The Decline Of The Middle Ages Europe

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.

And it gets more popular as it spreads. People in that time needed protection, and feudalism gave that protection to them, so why wouldn’t they want to use that system? And not only did feudalism make life better for the serfs, it made life better for the knights, the lords and nobles, and even the king. The knights, for one were getting paid, and were protected and fed by the lords and nobles. The lords and nobles were getting loyalty from a ton of knights, and they also had their own mini military. And the king got a “happy”, working kingdom. The people may not be “happy” as in a great mood, but they were a lot happier in general when feudalism took over because their lives were better! They had protection, they had food, and they only had to work the land and pay rent. This made the kings’ jobs easier when they adopted feudalism into their kingdoms because they had all these people below them doing their job for them. Not all of their job, but enough that the king’s didn’t have to worry about

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

To begin with, the Age of Feudalism is a system to protect people and live in equality. “Feudalism was a political, economic, and social system” (Doc. 1). This system starts with the king at the top who owned all land and made the laws. Next, the lord

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

Feudalism was a unique and efficient system. Farmers were in the lowest class socially but still contributed and were important to making feudalism function. The lords manors were extremely important to the structure of feudalism. Feudalism also allowed peoples needs to be met. This system allowed kingdoms to be controlled which made it so

Feudalism was the system used in Europe during the late middle ages. The economic part of feudalism was centered on the lord's estate or manor. A lord's manor consisted of a peasant village, a church, farm land, a mill and the lord's castle. Feudalism was split in society levels. Kings would be on top with the most power, then upper lords followed by lesser lords, underneath the lesser lords were the knights, and then the serfs being the lowest social class.

Western Europe suffered numerous hardships through the ninth and tenth centuries and this was the ultimate reason they established a new political organization which was known as feudalism. By providing honor, protection, and a sense of control, this new social system revived peace and order in Western Europe after the fall of the Carolingian Empire. Feudalism was a necessary ingredient to yield stability in during these times of calamity.

Feudalism began in the middle ages and it was a way for England to care for the poor. Wealthy and prosperous landowners would section off an area of their property for serfs to farm (p. 20, Martin). This did provide a way to assist those suffering; yet, in many ways it was another form of slavery due to the landowner is utilizing complete control. During medieval times, society viewed poverty as an inevitable way of life and thought that caring for those in need was a form of charity. One important aspect to keep in mind is that during this time, there was no separation between, church and state. Eventually feudalism diminished due natural disasters, which caused crops to fail, bubonic plague, and urbanization. The Industrial Revolution caused a mass amount of people to relocate to the city in hopes of finding work. It is during this time that England realized that they needed to change their system for assisting the poor.

1) What enabled Europeans to carve out huge empires an ocean away from their homelands?

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”).

Europe in the Middle Ages was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church persecuted the Jews in the Middle Ages and used their power against the Jews. There was social, religious and economic reasons for this enmity and this hatred manifested itself in practice in many ways.

Feudalism was a type of government that was established during the Medieval Ages. Feudalism helped a new civilization evolve because of its oaths and rules. Feudalism was a chain of obligations, were loyalties and protection flowed from the highest ranks to the lowest rank (The Origin of Feudalism). The highest rank was the king and the lowest ran were the serfs. The king's job was to give land to the rank that was below him, and so on and so forth.

The Middle Ages is a medieval time period in Western Europe that lasted from 500 to 1500 C.E. The Middle Ages began as a result from the collapse of the Roman Empire which began in 31 BCE, and fell in 476 C.E. In around 300 C.E. the emperor of the Rome divided the land for easier control. This began the decline of Rome. The Western half of Rome fell to Barbarian invaders, while the eastern half lived on as the Byzantine Empire. The Early Middle Ages began shortly after the western half fell. After the Roman Empire lost its position as the center of power, Western Europe fell into a time of chaos and warfare. There were a lot of attacks by Vikings, Magyars (hungarian nomads), and Muslims. The invasions caused disorder, and suffering, and the government system developed into feudalism.The High Middle Ages followed, the Early Middle Ages, and was the time period in Western Europe from around the 11th century to the 13th. The Middle Ages are referred to as the “Dark Ages” because of the disorder, hopelessness of the time. It is accurate to refer to the Middle Ages (500-1500) as a whole as a” the Dark Ages”.The Early Middle Ages meet the qualities of a dark age due to the, lack of government, education, and dysfunctional economy. However, the high middle ages was a time of improvement for these issues.

Western civilization can be traced back to the Western Mediterranean and Western Europe. It has been linked by many Historians to the Roman Empire, as well as with Medieval Western Christendom which came out of the Middle Ages in order to experience transformative ideas such as the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. On the surface it may seem that there are abundant reasons to why Western Civilization was able to develop and grow during the Middle Ages. But ultimately it comes down to three main reasons Western Civilization in the Middle Ages was able to grow so rapidly. With all of this said, In order to truly understand how Western European Civilization was able to flourish and grow during the Middle Ages, one must look at the role of the Church during these times, how war and conflict shaped territories, and how disease and famine changed the world. First, during the Medieval Ages the Catholic Church was able to rise to one of the most powerful institutions in Europe. Second, wars such as the Crusades where the Catholic Church began to start military expeditions, otherwise known as Crusades, to kick Muslims out from what they considered the Holy Land. Finally, diseases such as the Black Death changed the way people during the Western Civilization acted and felt.