Castelers, I call your aid!

[Luís]

Well, at school I'm doing a project about middle age.
I requst, if you please, some stuff(Lego or not) to help.
At the moment, I wish you would give peasents life.
With my thanks.
Luís.

[TheOrk]

I call your souls

Ya dont say.


If your class is doing a project the teacher should have brought books in.
Although I dont know any there are many reference sites, many have links on CC.
That and you can use google.

[JoshWedin]

My soul says it is not accepting calls right now, but I can answer. You should be able to find plenty of information on this subject in your local library, in books at your school, and from various research sites. I don't think your teacher would consider us credible sources for research.

Josh

[Master Blobicus]

Well first off what grade are you in? Because I might have done this sort of project before. Also, whats your email address so I can email you some info.

K?
MB

[Emperor James]

I do know a lot about the middle ages, since I'm in the SCA, am a member of this site, and my mom is a social studies teacher. Heres some general information about the topic. Its off the top of my head, so correct me if I am wrong:

Peasants lived on manors. Manors were like tiny villages, with one knight governing it. A manor would consist of, oh, maybe 25 peasant huts, lots of farmland, and then the knight's manor house. Manors were little socialist communities within themselves, that is, they had no money and generally helped each other out when they were starving(not particularly uncommon). The peasant huts would be quite small, one story buildings, made out of wattle and daub or wood, depending on which was naturally available. There would be about 70 peasants. The knight's manor house would be larger, 2 or 3 stories, and probably be made out of wood, although in the later middle ages it began to vary a bit. The knight, any of his family, the few peasants that didn't work on the farms, and any guests would live in the manor house.

Now a bit more on topic:

Peasant's lives were pretty bad. On every day except for Sunday and a few holidays, they had to work on the fields, for their entire lives. For some of the days, they had to work on the knight's fields, rather than their own. If you want aggricultural details, find someone else. I dont know anything about that. Anyway, the peasants also had to live in those cramped little houses I mentioned, although perhaps it didn't matter much because they were so tired from their work. Peasants were what was called "serfs", which means are virtual slaves. They had to serve the knight, they had to work on his fields, and they could not leave the manor. The one thing that set peasants apart from slaves was that they could not be sold. They were considered a part of the land, rather than individual property. So, if a new knight took over the manor, the peasants would stay on it. Being a peasant also had some advantages, however. They recieved protection from enemies(provided by the knight and whatever soldiers the knight's lord might send in the case of an attack). This protection was by no means a petty thing, in the whole mess of feudalism, and although peasants were nonmilitants and were not supposed to be attacked, this rule was seldom obeyed. Also, peasants had a steady life, admittedly a depressing one. They would always work the fields, and would therefore have a steady supply of food. Starvation was rare, although not uncommon. If you were a freeman, however, you would have no steady supply of food, an would invariably die of starvation.

Hope this helps!

[Luís]

Thanks Emperor.
I was a bit stupid with"your souls".
I changed it.

[Stephen]

Here's a good general site for the Middle Ages:

http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages/

This one is a little more detailed, but only covers Britian. It does have quite an extensive lnks page though:

http://www.btinternet.com/~timeref/index.htm

Good luck on your project.
Stephen