Download Development of Feudalism in Europe

Development of Feudalism in Europe
We know:
Rome Divided by Diocletian 295 [2 Emperors, 2 Augusti]
Constantine Re-Unites Empire 312 A.D., makes Christian
Constantine moves Imperial Residence Constantinople
Visigoth Alaric Sacks Rome 410, leaves.
Romans leave Britain early 5th, troubled
Angles and Saxons Invade Britain mid 5th
Vandals invade Rome by ship from Carthage 455
Rome Falls Completely to Visigoth Odovacar 476
Eastern Roman Empire Remains -Constantinople [Caesaropopism]
Western Church Separates from Empire, goes underground:
missionaries
monasteries [renounce world]
Monte Cassino 521
York [Northumbria]664
hope in chaos
Clovis of Gaul converted by Missionary 481
Ethelred and Warriors converted Canterbury 597
6thh to 10th centuries, chaos in Europe
Viking Invasions [5-6 and 9-10]
Roman Authority Lost
Islamic Conquests [632 -]
Breakdown of Cities
But:
Charles Martel [The Hammer] stops Saracen Tours 732
Pepin the Short his son Annointed by Pope in Gaul
Charlemagne his Grandson 763-814 Frankland
Charlemagne fought Viking Invasions
Charlemagne deeply Christian
Charlemagne a Warrior King
Charlemagne Asked by Pope Leo to Save Him 799
Charlemagne Crowned Holy Roman Emperor 800 A.D.
Charlemagne brought Artists, Scholars to Court
Charlemagne Began School system
Charlemagne had Monks Translating Latin
Charlemagne
dies,
empire
divided
Verdun
Fighting, chaos.
Feudalism
Developed 8,9,10. Heights 10th and 11th
12 and 13th: Kings and Royal Power Back in Europe
Why it developed:
1. Germanic Invasions
2. Stirrup leads to Calvarly tactics
3. No money in Europe, only land
Why it ended:
1.
2.
Revival of town life
Revival of prosperity
843
3.
4.
5.
Crusades
Strong Monarchies more efficient
Re-introduction of Infantry tactics
Feudalism developed differently in England, France, and Germany,
because each country responded to Germanic invasions differently.
1. England became Unified under Royal Power [Germanic]
2. France [Gaul, Frankland] became Chaotic
3. Germany developed Centralized feudalism after Duchies
France:
terms:
Benefice
a. system of land for service
Vassalage
a. system of subordination
Shortage of Money
Viking Invasions in 8th, 9th, 10th
Cavalry [Chivalry Cheval]
1.
France, unlike England, to big for Vikings to occupy.
a. had to raid, plunder
2.
Because of Viking raids, king powerless. Local
warriors become predominant. Military Responsibility
becomes a local function, though locals loyal to king.
a. Vassalage linked with Warrior Code
b. Warrior Code: Comitatus
c. Vassalage: Service for Land [no money]:
[Benefice or Fief]
d.
Charled
Martel
linked
two,
confiscating church property
3.
Resting on Labour of Peasants, Knights developed:
a. In response to need for local defense
b.
Result
of
New
Calvalry
Warfare
[stirrup]
4.
The knight:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
No labour
collected dues from peasants
pledged allegiance to King
1.
allegiance broke with weak
kings]
Administered Justice, had courts.
Collected taxes in kind
built castles
assumed responsibilities for defense
lived off peasants, protected them
1. Notion of reciprocal rights
and obligations strong
Vassals had Vassals too.
1. Lead to heirarchy organized
around
landed
knightly
aristocracy.
2. Feudal Anarchy, Disintegration
Thus:
I, John of Toul, affirm that I am the vassal of the Lady Beatrice,
countess of Troyes, and of her son Theobald, count of Champagne,
against every creature living or dead, excepting my allegiance to
Lord Enjourand of Coucy, Lord John of Arcis, and the count of Grandpre.
It it should happen that the count of Grandpre shhould be at war
wwith the Countess and count of Champagne in his own quarrel, I will
aid the count of Grandpre in my own person, and will aid the countess
of Champagne by sending them the knights whose services I owe them
from the fief which I hold from them.
Feudalism, then, was this system of a vassal being paid in land for
his service to a king, because the king was not strong enought to
defende his kingdom. The Vassal owned the land and the people on
it, made laws, controlled and protected them, recieved taxes from
them. Often, the knight, or lord, also had a religious house under
his protection. So, medieval society during the Feudal era can be
sad to have been divided into three kinds of people:
1. those who fight [10%]
2. those who toil [80%]
3. those who pray [10%]
A knight in the 9,10, and 11th, was a rough hewn warrior, wearing
simple armour, riding a simple, powerful horse, and living in a wooden
castle. A hard life.
Yet in 12th and 13th, with
a. revival of commerce
b. revival of royal or monarchical power
c. invention of the English longbow
The Feudal knight, becoming obsolete,
develops:
a. elaborate armour
b. courtly phrases
c. troubadour tradition
d. Fairy tale castles
From 8th century Beowulf to 14th century Sir Gawain
1050-1300 High Middle Ages, the end of Feudalism:
1. End of Invasions:
a. Vikings gradually Christianized
b. Mohammedens stopped
c. Hungarians in East stopped [ger]
2. Political Stability Regained:
a. Monarchy more efficient at war, law,
protection, order, administration
3. Military Tactics Changed:
a.
English
Longbow
could
penetrate
armour. Foot soldiers better than
those on horseback,
4.
5.
in heavy armour
Increased Food Production makes for Prosperity:
a. 3 Field system
b. Invention of Windmills
c. Water Mills [1086, 5000 in England]
d. Heavy wheeled plow
e. The horshoe
f. Improved Horse collar
g. Tandem Harness
Quickening of Commerce:
a. Rise in Population
b. More Capital fron International
contacts
c. Return of City Life, Occupations:
1. Arts, crafts, bankers, guilds
d. Military Expansion [Crusades]
e. New Active Religious Enthusiasm
1. Pilgrimages
2. Gregory VII [Refomr Pope]
3. Franciscan Monks
4. Crusades
5. Great Gothic Cathedrals
f.
Intensification
of
Intellectual
Activity:
1. First Universities
Towns
In the Past, towns were always Economic Parasites [Rome, Athens],
consuming more than they produced. But in 11th century, towns became
real Commercial Enterprises:
1. Merchants
2. Industrial Activities
Towns usually started outside an old fortress, which in German was
called a "burgh." By the 12th century, the town itself instead of
the fortress, was referred to as the burgh, or "burough." Burough's
were inhabited by "burghers" and "burgesses," who constituted a New
Social Class, the "Bourgeosie."
Characteristics of New Bourgeosie:
Acquisitive
Pious
Civic Minded
Piety and Civic Mindedness were characteristics of citizens of the
Ancient Greek Poleis, or City States. In the Middle Ages, coupled
with increased prosperity, the result was the building of the great
Gothic Cathedrals [Paris, Amiens, St Denis, Chartres, Laon, Lincoln,
Canterbury] to serve as centers for the agrarian world. In Greece
the result was the Parthenon, dedicated to the Goddess Athena, etc.
How Towns Developed:
1. Feudal Lords lost power, went away to Crusades, came home
penniless. While they were gone, commercial markets
began.
2.
As Knighthood became more and more obsolete, and the
Kings more powerful, and the world more porsperous, kings requested
that landed Vassal knights pay him in money rather than in service,
so that he could pay for mercenaries to fight wars. Mercenaries were
better fighters than local people taken from the land [witness the
slaughter at Maldon].
3.
By 12th century, many knights realized there was a
great economic advantage for them to have a commercial
center on their land. Gave Town Charters. But they had to
be forced to give up their power.
4.
Townsmen stood up against the Landed Lords by using
Collective Action, and offering Prosperity. They
acquired the following rights:
a. personal freedom from serfhood.
b. freedom of movement
c. freedom from paying tolls
d. right to be judged by town peers
e. right to make contracts
f. right to buy and sell
5.
Townsmen enforced their own laws, collected their own
taxes, and paid the lord a lump sum of money, a cash
payment.
Hence, the Revival of Europe, and the beginnign of modern commerce,
learning, and civilization. After towns, people could not longer
be divided into the three groups, those who fight, those who pray,
and those who toil, again. From beginning of 11th, especially Europe
comes creatively alive, and the strong monarchies of that time
developed so far ahead of other areas, that they are still strong
today: England, France, and Germany.