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  • A King’s Ransom

    According to the online Cambridge Dictionary, a “king’s ransom” means “a large amount of money”. Something can be said to: “cost a king’s ransom”, or “be worth a king’s ransom”.  On occasion, kings were ransomed, and a large amount of money was definitely involved.

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  • Medieval Currency

    Currency in  thirteenth century England consisted of pounds, shillings and pence. There were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound (or ‘tower pound’, to give it its full name), so 240 pennies in a pound.  But the only

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  • Medieval Feudalism

    The feudal system was the main social structure during the Middle Ages. Feudalism meant a hierarchy of social status, with the King at the top and the unfree peasants, or villeins, at the bottom. In between came the bishops and the nobility,

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