History · Unit 8

The Middle Ages

Castles, knights and medieval life

The medieval period gets called the Dark Ages by people who mean that European written records thin out for a while. It was not dark for the Islamic world, for China, or for the people living through it.

The unit covers feudalism as a way of organising land and obligation, the Church as the period's dominant institution, castles and knights as military technology rather than romance, and the Black Death - which killed a third of Europe and permanently changed what a surviving worker's labour was worth.

This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 3. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 20
Questions: 120
Difficulty: 1-3

What this unit covers

Feudalism
The Medieval Church
Knights and Castles
The Black Death
Medieval Life

Where this fits

Picks up where Ancient Rome ends. The Islamic Golden Age is happening at the same time and is worth reading alongside it.

Where people slip

Feudalism was never a tidy pyramid. It is a modern label applied to a messy set of local arrangements that varied enormously by region and century.

How the unit is structured

The Middle Ages runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 3 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 20 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 120 in the unit altogether.

Feudalism

Fill the blankLevel 1
1. In the feudal system, a lord gave ____ to his knights in return for their loyalty and military service.
- landcorrect
- gold coins
- ships
- books
Lords rewarded knights with grants of land, and in return the knights promised loyalty and fought for their lord.
Match the pairsLevel 1
2. Match each rank in the feudal system with its role.
Answer: King = Owned all the land; Baron = Held land from the king; Knight = Fought for his lord; Peasant = Worked in the fields
Each level of the feudal system had its own place: the king owned the land, barons held it, knights fought, and peasants farmed.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
3. In the feudal system, who sat at the very top and, in theory, owned all the land in the kingdom?
- The kingcorrect
- A knight
- A peasant
- A merchant
Under feudalism the king was at the top and was said to own all the land, which he shared out in return for loyalty.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
4. Which of these were duties of peasants and serfs on a medieval manor? Select all that apply.
- Farming the lord's fieldscorrect
- Paying rent with crops or workcorrect
- Helping bring in the harvestcorrect
- Leading the king's army
Peasants farmed the lord's fields, paid rent in crops or labour, and helped at harvest, but they did not command the king's army.
Fact or fibLevel 2
5. A vassal knelt and swore an oath of loyalty, called homage, to his lord.
Answer: True
In the ceremony of homage, a vassal knelt before his lord and promised loyalty and service in exchange for land and protection.
Guess the numberLevel 2
6. In what year did rebellious barons force King John of England to seal Magna Carta at Runnymede?
Answer: 1215 CE
Magna Carta was sealed in 1215 after baronial rebellion against King John's heavy taxes and arbitrary justice.

Knights and Castles

Build the sentenceLevel 1
7. Build the sentence about a knight's code of honour.
Answer: Knights followed the code of chivalry
Knights were expected to follow the code of chivalry, which set out how an honourable knight should behave.
Fill the blankLevel 1
8. A wide, water-filled ditch dug around a castle to make attack harder is called a ____.
- moatcorrect
- keep
- guild
- tithe
A moat was a water-filled ditch around a castle that made it difficult for enemies to reach or dig under the walls.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
9. Which of these were ideals promoted by the medieval code of chivalry? Select all that apply.
- Courage in battlecorrect
- Loyalty to one's lordcorrect
- Courtesy and protection of the weakcorrect
- Earning as much money as possible from trade
Chivalry combined martial courage with loyalty, honour and courtesy, even though knights often fell short of these ideals in practice.
Guess the numberLevel 2
10. In what year did the Battle of Hastings take place, when a Norman army defeated the English?
Answer: 1066 CE
At the Battle of Hastings in 1066, the Norman army defeated King Harold's English forces, changing the course of English history.
Match the pairsLevel 2
11. Match each part of a castle with what it did.
Answer: Moat = Water-filled defensive ditch; Keep = Strong central tower; Drawbridge = Bridge that could be raised; Portcullis = Heavy iron gate that dropped down
Castles combined defences: a moat as a ditch, a strong keep, a drawbridge that lifted, and a portcullis gate that dropped down.
Fact or fibLevel 3
12. In reality, some knights set aside chivalric ideals and captured wealthy opponents for ransom or looted towns for personal profit.
Answer: True
Taking prisoners for ransom and plundering were common, showing the gap between the chivalric ideal and the reality of medieval warfare.

Medieval Life

Match the pairsLevel 1
13. Match each medieval craftworker with what they made.
Answer: Blacksmith = Iron tools; Baker = Bread; Weaver = Cloth; Cooper = Barrels
Medieval crafts were specialised: a blacksmith made iron tools, a baker made bread, a weaver made cloth, and a cooper made barrels.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
14. Which of these foods might a medieval European peasant have commonly eaten? Select all that apply.
- Breadcorrect
- Pottage, a thick vegetable stew
- Vegetables from their gardencorrect
- Chocolate
Peasants ate bread, thick vegetable stew called pottage, and vegetables from their gardens; chocolate came from the Americas only much later.
Fact or fibLevel 2
15. Around the year 1000, the Norse explorer Leif Erikson is believed to have reached North America, long before Columbus.
Answer: True
Norse sagas and the archaeological site at L'Anse aux Meadows in Canada suggest Leif Erikson reached North America, which the Norse called Vinland, around 1000.
Build the sentenceLevel 3
16. Build the medieval saying meaning that a serf who lived unclaimed in a town for a year and a day could become free.
Answer: town air makes you free
The saying 'town air makes you free' reflected the rule that a runaway serf who lived in a chartered town for a year and a day gained their freedom.
Fill the blankLevel 3
17. Many growing medieval towns bought a royal ____ that granted them the right to govern themselves and hold markets.
- chartercorrect
- tithe
- fief
- manor
A town charter, often purchased from the king or a lord, gave townspeople self-government and trading privileges, encouraging urban growth.
Guess the numberLevel 3
18. In what year did the Ottoman Turks capture Constantinople, bringing the Byzantine Empire to an end?
Answer: 1453 CE
Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, an event often used to mark the end of the Middle Ages in some regions.

The Black Death

Fact or fibLevel 1
19. The Black Death was spread mainly by fleas that lived on rats.
Answer: True
The plague spread largely through fleas carried by rats, which travelled along trade routes and into towns.
Fill the blankLevel 1
20. The Black Death is thought to have killed about one ____ of all the people in Europe.
- thirdcorrect
- tenth
- hundredth
- half
Historians estimate the Black Death killed roughly a third of Europe's population.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
21. The Black Death was a deadly outbreak of which disease?
- The bubonic plaguecorrect
- Smallpox
- Malaria
- Measles
The Black Death was an outbreak of the bubonic plague that swept across Europe in the 1300s.
Guess the numberLevel 2
22. In about which year did the Black Death reach and begin spreading across Europe?
Answer: 1347 CE
The Black Death arrived in Europe around 1347 and spread rapidly over the following years.
Odd one outLevel 2
23. Three of these helped the Black Death spread. Which one is the odd one out?
- The printing presscorrect
- Fleas on rats
- Trading ships
- Crowded towns
The printing press had nothing to do with spreading the plague, unlike fleas on rats, trading ships, and crowded towns.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
24. Which of these were longer-term effects of the Black Death in Europe? Select all that apply.
- A gradual decline of serfdom in many areascorrect
- Higher wages and more mobility for surviving labourerscorrect
- Social unrest such as peasant revoltscorrect
- An immediate rise in Europe's total population
By killing so many workers, the plague weakened serfdom, raised wages and contributed to social unrest across Europe.

The Medieval Church

Fill the blankLevel 1
25. Monks lived, prayed and worked together in religious communities called ____.
- monasteriescorrect
- castles
- guilds
- markets
Monasteries were communities where monks lived a life of prayer, work and study.
Picture questionLevel 1
26. ⛪ This is a very large and grand church, often the main church of a city and led by a bishop. What is it called?
- A cathedralcorrect
- A castle
- A manor house
- A guildhall
A cathedral was a large, important church that served as the seat of a bishop.
Build the sentenceLevel 2
27. Build the sentence describing the Reconquista.
Answer: Christian kingdoms slowly reconquered Muslim Spain
Over several centuries, Christian kingdoms slowly reconquered Muslim-ruled Spain in the process called the Reconquista.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
28. What did medieval monks often do in their monasteries? Select all that apply.
- Copy and decorate books by handcorrect
- Pray several times a daycorrect
- Care for the sick and poorcorrect
- Lead armies into battle
Monks copied and decorated books by hand, prayed at set times each day, and cared for the sick and poor.
Guess the numberLevel 2
29. In what year was Archbishop Thomas Becket killed in Canterbury Cathedral?
Answer: 1170 CE
Becket was murdered in 1170; he was soon declared a saint and his shrine became a major pilgrimage destination.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
30. A tithe was a payment people gave to the Church. Roughly how much was it?
- About one tenth of what they producedcorrect
- Half of their land
- All of their money
- Nothing at all
A tithe was about one tenth of a person's produce or income, given to support the Church.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 17 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Listen and choose
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Picture question
Put in order
Sequence recall
Sort into groups
Spell it
Tap the pairs
True or false
Type the answer

Practise The Middle Ages

120 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

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Read about The Middle Ages

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

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