Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant and thank you for joining me for today's history lesson.

My job today is to help guide you through our history resources in the lesson.

And I'm gonna be working to make sure that by the end of our time together you can securely meet our lesson objective.

Welcome to today's lesson, which is part of our local history unit focusing on mediaeval Norwich.

In today's lesson, we'll be working on assessing the different experiences of life in mediaeval Norwich.

So we'll be focusing on the experiences of people from several different types of group in mediaeval Norwich and really considering the similarities and the differences between their experiences.

There are four key words that are gonna help us navigate our way through today's lesson.

Those are elite, freemen, literate and will.

An elite is the richest or most powerful group in a society.

Freemen are people with special rights in a city.

If you are literate, then you are able to read and write.

And people write a will to leave instructions about what should be done with their things once they die.

So today's lesson will be split into two parts and we are gonna begin by summarising information about the different types of people of mediaeval Norwich.

The people of mediaeval Norwich can be classed into different groups, and those groups might include: elites, merchants, churchmen, women, and the poor.

It's possible that we could think about other groups to classify similar people of mediaeval Norwich into.

But for the purposes of today's lesson, we are going to focus on these five groups.

And for each one of these groups, I'm gonna talk you through some of the key information about what characterise their experiences in mediaeval Norwich.

So let's begin by thinking about the elites of mediaeval Norwich.

In 1404, the city of Norwich received a charter, and this charter from the Crown gave elites more power over local government in Norwich.

It allowed the city and the elites of that city to elect a mayor.

Only freemen in the city could vote for the mayor.

This special right to be able to elect the city's mayor as well as other rights that came with being a freeman is part of what made them the elite of mediaeval Norwich.

The elites of Norwich were not just characterised by their special rights though, they also spent large amounts of money to show off their status so others would know that they were elites.

A really good example of this is the Norwich Guildhall, which was built in the early 15th century to celebrate the new charter that Norwich had received.

The Guildhall, which can be seen in the image on the screen, was the largest building of its type, anywhere in England outside of London.

And so that really showed off the fact that Norwich and its elites were of high status.

So let's just check that our understanding of elite experiences in mediaeval Norwich is really secure.

So I have a question I want you to answer.

Why did the Norwich freemen spend so much money on building the Guildhall? Was it to help increase trade in Norwich, to house the poor and homeless, or to show off their high status? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was C.

Buildings like the Norwich Guildhall were very expensive to construct, but their elaborate designs and their large size helped to show off the status of the elites who funded them.

So now we're ready to think about the experiences of a second group in mediaeval Norwich.

We're gonna turn our attention to merchants, now.

Merchants worked in a range of different industries, buying and selling goods in mediaeval Norwich.

The wool trade became increasingly important for trade in mediaeval Norwich so many of the wealthiest merchants were involved in this trade of wool.

Textile merchants became some of the wealthiest people in mediaeval Norwich, and this included merchants like Robert Toppes, who not only became mayor on four occasions in the 15th century, but Toppes was also so wealthy, he became the richest man to live in mediaeval Norwich and was able to spend so of his wealth on building Dragon Hall, a building so large that more than a thousand trees were needed to provide the timber for its construction.

An image of Dragon Hall can be seen on the screen.

So now we want to check our understanding of our new knowledge about merchants in mediaeval Norwich.

We have a statement on the screen that says, merchants were able to become part of the elite in mediaeval Norwich.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay well done to everybody who said that that statement was true.

Merchants were able to become part of the elite of mediaeval Norwich.

but we need to be able to justify that statement as well.

So two justifications are now visible on the screen.

One says, merchants made up most of the population of mediaeval Norwich.

Our over statement says, merchants were some of the wealthiest individuals in mediaeval Norwich.

Which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that.

And well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Merchants were some of the wealthiest individuals in mediaeval Norwich, and this is a big reason why merchants were able to become partly elite of the city.

If we remember the example of the merchant Robert Toppes, well, he was the richest man in the city in the 15th century and was also able to become mayor on four separate occasions showing us that interlinking between the merchant community and the elites of Norwich.

So now we're ready to think about the experiences of a third group, churchmen.

It's important we keep in mind that when we talk about churchmen, we're not only talking about males involved in a church such as priests and monks, but also about females such as nuns.

Churchmen were literate and well educated.

Many spent a lot of time each day reading and writing.

Norwich Cathedral was incredibly wealthy in the mediaeval period.

It earned roughly 2,200 pounds each year.

Monks and nuns provided charity, hospital care and education for the wider community in Norwich.

And churchmen like the Blackfriars were more popular than the Cathedral monks.

So I want us to check our understanding of the experiences of churchmen in Mediaeval Norwich.

We have a sentence on the screen, but one word in the sentence makes it incorrect.

Which word is it and what does it need to change to to correct our whole sentence? So the incorrect sentence reads, monks at the cathedral were were equally popular with people who lived in Norwich compared to churchmen, like the Blackfriars.

Which word is wrong? And what should we change it to? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay.

Well done to everybody who said the incorrect word was equally.

We want to replace that with less, so that our sentence would say: Monks at the cathedral were less popular with people who lived in Norwich compared to churchmen like the Blackfriars.

A big part of this was that the Blackfriars spent a lot more time in the community than the monks from Norwich Cathedral did.

So now we can think about the experiences of a fourth group of women in mediaeval Norwich.

Women worked in a range of industries, so as well as having domestic responsibilities, a lot of time women worked in the fishing industries, in the alcohol brewing industry, in cotton weaving, women could be found in all sorts of different jobs in the mediaeval city.

Women were also able to become freemen.

Although there were not many female freemen, there were still some.

There was no official restriction on them entering the city's elite in that way.

Some women were literate.

We know that some were able to read and write because we have sources that have been left behind by them.

But women faced many barriers that men didn't.

For example, there were three boys schools, but just one school for girls in mediaeval Norwich and women were banned from becoming mayor.

It helps if we can think about the experiences of one specific woman so that we understand a little bit more detail how some female lives could look in mediaeval Norwich.

We are gonna focus on Julian of Norwich, the woman who's shown in the statue in the image that's currently on your screen.

Julian of Norwich was born in the 14th century.

She was literate, and we know this because she wrote the book "Revelations of Divine Love" at the end of the 14th century.

She was respected as a religious authority because her book, "Revelations of Divine Love" was widely read and some people even travelled to Norwich to get religious advice from Julian.

This shows us that women could take on some important leadership roles.

So let's think about about the experiences of women in mediaeval Norwich and just check our understanding.

What two things does the life of Julian of Norwich tell us about women in mediaeval Norwich? Is it that some women became mayor, that some women were freemen, that some women were literate, or that some women were of religious importance? Remember, you need to select two of these as answers.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your responses.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the life of Julian of Norwich can tell us that some women were literate and that some women were of religious importance.

If we remember Julian of Norwich wrote the book, "Revelations of Divine Love" and that told people all about God and her experiences of his love.

Now, because of that book, some people travelled to Norwich just to meet Julian to get her advice.

That's what made her of religious importance.

So really well done for your work on that task.

And finally, let's think about our fifth group in mediaeval Norwich, the poor.

Many poor people in mediaeval Orange lived on just a penny per day.

Charity was really important for many of the poor.

Living on so little money, it was important that they could get food, clothing, and sometimes other help from others free of charge.

It was difficult for the poor to become freemen.

This is because there were extra steps in place to become freemen, such as paying a membership fee to join.

That meant many poor people simply couldn't afford it.

Few poor people were literate in mediaeval Norwich.

Again, the problem here was their money.

They often just couldn't afford the costs of providing and receiving an education.

And the poor violently challenged the social order in Norwich in 1381, taking part in the peasants revolt and attacking many local freeman, killing two local leaders in the process.

Considering what we've heard about the experiences of the poor, I want you to answer this question.

We have a statement that says, the poor in Norwich always accepted to social order.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

The poor in Norwich did not always accept the social order, but we need to be able to justify our answer.

So two justifications have appeared on the screen.

The first says that poor rebels attacked elites and their property in 1381.

The second says that poor people did not vote for the elites in elections.

Which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done then to everybody who said that the first justification was the correct one.

We know that the poor in Norwich did not always accept the social order because in 1381, poor rebels attacked elites and their property in the city.

Thinking about the second justification we were shown, well, poor people wouldn't have been able to vote for elites in elections anyway because only freemen could vote in elections.

And we know that it was very hard for the poor to become freemen in the first place.

So now we're ready to put all of our knowledge about the people of Norwich into practise.

I want you to study the statements shown in the table about different groups living in Norwich.

And I want you to assess whether each statement is true or false.

So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to check all of your answers.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task.

I asked you to assess whether each statement in the table was true or false.

So for our first statement, all adults in mediaeval Norwich could become mayor, well, that was false.

We know that to become mayor, you had to be both a freeman and male.

Our second statement said that merchants like Robert Toppes were elected mayor.

That's true.

We've heard that Robert Toppes became mayor on four occasions.

Our third statement said, few nuns and monks were literate.

Well, that statement was false.

We know that churchmen often spent a lot of their days reading and writing.

Our fourth statement said, women could not become freemen.

Well, that statement is also false.

There was no direct ban on women becoming freemen.

And some were able to though this didn't happen very often.

And our final statement said, many poor workers earned a penny per day.

And that statement was true.

It was not a lot of money at all, and that's part of the reason why many of the poor were reliant on charity to help 'em survive.

So really well done for all your hard work on that task, especially if you assessed each statement correctly.

So now we're ready to move on to the second and final part of today's lesson.

Well, we are gonna are gonna think about the similarities and differences between our five different groups in mediaeval Norwich.

Historians are interested in similarity and difference, especially between the experiences of different social groups.

There were both differences and similarities between the lives of people from Norwich's different social groups.

There were even differences between the lives of people from the same social group.

We need to be thinking about both of these elements.

When we are doing comparisons, we need to think about similarities and differences between groups and similarities and differences between people from the same social groups.

The following areas can help us to analyse similarities and differences between people's lives.

If we think about wealth, power, charity and education, all of those things can help us to compare the experiences of different people.

So if we start by thinking about wealth, Norwich Cathedral earned roughly 2,200 pounds per year in the mediaeval period of churchmen, such as the Blackfriars relied on charity.

Textile merchants became some of the richest people in the city.

Robert Toppes paid 20 pounds just in taxes in 1451, which means he would've been earning far more money than that every year.

And poor workers earned roughly one penny per day and less than two pounds per year.

So which statement is accurate? Is it that merchants like Robert Toppes paid more in tax than the poor earned in total each year, that merchants like Robert Toppes paid less in tax than the port earned in total each year or that merchants like Robert Toppes paid more in tax than Norwich Cathedral earned each year? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the correct answer was A.

Merchants like Robert Toppes paid more in tax than the poor earned in total each year.

In the 1450s, Robert Toppes was paying over 20 pounds in tax every year, whereas most poor workers in Norwich were earning less than two pounds each year.

So that shows there's a big difference in wealth between some of our groups.

So let's think about power.

Freemen could vote for and become mayor in mediaeval Norwich.

Most poor people were unable to become freemen.

Some women were freemen, but weren't allowed to become mayor.

And many freemen were merchants.

Many merchants became mayor after 1404, including Robert Toppes, who we've seen became mayor on four occasions.

So thinking about what we've just heard about power in mediaeval Norwich starting with the most powerful, I want you to rank the following free types of people in mediaeval Norwich according to how much power they had.

So we are gonna think about female freemen, male freemen and poor males.

I want you to arrange the letters A to C to indicate your answer.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to check your answers.

So I asked you to rank free types of people in mediaeval Norwich according to how much power they had.

And your answer should have looked like this, B, A, and then C, which would look like saying male freemen had the most power in mediaeval Norwich outta these free groups.

They were able to become and elect mayors for the city.

Female freemen would've been the next most powerful.

They couldn't become mayor, but they could still elect them.

And finally, poor males would've been the least powerful of these three groups because without being freemen, they had no right to either run the city as mayor nor to vote in the elections for who became mayor.

So really well done for all your hard work on that task, especially if you arranged each of the free groups correctly.

If we think about education in mediaeval Norwich, then we'll be able to remember that monks and nuns were literate.

They were able to read and write and often taught others how to do the same.

Some women like Julian of Norwich were literate.

We know that Julian of Norwich was able to write the book "Revelations of Divine Love".

There were free church-run schools for boys, whereas there is just one for girls, which tells us there was far more opportunity for boys to receive an education than for girls.

And more men were literate than women.

Something that's unsurprising when we think about what we've heard about the amount of schools available in mediaeval Norwich.

And most poor people were not literate.

A lot of this was because of the costs of receiving an education and that acted as a barrier to many poor people becoming literate.

So let's check our understanding of education in mediaeval Norwich.

We have a statement that says: All women had similar levels of literacy.

Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

But we need to be able to justify our response.

So two justifications are now visible.

The first says that nuns and rich women were often literate, but many of the women weren't.

And the second says that female freemen were always literate, but almost no other women were.

Which one of those justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that the first justification was our correct one.

Nuns and rich women were often literate but many other women weren't.

This is because women from poorer backgrounds often weren't able to afford education.

And even if they were, there were few opportunities to receive that education anyway as there was just one school for girls in the city.

And let's try another question.

Which statement about education is accurate? That women and the poor had no opportunities to gain an education in mediaeval Norwich that women and the poor had limited opportunities to gain an education in mediaeval Norwich, or that women and the poor had lots of opportunities to gain an education in mediaeval Norwich.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct answer was B.

Women and the poor had some but limited opportunities to gain an education in mediaeval Norwich.

This is because there was only one school for girls.

So they had less opportunity than boys who had three schools and that for the poor, well, their big problem was paying for and affording the education that was available that restricted how many could become literate.

And finally, to help us compare our groups, we can think about charity.

Churchmen and nuns provided most of the charity in Norwich.

Elites and merchants often left money to charity in their wills.

Women as well as men provided donations to charity.

And most charity went to help support the poor.

So let's make sure that our understanding is really secure.

Which statement about charity in mediaeval Norwich is correct? That many elites left money for charity in their wills, that only churchmen provided charity or that women were never able to give to charity.

Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the correct statement was A, that many elites left money for charity in their wills.

It was not something that only churchmen did, and these elites included men and women who donated to charity.

So now we're ready to put all of our knowledge into practise.

And for this practise task, I'm actually gonna ask you two questions.

If we begin by focusing on question one, I want you to describe one similarity between merchants and churchmen in mediaeval Norwich.

Your answer should include a specific example for both groups that help show how they were similar.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done for your hard work on that task.

So for question one, I asked you to describe one similarity between merchants and churchmen in mediaeval Norwich.

And your answer may have included that merchants and churchmen could both be very wealthy in mediaeval Norwich.

Norwich Cathedral earned 2,200 pounds per year and many merchants became very wealthy from trading textiles.

So well done if your answer looks something like that model we've just seen.

And now we can move on to question two.

We have a statement that says, people in mediaeval Norwich live very similar lives to one another.

Based on what you've learned about lives in mediaeval Norwich, is this statement accurate? And I want you to explain your answer.

So use the following sentence starters.

The statement is or is not accurate and I can tell this because.

So pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay.

Some great work on that task.

We had the statement that said people in mediaeval Norwich lived very similar lives to one another.

And I asked you based on what we've learned, is this statement accurate? So your answer may have included The statement is not accurate because there were big differences between the power of different groups in Norwich.

Many merchants such as Robert Toppes became very powerful by being elected mayor, but women were banned from becoming mayor.

Alternatively, your answer may also have said the statement is not accurate because there were big differences between the wealth of different groups in Norwich, monks at Norwich Cathedral earned roughly 2,200 pounds each year.

Whereas other churchmen like the Blackfriars, earned no money and relied upon charity.

So really well done if your model was structured similarly to one of those two that we've seen so far.

It's possible you may have used some examples that differed from the ones that I've provided.

So now we are in a good position to summarise our learning for today's lesson.

We've seen that historians are interested in the similarities and differences between the experiences of different groups.

Elite freemen controlled the government of Norwich after 1404.

Women and the poor had less opportunity to gain power and education than men in mediaeval Norwich.

Merchants and the church were very wealthy and elites and churchmen provided a lot of charity to help the poor who earned much less than them.

So thank you very much for all of your hard work on this topic.

It's been an absolute pleasure to work through this study of lives in mediaeval Norwich with yourself, and I look forward to seeing you again in future.