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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 8 of 11

Medieval Europe

Feudalism, towns and the Black Death

What your child practices

How medieval Europe was organized (kings, nobles, knights and peasants), the role of the Church and guilds, the Magna Carta, the Black Death, and how change came to the feudal system.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.7.3.21.1; SS.7.3.16.4 · medieval Europe, its social structure and the control of land

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Feudalism was a pyramid: king, then nobles (lords), then knights, then peasants and serfs.
  2. Lords gave land (a fief) to vassals in return for loyalty. The Church was powerful in daily life.
  3. The Magna Carta (1215) said rulers are not above the law. The Black Death spread along trade routes.

Example: Put these in order from most to least powerful: peasants, king, nobles. The king was at the top. Nobles held land from the king. Peasants worked the land. Answer: king → nobles → peasants

Medieval Europe in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 8 of 11 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Greece & Rome and before The Islamic World.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Put the feudal pyramid in order, from the most powerful to the least.

    • 🛡️Knights
    • 👑King
    • 🏰Nobles (lords)
    • 🌾Peasants and serfs

  2. Question 2

    The Crusades (starting in 1096) were…

    • peaceful pilgrimages only
    • wars over castles in France
    • trade agreements
    • a series of religious wars over control of the holy land

  3. Question 3

    A medieval town charter gave a town certain rights. What might it allow?

    • Ruling the whole country
    • Running its own markets and courts
    • Avoiding all laws
    • Keeping its own army of knights only

  4. Question 4

    What did the Magna Carta (1215) establish?

    • That the king rules by himself
    • That even the king must follow the law
    • That the Church can tax the king
    • That peasants own land

  5. Question 5

    What was the three-field system?

    • A plan for building a castle
    • A farming method that rotated crops and left one field resting each year
    • A tax paid three times a year
    • A way of dividing the army

  6. Question 6

    What was a guild?

    • A sort of castle
    • A religious ceremony
    • A group of craftspeople or merchants who set standards and protected their trade
    • A type of noble title

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