2º ESO A: CHECK UNIT 2

UNIT 2
FEUDAL SOCIETY

Check your answers

1.- The origin of feudalism.
1       Europe was divided into numerous kingdoms.
2       They were very weak. They had no armies and could not protect their lands.
3       They turned to the nobles for help.
4       The nobles had their own armies and castles.
5       The peasants had to work for the nobles, and submit to their authority.
6       The peasants became nobles´ serfs.

2.- Feudalism: a new social system.
1       They had complete control over their lands.
2       The king´s power was limited to the lands he controlled directly.
3       The barons became the king´s vassals.
4       The king gave the barons a fief or manor.
5       It was a ceremony where the nobles paid homage to the king and swore allegiance to him.
6       Barons could have vassals, who were usually nobles of a lower rank. They swore allegiance to their lord and received a smaller fief.
7       The nobles and the kings.

3.- The powers of the king and his court.
1       The king´s power was very limited.
2       The court was formed by a group of lawyers, clergy and soldiers.
3       They helped the king to govern.
4       The king´s army was small.
5       Defence depended on his vassals´ private armies.
6       The king called on the nobles for help.
7       The king´s main income came from his fiefs and from some towns.
8       The king couldn´t charge taxes in his vassal´s lands.
9       The Chuch and important nobles helped the king in wars or marriage agreements.
10   A cognoment is a nickname. It refers to a particular feature or event related to them. For example, William the conqueror.

4.- What was a fief?
1       It is a piece of land that nobles received in exchange for swearing allegiance to the king.
2       There are a castle, villages, agricultural land and pasture, forests, a demesne, plots of land for the peasants, a mill, etc.
3       A demesne is the part of land on the manor used by the lord himself.
4       The lord rented plots of land to the peasants, so that they could grow their own food. The peasants paid their rent in money, products or work on the lord´s land.
5       The peasants couldn´t use the forests whenever they liked to because the forests belonged to the lord and he decided when the peasants could hunt there or collect firewood.
6       The lords administered justice and collected taxes.
7       The lords also took a toll or tax from the merchants.
8       A toll was a tax that paid the merchants who crossed the lord´s bridges and land.

5.-Who were the nobles? True or false.
1       False. Some nobles...
2       True
3       False. At the age of eight.
4       True
5       True
6       False. Just in wars.
7       True
8       False. Marriages were arranged by parents.
9       True
10    True
11    
6.- Questions about the nobles
1       They fought on horseback, and their weapons were the lance, the shield and the mace.
2       They served as pages to an important noble and learned to tight.
3       The nobles were made knights when they proved their worth, at the age of twenty.
4       The noblewomen organised the servants, educated the children and did sewing and weaving.

7.- Who were the clergy? Questions about religious orders.
1       The most important religious order was the Order of Saint Benedict.
2       The rule explained the monk´s duties in a monastery.
3       It means that their members could not leave their monastery.
4       Some rules required that members beg to collect money for the poor. Others imposed absolute poverty.
5       They were a habit because it distinguished them from other orders.

8.- How did peasants live? True or false.
1       True
2       True
3       False. They had to obey the lord.
4       False. They couldn´t
5       False. The lord treated them badly.
6       True
7       False. They could.
8       True
9       True
10   False. It is a percentage of the harvest.

9.- Questions about the peasants´ everyday life and work.
1       They lived in small villages.
2       Their houses were made of mud and wood, and had one room.
3       The father was the head of the family. The rest of the family had to obey him.
4       It means that the peasants grew food, made clothes and furniture, and built their houses.
5       Because they rarely ate meat or fish. Illness was often fatal and few peoples reached the age of forty. Disasters, such as drought, floods and plague caused many deaths.
6       The whole family, including children, worked from sunrise to sunset.
7       They used sickles, scythes, hoes and Roman ploughs.
8       They were cereals for making bread and beer. They also grew vegetables, grapes and other fruits.
9       Some families had one or two animals.

10.- Label the pictures
            sickles - Roman ploughs - scythes - hoes

11.- What they did as they had no fertilisers?

Every year they left half of their land fallow so that it could recover and become fertile again. As a result, agricultural production was very low.

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