Transcript File - HistoryRocks

Def- new system of government
based on land ownership and
personal service
Began During Rome’s Decline
• Lack of Law
enforcement and
protection
• Small landowners
gave land to larger
landowners in return
for protection
Early German Tribal Custom
• German Chiefs divided spoils of war
among companies in return for loyalty
and military service
• Warriors became Lords and passed
out their land for the same pledges
• At bottom were knights with just
enough land to support themselves
Feudalism Structure
• Person giving the land was a Lord; Person
who received land from Lord was called a
vassal; the land was called a fief
• Both parties signed a contract stating the
duties of each:
Lords
Vassals
•Protected vassals/families
•Provided military service
•Defend their honor
•Paid taxes
•Gave them justice in court
•Gave shelter and
entertainment to Lord
Vassal
Military Service
Lord
Land (manor)
Landowning Nobles Became as
Independent as Kings
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They settled legal disputes
They kept armies
They controlled food supply
They collected taxes
Feudalism: Complicated and
Clumsy System
• Divided Christianity into 1000’s of local
governments
• One Lord could be a vassal of other Lords
• Kings could be vassals and be one
– Example- King John of England was a vassal of
French king Phillip
Medieval Society
•Nobility
Clergy
Peasants
Freemen
Nobility
• Kings and their vassals
• Status was inherited
Clergy
• Only group educated in subjects other
than war
• Bishops and high ranking officials
lived like lords
• Village priests were lower class and
had little education
Peasants
• Bottom of the social
scale
• Largest group
• Nearly all were serfs
• Depended on nobles
for livelihood
• Could never become
noble, but could
become clergyman
and rise within the
church
Peasants
• Many struggled to produce enough food to
feed the families
• Peasants were not free to leave the manor
and were required to ask for permission
• To gain freedom a peasant had to save money
for his own land or marry a free person
Living in a Castle
Castle Diagrams
Built for Defense
Castle Defense
• Keep
– Stone tower
– Provided a safe place during a siege
– High walls several feet thick surrounded
the building
– Moat or ditch ran around the outside
wall
– Drawbridge controlled the entrance to
the castle
Interior Rooms
• Rooms cold and
dark
– Hearth fire
warmed only
small area
– No chimneys so
rooms often
filled with smoke
Bedrooms
• Beds built on platforms
• Canopy with heavy drapes
for privacy and to keep out
drafts
• Falcons, dogs, and even
some farm animals slept in
same room as family
Dining Area
• Tables were boards set on saw horses
• Food was eaten from a communal trough
• Food scraps were thrown to the ground
– Animals would eat the scraps
– No carpets but rushes spread on floors to lessen
cold- became smelly with garbage
Manorial System
Manor
• Estates of the Nobles
• Almost all goods and services were
produced here
Fief
• Large fief might include several hundred
manors (which might be widely separated
from each other).
• Small fief might include only 1 manor
Manor House
• Main part of manor centered around a
large fortified house or castle
• Lord’s stables, mill, and cookhouse on the
estate
• Nearby was a church, priest’s house,
small village of peasant huts
Land of Estate
• Lord would divide the meadows and woodlands
• Lord took the best land
• Peasants used the poorer land for their food
crops
– Farmland was divided into long strips with dirt ridges
separating
– Peasants pooled their oxen and plows and farmed
together
– Would leave some farmland lay fallow- let it recover to
plant the next year
Serfs
• Had to work 2-3 days a week on the Lords
land before they did their own work (more
time during harvesting and planting)
• Paid part of their harvest in taxes
• Could not leave manor of their own free
will
Serfs
• Considered to be property
• Could not hunt or fish on lord’s land
• Uneducated- believed in magic
Day-to-Day Running of the
Estate
• Stewards
• Baliffs
• Reeves
Stewards
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Highest Rank
Legal advisor to the lord
Ran the manor’s court
Traveled from manor to manor checking
conditions
Baliff
• Supervised the work of peasants and
farming of land
• Checked financial accounts
• Collected rents and fines
Reeve
• Helped baliff supervise farm work
(foreman)
• Large manor might have many reeves
• Told lord of peasant’s complaints about
officials
Women on the Manor
• Most were housewives and mothers
• Took care of homes and raised large families
• Did all kinds of farmwork except plowing
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Planted and harvested
Sheared sheep
Milked cows
Took care of chickens
Thatched roofs
“Ladies”
• Noblewomen
• Inherited land and held honors and offices
• Because of war ladies ran and defended
manors in lords absence
• Usually performed medical services too
Women and Marriage
• All classes married young (usually by 14
years old)
• Fathers usually tried to have dowry for
daughter
– Land or money she took to marriage
– Without dowry almost impossible to marry
– These arranged marriages seemingly turned
out well
The Crusades- means “marked
with the Cross”
Events Leading to the Crusades
• By 1089 Muslims had taken Jerusalem
and were threatening the Byzantine
Empire
• Byzantine Emperor (Alexius I) asked the
Pope (Pope Urban II) for help
Pope Urban II
• Called Knights to become crusaders
• Promised the forgiveness of sins, freedom
from debt, and choice of fiefs in conquered
lands
• Knights began organizing army
Peasant Crusade
• Urged by preachers in France and
Germany
• Aroused by preachers, peasants began
killing and pillaging
• Few even got to Jerusalem
1st Crusade
• Began in 1097; Led by Frankish princes and
nobles
• Had organized army
• Captured Jerusalem in 1099 and mercilessly
slaughtered Muslims, Jews and even some
Christians
• Seized land and created the Crusader States
on strip of land along the Mediterranean
• Most successful of the Crusades and energetic
The Capture of Jerusalem
Crusader States
2nd Crusade
• 50 years after the first (1147)
• Brought on by the Muslims attacking the
Crusader States and the fall of Edessa
• Led by Louis VII
• Overall had little success
The Third Crusade
• Led by Frederick Barbarossa, Phillip of
France, and Richard the Lion-hearted
Third Crusade
• Began in 1189 AD when Jerusalem was
taken by the Muslims
• Despite all the fighting, the Crusade failed
to recapture Jerusalem
• They did however win the right for
Christians to visit Jerusalem
The 4th Crusade
• 1202 AD
• Did not fight the Muslims
• Captured and sacked Constantinople
(fellow Christians)
• Set up their own government
• Thrown out in 1261 and Byzantine
Emperor was restored