Feudalism The Vassals

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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 …show more content…

The manor was the Lord's estate. The manor was isolated and had everything that the people on it needed. Because of the protection on the manor landowners were vulnerable to attacks from other landowners on the manor trying to expand their lands. On the manor the top of the hierarchy was the King, then the Vassals, then Knights, and lastly serfs. For serfs life was hard. They worked long hours so their family had a place to stay and food to eat. If your parents were serfs you were born into being a serf. Serfs were required to stay on the manor and had to work several days a week for the lord of the manor. Serfs didn't travel from the manor because when they left they had no protection. A serf had to pay rent and taxes to the Lord of the manor. The Lord provided serf housing, farmland, and protection. The serfs had to pay a tax that was 1/10 of their income to the church. Feudalism created alliances among peasants, landowners, and the nobility. Which provided the needs in life in a safer environment. Once centralized government was eliminated people were fearful of attack from invaders and from neighbors. Feudalism offered an objection of a castle because of military defense that was provided by a lords

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