Transcript APWH Western Europe Feudalism

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Feudalism in Europe
How did we get those Knights?
 Invasions of the 9th and 10th centuries
 Muslims attacked the south side of Europe
 Magyars attacked central Europe
 They eventually settle down, convert to Christianity, and create Hungary
 The Vikings from Scandinavia are running everywhere
 The Franks started the policy of giving land to the Vikings (they got
Normandy) and converting them to Christianity as a way of stopping their
attacks.
 All of the these attacks led to the decline of the Carolingian
Empire and people were left to fend for themselves.
 Strong landowners made deals with soldiers (knights) to
exchanged loyalty/fighting skill for land
 The knights (vassals) would get peasants to work the land which
gave them the resources and time to become excellent fighters.
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Transformation of the Roman World
 The New Germanic Kingdoms
 The Germans move into to former Roman territory after the fall of the
empire
 The Germans blend with local customs to create a diverse set of tribes
 Ostrogoths in Italy
 Visogoths in Spain
 Angles and Saxons in the British Isles
 Franks in what is now France
 The strongest and most effective kingdom was the Franks
 Called the Merovingian Dynasty because it was started by a guy name Merovius
 Fully Unified by Clovis (482-511)
 Clovis became Catholic in 500 which gave him support from the church
 Led to the end of what was called Arian Christianity
o This was a German version where God was secondary to the Gods already in their
culture
4  After Clovis died, his land was divided amongst his 3 sons
The Society of the Germanic People
 Family: a crucial part of Germanic tribes
 Males were dominant
 Law: was personal (opposite of ours)
 Wrongdoing usually led to a blood feud
 Since blood feuds led to a lot of dying, the Germans used
 Wergelds (“money for a man”):
 A family could pay a fine for a lost life instead of fighting
 Compurgation and Ordeal
 Based on the idea that God would not harm an innocent person
 People were put through horrible trials and their survival was proof of innocence
(Primary Source on page 316)
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Carolingian Renaissance
 Charlemagne brought about a renaissance in several ways:
 Expanded land
 Forced groups to unify under Christianity
 Encouraged education and literacy through the church
 He convinced a guy named Alcuin to make a curriculum for monks
 Alcuin made a calendar of study that included:
 origins of the seven liberal arts:
o the trivium (how to write)
o rhetoric (how to speak)
o logic (how to think)
o the quadrivium (mathematical arts, geometry, arithmetic,
astronomy and music
 He encouraged the creation of scriptorias (writing rooms) were
copies of manuscripts were made
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How do you get people to work for you?
 Imagine that you live in an area where there are several hills.The people live in
great fear of what the people on the next hill might do to them.They are hungry
and tired, so they find a leader, and they promise him that if he will protect
them, they will serve him the rest of their lives. As long as they are near the hill,
they feel more secure, but they dare not travel beyond that hill.They become
suspicious of outsiders, fearing strangers are trying to find a way to attack them.
A few merchants may come with goods to sell, but how will they pay for the
goods?
 What would happen to trade in the downtown area? How would they eat?What
would they wear? The people would have to produce everything themselves,
wouldn’t they? Since they could not get to outside goods, and goods could not
get to them, they would have to learn to make their own. If you can imagine
this, then you can understand the feudal system.
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Let’s try it out
 Choose your fate:
 You are either:
 A peasant (serf) (NE, SE, NW, SW fiefs)
 A knight (vassal) (NE, SE, NW, SW fiefs)
 A noble (vassal) (East/West fiefs)
 The King/Queen (all the land)
 Your allegiance lies with the person
directly above you
 So peasant B follows vassal B, etc.
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Speech from the King!
 We will that each free man in our kingdom shall choose a lord, from us
or our faithful, such a one as he wishes.
 We command moreover that no man shall leave his lord without just
cause, nor should any one receive him. And we wish you to know that
we do not wish to do anything to them against reason.
 And we will that the man of each one of us in whosoever kingdom he
is, shall go with his lord against the enemy, or in his other needs unless
there shall have been (as may there not be) such an invasion of the
kingdom as is called a landwer, so that the whole people of that
kingdom shall go together to repel it.
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Time to Pledge you Allegiance
 If you have an allegiance (peasant to vassal, vassal to noble,
noble to king) you must direct your oath to them
 Thus shall one take the oath of fidelity:
 By the Lord before whom this sanctuary is holy, I will to
_____________ be true and faithful, and love all which he
loves and shun all which he shuns, according to the laws of
God and the order of the world. Nor will I ever do anything
which is unpleasing to him, on condition that he will perform
everything as it was in our agreement.
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Time to Repay the Favor
 If you are accepting allegiance (nobles, knights) you must
swear your protection:
 It is right that those who offer to us unbroken fidelity should
be protected by our aid. Therefore we decree and command
that for the future such and such above mentioned be
counted with the number of antrustions. And if anyone
perchance should presume to kill him, let him know that he
will be judged guilty of his wergild of 600 shillings.
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Grain and the Manor
 Peasants (aka Serfs)
 Your vassal has given you a safe place to live and work, so now
it’s time to….work.
 “Plant” as much grain as you can in the time allowed
 This means drawing and cutting out the grain symbol as much as you can.
 P.S. Don’t mock Mrs. Fraser’s grain symbol….. Or you lose.
It’s Harvest Time (and Tax Season)
 Peasants, you may harvest your crop
 Knights, as vassals you may collect from you peasants. Leave
them as much as you think they “deserve” or “need”.
 Lords, as vassals you are collecting from the knights. Leave
them as much as you think they need to stay strong enough to
fight.
 King, you are collecting from the lords. This is all your land,
so take as much as you want from them. Of course, you
care…so leave them what you think they need.
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 The vassal came to the lord, and in return for protection, food, and clothing,
the vassal would be the lord’s servant for the rest of his or her life.
 The nobles were vassals of the king
 the peasants were vassals to the nobleman.
 The king had authority over the nobles, but could not give orders to the peasants, who were nobles’ servants.
The land the noble received from the king was called a fief.
 If you were my vassal, what kinds of power did I have over you?
 military power: I could expect you to fight for me.
 If I am attacked, you serve without pay for as long as necessary.
 If I am the one attacking, then you serve for six weeks
 Even when there was no war, I could call on you to guard my castle occasionally.
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 Other powers
 If I wanted you to come to my castle for your advice, you must come.
 I could also expect your financial help to fight a crusade or get married.
 When your father died, then you would have to pay for the right to continue as my vassal.
 If you were a girl, then you would need my permission to marry.
 You would also need my approval to give any land to the church.
 If I failed to protect you as I promised, then you could protest to my lord (if I had
one).
 If I were the king (and had no lord), then you might ask for help of someone
strong enough to oppose me. If they succeeded in defying me, they would become
your new lord and protector.
 If you did not live up to your obligations, I could try you in a court made up of
my other vassals. If you were found guilty, you would have to surrender your
fiefdom.
 Wars were common, but there were rules against fighting:
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from Friday through Sunday,
from Thursday through Sunday of HolyWeek (Easter),
and on certain holy days.
There was usually no fighting during the winter or harvest.These limits helped
reduce the violence.
Reflect and Review
 Reflection Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Explain the mutual obligation of the feudal system.
Describe the feudal social classes
Describe the manor system
Why did serfs rarely leave the manor?
Why did serfs accept their tough lives?
Describe the process of becoming a knight.
Explain chivalry.