Bellwork

• In the last lesson, what occurred to Charlemagne’s empire? What affect did this have on their government system?

World History

Middle Ages pt. 1Rise of Feudalism and

Chivalry

Objectives

• Compare the Middle Ages system of feudalism to the Japanese style of feudalism.

• Describe the new social stratification system formed in Medieval Europe

• Explain the role of Chivalry in everyday life of a knight

• Examine the manor system and the purposes behind it.

Treaty of Verdun

• After the Treaty of Verdun, Charlemagne’s three feuding grandsons broke up the kingdom even further.

• Part of this territory became a battleground as new waves of invaders attacked Europe.

Invasions• Between 800 and 1000,

invasions completely destroyed the Carolingian Empire.– Muslims seized Sicily

and raided Italy.– Magyar invaders struck

from the east and terrorized Germany and Italy.

– Vikings sailed from the north and terrorized all of Europe.

Vikings

• The Vikings hailed from the cold climate of Scandinavia, which was north of Eastern Europe.

• They were Germanic peoples, who were often called Northmen or Norsemen and worshipped warlike gods.

• The Vikings even took pride in nicknames like “Eric Bloodaxe” and “Thorfinn Skullsplitter”.

Vikings

• Vikings carried out raids extremely quickly.

• They struck and then headed out to sea again and by the time troops arrived, they were usually gone. – Viking ships were extremely well

crafted. They could carry enormous amounts of weight, but still sail in water that was 3 feet deep– this allowed them to traverse across Europe completely by boat.

Vikings• Vikings were not

only warriors, but also traders, farmers, and explorers.

• Vikings ventured far beyond Europe and went into Russia, to Constantinople, and even across water into the North Atlantic.– The Viking Leif

Erikson more than likely reached North America at least 500 years before Columbus did.

Vikings

• Around 1000, Viking terror faded away. • The Vikings gradually accepted Christianity

and stopped raiding monasteries. • As well, a warming trend in Europe made

farming easier in Scandinavia and this caused many Scandinavians to stop raiding other villages.

Map of Viking Explorations

Magyars

• As the Viking assaults lessened, Europe became the target of new assaults.

• The Magyars, a nomadic peoples, attacked on horseback.

• They swept across western Europe and sold those who were captured as slaves.

Muslims

• The Muslims struck from the south. From there, they controlled the Mediterranean and disrupted trade.

• The Muslims got so far as to establish a territory in southern Spain, but also took control of Sicily.

Effects of Invasions• The invasions caused western Europeans

to fear for their lives.• Central authority proved powerless to

help them and they soon looked to local leaders for protection.

• These local leaders often had armies and those who could defend their lands attracted followers and gained strength.

Question: How is this similar to the lords in Japan?

Structured Society begins

• In 911, two enemies met in a peace ceremony.

• Rollo was a Viking leader who had been plundering the lands of Charles the Simple, of France.

• Charles gave Rollo a huge piece of French territory (present-day Normandy), and, in return, Rollo pledged his allegiance to Charles.

Structured Society

• Between 850 and 950– during the worst years of attack– many leaders made similar agreements to that of Charles and Rollo.

• The system of governing and landholding called feudalism emerged in Europe.

Feudal System

• The feudal system was based on mutual obligations.

• In exchange for military protection and other services, a lord– landowner– is granted land called a fief.

• The person receiving this land is called a vassal. Feudalism depended on the control of land.

Feudal Pyramid

Lord

Nobles

Knights

Peasants

$ IncreasesPopulation Increases

King

Feudal Pyramid

• At the top of the pyramid, the king ruled.

• Next came powerful vassals, known as nobles and bishops– all of these people were wealthy.

• Below them were knights, who were warriors who pledged to defend their lord’s land in exchange for fiefs and below them were the peasants.

Feudal System

• In practice, the feudal system did not work so simply.

• Relationships between various lords and vassals were never clear cut and, in some cases, one noble might have several lords who gave them land.

• In some cases, the feudal system often became a complex tangle of conflicting loyalties.

Social Classes

• In the feudal system, status was determined by prestige and power.

• Medieval writers classified people into three groups:1. Those who fought (nobles and knights)2. Those who prayed (those of the

Church)3. Those who worked (peasants)

• Social class was usually inherited.

Social classes• In Europe during the

Middle Ages, the vast majority of people were peasants.

• Most peasants were serfs– people who could not lawfully leave the place where they were born.

• Though bound to the land, serfs were not slaves. – Lords could not buy or sell

serfs, but all the wealth the lord had came from the serfs.

Manor System

• The manor was the lord’s estate. • During the Middle Ages, the manor

system was the basic economic arrangement.

• The manor system rested on a set of rights and obligations between a lord and his serfs.

Manor System

• The lord provided the serfs with housing, strips of farmland, and protection from bandits.

• In return, serfs tended the lords land, cared for his animals, and performed other tasks for the estate.

• Peasant women worked with their husbands.

Manor System

• All peasants, whether free or serf, owed a lord certain duties.

• These included a few days labor each week and a certain portion of their grain.

Manor System

• Peasants rarely traveled more than 25 miles from their own manor.

• A manor usually covered only a few square miles of land and consisted of the lords manor house, a church and some workshops.

• Fields, pastures, and forests surrounded the village and some streams ran through manors, providing fish, which was an important source of food.

Manor System

• The manor was largely a self-sufficient community.

• The serfs and peasants produced nearly everything that they or their lord needed.

• The only outside purchases were salt, iron, and a few unusual objects and millstones, which were used to grind flour.

The Manor System

Notice how almost everything the people would need is in a localized area. Rarely did people leave. Question: If the manor was largely self-sufficient, what do you think happened to trade in much of Europe?

Manor Life

• For the privilege of living on the lords land, peasants paid a high price.

• They paid a tax on all grain ground in the lords mill and any attempt to dodge taxes was treated as a crime.

• Peasants also could only get married with the lord’s consent and had to pay a tax on marriage.

Manor Life

• After all these payments to the lord, peasant families owed the village priest a tithe, or church tax.

• The tithe represented one-tenth of their income.

Manor life

• Serfs lived in crowded cottages with one or two rooms. They warmed their cottages by bringing pigs inside and the family huddled on a pile of straw at night.

• Peasants simple diet consisted mainly of vegetables, coarse brown bread, grain, cheese, and soup.

Feudal Life

• Despite their hardships, serfs accepted their lot in life as part of the church’s teachings.

• They, like most Christians at the time, believed that God determined their place in society.

Question: Why might serf’s have been so accepting of their position in life?

Women• The Church viewed

women as inferior to men.

• In contrast, however, the idea of romantic love placed noblewomen on a pedestal where they could be worshipped.

• A true knight (as we will see in the next lesson) pledged to protect all women.

Women

• However, as feudalism developed, women’s status actually declined.

• Their roles became increasingly limited to the home and convent.

• For the vast majority of women, their lives remained unchanged for centuries.

Noblewomen

• Under the feudal system, a noblewoman could inherit a state from her husband.

• Upon a lords request, she could also send knights to war and, when her husband was off fighting, she could act as a military commander or warrior. – Some women went so far as to dress in

armor, mount a warhorse, and mobilize a cavalry of knights.

Break

• Please take two minutes to relax and breath.

Women’s power

• As the Middle Ages progressed, however, noblewomen wielded less power.

• The Church played a major role in this and as it regained power and control, it weakened the power of women in medieval Europe.

Setting the stage

• During the Middle Ages, nobles constantly fought one another.

• Their feuding kept Europe fragmented and people valued violence.

• By the 1100s, however, a code of behavior arose and high ideals guided warriors and glorified their roles.

Soldiers

• Mounted soldiers became valuable in combat during the reign of Charlemagne’s grandfather, Charles Martel.

• Charles Martel had often observed the usefulness of cavalries in other armies, and began to organize his troops of armored horsemen, or knights.

Technology

• The leather saddle was developed on the Asian steppe around 200 B.C.

• Stirrups were developed in India around the same time and both technologies changed warfare in Europe in the 70os.

Technology

• With the use of this technology, knights became firmly placed on their horses.

• Frankish knights, galloping full tilt, could knock over enemy foot soldiers and riders on horseback.

• Gradually, mounted warriors became the most important part of an army.

Role of the Knight

• By the 11th century, western Europe was a battleground of warring nobles vying for power.

• To defend their territories, feudal lords raised private armies.

• In exchange for military service, feudal lords use their most abundant resource– land.

Role of the Knight

• Lords rewarded knights, their most skilled warriors, with fiefs.

• Wealth from the fiefs allowed knights to focus on war and pay for the cost of weapons, armor, and warhorses.

Role of the Knight

• As the lords vassal, a knights main obligation was to serve in battle. • From each of his knights, a lord

required nothing less than 40 days of combat service.• When a knight was not fighting,

they often trained for war.

Chivalry

• Early in the Middle Ages, knights were expected to display courage and loyalty to their lord.

• By the 1100s, the code of chivalry, a complex set of ideals, demanded that a knight fight bravely in defense of three masters:1. Feudal lord2. Heavenly lord3. Chosen Lady

Chivalry • A chivalrous knight protected the weak and poor and the ideal knight was loyal, brave, and courteous. – Most knights,

however, did not meet these standards. They often treated the lower classes brutally.

Question: How is chivalry similar to the code of honor that Samurai live by, bushido?

Chivalry

• Knights who failed to meet these standards faced public shame.

• First, his armor was taken, his shield cracked, a sword broken over his head.

• People then threw a knight into a coffin, dragged him to the local church, where a mock funeral service was held.

Glory

• Sons of nobles began to train for knighthood at a early age and learned the code of chivalry.

• After being dubbed a knight, most young men traveled with companions and gained experience fighting in local wars.

• Some knights took part in mock battles called tournaments.

Glory

• Tournaments combined recreation with combat training.

• Two armies of knights charged each other and, like in real battles, it could be fierce and bloody.

• Winners would often demand large ransoms from defeated knights.

Warfare

• By 1100s, stone castles were encircled by massive walls and guard towers.

• These castles dominated much of the countryside in western Europe.

• The castle was the home of the lord and lady, knights and other men-at-arms, and servants. – It was also a fortress, designed for

defense.

Warfare• A castle siege was a gory

sight.• Attacking armies used a

wide array of strategic weapons to force castle residents to surrender.

• Defenders of a castle poured boiling water, hot oil, or molten lead on attackers.

• Expert archers were stationed on the roof of the castle and could fire with deadly precision using crossbows.

Literature of Chivalry

• While the battles were gory, medieval literature downplayed the brutality of knighthood and feudal warfare.

• Many stories idealized castle life and glorified knighthood.

Literature of Chivalry• Feudal lords and their

ladies listened to epic poems that recounted the deeds and adventures of many heroic knights.

• Some stories were about legendary heroes, such as King Arthur and Charlemagne. – These stories often

represent courage, faith, and chivalry.

Literature of Chivalry

• Under the code of chivalry, a knight’s duty to his lady became as important as his duty to his lord.

• In many poems, the hero’s difficulties resulted from a conflict between those two obligations.

Authority

• While medieval life centered around the great deeds of knights and heroic tales, behind the scenes lay the Church.

• The Church, as we will see in the next lesson, controlled or influenced practically every aspect of medieval life.

Questions

• If you have a question, please ask now.

Next lesson

• In the next lesson, we will be discussing the pervasive role of the Church in medieval Europe.

Review1. If a knight broke his code of honor, what would happen to

him? 2. What two technologies allowed medieval Europeans to invest

more in horseback warriors? 3. How did knights practice their military skills? 4. Who were a knights “three masters”?5. Why did feudalism begin to develop in Europe (what caused

it)?6. Who were the Vikings and what did they do to Europe? 7. What five groups made up the pyramid of the feudal system? 8. What did the vassal provide for the lord in return for land? 9. Why did serfs– along with everyone else in society– accept

their role in life? 10. How is warfare for a knight different from the literature

describing their lives? 11. Comparison: How is a knight similar to or different from the

Japanese Samurai?