What did kings do in the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

Originally, the kings of the Germanic tribes of late antiquity had three main jobs:

• to act as the highest judge,
• to act as the highest priest, and
• to act as the supreme military commander.

Later on, they became Christian and relegated religious authority to the Church. Though they continued to make laws, they tended to act less as judges. The better kings tried to improve the well being of their countries and their subjects.

In general, the role of kings was to rule their lands , lead the fight to defend them, and protect and support their vassals.

Answer 2

AnswerThey were the rulers of the people who lived in the kingdom. They would build armies and make the laws. AnswerKings originally were the only owners of land. They awarded rights to the land to members of their nobility in exchange for allegiance and military support. The members of the nobility did very much the same sort of thing with lower ranking members of the nobility. The feudal pyramid formed this way went all the way down to the serfs, whose rights were limited to the rights to live on land, to farm it, and to be protected. In exchange for this, the serfs gave a part of their production to the lords over them.

Answer 3

Usually they made long working days, as they were the active head of their country's Government and were expected to make (or at least be actively involved in) all major policy decisions. They also were commander-in-chief of their countries' army and were expected to take the field themselves if one of the many wars of the time broke out.

In medieval times a king moreover usually had to spend much time traveling between his castles, first of all because hands-on government meant being on the spot regularly, and secondly a big Court was like a swarm of locusts: they came, consumed the food until the local area could support the Court's requirements no more, and then moved on to another place that could sustain it for a period of time.

Answer 4

They had lands, manors, nobels, and serfs they controlled.