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Alright, no great Kingdom can exist without
the King and the Queen. Today’s King and
Queen are… (Drum roll please)
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You feel pretty proud of yourselves King and
Queen because you believe in the divine right
of kings –which causes you to think that God
selected you and gives you the right to rule
and give orders. Here’s your Kingdom.

Your kingdom is seriously under attack by
three main groups that are getting into your
business in western Europe – Muslims
advancing from the Near East and north
Africa, the Magyars from central Asia, and
the Viking sweeping down from present day
Norway and Denmark.

This time it’s the Vikings that are attacking.
Several villagers who try to resist are killed.
Others seized. You are smart though. You
realize your people need to be protected and
have their property cared for in return for
their service to you. You develop a system
called Feudalism.

The Kingdom can’t stand up to another
attack from the Vikings. King and Queen, you
realize that you need someone to have your
back. You need to find some lords to find you
some knights (which will later find soldiers to
defend your kingdom). To win their loyalty
you need to give them grants of land called
fiefs.

King and Queen, quickly decide who your two
lords will be. Reward them with 6 fiefs please
(aka – Candy).

Lords and Ladies. Even though you were
considered part of the nobility, your lives
aren’t always easy. Life can be rather dull in
your manor, especially when the jesters are
on vacation to South Padre Island. The news
gets worse when you hear that they have just
found a new outbreak of fleas and lice in your
newest clothes.

Lords, you have heard that the Vikings are
coming back to town for the next “royal
rumble.” You need to protect the Kingdom.
Time to select three knights that you think
will show true chivalry (the knight’s code of
ideal behavior, loyalty, and respect for
women). Reward them with three fiefs.

Knights, you have been selected for your
courageousness. It is expected that you will
be loyal to your church and lord, to be fair
and just, and to protect the poor.


Knights, there is a lot of work involved being
a knight, you need help. Select a squire to
clean your armor (which cost the equivalent
of a modern day BMW), care for your horse,
and to serve you your meals after a hard day
of defending the Kingdom.
Knights, select a squire and give him one fief.

Squire, in return for your hard work, loyalty,
and devotion, you will learn how to become a
warrior. Your knight will show you how to use
a sword, spear, battle-axe and mace.

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All the rest of the class put your hands up.
CONGRATULATIONS, you are the peasants!
You aren’t really apart of the feudal
relationship, but support the structure of
feudalism by working the land.
Knights, please hand out the blank sheets of
paper to the peasants.

In order to do your fair share peasants, please
write the numbers from 1 – 100 on a piece of
paper in front of you. Knights and Lords,
please supervise the process (nicely!) to make
sure they are doing it correctly (sadly, many
of the peasants haven’t been educated and
might make errors)!
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Peasants, please rip your paper into fours.
Two pieces will represent the crops you
harvested, while the other two will represent
the money you have made by selling the
crops. Sadly, you are not “free peasants” and
can’t keep most of your crops or the money.
Lords, please collect three sheets from each
of the peasants.
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
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Lords, please keep half of the taxes and crops
(sheets) you have collected. The rest goes to
the King and Queen.
King and Queen, laugh really sinisterly
because life is awesome for those that wear
the crown.
Peasant, please give a slow painful sob
because your life will never be easy working
for the “man.”

Your life is still probably better than this cute
little mouse trapped in a cup. Half empty or
half full???