The High Middle Ages

When Constantine was battling for control of Rome, he prayed for divine interference and saw a cross, the sign of Christianity. He put a cross on all of his soldiers, and they were victorious, with Constantine crediting his triumph to the Christian God. After Constantine took power in 313 AD, he announced the end of Christians persecutions. Later, in AD YEAR, Constantine converted, and Christianity grew faster than ever. Of all factors that influenced Christianity development, Constantine’s conversion was one of the most important, because he made it acceptable.

Feudalism began in England during the medieval period. Times were hard, people needed help from a rich land owner to survive. The kingdom would offer safety to those who worked for the kingdom, along with other beneficial perks needed for the survival of the peasants. If you fight for the kingdom then you will receive great amounts of land, but people who farmed didn’t receive as much in return. It kind of shocks me because they had a hard enough time getting food let alone having to provide an army to protect its people against a possible invasion from another kingdom. If they could have just focused on necessary things to survive they would have been a lot richer in the form of resources.

Feudalism is defined as the dominant social system in post classical Europe. Land was passed down from the kings to the nobles, who gave it to the knights, who gave it to the peasants. These peasants farmed the land in turn for protection, a home and a share of the harvested food on the land. Peasants provide food and services to the warriors. Vassals provided military service and protection to the barons (nobles) in exchange for land. The barrons provided money and knights to the kings. European Feudalism came about in attempt to restore Europe after the fall of many different enormous and centralized empires, such as Rome Between between the 9th and 15th centuries, Feudalism led to changes such as new source of protection, as well as continuities

Throughout the Middle Ages, Europe had very different class systems and practices compared to present day Europe. For most countries the main focus was on the rich and powerful. Ancient Persia, Greece, and Rome were some of the most well known countries during the Middle Ages. There are many similarities and differences in the class systems of Ancient Rome, Greece, Persia, and Europe during the Middle Ages; including practices, beliefs, and everyday life.

Conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity played an important part in establishing Christianity as a state religion of Roman Empire. However, even prior to Constantine’s rise to power, Christianity was already a well-organized and unified force, which sustained regardless of the opposition and lack of support from the state (Paulgaard, 2007).

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

The Middle Ages was a time of great poverty, inequality, war, and disease throughout Europe; this provoked the age of feudalism. Feudalism was a system of inequality, hard labor, and kept a certain degree of order in a kingdom's throughout Europe. The feudal system was a combination of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that started in the 9th and 15th centuries. And one of the reasons why the Middle Ages flourished. The feudal system consisted of peasants, that were used as laborers, and served there master, knights, were used as soldiers that protected their sovereign or lord as a mounted soldier in armor, and lords where at the top of the feudal system and where in-charge of knights and peasants.

Feudalism was a very popular social system in the Medieval ages, and provided a give and take system for both parties. It was a fairly simple system, those of nobility or higher power would give up some of their land (also called a fief) to the peasants (or serfs) and offered them protection in exchange for them working the land and being sent out to war when needed. This allowed for both parties to gain something out of the transaction and was the basis of the relationship between a lord and a vassal. Although it was a simple system, due to their being so many barons, dukes and earls who were in theory loyal to the king and his family which could start a fight with the king, vassals could end up having their land in the middle of a war zone or be given multiple pieces of land by mistake, which would confuse the contract.

Once long ago, there was a world in which an illogical amount of moil had to be done from all of mankind, from servants who were settled in the village, to peasants on the countryside nearby. Unfortunately, this was a reality for people who lived in a time period situated with the name of The Middle Ages. As these people lived within the lowest social class, their lives were filled with many mishaps. During this era of history, servants had a heavy load on their shoulders--many goods were to be crafted, while diligent peasants were off planting crops and doing such drudgery for their lord while being fed with the least costly foods, and there was a variety of fabrics and styles to be seen.

The Middle Ages where a significant time period with important political, social, religious and economic events, which have shaped history since that time, and the world today. One such event that has affected the politics of the Middle Ages and now was the signing of the Magna Carta. Secondly, was the Black Death (also known as the Bubonic Plague that affected the religious, social, and economic aspects. An event that affected the religious and economic aspects were the Crusades. There was also the rise of the Ottoman Empire which affected the social, political, and economic aspects.Finnally, there was the Hundred Years war that affected the political aspects.

The Middle Ages seemed to be, as Charles Dickens stated in A Tale of Two Cities, “the best of times, and the worst of times” (4). From a mysterious disease known as the "Black Death" that wiped out around 20 million people in Europe (almost 30 percent of the continent’s population) to a complete rebirth of European thinkers, writers and artist, the Middle Ages were absolutely dramatic times. But how do we know? Through the works and pieces that were left behind.

One of the early empires that ruled had through that Christianity was tainted and going to corrupt the Roman citizens. The ten percent civil minorities who followed it in the reign of Nero were persecuted and executed in many cases just because they did not obey the Empire and the Emperor. They had Jesus killed and made an example of just because he had a done an anti-Roman religion. It takes a spark to light a blaze and the same occurred after the crucifixion of Jesus due to the Jews acting up against the Empire. Many Massacred occurred and oblivious casualties followed. The insurgency of the Jews towards the Empire but still, Christianity was viewed as an enemy and the Pagan’s agreed to that. Taking control of The Roman empire, Constantine had been given a vision of divine light which guided him to convert to Christianity for his benefit and good. Overnight the followers increased and Rome wasn’t full of hatred towards Christians after. In summation, the Roman Empire from the reign of Nero until the reign of Constantine had been tough for Christianity followers but it came to a good finish after all the hardship and

Feudalism was a political system structured so that if a king was weak or distances between ends of the kingdom were too difficult to travel, a king could divide his land and give it to rich lords, dukes and duchesses, in exchange for their allegiance to the king. Manorialism was an economic and political system structured around a manor, a parcel of land, owned by a lord, and the relationship between the lord and the peasants that served him. During the early part of the Middle Ages, kings were not powerful enough to keep invaders out of their kingdoms. Needing protection, many villagers began to leave the towns and cities and resorted to depending only on each other for survival. Social positions were determined at birth, and peasants had little chance of moving up in the hierarchy. The nobles, or elite class, consisting of kings, queens, lords, and knights, controlled the land and power. Peasants, known also as serfs, made up the majority of the population and were considered the lower class of society. The serfs took care of the land and were servants to the nobles. Both Feudalism and Manorialism are linked together in the Middle

Since the Middle Ages, Islam has been defined as a distinguishable “Other” from the European population, as the Crusades characterized Europe as a distinctly Christian entity warring against the Muslim identity of the Middle East. Religion has been a divisive force for centuries in these portions of the world, but the 1905 laïcité law in France established this nation as a secular society, breaking away from Christianity and promoting the privatization of religion in order to guarantee its free exercise. 20th century France witnessed waves of immigration in the form of those of Islamic descent, first with unskilled laborers from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia coming to work in French factories. The Algerian War between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front saw a second massive wave of those with Muslim affiliation, as Algerians who fought with the French Army feared the NLF’s wrath after Algerian independence and migrated to France in its aftermath during the 1960s and 1970s. Today, France is home to between 4 and 5 million Muslims, which is the largest Muslim population in the continent of Europe, but this presence has done little to alleviate the influence of the Othering of Muslims in French society. Terrorist attacks committed by extremist Islamic groups in recent years, such as the Charlie Hebdo killings in January 2015, the Paris suicide bombings of November 2015, and the truck running over crowds celebrating Bastille Day 2016 in Nice have only heightened

Feudalism proved to be the dominant system during the High Middle Ages. Kings granted the lord's land, a fief, in return for the lord’s allegiance and assistance during wartime. The lord employed serfs, or peasants, to work and farm the land in return for shelter and a small portion of the harvest. The lord also usually employed soldiers, knights, to protect the village. These small groups of soldiers were much more effective at fending off the waves of barbarian attacks, as it was easier to send many small groups of troops to each barbarian attack, rather than sending one large force to attack each, as had been done by Rome in centuries past. The decentralized nature of feudalism provided a way for kings to protect their often remote and sparsely populated villages without a large military force. It also provided the king a great deal of flexibility over his armies, as he could split up his forces among each battle.