How Did Feudalism Affect Medieval Europe

Feudalism

Leina McLaughlin Feudalism was an incredibly important government in medieval Europe. After Rome fell feudalism was the government that got Europe through viking and muslim attacks, poor kings, and distraught citizens. Overall, the rise, change, and fall of feudalism all impacted medieval Europe. In 500 A.D. Rome had fallen and Europe’s lower classes needed protection. Kings started fighting over land and neglecting their people. Nobles then took over, splitting countries into small colonies of land, each “ruled” by a noble. Each noble had knights and lesser nobles beneath him. They were vassals to their lord above them and they would serve and protect him and his serfs and peasants. Serfs were common workers that belonged to the land they worked. Peasants were like serfs in that they also worked the land but didn’t belong to it. Nobles,vassals, serfs, and peasants all working on land, or manors, in their own ways, was called

feudalism was in it’s greatest years. But, it had started to change. Manors which once protected people quite often, had grown, and the need for protection faded as well. Churches that once had been a part of everyday life were growing. Monks and nuns started discovering new technology in monasteries and clergy, church leaders, started to lead bigger and more grand services. Regular serfs and peasants realized that if they took the goods they had, they could trade for new luxury items which could be sold for more to other manors. Making the trading serfs and peasants known as merchant, because they no longer actually worked the land for themselves but traded for money. Small cities started to be built by merchants. Along with roads to each city. This allowed for merchants to move around and trade in almost every upcoming city in Europe. Soon, living in a manor was not as prosperous as living in a big, active city. Overall, when merchants, the church, and cities started to rise, feudalism’s popularity began to