Download File feudalism and manorialism

Feudalism and Manorialism
The New Social Order
Setting the Stage
In 911, after years of plundering the Seine
river valley in France, Rollo the Viking and
Charles the Simple, King of France came to a
peace agreement.
 Charles granted Rollo a huge piece of
French territory
 It became known as “Northman’s Land” or
Normandy
 Rollo swore a pledge of loyalty to King
Charles
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Feudalism Structures Society
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Similar agreements appeared all over Europe
System of governing and landholding, called
feudalism, had emerged in Europe
Similar to feudal systems in China and Japan
System was based on rights and obligations
In exchange for military protections a lord,
or landowner granted land called a fief.
Person receiving the fief was called a vassal.
◦ Charles the Simple: Lord
◦ Rollo the Viking: Vassal
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Feudalism depended on control of the land
The Feudal Pyramid
At the top: the King
 Next: most powerful vassals such as
nobles and bishops
 Serving nobles: Knights
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◦ Horsemen who pledged to defend lords’ lands
in exchange for fiefs
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Base of the pyramid: landless peasants
who worked in the fields
Well Defined Social Class
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Status determined a person’s prestige and power
◦ Prestige: respect and admiration based on
PERCEPTION of achievements or quality
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Medieval writers divided people into three
groups:
◦ Those who fought (knights and nobles)
◦ Those who prayed (men and women of the church)
◦ Those who worked (the peasants)
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Vast majority of peasants were serfs
◦ Could not lawfully leave the place they were born
◦ Were not slaves but their labor belonged to the lord
Manors: The Economic Side of
Feudalism
The manor was the lord’s estate
 Manor system was economic agreement
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◦ Lord provided serfs with housing, farmland,
and protection from bandits
◦ Serfs tended the lord’s lands, cared for his
animals, and performed other tasks
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Women shared the work with their
husbands
Self-Contained World
Serfs rarely traveled more than 25 miles from
their manor
 Manor usually covered only a few square miles of
land
 The manor was largely self-sufficient
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◦ Serfs or peasants produced nearly everything they
and their lord needed
◦ Crops, milk and cheese, fuel, cloth, leather, and lumber
Only outside purchases were salt, iron, and
Miscellaneous objects
 Crops were grown on the manor
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◦ Wheat, barley, oats, vegetables
Harshness of Manor Life
Living on the manor was a privilege paid with a
high price!
 Paid taxes on grain ground in the lord’s mill
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◦ Any attempt to avoid taxes was a crime
Paid tax on marriage
Owed village priest a tithe, or one-tenth their
income
 Serf’s lived in crowded cottages
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◦ Warmed the dirt floor by bringing pigs inside
◦ Slept on straw that often crawled with insects
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Simple diet of vegetables, coarse brown bread,
grain, cheese, and soup
Peasant life continued…
Life was work and more work
 As soon as children were old enough,
they were put to work in the fields
 Illness and malnutrition were constant
 Average life expectancy was 35 years
 Despite this: serfs accepted their lot in life
as part of the Church’s teachings
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◦ Most Christians during medieval times
believed God determined a person’s place in
society
Summary
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Feudalism in Europe rose as a necessity
because of how spread out people had
become after the collapse of the Roman
Empire
Because people were disconnected
geographically, the economic system of
manorialism was a result
Both feudalism and manorialism collapsed
towards the end of the middle ages after
events such as: the Great Schism, the
bubonic plague, the rise of the guilds, and the
Hundred Years War