Transcript Feudalismx

Pope Gregory the Great:
“Where is the Senate? Where are the
people? The bones are all dissolved, the
flesh is consumed….The whole mass is
boiled away... (circa 600 A.D.)”
•
Why would St. Gregory
have written this about Europe
at this time?
The Geography of Western Europe –
•Second smallest in land area located on
the western end of Eurasia.
•Frontier
land – forest, rich soil, ample
access to waterways, mineral resources,
many rivers and streams.
The Germanic Kingdoms–
•Germanic tribes were farmers and
herders.
•No cities or written laws. Much of their
culture was governed by unwritten
customs.
•Warrior elected a king to lead them in
war. These warriors swore allegiance to
the king in return for certain privileges.
Early form of Feudalism.
The Germanic Kingdoms–
•Strongest Germanic kingdom was the
Franks.
•Under the leadership of Clovis, the Franks
conquered much of the old Western Roman
Empire.
•Clovis converted to Christianity and gained
a powerful ally in the Church.
•Charles Martel defeated the Muslims at the
Battle of Tours and stop Muslim expansion.
•United
France, Germany, and parts of
Italy.
•Reunited most of the Old Roman Empire.
•Declared “Emperor of the Romans” by
Pope Leo III after Charlemagne defeated
rebellious Roman nobles. This revived
the idea of a united Christian community.
•This also widened the split between the
East and the West.
•Worked
closely with the Church to
spread Christianity.
•Used powerful nobles known as Missi
Domenici to control the provinces.
•At the capital, Charlemagne set up
school and has Alcuin establish a
curriculum which included grammar,
rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry,
music, and astronomy.
•After
his death in 814, his heirs battled
for power. The Treaty of Verdun split
the empire into three regions.
•Charlemagne extended Christian
civilization, blended German, Roman,
and Christian traditions.
•Europe was still under attack from
Muslims, Magyars, and Vikings.
•Feudalism
– loosely organized system of
gov’t/rule whereby land is divided in exchange
for loyalty and service. Participants enter into a
feudal contract (relationship of exchange, or
mutual obligations)
•Roles in society are determined, almost like a
caste system. Everyone had a ‘place.’
•Knights (mounted warriors)– intense training.
•Development of castles.
•The Manor, the lord’s estate, was the heart of
the medieval economy; it was self-sufficient.
Noblewomen –
•managed household
•Rights to inheritance were restricted.
•Some women such as Eleanor of Aquitaine gained
influence and political power.
•Benefited from the code of behavior- chivalry.
Peasants –
•Bound to the land - Majority of the population.
•Obligations to the higher vassal or lord.
•Received protection and land to farm.
•Life was harsh – long hours, short life span.
Political System – Feudalism
•Form of government based on
landholding
•Alliances between lords and vassals
•Oaths of loyalty in exchange for land and
military service
•Ranking of power and authority
Code of Behavior – Chivalry
•Display courage and valor
in combat
•Devotion to feudal lord
and heavenly lord
•Respect toward women
Medieval Society
Economic System – Manors
•Lord’s estate
•Set of rights and obligations
between serfs and lords
•Self-sufficient community
producing a variety of goods
Belief System – The Church
•Unifying force of Christian faith
•Power over people’s everyday life
•Involved in political affairs
‘It is our task to with the aid of divine goodness,
to defend the holy church of Christ everywhere…”
– Charlemagne
•Church- most powerful force in Europe during the
Middle Ages.
•Church’s most important medieval achievement:
Christianizing the diverse peoples of Western
Europe.
•Most villages- parish priests were only contact
people had w/ the idea of ‘Church’
•Churches became social centers
Everyday Life & The Church
•Attend Mass – Administer Sacraments
•Establish schools
•Social center – Involved in ALL areas
•Guide people – values and morality
•All Christians pay taxes to the Church
• Payment of tithes
•God – men & women =
•Earth – men & women- unequal
•Anti-Semitism emerges- Christian persecution of
Jews increased in 1000s
Power of the Church
•Papal Supremacy – (power struggle)
•High government positions
•Powerful secular force (worldly)
•Absolute power in religious matters
•Church has its own laws, courts, & punishment
system:
Canon law
Excommunication
Interdict
Nuns and Monks
•Missionary work, preserved learning , established
schools & hospitals, performed manual labor
Benedictine Rule- 3 vows to regulate life:
Obedience
Poverty
Chastity
Monasteries- key centers of health care, schooling
Reforms
• Church becomes rich and powerful
• Some clergy become corrupt
• Cluniac Reforms – similar to Benedictine Rule
No outside interference
Outlawed marriage for priests
Prohibited Simony (selling of Church offices)
Development of New Order
Franciscan Order
Dominican Order


Feudalism
King Lord
Knight Peasant
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• Key aspects: changes seen in agriculture, trade,
and towns
1. Agricultural Revolution: - took place in
countryside due to improvements in the use of
land and access to new technologies (inventions)
• 3-field system of crop rotation more efficient
since less land was left unused (fallow)
THE 3 FIELD SYSTEM
Gray - Woodlands; the building blocks
of the manor.
Green - The 3 Fields; crops were
rotated each season on land owned by
the Lord and worked by the serfs.
Purple - The Lord's house, land and
pond.
Burnt Orange - The villager's homes.
Yellow - Small plots of land serfs
could work themselves for their own
benefit.
Blue - the stream used by all.
THE PLOUGH (PLOW)
In the Middle
Ages, 3
inventions paved
the way for an
agricultural
revolution…..
HORSE HARNESS
WINDMILL
What do these inventions
mean?
Increased food production
Increased population
Less people needed to farm
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
2. Trade/Commercial Revolution: Commerce
expanded in response to the growing population
and growing agricultural (agrarian) economy.
• Trade routes led to trade fairs
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
3. Rise of towns & cities:
• Towns eventually grew into cities
• Merchants would ask kings for charters to
protect their interests (written document setting
out the rights/privileges of a town)
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• Rise of towns and cities changed the way
business was done (transacted).
• Keep in mind that….
MANORIALISM RULED
Think: AGRARIAN (agricultural)
TRADITIONAL ECONOMY
AGRARIAN MANORIALISM
A SELF-SUFFICIENT
ECONOMY BASED ON
AGRICULTURE
THE MANOR SYSTEM
• ANYTHING
NOT
PRODUCED ON
LORD’S
MANOR COULD
BE BARTERED.
• MONEY WAS
RARELY IN
USE AFTER
ROME’S
EMPIRE
COLLAPSED.
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• As trade increased, the medieval economy
changed in key ways
• Merchants needed $ to buy goods. Money was
borrowed from moneylenders. Practice of
money being lent for interest increased (usury)
• Nobles and clergy did not approve of usury,
viewing it as sinful.
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• THINK: As business was changing, how might
merchants protect themselves financially?....
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
•
Partnerships- merchants joined
together w/ others, pooled their
$/capital.
Guild– organization of
individuals in same
business or occupation
working together to
improve economic and
social conditions
 Apprentice
 journeyman.
 Master
 Placed
limitations
on membership
 Made rules,
established
standards to
protect quality of
goods
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• Entrance into guilds- apprenticeships----guild
master----journeymen (salaried members)
• Women able to become guild members
High Middle Ages: 1000-1300
• Social Changes- Commercial/Economic
Revolution- Shift from manorialism and barterbased economy
• Use of $ undermined (weakened) serfdom as
feudal lords wanted $ to buy goods (receiving
food from peasants didn’t meet this need!)
Life in Medieval Towns & Cities:
• surrounded by high walls
• By 1000, a new social class appeared- middle
class which stood btwn nobles and peasants
• Great social differences became obvious
• Loud and very unsanitary
• Disease was rampant (widespread) by 14th
century- more on Black Death later…..
Black Death
Also known as the Bubonic Plague-
People thought the apocalypse was coming
 People were scared that God was punishing them
Key Effects of High Middles Ages• Time of economic revival & great social change
• Feudalism was greatly undermined/weakened
• New ideas & $ moved throughout all social
classes as commerce and trade routes
expanded- cultural diffusion