
local manors winepress,

The Medieval Times were from when

the Normans invaded (1066) to just
before the Tudors (1500)!

Towns were breeding grounds for

disease, no one had proper toilets and
life was dangerous with all the crime!

Lends
land to

Lend
land to

This was introduced by

William the Conqueror,
as a way of keeping
Lend
control of England, but land to
remained throughout
the Middle Ages!
The peasants were
sometimes called villains
or serfs.

The King

Pay for the land and

provide knights for
the King

The Barons (about 200)

Pay for the land

and fight for the
Barons

The Knights (about 4,000 in total)

The Peasants (about 1.5 million in total)

Pay for the

land in work
and food

Activity
Create your own pyramid of the feudal system.
Explain how did the feudal system work
Explain why the feudal system was unfair

What do you think?

What do you think
about the attitude of
the king?
Lets walk around the
classroom, finding the
story of the king and
answering the
questions.

Extension task:
I want you to imagine that your are a Medieval
peasant. Write a diary entry to describe your
life and explain why it is the way it is
Think about:
Your place in the social hierarchy
What you would spend your day doing?
Is your life easy? Why/why not?
Where does your money go?
Where do you get food from?
Use your glossary of key words to
help you develop your descriptions.

Medieval
And the star of the
Kingship
lesson is
All
Some
Most

Did you meet your learning

objectives?

I can describe the Social differences during the

Kingship.
I can also explain how the person of the King
wanted to control all with his power.
I can also analyse how this situation could create a
lot of discomfort