Transcript Feudalism In Europe

 In
911, a deal was made between two
former enemies.
• Charles the Simple (King of France)
• Rollo (Viking Leader)
 In
the deal, Charles granted the Viking
leader a huge piece of French territory.
 In exchange, Rollo pledged his loyalty to
the king.
Rise of Feudalism
 From
the years of 850-950, Europe was
withstanding a series of invasions.
• As a result, a number of agreements between
rulers and warriors were made.
 Out
of these agreements, the system of
governing and landholding called
Feudalism emerged in Europe.
Feudal System
 The
Feudal system is based on rights and
mutual obligations.
 In exchange for military protection and other
services, a lord (landowner), granted the land
called a Fief. The person receiving a fief was
called a vassal.
 Charles the Simple, the lord, and Rolle, the
Vassal, showed how this two-sided bargain
worked.
 Feudalism depended on the control of land.
Social Class Well Defined
 In
the feudal system, status
determined a person’s prestige and
power.
 Medieval writers classified people into 3
groups:
• Those who fought: nobles and knights
• Those who prayed: men and women of the
church
• Those who worked: peasants
 Social
class was inherited.
Serfs
 During
the Middle ages, the majority of
the people were Serfs (peasants who
could not lawfully leave the place they
were born).
• Although they were bound to the land, serfs
were not slaves.
• Lords could not buy or sell them.
• What their labor produced belonged to the lord.
 The
manor was the lord’s estate.
 A manor usually covered only a few square
miles of land.
 It typically consisted of:
• Lord’s manor house
• A Church
• Workshops
 Generally, 15
to 30 families lived in the village
on a manor.
 Fields, pastures and woodlands surrounded the
village.
 Sometimes a stream wound through the manor.
Streams and ponds provided fish.
 The mill for grinding the grain was often
located on the stream.
 The
manor system rested on a set of
rights and obligations between a lord
and his serfs.
 The lord provided the serfs with
housing, farmland, and protection
from bandits.
 In return, serfs tended the lord’s
lands, which included: caring for the
animals, and performed other tasks to
maintain the estate.
Knights
 Mounted
warriors who pledged to
defend their lord’s land.
 In exchange for fiefs (plots of land)
Powerful Vassals
 In
charge of the knights were the two
most powerful vassals:
• Wealthy Landowners (Nobles)
• Church officials (Bishops)
King
 The
king was the highest level in the
feudal society.
 He, like the Emperor in Japan, made
deals with the Vassals and sat at the top of
society.
Feudalism
 In
its essence, it is based on land
ownership.
 The more land you owned the higher
you would be in society.
 Although the Feudal structure sometimes
seems cruel, especially to the serfs, most
during the medieval times believed that
God determined a person’s place in
society.
 Medieval
knights often carried elaborate
shields with their coat of arms
represented on the shield in order to
identify themselves.
 So……..Get out your creativity, world
history fans!!! This project will be the
creation of an item that goes along with
our Unit on The Middle Ages!!


Create a coat of arms to represent you and your values and/or
your family like knights did in the Middle Ages.
Each shield needs to have:
• Two colors representing your family line or values
• 4 aspects from the provided sheets:
 Symbols
 Animals
 Plants Etc..

A quote/slogan/motto on or across the shield which represents
you, your family or values.

THINK ABOUT THE MESSAGE YOU WANT TO
COMMUNICATE TO PEOPLE USING YOUR COAT OF ARMS

Everything needs to be in COLOR!!!

Be Creative and Have Fun!!
 Write
a summary explaining:
• The Colors --what do they mean and how do
they represent you or your family.
• The Symbols, Animals, Plants -- what do
they mean and how do they represent you or
your family.
• The Slogan/Quote -- What does it mean and
how does it represent you or your family.