Download How The Middle Ages Ended Booklet

How the
Middle Ages
Ended
Out of the Dark Ages
and Towards the
Light
Mrs. Ingram’s 7/8
Humanities Class
Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The Feudal System
Country Life
Town Life
Wealth & Society
The Church Community
Muslims & Jews
The Black Death
100 Years War
Changes in the System
1. The Feudal System
During the Middle Ages, much of European society was organized in a system called
feudalism. Feudalism was a hierarchy, where classes were ranked one above the other
according to wealth and power. People born on a certain level in the feudal system were
expected to stay in that level their entire lives.
Feudalism was based on land, loyalty, and duty. Nobles (barons) and knights swore
allegiance to the king, promising to fight for him in exchange for the rights to pieces of land
called manors or fiefs. Bishops had as much power as barons; they received their land from
the king as well, and during the Middle Ages, the Church became a very powerful
landowner. The Church played a much bigger role in the lives of peasants other than giving
spiritual guidance.
Peasants were at the bottom of the feudal system pyramid. The peasants - men, women, and
children - worked hard from sunrise to sunset. They were often uneducated and illiterate,
and were not allowed to travel beyond the manor without permission from the lord. Some
peasants were freemen who rented land from the lord using money, or worked for pay.
Most peasants, however, were serfs, who basically worked for free, paid the lord a portion
of what they made, and had to obey the lord’s orders. If peasants were allowed to travel,
they rarely went further than the
next town.
Strangely enough, the Crown,
nobility, and clergy held all the land
and power in the feudal society, yet
they made up only about 10 percent
of the population. The commoners
accepted this because they were
uneducated and taught to accept the
system. They believed they should
stay in their place and not rise up
against authority; they believed God
had placed them at their level in
society and they should not disagree.
Had they been more educated, this
may not have been the case.
The Crown
Barons & Bishops
Knights
Commoners (Freemen & Serfs)
2. Country Life
In the country, land was owned by the nobles (barons) and bishops (Church). This land was
given to these people by the king, either because he was friends with the nobles or bishops,
or they had sworn an oath of allegiance to fight for the king when the time came. However,
the nobles did not work the land: they left that job to the peasants.
Peasants lived in rural villages on a manor, and
were assigned strips of land to plant and
harvest. Each peasant family had its own strips
of land in various areas of the manor. Peasants
worked together on tasks such as plowing and
haying. In exchange for the use of the land, the
peasants had to turn over to the noble (or
“lord of the manor”) a portion of what they
produced, like paying rent but using goods
instead of money. They were also expected to
build roads, clear forests, and other tasks for
the lord.
Children did not have much choice in the
country - they were closely tied to their
families, had to do the job of their parents, and
often were placed in arranged marriages. They
did not travel or experience life freely for
themselves, but worked for the family with the
family.
In this map of a typical manor, you will notice
that the village is the small, darkly shaded area
at the bottom of the manor. The manor house, where the noble lived, and the Church,
where the bishop lived, are not located in the village, but separate from it, past a field and
over a stream. This suggests that neither the noble nor the bishop found it acceptable to live
near the peasants or interact with them too much.
In the country, men did the majority of the heavy jobs, such as plowing, baling, butchering,
etc. However, the women worked alongside the men in the fields and barns, as well as
doing more domestic jobs such as raising the children, cooking, weaving cloth and sewing,
and preserving food for the winter. Education was rare amongst men, and unheard of for
women in the country.
3. Town Life
Most medieval towns were centers for farm communities. They generally grew up close to a
castle, palace, or large monastery. The citizens would build stone walls around the town to
protect themselves from rival cities or lords. Local goods as well as goods brought in from
other countries were available in shops in the towns; there was much more shopping variety
than in the country.
The towns were crowded, dirty, rat-infested places, but they offered freedom and new
opportunities. People had the freedom to do as they wished, marry whom they pleased, and
make money as they could. According to the law, runaway serfs could gain their freedom by
staying in town for a year and a day without being discovered.
A peasant who was good at
making shoes might open a
workshop to produce and sell
shoes. Unskilled peasants could
learn trades. You did not have to
do as your father did if you could
find someone who was willing to
train you as an apprentice. Other
peasants worked for wealthy
merchants as servants and
labourers.
Production of goods and trade in
the towns was organized by cooperative organizations called “guilds”. Guilds controlled the
prices of goods, set standards of quality, and decided who would be admitted to the craft as
a trainee or “apprentice”. Guilds also took care of members and their families in case of
illness or accident. They are similar to labour unions of today.
Children as young as 8 or 9 went to live and work at the home of a master, and learn a
trade. After years of working and training, they would take a test to become journeymen
and be admitted to the guild. Years later, after more study and practice, they would become
masters. Then they could open up their own businesses and take on their own apprentices.
In the towns, women often worked alongside their husbands, or were in charge of selling
goods in the stores. They were permitted to inherit property and guild memberships when
their husbands died, so they could take over the business and be the legal owner. They could
also become masters of crafts in the textile (cloth) industry, and brewing. Wealthy women
could get an education alongside brothers or with private tutors. However, in the towns,
poorer women were often the most free. Wealthy women still had to put up with arranged
marriages, and it was often thought “unladylike” for a wealthy women to run businesses.
4. Wealth & Society
With the rise of towns, and the freedom that came within the towns, society became less
rigid. By acquiring wealth and skills, urban people had more opportunity to move up and
down the feudal system. A new social structure began to emerge.
Power and class began to be assessed not on how much land you owned, but how much
money and material goods you had. People were eager to buy goods in the towns. People
became more focused on enjoying materials possessions and displaying their wealth through
the clothing they wore, the furniture and decorations in their homes, and the meals they
served.
Wealthy people during the beginning of the Renaissance showed off their economic status by
wearing extravagant clothing (this trend continued well into the Renaissance). A quote by
historian Philippe Erlanger describes the clothing of wealthy people in this way:
“Men and women wore sumptuous clothes of silks, brocades, cut velvets and lace;
precious stones and gold nets on their hair. Materials streamed with silver and gold
were always vivid in color. Warm, flesh-tinted cosmetics were applied freely.
Servants, pages, lackeys and ushers
were also clad gaudily, half red and
half yellow, or half green and half
white.”
People’s desires for luxury goods, like
exotic fabrics, was one of the factors that
led to the expansion of trade outside
Europe. This desire also led to the
creation of sumptuary laws (taxes on
various items, restrictions on what types
of clothing people from different classes
could wear, etc.) During this time, the
middle class was created: people who
weren’t quite nobility, but people who
weren’t peasants either. This class
included merchants and business people,
talented and successful craftsmen and
shopkeepers, bankers, and various
Church officials who liked to spend
money.
5. The Church Community
The Church was a strong influence in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Maps of the
time, such as the Psalter Map (see your textbook on page 30) showed Jerusalem as the very
center of the Earth, the most important point on the map. Religious areas were drawn much
larger than other areas, often incorrectly. Members of the Church congregation had the duty
to obey the rules of the Church, respect the priest’s authority, and pay him a tithe (a portion
of their crops or earnings, like a Church tax). Belonging to the Church and celebrating
Christian festivals helped to give people a sense of community.
Within the Church system during the Middle Ages there was also a hierarchy, very similar to
the feudal system. The Pope was at the top of the pyramid (much like the King); archbishops
were below the Pope (where barons and bishops would be on the feudal pyramid); priests
obey the archbishops (much like knights work for the nobles); and the parishioners, the
common people, were once again at the bottom of the pyramid.
Duties of the Church included baptizing babies,
marrying couples, teaching children how to
pray, and performing other religious services,
such as funerals. Churches were so powerful
and popular during this time that between the
years 900 and 1000, more than 1500 churches
were built in France alone! Competitions were
held to see who could build the most
impressive and beautiful cathedrals. Peasants
were responsible for the heavy labour (and had
to go to confession before they were allowed
to go to work). The bishops and priests
oversaw the work. Wood, stone, and glass
were used in the building procedure, so
blacksmiths, masons, and carpenters were all
needed as well.
Monasteries were also popular in the religious community at this time. Monasteries were
places where monks lived and practiced their religion. (Nuns lived in convents.) At the
monasteries, monks helped the poor and sick, prayed, copied Bibles by hand, made their
own food to feed one another and the poor, and taught children. In fact, teaching became
such a huge part of monasteries that they eventually became some of the first universities, as
the monks could speak multiple languages, could read and write, and taught people about
religion. Women could not attend these first universities until 400 years after they were
started, in the 1800s.
6. Muslims & Jews
There were two other major religions in medieval Europe: Islam and Judaism. The Muslims
lived mostly in the area around Spain, with 400 000 Muslim citizens in the Spanish city of
Cordoba, and 700 mosques (Islamic churches). The Muslims were big into education, and
built many libraries and universities in Spain as well.
The Jewish people lived all over Europe during the Middle Ages. They were everywhere, but
usually in small minorities. Unfortunately, Jews in Western Europe were barred from most
professions due to religious discrimination, so they focused on academic studies, like the
Muslims. As a result, the culture grew in intelligence and therefore success, with Jewish
people holding such jobs as jewellers, money traders, merchants, bankers, and physicians.
Even so, despite these respected jobs, Jews were forced to live in ghettos, or certain
segregated areas of town. In many communities, Jews were blamed for poisoning wells to
spread disease, and were massacred.
In the city of Strasbourg in 1349, on St. Valentine’s Day, several protestors targeting the
Jewish people “burnt the Jews on a wooden platform in their cemetery. There were about
two thousand of them. Those who wanted to baptize themselves were spared.” About
2,000 Jewish people were murdered that day, just because people didn’t like their religion.
Frightened Jewish citizens promised to become Christian in order to save their own lives.
7. The Black Death
The Black Death first appeared in London in 1348, brought there by fleas living on rats which
came ashore from ships arriving from Asia. Already this terrible epidemic had killed millions
of people before reaching the European continent, where the initial outbreak occurred in and
around Italy. The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. In October 1347, an
eyewitness account claimed:
“Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, Italians were driven
from their cities. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere.
Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills
for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and
convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in
empty houses, and there was no one left to give them a Christian burial.”
By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called
it “The Black Death” because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was
loose across Europe, and medieval medicine had nothing to stop it. In the winter, the disease
seemed to disappear, but only because fleas - which were a major connection in spreading
the disease - are dormant at this time. People lived with their livestock in the same house
back then, and would share fleas with their animals. Each spring, therefore, the plague
attacked again. Bonfires became a popular way to dispose of the bodies, inspiring the
nursery rhyme “A Pocket Full of Posies”. After five years, 25 million people were dead - onethird of Europe’s population.
Black fingertips and spots, as well as swelling
of lymph nodes and vomiting blood, were
signs of the plague
A physician lances the swollen lymph node,
or bubo (hence bubonic plague), which often
did more harm than good
8. The 100 Years War
Ironically, the 100 Years War was actually 116 years long. No one is sure why people call it
the 100 Year War, which is inaccurate. It was a series of many battles fought between
England and France from 1337 until 1453.
It all began when Charles the Simple gave a Viking warrior, Rollo, a part of France so that
Rollo could protect the ocean border from invasion from other Vikings. Rollo did a good
job of this, so the land basically became his. His descendant, William, felt that since he
already kinda/sorta owned a part of France, why shouldn’t he own even more? When the
King of England died without a direct heir, William joined the race to gain the English throne.
He beat out all the other potential heirs, and became the new King of England.
Later on, after William’s death, the last French king of the Capetian line died, leaving France
now without a direct heir. Edward III, William’s descendant, began to plot. He already held
a large part of France (that chunk of Rollo’s had grown a bit due to some clever battles on
England’s part), but now Edward III wanted the right to
rule all of France - to be the King of England AND the King
of France. At this time, ambitious Edward III was only 18
years old. War broke out in 1338, because many people
thought this might be just a little too much power for one
guy.
At first, the English won some big battles. But the war
went on and on, and eventually Edward III died in 1377.
That didn’t stop the war, though. Under the leadership of
their new young king, Henry V, the English won an
especially big battle at Agincourt in 1415, where Henry V
used a new weapon, the cannon, to help him win the
battle.
The English managed to take over almost all of France. But
Henry V died young, in Paris, and after he died, the French
started to win again under a great military leader, a
woman named Joan of Arc (but everyone thought she was
a dude). Under her guidance, the French recaptured the
towns of Orleans and Reims, among other places, for her
king, Charles VII. When the English captured her and
discovered she was a woman, they burned her at the stake as a witch in 1431 at the town of
Rouen. Despite this loss, the French continued to win the war, and in 1453 the English king
Henry VI (the son of Henry V) gave up his claim to rule France. Henry VI lost all his land in
France, except the port at Calais.
9. Changes in the System
The Black Plague and the 100 Years War had a huge effect on Europe, and in particular, how
the feudal system was run.
1. When the 100 Years War first broke out in 1337, the King called upon the barons and
bishops to support him in times of war (they had to - he’d given them free land!) The
barons began recruiting the serfs as soldiers and enlisting them in the army. Therefore,
many men were getting killed in battle instead of running the farms, and the population
decreased. Food production decreased. Babies being born decreased. Everything got a
little worse.
2. When armies marched through the land, or battles were fought, villages, farms, fields,
and towns were destroyed. This left many people dead, starving, or homeless.
3. In reaction to this mistreatment and distress, the peasants banded together (like Robin
Hood’s group of not-so-merry men) and fought and killed barons, burning the manor
houses to the ground. This time was called the Peasant’s Revolt.
4. The Black Death killed many peasants and made the population of the manor villages
very low (on top of the deaths from the 100 Years War). This meant there was no one
left to work the barons’ land, and so the barons were forced to sell land to the peasants
and make them free. Some barons kept the peasants around by paying them for their
time, and then buying products from them rather than forcing them to share. Many
peasants left to find work in towns. The manor system fell apart.
5. The invention of the clock allowed people to work for specific periods of time, and open
stores precisely. People kept track of how long they worked for, and asked to get paid
for each hour.
6. People believed God had sent the Black Plague to punish them. (They didn’t know about
bacteria, and disease being transmitted because of fleas and poor hygiene.) They couldn’t
understand what they had done that had warranted such a horrible plague. They began
to mistrust the notion of God.
7. The Church’s wealth during these times also encouraged a mistrust in God. While people
were starving and homeless, priests were often seen with gold rings and chains, results of
collecting tithes from their parishioners.
8. As people in the towns became wealthier, they also became more educated. This enabled
people to realize they did not have to adhere to the feudal system, to do what their
parents did, or remain in the same class. The creation of the middle class was proof of
this.