The Three Orders
Class 11 · History
4 ideas in Class 11 History, explained in plain words, with games and quizzes to practise.
Orders, Vassals and Knights
Part of: Feudal Pyramid
Clergy prayed, nobles fought and peasants worked. Nobles held land as vassals promising loyalty for protection, lived in manors, kept courts and coinage, and granted fiefs of 1000 to 2000 acres to knights. The Church took a tenth as tithe and monasteries added schools, hospitals and arts.
Why it matters. Order roles plus mutual-promise logic anchor medieval answers.
Key words
- Feudalism
- : Land-based lord-peasant relations.
- Vassalage
- : Loyalty for protection bond.
- Fief
- : Land granted to knights.
- Manor
- : Lord's estate and dwelling.
- Tithe
- : Tenth of produce for Church.
- Monastery
- : Prayer, study and care house.
Try it in two minutes
- Assign pray, fight, work.
- Trade protection for loyalty.
- Size one fief.
Try at home. Explain why knights rose only in the ninth century.
Hands that Feed
Part of: Feudal Pyramid
Free peasants rented farms with military duty and three weekly labour days, while serfs were bound to estates under monopolies and marriage fees. Iron ploughs, shoulder harness and three-field rotation doubled food and shrank farms from 100 to 20 acres, while cash rents dissolved old bonds.
Why it matters. Free-serf contrast plus technology arithmetic answers change questions.
Key words
- Free peasant
- : Tenant farmer with rights.
- Serf
- : Estate-bound cultivator.
- Labour-rent
- : Unpaid work on lord land.
- Taille
- : Royal tax on peasants.
- Three-field system
- : Rotation using fields twice.
- Money economy
- : Cash replacing labour dues.
Try it in two minutes
- Split tenants from bound.
- Count three labour days.
- Rotate three fields.
Try at home. Explain why peasants hid grain from lords.
Towns, Guilds and Cathedrals
Part of: Town Bells
Population rose 42 to 73 million by 1300, feeding towns around castles, churches and fairs. Guilds ruled craft quality and prices, town air freed hidden serfs after a year and a day, big towns reached 30000, and merchant gifts raised stone cathedrals with story-telling glass.
Why it matters. Town-freedom logic plus guild roles answer urban questions.
Key words
- Guild
- : Craft association ruling trade.
- Town air makes free
- : Hiding freed serfs.
- Fourth order
- : Townspeople beyond three orders.
- Cathedral
- : Grand church and pilgrimage hub.
- Fair
- : Periodic selling centre.
Try it in two minutes
- Count 42 to 73 million.
- Free serfs by hiding.
- Raise one cathedral.
Try at home. Explain why craftsmen settled instead of wandering.
Crisis, Revolt and New Monarchs
Part of: Black Death to Kings
Cold summers, exhausted soil and silver shortage slowed growth before plague ships brought Black Death killing a fifth of Europe and halving numbers 73 to 45 million. Wages rose 250 per cent, revolts erupted 1323 to 1381, and kings built standing armies, bureaucracies and taxes into new monarchies.
Why it matters. Crisis-chain reasoning plus assembly contrast answers late-medieval questions.
Key words
- Black Death
- : Plague killing a fifth.
- Famine 1315-17
- : Great hunger before plague.
- Peasant revolts
- : Uprisings blocking old dues.
- New monarchs
- : Absolutist fifteenth-century kings.
- Estates-General
- : French three-order assembly.
- Parliament
- : English council checking kings.
Try it in two minutes
- Chain cold, coin, contagion.
- Halve 73 to 45 million.
- Crown new monarchs.
Try at home. Explain why lords lost income after plague.
What your child will practise
- Crisis, Revolt and New Monarchs: Space Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Crisis, Revolt and New Monarchs: Space Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Hands that Feed: Ocean Puzzle (Clue Puzzle)
- Orders, Vassals and Knights: Jungle Quest (Flip and Match)
- Towns, Guilds and Cathedrals: Candy Quick Fire (Quick Fire)
- Quiz: Crisis, Revolt and New Monarchs (8 questions)
- Quiz: Hands that Feed (8 questions)
- Quiz: Orders, Vassals and Knights (8 questions)
- Quiz: Towns, Guilds and Cathedrals (8 questions)