Transcript Life in the Middle Ages

Life in the Middle Ages
• The Middle Ages is the name given to a period
of history of western Europe. Before the
Middle Ages, much of Europe was part of the
Roman Empire.
After the Middle Ages, western Europe was
controlled by large kingdoms. So the Middle
Ages are a very unique time in history. They
bridge the gap between ancient times and
modern times.
• The Middle Ages are also called the medieval
period. The word medieval comes from the Latin
words for “middle” and “age.”
• People also sometimes call this period the Dark
Ages, because life was hard and most people had
little learning.
• So these three terms; Middle Ages, Dark Ages,
and medieval, all refer to the same time
period in European history. From about 500
C.E. until 1500 C.E.
• Although the Dark Ages refers only to the time
from the fall of Rome until about 1000 C.E.
• One of the early important leaders from the
middle ages was leader of the Franks, a young
warrior named Clovis. He became king of the
Franks at age 15, and reigned for 30 years.
• Clovis lead the Franks into becoming Christian.
He married a Christian woman, Clotilda, and
eventually was baptized into the Roman
Catholic Church.
• The most important leader of the Franks was
Charlemagne (Charles the Great).
Charlemagne ruled for over 40 years. He
ruled an empire which was the largest in
Europe since Rome, unifying nearly all the
Christian lands in Europe.
• After Charlemagne's death his empire quickly
fell apart. However he created a form of
government which lasted throughout the
Middle Ages.
Feudalism
• During the 800s western Europe was briefly
united by Charlemagne. His empire however,
did not last.
• After it fell, Europe was divided into many
small kingdoms.
• This form of government was called feudalism.
By 1000 C.E., feudalism was the way of life
throughout Western Europe. It lasted for many
centuries.
• Under feudalism, Europe was ruled by nobles, or
people of high social rank.
• Nobles who were loyal to a king were called
vassals of the king. The king was their lord.
• The king gave each vassal a fief, or an area of
land, in exchange for his loyalty.
• A fief included the land, the buildings, and
even the peasants, poor working people, who
lived there.
• Kingdoms in the Middle Ages were divides
into hundreds of fiefs.
• Each fief was ruled by a vassal of the king. Most
vassals had titles such as baron, earl, or duke. Within
their fief , these rulers had supreme power over the
people and the land. They collected taxes, served as
judges in legal disputes, and supervised the farming of
the fief.
• Many of them were so powerful that they had their
own castles.
• Relationships under feudalism were often
complicated. For example a baron who
became a vassal to a king controlled a fief in
exchange for his loyalty to the king.
• The king was the baron’s lord, but the baron
had his own vassals. Each of his vassals was
given a fief in exchange for loyalty to the
baron. Thus, the baron was both a vassal and
a lord at the same time.
• During the Middle Ages, there were thousands
of feudal relationships. Europe was governed
through these feudal relationships.
• The people who had no say in these
arrangements were the peasants. Peasants had
no economic or social power. They led very poor
lives.
• They lived in huts, worked from dusk to dawn,
and were at the mercy of their rulers.
• Most people in Europe during the Middle Ages
were peasants.
Knights and Manors
• Europe during the
Middle Ages was a
patchwork of dozens
of kingdoms and
thousands of fiefs.
Often, the nobles who
ruled the land went to
war with one and
other. As a result,
soldiers, especially
those who rode
horses, were
extremely important
during this time.
• Everyone has heard of knights in shining
armor – noble warriors who defended a
princesses' honor.
• Tales like this did occur. Mostly, however,
knights were fighting men who when into
battle on horses.
• Only nobles could be knights.
• Most knights were lords of their own vassals.
The knights were also vassals themselves, of
kings and lords. Being a vassal meant fighting
for the king or lord and raising his land, and
leading his armies. So, feudalism was a
military system as well as a government
system.
Becoming a Knight
• To become a knight, a
boy of noble birth went
through three stages.
• The first was to become
a page.
• When the son of a noble
was about seven years
old, he left his home to
go and live in the house
/ castle of a knight.
There he learned to ride
a horse and fight with a
sword and other
weapons.
• When the boy turned
16, he became a
squire. That was the
second stage toward
becoming a knight.
• As a squire, the boy
served as a personal
servant to the knight
he served.
• A squire assisted his knight in battle and even
took part in the battle himself.
• During this time, the squire learned all he
could about becoming a fighting man.
• A squire also learned the code of chivalry.
• The word chivalry comes from an old French
word that means “horse soldier.”
• But chivalry came to refer to the code of
conduct by which knights were expected to
live.
• Being chivalrous meant being loyal to one’s
lord, treating women with respect, keeping
promises, and defending the church.
• Today the word lives on. Being chivalrous
means being respectful to women.
• Any knight could make a squire a knight.
Usually, though, the know who trained the
squire did the honors.
• Tapping the back of the squire’s neck with a
sword, the knight said “I dub you a knight.”
With that the squire became a knight.
Manorialism
• Manorialism was the
economic system of
the Middle Ages.
• The system was
called manorialism
because it was based
on the manor.
• A manor was a large
farm or estate.
• Manors included the manor house, which was a
large home where the lord, or ruler, lived.
• It also included pastures, farm fields, small farm
buildings, and usually an entire village.
• Remember, a fief was the land given to a vassal in
exchange for his support. Small fiefs usually had
only one manor. But a large fief could include
many manors.
• Each manor was self-sufficient.
• Manors also traded with one another, but only
for things they could not make themselves.
• It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that most of
the work done on the manor was by the
peasants.
Peasant Life
• When we think of the Middle Ages we think of knights,
castles, and kings. But most of the people during the
time were actually peasants.
• Remember the peasants were the poor people.
• Most peasants were serfs. A serf was a peasant who was bound to
the manor.
• Although serfs were not slaves, their lives were not much better.
• They could not leave the manor without the permission of their
lord.
• They were also required to pay heavy taxes, and they were
completely at their lord’s mercy.
• Peasant life was
hard and short.
Men, women, and
children spent their
days doing
backbreaking work
in the fields.
• They were required
to farm the lords'
fields as well as
their own.
• At night they retired
to their homes,
crude huts in the
manor village.
• Peasants usually ate only black bread, cabbage, turnips,
and cheese.
• They rarely ate meat, because the game animals and
fish of the manor belonged to the lord.
• One of their few pleasures was the drinking of beer or
wine.
• Such a hard life often meant an early death.
In fact, historians think that most peasants
died by the time they were 30 or 40. A life
time of malnutrition, hard labor, and disease
took their toll.
• Like many people
who lived in hard
circumstances,
peasants found
some peace and
hope in their
religion.
• Christianity was a
central feature of
life in the Middle
Ages for both
peasants and
nobles.