Feudal Europe: lords, vassals, knights and serfs, and life on a manor
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.
In the town chain, what two effects follow from moving to a town, Bo asks?
- Freedom, but the loss of land rights
- The lord's permission to stay
- One effect: the serf becomes a lord
- Freedom, and more land on the manor to farm
Why might a serf choose to stay on the manor, Esme asks?
Use the picture in question 1.
- Freedom came after one day
- Towns had no work of any kind
- Leaving meant losing land and a farming living
- Towns turned serfs away on arrival
Jun's friend says moving to a town had one effect: freedom. Which reply fits the chain?
Use the picture in question 1.
- Agree: freedom was the one effect
- Not quite: it also cost the serf land rights
- Disagree: the serf stayed bound
- Agree: the serf gained land too
Cause and effect chain "From work duties to cash": [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used; [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s; [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land. Arrows: 1 → 2, 2 → 3. Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. Cause and effect chain "From work duties to cash": [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used; [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s; [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land. Arrows: 1 → 2, 2 → 3. Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. From work duties to cash [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. From when was demesne work more and more changed into money payments, Kira asks?
- From the 700s
- From the 1900s
- From the 1200s
- Before markets grew
What did serfs do instead of working days on the lord's land, Luz asks?
Use the picture in question 4.
- Paid cash
- Moved to Florence
- Paid nothing
- Worked twice as many days
Which box is the first cause in the cash chain, Milo asks?
Use the picture in question 4.
- The open-field system
- Serfs pay cash
- Trade and markets grow
- Work is changed into money payments
Which sentence fits the note about the word "feudalism", Pia asks?
Use the picture in question 4.
- Historians have stopped studying the Middle Ages
- The word fits the Middle Ages exactly, as historians agree
- Historians disagree about how useful the word is
- It is a settled fact with no debate
Ren's note says, "Feudalism was the same across Europe." Which reply fits?
Use the picture in question 4.
- Agree: the note says so
- Not quite: historians debate the word, and manors changed
- Agree: manors ended in one year
- Disagree: there were no manors
Zee's note says, "A serf who reached a town was free the next day." Which fix is right?
Cause and effect chain "A serf moves to a town": [1] a serf leaves the manor for a town and lives there for more than a year; [2] in many countries, the serf becomes free; [3] the serf loses rights to land on the manor, and a farming living. Arrows: 1 → 2, 1 → 3. Cause and effect chain "A serf moves to a town": [1] a serf leaves the manor for a town and lives there for more than a year; [2] in many countries, the serf becomes free; [3] the serf loses rights to land on the manor, and a farming living. Arrows: 1 → 2, 1 → 3. A serf moves to a town [1] a serf leaves the manor for a town and lives there for more than a year [2] in many countries, the serf becomes free [3] the serf loses rights to land on the manor, and a farming living - Change "free" to "a lord"
- Leave it: freedom came the next day
- Change "town" to "manor"
- Change it: the serf had to live there more than a year
Ari's note says, "Money payments began before markets grew." Which fix is right?
Cause and effect chain "From work duties to cash": [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used; [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s; [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land. Arrows: 1 → 2, 2 → 3. Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. Cause and effect chain "From work duties to cash": [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used; [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s; [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land. Arrows: 1 → 2, 2 → 3. Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. From work duties to cash [1] trade and markets grow, and more money is used [2] work on the lord's demesne is changed into money payments, more and more from the 1200s [3] serfs pay cash instead of working days on the lord's land Below the chain: manorialism faded away slowly and piecemeal, along with the open-field system. Historians still debate whether "feudalism" is a useful word for medieval society. - Change "payments" to "fiefs"
- Change "markets" to "manors"
- Change it: markets grew first
- Leave it: payments came first