The Characteristics of Medieval Britain (OCR GCSE History B (Schools History Project)): Revision Note

Summary

Medieval Britain was a deeply religious society where most people lived and worked in the countryside. The king was the absolute ruler, with barons and knights as his supporters and deputies. These people were rewarded by the king with land, which was farmed to earn the barons and knights' money.

The people who did the actual farming were peasants who had no rights. They were rewarded for their hard work by being allowed to live on their lord's land. The majority of the population of Medieval Britain were peasants.

Although the king was the absolute ruler, the Church was extremely powerful and influential in Medieval Britain. Almost everybody was Christian, and the Church had a priest in every village.

Nine out of ten people in Medieval Britain lived in the countryside but the towns played an important role in enabling people to trade. Britain's most important trade was wool, which was turned into cloth and sold for huge profits throughout Europe.

Medieval social structure

• Britain’s medieval society was organised in a strict hierarchy

• This hierarchy was known as the feudal system

  • At the very top was the king who people believed had been appointed by God

  • Kings were seen as being God’s representatives on Earth

  • The wealth and influence of Medieval kings came from owning land

  • The word feudal comes from the Latin word for land

    • They taxed and charged rent from people for living on it

    • Kings gained loyalty by gifting land to people

• People expected their king to maintain law and order, keep the country safe and encourage trade

  • But unlike Roman emperors and modern leaders, people did not expect medieval kings to build roads, sewers or provide clean water.

• The barons and the knights were given land by the king and controlled different parts of the country on the king's behalf

  • The land given to them was known as the manor

    • The knights and barons were the lords of the manor

  • All the profits from the land that was farmed went to the lords of the manor

• The peasants did all the hard, physical work needed to grow crops and raise animals

  • In return for working their lord's fields, peasants were allowed to live on the lord's land and given a small strip of land to grow their own food

  • Peasants who worked as domestic servants for the lord were paid in wages

• Over 90% of Britain's medieval population lived in the countryside and most of them were peasants

  • The lives of most peasants were short and hard

  • They were the most at risk from hunger and starvation when crops failed

  • Peasants had no rights or way of influencing how the country was run

Religious beliefs in medieval Britain

• Nearly everybody in medieval Britain believed in God and was a devout Christian

  • They believed God had made the world and ruled over all events

  • Whatever events happened, people believed was the will of God

  • This included sickness and starvation

  • Pleasing God to avoid such things was an important part of people’s lives

The Power of the Church

• In the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church was the most powerful organisation in Europe

  • It was led by the Pope from Rome but there were many powerful Archbishops and bishops in Britain

  • Britain was divided into small areas known as parishes

    • Each parish had its own church building and priest

• Towns and cities had larger cathedrals

• There were also hundreds of abbeys and monasteries scattered across the country

  • These housed monks and nuns who devoted their whole lives to God

  • As well as praying, monks and nuns fulfilled many important roles such as copying books by hand, caring for the sick and poor and giving shelter to travellers

Trade in medieval Britain

• Almost all trade in medieval Britain took place in towns and cities

  • By modern standards, medieval towns were small

    • Towns with populations above 10,000 were very rare

  • Peasants from surrounding villages would travel to towns on market days to buy and sell goods

  • This could make them busy places

• Permanent residents of towns often worked in trades rather than farming

  • These included roles such as bakers, brewers, tanners, black smiths, cloth workers and candle makers

The Wool Trade

• Wool from sheep was the most important trade in Medieval Britain

• The finished cloth was then sold to merchants across Europe for enormous profits

  • Britain became famous for its woollen cloth

  • It was the country's most important source of income in the Middle Ages and beyond

  • The wool trade was also the main driver for the growth of many towns during the medieval period