EVALUATING EVIDENCE
Diary 1
It has been over a year since the disaster and several days since the Duke de Christopher held
court. The Duke ruled in favor of my Lord Thomas. It will be a hard time. My Lord requires
double rental fees. We of the village have been working extra hard since last year's crop
failure: the fields had been destroyed in a battle pursued upon my Lord by the Count de
Paul. . .The siege upon the castle lasted many weeks and all in the manor house were near
starvation. . .Several of the village men discovered the enemy breaking into the castle through
the storage cellar. . .The siege was long and costly and many of the village men were killed,
especially from the stones hurled over the wall. . .upon our liberation the Count released the
village from all crop rental until this next year. . . The crop was so great that my Lord has
decided to double his fees. . .
Diary 2
Today was most humiliating. . .while the Duke was making his annual visit and we banqueted
before tomorrow's tournament, a group of rebellious villeins sought a boon of him to intercede
in their behalf. I was forced to explain. . .During battle a group of disloyal villeins were
caught allowing entry to men of Count de Paul through the moat tunnel beneath the house. They
were forthwith disposed of. . .At that time I set this year's rental at double. No punishment
was set upon the disloyal villeins, as I did not wish to cause an unnecessary trouble in the
village. . .
QUESTIONS:
A. What class of medieval person wrote each of the above diaries?
| Diary 1 |
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Diary 2 |
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B. From the evidence as offered in the above documents, how would you write the facts of
history?
- Mark each statement below according to the following:
- F - if it is probably a fact
- O - if it is opinion or still open-to-question
- N - if it is not related to the above documents
____1. There was a battle.
____2. Some villeins were disloyal.
____3. Rental fees were doubled.
____4. The villeins were in a rebellious mood.
____5. The rental fees were doubled immediately after the siege.
____6. The Duke heard both sides in the argument.
____7. Lord Thomas is greedy.
____8. Enemy men were let into the castle by villeins.
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