Download Unit # 3 – Middle Ages

Unit # 3 – Middle Ages
Lesson # 2 – Feudalism pp. 382391
Objective and Bell
Ringer
Rome Falls
Feudalism Begins
Christianity Spreads
Cities and Towns
Grow
Trade Increases
The Crusades are
Fought
• Bell Ringer: On new page, complete “Rome Falls” portion of the
Flow Chart (see above if missed class)
• Objective: Describe how loyalty was used as a means of survival
• Homework: Further Thinking worksheet-Class
• Feudal Name Game
• Notes-Explaining Relationships & Feudal Pyramid
• Notes-Costs and Benefit Analysis
• Quiz – Fall of Rome and Feudalism next class
• Homework: Read pp. 382-391; Use textbook link on wiki page
http://avidworld.weebly.com/textbook-world-history.html
REVIEW-What was going on in
Europe?
• Rome fell
▫ Why?
• People are without a leader, a government,
protection, or money
▫ What should they do?
• In order to protect themselves, they band
together-manorial system
▫ www.classzone.com Hierarchy of Feudalism Chpt.
9 Animated Geography- Describe each level as
you copy the organizer.
FEUDALISM
THE FEUDAL AND THE MANORIAL
SYSTEMS
Feudal System
• Developed out of the need for protection from invaders
– People wanted land and protection, and there was
no central gov’t (Rome had fallen)
• Nobles could no longer count on their king for
protection, so they had to find a way to defend their
own lands
– Built castles for defense
• Early castles built out of wood, later castles built
out of stone
– Needed trained soldiers for their own private armies,
the most important of which were knights
• Knight = highly skilled and heavily armored
soldiers who fight on horseback
• Being a knight was expensive – had to purchase
weapons, armor, and horses
• Knights demanded payment for their services
– Wealth was based on owning land – main source of
income since there was little trade
• Most knights were paid with land for their services
• Vassal = person who owes military service to a lord who
has given him land
• Fief = the land given to a vassal for service
• Feudal system = the system of exchanging land for
service
Feudalism
GIVES LAND
LORDS
VASSALS
OWES MILITARY SERVICE
Feudal Obligations
• Idea of Vassalage
– Vassalage came from Germanic society where
warriors swore an oath of loyalty to their leaders
• The relationship between a lord and vassal was made
official by a public act of homage, such as swearing an
oath of fealty, or loyalty, to one’s lord
– This act of loyalty was at the heart of the feudal
system
• Feudal contract – set of unwritten rules that determined
the relationship between lord and vassal
– Both the lords and vassals had responsibilities
• Responsibilities of the vassal
– Owed the lord military service – usually 40 days a
year
– Must promise to remain loyal to lord
– Helped to advise the lord
– Certain financial obligations, such as paying ransom
for a captured lord and giving monetary gifts on the
wedding of the lord’s eldest daughter and knighting
of the eldest son
• Responsibilities of the lord
– Supported the vassal with a grant of land
– Protected the vassal against enemies and in court
– Treat vassal fairly and not demand too much of their
time and money
– Act as judge in disputes between knights
Knights
• Knights became the dominate part of warfare
– Held great prestige and the institution of knighthood
united the nobility
– Young knight, with no responsibilities, participated in
tournaments in which knights showed off their skills,
with the joust being the main event
• Chivalry = ideal of civilized behavior among knights and
nobility
– Knights were expected to:
• Defend the Church and defenseless people
(especially women)
• Treat captives as honored guests (ransoming other
knights = money)
• Noble women could legally hold property, but they still
remained under the control of men
– The lady of the castle usually managed the large
household, the estate, and the financial accounts
– Usually when the lord of the castle was away, he left
his wife in charge
The Manorial System
• The feudal system was basically a political and social
system
• The manorial system was the heart of medieval
economics
– Built around large estates called manors
– These manors were usually owned by wealthy lords
and knights
– These landowning nobles needed the leisure to
pursue war and their feudal obligations – no time to
farm
• Instead peasants worked the lands of these estates
The Manor
Large estates owned by
wealthy lords
– Manor lords gave the peasants protection and plots of
land for themselves and their families
– In return, the peasants had to farm the lord’s land, along
with other services
• Most of the peasants were serfs
– Serfs = peasants who are legally bound to the land, the
manor on which they serve
– They were not slaves (could not be sold), but they were
not free to leave the manor or marry without the lord’s
permission
– Serfdom was hereditary
– Serfs worked the lord’s land, helped maintain the estate,
paid rent, and were under the lord’s control
– The manor lord also had the right to try serfs in his own
courts
Give land, protection
Lord
Peasant
Farm the land
Feudal Name Game
Find matching Terms pp. 382-386-Copy in
notebook
•loyalty to lord that required military service to be
performed
•person who gave land to a vassal
•land given to a knight for his service
•obligation of vassal to lord
•person who accepted this land
•medieval economic system associated with feudalism
•high skilled soldier who fought on horseback
•peasants on a manor
Explaining Relationships & Feudal
Pyramid
• Using the reading from the Feudal Name Game,
explain how the three roles within feudalism
were connected.
▫ Lords
▫ Knights
▫ Serfs
• Explain what each role provided to one another
by copying and completing graphic organizer on
next slide.
Explaining Relationships
Copy and complete the organizer below to show the relationship between
Lords, Knights and Peasants. What did each group give/take from one another?
Lords
Lords gave knights…
Knights
Knights gave lords…
Knights gave serfs…
Serfs
Serfs gave knights…
Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Look at the different roles that existed during
Feudal times on the next slide.
▫ Write down the two roles that you feel are the
most important and explain why.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Role
Benefits
Costs
Lord
Admission closed (translation:
born into it)
Danger of expulsion or assassination
Knight
Admission very limited
Danger of going to war
Priest
Admission limited; security, free
from harsh physical labor of
peasants
Chastity, church discipline, poverty
Monk
Admission limited, security
Chastity, personal and church discipline, poverty
Nun
Admission limited, security
Chastity, personal and church discipline, poverty
Banker
High standard of living
Risky (because carrying money)
Trader
Freedom
Risky (many variables to run successful shop)
Freeman
Independence
No guarantee of protection, money
Serf
Safety
Loss of freedom, poverty
CONFLICTS OF THE MIDDLE
AGES
THE HUNDRED YEARS’
WAR
AND THE WAR OF THE
ROSES
THE HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR
• Political instability was a problem of the late
Middle Ages
▫ The Hundred Years’ War was the most violent
conflict during this period
▫ It would last from 1337 until 1453
• In 1328 the French king died without a son
▫ His nephew was King Edward III of England
(his mother had been the king’s sister)
 Under French law, a woman could not
inherit the throne nor a man inherit
through a woman
▫ He also had a cousin who had served as his
regent
▫ The French decided that the regent was the
rightful heir and he was crowned as Philip VI
 Edward felt that he was the rightful heir
• King Philip tried to gain back the duchy of
Gascony, one of the last possessions that
England still had in France
▫ Due to all of this, Edward declared war on
France and invaded with an army in 1337,
starting the war
• The war started out with a lot of knights who
viewed battle as a chance to show of their
skills
▫ However, the Hundred Years’ War was a
turning point in the nature of warfare
▫ Peasant foot soldiers, not knights, won the
 The French relied heavily on armed noble
knights
 Peasants were socially inferior
 The English also used knights, but they
relied more on large numbers of
peasants, who were paid to be foot
soldiers
 English foot soldiers were armed not
only with pikes, but also the deadly
longbow
 It had great striking power, long range,
and a rapid rate of fire
• The first major battle was at Crecy in 1346
▫ The French followed no battle plan, just simply
attacked
• At the Battle of Agincourt (1415) 1500 French
nobles died on the battlefield
▫ The English won victory after victory and now
controlled northern France
▫ The English, under King Henry V, advanced all
the way to the gates of Paris
▫ The dauphin (heir to the French throne),
Charles, didn’t own enough of France to be
crowned as king
• A French peasant girl named Joan of Arc
came to the aid of France and her ruler
Charles in 1429
▫ She was born in 1412 to prosperous parents
and was deeply religious
▫ She believed that her favorite saints had
commanded her to free France by leading the
French into battle
• She made her way to court and Charles
allowed her to accompany the army to
Orleans
▫ Joan’s army defeated a huge English army
▫ She led the French in several more victories
▫ Joan brought the war to a decisive turning
point by inspiring people with her faith
• Joan was captured in 1430 and turned over
to the English
▫ The English tried her for witchcraft and
condemned her as a heretic
▫ Joan was then burned at the stake
• After her death, King Charles VII rallied his
army and fought on
▫ They defeated the English at Normandy and
Aquitaine, finally winning the war in 1453
▫ French success was helped by the use of
gunpowder and the cannon
THE WAR OF THE ROSES
• Civil war between the houses of York and
Lancaster over the crown of England
▫ The house of York had a white rose as their
emblem
▫ The house of Lancaster had a red rose
• The crown will pass back and forth between the
two families for several decades
▫ The Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 ended the
civil war and saw the crowning of a new king
• Henry VII united the two houses by marrying a
princess of the house of York and ending the war
▫ Elizabeth was the daughter of the late Edward IV
▫ Henry had her declared legitimate
▫ Their son, Henry VIII, was heir to both houses
The Black Death
• A devastating plague that ravaged Europe
from 1347 to 1351
▫ Not only Europe, but also China, Central Asia,
and North Africa
• Most devastating natural disaster in
European history, with one-third of the
population dying
• The most common form of the Black Death
was the bubonic plague
▫ This was usually spread by fleas that lived on
rats
▫ Another form was called the pneumonic
plague and it was spread through the air by
• Most historians think it started in 1346 when
Mongol armies laying siege to a Black Sea
port became sick with the plague
▫ From there infected rats and fleas got onto
ships
▫ It usually followed trade routes
• The Black Death was almost always fatal
▫ First sign of infection was the development of
large dark splotches on the skin
▫ Other symptoms usually appeared, such as
high fever, vomiting, and severe headaches
▫ Most people died within a few days
• Many people believed the plague was a
punishment sent by God
• The plague led to an outbreak of antiSemitism (hostility towards Jews) and
persecution was the worst in Germany
• The death of so many people had numerous
consequences: population declined and
lowered the demand for food, which resulted
in falling prices
▫ Landlords were paying more for labor as their
incomes decreased
▫ This all started to bring the downfall of the
manorial system
• Houses in the cities were crowded together
and tall enough that they blocked the
sunlight
▫ Streets were narrow and winding, and usually
filled with animal and human waste
▫ These cities were dirty and smelled bad
▫ Fire was a great danger because houses were
wooden
▫ Disease and crime were also problems
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey
Chaucer
• Collection of stories about pilgrims traveling to
Canterbury, England depicting life in the Middle
Ages during NormanConquest.
In your notebook, complete Reading Like a
Historian p. R63
Homework: Further Thinking
• Compare Feudal times to Modern day society