Every card in Medieval Britain 1066–1509
The whole deck, in order — so you can read it through before your child ever sees it.
- In which month of 1066 was the Battle of Hastings fought?
October
HintHarold's army had marched south straight after beating the Vikings at Stamford Bridge in September.
WhyThe battle was fought on 14 October and William was crowned at Westminster on Christmas Day. Within a generation almost every great English landholder had been replaced by a Norman.
- Which English king died childless in January 1066, setting off a succession crisis?
Edward the Confessor
HintHe was known for his piety and for founding Westminster Abbey, and his nickname reflects that devotion.
WhyHe left no heir, and rival accounts claim he promised the throne to more than one man. That is exactly why three claimants could each argue they were the rightful successor.
- What did the Norman cavalry pretend to do at Hastings to break the English shield wall?
Retreat
HintIf your enemy holds the high ground, tempt them to leave it by looking beaten.
WhyThe feigned flight drew English soldiers out of the shield wall and down the slope, where Norman horsemen could turn and cut them down in the open.
- Norman castles were often built inside a conquered town, with houses demolished to clear the site. What does that choice tell you about their main purpose?
They were built to control the population, not to defend a border
HintA fort meant for keeping out invaders would sit on the frontier, not in the middle of somebody else's market place.
WhyDomesday records houses pulled down in Lincoln, Norwich, Cambridge and York to clear castle sites. A garrison beside the market and the main road let a few thousand Normans tax, police and overawe a country of about two million.
- In which year was the Domesday survey carried out?
1086
HintTwenty years after the conquest, William wanted to know exactly what his new kingdom was worth.
WhyIt recorded landholders, ploughs, mills and livestock so the king could tax accurately and settle arguments about who owned what. People called it Domesday because there was no appealing against it.
- Under the feudal system a baron held land from the king in return for ____.
military service
HintLand was never a free gift; the king expected armed men whenever he called for them.
WhyEvery level of the pyramid owed something upwards. Barons owed the king soldiers, knights owed their baron time in armour, and peasants owed their knight labour on his land.
- Which archbishop was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 after quarrelling with Henry II?
Thomas Becket
HintHe had been the king's close friend and chancellor before taking the top post in the English church and turning against him.
WhyHenry II is said to have asked who would rid him of this troublesome priest, and four knights took him at his word. The murdered archbishop became a saint and the king had to do public penance.
- Magna Carta of 1215 collapsed within months and was annulled by the Pope. Which single principle in it made later generations keep reissuing the charter?
The king himself is bound by the law
HintNothing about barons' hunting rights survived; what lasted was a limit placed above the crown.
WhyClause 39 promised that no free man would be imprisoned or stripped of his lands except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land. Pope Innocent III annulled the charter in August 1215 and the war resumed, but it was reissued in 1216, 1217 and 1225, and that clause is still on the statute book.
- Who summoned townspeople as well as barons and knights to an assembly in 1265?
Simon de Montfort
HintA rebel earl who had beaten Henry III in battle and needed wider support to hold on to power.
WhyInviting burgesses from the towns was the novelty, which is why his assembly is often called an early parliament, even though he was ruling by force after a civil war.
- Roughly what range of England's population is thought to have died in the Black Death?
Between a third and a half
HintSo many died that whole villages were abandoned and there were not enough workers left to bring in the harvest.
WhyEstimates run between a third and a half. Losing so many people so fast made surviving labourers scarce and valuable, which shook the whole feudal arrangement.
- Which new tax helped trigger the Peasants' Revolt of 1381?
The poll tax
HintIt charged every adult the same flat amount, whether they were rich or poor.
WhyA flat charge per head hits the poorest hardest, and it landed on top of laws holding wages down after the plague. Rebels from Kent and Essex marched on London and killed the Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Henry Tudor defeated Richard III in 1485 at the Battle of…?
Bosworth
HintIt was fought in Leicestershire, and the loser's remains were found under a Leicester car park in 2012.
WhyHenry Tudor became Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, joining the rival houses. The Tudor rose puts the white rose of York inside the red rose of Lancaster.
1★ KS3-HIST-MED-0001
2★ KS3-HIST-MED-0002
3★ KS3-HIST-MED-0003
4★ KS3-HIST-MED-0004
5★ KS3-HIST-MED-0005
6★ KS3-HIST-MED-0006
7★ KS3-HIST-MED-0007
8★ KS3-HIST-MED-0008
9★ KS3-HIST-MED-0009
10★ KS3-HIST-MED-0010
11★ KS3-HIST-MED-0011
12★ KS3-HIST-MED-0012
Keep what you learn
Here, nothing is saved. In your child’s own sky every card is scheduled — it comes back just before they’d forget it — and the professor who wrote it is one tap away.