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It's a common misconception that people in the middle ages were split into three sectors: those who worked, those who played and those who fought. Although you are always the one who devises all these laws and social positions, it would be good to base it on some background knowledge.

| THE POWER SYSTEM RELIGION THE SOCIAL ORDER MEDIEVAL TERMS |

Feudalism

One of the major features of the medieval era was feudalism. It was introduced to Britain by William the Conqueror. Feudalism existed in many European countries: Germany, France, England, Sicily, Northern Spain, and the crusader states. It varied from place to place but the general idea was the same.

Under feudalism, the King or Emperor came first. Under him were a series of nobles that held local political, military and economic power. The nobles came in different ranks, as we shall see later on. This system is one, which Tamora Pierce uses in her books.

Nobles themselves could have their own knights and men-at-arms. They would have sworn loyalty to the king in return for fiefs: land, its occupants and resources). In turn, a lord could grant this to a knight in exchange for loyalty.

Feudalism, however, did not survive for very long because of fief inheritance problems and such. By the fifteenth century, it was starting to die out.

Manorialism

This system defined the hereditary relationships between the peasantry and the nobility. Most people were affected, half were peasants who were attached to their lords, serfs and in certain Mediterranean cultures: slaves.

The origins lay in the last few years of the Roman system, in which farmers were tied to lands by law.

Manoralism is a hereditary system in which a lord owned/controlled land and allocated sections of it to peasants that were under his control. For this the peasants gave crops, money and labor. The laws varied from place to place. Peasants had practically no rights, their lord controlled them.

The lords themselves may be corrupt. One such example is the manor court, where peasants may be tried for crimes. The lord could take this chance to line his pockets.

Conditions improved for the peasants around the tenth century, mainly due to the agricultural revolution. The other was irrigation and technology.

Medieval Europe was dominated by one main religion: Christianity. There are different types (and Kings squabbled over this) but for a long time Roman Catholicism ruled. The leader of this religion was in Rome: the Pope. Other branches of Christianity are Lutheran, Protestant, Anglican, and Quaker e.t.c.

Christianity was the source of troubles such as witch-hunts, and prejudices against people who were not 'normal'.

Medieval people saw God as a powerful, almost frightening spirit. He could not be called reliably to intercede in normal daily lives. So feared was God that lots of people refused to take communion because of his presence in the host. In 1251, the Fourth Lateran Council had to make annual communion obligatory.

Abbot / Abbess: The head of a community of monks. He or she was expected to govern his monks with compassion and firmness. His monks were to follow him with reverence and obedience. Likewise for an Abbess, head of a group of nuns.

Archbishop: Responsible for large areas (e.g. Provinces). They had several bishops underneath them and had influence.

Bishop: They were regional church leaders, who governed over a Cathedral.

Cardinal: Originally a term applied to bishops whose dioceses were overrun by barbarians. Later they were the term for senior priests. Even later, they had developed into the Sacred College of Cardinals and served as assistants to the Pope. In 1095, they had the power to elect a new Pope.

Deacon / Deaconess: They were immediately below priests and had the duty of serving as their assistants. Deaconesses were held in responsibility for assisting at baptisms of women and helping them to prepare for sacraments.

Pope: Head of the Catholic Church. The Pope is believed to be in direct line from St. Peter. His seat of authority is in Rome. He also had the power to 'annul' marriages and excommunicate individuals.

3.1. The Nobles and Monarchs

I'm sure that this came from the feudal system, but it probably would have come anyway. The head of state was a King, or a Queen. In actual history, Queens who reigned by themselves were very rare because of the load of chauvinist pigs that existed then. But you can be a big more of a feminist in your fantasy milieu.

Underneath the Royal (couple) would be either a collection of nobles or lesser princes and princesses. In Imperial Russia, for example, there were plenty of princes beneath the Tsar and Tsarina but they were not of any importance as they were not in the line to the throne.

Below is a list of definitions:

Prince / Princess: A child of the monarch. Sometimes a spouse of the offspring of a Prince or Princess may also hold such titles. Princes don't really have many powers (apart from when they are the head of an independent state), but they can have other titles. A state ruled by a Prince is called a Principality.

Duke / Duchess: They are usually the most powerful of nobility under the monarchy. An area ruled by a Duke is called a Dukery. The title may be bestowed upon princes in the direct line to the throne or heroes of war. They can also be for relatives of the monarch.

Marquess / Marchioness: This title is for lords who held the responsibility of guarding border areas of a country.

Count/ Countess: This is an important noble with the authority over a province or shire etc. The English call them Earls, and they were the lord of a shire.

Viscount / Viscountess: This means the deputy of a Count. The title was perhaps created during the Holy Roman Empire. High-ranking soldiers may be rewarded with this title

Baron / Baroness: The lowest of nobles, they are granted directing from the sovereign. An area ruled by a Baron is a Barony

Baronet / Baronetess: A Baron who has lost the right of summons to parliament.

3.2. The Knights

Knights were often placed into orders of knighthood, many of which were fraternal or military associations of expert soldiers. Many of them received support either from the sovereign or a variety of contributors. Some were completely independent.

Many orders of knighthood were religious and ritualistic. Some even resembled cults. Examples that stand out in history are the Hospitalers, the Knights Templar and the Teutonic Knights.

Below are lists of the terms that covered most of life in the Middle Ages, including legal systems and major events.

Ad censum: Term for status of serfs who pay their rent in money instead of labor.

Ad opus: Serfs who owe payment in the form of labor to lord.

Amercement: Fine

Assart: Area of wasteland or swap reclaimed for farming.

Assize of bread and ale: Royal law setting prices and standards.

Bailiff: The chief official on a lord's manor.

Balk: A raised strip of land left unplowed to separate the boundaries between serf's lands.

Beadle: A manorial official, perhaps assistant to Reeve.

Bondman: A serf

Boon-work: Obligation of peasant tenants to provide special labor for lord.

Bylaws: Rules constructed by open-field peasants for governing farming and grazing.

Cellarer: Official of a monastery responsible for provisions.

Champion country: Open country.

Charter: Official document such as a grant.

Chevage: Payment made annually by a serf

Communitas villae: Term for referring to village community.

Corrody: An old-age pension.

Cotter: Tenant of a cottage, usually very poor.

Crusade: A holy war called by the Pope.

Curia: Courtyard

Custumal: Document listing rights and obligations of serfs

Dark Ages: Term for the period from the fall of Rome. Usually considered a period of decline.

Demesne: Portion of manor cultivated directly on behalf of the lord through obligatory tenant labor.

Dies amoris: Opportunity given to litigants to reconcile differences between them.

Distraint: Arrest or summons to court

Essoin: Delay permitted to a defendant in court, or excuse for not appearing in court.

Estate: The total of a lord's holdings, usually several manors.

Extent: A document listing the lands, rents and services of a manor.

Eyre: A royal circuit court.

Farm: A lease

Fief: Land granted to a vassal in return for services.

Frankpledge: A legal device of which every member of a tithing was responsible for the conduct of other members.

Furlong: Subdivision of an agriculture field

Gersum: Initial fee for possessing a tenancy

Glebe: Land to be for the support of the parish church

Gore: Strangely shaped section of arable land, created by irregular terrain

Ballmote: A manorial court of justice

Hamlet: Small, agricultural settlement that lacked facilities

Hamsoken: Assault upon a victim in his or her own home. This was considered to be more serious than an attack on neutral ground

Headland: Small section of land left at the end of plowed strips for turning the plow

Heriot: Death duty paid to your lord e.g. your best animal

Hide: A varying unit of land, theoretically 120 acres of land used for tax assessment

House hire: Rent played by a serf for housing

Hue and cry: A system in which all within earshot would try to catch a suspected criminal.

Hundred: Administrative division of an English county, in theory, 100 hides.

Hut, sunken: The sunken hut was the smaller of the two basic peasant's housing. The longer being the longhouse. They were used as homes, workshops, storage rooms etc.

Infangenthef: The lord's right to prosecute a thief caught on one of his manor.

Leirwite: A fine against an unmarried woman for sexual misconduct

Longhouse: The other basic structure build by peasants. They tended to not be very sturdy and easy to be broken into.

Manor: The area containing all the land and property that belonged to a lord.

Merchet: Fee paid to his lord by a serf when his daughter marries.

Messor: A lesser official of the manor, assistant to the Reeve.

Messuge: A house and yard.

Mortuary: A death duty to the parish church on the death of a serf, usually his second best animal.

Multure: A portion of flour kept by a miller as payment for grinding the cereal.

Open-field system: This originates in the northwest corner of Europe and England. Its main feature is the nucleated agricultural communities.

Pannage: Fee paid by peasants to a lord for allowing their pigs to grace in a wooded area.

Pinfold: Lord's stockade for stray animals

Pledging: Legal device by which one peasant vouches for the conduct of another.

Quarter: A unit of measure, equal to eight bushels.

Reeve: Main manorial official under a bailiff, he is usually a serf.

Ring: A measuring unit equal to four bushels.

Seisin: the legal ownership of a property.

Selion: A narrow strip of plowable land reaching to several hundred yards long.

Serf: Manorial peasant with obligations including Merchet, Tallage and week-work.

Steward: The supervisor of a lord's manors and chief official of his estate.

Tallage: Tax collected annually from a serf by his lord.

Tally stick: A notched stick used by the Reeve for calculating a manor's deliveries, expenditures, productions etc.

Tithe: Payment to the church about one tenth of the agricultural produce.

Tithing: A unit of ten or twelve village men responsible for each other's behavior.

Toft: The yard of a house in a village, usually facing the street and containing pens and buildings for animals.

Tota villata: Term used for all the people in a village.

Village: A permanent organized farming community.

Villein: English term for a serf

Virgate: Unit of landing, ranging from eighteen to thirty-two acres.

Wardens of the autumn: Officials which are appointed by peasants to oversee harvest work.

Wardship: The guardianship right over a minor by a lord.

Week-work: The main obligatory labor of a serf.

Woodward: A manorial official in charge of his lord's wooded areas.