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Feudal systems in the medieval period
The development of feudalism in western europe
The development of feudalism in western europe
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Recommended: Feudal systems in the medieval period
Kerry Koroma
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History
January 6, 2016 ‘Guild’ is of Saxon origin and means to pay off. This word relates to the subscription that the members used to pay to the Guilds. Some other meanings of this term are livery, fraternity, fellowship, company, brotherhood, society and association. Guilds of the Middle Ages can be related to the labour unions of today that were given license from the year 1170. They used to set certain standards for the related professions and also secured the interests and rights of their faculty (Lordsandladies.org). The importance of guilds in the middle ages cannot be overlooked as they played a major part in the flow of the conventional life. Feudalism was valid in that era and people were encouraged to be a part of guild as they were given monetary support and higher status in the society. Basically there were 2 basic categories of medieval guilds; the first one was the Craft Guilds and Merchant Guilds.
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The answer to this question is the Feudalism that was growing very furiously in the medieval ages, which encouraged the land owners and lord of the properties to apply tax on the properties of people, their trade and their towns. With the increase of trade, the rate of taxes also increased simultaneously. During the medieval era in England, raising voice against this injustice by only an individual sounded a ludicrous idea, so with the mutual understanding, Guilds came into being. There were 3 levels of becoming the selective member of guild. Those three levels were 1) apprentice, 2) journeymen and 3)
Change and continuity are two major principles of life. They can easily be applied to history because their application accurately portrays the circumstances, and characterizes the era of interest. Merriam-Webster defines continuity as an uninterrupted connection, succession, or union, or an uninterrupted duration or continuation especially without essential change. Change is defined as to make different in some particular, to alter, to make radically different, to transform, or to give a different position, course, or direction to. These antonyms are critical in understanding history.
These early unions had many names including societies, social societies and guilds. These primitive unions or guilds of carpenters, cordwainers, and cobblers made their appearance, often temporary, in cities around the east coast of colonial America. These groups of workers are a far cry from what unions are today. They mainly focused on friendship and trust between the workers and management. The first recorded form of a union was a group called the "Friendly Society of Cotton Spinners, who in 1775 instructed its members not to work below the usual price" (Smith).
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,
As I talked about earlier pipiltin’ formed the guilds. Each guild has its own people from there own town.
The upper echelons belonged to the aristocracy whose positions were granted them by birth and within this group there was a hierarchical system. The king was at the top of the hierarchy and the gentry at the bottom. Wood describes the gentlemen of the gentry as a help to the commoners. These men lent money to those of lower social standing and also purchased goods from them as well as acted as their representatives to the higher social structures. In turn the commoners paid allegiance to the gentlemen through conscription and political support.
The Gilded Age was the last three decades of the nineteenth century, when America’s industrial economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also left many workers struggling for survival. With the many immigrants, skilled and unskilled, coming to America the labor system is becoming flooded with new employees. During this period, the immigrants, including the Italians, were unskilled and the skilled workers were usually American-born. There was also a divide in the workers and the robber barons. Robber barons were American capitalist who acquired great fortunes in the last nineteenth century, usually ruthlessly. There was much turmoil throughout the business and labor community. Two major organizations, the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, helped represent the workers in this time of chaos. The Knights of Labor, founded in 1869, were representing both skilled and unskilled workers. They were quite popular with a large boost in membership becoming the biggest union in 1885. They sought for equal pay and equal work. All were welcomed to the Knights of Labor; there was no discrimination on race, gender, or sex. They called for an eight-hour day in order to reduce fatigue and for safety issues. The Knights of Labor Declaration of Principles states their purpose is to “make industrial and moral worth, not wealth” (Reading 9, p. 1). This means the moral worth is to what they could contribute to society rather than monetary gains. They were working towards this improvement of the common mans life to advance in civilization and create new ideas for society. They also called upon the employer to treat the employee with respect and fairness so they can contribute to not only their company but to Amer...
During the medieval times the social status and the rank of the citizens where very important in determining the obligations and restrictions of the people. When citizens jumped social class or stepped out of line, it was looked down upon by the other citizens. In the Knights tale some of the social class stereotypes are broken by characters such as Kate, William and Joselyn.
During the Medieval Times, merchants were just as important and wealthy as the lords and nobles. The way they would go about their wealth was getting an education to learn how to think, count, information about the world, interest rates, exchange rates, and many more information that relates to dealing with money and trade. Education has always been important to create opportunities to have successful jobs and it was interesting to read that in Medieval Times education was considered more of a hobby, but to be a merchant it became less of a hobby and more of an opportunity to be well-educated people and gave them a chance to be successful business men.
The Romanesque, or Roman-like, era existed from the ninth century to the thirteenth century AD. This era was the birth of the feudal system, a popular middle-aged government system, in which the upper class maintained control of the lower class. People of the lower class, known as peasants, often served on the plantations of lords in exchange for food and shelter. There was no real middle class in this government; people were peasants, lords, or rulers. The first guilds were formed during this period; each of them consisted of a set of people with similar talents, such as the stonemason guild and wool guild. The roads were very small, the size of a footpath, and the city was surrounded by a fortified wall to protect the citizens. The people believed that Earth was a microcosm of the spiritual world. Christianity was spread throughout Northern Europe via icon paintings, which were like seeds in that they sprouted up all over the place.
Nobility were at the top of the social classes. These men were rich and powerful, and they have large households. The real growth in society was in the merchant class. Within the nobility class there was a distinction between old families and new. A person becomes a member of nobility by birth, or by a grant from the queen or king. It took a crime such as treason for a nobleman to lose his place in this social class. Many died during the War of the Roses, a series of civil wars fought during the 15th century. Being a member of the nobility class often brought debt ...
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.
There are many different views on whether or not business should be regulated during the Guilded Age. The rich who controlled the government at the time were against any kind of regulation of business. They wanted one hundred percent capitalism. The workers on the other hand wanted the business to be regulated, and the legalization of unions. I am going to support the ideas of the business owners.
Written by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the fourteenth century, The Canterbury Tales and more specifically it’s prologue, shed a great deal of light on the rising middle class in (fourteenth century) England. Despite the fact that some readers may not know a lot about the time period today, Chaucer’s writing in the prologue elaborates on topics such as occupations, wealth, education, and political power. Scholar Barbara Nolan writes of the prologue, “it is more complex than most…It raises expectations in just the areas the handbooks propose, promising to take up important matters of natural and social order, moral character, and religion and outlining the organization the work will follow” (Nolan 154). In other words, while noting the distinct complexity of the writing, Nolan points out that Chaucer’s prologue gives the reader a lot to digest when it comes to both background information and overall form of the following writing. Focusing on the background information supplied in the prologue, readers quickly become educated about middle class England in the fourteenth century despite having been born hundreds of years later.
“The ‘solempne’ and ‘greet fraternitee’ in whose livery Chaucer dressed the five Burgesses in the General Prologue of the Canterbury Tales was probably a craft fraternity (McCutchan 313).” Guilds were very important forces in the fourteenth century. A haberdasher or any craftsman would join “for personal establishment” and membership also was “the most frequently employed means of claiming such status in local society (Rosser 10).” The fraternities served as a form of kinship and inclusion amongst peers.
On the top of the different types of social classes lied the upper class. The upper class included aristocrats, nobles, dukes, lord temporals, ecclesiastical (priests), and other royal families. The upper class is a class of nobility, wealth, and the privilege of the highest social order. If someone was a part of the upper class, money was no object so assets such as land and jewels were at their disposal (“Aristocratic Life in Victorian England”). Since the upper class knew they were at the top of everyone, they demanded that the classes that were beneath them were to treat them accordingly. The second type of social class is the middle class, which consists of successful industrialists, poor clerks and wealthy bankers. The reason why clerks were apart of the middle class is because social class wasn’t defined by a person’s income, it was defined by what the source was. During this time in history the middle class grew in size and importance, it was about fifteen percent of the population in Great Britain. The middle class people valued hard work, sexual mortality, and individual responsibility. The third and final type of social class is the lower class. In the lower class there were the people who did physical labor, which were jobs that the other classes did not want to be doing. An example of a lower class person is a farmer. The lower class were either paid