1154 - 1485

The term 'Medieval' is a term loosely used to describe the equally vague 'Middle Ages'. However on this web site it used to describe the period between the Plantagenet Monarchy which began with the reign of Henry II in 1154 to the advent of the Tudors with Henry VII in 1485. During this time Amblecote remained a feudal manor held by 'Lord of the Manor' who may, or may not, have been resident at any particular time. Peasant farming families would have tended the land in much the same way as their Anglo-Saxon forefathers; subsistence representing their primary concern after which any surplus would have created wealth for the Lord. However, during this period the English were ravaged by the great plague known as the 'Black Death' an event which, accompanied by incessant war and, a little later, a peasant revolt, made the mid fourteenth century a time of great upheaval and uncertainty. Amblecote although far from the centres of war and revolution was almost certainly visited by the Black Death and the effect of this, and other events, would have impacted upon its residents. Unfortunately we know little about Amblecote from direct records at the beginning of this period - although much can be inferred from surviving local monastic archives. However, from the late 15th Century there are an increasing number of records relating specifically to Amblecote from which we can begin to deduce a great deal about the names, lives and activities of its Lords and its 'lower orders'.