<h5 id="an-introduction-to-feudalism">AN INTRODUCTION TO FEUDALISM</h5> <ul> <li>Feudalism is a term used by historians to describe the economic, legal, political, and social relationships in Europe during the medieval era, which spanned the fifth to the fifteenth centuries.</li> <li>The feudal society was primarily agricultural, with peasants cultivating lands belonging to lords, who offered military protection and judicial control in return.</li> <li>The economic relationship between lords and peasants extended into social and political aspects of life, shaping the overall structure of feudalism.</li> <li>Although practices leading to feudalism can be traced back to the Roman Empire and the era of Charlemagne (742-814), feudalism as a widespread system in Europe mainly developed in the eleventh century.</li> <li>The term feudalism is derived from the German word ‘feud’, meaning ‘a piece of land’, and it initially referred to the society that developed in medieval France and later spread to England and southern Italy.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="france-and-england">FRANCE AND ENGLAND</h5> <ul> <li>In 481, Clovis becomes the king of the Franks.</li> <li>Clovis and the Franks start the conquest of northern Gaul in 486 and convert to Christianity in 496.</li> <li>Charles Martel becomes mayor of the palace in 714, and his son Pepin deposes the Frankish ruler and establishes a dynasty in 751.</li> <li>Pepin’s wars of conquest double the size of his kingdom by 768, and he is succeeded by his son Charlemagne (also known as Charles the Great) in 768.</li> <li>Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800, and raids by Vikings from Norway begin to occur from 840 onwards.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-three-orders">THE THREE ORDERS</h5> <ul> <li>French priests in the Middle Ages categorized society into three ‘orders’ based on people’s work.</li> <li>The three orders were the clergy, the nobility, and the peasantry.</li> <li>This classification was similar to sorting cattle into different stables, according to Abbess Hildegard of Bingen.</li> <li>She emphasized the importance of distinguishing human beings from one another, as God distinguishes His flock in heaven and on earth.</li> <li>An abbey, governed by an abbot or an abbess, was derived from the Syriac word abba, meaning father.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-second-order-the-nobility">THE SECOND ORDER: THE NOBILITY</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The nobility, in the second order, had a central role in social processes due to their control of land through vassalage.</p> </li> <li> <p>Vassalage was a practice where noblemen were vassals of the king and peasants were vassals of the nobles, involving mutual promises of protection and loyalty with elaborate rituals.</p> </li> <li> <p>Nobles enjoyed privileged status with absolute control over property, raising feudal levies, holding their own courts, coining money, and owning vast tracts of land cultivated by tenant-peasants.</p> </li> <li> <p>The relationship between the vassal and seigneur/lord was symbolized by a written charter, staff, or clod of earth, derived from a word meaning one who provided bread.</p> </li> <li> <p>Nobles’ private lands, cultivated by peasants, were called a manor, and nobles’ houses were also located on their manor.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-manorial-estate">The Manorial Estate</h5> <ul> <li>A manorial estate in the English thirteenth century was a self-sufficient unit where a lord and peasants lived.</li> <li>The estate typically included a manor-house, villages, grain fields, blacksmiths, carpenters, stonemasons, women for fabric production, children for wine-press work, extensive woodlands, pastures for cattle and horses, a church, and a castle for defense.</li> <li>Larger estates could include fifty or sixty families, while smaller ones might contain a dozen.</li> <li>Some castles were made bigger in the thirteenth century to serve as residences for a knight’s family, and they developed as centers of political administration and military power under the feudal system.</li> <li>The manorial estate was not completely self-sufficient; items like salt, millstones, and metalware had to be obtained from external sources. Lords desiring luxurious lifestyles and non-locally produced goods also had to obtain these from outside the estate.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-knights">The Knights</h5> <ul> <li>The ninth century in Europe saw an increase in localized wars, leading to the growing importance of knights as efficient cavalry.</li> <li>Knights were linked to lords, who provided them with a fief (a piece of land) in exchange for protection and military service.</li> <li>The fief, often extending to 1,000-2,000 acres, included a house, church, and other establishments for the knight and his dependents, along with a watermill and a wine-press.</li> <li>Knights paid a regular fee to their lords and practiced fencing and tactics daily to maintain their skills.</li> <li>Minstrels in France, from the twelfth century, traveled between manors, singing songs about brave kings and knights, popularizing their tales in an age when literacy and manuscripts were not widespread.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-first-order-the-clergy">THE FIRST ORDER: THE CLERGY</h5> <ul> <li>The Catholic Church was a powerful institution, separate from the king, with its own laws, lands, and tax-levying capabilities.</li> <li>People were guided by bishops and clerics, and every village had its own church. Only certain individuals could become priests, and they could not marry or be women or serfs.</li> <li>Bishops, the religious nobility, had use of vast estates and lived in grand palaces. The Church was entitled to a tenth share of peasants’ produce and received endowments from the rich.</li> <li>Certain ceremonies and formal customs of the Church, such as kneeling while praying and using the term ’lord’ for God, were influenced by feudal culture.</li> <li>Not mentioned in the text: patterns of behavior between people of different social levels in a medieval manor, palace, and place of worship.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="monks">Monks</h5> <ul> <li>Monks were devout Christians who lived in isolation, away from towns and villages, in communities called abbeys or monasteries.</li> <li>They took vows to spend their lives in prayer, study, and manual labor. Both men and women could become monks or nuns, but abbeys were usually single-sex communities.</li> <li>Over time, monasteries grew into large communities with hundreds of members, large buildings, and landed estates that included schools, colleges, and hospitals.</li> <li>Monks followed the rules outlined in a manuscript with 73 chapters, which included guidelines such as rarely speaking, practicing obedience, not owning private property, and combating idleness with work.</li> <li>By the fourteenth century, there was growing uncertainty about the value of monasticism, with critics arguing that some monks lived lives of ease and luxury, unlike the simple faith of laborers.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-church-and-society">The Church And Society</h5> <ul> <li>Europeans adopted Christianity in the early centuries, but still retained some of their traditional beliefs and practices.</li> <li>Important Christian celebrations include Christmas, celebrated on 25th December (originally a solar calendar festival), and Easter (originally a lunar calendar festival marking the beginning of spring).</li> <li>The term ‘parish’ comes from the old practice of villagers touring their village lands, which continued even after the arrival of Christianity.</li> <li>Holy days or holidays, initially meant for prayer, became opportunities for relaxation and feasting for overworked peasants.</li> <li>Pilgrimages to shrines of martyrs or significant churches were common, as seen in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales: “Then people long to go on pilgrimages, And palmers long to seek the foreign shrines.”</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-third-order-peasants-free-and-unfree">The Third Order: Peasants, Free and Unfree</h5> <ul> <li>The Third Order consisted of two types of cultivators: free peasants and serfs.</li> <li>Free peasants were tenants of the lord, had to render military service, and provide labor-rent. They could be required to do other unpaid labor services and pay a direct tax called ’taille’.</li> <li>Serfs cultivated plots of land that belonged to the lord and had to give much of the produce to the lord. They had to work on the land that belonged exclusively to the lord, received no wages, and could not leave the estate without the lord’s permission.</li> <li>The lord claimed monopolies on the use of his mill, oven, and wine-press. He could decide whom a serf should marry or give his blessing to the serf’s choice for a fee.</li> <li>Women and children of free peasants had to do tasks like spinning thread, weaving cloth, making candles, and preparing wine for the lord’s use.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="england">England</h5> <ul> <li>Feudalism developed in England during the eleventh century, following the Norman Conquest led by William, Duke of Normandy (William I).</li> <li>William I distributed lands to 180 Norman nobles who had migrated with him, creating a system where lords became chief tenants of the king and were expected to provide military help and knights.</li> <li>Anglo-Saxon peasants became tenants of various levels of landholders, creating a hierarchy of land ownership.</li> <li>Private warfare was forbidden in England, and knights could not be used for personal conflicts.</li> <li>The present Queen of England is descended from William I, establishing a historical lineage from the Norman Conquest to modern times.</li> </ul> <p>Additionally, the name “England” is derived from “Angle-land,” reflecting the influence of the Angles and Saxons who settled in England during the sixth century. The Norman Conquest and subsequent feudal system established by William I significantly shaped the political and social structure of England, which has had lasting effects up to the present day.</p> <p>======</p> <h5 id="factors-affecting-social-and-economic-relations">Factors Affecting Social and Economic Relations</h5> <ul> <li>The social system was transforming due to various processes, some of which were gradual and almost imperceptible, while others were more dramatic.</li> <li>Changes in the environment played a role in this transformation.</li> <li>More dramatic changes were seen in agricultural technology and land use.</li> <li>These changes shaped and were affected by social and economic ties between lords and vassals.</li> <li>The transformation was a complex process influenced by multiple factors.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-environment">The Environment</h5> <ul> <li>During the fifth to tenth centuries, Europe was predominantly covered in forests, limiting agricultural land.</li> <li>The cold climate of this period resulted in harsh winters, a short growing season, and reduced crop yields.</li> <li>A warm phase began in the eleventh century, leading to increased average temperatures.</li> <li>This climatic shift caused a longer growing season, easier ploughing of soil, and a significant receding of the forest line.</li> <li>The receding forests allowed for expansion of cultivated land in many parts of Europe.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="land-use">Land Use</h5> <ul> <li>Agricultural technology in the past was primitive, with the wooden plough being the main mechanical aid.</li> <li>Agriculture was labor-intensive, requiring manual labor for digging fields and a ineffective crop rotation system.</li> <li>This system of crop rotation led to soil degradation and frequent famines, causing chronic malnutrition among the poor.</li> <li>Lords attempted to maximize income by forcing peasants to cultivate all land in the manorial estate and perform extra services.</li> <li>Peasants resisted oppression through passive resistance, such as spending more time on their own fields and avoiding extra services.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="new-agricultural-technology">New Agricultural Technology</h5> <ul> <li>In the eleventh century, technological advancements in agriculture included the use of heavy iron-tipped ploughs with mould-boards, the switch from neck-harness to shoulder-harness for animals, and better shoeing of horses with iron horseshoes.</li> <li>The introduction of water and wind energy for agriculture, such as water-powered and wind-powered mills for milling corn and pressing grapes, led to changes in land use, most notably the switch from a two-field to a three-field system.</li> <li>The three-field system allowed for better utilization of nutrients from the soil, increased food production, and more vegetable proteins in the European diet. It also provided better opportunities for cultivators, allowing them to produce more food from less land.</li> <li>The shift towards money-based economic transactions led to lords asking for rent in cash and cultivators selling their crops for money. This increase in money transactions influenced prices, causing them to rise during times of poor harvests.</li> <li>While some technological changes required significant investment, peasants were able to take the initiative in extending arable land, switching to the three-field rotation of crops, and setting up small forges and smithies in villages for the production and repair of iron-tipped ploughs and horseshoes.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="a-fourth-order-new-towns-and-townspeople">A FOURTH ORDER? NEW TOWNS AND TOWNSPEOPLE</h5> <ul> <li>The population of Europe significantly increased from 42 million in 1000 to 73 million in 1300, due to advancements in agriculture.</li> <li>Towns in medieval Europe began to grow again from the eleventh century, with the growth of periodic fairs and marketing centers, which gradually developed town-like features.</li> <li>Towns offered freedom and paid work, attracting young people from peasant families and escaped serfs, leading to the formation of a ‘fourth’ order.</li> <li>The basis of economic organization in these towns was the guild, an association that controlled the quality, price, and sale of products.</li> <li>By the eleventh century, new trade routes with West Asia were developing, leading to the growth of commerce and crafts, and the rise of wealthy and powerful town merchants.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="cathedral-towns">Cathedral-towns</h5> <ul> <li>Wealthy merchants in the 12th century made donations to churches, leading to the construction of large stone churches called cathedrals in France.</li> <li>The construction of cathedrals took many years and required different groups of people to contribute with their labor, materials, or money.</li> <li>Cathedrals were designed with acoustic features that allowed the priest’s voice to be heard clearly and for singing by monks to sound beautiful. Stained glass windows were used to narrate stories from the Bible through pictures.</li> <li>The area around cathedrals became more populated during construction and turned into centers of pilgrimage once completed, leading to the development of small towns.</li> <li>The value of stained glass windows was recognized by Abbot Suger, who appointed an official master craftsman and a goldsmith for their protection and maintenance.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="the-crisis-of-the-fourteenth-century">The Crisis of the Fourteenth Century</h5> <ul> <li> <p>The economic expansion in Europe slowed down in the early 14th century due to unfavorable climatic conditions, exhaustion of soil, and population growth outpacing resources.</p> </li> <li> <p>The shortage of metal money due to less output from silver mines and reduction in silver content of currency further affected trade.</p> </li> <li> <p>The bubonic plague, or ‘Black Death’, arrived in Europe in the 14th century, leading to a high mortality rate and severe social dislocation.</p> </li> <li> <p>The population of Europe reduced from 73 million in 1300 to 45 million in 1400, causing a major shortage of labor and imbalances between agriculture and manufacture.</p> </li> <li> <p>Prices of agricultural goods dropped, and wage rates, particularly for agricultural labor, increased due to the high demand for labor.</p> </li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="social-unrest">Social Unrest</h5> <ul> <li>In 1066, the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, defeated the Anglo-Saxons in the Battle of Hastings, leading to the conquest of England.</li> <li>From 1100 onwards, Gothic cathedrals were built across France, reflecting the era’s architectural and cultural developments.</li> <li>The period between $1315-17$ saw a great famine in Europe, which significantly impacted the continent’s population.</li> <li>In $1347-50$, the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, spread across Europe, causing widespread devastation.</li> <li>The Hundred Years War between England and France took place from 1338 to 1461, marked by political tension and military conflicts.</li> <li>In 1381, peasants’ revolts erupted in England, reflecting social unrest and dissatisfaction among the lower classes.</li> </ul> <p>======</p> <h5 id="political-changes">Political Changes</h5> <ul> <li>Monarchs in France (1461-1559), Spain (1474-1556), and England (1485-1547) increased taxes to support larger armies and defend/expand frontiers.</li> <li>Centralization of power by monarchs was met with resistance, particularly concerning taxation, leading to rebellions in England (1497, 1536, 1547, 1549, 1553) and struggles in France (1461-1483).</li> <li>Nobility adapted to new monarchies by transforming from opponents to loyalists, becoming an integral part of administrative services, allowing for a modified form of feudalism.</li> <li>Patronage, enabled by money, allowed non-aristocratic elements like merchants and bankers to gain access to courts, introducing non-feudal elements into state systems.</li> <li>The French Estates-General, last convened in 1614, was not summoned again till 1789, while England maintained a Parliament, leading to different political developments in the two countries after the seventeenth century.</li> </ul> <p>======</p>