Changes in Farming, Towns and Learning

Mr. Morris taught these two days, but here are the notes. Please complete them as one day. Left sides completed will be used as extra credit. There are two days of journals since it occurred Thurs. and Friday.

Daily Objectives:

• Journal (click here for journal) NOTE: This was two days worth of material. There are two journals to complete for these notes.
• No Left Sides
• Right Side Notes: 

Main Idea:   Changes in farming, combined with warmer weather about the year 1000, allowed fewer people to farm the same amount of land, and allowed people to move to towns and specialize.

1. New Inventions in Farming
1. Three-field system:  replaced the old two-field system.  Instead of planting 50% of fields and leaving 50% fallow (unplanted, to rest the soil), farmers began planting one field with the main crop, one with legumes and leaving one fallow.  This mean 66% of the land was farmed.

Legume:  a leafy vegetable with leaves full of nitrogen to replenish soil.  Beans, peas, lentils.  Also a great source of vitamins and protein for people in the late Middle Ages.

2. Chest Harness:  allowed horses to take the place of oxen in plowing.  A horse could plow twice as fast as an oxen.
   
   
3. Metal Plow:  could plow deeper and prepare the soil better for crops.
   
   
2. Growth of Towns
1. Surplus people can now move to towns.
2. Why move to a town?
1. Better life, better jobs
2. Town air makes you free:  If serfs could live in a town for a year and a day they were free men.
   
   
3. Specialization of Labor:  people began doing specific jobs, ex butcher, baker, miller.
   
   
4. Surnames:  last names.  Developed in towns because more than one person with the same first name.  Surnames often came from a person’s job, physical appearance, or where he was from.
   
   
5. Guilds:  a group of skilled craftsmen that do the same job.  They join together to keep prices and quality high and to provide for retired members.
   
   
6. Steps in becoming  a Master
1. Apprentice—start as a kid.  6-7 years.  No pay.  Room and board.  Learn the trade.
2. Journeyman—after pass apprenticeship, you become a journeyman.  You can move from one employer to another and get paid.  You do more complex tasks.
3. Masterpiece—when you are ready to be a master, you must make something that demonstrates your skill.  This is called a masterpiece.  You show it to the guild members and they either award you a masters or not.
4. Master---you are now a master and  can have your own apprentices and journeymen
   
   
7. Universities as Guilds

• University--- guild of learners and teachers who form to share knowledge
• Universities formed in towns and took the place of monasteries
• Bachelors Degree: allows a member to teach below the university level.
• Masters Degree:   you can teach as a master at a university.  
• Doctor—wise man.  Highest attainable level.  Named for doctors of the Church.
  
  

8. Persecution of the Jews—Jews were persecuted (treated badly) because of the way they were treated in Europe.
1. Anti-Semitism:  hatred of Jews
2. Jews c ould not own land.
3. Jews could not be in guilds
4. Jews could lend money at interest, which was a sin to Christians at that time; therefore Jews were sinners.
5. The church blamed the Jews for Jesus’s death
6. Jews could only work in gold, silver, and cloth trades
7. Jews had to live in ghettos (separate housing) in towns.
8. Because of all these things, they were seen as different and were disliked