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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 16

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 9.5a; 9.6a · feudalism, manors and the Church in Western Europe after the fall of Rome

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Feudalism linked people by land and loyalty: king, nobles and knights, then peasants and serfs. A vassal promised a lord loyalty and military service.
  2. The Church guided religious life and had great power in politics and education, sometimes clashing with kings.
  3. The Magna Carta said rulers are not above the law. The Black Death spread by fleas on rats along trade routes.

Example: In the feudal system, what did a vassal promise a lord? The lord gave the vassal land. In return the vassal gave loyalty and fought for him. Answer: loyalty and military service

Medieval Europe in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 6 of 16 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Rome's Fall & Byzantium 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Which feature helped defend a medieval castle?

    • A wide, unguarded gate
    • Open fields with no walls
    • Large glass windows
    • Thick stone walls, towers and a moat

  2. Question 2

    What did the Magna Carta (1215) establish?

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

  3. Question 3

    Why were monasteries important for learning?

    • They banned reading.
    • They were only farms.
    • Monks copied and kept books, and some ran schools.
    • Monks burned all books.

  4. Question 4

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

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

  5. Question 5

    What was the tithe?

    • A tax, about one tenth of a person's income or crops, paid to the Church
    • A payment to a guild for a loan
    • A fine for being late
    • A tax paid only by nobles to the king

  6. Question 6

    The Black Death arrived in Europe in the 1340s. What was one cause of its spread?

    • Fleas on rats traveling along trade routes
    • Crop failure only
    • Poor harvests only
    • A volcanic eruption

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