Middle Ages virtual Field Trip

Virtual Field Trip:Europe in the Middle Ages

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The Middle Ages

Know Before You Go

• Castles were built out of stone to provide protection from enemy attacks.
• Medieval knights wore metal armor made of steel or iron, to protect them during battle.
• Medieval nobles had elaborate rules of etiquette that they were exptected to follow at feasts.

On this virtual field trip, you will go back in time to learn about life during the Middle Ages.

The term Middle Ages commonly refers to the period of Europe's history between the collapse of the western Roman Empire around 500 CE and the beginnings of modern history after 1500. During this time, Europe broke into many small kingdoms in which powerful nobles...

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Feudal Society

Kings and Queens

Nobles

Kings and queens were the greatest lords and ladies of Europe, and all nobles and knights were their vassals.

Nobles were vassals of kings and queens. Many were also lords of lower-ranking nobles and knights.

Peasants

Knights

Peasants owned no land, so they were not part of the feudal system. But many peasants worked on land owned by nobles or knights.

Knights served their noble lords in exchange for land.

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Click the picture to explore an aspect of the Middle Ages.

Castle Seige Scene

Knighting/Feudal Scene

Monastic Life

A Medieval Feast

Medieval Towns and Cities

Knighting/Feudal Scene

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Witnesses

New Knight

Knighting Ceremony

Religious Instruction

The Ceremony

Gifts

The Setting

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Castle Siege Scene

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Castle SiegeArmor Castles

Siege EnginesWesapons

DefendersSiege Towers Shields

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Monastic Life

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Life in a MonasteryWork Music

ClothingCopying Books Hospitality

TonsureDaily Prayer Living Quarters

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A Medieval Feast

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A Medieval FeastDressing for Dinner Digging In

ServantsHonored Guests Entertainment

SaltSetting the Table What's for Dinner?

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Medieval Towns and Cities

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Medieval Towns and CitiesGuilds Commerce

Cathedrals Construction Women

MendicantsBuildings Animals Streets

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Honored Guests

Anyone hosting a banquet in the Middle Ages was likely to invite the local bishop, priest, or abbot. Christianity was central to life in the Middle Ages, and religious officials were honored members of society. At the meal, the priest would usually say a blessing or read a passage of Scripture.:

Living Quarters

Monks lived very simply. They owned no personal possessions. Everything, including their clothing and furniture, belonged to the monastery. Monks even shared their sleeping space; each monk had a bed in a large dormitory.

Witnesses

The heart of the knighting ceremony was a personal pledge of loyalty between a knight and a lord, but the events sometimes became great spectacles. Crowds of family and friends—and in some cases, even strangers—gathered to witness the ceremonies and to join in the celebrations that followed.

Buildings

Most people in the Middle Ages lived in small villages surrounded by open fields. In contrast, cities would have felt cramped and crowded. Buildings could be many stories high, and upper stories were sometimes built out over streets. Many buildings had shops on the lower floor and homes above.

Dressing for Dinner

Feasts were special occasions, and the hosts and guests alike would wear their finest clothing. Nobles wore expensive clothing made of rich fabrics, such as cotton, wool, or silk, sometimes trimmed in fur. Many wore gold or silver jewelry as well.

Daily Prayer

A monk’s day was organized around prayer. Most monks attended church services at least 7 times each day. In addition, they spent much of the rest of the day in personal prayer or silent contemplation.

Construction

A few medieval buildings were built of stone, but most were made of wood or a combination of wood and other materials. One common combination was wattle and daub, a wooden frame filled in with mud and straw. These materials were highly flammable, so fire was a constant danger.

Entertainment

Nobles liked to hire entertainers to keep guests amused during dinner. Traveling minstrels like this one sang, played musical instruments, juggled, told stories, and performed acrobatics. As they traveled from castle to castle, minstrels also helped spread news about major events.

The Ceremony

At the end of the knighting ceremony, the candidate would kneel in front of his new lord, who would formally grant his knighthood. This often included a ritual in which the lord would tap the new knight on each shoulder with the flat edge of a sword.

A Medieval Feast

Welcome to the feast. Pull up a chair! Feasts like this one were common celebrations among noble families in the Middle Ages. Wealthy Europeans held elaborate banquets to celebrate events like weddings, knighting ceremonies, or religious holidays. The grandest banquets generally took place around Christmas. Medieval Christians celebrated Christmas for 2 weeks, from Christmas Eve until January 6. During this time, noble lords held feasts for their families and friends, gave food and gifts to the peasants who worked on their land, and lavishly decorated their homes.

Music

Liturgical music, or music used in worship, played a major role in many monastic ceremonies. Some monasteries had choirs that would lead the community in song during services. Perhaps the most famous form of music sung in medieval monasteries was the Gregorian chant, which is still popular today.

Servants

The food for a noble feast was prepared by servants, who played many roles during dinner. Some carried and served dishes, while others poured wine. At some feasts, servants brought small bowls of water for guests to use to wash their fingers.

Siege Engines

If soldiers couldn’t get over a castle’s walls, they might have tried to go through those walls. Medieval armies used siege engines to hurl enormous stones, hoping to break holes in the castle’s walls. This particular engine is a trebuchet, which could hurl a boulder several hundred feet.

Defenders

The soldiers inside a besieged castle did not sit still while attackers tried to get through the walls. Castle defenders manned the walls, watching for attacks. They pushed down ladders and fired arrows at the attacking army. Some dropped stones, boiling water, or hot oil onto attackers below.

Commerce

Unlike on farms and manors, where people grew their own crops and made all the items they needed, people in towns could buy supplies. Merchants sold everything from food and clothing to luxury items. Some towns even had public restaurants where people could buy meals.

Armor

Fully armored knights like this one are a common symbol of the Middle Ages. A knight’s armor offered great protection against swords, arrows, and other weapons. However, full suits of armor were expensive and had to be custom made, so most soldiers wore shirts of chain mail.

What's For Dinner?

A typical medieval feast included several courses. Nobles dined on foods like fresh fish and game, white bread, and rich sauces. Favorite dishes included some that we might consider unusual today, such as eel, swan, and peacock.

Siege Towers

Attacking armies used many methods to get over castle walls. They used ladders, but climbing soldiers were open to attack from above. For protection, armies built siege towers like this one with ladders inside. The tower had wheels so some soldiers could push it to the wall as others hid inside.

Gifts

A lord usually gave gifts to the new knight to celebrate and represent his new status. The most common gifts were spurs and a sword. In many cases, the new knight was also expected to give gifts to the lord and others, because knights were expected to be generous to all people.

Cathedrals

Many medieval towns grew up around cathedrals. These huge churches towered high over the surrounding buildings and were central to people’s lives. People flocked to their cathedrals for weekly Mass, weddings, funerals, festivals, and other major events.

Women

Women in the Middle Ages generally had fewer rights and economic opportunities than men did. But in towns, some women opened their own businesses. Women dominated in such industries as silk weaving, the sewing of women’s clothes, and the running of hotels.

Work

Physical labor was an important part of a medieval monk’s daily routine. Each monk was expected to do some sort of work every day, although the specific chores might change daily. Typical chores included tending to crops, cooking meals, cleaning, and caring for the sick or injured.

Salt

This elaborate container holds salt, a rare spice in medieval Europe. Although salt is commonplace today, it was highly valued in the Middle Ages. Salt and other spices had to be imported from distant lands, so only the wealthy could afford to use much spice on their food.

Hospitality

Although monks lived apart from society, they were not totally removed from the world. Nearly every monastery welcomed visitors, whether those visitors were fellow monks or regular travelers. The Benedictine Rule included specific guidelines about how to house and treat guests.

Guilds

Towns were centers of industry and trade, and the people who took part in those activities wanted a say in how towns were run. By the 1100s many had formed guilds, or groups of people in the same industry, such as merchants or carpenters. Guilds became a powerful force in local politics.

Setting the Table

Most dishes at a medieval feast were served on large platters, which were passed from guest to guest. People did not use plates. Instead, they took portions from the platters and set them on large slices of bread called trenchers.

The New Knight

A candidate for knighthood spent the night before the ceremony alone in prayer. This vigil, as it was called, was meant to purify the candidate’s thoughts and spirit. On the day of the ceremony, he would attend Mass and kneel before his new lord to pledge his loyalty.

Tonsure

As a symbol of their religious devotion, monks shaved off some of their hair in a practice known as tonsure. Some orders of monks shaved their heads completely, while others only removed the hair from the tops of their heads, leaving a ring of hair below.

The Setting

A knighting ceremony could take place almost anywhere. Men were knighted in banquet halls, on tournament grounds, and even on battlefields. Many ceremonies were held in churches or chapels like this one, with its beautiful stained-glass windows, to add a grand and solemn tone to the event.

Digging In

Take a close look at the table. Do you see any forks? Guests at medieval banquets ate with their fingers, using shared knives to cut items into bite-sized pieces. By the late Middle Ages, spoons had become common at dinner tables, but forks weren’t widely used in Europe until later.

Knighting Ceremony

When the Roman Empire collapsed, Europe was left without a defined political structure. To protect themselves from invaders, rich landowners recruited knights to serve in their personal armies in exchange for land. The knights promised to remain loyal to their new lords, and the lords promised to protect their newly sworn vassals. The relationships between these lords and vassals became the basis for the structure known as feudalism. In the ceremony you see here, a young man is being knighted by his new lord.

Mendicants

In the 1200s the Roman Catholic Church created 2 religious orders to tend to the spiritual needs of townspeople. The Dominican and Franciscan orders were made up of people called mendicants, or beggars, because they took vows of poverty. They lived, preached, and taught in towns.

The Middle Ages

The term Middle Ages commonly refers to the period of Europe's history between the collapse of the western Roman Empire around 500 CE and the beginnings of modern history after 1500. During this time, Europe broke into many small kingdoms in which powerful nobles ruled large estates. It was often a violent time, as knights rode into battle and laid siege to castles or fought in distant lands. But it was also a time of artistic and cultural achievements. Many of those achievements were made in the name of Christianity, which was central to life in the period.

Life in a Monastery

In the Middle Ages, a noble’s oldest son typically inherited his father’s lands and title. Younger sons, who stood to inherit little or nothing at all, had to look for other opportunities. Some dedicated their lives to the Church by joining monasteries, communities of religious men who choose to live apart from society. At this time, most European monasteries followed the Benedictine Rule, a strict set of guidelines designed to help monks focus their minds on spiritual matters. Although individual monks took vows of poverty, many monasteries in the Middle Ages became wealthy institutions. Some monasteries were among the largest landholders in Europe.

Streets

Very few towns had sewers or street cleaners like cities do today. In fact, most streets were unpaved, and the combination of weather and traffic turned them into mud. In addition, people dumped garbage and waste into the street, which often led to outbreaks of disease.

Religious Instruction

As part of the knighting ceremony, a priest addressed the candidate in a sermon. The priest reminded the candidate of the behavior expected of a knight—to live according to the teachings of Christianity and to follow the guidelines of chivalry, or proper behavior.

Copying Books

One specialized task that some monks performed was copying books. Some artistic monks spent weeks illustrating valuable books, especially religious works. During the Middle Ages, monasteries had some of Europe’s largest libraries, because few people other than religious officials could read.

Weapons

Soldiers in medieval armies carried a wide variety of weapons. The most common were swords and daggers, or long knives. Some soldiers carried other weapons, such as spears or long-handled axes called halberds, like this one. Such weapons were especially useful against enemies on horseback.

Clothing

All monks wore plain clothing called a habit. Usually, the habit included a long tunic, a belt made of cord or rope, and a hood. The color of the habit identified the order that a monk belonged to. For example, most Benedictines, like these, wore black habits, while other groups wore white or gray.

Medieval Towns and Cities

In the Middle Ages, towns were much smaller than those we know today. London, one of the largest cities in Europe in the 1100s, was home to only about 10,000 people. Many of those people were members of a new class of Europeans who had become wealthy through business and trade. During the Middle Ages, towns became the center of many growing industries, such as the production of cloth and leather goods. At the same time, traders began transporting goods throughout Europe and beyond, bringing new products and a great deal of money into many towns.

Shields

Medieval soldiers carried shields for additional defense. Each type of soldier carried a different kind of shield. For example, foot soldiers’ shields were larger than those used by mounted knights. Many soldiers decorated shields so their allies could identify them on the battlefield.

Castle Siege

Warfare was a common event in the lives of medieval Europeans. Powerful nobles went to war over land, control of resources, political disputes, or even personal insults. To protect themselves and their families, nobles built sturdy castles with high, thick walls and tall towers. During times of war, defenders could stockpile supplies inside the castle and hold out for months while attackers surrounded and besieged the castle. The attackers had to wait and try to find a way to get through the castle walls.

Castles

By the 1100s, most castle walls were built of stone and were up to 20 feet thick. Behind the walls were buildings and materials needed to withstand a long siege, such as wells, forges for making weapons and armor, granaries to store food, stables, and a keep, or fortress.

Animals

The streets in medieval towns were often crowded with traffic, and not all of it walked on 2 legs! Animals like dogs, cows, pigs, and horses roamed the streets, usually—but not always—led by herders.