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 ...
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... 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
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.
There was a hierarchy of people with feudalism. At the top were powerful lords who split their lands amongst lesser lords. These lords were called vassals If someone was a vassal to a powerful lord, that meant they would pledge his service and loyalty to the more powerful lord. Once this pledge was completed, the powerful lord would grant an estate to the vassal. These estates were called fiefs. .
people to base there values and way of life on. During the 1400's knighthood was coming
noble court and another 7 as a squire, or attendant, to a knight, not to become
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.
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.
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 ...
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.
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
Print. "The Middle Ages: Feudal Life." Learner.org. Annenberg Foundation, 2012. Web.
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.
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.