Download Feudalism - Chenango Forks Central School District

Feudalism and the Manor
Economy
Mutual Obligation
Failures of the Empire
• Weak central
government
• Need for protection
• Unable to maintain law
and order
• Led To:
Emergence of Feudalism
-political system of the
middle ages
-based on mutual
obligations (I do
something for you, you
do something for me)
-based on loyalty, service
and feudal contracts
Feudalism
Political and social system based on loyalty, military
service and birth. Rigid with little to now social
mobility, your birth determined your social status.
Structured Society - Nobles
Men
• Knights
– Training
– Warfare
– Tournaments
• Chivalry
Women
• “Lady of the Manor”
– Training
• Politics
– Code of loyalty, duty and
service
Eleanor of Aquitaine
Structured Society – Serfs/Peasants
• Bound to the land
Farmers
Maintenance
• Permission to marry;
leave the estate
• Payments to lord
• Majority of the
population
• Protection
• Land to farm
Peasant’s Life
• Unable to attend school
– Could not read or write
•
•
•
•
•
Limited or no travel
Long work hours
Hunger
Disease
Few opportunities to celebrate
– Christmas, Easter
Self-Sufficiency
• Manorialism- economic system of the early middle ages.
• Due to a lack of trade the manor was self-sufficient
• Produced on the manor
– Food, clothing, furniture, tools
• Buildings
– Manor House
– Church
– Mill
– Cottages/Huts
– Fields/Pastures
The Manor Economy
The Medieval Church
The Church and Medieval Life
• The church was a social center as well as a
place of worship.
• Christian rituals and faith were part of the fabric
of everyday life (sacraments).
• Priests guided people on issues of values and
morality.
The Church and Medieval Life
• Church required people to pay a tithe (10% of
their income).
• Monks and nuns cared for the poor and sick,
set up schools for children, and gave food and
lodging to travelers.
• Friars were monks who did not live in a
monastery, but traveled and preached to the
poor.
A Medieval Monk’s Day
The Power of the Church Grows
• In the centuries after the fall of Rome, the
Church became the most powerful secular,
or worldly, force in medieval Europe
• Medieval popes began to claim papal
supremacy, or authority over all secular
rulers.
The Power of the Church Grows
• The medieval Church developed its own
body of laws, known as canon law, as well
as its own courts. Anyone who disobeyed
canon law faced a range of penalties.
• The Church also had absolute power in
religious matters.
Religious Authority
• Excommunication: Pope forbade people
to receive sacraments or a Christian
burial
• Interdict: an order excluding an entire
town, region, or kingdom from receiving
some sacraments or a Christian burial
Reform Movements
The success of the Church brought
problems:
• As Church wealth and power grew,
discipline weakened.
• Some clergy ignored their vows and lived
in luxury.
• Some priests focused more on family than
on Church duties.
Reform Movements
A number of reform movements spread
across Europe:
• (1) Benedictine Rule, monks and nuns took
vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity.
• (2) Pope Gregory VII outlawed marriage
for priests and prohibited simony, the
selling of Church offices.
Jews in Europe
• In hard times, Christians persecuted the
Jews, blaming them for economic problems,
illness, and disasters.
• Prejudice against Jews is called
antisemitism.
• Migration from Western to Eastern Europe.
Economic Expansion and
Change
Agricultural Revolution
New farming technologies
iron plow
harness
windmill
three-field system
Increase in food production
Population explosion
Between 1000 and 1300, the population of
Europe doubled.
• Europe’s
growing
population
needed
goods that
were not
available to
them.
• As foreign
invasions
and feudal
warfare
declined,
trade
increased
Trade in Europe
Commercial Revolution
• The revival of trade led to a revolution in commerce.
• New business practices emerged, such as:
– setting up banks
– joining together to set up
partnerships
– developing insurance
– adopting the bill of exchange
Social Changes
• The use of money undermined serfdom. Most
peasants became tenant farmers or hired farm
laborers.
• In towns, a new middle class of merchants,
traders, and artisans emerged.
• The Church forbade Christians from becoming
moneylenders. Since Jews were barred from other
professions, many took on this role.
Guilds
• In medieval towns, merchants and artisans formed
associations called guilds.
• Merchant guilds appeared first. They dominated
town life, passing laws, levying taxes, and making
other important decisions.
Guilds
• A craft guild was made up of workers in a
particular occupation. To prevent
competition, only a certain number of people
could work in any trade.
• Becoming a guild member involved many
years of hard work.
Guilds
• What are the two types of medieval guilds?
• What modern organization do medieval guilds
remind you of?
Medieval Guilds: A Goldsmith’s Shop
Crest of a Cooper’s Guild