HIS 101
Feudalism Group Project

Heidelberg castle ruins, Heidelberg, Germany. The numerous cases of surviving castles and fortifications, such as this one, are clear indications of the feudal age in Europe. Photo credit Maria Bates

After reading the short notes on feudalism and reviewing the documents on feudalism, answer the following question (You may use any sources that you locate.):

Identify and explain some of the key features/characteristics of European feudalism in the Middle Ages.

Here are some of the questions that you should consider as part of your assignment, but it is not required that you specifically answer these; it is most important that you really focus on the above assignment question. Here are other points that you might consider touching on in your group work:

• In your group project, you should cite primary sources, i.e., surviving feudal documents, as much as possible.
• It is best to focus on three or four characteristics, no more than that, so that you can cover each topic in some depth. One important feature of feudalism that you will want to treat is the relationship between lord and vassal.
• Why did feudalism develop after the fall of the Roman empire?
• How did the practice of feudalism vary across Europe?
• Did the characteristics of feudalism change over time?
• Yes, feudalism is complicated, but it is important to understand the feudal system as many scholars have seen feudalism as an important prerequisite for the development of western democracy.
• Professor Evans notes that when he teaches the HIS 101 on campus, he always shows the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) because it has some of the best satirical (yet accurate) portrayals of some aspects of life in medieval England, for example, the trial by ordeal (weight of a duck scene), the French castle in England (remember William the Conqueror and his army were "Frenchmen"), the peasants mucking about in the muck (wondering how Arthur had become their king) and, of course, the quest for the Holy Grail.

As you read feudal documents, you will come across some terms that you are probably unfamiliar with. As a historian, that happens all the time, and that is why we have dictionaries, encyclopedias and other reference materials. You will find these three websites helpful for your work on this assignment.

• Feudal Terminology
• Feudal, Medieval and Castle Terms
• Glossary of Feudal Terms

As you study feudal sources, you might be surprised at how orderly medieval life was structured. There were clear legal and social obligations for all elements of the population. Here are two features that you might come across in feudal documents:

• Justice was administered regularly and frequently at the local level; usually by the nobles who lived in the area.
• Most court disputes involved property ownership.

For this assignment, you will work as a group of 3, 4 or 5 students. You will use a group discussion to get started, and once started, you will use any other communication tools that you find useful to complete your assignment. You do not have much time; so get started asap so that you can meet all of the specific deadlines described below.

You have two options for completing this assignment:

• a three-page paper (no longer than that), complete with footnotes (100 points). You will not need images, but you will need citations of quoted evidence. You do not need a works cited page. You should use as many sources as you can in the paper, which should:
  • be double-spaced with one-inch margins, font size 10 or 12
  • contain an introduction paragraph that directly responds to the assigned question and that indicates the specific points to follow in the group's paper
  • use direct, quoted material to support your points (footnote the sources)
  • contain a last, conclusion paragraph
  • consider sending a draft of your assignment to your instructor for feedback before submitting the final assignment
  • Remember, you are writing this paper as if you were going to publish it online or in a journal, so you will want to do the best possible work here.
  • It is usually pretty easy to collaborate on the paper using Google Drive!
• a narrated, online presentation (125 points) that
  • is ten to eleven minutes in length
  • includes at least 10 steps/slides/screens
  • has an introduction, conclusion and a works cited page
  • Remember, your narrated presentation must appear on the web and thus be viewable by everyone who finds it. Make sure that you do something that you are proud to have out there.
  • If you choose to work with Powerpoint or Slides, then you must make a movie of your presentation and upload it to YouTube so that it can be viewed publicly.

I have tried to keep these instructions short and clear but also giving you some flexibility.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Let's Get Started!

You have one week to finish; so you need to get organized and work fast to complete this project on time. It is up to you to determine how you will communicate, here are just some ideas that I have:

• Canvas group discussion (You should post required assignment materials here and have some initial exchanges on your group discussion board, but it is OK with me if you choose not to rely on this for all of your communication since it is pretty cumbersome.)
• Student email (solid choice)
• Google drive through student email (This is a good way to collaborate on a document.)
• Google Groups or Hangouts (also through student email)--students have had success using Hangout in connection with Google Drive
• Any other kind of messenger or social media or Skype (You are all much better at knowing what sort of messaging apps are available for this.)

Click on the People link in the course menu in Canvas, and then click on the groups tab. Here you will have access to your group's message board. If you don't see that you have access to any group, please contact your instructor immediately. It is important you do use your group discussion to establish initial contact and to post the contract and progress report so that I can offer feedback to your work.

Note: I do encourage students to try out Google Drive, which is accessible through your student email, and which you can use as a group to all work on a document at the same time. See the NVCC page on Google Apps. You can also check out this video, Creating Documents in Google Drive Tutorial 2014.

There are several steps that are part of this assignment:

• Your check-in to the group
• Group contract
• Group progress report
• Group assignment
• Your peer evaluation of the group

Your group check-in

Every group member is required to check in to the group and confirm to your instructor that you are in contact with your group. Failure to do check-in by the assigned date will result in a grade penalty.

The group contract (posted by a group member to your group discussion by midnight Wednesday)

One of the group members should post a group contract on the group discussion. The contract should include the following information:

1. The contract is not graded but is required. No contract = no group project grade.
2. Decide how you will communicate.  Will it be solely by group discussion, by email, phone, messenger, social media, etc? You can use a variety of these, and you can change this later if necessary.
3. Decide how and when you will all be able to communicate with each other.
4. List the project version that you will be doing and assign a role to each group member. Who will email the instructor for help if needed? Who will post items to the group discussion boards?  Who will edit materials? Who will find the multimedia to include? You can make changes later if needed.
5. It is important that by this point in time that I see that everyone has checked in on your group message board. You may end up using different forms of communication, but I need to see that initial contact has taken place.

The progress report (posted by a group member to your group discussion by midnight Friday)

One of the group members should post a progress report on the group discussion. The report should include the following information:

• Again, note the group project type and topic that you are doing.
• A list of group members and the task/job for each
• What has been completed and what remains to be done
• A rough outline of the project (great time so have a draft for feedback)
• Any problems that you are having

I am available to offer feedback on your group work before you submit. Please make sure to email me a draft of your project.

Group project assignment (posted by the group leader in the discussion by midnight Sunday)

The group leader should submit the project (paper or presentation URL), using the reply to discussion prompt in Canvas.

Your peer evaluation assignment (submitted by each group member in Canvas by midnight Sunday)

Every group member is required to evaluate the work of their colleagues in the group at the end of the project. Grade each group member on a scale of 0 (no work done) to 10 (fully participated in the group project). Be fair and accurate in your assessment of your collaborators, and try to be specific about what exactly each group member did. If your group project earns 100 points and your group mates have each given you an evaluation of "10," then you will receive the full 100 points. However if your group mates gave you an evaluation of "8," then your individual grade will be 80% of 100 = 80. Submit your peer evaluations on Canvas. Failure to do this by the assigned date will result in a grade penalty.

Again, let me repeat.  Here are some ways to communicate as a group:

• Canvas group discussion
• Student email
• Google drive (through student email)
• Google Groups of Hangouts (through student email)--students have had success using Hangout in connection with Google Drive
• Any other kind of messenger or social media or Skype

Please take a moment to review Charlie's History Writing Center for specific information on the writing requirements for the assignments in the course. Please check this short explanation of what it means to cite historical evidence.

Important, Questions, Confusion

If you have questions or are confused at any time, please contact your instructor.

Group Assignment Warning

• This assignment must be completed to pass the course. (You have to complete all required assignments to pass the course.)
• This assignment must be submitted as a group assignment. (Individual submissions are not accepted.)
• This assignment cannot be submitted late.
• No excuses accepted that you could not communicate with your group. If some problems do arise, please contact your instructor BEFORE the progress report is due.

Famous quote, from an anonymous professor, that you should remember: There is no such thing as a bad group.