Experience 4: “Who Art Thou?”
A Game about Medieval Occupations and Social Class 

Pre-production preparations for students’ learning continue with a game that helps students to define the character options that they will develop for their final festival presentation. Students are introduced to the feudal and class systems that so influenced people’s lives in the Middle Ages. Knowing how people ranked in medieval society provides important clues as to how people lived, their fears and hopes, the challenges they faced, what they looked like and even how they moved. (For example, a noble person would likely have divergent aspirations in life from a peasant farmer and would dress, walk and act quite differently.) This kind of information assists students in thinking about their historical character choices for their festival performances. 

Mental Joust: How was society organized in the Middle Ages? What is the feudal system? How is the feudal system similar or different from our democracy today? What medieval role do I want to play? Why is this important in our pre-production preparations?

Time: 30 minutes

Materials: cardstock, scissors, thick felt-tip pen, masking tape, chalk and chalkboard

Worthy Words: feudal system, social class 

Before the game begins: 

1. Using cardstock, construct a large triangle out of nine smaller triangles. (See diagram.) 
2. With a broad felt-tip marker, write an occupation in large letters on each triangle. Five triangles should have occupations from the lowest class (people who worked), three triangles should have occupations from the middle class (people who fought) and one triangle should list an occupation from the highest class (people who prayed).

How to play “Who Art Thou?”

1. Eastern European society during the Middle Ages had three distinct classes. Who do you suppose was at the top? Who was at the bottom? Who was in the middle? There were many more people at the bottom than the top. What kept the classes in place was the feudal system. Pledging your loyalty to your lord, count, duke or king meant you had to serve them by giving up part of your crop, money or even your life if war broke out — and that happened a lot during the Middle Ages!
2. Tape a triangle to a volunteer’s back without showing the student what is written on it. 
3. The class asks, “Who art thou?” The student turns around so the rest of the class can see what is printed on the triangle. 
4. The student asks the class a series of yes or no questions and tries to guess what occupation he or she represents. The class cannot give clues, but can only answer with yes or no.
5. When the student correctly guesses who he is, the student removes the triangle from his back and places it in the appropriate social level on the large triangle template. 
6. The game is repeated until the large triangle is completed. 

1. Ask students to write down three things they learned about people from the Middle Ages and their occupations in the second half of their Book of Days under “Challenges.” 
2. Ask each student to write down three medieval character choices, one from each social level, in their Book of Days under “Challenges.” 
3. The teacher reviews each student’s choices as a means of assessing his or her understanding of the medieval social system and encourages development of one of the three. Doing this will help ensure a broad representation of characters within the classroom. Consideration may be given to students who wish to work in small groups for their final performance.

Past and Present:
Which class from the Middle Ages has the most people in it? Why do you suppose the lowest level has so many people and the top level has so few? In a feudal system people at the top were thought to be more important than the individuals at the bottom. Whatever the king or Church leaders said, everyone had to obey! How is this similar or different from our democracy?

Many family names have come from the Middle Ages. In medieval times, a man could be known by his trade (John the miller), by his relationship to others (David, Will’s son), or by a special characteristic (James the hunter). Do you have a medieval name? As you think about some medieval characters you may want to play, what name suits you best?

References and Resources:

Cairns, Trevor. The Middle Ages. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications. 1975.

Hart, Avery and Paul Mantell. Knights and Castles: 50 Hands-on Activities to Experience the Middle Ages. Charlette, VT: Williamson Publishing. 1998.

Langley, Andrew. Medieval Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

Wright, Sylvia. The Age of Chivalry: English Society 1200-1400. New York: Warwick Press, 1988