Beer

For the commons beer in the middle ages the usual spirits was. It was more safe than water, because the water in the cities was frequently polluted, whereas beer was filtered at the construction cooked and. Moreover beer was nutritive: the contained grain and it leaven was rich to vitamin B and other necessary substances. Beer consumption was in the middle ages thus very high: in the low countries one drank zo' n 300 litres beer per year. Thereby must be noticed, however, that the beer contained rather little alcohol. Brewing beer was entrusted in the middle ages to convents and abbeys, where it mainly women became gebrouwen. As a rule abbeys had a heavy and light version of the beer, where the heavy version was drunk paters and guests, and the lighter version by the sisters. In the course of the middle ages a professionalisation came on pace and in the present Germany beer breweries was opened there. Already rapidly there also arose in the low countries professional beer breweries. Up to the 14e centuries beer only gebrouwen with spontaneous fermentation became, after the 14e centuries old beer and later leaven are added during brewing. Vestiges of beers of spontaneous fermentation are find the lambik beers, in the Zennevallei, at south west of Brussels.

Food

The rich ate foods such as dried fruits, lots of meat,nuts. Common people ate oatmeal, rarely meat, and bread Rich people would have eaten meat and fruit, but very rarely vegetables as these were considered to be peasant food. Thus peasants mostly ate vegetables and stews as they could not afford to eat meat. They also would have eaten bread and had access to alcohol. People ate meats, fish, shellfish, and vegetables that they grew in the Middle Ages. they ate pottidge which is a vegtable soup and they drank ale which is a sort of beer bread and meat. and sometimes slaves when they were angry The nobles ate game-hunt type of food, such as: deer, boar, hare, and rabbit. Their vegetables were more refined like: rape, onion, garlic, and leek. One type of bread they ate was called manchet. They had an abundant amount of spices in their food, such as: pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, saffron, cardamon (aka cardamom), coriander, cumin, garlic, turmeric, mace, anise, caraway, and mustard. The lower class ate rye and barley bread, pottage (a type of stew), dairy products like milk and cheese, and meats like beef, pork, or lamb. Biscuits were later created and eaten as snacks for the lower class workers. *Vegetables grown in the ground were considered food only for the lower class.

Game(s)

here some games

How did a town look like?

This is how a standard medieval village looked like. It had a manor hous, in the back, an church in the left hand corner. And also farms and smaal houses. There was also a market. The villagers trade and bought there for example fish, bread or ale. Here is a link to the bigger picture :

Introduction

Hello, We are Daan and Jesse Hein and we made this site for an history project. We are 2 boys from CSG Liudger in Drachten (NL) We're in the 2nd year of bilingual education. Our history teacher is the best teacher of 2009!!! Have fun on our site!!! Daan and Jesse Hein

Movie

here we have some videos to make it more clear

Our teacher

the name of our teacher is MR Posthumus. He is the best teacher of 2009. We like him very much. But sometimes he is talking to much about his "wife". but we like him. he is also a very good singer

Pictures

look at some pictures of the middle ages

Taxes for the lord

In change of protection the farmers payed taxes to their lord.They gave money or 10 percent of their crops to their Lord.They also had to work for the lord

The Church

The Church: Religion was very important in the Middle Ages. Most towns had one parish church. It was usually a beautiful, big, stone building. It was a place of prayer but it was also used for important meetings as some towns had no town hall. Many towns also had monasteries.

Town life

Following 1000, peace and order grew. As a result, peasants began to expand their farms and villages further into the countryside. The earliest merchants were peddlers who went from village to village selling their goods. As the demand for goods increased--particularly for the gems, silks, and other luxuries from Genoa and Venice, the ports of Italy that traded with the East--the peddlers became more familiar with complex issues of trade, commerce, accounting, and contracts. They became savvy businessmen and learned to deal with Italian moneylenders and bankers. The English, Belgians, Germans, and Dutch took their coal, timber, wood, iron, copper, and lead to the south and came back with luxury items such as wine and olive oil. As the tradesmen became wealthier, they resented having to give their profits to their lords. Arrangements were made for the townspeople to pay a fixed annual sum to the lord or king and gain independence for their town as a "borough" with the power to govern itself. The marketplace became the focus of many towns.

Town walls

Town Walls: Medieval towns were surrounded by a Town Wall. The town wall protected the townspeople but it was also a status symbol. It showed where the countryside ended and the town began. It showed that the townspeople were independent and it celebrated their wealth. Most towns had plain walls of stone. They often had battlemented walkways. Towers were located at certain points along the wall. Town walls had gates and gatehouses. These gave the townspeople control over those entering and leaving the town. Spies or criminals might be arrested. Diseased persons could be kept out. Money (tolls) was collected at the gatehouses. (Tolls had to be paid on all goods brought into the town for sale. The money collected was spent on the town walls, bridges and paving the streets.)

Wars and conflicts

here you can find info over medieval wars and conflicts