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I. European Feudal Society A. The Feudal System 1. Lords and vassals a. Lord provided vassal a grant known as a benefice, usually grants of land often called fiefs 1. enabled the vassal to devote time and energy to serve the lord 2. provided resources to maintain horses and military equipment b. Vassals owed lord loyalty, obedience, respect, counsel, and military service c. The lord-vassal relationship was not entirely new, but became dominant now 2. Feudal politics a. Multitiered network of lord-vassal relationships b. Political stability depended on discipline and control of vassals B. Serfs and Manors in Feudal Europe 1. Serfs a. Slaves and peasants took agricultural tasks, frequently intermarried b. Free peasants often turned over themselves and their lands to a lord for protection c. Serfs as an intermediate category emerged about the mid-7th century 2. Serfs' obligations a. Labor service and rents in kind b. Could not move to other lands without permission c. Obligations fulfilled, serfs had right to work on land and pass it to heirs 3. Manors a. Principal form of agricultural organization b. A manor was a large estate, controlled by the lord and his deputies c. Many lords had the authority to execute serfs for serious misconduct d. Manors were largely self-sufficient communities C. The Economy of Feudal Europe 1. Agriculture a. Agricultural production suffered from repeated invasions b. Small wooden plows of Mediterranean farmers did not work well in the north 2. Heavy plows a. Heavy plows appeared in the 6th century, could turn soils b. Became common from the 8th century, production increased c. Cultivation of new lands, watermills, and rotating crops 3. A rural society a. Agricultural surplus not enough to support large cities b. Towns were few and sparsely populated 4. Trade a. Trade and urban centers began to develop by the 10th century b. Trade took place in Mediterranean, North Sea, and Black Sea 5. Population a. In 200 C.E., European population stood at 36 million b. In 400 C.E., 31 million c. In 600 C.E., 26 million d. In 800 C.E., edged up to 29 million e. In 900 C.E., 30 million f. By 1000 C.E., back to 36 million A. Feudal Monarchies in France and England 1. Capetian France a. Hugh Capet, a minor and weak noble, was elected king in 987 b. II. In the next three centuries, Capetian kings gained power and wealth gradually 2. The Normans a. Descendants of Vikings who carved out a state in Normandy of France b. Nominally subject to Carolingian and Capetian rulers, but acted independently 3. Norman England a. Duke William of Normandy invaded England in 1066 b. Introduced Norman style of feudalism to England B. Regional States in Italy and Iberia 1. Church influence in Italy a. The popes ruled a good-sized territory in central Italy b. The church also influenced politics of northern Italy 2. Italian states a. A series of prosperous city-states emerged by the 12th century b. Normans conquered southern Italy, brought it to Roman Catholic Christianity 3. Christian and Muslim states in Iberia a. Muslim conquerors ruled most of the peninsula, 8th-11th centuries b. Christian kingdoms took the peninsula except Granada by late 13th century Economic Growth and Social Development A. Growth of the Agricultural Economy 1. Expansion of arable land a. Population pressure by the late 10th century b. Serfs and monks began to clear forests and swamps c. Lords encouraged such efforts for high taxes 2. Improved agricultural techniques a. Crop rotation methods b. Cultivation of beans increased - enriched the land c. More domestic animals - also enriched the land d. Books and treatises on household economy and agricultural methods 3. New tools and technology a. Extensive use of watermills and heavy plows b. Use of horseshoe and horse collar, increased land under cultivation 4. New food supplies a. Before 1000, European diet - grains b. After 1000, more meat, dairy products, fish, vegetables, and legumes 5. Population growth: from 29 to 79 million between 800 C.E. and 1300 C.E. B. The Revival of Towns and Trade 1. Urbanization: Peasants and serfs flocked to cities and towns 2. Textile production a. Northern Italian cities and Flanders became centers of wool textiles b. Trade in wool products fueled economic development of Europe 3. Mediterranean trade a. Beside Amalfi and Venice, other cities also became important b. Italian merchants established colonies in Mediterranean and Black Sea 4. The Hanseatic League a. The Hansa - an association of trading cities, dominated trade of northern Europe b. Major European rivers linked Hansa to the Mediterranean 5. Improved business techniques a. Bankers issued letters of credit to merchants b. C. Commercial partnerships for limiting risks of commercial investment Social Changes 1. The three estates a. "Those who pray" - clergy of Roman Catholic church, the spiritual estate b. "Those who fight" - feudal nobles, the military estate c. "Those who work" - mostly peasants and serfs 2. Chivalry a. Widely-recognized code of ethics and behavior for feudal nobles b. Church officials directed chivalry toward Christian faith and piety 3. Troubadours a. Aristocratic women promoted chivalric values by patronizing troubadours b. Troubadours drew inspiration from the love poetry of Muslim Spain 4. Eleanor of Aquitaine a. Most celebrated woman of her day b. Supported troubadours, promoted good manners, refinement, and romantic love c. Code of chivalry and romantic poetry softened manners of rough warriors 5. Independent cities a. Expansion of cities fit awkwardly in the feudal framework b. Urban populations were increasingly able to resist demands of feudal nobles 6. Guilds a. Established standards of quality for manufactured goods b. Determined prices and regulated entry of new workers 7. Urban women a. Towns and cities offered fresh opportunities for women b. Women worked in a wide range of occupations c. Most guilds admitted women, and women also had their own guilds I. Feudal Japan A. Early Japan 1. Nara Japan (710-794 C.E.) a. The earliest inhabitants of Japan were nomadic peoples from northeast Asia b. Ruled by several dozen states by the middle of the 1st millennium C.E. c. Inspired by the Tang example, one clan claimed imperial authority over others d. The imperial court modeled on that of the Tang e. Built a new capital (Nara) in 710 C.E., modeled on Chang'an f. Adopted Confucianism and Buddhism, but maintained their Shinto rites 2. Heian Japan (794-1185 C.E.) a. Moved to new capital Heian (modern Kyoto) in 794 b. Japanese emperors as ceremonial figureheads and symbols of authority c. Effective power in the hands of the Fujiwara family d. Emperor did not rule, which explains the longevity of the imperial house e. Chinese learning dominated Japanese education and political thought 3. The Tale of Genji: women contributed most to Japanese literature and writing 4. Decline of Heian Japan a. The equal-field system began to fail b. c. d. B. I. Aristocratic clans accumulated most lands Taira and Minamoto, the two most powerful clans, engaged in wars The clan leader of the victorious Minamoto claimed the title of shogun, military governor, and ruled in Kamakura Medieval Japan 1. Japanese feudalism a. Feudal Japan: Kamakura (1185-1333 C.E.) and Muromachi (1336-1573 C.E.) periods b. Provincial lords controlled Japan, vied for power against each other 2. The samurai a. Professional warriors of provincial lords b. Valued loyalty, military talent, and discipline c. Observed samurai code called bushido d. To preserve their honor, engaged in ritual suicide called seppuku The Unification of Japan A. The Tokugawa Shogunate 1. Tokugawa Ieyasu a. After chronic turmoil for few centuries, Ieyasu unified Japan, 1600 b. Established a military government known as bakufu 2. Control of daimyo a. 260 territorial lords called daimyo, powerful, unruly, using gunpowder weapons b. Tokugawa shoguns adopted policy of "alternate attendance" c. Marriage between daimyo families must get approval of the bakufu d. Some other methods of controlling daimyo 3. Control of foreign relations a. The shoguns adopted policy of isolation from outside world, the 1630s b. Foreign trade was under tight restriction at the port of Nagasaki c. Despite the policy, Japan was never completely isolated B. Economic and Social Change 1. Population growth a. Agricultural production doubled between 1600 and 1700 b. Population rose about one-third during the 17th century c. Thereafter, moderate growth because of population control-infanticide, contraception, late marriage, abortion 2. Social change a. Social peace changed warriors' roles, many had financial difficulty b. Merchants became prominent, controlled more wealth than the ruling elites C. Neo-Confucianism and Floating Worlds 1. Neo-Confucianism was the official ideology of the Tokugawa bakufu 2. Native learning a. Scholars of "native learning" scorned neo-Confucianism and even Buddhism b. They debated with Confucians on philosophical issues and Japanese identity 3. Floating worlds a. Urban culture centers, entertainment and pleasure quarters-teahouses, theaters, brothels, public baths b. Ihara Saikaku helped create a new genre of prose literature c. Kabuki theaters and bunraku became very popular D. Christianity and Dutch Learning 1. Christian missions a. The Jesuit Francis Xavier traveled to Japan in 1549 b. Remarkable initial success of Jesuits in Japan 2. 3. I. Anti-Christian campaign a. The popularity of Christianity alarmed Tokugawa shoguns b. Buddhist and Confucian scholars resented the Christian conviction c. Shoguns launched several campaigns to ban Christianity d. By the late 17th century, campaigns had claimed tens of thousands of lives Dutch learning a. A small number of Japanese scholars learned Dutch at Nagasaki b. Dutch learning became important after 1720 when Tokugawa government lifted the ban on foreign books c. Shoguns became enthusiastic proponents of Dutch learning by mid-18th century d. European art, medicine, and science began to influence Japanese scholars The Transformation of Japan A. From Tokugawa to Meiji 1. Crisis and reform a. Crop failure, high taxes, rising rice price were main causes of protests and rebellions during the late 18th and early 19th centuries b. Tokugawa bakufu initiated measures of conservative reforms, but not effective 2. Foreign pressure a. British, French, and U.S. ships visited Japan seeking to establish relations, 1844 b. Upon rejection, Perry led a U.S. fleet to Tokyo Bay (1853), demanded to open Japan c. Japan signed a series of unequal treaties with U.S. and other western countries 3. The end of Tokugawa rule a. Opposition to Tokugawa became widespread, Choshu and Satsma became centers of opposition b. Dissidents' slogan: "Revere the emperor, expel the barbarians." 4. The Meiji Restoration a. In a brief civil war, Tokugawa armies were defeated by dissident militia b. The boy emperor Mutsuhito, known as Meiji, took the reins of power B. Meiji Reforms 1. Foreign influences a. Fukuzawa Yukichi, influential writer and educator, lauded constitutional government and modern educational systems b. Ito Hirobumi studied constitutions and governments in Europe, helped build Japanese constitutional government 2. Abolition of the feudal order a. Replaced old domains with prefectures and districts under the central government b. Abolished samurai class, raised a conscript army c. Discontented samurai rose in rebellion in 1877, with no success 3. Revamping tax system a. Converted grain taxes to a fixed money tax b. Assessed taxes on potential productivity of arable land 4. Constitutional government a. The Meiji constitution as a "gift" to the people, 1899 b. 5. 6. It gave the emperor paramount power, limited the rights of the people c. Despite its conservative nature, it provided opportunity for debate and dissent Remodeling the economy a. Meiji government created a modern transportation, communication, and educational infrastructure b. The government sold most of its enterprises to private investors, 1880s c. The rise of zaibatsu, or financial cliques Costs of economic development a. Peasants paid 40 to 50% of their products as taxes, provided funds to purchase foreign industrial equipment b. The government did nothing to alleviate suffering of rural population, but cruelly repressed peasant uprisings c. Meiji law treated unions and strikes as criminal d. Japan became an industrial power: ended extraterritoriality in 1899, made alliance with Britain in 1902, defeated China in 1895 and Russia in 1904