Life in medieval Europe was harsh and governed by strict rules. When the Roman Empire fell, knowledge, culture, technology, and protection were lost. Europe broke into kingdoms with local laws and leaders. Feudalism developed as a system where peasants traded work for land and protection from nobles and knights. Around 90% of people were peasants who lived under lord's control and worked as farmers from childhood. Peasants lived in basic houses and ate simple, boiled foods like pottage due to lack of refrigeration and sanitation.

1. Life in Medieval
Europe

2. What do we already know?
Draw the following table in your Humanities
book.
What I already know about
medieval Europe
What I want to learn about
medieval Europe.

3. Lesson Focus
Europeans during medieval times
lived a harsh life, and by very strict
rules.

5. Lost Empire
• When Rome fell in 476 CE, knowledge,
law, culture, and technology fell with it.
• The organised and highly efficient army
was lost, leaving the people with no
protection.
• Europe broke up into a bunch of
kingdoms each with their own laws and
leaders.

6. What else was lost?
• Since I’m a languages teacher…..
• During the Roman Empire everyone was
united under ONE common language.
During the Middle Ages, most people began
to speak local languages.

8. Society

9. Feudalism
• Feudalism- a system of rule where people
trade their work for protection
• One guy owns the land, another works on it.
• Each group of people had specific jobs to
complete.

10. Paste this hierarchy triangle into
your book

11. Imagineland
1. The King officially owns all of the
land of the country. He usually builds
a large castle in his capital city.
2. To get nobles to support him the
king divides his land and puts nobles
in charge of their own area.
3. The nobles divide their land and
use that to pay knights who then
protect the land and serve the king.
4. Peasants are allowed to live on the
land and build farms. They pay taxes
to the nobles and can’t leave.
5. Taxes ultimately end up going to
the king. Peasants work, knights
protect, nobles collect, king gets rich.

12. Why?
• No Roman Empire means no Roman
Army.
• No army means no protection.
• People willingly (usually…) gave up their
land to be protected.
• It was all about survival.

13. And so…
• People turned to feudalism for
protection.
• Nobles hired knights to protect
the peasants who agreed to
work for the landowners.
• This further divided Europe.

14. Cut out and glue in the diagram of
your village

15. The Peasants
Around 90 per cent of medieval Europeans were
peasants, also known as villeins (‘vill-uhns’). The
peasant class lived under the control of a lord.
They lived in the countryside and worked as farmers
from childhood onwards.
Peasants are also known as villeins or serfs (add this to
your hierarchy!)

16. The Peasant's Life
Glue the image of a peasant’s house into your SOSE
book.
1. Read the information
provided on
The Peasant’s Life
2. Annotate the image
identifying different
aspects of the house in
which they lived.

18. Food
• Everything had to be boiled because of the
“fertilizer” used in the fields.
• Main food was pottage.
• You’d take whatever food you could and boil it.
Yummy!

19. Food and Drink
• There was still no coffee or tea because
Europeans weren’t trading with Asia or the
Americas yet, but they did drink ale and
milk!

20. How do we know about this?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NTsAC
EayK0

21. How do we know about it?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NTsAC
EayK0