Security of the Political and Social Position of the Nobility in Early Modern Europe

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 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 time period of the late sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century the concept of what nobility is and what it was conceived to be varied greatly as more modern thoughts developed and desperation of monarchs grew to meet such demand. The arguments related to nobility differed greatly, but these were the most crucial; the difference between the sword and the robe and the right to even hold such a position at all.

The Nobles or Lords were the upper and middle class. These were the people who owned the land and were the rulers. It was their responsibility to insure that the peasants and churchmen were protected so that they could live in peace and act as judges to handle domestic disputes. The serfs, peasants, and Yeomen kept the economy going with hard work. Church would now begin to play a huge role during this time. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/615557/United-Kingdom/44830/England-in-the-15th-century

Ultimately, this lead to two different types of nobles. First, there were the nobles who were born into power. Secondly, there were the “nobles of the robe” or people who had enough capital to buy the noble title for themselves. This increasingly caused tension between the two types of nobles. The born nobles did not want change and were used to the life they were given.

The Middle Ages was a society based on well-structured and well-defined classes. Once you were born into one class of the society, you belonged to that class for the rest of your life and there was little no chances of improving your status. These classes in order from high to low were King, Nobles, Clergy and Peasants. The Clergy were the religious people in the middle ages and the peasants were mainly farmers to the land owned by the lord. Clergy ranked up with the higher classes while the peasants were the lowest class. Clergy, though they weren’t considered part of one of the social classes, were an important part and had and influential role in society, and they did have a hierarchy of their own (Newman). The class of the peasants included Freemen who were inclined to a few rights and land, serfs were given no rights, and slaves were bought and sold.

Those who fight, during the medieval ages wars were fought by knights, and very expensive. Some peasants could manage to pay for a horse, a suit of armor, or a sword. This shows that the people who fought were from the wealthiest order, the nobility. Nobles are those who owned land. Men were known as lords and Women, ladies. Their estate were they reside is called manors. This manor includes lord’s houses and some villages. Nobles have military obligations to higher nobles. They also had military aid from lesser nobles recognized as vassals. In return they get protection. Nobility are fierce and warlike, they don’t work but train for

The difference in class structure in medieval society were formalized by the privileged authorities ideals and values.

How did Political, Social and Economic events which occurred during the Middle Ages contribute to the rapid fall of Feudalism and increase the foundation of nation states? Since politics and social matters are so closely founded the way that these two subcategories of the middle ages clashed against the Feudal way of organizing everything in the middle ages are. Politically kings ruled the way that everyone lived and by doing so this would later on provoke a tremendous backlash when Peasants learned that they had a say too and that by them doing the work that the king so desperately needed it could either fracture or mend a broken European

Castles start to become a way for nobility to establish and maintain their social hierarchy. (Johnson; 2002, 6) We can see a clear example of this in the architecture of castles that were built in the middle of the 14th

The nobility of the Kingdom of France has been evaluated by various scholars of history. There is something to be said, however, for those who chronicled their impressions while living them in the 17th and 18th centuries. The excerpts of Charles Loyseau’s A Treatise on Orders, written in 1610, and Isabelle de Charriere’s The Nobleman, written in 1763 provide two very different glimpses on the French nobility from differing time periods. From these two accounts, it is clear that there was a marked shift in the way some viewed the nobility and their role in the operation of the French state. While Loyseau praises the nobility nearly wholeheartedly,

Unlike many people’s impression of stagnation, the High Middle Ages was a dynamic period that brought striking changes to the socioeconomic environment of the Western World. For example, population expanded, regional and interregional commerce thrived, new technologies were developed, and the classic institution of both manorialism and feudalism changed. Many of the basic social and political patterns and institutions later associated with European history were formed during this era.

Covering a period which starts with the Hundred Years War already in full swing, contains the start of the Wars of the Roses and ends with last English king to die in battle the level of participation of the aristocracy and the roles which they fulfilled is a natural continuation of the topic, especially given how kings can be lauded or vilified for their participation or non-participation in military matters but it was the nobility who functioned as military commanders or otherwise notable figures in the battles who had much greater military command, often give entirely to their discretion. Whether the role changed drastically during the hundred and fifty year period is debatable, as it what would constitute a drastic change and how it

A: Under feudalism, social and political power was completely regulated by the "power pyramid", which was an overarching system of power and put the Pope at the top, and the lowly peasants at the bottom. The pyramid can be described by the order of power from greatest to smallest, beginning with the Pope and the King, which gave control to nobles, then the nobles gave land to vassals, which then in turn gave land to knights for the protection of the lowest workers, known as the peasants or serfs("Feudalism Pyramid"). The nobles, vassals, and knights had the same political power in comparison to who the managed, for example, the nobles had power over the vassals, but vassals had power over the knights. Social status follows the same path as political power, knights were always higher than peasants, but vassals were higher in social status than knights, etc. The one class of feudalism that had no political power or social status were the serfs, which could best be described as forced labor, as they lacked the ability to leave the fief under the threat of death("The Middle Ages | Feudalism.").

The timeline we will be dealing is between 9th century and 16th century. There was a rampant socio-political change that was happening in Europe. Let’s initiate this paper by familiarizing ourselves with the ‘three order’ i.e. Priests, Nobles, and Peasants. We must understand the term ‘Feudalism’ that will shortly be seen in repetition, was coined by Adam Smith around 17th century. Apparently people in those days were not at all familiar with the word itself.