Medieval societies always feared having
a lack of food. Crop surpluses were rarely enough to create viable storage
systems and even the greatest lord could not keep enough grain to outlast
a famine.
Medieval foods and diets depended much on the
class of the individual.
Fowl such as capons, geese, larks, and
chickens were usually available to the lord and his family. They would
also dine on other meats; beef, bacon, lamb, and those living close to
water may have regularly dined on salmon, herring, eels ands other fresh
water fish. Fish would either be sold fresh or smoked and salted. Wealthy
society could afford large quantities of milled flour and other meals
made from grain. Dairy products such as cheese and butter could be seen
on the manor table.
Most of the wheat they harvested
went exclusively to the market, and peasant breads were made from barley
and rye, baked into dark heavy loaves. Ales made from barley would quaff
the thirst, as would water drawn from the well, sweetened with honey.
Peasant society got what little proteins they could from peas and beans
that would be added to bread and pottage.
Onions,
cabbage, garlic, nuts, berries, leeks, spinach, parsley were some of the
foods that would combined to make thick soup. Raw vegetables were considered
unhealthy and rarely eaten, but anything that could grown, with the exception
of known poisonous plants, were added to the mix.
Does this mean that Nobles used the "courts" as a way to make money?
he court did not act in the public interest, as with us, but waited until the plaintiff requested service. Moreover, until the case had been decided, the accuser and the accused received the same treatment. Both were imprisoned; and the plaintiff who lost his case suffered the same penalty which the defendant, had he been found guilty, would have undergone.
not require the accuser to prove his case by calling witnesses and having them give testimony. The burden of proof lay on the accused, who had to clear himself of the charge,
Feudal Justice - The Ordeals
Ordeals, however, formed a method of appealing to God, the results of which could be immediately observed.
A form of trial which especially appealed to the warlike nobles was the judicial duel - a trial by combat. The accuser and the accused fought with each other; and the conqueror won the case. God, it was believed, would give victory to the innocent party, because he had right on his side.
Feudalism was the medieval model of government predating the birth of the modern nation-state. Feudal society is a military hierarchy in which a ruler or lord offers mounted fighters a fief , a unit of land to control in exchange for a military service.
This dearth of biographical information is due primarily to his station in life; he was not a noble, but the son of John Shakespeare, a leather trader and the town bailiff. The events of William Shakespeare’s early life can only be gleaned from official records, such as baptism and marriage records.
He probably attended the grammar school in Stratford, where he would have studied Latin and read classical literature.
18 married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior and pregnant at the time of the marriage.
but unfounded stories have him stealing deer, joining a group of traveling players, becoming a schoolteacher, or serving as a soldier in the Low Countries.
wrote derogatorily of him on his deathbed.
In 1594, having probably composed, among other plays, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, and The Taming of the Shrew, he became an actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, which became the King’s Men after James I’s ascension in 1603. The company grew into England’s finest, in no small part because of Shakespeare, who was its principal dramatist.
and the best theater, the Globe, which was located on the Thames’ south bank.
By 1596, the company had performed the classic Shakespeare plays Romeo and Juliet, Richard II, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. That year, John Shakespeare was granted a coat of arms, a testament to his son’s growing wealth and fame.
he became a partner in the ownership of the Globe Theatre.
In a million words written over 20 years, he captured the full range of human emotions and conflicts with a precision that remains sharp today. As his great contemporary the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson said, “He was not of an age, but for all time.”
which gave judicial power to the nobles and lords in cases arising in their domains, had no appeal save to the King himself.
The Feudal System Right of Safe Convoy
that it even applied itself to the lower orders, and its violation was considered the most odious crime.
The Feudal System Right of Wearing Spurs
privileges that of wearing spurs of silver or gold according to their rank of knighthood
Feudal System Rights of Knighthood
Knights had the right of receiving double rations when prisoners of war; the right of claiming a year's delay when a creditor wished to seize their land; and the right of never having to submit to torture after trial, unless they were condemned to death for the crime they had committed.
Feudal System Right of having seats of honour in churches and Monuments
Feudal System Right of Disinheritance
The nobles enjoyed also the right of disinheritance, that is to say, of claiming the goods of a person dying on their lands who had no direct heir
Feudal System Right of Shelter
The right of shelter, was the principal charge imposed upon the noble. When a great baron visited his lands, his tenants were not only obliged to give him and his followers shelter, but also provisions and food, the nature and quality of which were all arranged beforehand with the most extraordinary detail.
The Feudal System was sustained by the rights and privileges given to the Upper Classes and in most cases enacted by laws. Everything was a source of privilege for the nobles.