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HistoryChurch, state and society: 1066 to 174530 min★★★ difficulty

Church, state and society in medieval Britain, 1066-1509

For four centuries after 1066 two powers shaped English life: the Crown and the Church. Following their rivalry explains almost everything else about the period.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509

Key learning points

  • • The Crown and the barons
  • • The reach of the Church
  • • Everyday society
  • • Plague and revolt

This lesson at a glance

  • 30 minutes
  • 19 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

developmentchurchsocietymedievalbritain

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 19 · Discover5%
1

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Part 1 of 19

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Church, state and society in medieval Britain, 1066-1509

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn with Skillsets Connect . Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the development of Church, state and society in Medieval Britain 1066-1509

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 19

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know that the Norman Conquest introduced feudal landholding.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 19

Key words

Words you'll need today

Feudalism
Holding land in return for service and loyalty.
Clergy
People ordained to religious duties.
Magna Carta
The 1215 charter limiting royal power.
Villein
An unfree peasant tied to a lord's land.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 19

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Two competing powers

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 19

Learn

The Crown and the barons

Norman and Plantagenet kings ruled through barons who held land in return for military service. When a king demanded too much money or lost wars, barons resisted. Magna Carta in 1215 forced King John to accept that the king was subject to law, and although it was quickly broken it became a reference point for every later argument about royal power.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 19

Learn

The reach of the Church

The Church owned vast estates, ran its own courts, provided almost all education and shaped daily life through the calendar of feasts and fasts. Clashes were inevitable: the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 showed how dangerous the argument over who judged the clergy had become. Monasteries were also economic institutions, employing and feeding whole districts.

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Quick check

Part 7 of 19

Quick check

Magna Carta established the principle that...

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 19

Quick check

A villein was...

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 19

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 19

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Society and its shocks

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 19

Learn

Everyday society

Most people were peasants, many of them villeins who owed labour to a lord and could not leave the manor freely. Towns grew slowly, gaining charters that gave them freedoms and markets. Status was assumed to be God-given, which is why challenges to it were treated as religious as well as political offences.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 19

Learn

Plague and revolt

The Black Death killed a large share of the population from 1348, making surviving labourers scarce and valuable. Attempts to hold wages down helped trigger the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. Although the revolt was crushed, villeinage weakened through the following century, showing how a disaster can shift power without anyone planning it.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 19

Quick check

The Becket dispute was mainly about...

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 19

Quick check

The Black Death strengthened peasants' bargaining power because...

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 19

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • People often think Magna Carta gave rights to ordinary people. It mainly protected barons, but set the principle that law binds the king.
  • People often think the medieval Church was only religious. It was also the biggest landowner and educator.
16

Challenge round

Part 16 of 19

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 19

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

The ____ owned vast estates, ran its own courts, provided almost all education and shaped daily life through the calendar of feasts and fasts.

18

Mastery quiz

Part 18 of 19

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Church, state and society in medieval Britain, 1066-1509

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Feudalism exchanged land for...

  2. 2. Magna Carta was signed in...

  3. 3. Monasteries mattered economically because they...

  4. 4. The Peasants' Revolt occurred in...

  5. 5. Town charters gave towns...

  6. 6. Medieval social rank was widely believed to be...

19

Lesson round-up

Part 19 of 19

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Source

A factory inspector's notebook, 1842

"I visited the mill at seven in the morning. The machines were already running. I counted fourteen children at the frames, the youngest no more than nine years of age. The overseer told me they work from six until seven, with forty minutes for dinner."

"The air is thick with cotton dust and the windows are kept shut so the thread does not break. Two of the children showed me hands cut by the shuttles. The owner assured me that the work is light and that the families beg him for the places, since without the children's wages the rent cannot be paid."

"I have written to the magistrates. I doubt much will follow from it."

Original source-style text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Who wrote this, when, and why might that make it useful to a historian?
  2. What does the source tell you about children's work — and what does it not tell you?
  3. How far does this source show that mill owners were to blame? Answer with a judgement and evidence.

  • Source work

    Reading

    Read the source closely. Write who made it, when, and what it tells you — then what it does not tell you.

    2 paragraphs

  • Essay answer

    Writing

    Answer the enquiry question with a clear judgement. Use two pieces of evidence and finish with a sentence that weighs them up.

    300–400 words

  • Timeline

    Diagram

    Draw a timeline of the events in this lesson with dates, then photograph it.

    6–8 events

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Part 1 of 19 · Watch & discover

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