Feudalism In The Middle Ages

A lord would grant land to another noble in exchange for protection and military services. This grant was called a fief. Those who received fiefs were called vassals. Within the fief, the vassal was the highest authority. Fiefs could be various seizes. Some were single estates just big enough for a knight and his family. Others were large, as big as an entire country or province.

The importance of feudalism is that it was a type of government. It may not have been the most effective or unifying government, but it was a system that got the people through the Medieval Period. It later made way for the monarchy system found in many European countries later on in history.

The feudal system began to decline after the Black Death struck Europe in the late 1340’s. The feudal system joined politics and grouped together the social classes of that period. It began with the “relationship between two freemen (men who are not serfs), a lord and his vassal. Vassal derived from a Celtic word for servant, but in feudal terms vassal meant a free person who put himself under the protection of a lord and for whom he rendered loyal military aid.” This relationship was mutually beneficial at first, but throughout the development of the system, great restrictions were endured.

During the medieval times Kings had absolute power and the Catholic Church made sure God help the King retain this power. During this time feudalism was the structure that shaped society. In the feudalism structure the people that work the land the poor got cero power and live at the mercy of the barons. Barons where the owners of the land that people where let to work and make really low amounts of money while the baron sells and exchange the goods produced by the land and makes a fortune. At the end of the day the land belongs to the king and the king taxes the barons and collects money from all the land making him very, very wealthy and powerful.

During the middle ages the lack of protection and a stable government after the Fall of Rome created the need for a new political system. Feudalism was the political system that emerged and shaped the lives of people socially and politically. Manors were small communities that were made up of a castle, church, village, and land for farming. The structured society provided a place and responsibility for everyone. The feudal obligations showed that in exchange for one thing they would be provided with something else. Serfs and peasants would work and produce goods for the rest of the manor and in return had their land and promised protection. The vassals would need to obtain land from the Lord and in return would provide the Lord with military service, loyalty, and ransom if asked for (Doc. 4). To make clear the vassal’s specific allegiance to their lord whom they owed in for exchange for their fief they would take the Homage Oath (Doc. 2). This interdependent system required everyone to do their part and it created social classes that they were born into. Their daily lives were centered on the manor and that was how it stayed until towns began to

Document 1) A: The Feudalism provided protection and military services for their families. Nobles agreed to give their loyalty to the king. As the peasants worked the land for the knights and nobles and which they gave to them was protection and a portion of the harvest to feed their families. Document 2)

Feudalism provided security of the people of the Medieval Europe by working for nobles and knights to get protection in return. Also, “the peasants or serfs worked the land for the knights and nobles and in return they received protection and a portion of the harvest to feed to their families” (Doc. 1). This states that when serfs worked for nobles and knights, they

Those who fought were obligated to provide military services to their lord and protect those who worked and lived on the land. Those who fought were the vassals, dukes, the lesser nobility, and knights. They were responsible for handling any threats and fighting that occurred on their lords' lands. In return for their service, these knights, etc. received fiefs. Fiefs are grants of land from a lord. These knights, etc. also became vassals of the lord because when you receive a fief, you swear your allegiance to this lord and become a vassal. Although, there was an error that caused many problems with this system. This error was that knights and vassals could swear their allegiance to many different lords, which made for complicated relationships when it came to fighting. Those who fought were the backbone of medieval

Also, when receiving land, the lord received power over the peasants of that village. Knights also got support, a share of the treasure and goods that were taken in battle, and a sort of insurance. This insurance was that if he died, his children were protected until the girl married and the boy became a vassal, and that the widow and the land were protected (Smith 3). Also appealing to would-be knights was the rise in status. Knights were given a fief, often land, making them a vassal, and therefore a lord (Beil 15). Knights were considered to be like the rock stars of their time as they were well off and thought as honorable, chivalrous, and wealthy (Nardo 29). Because of this they were sought after by high class ladies looking for a husband, and by troubadours who looked for the heroes of their songs (Nardo 31). Because of these advantages, the feudal oath became a political tool where it previously had been a vow of military duty (Beil 9). It was understood that if he did not uphold his promise it would all be taken back. (Beil 15). However, knights did not only gain as they also had to work or their king/lord. A common time frame expected from knights for

During the Middle Ages the manorial system provided protection for the commoners and other people of the time. According to the document, Feudalism and the Manorialism by Onondaga Central School Community, the early Middle Ages were a time when kings were too weak to keep intruders from invading the private lands. Manorialism originated from kings and other highly ranked people in society who were not able to protect their lands from ferocious invaders (Onondaga Central School Community 1). Since the kings could not protect the lands of the nobles, they had to come up with a system to defend lands by themselves (Onondaga Central School Community 1). According to the document, people of the medieval towns and cities began to leave behind the shallow defense of the king and create a society far beyond.

The people of the Medieval Ages were split into social classes, under the Feudal System, which at the top was the king, followed by his lords and barons, and then the peasants. The king lived in his castle with other members of royalty and wealth, and he assigned lords or barons to control parts of the kingdom. The castle was then surrounded by the villages and farms, where the peasants lived and did their work. As many could tell, this Feudal System was separated by the wealth of the individual, and

In exchange for land, a vassal had to pledge loyalty and military service; taking on a number of responsibilities towards the feudal lord such as having to serve on the lord’s court for administration in justice. Just like how nobles could be the vassals of kings, knights can also be the vassals of nobles. Generally, the feudal hierarchy is divided into three categories; those who fought consisted of nobles and knights, those who prayed consisted of officials of the Christian Church, and those who worked were peasants and serfs. The nobles provided a part of their fiefs to the knights on lease, in the same way as the king had “leased” them. The bottom of the hierarchy consists of peasants and serfs who worked on the fiefs and paid tithes in exchange for protection from barbaric tribes and land to live on. However, this feudal social hierarchy was very rigid with little opportunities for social mobility. In an excerpt describing the obligations of the serfs of Dernale, England (D4), it is described that “When anyone of [the bond-tenants] dieth, the lord shall have all the pigs of the deceased, all his goats, all his mares at grass…” When a serf dies, most of his/her belongings go to the lord instead of the family. As a result, it’s difficult for serfs to increase their prosperity from one generation to the next because of the inability for their possessions and accumulated hard work to be passed onto their

Knights had many jobs within feudalism. One of the knights jobs was to fight when it was a time of war. Most of the knights only served in battle when they were called for war by their lord (Norman 122). If needed, all of a lord’s vassals got called to war (Norman 123).

The king held the highest position on the social hierarchy, as well as supplied the land to the vassals. The king gave his land in return for services from the vassals. All of the land was originally acquired by the king, second only to God himself (Norman 103). Himself alone could not maintain the entirety of his land, so as a result, he divided parts of this land and gave portions away to protect it from invaders and harm (Jovinelly 6). The kings and other lords had several responsibilities, including advising when to go to war, supervising the peasant work, punishing minor crimes, settling disputes and collecting taxes (Cels 18). Some other duties of the lord included protecting the vassal in the court of law, even when it came to royal courts (Norman 103). The kings and lords also protected the serfs and peasants from invaders in exchange for their services

The king will usually grant what is known as a fief or portions of land to nobles or lords or barons in exchange for their loyalty, protection and their services. The king could and would also give fiefs to knights for their military service. Many knights were warriors who served in the lord's army. In return for their service, lords gave knights many riches such as food, armor, weapons, horses and money. Peasants farmed land and provided the lords with wealth in the form of food and products rather than money. Peasants were bound to the land because it’s where they worked therefore it was in the knights interest to protect them from invaders or any other type of harm. Fiefs usually were from passed down leadership from father to son throughout