Peasants

Manorialism and Feudalism are intertwined, the system of manorialism providing for some of the obligations in feudalism. Though both systems are technically military, political, economic, and social, they have distinguishable differences. Feudalism is a system that, in simple terms, shows or describes the relationship of a monarch and their immediate subordinates, and is

Peasants were members of the lowest class, those who work. They were the most common class. They were the millers, blacksmiths, butchers, carpenters, farmers, and other trades people. Peasant women in particular, spent much of their time taking care of children, making clothes, and cooking meals. They also tended gardens, took care of animals by tending chicken, shearing sheep, and milking cows (Cels 16). Within peasants, there were two main groups of people, the serfs and the freemen. Both were employed by the lords. And serfs were people that paid more fees, and had less rights. Freemen on the other hand paid less fees and had more rights than serfs (Noiret). While freemen could leave the manor when at whim, serfs were not allowed to leave

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

Marriage meant very much to women particularly for their status and economic security. In the medieval era, people wed within their class and only a slave could sometimes find his match

The middle ages can be best described as The Age of Feudalism because during this time period feudalism provided for the people and is mostly based on politics. Documents 1 and 2 talks about feudalism, in document 1 it talks about how feudalism provides for the people of Europe by the nobles agreeing to their loyalty and military services and by this being talked about they’re trying to show that the people of Europe are providing for one another. Manorialism and Feudalism are often talked about in the Middle Ages but both are different because manorialism is more of a self-sufficient system and has

A lady was the wife to the lord majority of the time. She was responsible for taking care of the house, and the important part of having a lady was to have children (Middle Ages for KidsLife of the NobilityKings, Lords, Ladies, Knights, 2016). Women had little to do within the country. Women had to work on the land on top of helping around the house. They did the same work as men, but men got paid more. For instance a man would get eight pence a day and women would only get five pence a day

Manor became the principal form of agricultural organization in Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. In this system, the peasant who worked on manor was granted the protection of the lord of the land in exchange for labor. They were attached to their land by the institution of serfdom. The vast majority of serfs lived by cultivating the land that was owned by the lord. In this way, the poor, defenseless, and landless were ensured permanent access to plots of land which they could work in return for economic services to the lord. This system also encompassed the political relationship between the lord and the serf. For

She asks for the knight’s hand in marriage. He begs her to take anything but his body. However, the queen agrees that he has to follow through with the deal. After a small wedding, the knight is refuses to consummate the marriage. He cannot love someone so ugly and poor. The wife argues against his feelings, she tells the knight that nobility comes from Christ, and not from how much money or rank one’s ancestors had. Finally she gives him an ultimatum. "Choose now," she said, "one of these two things:/To han me foul and old til that I deye,/ And be to yow a trewe, humble wyf,/ And nevere yow displese in al my lyf,/ Or elles ye wol han me yong and fair,/ And take youre aventure of the repair/ And take your chances of the crowd” (1219-1224). She could be a young and beautiful wife or ugly and faithful wife. It is at this very moment that the knight finally learns his lesson. He lets her decide the best decision. Happy she was given sovereignty, the wife decides to be young, beautiful, and faithful. They live happily ever after.

Multiple structures were included in each manor to ensure that everyone’s needs were met. Every manor had a village, so the serfs could have somewhere to live (Cels 4). The peasants were given a house, a yard, and space to farm in the village, which they had to pay rent to use (Cels 8). Each manor also had at least a mill, a church, ovens, a blacksmith, and a fishery (Cels 4). Even though the manor had everything, the serfs had to pay many fees to the lord to utilize the structures of the manor. The serfs had to pay a fee called multure, which was a fee that the serfs had to pay to use the mill, if a serf got caught using their own mill they would be fined (Cels 14). Peasants also had to give the baker some of their bread to use the manor oven, they would be fined if they used their own (Cels 15). Lastly, serfs had to pay smiths to use their services at the forges, which were owned by the lord (Cels 15). The manor always had it’s own food because of their large farming systems. Most manors used a three field farming system where on field never had crops in it because it would be given extra manure so the soil could improve for a full year before being used to farm once again (Howarth 9). In autumn the serfs plowed the fields and planted the seeds, in spring they planted oats, peas, beans and barley, midsummer was the time for shearing sheep and hay making, and crops

In the Middle Ages, everything was the progress of changing, a new European Society was being molded and its growth around Europe. Alongside of this change came the Manorial System or Manorialism, relationships between the Lord and his people, how the manor was typically ran, life inside the manor, including cultivation, economic system, etc. As a typical manor, it was as small as a self-sustaining country ran by the lord and peasants and serfs as his ruling people. On the inside, there was a castle, also known as the fortress, and the village, consisting of cottages, huts, barns, and farms for the peasants to live. Other creations included a church, a pond, a common pasture, and the demesne. These manors were created due to domestic disorders, depleted governments, and barbarian conquests that wracked Europe in the Middle Ages.

In manorial villages the lords of the land would have vassals and serfs. A vassal was a voluntary obligation to be taken care of by the lord. Although once one became a vassal this obligation would follow through from one generation to the next. Serfs on the other hand were people

Some peasants were free, but lots of the peasants became serfs (slave to the land) who cannot leave the land without permission, must pay rent to the lord or do military service for their master. Since life was harsh and difficult, Christianity and the church became the people’s salvation and for every medieval village, there would be a church in the center of it. Because the manors were isolated in rural areas, the manorialism system is self-sustaining with little trading or connecting to the outside world, aside from occasional visit from pilgrims, travelers, and soldiers. Thus, manorialism reflects the economy and social structure of the Middle Ages where the lords had absolute power over his

Medieval manors were self-sustaining parts of feudalism. Manors contained the lord’s mansion, called the manor house, the lord’s demesne, cruck houses for the peasants, barns, a mill, orchards, woodlands, fish ponds, an outdoor oven, and a place to keep bees. The manor was split up into farmland, woodlands, pastureland, meadows, and at least one village (Jovinelly and Netelkos 9). The villages weren’t very large, they usually had less than 600 people (Cels 6); but, “Each village had peasants’ homes, a church, a mill where grain was ground into flour, ovens in which bread was baked, and a forge, where a blacksmith made horseshoes and iron tools” (Cels 4). There wasn’t much need to leave the manor, as the people had just about all they needed to live.

Manorialism was the economic element of feudalism during the Middle Ages and a manor was a lord’s piece of land or estate where they employed serfs to maintain and cultivate the land. In exchange, he gave the serfs protection and housing as long as the serfs fulfil their labor obligations and pay taxes. This arrangement allowed the landless serfs and peasants to have safe and permanent housing while also benefiting the lord with labor and other economic services. Manors varied in their sizes and many lords had more than one manor. The lord’s manor included the manor house, church, cottages where the peasants lived, mill, woodland, the pasture and the lord’s demesne which was the farmland. The peasants would grind the grain for the manor in the mill and a

A noble, or lord, was in control of his manor. The manor was the heart of feudal economy (Ellis and Esler 222). A manor often consisted of the castle, a church, a village, and