Life in the Middle Ages

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Recommended: A peasant life in the middle ages

IT WASN’T EASY LIVING IN THE MIDDLE AGES. In the middle ages 400 AD thru 1300 AD, there was a system call the hierarchy. The hierarchy was the feudalism system that was based on mutual obligations.The highest person in the royalty system would be the king, the king has all power and control over everyone. The next in the hierarchy would be the clergy, the clergy is filled with Popes, bishops, archdeacons, abbot, priors, deans, priests, and monk. You wouldn’t think their would be any other people under the monks, but they were. After the monks there were friars, clerics, vicars, barber surgeons, chaplains, confessors, scribes, and culdees. The people on the bottom of the hierarchy were the system of peasantry. Some peasants had more rights than others such as, the vallien was the wealthy class of peasants. Serfs and commoner lived in small communities, they couldn't leave or marry without their lord's permission. Next in line came the smallholder, they were the middle class peasants who farmed more than a cottager, but less land than a vallien. Some people owned the farms and worked on it. In the middle ages there were women and men who practiced being trappist. People chose to give their life to the churches because they found it a more appealing way to get closer to God. For the women, they gave up everything to become a nun because they weren’t able to be educated. Once the women became nuns they were able to learn how to read and write. As for men, they became monks because they were being offered a peaceful quiet place to escape from the violence in the world and get more close to their god. Women and men in the middle ages preferred to devote their lives to churches, because they found it a better lifestyle.
In the middle ...

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...und it better. Life for them were fair to them but probably not understood by the outsiders. They cared for nothing more than their education and God, and the works of God. They prayed and they worshiped all day and lived where the church was. People of their kind needed a quiet and peaceful way to get their one on one with their god away from the violence on the streets. What if women or men couldn’t become monks or nuns? Women would probably have no education or a passion for god and his works. As for men, they wouldn’t have a peaceful place to independently confide in their god. Life would be different if the same rules applied as of today.

Works Cited

alchin, linda . "Lords and ladies." lords and ladies. N.p., 16 July 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2012. <>. eastwood, kay. women and girls in the middle ages. 305.4. manhattan: crabtree publishing company, 2004. Print.

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