American society often romanticizes medieval European feudalism. Modern restaura

American society often romanticizes medieval European feudalism. Modern restaurants hold medieval feasts. In some areas, themed festivals with knights and vassals are a yearly occurrence. Even multimillion-dollar hotels base their entire theme on the Middle Ages. Many television shows and novels have focused on the time period. In your English classes, you might have studied the idea of courtly love. But what was it really like for an ordinary person to live in that time period? Do we accurately remember the hardships faced by the lower classes?
Research can give you a detailed view of daily life in a particular place and time. Just as important, it can show you what life was like for a particular group of people. Those details, in turn, can help you put together a whole tapestry of a past era instead of just a broad sketch of its outlines.
Directions
Research the structure and daily life of a feudal society from a peasant’s point of view. Then write a four-paragraph narrative journal entry detailing the life of a peasant from the peasant’s point of view. The peasant may be a serf or a craftsperson. In your journal entry, be sure to show the relationship and interactions the peasant would have had with the feudal lord and other members of the upper classes. Express the peasant’s feelings about aspects of their life, as someone might do in a private journal entry.
Here are some questions to guide your research:
What was daily life like for a serf or peasant craftsperson in feudal times?
What parts of the peasant’s life did the feudal lord control?
How dependent was the peasant on the fairness or cruelty of the upper classes?
What parts of the peasant’s work, family, and village life—if any—were independent of the feudal system? Look for aspects of life that were democratic within a community of peasants.
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, and rewriting. Develop a convincing picture of the peasant’s life by incorporating concrete details from your research. Although a medieval peasant most likely would not have been literate, you will want to write clearly for your readers. Be sure to use conventional punctuation, spelling, and capitalization to help your readers understand your ideas. On the other hand, feel free to use patterns of speech that reflect the way a medieval peasant might have spoken. Those patterns may include non-standard grammar. Make sure that your reader will be able to understand your journal entry.
Examine the Prompt
Before you begin any writing assignment, look closely at the prompt and determine what information you have been asked to find. You may want to make a checklist that includes the subject, a list of requirements, and any open-ended questions that the prompt expects you to answer.
Prompt
Write a four-paragraph narrative journal entry detailing a day in the life of a peasant from the peasant’s point of view. Your audience is your teacher and classmates. Optionally, create a slide show or other piece of media to accompany your journal entry. For your research into medieval peasant life, choose one of the following countries:
France
England
Germany
China
Japan
Base your narrative journal entry on historically accurate details from reliable sources such as encyclopedias, articles about the time period from well-known publications, and videos from an educational publisher. Here are some questions to ask:
Does the source use an objective tone instead of sensationalizing the subject?
Does the author cite their own sources of information, such as writings from the time period?
Does the source give facts that can be verified in another source such as an encyclopedia?
Avoid Hollywood versions of the Middle Ages.
Take Notes
Plan plenty of time for your research. Immerse yourself in the Middle Ages by reading historical accounts and watching educational videos about peasant life.
When you start your investigation, jot down all the sources you find along the way. You never know which source you may need more information from when you start writing.
Explore sources that give you both an overview of a feudal era in your chosen country and a closer look into peasant life at that place and time.
Write down information and facts that give a picture of daily life. What kind of work did peasants do? What did they eat and wear? What problems did they face in day-to-day life? Once you have decided on your journal character’s situation or trade, you can narrow down your research to a more specific area.
Notes do not need to be perfect, but they need to withstand the test of time. Would you still be able to read and understand your notes if you had to stop researching for a few days? Could you relocate the original source if you needed extra information for your final draft? If not, slow down, write neatly, and add more details to your notes.
Make sure your notes are in your own words. This will help you to avoid plagiarism when you begin writing. If you do like a quote, make sure you include quotation marks in your notes, or else you might accidentally claim those words as your own.
Get into Character
You will be writing as if you are a medieval peasant. Your research and notes should help you get into character. How would that person speak? How would they feel about their daily work, chores, and family life? How would they feel about the lord who controlled their livelihood?