🏛️ What the Middle Ages Gave Us

What you’ll learn

1. Ideas That Stuck AroundName at least three things from the Middle Ages that still affect our lives today.Although the Middle Ages ended over 500 years ago, many things we use daily began then. The idea of a parliament — a group that meets to help make a country's laws rather than one ruler deciding alone — grew in medieval England and is now used worldwide. The first universities, like Oxford, were founded in the Middle Ages and still exist, and 'common law', which uses past court decisions to guide new ones, also began then and is still used in many countries.
2. The Words We SpeakExplain how the English language was shaped by Anglo-Saxon and Norman French.The English language itself was shaped in the Middle Ages, growing from two sources mixing together: the older Anglo-Saxon (Old English) spoken in England, and Norman French, brought by the Normans who conquered England in 1066. Many plain, everyday words come from Anglo-Saxon while grander words often come from French. A famous clue survives in food words — Anglo-Saxon farmers raised the 'cow', 'pig', and 'sheep', while Norman French lords ate 'beef', 'pork', and 'mutton'.
3. Names and PlacesExplain how many surnames and place names trace back to the Middle Ages.Many family surnames began in the Middle Ages. As villages grew, people needed to tell others apart, so they added a second name, often from a person's job ('Smith' the metalworker, 'Baker' the bread-maker), their father ('Johnson', son of John), or where they lived ('Hill'). From Parliament and universities to the words we speak and the names we carry, the medieval world is still all around us — part of why the age still fascinates people today.

Questions this course answers

Grounded in trusted sources

• British Library
• Britannica Kids
• BBC Bitesize
• Oxford English Dictionary
• English Heritage

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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