Castle, and Church.

Following the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark ages, Europe was in great turmoil for over 300 years as wave after wave of new barbarian invaders tried to take control.

The Frankish Empire:

By 800 AD Europe had begun to settle down under the control of a number of great lords.

The greatest of these was Charlemagne, the king of the Franks.

Because the new kingdoms were not as well organised as the Romans had once been, a new type of social organisation was developed.

This new society is called Medieval Society.

Medieval Society:

Medieval society was organised in a pyramid structure with the King at the top and the Peasants at the bottom. Each group had ist own function as seen below.

FUNCTION(S)

To Rule

LORDS AND CLERGY

KING

YEOMEN / FREEMEN

PEASANTS (SERFS AND VILLINES)

KNIGHTS

To Fight and to Pray.

To Fight

To Work and Fight

To Work and Fight

The difference between the Yeomen and the Peasant serfs was that the Serfs were, in effect, SLAVES.

At each level the people at that level were only answerable to the person directly above them.

The saying was that; “My Lord’s Lord is not my Lord”.

Knights:

All noblemen trained as knights. These were the main part of the Medieval army.

They were equipped with Chain Mail (later Plate) armour, a helmet, a sword, shield and a lance. They rode to battle on a heavy war horse called a charger. They usually used lighter, more comfortable horse for day to day use. This lighter horse was called a palfry.

For fun and for training purposes knights took part in tournaments or jousts, where 2 knights would try to knock each other off their horses with their lances. Other competitions included jousting at a target (called riding the ring) etc.

Training:

Training for knighthood was long and tough. It began when at the age of 7 a boy became a PAGE.

As a page he learned good manners, horsemanship and chivalry.

At the age of 14 he then became a SQUIRE.

As a squire he was expected to accompany his knight into battl, care for the knights weapons and learn to use weapons himself.

The final stage was his INVESTITURE as a KNIGHT.

He was expected to spend the night before his investiture in fasting and prayer.

On the next day the investiture ceremony consisted of his being DUBBED a knight by his LORD of by an elder KNIGHT. This was done by tapping him on the shoulders with the flat of a sword blade and his swearing to uphold the LAWS OF CHIVALRY.

CHIVALRY:

This was the code of conduct for all true knights. They swore to:

Ø To be faithful to his lord.

Ø To be loyal to his followers.

Ø To be kind and to protect the poor.

Ø To respect and to protect women.

Ø To protect the church.

Ø To be brave in battle.

Not all knights lived up to these high ideals.

In battle, if a knight was captured he was usually held for ransom. To capture a rich nobleman in battle could make the fortune of a poor knight or a foot soldier.

The end of the domination of the battlefield by the knights came with the development of the use of the longbow and crossbow, both of which could shoot arrows through even the most heavily armoured knight.

Castles:

These were used to defend the lands of the lords.

The main types were:

Motte and Bailey:- This had a tower or keep of timber built on a mound of earth (motte) with a defensive wall around it. To attack the tower the outer wall enclosing the bailey had to be taken first.

Stone Castles:

These were built later and some were very complicated. They varied from the simple stone Tower (eg. Mourneabbey castle) to very complex castles with their keep, curtain walls, battlements, drawbridges, portcullis, murder holes, battlements, barbicans and moats etc. (eg. Trim castle).

Castle Life:

Castles were cold, dark, damp, draughty places. They were built for defence rather than comfort. They had no glass for the narrow windows, no running water, no real toilet facilities and little privacy for those who lived in them.

Floors were covered in rushes or straw and the castle would have been a very smelly, unhealthy place to live.

The Great Hall was the centre of life in the castle. Here all of the knights etc. lived and slept, and great feasts were held. The lord and his special guests and family sat at table on a raised platform (dais) all of the other knights sat at long tables on the floor.

All of the diners used their own knives to cut their meat etc. and used their fingers to eat with. The great hall was also used to hold courts whit the lord acting as judge. There were no juries.

The lord and his family had private quarters on the upper floors of the keep (above the hall).

There were many servants in the castle to cook, clean etc. for the Lord and his knights.

Troubadors (travelling singers/poets) provided entertainment after dinner.

Castles in War:

To capture a castle an attacking army could try one of the following:

a) Direct assault using ladders to climb the walls.

b) Build a causeway over the moat and attack the gates with a battering ram.

c) Use Catapults to throw large rocks at the walls or to throw rotting animals over the walls (cause disease).

d) Use siege towers to get up to and over the walls.

e) Use mining to get under the walls and collapse them.

f) Lay siege to the castle until the defenders were starved out.

This last option was rarely successful as the defenders usually had plenty food and shelter while the attackers were in the open with little food available to them.

Later, when gunpowder was invented castles became useless for defence because artillery could blow down the walls of even the strongest castle.

Feudalism:

The name given to the system of obligations between a Lord and his Vassals.

The Rules Of Feudalism: -

Lords obligations to his vassals:

1) To give his vassal a fief (a land holding).

2) Protect his vassal from his enemies.

3) Make sure that his vassal was treated justly in law.

4) Take care of the family of his vassal if the vassal died.

Vassal to Lord:

1) Be faithful to his lord.

2) Serve in the lord’s army for 40 days per year.

3) Welcome the lord to his castle whenever the lord visited.

4) Advise the lord and sit in his court.

5) Pay money to the lord if he went on Crusade, His daughter married or his son became a knight.

As time went by the lords began to prefer to be paid cash (scutage) instead of service. This practice also put an end to the knights as the lords preferred to pay a standing army on which they could depend.

THE CLERGY:

· In the Middle Ages most of Europe was Christian and accepted the Pope as head of the church.

· Europe was divided into Diocese which were ruled over by a bishop much as today.

· Many bishops were more interested in money and power than in religion.

· Ireland was not fully organised into dioceses until after the Norman invasion. In fact, this was one of the excuses for the invasion.

· Latin was the main language of the church and of international diplomacy.

· The clergy were the main group of educated people in Europe and as a result ran the ‘civil service’ of most European countries.

· Many of the parish clergy were uneducated.

Architecture:

· Church architecture of the middle ages was called Gothic.

·

Roof

It featured: -

o Tall pointed spires.

o Pointed windows.

o

Wall

Buttresses on the walls.

Buttress

These supported the high walls.

Examples: Notre Dame de Paris

The Clergy:

Apart from the Pope and the Bishops, the clergy was made up of three other groups:

1. The Monks.

a. These were highly educated and lived in monasteries.

b. They Took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

c. Their life was one of work and prayer.

d. They were ruled over by an Abbot.

e. They were independent of the bishops for a long time.

f. The Abbots were often the younger sons of members of the nobility who bought the position for their son. This practice was called SIMONY.

g. Important monks in the monastery were:

i. The prior. 2^nd in command to the abbot.

ii. The Bursar. Controlled the monastery finances.

iii. The Cellerer. Took care of the food and drink for the monastery.

iv. The infirmaries. These took care of the sick. Monasteries were the only hospitals in the Middle Ages.

v. The almoner. He took care of the poor who came to the monastery for help.

vi. The scribes. These were the monks who copied books; mostle the bible (e.g. The Book of Kells).

The Building:-

1. Monasteries were arranged around an enclosed courtyard with a covered walkway where the monks walked as they said their office (prayers) called a Cloister.

2. The church was the biggest building in the monastery.

3. The monks lived in cells in the dormitory building.

4. The scriptorium was the building where books were copied and written. (NB monks used quills and ink to write on Vellum (calf hide (skin)).

5. The hospital.

6. The refectory or dining room.

7. The chapter house. Where the monks met each day to read from the rules of their founder. (The Benedictine monks, who were founded by St. Benedict, were the most common order in Europe at this time.

Monks Day:

1. Primes. First prayers of day said at daybreak.

2. Terce. Said at the third hour of daylight.

3. Sext. Said at the sixth hour of daylight.

4. None. Said at the ninth hour of daylight.

5. Vespers. The evening prayers.

6. Compine. The last prayers before bed.

7. Lauds. Usually said at midnight so they had to get out of bed to say them.

8. In between the monks worked in the fields or in the monastery as Benedict believed that ‘TO WORK IS TO PRAY’.

Other Orders:

1. Cistercians.

2. Trappists.

2. A new type of ‘monk’: -

Because many of the monasteries became wealthy and corrupt and because many people were beginning to question the church (HERETICS) a new type of pries / monk was ‘invented’.

These new priests were founded by St, Francis of Assisi.

They did not live in big rich monasteries but instead, lived in small groups of 12 (usually) called a convent.

The building they lived in was called a Friary (There are ruins of a friary in Buttevant).

They believed in poverty, chastity and obedience, but they did not have any land or possessions and depended on charity to survive.

The lived among the poor in the new growing cities.

They were very well educated and many friars became teachers at the growing Universities of Europe.

3. The Parish Clergy.

h. These were often uneducated.

i. They became priests by being apprentices to the local parish priest. Therefore, what they learned depended on how educated or interested the parish priest was.

j. Most parish clergy had to work the land to make a living just as the peasants had to.

k. Many parish clergy were married.

l. The quality of parish clergy in a diocese depended on whether the bishop was interested or not. NB. Many bishops were absentees and some never even visited their dioceses.

Popular Religion: -

ü The people loved Passion Plays which were performed during the main festivals such as Easter etc.

ü Many people went on Pilgrimage, often going great distances on foot. Popular pilgrimages were:

o Canterbury, in England.

o Lough Derg, Ireland.

o Rome.

o Jerusalem.

There were many holy days during the year and these were holidays for the people.

christiansandromans theCity