My topic for my research paper is about Serfs, more specifically farmers and how they connect to feudalism. Farmers are Medieval peasants that provide agricultural work for their manor. Feudalism is the Medieval way of governing, it starts with a king and works it way down to the peasants. Each level of the system is important to one another an other and they rely on each other to work together to provide a working kingdom. Farming connects to Feudalism because they have the important job of providing food and other materials to their Manor and relying on protection from their peers in return. Farming is a large and important part of Feudalism, they provide food, clothing, and other materials for the manor to live off of on and trade with …show more content…
It was a religious belief written by Greek and Roman philosophers Plato and Aristotle, the basic idea of the Great Chain of Being is that everything in the universe, starting with God all the way down through people, animals, plants, and even rocks were in an unchangeable position. This meant that you were created the way you were because that’s the way that God wanted it to be. There was a system that people invented based off the Great Chain of Being, which was called Feudalism. The most important thing to remember about Feudalism is that, even though it was in many ways not fair, it was really a system of interdependence, meaning that every layer of society depended on every other layer of the society. According to the Great Chain, some of the people such as Vassals, Lords, and Monarchs are always going to be better than other people such as the Serfs and Freemen. With all the power and wealth they had, the Church was able to control the chaos that the lower classes (Serfs) had been causing, by convincing them that’s the way God had wanted it to be by using the idea of The Great Chain of Being. This is how the five levels of feudalism were created, the Monarch was ruler of the land because that’s what god said that’s how it should be, then lord is the lord because that’s what god said it was going to be like that and so on. The church did other things like this such as telling the peasants …show more content…
The Feudalism consisted of contracts or feudal oaths to gain each other's loyalty and respect. The point of the oaths and agreements was to gain the loyalty of many people who would help run the kingdom to break down all the work until it becomes manageable. The loyalty was an extremely important concept of the feudal oaths because it was how everyone gained their trust. An important part of the oaths is “It is right that those who promise us unbroken faith should be placed under our protection”(Biel). Meaning that whoever promises their loyalty and service to their lord the lord will provide their protection for them. Oaths became very important to the feudal economy. The way that the Feudalistic Economy worked is that everyone will give back to their community and get something in return for it. This starts with the Monarch or owner of the land. The Monarch will find a lord, the Monarch will give his lord a parcel of land to manage. Since the Monarch gave his lord a piece of the land he will receive the lord's loyalty and attendance to the Manors on the land that the lord was given. The lord will find a vassal or knight, the lord will give the vassal a place to live on his land, in return the Vassal will give his lord his loyalty, protection, and military service. The lord will hire many other vassals so that he will have a strong army to protect
The bases of feudalism is best described as a social system in Europe throughout the Middle Ages where individuals worked and battled for upper class who gave them protection and the use of the land in return for their services (Merriam-Webster). “Feudalism” is not a medieval term and not even a translation of a medieval concept (Abels 2010; Brown 2010; Bouchard 1998). In our day and time Feudalism would be difficult and baffling in several ways, but some may feel that we would benefit from it.
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.
Serfs grew the food and made the things that everyone required, and without them, the system would collapse. Manorialism was also important to it as a source of order and economy. In this structure, feudalism was the main political land based system of the Middle Ages. And while the practice of it mostly disappeared with the Middle Ages, it is still an imprinted government in
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
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.
The Homage Oath an excerpt by John of Toul claims, “I will aid the count of Champagne in my own person, and will send to the count and countess of Champagne the knights who service I owe to them for the fief which I hold of them…”(Document 2). John of Toul states that he will provide knights in return for protection which is another example of how feudalism rose. The feudal obligations in the chart shows that loyalty given to the lord by the vassal is in return for protection. As of military service for land (Document 4). What is given and received within relationships through the classes is the moral of the concept. Feudalism is crucial in the Dark Ages, because violence is rising which forces the economy and society to crash. The development of feudalism brought upon structure and organization. The people need a system to be able to move forward and thrive in their communities. Not only does feudalism have a major impact on the Middle Ages, but so does
Feudalism was a political, economic and social system that exchanged land and loyalty in return for protection. It was a commerce of protection and goods, as seen in the feudal system diagram, there are different types of social classes that have arrows describing what they are trading and to whom they are trading (Document 4). In the late ninth century, peasants gave food and service to the knights in exchange for protection. The knights gave military service in exchange for shelter and defense. The lords gave military aid while the king gives them fief and peasants etc.
As Tony Imperato points out, 'Medieval feudalism placed the monarch in the position of owner of all the lands in the realm, which he distributed to his nobles in return for their loyalty and service. As their overlord, the King could demand a payment whenever changes took place in landholding arrangements.' This paved the way for the exploitation of his nobles in order to gain revenue. There were many means in which he did this. One was the system of 'wardship', and 'relief'.
Life in the high middle ages, between 1000 and 1300 A.D., had two kinds of communities, manorial villages and towns. The major difference in these two distinct types of communities was the freedom and rights of the people. In the manorial villages you had lords who owned large portions of land. The vassals who entered into a military obligation with the lords, in exchange for land and protection. Finally, serfs who were a class of people that worked their lord’s land as half slave and half freeman. Vassals were more of an employee and the serfs were little more than a slave because they were bound to the lord’s land. The serfs could not leave or do anything without the lord’s permission and most of the time they had to pay fees to be granted the permissions they requested. In contrast the townspeople elected their officials, had freedom to choose a careers, they move about where they liked, and could acquire training and schooling. Townspeople were in fact free and not absolutely controlled by a lord. As for the manorial villages, the lords had all the power and had absolute control over all the actions and work of the vassals and serfs.
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
Feudalism was a contrasting system dealing with political and military relationships existing among members of the higher social class, Kings, Lords and other owners of large lands in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Feudal system started by the granting of fiefs, chiefly in the form of land and labor, in return the lord would receive political and
The feudal system was the method of government that was used in the Middle Ages. The feudal pyramid consisted of four levels, King at the top, Church Official and Nobles/Lords next, then Knights, and peasants at the bottom. The King had the most power, the nobles were sometimes vassals to the king, knights fought in the king’s army, and peasants worked in the field all day and were very poor. In one scene of the movie, peasants are seen working in the fields. They are very dirty and have bad quality clothing which shows how little money and power they had compared to King Arthur, who had fancy clothing and did not have to work. King Arthur then asks the peasants who their lord is, which shows how lords or vassals
Farmers in the Feudal System “Churches know more about poverty than any government will ever know, because we're dealing with the poor every day”- Rick Warren (“Matching Quotes”). Farmers in the Middle Ages never had life easy, but Feudalism gave the serfs everything they needed, even if they returned the favor in strenuous work. Feudalism is a system used in the Middle Ages to place each social class into a specific job they will keep the rest of their life. Serfs were the lowest class of the Feudal System and they gave everyone crops, taxes, and meat, which allowed the population to survive. Feudalism, although now seen as not ideal, was an evidentially bright plan in the Middle Ages, giving everyone in every class protection from invasion,
In Medieval times during the 10th and 13th centuries, a form of political and social organization called feudalism was a way of life that had great effect on people of the time and on the modern world. Feudalism was developed because of the weakness of Europe and it's kings. The word feudalism comes from the word fief, which was the land held on condition of feudal service, similar to an estate (English). The fiefs bound together lords and vassals. Feudalism was a structure in which a lord divided his land into smaller parts to give to lesser lords (“Feudalism”).
The feudal system of the time operated on the premise of peasants or serfs, and thanes, or lords. The lords owned the land, and the peasants worked on it. In turn, they received the protection