Transcript The Feudal System and the Crusades

The Feudal System and the
Crusades
The Feudal System
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Feudalism: a way of organizing and governing people based on land and service
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Homage: a formal ceremony establishing feudal ties between a lord and a vassal
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Code of Chivalry: a code of conduct for knights based on courtesy, honor, and loyalty to the church
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Manorialism: a self-contained economic and agricultural system
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Fief: an estate with peasants, led by a nobleman in exchange for loyalty and military help
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Vassal: a nobleman who served a higher-ranking lord and
who held land for that lord
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Lord: a nobleman who controlled a fief
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Lady: a noblewoman
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Serf: a peasant laborer bound to a nobleman
The Crusades
• Crusades: Eight major wars undertaken by Christians to
recapture the Holy Land in Palestine from the Muslims.
Crusade means “war of the cross”.
• The Holy Land was sacred to Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism
• The Muslims capture Jerusalem in 638. The Arab Muslims
did not stop Christians from visiting the Holy Land.
• The Turkish Muslims capture Jerusalem in 1076
Different Points of View During the
Crusades
• 1st Crusade
• Christians – Want to recapture
the Holy Land in Palestine from
Muslims
• Turkish Muslims – Block the
pilgrimage routes that Christians
used to visit the Holy Land
• Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
in Constantinople (Alexius I) –
Needs help from the Roman
Catholic Church to defend the
Byzantine Empire
• Pope of the Catholic Church
(Pope Urban II) – Believes that it
is God’s will to defeat the
Muslims and promises God’s
forgiveness of past sins to all who
join the army
Different Points of View During the
Crusades (cont.)
• 3rd Crusade
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Salidin (Sultan of Egypt) – United the Muslim people in the Holy Land and recaptured Jerusalem
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King Richard Lionhearted of England – Negotiates an agreement to allow Christian
pilgrimages it Jerusalem.
Different Points of View During the
Crusades (cont.)
• 4th Crusade
• Greek prince Alexius – Wants to be
the emperor of the Byzantine
Empire and promises to help
Christians re-conquer the holy land
if they help him claim the throne
• Children’s Crusade
• German and French children
believed they could accomplish
what the older crusaders could
not. Many died while crossing the
Alps, and many others were sold as
slaves.
• 6th Crusade
• Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II –
Regains Jerusalem for 10 years by
diplomacy
Changes Because of the Crusades
• 1. The Crusades were the first united effort of Western Europe.
• 2. There was a religious motive for fighting rather than the usual
reasons for fighting: greed, ambition, and revenge.
• 3. The Crusades stopped the Muslim expansion.
• 4. The Crusades increased the power of kings, since many of their
more powerful vassals were away.
• 5. They accelerated the rise of cities since the feudal lords needed
the cities’ help to finance their trips.
More Changes Because of the
Crusades:
• 6. They improved relations between lords and peasants and tended to
unite the society.
• 7. Europeans became more familiar with geography, not only of the
Mediterranean region, but their own countries.
• 8. Europeans became aware of new products, new methods of farming,
and the writings of Greeks and Romans that had been long forgotten in
Europe.
• 9. Europeans discovered that the Muslims were scholars, not barbarians.
• 10. The idea that religious wars were pleasing to God caused the
bloodshed and persecution of small minority groups in Europe.