The story of the middle ages; an elementary history for sixth and seventh grades . s knights were supported. for sale, nor engaged in commerce. How,then, were they fed and clothed, and furnislied withtheir expensive armor and horses? How, in short, wasall this life of tiie castle kept up,—with its greatbuildings, its constant Avars, its costly festivals, and itsidleness ? We may find the explanation of tiiis in the saying ofa bishop who lived in the early part of the MiddleAges. God, said he, divided the human race from thebeginning into three classes. These were, the priests,whose duty it was
The story of the middle ages; an elementary history for sixth and seventh grades . s knights were supported. for sale, nor engaged in commerce. How,then, were they fed and clothed, and furnislied withtheir expensive armor and horses? How, in short, wasall this life of tiie castle kept up,—with its greatbuildings, its constant Avars, its costly festivals, and itsidleness ? We may find the explanation of tiiis in the saying ofa bishop who lived in the early part of the MiddleAges. God, said he, divided the human race from thebeginning into three classes. These were, the priests,whose duty it was to pray and serve God; the l-7iights,whose duty it was to defend society; and thepeasants, whose duty it Avas to till the soil and tosupport, by their ]al)or, the otlier classes. 173 174 TEE STOBY OF TEE MIDDLE AGES This, indeed, was the arrangement as it existedduring the whole of the Middle Ages. The peasants,who tilled the .soil, together with the merchants andcraftsmen of the towns, bore all the burden ofsupporting the more picturesque classes above them. AVOODL AJ>^0. PLAN OF A VILLAGE The strips belonging to the lords domain were usually scattered amidthose held by his tenants, but for greater clearness they are here shown asIf gathered into one place. The peasants were called serfs and villains,and their position was very curious. For several milesabout the castle, all the land belonged to its lord, and LIFE OF TEE VILLAGE I75 was called, in England, his *manor. He did not ownthe land outright,—for, as you know, he did homageand fealty for it to Ms lord or suzerain,and the latter in turn owed homage and Position of ^ the peasants. fealty to his suzerain, and so on up to the king. Neither did the lord of the castle keep all of the manor lands in his own hands. He did not wish to till the land himself, so most of it was divided up and tilled by peasants, wlio kept their shares as long as they lived, and passed them on to their children after them. As long as the pe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1, booksubjectmiddleages, bookyear1912
