Trifles from British History

15 Points Per Correct Answer - No time limit  

1. We all know that at a given moment in Medieval History, the Knights Templars were abolished. But do we also know who their possessions went to? the Knights Hospitaller the Black Friars or Dominicans the Grey Friars or Franciscans the poor of London

2. Which of these was not a form of torture used to obtain a confession, but a punishment for petty crime, begging, vagrancy and breach of discipline in the army and navy? whipping pressing people with heavy weights on their chest stretching people on a rack thumb-screwing

3. In the Middle Ages what was meant by saying that the weak "go to the wall" during a church service? to be given food and a crust of bread to sit on a stone bench to have their feet washed by the local priest to take a nap

4. In the Middle Ages legal suits between knights could be decided by combat. For other categories of people "fire" or "water" were the methods. To which of these categories did the ordeal of fire typically apply? women villains freemen clerics

5. From which of these plants did medieval textile workers obtain a red dye? madder weld woad saffron

6. Worsted is a type of cloth, using long wools, that was originally produced in Worstead, Norfolk. True False

7. In which of these novels by Thomas Hardy does there occur an example of the ancient practice of "wife-selling"? Under the Greenwood Tree The Mayor of Casterbridge The Trumpet Major Far From the Madding Crowd

8. Apart from "blacksmiths" there also were "whitesmiths" in the Middle Ages. What did that name refer to? the lay brothers of the Cistercian abbeys who wore white aprons the makers of white crockery jewellers workers in tin

9. Which of these products belonged to the category of "great" tithes ? non-cereal crops livestock wool hay

10. Wergild or "man-money" was the annual money payment a knight had to pay per soldier if he preferred to commute his duty of military service into a financial contribution to his lord's treasury. True False