Throughout the Middle Ages, the people of Europe were ravaged constantly by disease, war and a struggling economy. What effected some of these people even more was the feudal system and the greed that it imposed. Five major events helped to eventually crumble the feudal system and bring a new life to Europe, the crusades, the Magna Carta, the Black Death, the Revival of trade and growth of towns and the Hundred Years' War. These events all may have been tragic for many people, but it aloe brought a new life to Europe by uniting and empowering the peasants and serfs and breaking apart power hungry monarchies. By doing this Europe was freed from social classes and restricting laws, allowing for production to take off, trade to be boosted and …show more content…
As trade routes came to more and more parts of Europe, people of all feudal classes took advantage of the new goods and services that the trade boats brought to make money. After the crusades, many exotic goods like sugar, apricots, silk, and lemons were brought back to Europe in ships that once carried soldiers. These new goods created opportunity for trade, and more importantly money. People flocked to the cities in order to stake their claim on the growing trade industry. Manors were now less inhabited as people could get more of what they needed instead of the bare essentials that they got in the manors. This eventually led to the collapse of manors as they were less and less appealing to people. Instead the only restrictions people had now was the guild, taxes they had to pay for visiting new cities and towns to trade. Some of these towns included Venice, Budapest, Alexandria, and Carthage. What made these cities so successful was that they all lay in huge bodies of water where trade ships could easily access their ports. Trade was becoming bigger and bigger all over Europe, the trade routes extended across the Mediterranean like a spider web. Cities became richer as a whole and as the manors disappeared so did the feudal system. This equality throughout merchants when trade was revived is now known as the middle class something that still exists to this day. The revival of trade and the growth of towns destroyed the feudal systems, because the manors that the feudal system once existed in. Monarchs gained money because their tax income increased astronomically. Nobles, Knights and peasants all greatly benefitted from the creation of towns and cities because they now had new financial help and new industries to work in that they did not have before. More specifically, peasants could make huge money trading
In summary, Europe developed and changed throughout the Middle ages. It advanced in the categories of social, economic, and political status. Socially, feudalism organized the society with ranks of social class from serfs to the kings. Economically, money and trade provided money. The Church, feudal society, and manners were a major part of the Middle
Between the advancements in farming and the guild system, people across western Europe were highly effected by some part of the economy or another. Early on in the Middle Ages, around the year 1000, farmers had heavier plows and had greatly improved when it came to harnessing horses (Palmer et al. 27). These two aspects made it considerably easier to farm because the plows had a much easier time getting through the soil, while having horses readily available and attached to the plow in the right way made the entire process faster, and overall a better experience. Advancements in farming made it much more productive, which eventually led to the feudal system. Because farming was becoming more and more productive by the day at this time, surpluses were starting to be created, ultimately leading to job specialization and guilds. During the Middle Ages, towns and cities were often home to a guild that specialized in one specific product (LeVan). Masters worked with journeymen and apprentices to perfect whatever craft their guild specialized in (McKay et al. 346). Because there were highly trained masters in charge of everything, from training apprentices to creating goods, it could be ensured that quality was up to par. The masters passed on their knowledge to apprentices, which meant that the products would still be of good quality after the original master ended their career. For the most part, guilds had monopolies on whatever product they specialized in (555). With one guild producing all of a certain good, consumers had no choice but to buy from them, meaning that if necessary, a guild that created a product that almost everyone needed could significantly raise the price, and people would have no choice but to buy from them. People working in the guilds typically made very good wages because of this idea. Economically, the Middle Ages progressed tremendously,
The Middle Ages was a dark time for the people of Europe. As the Black Death reigned during the mid-14nth century, dead bodies littered the streets, social order was abandoned, and human pretenses were forgotten. This deadly disease resulted in a complete alteration in the foundations of Europe itself. Unique practices, myths, and beliefs manifested themselves in the people?causing them to doubt the very church and government which had once captured their undoubting faith. Despite the scrambling of both doctors and church officials, there seemed no end to the enormous death tolls. The plague, feared and dreaded by all, changed the behavior of an entire continent and resulted, ultimately, in the death of a third of its population.
In conclusion, with the various events that occurred during the Middle Ages, they all show that they developed social, economic and political changes throughout Europe. Although it may have taken a series of fortunate and unfortunate events, the change brought the flourishing age of Renaissance. From the night in shiny armor, comes the flowering of literature, science, art, religion, politics, and most importantly, knowledge by learning.
The Black Plague, perhaps one of the worst epidemics in history, swept its evil across Europe in the middle of the 14th century, killing an estimated 20 million people. This major population shift, along with other disasters occurring at the time, such as famine and an already existing economic recession, plunged Europe into a dark period of complete turmoil. Anarchy, psychological breakdowns, and the dissipation of church power were some of the results. As time passed, however, society managed to find new ground and began its long path of recovery. The plague, as catastrophic as it was to medieval Europe, had just as many positive effects that came with this recovery as it did negative effects prior. An end to feudalism, increased wages and innovation, the idea of separation of church and state, and an attention to hygiene and medicine are only some of the positive things that came after the plague. It could also be argued that the plague had a significant impact on the start of the Renaissance.
...l the power it lost. As for nobles there were too few of them to rule and too few peasants to ruler over. This took Europe out of the middle ages and into the Renaissance period where new inventions were made, art was created, and civilization flourished.
Life in Europe during the timeframe of ca. 1300 to ca. 1500 consisted of famine, plagues, and economic abundance. These trials and tribulation directly affected the individuals in the lower class of society, otherwise known as peasants. Peasants were directly affected by the Great Famine of the 1300’s, the Black Death of the mid 1300’s, and the positive and negative effects of the economic variances due to these maladies. In this essay, I will exhibit how the positive and negative effects of the Great Famine and Black Death affected the peasants during the time of ca. 1300 to ca. 1500. This demonstration will be displayed by presenting how the Great Famine attributed to the loss of 5-10% of Europe’s population, how the Black Death caused the death of up to 33% of Europe’s population, and finally demonstrate how the Black Death led to more freedom and economic prosperity for many of the surviving peasants.
Feudalism helped large land owners protect their land from Germanic invaders and Vikings. In Feudalism the Nobles promised to help fight the kings enemies. The King gave land to nobles under him. The Nobles were called Vassals of the King and the Vassals fought for their King and other Nobles who were Knights. A serf was someone who farmed the lands and serfs had to pay rent and taxes to nobles. The King gave fiefs that were large land grants to Vassals. Vassals also gave fiefs to Knights and Knights gave protection to serfs. Knights were heavily armed soldiers who rode horsebacks. The manor was isolated. Mostly all of the people in the Feudal system lived on the manor which included the castle, church, village, and the surrounding farm land
Feudalism is a system of land ownership and duties that were used in the Middle Ages. Under feudalism, all the land in a kingdom was the king's. However, the king would give some of his land to the lords or nobles who fought for him. Rulers in all society wanted to create law and order and ensure that people make good use of the society’s resources. That is why feudalism was created. Monarchs had to accept limits on their own personal power. They also needed to respond to expectations that other groups in society have a say in decision-making. People began to use medieval courts for problems that had previously been solved by trial by combat.
Europe’s social structure in the Middle Ages consisted of feudalism. A hierarchical society of Kings granting land to nobles, who would then give a fief to a knight in return for service. The knight would then have peasants or serfs working on their fief. However, as the plague spread, many peasants died and their labour could not be replaced. This loss of workforce had a significant impact upon the economy as grain was not being harvested and livestock roamed free. The agrarian economy had been severely damaged, the land became uncultivated and returned back to its natural state. This rural collapse eventually led to food shortages in towns and cities.
The emergence of capitalism in Western Europe was considered as a majority change in human history. As prior to the emergence of capitalism conditions are mainly agriculture and there was no sustained monotonic income per capita. Also prior to the emergence of capitalism there was a feudal system of organising the economy emerged in the 15th century of medieval Europe.
Many things effected society in Medieval Europe, some having a more profound effect than others. Europe in the Middles ages was a time of learning and of cultural growth, but it was also a time of more serious things such as the Black Death. The way Europe coped with these unforeseen challenges, helped shape their society and culture, and we still learn about them today.
Western Europe suffered numerous hardships through the ninth and tenth centuries and this was the ultimate reason they established a new political organization which was known as feudalism. By providing honor, protection, and a sense of control, this new social system revived peace and order in Western Europe after the fall of the Carolingian Empire. Feudalism was a necessary ingredient to yield stability in during these times of calamity.
The feudal system was a political, military, and economic system based on the holding of land. The system was developed since the whole entire basis of rule from all the civilizations before the Middle Ages was lost. Early Europe was in desperate need of such a system since they were constantly being raided by the Vikings and other outsiders.
Although scholars dispute its roots, Feudalism was mostly seen in Frankish lands around the 9th and 10th century. ("Feudalism: History of Feudalism in Europe." Infoplease.) The system was first introduced as a means of protection for the king. However, as time grew the opportunity to use it as means of exchange for services between the king and vassal was found. Instead of just forcing people into the king’s army the idea of giving fiefs to those who would pledge their life to service the king was decided on. Likewise, vassal, or the knights saw the advantages they had that could be used to their advantage.