Journal entries are individual pieces of writing that populate your journal. They are expressions of personal growth, interests and opinions. They are usually between 500-1000 words and each entry can be about something different. Journal entries are usually kept private, as that allows people to write honestly.

Most medieval manuscripts were written on specially treated animal skins, called parchment or vellum (paper did not become common in Europe until around 1450). The pelts were first soaked in a lime solution to loosen the fur, which was then removed.

Types of Medieval Entertainment varied according to status but included feasts, banquets, jousts and tournaments, Mystery Plays, fairs, games and sports, hunting, hawking, animal entertainment using dogs, bears and monkeys.

Generally, the medieval era is divided into three periods: the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, and the Late Middle Ages.

The term ‘Dark Ages’ was coined by an Italian scholar named Francesco Petrarch. The term thus evolved as a designation for the supposed lack of culture and advancement in Europe during the medieval period. The term generally has a negative connotation.

Middle Ages

During the High Middle Ages, knighthood was considered a class of lower nobility. Often, a knight was a vassal who served as an elite fighter, a bodyguard or a mercenary for a lord, with payment in the form of land holdings. The lords trusted the knights, who were skilled in battle on horseback.

Answer: Explanation: Features such as migration of people, invasions, population distribution, and deurbanization characterized this period. The medieval ages had three periods, which include the antiquity, the medieval periods, and the modern period, all of which exhibited different characteristics.

Life was harsh, with a limited diet and little comfort. Women were subordinate to men, in both the peasant and noble classes, and were expected to ensure the smooth running of the household. Children had a 50% survival rate beyond age one, and began to contribute to family life around age twelve.

Peasants lived in cruck houses. These had a wooden frame onto which was plastered wattle and daub. This was a mixture of mud, straw and manure. The straw added insulation to the wall while the manure was considered good for binding the whole mixture together and giving it strength.

Peasant women had many domestic responsibilities, including caring for children, preparing food, and tending livestock. During the busiest times of the year, such as the harvest, women often joined their husbands in the field to bring in the crops.

For fun during the Middle Ages, peasants danced, wrestled, bet on cockfighting and bear baiting, and played an early version of football. On Sundays, peasants were allowed to rest and go to church. Some pious peasants undertook pilgrimages to gain God’s favor.

Embroidery, pottery, basket weaving, carpentry, leatherwork and woodcarving were common skills, often with division of labor by sex. The art work was not only used for practical use but for aesthetic purposes also.

Peasants actually had a lot more free time than you might expect. They got every Sunday off, as well as special holidays mandated by the church, not to mention weeks off here and there for special events like weddings and births when they spent a lot of time getting drunk.

Thanks to their favoured position in life and the labour of the peasants on their estates, nobles in an English medieval castle had plenty of leisure hours which could be frittered away by eating, drinking, dancing, playing games like chess, or reading romantic stories of daring-do.

Entertainment in the Middle Ages. What did people do in the middle ages for entertainment? Types of Medieval Entertainment varied according to status but included feasts, banquets, jousts and tournaments, Mystery Plays, fairs, games and sports, hunting, hawking, animal entertainment using dogs, bears and monkeys.

In France, they were known as troubadours and joungleurs. The Scandinavian minstrels were called skalds. The Irish called their minstrels bards, while the English minstrels were referred to as scops.

Fines, shaming (being placed in stocks), mutilation (cutting off a part of the body), or death were the most common forms of medieval punishment. There was no police force in the medieval period so law-enforcement was in the hands of the community.

Perhaps the most brutal of all execution methods is hung, strung and quartered. This was traditionally given to anyone found guilty of high treason. The culprit would be hung and just seconds before death released then disemboweled and their organs were then thrown into a fire – all while still alive.

As such, it was possible that some guilty men and women escaped punishment while some innocent people were found guilty. Pope Innocent III ended the practice in 1215 in an attempt to reform the church.