The Changing Life of the People in the High Middle Ages

1
Chapter 10

• The Changing Life of the People in the High
  Middle Ages

2
The Three Orders of Society (fourteenth century)

• This book illustration shows the most common
  image of medieval society those who fight, those
  who pray, and those who work. The group of clergy
  shown here includes a veiled nun nuns were
  technically not members of the clergy, but most
  people considered them as such.

Bibiothèque royale, Brussels
3
Boarstall Manor,Buckinghamshire

• In 1440 Edmund Rede, lord of this estate, had a
  map made showing his ancestor receiving the
  title from King Edward I (lower field). Note the
  manor house, church, and peasants cottages along
  the central road. In the common fields, divided
  by hedges, peasants cultivated on a three-year
  rotation cycle winter wheat, spring oats, a
  year fallow. Peasants pigs grazed freely in the
  woods, indicated by trees. We dont know whether
  peasants were allowed to hunt the deer.

Buckinghamshire Record Office, Aylesbury
4
Man Stomping on Grapes

• Before the invention of the winepress in 1526,
  grapes were crushed by human power people
  treading on them in barrels. The French province
  of Poitou, the region of Bordeaux, and the Rhine
  and Moselle Valleys supplied wine to an
  expanding European market. The staple drinksfor
  peasants and monks were ale, beer, and cider
  wine was considered an aristocratic drink.

Glasgow University Library, Department of Special
Collections, Ms Hunter 229
5
The Eucharist

• The Fourth Lateran Council of 1215 encouraged all
  Christians to receive the Eucharist at least
  once a year after confession and penance. Here
  a priest places the consecrated bread, called a
  host, on peoples tongues.

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
6
Foolish Maidens on a Wedding Door of the
Cathedral in Strasbourg (thirteenth century)

• Medieval cathedrals sometimes had a side door
  depicting a biblical story of ten young women
  who went to meet a bridegroom. Five of them were
  wise and took extra oil for their lamps, and
  five were foolish and did not (Matthew 25113).
  In the story, which is a parable about always
  being preparedfor the end of the world, the
  foolish maidens were out of oil when the
  bridegroom arrived and missed the wedding feast.
  The maidens door became a popular site for
  weddings, which were held right in front of it.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
7
Jewish Cemetery

• Tomb in Worms of a thirteenth-century German
  Jewish rabbi who was imprisoned by the emperor
  and died in prison. Jewish and Christian
  cemeteries were separated in medieval Europe,
  with Christian cemeteries generally next to
  churches and Jewish ones often outside town
  walls.

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
8
Monastery of Saint Martin de Canigou

• The Benedictine monastery of Saint Martin de
  Canigou was constructed in 1009 in the eastern
  Pyrenees by a nobleman from one of the small
  Christian kingdoms in northern Spain. Like
  hundreds of other monasteries, it came under the
  influence of the abbey of Cluny. With its thick
  walls and strategic position, it served as a
  Christian defensive fortress against the Muslims
  in battles of the reconquista.

Editions Gaud
9
Beekeeping at Monte Cassino

• In this painting, lay brothers and peasants
  gather honey for the Benedictine monastery of
  Monte Cassino in Italy. Monasteries were
  important producers of agricultural products as
  well as spiritual services. Because of the
  scarcity and expense of sugar, honey was the
  usual sweetener for pastries and liquids
  throughout the Middle Ages. This illustrator had
  clearly never seen the process, for medieval
  beekeepers used veils, nets, and gloves to keep
  from getting stung, just as modern beekeepers do.

Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
10
Cistercian Expansion

• The rapid expansion of the Cistercian order in
  the twelfth century reflects the spiritual piety
  of the age and its enormous economic vitality.
  Use the map and the information in your text to
  answer the following questions1 What economic
  activities were especially developed by the
  Cistercians? How did these influence medieval
  economic development?2 The Cistercians
  originally intended to live far from existing
  towns and villages and to not be involved in
  traditional feudal-manorial society. Does this
  map suggest they were successful in their aims?

11
Pilgrims badge from Santiago de Compostela

• Pilgrims badge from Santiago de Compostela.
  Enterprising smiths began making metal badges
  for pilgrims to buy as proof of their journey
  and evidence of their piety. The scallop shell
  became particularly associated with Saint James
  and eventually with pilgrimages in general.
  Pilgrims who had visited many shrines would clink
  from the badges worn on their hats or capes,
  sometimes becoming objects of satire just as
  tourists laden with souvenirs are today.

Institut Amatller dArt Hispanic
12
Pilgrims routes

• Pilgrims routes monasteries in Cluny, Vézelay,
  Saint-Gilles, and Moissac served as inns for
  pilgrims.