What was The Feudal System During the Middle Ages? There was a time before presidency, before Martin Luther King, before Harriet Tubman's time. A time Before Christopher Columbus's. I’m speaking about Medieval Times. When people like Charlemagne, and the Frankish Empire. One thing I noticed about this period was the Feudal System and how it worked. According to book Medieval World: Feudalism, The feudal system was a system that was a way to describe the way power was exercised during that time. The Feudal System consisted of Lords, Noblemen, Vassals, Knights and Stated by World Book Online, Feudalism came after Charlemagne's Death. After he died, Europe was divided into kingdoms, but the kings had little control over their kingdoms. So then the vassals became rulers of their own land, thus creating the feudal system. In the system, if you provided a military or another type of service for the person above you, they promised to protect you. Like I said before the typical person of the Feudal System was a nobleman, lord, vassal, knights a serfs, but they were this all at the same time. You were a nobleman by being born into nobility. You became a knight by deciding to be a professional warrior, you became a vassal when you worked for a nobleman and you became a lord when you gave land to someone else. A serf was a peasant who worked on the land, but were protected by the knights a nobleman. The top of hierarchy was the Lords. In the life in of a lord, they spent most of it fighting. He believed the most honorable thing was being a professional warrior. When it came to fighting, they were very similar to knights. This lifestyle became known as Chivalry. According to World Book Online, Chivalry ... ... middle of paper ... ... couldn't work on their own. They couldn't become priest or testify in court. They also had to pay a tax if they wanted to marry a serf that belongs to another lord. Unlike slaves, serfs could not be bought and sold to someone else. But serfs couldn't leave the manor either. When an estate was given, the serfs would go with the One of the most important things about the middle Ages was the hierarchy. The hierarchy was the person you completed a service for. The hierarchy was the organization for the middle ages. If it had been different, the Middle Ages would have probably been a mess because there level of control would be in order. The way the Middle Ages went about Feudalism has set out an example of what the rest of time would do with feudalism. Without their view and what they did with feudalism, there would probably no existence on feudalism.
Others were more like slaves. They owned nothing and were pledged to their local lord. They worked long days, 6 days a week, and often barely had enough food to survive”(“Middle Ages History”). Knights were above the peasants and they were given land granted by the barons in exchange for their military services if the king needed it. They were responsible for protecting the baron who granted them land as well as the baron’s family and the manor they lived at. The knights were able to keep any amount of land they were given, and they gave out the rest to the serfs. The lord, or baron, was above the knight in the social class divide. They were given land by the king and in return they showed loyalty to the monarch. They provided the king with fully equipped knights if the king needed some to serve. If the baron “did not have an army, sometimes they would pay the king a tax instead. This tax was called shield money”(“Middle Ages History”). The king was at the top of the feudal system and held the most power and wealth. The king could not maintain control over all the land in England so he divided the land up to the barons which eventually
people to base there values and way of life on. During the 1400's knighthood was coming
“Feudalism was a political, economic, and social system in which nobles were granted the use of land that legally belonged to the king” (Doc. 1) "Social" life in the Middle Ages was the only kind of life people knew. Whether nobility, craftsperson or peasant your life was defined by your family, your community and those around you (OI). “The Church protected the Kings and Queens (OI).” “The King is above Nobles, Nobles above Knights, and the Knights are above serfs (Doc.1).” “ Nobles provides money and knights. Knights provide protection and military service (Doc. 1).” Social network, your village and your local nobility, was your family (OI).” “From the moment of its baptism a few days after birth, a child entered into a life of service to God and God’s Church (Doc.3).” “Every Person was required to live by the Church’s laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church (Doc.3).” “In return for this, they were shown the way to everlasting life and happiness after lives that were often short and hard (Doc. 3).” In conclusion, this is what it was like in the Middle Ages from a social
Below him there was a council of four noble princes and three honored classes of warriors who managed day to day affairs in the empire. Below them were four social classes, nobles, commoners, serfs and slaves. Nobles: the nobles owned private plots of land or shared land with other families. Commoners: The commoners were the largest group who included priests, merchants, artisans, and farmers who held land in common with the nobles.
noble court and another 7 as a squire, or attendant, to a knight, not to become
A serf sometimes was bound to soil which meant that they had to stay on the manor forever until they die. The serfs were not paid much they were paid just enough to eat, they got to keep a little bit of what they grew.
In Europe within the 1300’s, feudal system was quite common. The king would grant land to bishops and nobles who would then give an estate to a knight in return for service. The knight would generally have peasants or serfs working on their estate who would in turn give the knights something as well.
As time progressed the feudal system was created. It was designed to divide the lands and protect from attack. The king first gave a fief or a piece of land to a royal vassal. As proof for this exchange in land a vassal would swear to the lord to be his man all the days of his life and protect him against "all men who may live or die." Next came investiture. Investiture was a symbolic gesture when a King or a lord presented a royal vassal or a vassal a stick, a small rod, or a clod of earth to show that he has given him a fief. Now this royal vassal was in charge of a huge piece of land. In order to defend it he would then divide his land into smaller pieces. He would take these smaller pieces and give them to warriors or who agreed to be his own vassals. Thus, the royal vassal became a lord to other vassals. The vassals now under this lord would now divide their lands and grant fiefs to warriors of their own. Last in the dividing of land was the knight whose parcel of land was too small to be divided.
18 Nov. 2011. Hudson, Toren J.F. & Co. "Medieval Europe, Part 3: Nobles and Mercenaries." Hudson's American History. The. Toren J.F. -.. Hudson, a.k.a. The New York Web.
He could also make them work as hard as he wanted them to. Except, the risk of losing a serf was too high, especially since the Black Plague was going around. The Finer Times said that the health of a serf wasn’t anywhere near perfect. The water was polluted from the waste of the towns. Homes without bathrooms threw their waste into the gutter or in the streets and small businesses produced rotting garbage that attracted bacteria, rats, fleas, and flies. Medieval Times Info states that every four out of ten babies didn’t reach the age of five due to illness. The Black Plague spread to the manors and killed one-third of the population. Other than illness, hunger was a problem for the serfs. With everyone dropping like flies, there weren't that many serfs left to work in the fields, causing the crops to die out from not being able to get harvested or treated in time. The ladies of the manor had it easier, but not
There were few honors greater than becoming a knight in the medieval ages, however few occupations that were also as formidable. One aspiring to be a knight was nurtured from an early age for the sole purpose of fulfilling his calling. Once the young man achieved knighthood, his life was constant battle to protect his land, his pride, and his faith.
1. A hierarchy was a very important system in the late medieval ages. It was used to define the characteristics of the peoples and their rankings. For example, the king would give some of his lands to the nobles in return for loyalty and military, the nobles would give some of their land and protection to the knights in return for loyalty and service, and the knights would give protection to serfs and freemen in return for labour. If there was no hierarchy system, the whole kingdom would have collapsed and would have resulted in the everything going out of control.
During the Middle Ages, feudalism served as the “governing political, social, and economic system of late medieval Europe.” Feudalism consisted of feudal liege lords giving land and protection to vassals, common men, in exchange for their allegiance and military service. Although this principle may at first sound like a fair trade, it in actuality restricted the entire society and took away every bit of their independence. In essence, this system could even be compared to a “mini-dictatorship” because the common people relied on ...
Print. "The Middle Ages: Feudal Life." Learner.org. Annenberg Foundation, 2012. Web.