Feudalism

Whats the Connection?In the last section, you read

how the Vikings spread fear anddestruction throughout Europe.During the Middle Ages, villagers andtownspeople looked to nobles toprotect them.

Focusing on the Feudalism developed in Europe in

the Middle Ages. It was based onlandowning, loyalty, and the power of armored knights on horseback.(page 523)

Knights followed a code of chivalryand lived in castles, while peasantslived in simple houses and workedhard all year long. (page 526)

Increased trade led to the growth of towns and cities and the rise ofguilds and city governments.(page 528)

Locating PlacesVenice (VEHnuhs)Flanders (FLANduhrz)

Building Your Vocabularyfeudalism (FYOOduhl IHzuhm)vassal (VAsuhl)fief (FEEF)knight (NYT)serf (SUHRF)guild (GIHLD)

Reading StrategyCompare and Contrast Complete aVenn diagram like the one belowshowing the similarities anddifferences between serfs and slaves.

c. A.D. 800sFeudalismbegins in Europe

ENGLAND

SPAIN

FRANCE

ITALY

HOLY ROMANEMPIRE

SCANDINAVIA

RomeVenice

Bruges

A.D. 800 1000 1200A.D. 800 1000 1200c. 1200Guilds arewidespreadin Europe

c. 1100Flanders andItaly tradegoods regularly

Serfs Slaves

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What Is Feudalism?Feudalism developed in Europe in the

Middle Ages. It was based on landowning, loyalty,and the power of armored knights on horseback.Reading Focus What would it be like to live in a coun-try where the government has fallen apart? Read tolearn how the fall of Charlemagnes governmentchanged life for people in the Middle Ages.

When Charlemagnes grandfather,Charles Martel, needed an army to fightthe Muslims invading France, he begangiving estateslarge farmsto nobleswilling to fight for him. The nobles usedthe resources generated by the estates toobtain horses and weapons. AlthoughMartel did not realize it, he was using a

new way of organizing society that wouldeventually spread across most of Europe.

When Charlemagnes empire collapsed,Western Europe lost its last strong centralgovernment. Landowning nobles becamemore and more powerful. They gained theright to collect taxes and to enforce laws ontheir estates. When invaders spread ruinthroughout Europe, the peasants, or farm-ers, could not rely on kings. Instead, theylooked to nobles for protection.

During the A.D. 800s, this shift of powerfrom kings to nobles led to a new socialorder known as feudalism (FYOO duhl IH zuhm). Under feudalism, landowningnobles governed and protected the peoplein return for services, such as fighting in anobles army or farming the land. By A.D.

1000, the kingdoms of Europewere divided into thousands offeudal territories. Some of theseterritories were large, but mostwere very small, smaller eventhan the city-states of Greece andSumeria. At the center of each,however, was not a city but anobles castle, or fortress.

The Role of Vassals and KnightsFeudalism was based on ties ofloyalty and duty among nobles.Nobles were both lords and vas-sals. A vassal (VA suhl) was anoble who served a lord ofhigher rank. In return, the lordprotected the vassal.

The tie between a lord andhis vassal was made known in apublic ceremony. The vassal puthis hands together and placedthem between the hands of hislord. Then the vassal swore tokeep faith and loyalty to youagainst all others.

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Kings and queens

Peasants and serfs

Lords and ladies

Knights

Under feudalism each level of society had duties to thegroups above and below it. Which group in the diagramserved as vassals to the lords and ladies?

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FieldsIn the spring, serfs planted crops such as

summer wheat, barley, oats, peas, and beans.Crops planted in the fall included winter wheat

and rye. Women often helped in the fields.

524

A medieval manor usually consisted of the lordsmanor house or castle, the surrounding fields, anda peasant village. While minor knights or nobleswould own only one manor, more powerful lordsmight own several. A powerful lord would spendtime at each of his manors during the year.What duty did lords have to their serfs?

524

A vassal showed his loyalty by servingin his lords army. In return for the vassalsmilitary service, a lord granted his vassalland and permission to rule the people wholived on it. This grant to a vassal wasknown as a fief (FEEF).

These vassals were knights (NYTS), orwarriors in armor who fought on horse-back. Up until the A.D. 700s, nobles inWestern Europe mostly fought on foot.They wore coats of mailarmor made frommetal linksand carried swords andshields. In the A.D. 700s, a new invention,the stirrup, made it possible for an armoredman to sit on a horse and charge whileholding a lance, a long heavy spear. Knightswould charge enemies, spearing them withtheir lances. From the A.D. 700s to the 1200s,armored knights on horseback were themost powerful soldiers in Europe.

Europe was not the only place with afeudal society. As you remember from an

earlier chapter, Japan had a similar systembetween A.D. 800 and 1500. Powerfulnobles owed only a loose loyalty to theJapanese emperor. The nobles in turn reliedon samurai. Like knights, the samuraiowed loyalty to their lords and providedmilitary service for them. Also like knightsin Europe, the samurai wore armor andfought on horseback.

What Was the Manorial System? Thelands of the fiefs of the Middle Ages werecalled manors. The lords ruled the manor,and peasants worked the land. Some peas-ants were freemen, who paid the noble forthe right to farm the land. They had rightsunder the law and could move wheneverand wherever they wished.

Most peasants, however, were serfs(SUHRFS). Serfs could not leave the manor,own property, or marry without the lordsapproval. Lords even had the right to try

A Medieval ManorA Medieval Manor

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CastleCastles were built in a variety of forms and were usually designed to fit the landscape.

ChurchVillage churches often had no

benches. Villagers sat on the flooror brought stools from home.

Serfs HomeSerfs had little furniture. Tables were made from boards stretched across benches, and most peasants slept on straw mattresses on the floor.

serfs in their own court. Serfs were notenslaved, however. Lords could not sellthe serfs or take away the land given toserfs to support themselves. Lords alsohad a duty to protect their serfs, providingthem the safety they needed to growcrops.

Serfs worked long hours on the lordsland and performed services for the lord.They spent three days working for the lordand the rest of the week growing food forthemselves. They also had to give a portionof their own crops to the lord and pay himfor the use of the villages mill, bread oven,and winepress.

It was not easy for serfs to gain theirfreedom. One way was to run away to thetowns. If a serf remained in a town for more

than a year, he or she was considered free.By the end of the Middle Ages, serfs inmany kingdoms were also allowed to buytheir freedom.

How Did Farming Improve? During theMiddle Ages, Europeans invented newtechnology that helped increase the amountof crops they could grow. Perhaps the mostimportant was a heavy wheeled plow withan iron blade. It easily turned over WesternEuropes dense clay soils.

Another important invention was thehorse collar. The horse collar made it possi-ble for a horse to pull a plow. Horses couldpull plows much faster than oxen, allowingpeasants to plant more crops and producemore food.

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Europeans also found new ways to har-ness water and wind power. Europesmany rivers powered water mills thatground grain into flour. Where rivers werenot available, windmills were used forgrinding grains, pumping water, and cut-ting wood.

Peasants also learned to grow more foodby rotating crops on three fields instead oftwo. The rotation kept soil fertile. One fieldwas planted in fall and another in spring.The third field was left unplanted. Thethree-field system meant that only one-third, rather than one-half, of the land wasunused at any time. As a result, more cropscould be grown. Greater food productionallowed the population to expand.

Explain How could a noblebe both a lord and a vassal?

Life in Feudal EuropeKnights followed a code of chivalry and

lived in castles, while peasants lived in simple housesand worked hard all year long. Reading Focus Have you heard the phrase knight inshining armor? Read to learn why these words apply tohow a knight acts as well as how he dresses.

During the Middle Ages, nobles werethe most powerful people in Europe. Greatlords had much more wealth and land thanordinary knights. However, their belief inthe feudal system united lords and knightsin defending their society.

How Did Nobles Live? Knights followedcertain rules called the code of chivalry(SHIH vuhl ree). A knight was expected toobey his lord, to be brave, to show respect to

women of noble birth, to honorthe church, and to help people. Aknight was also expected to behonest and to fight fairly againsthis enemies. The code of chivalrybecame the guide to good behav-ior. Many of todays ideas aboutmanners come from the code ofchivalry.

When noblemen went to war,their wives or daughters ran themanors. This was no small jobbecause manors had many offi-cials and servants. Keeping trackof the households accounts tookconsiderable skill. The lady of amanor also had to oversee thestoring of food and other suppliesneeded to run the household.

The center of the manor was acastle. At first, castles were builtof wood. Later, they were built ofstone. A castle had two basicparts. One was a human-made or

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Nobles celebrated special occasions with largefeasts, which included many courses of meats, fruits,and vegetables. What were the wifes duties when anobleman went off to war?

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naturally steep-sided hill called a motte(MAHT). The bailey was an open space nextto the motte. High stone walls encircled themotte and bailey. The keep, or central build-ing of the castle, was built on the motte.

The keep had a number of stories. Thebasement housed storerooms for tools andfood. On the ground floor were kitchensand stables, and above the ground floorwas a great hall. Here the people of thehousehold ate and sometimes slept, and thelord of the castle held court and receivedvisitors. Smaller rooms opened off the greathall. They included chapels, toilets, andbedrooms with huge curtained beds.

In the later Middle Ages, nobles ownedmore jewelry, better clothes, and exoticspices. They also built more elaborate

castles with thicker walls, more towers,finer furniture, and richer decoration.

What Was Peasant Life Like? The homes ofpeasants were much simpler. They lived inwood-frame cottages plastered with clay.Their roofs were thatched with straw. Thehouses of poorer peasants had a single room.Better cottages had a main room for cookingand eating and another room for sleeping.

Peasants worked year-round. They har-vested grain in August and September. InOctober they prepared the ground for win-ter crops. In November they slaughteredlivestock and salted the meat to keep it forwinter. In February and March, theyplowed the land for planting oats, barley,peas, and beans. In early summer they

A Medieval CastleA Medieval CastleCastles were built to withstand attack duringtimes of war. They were often constructed onhigh ground or surrounded by moats to makeattacks more difficult. What was the centralbuilding of the castle called?

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weeded the fields, sheared the sheep, andtended small vegetable gardens.

Peasants took a break from work andwent to church on Catholic feast days. Theycelebrated more than 50 feast days eachyear. The most important were Christmasand Easter. On feast days and at Sundayworship, the village priest taught them thebasic elements of Christian belief.

Peasant women worked in the fieldsand raised children at the same time. Theyalso gathered and prepared their familysfood. Each day they mixed bread doughand baked it in community ovens. Breadwas a basic staple of the medieval diet.Peasant bread was dark and heavy.Peasants ate it with vegetables, milk, nuts,and fruits. Sometimes they added eggs ormeat, and they often had ale to drink.

Identify What was thecode of chivalry?

Trade and CitiesIncreased trade led to the growth

of towns and cities and the rise of guilds and citygovernments.Reading Focus What effect would a new shoppingmall have on your community? Read to learn how thegrowth of trade and the rise of cities changed the waypeople lived and worked in medieval Europe.

When the Roman Empire collapsed,almost all trade in Western Europe came toan end. Bridges and roads fell into disre-pair. Law and order vanished. Money wasno longer used. Most people spent theirentire lives in the tiny villages where theywere born and knew almost nothing aboutthe rest of the world.

By 1100, feudalism had made Europesafer, and new technology enabled peopleto produce more food and goods. Nobles

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This scene shows a marketin a medieval town. Whicharea became the center oftrade for northern Europe?

A mayor of London from the early 1200s

Medieval City LifeMedieval City Life

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A stained glass window showing the arms,or symbol, of a blacksmiths group

This illustration from a medieval bookshows glassblowers at work. What weresome of the items exchanged at trade fairs?

repaired bridges and roads, arrested ban-dits, and enforced the law. As a result, traderesumed.

As trade increased, towns grew larger,and several cities became wealthy fromtrade. For example, the city of Venice (VEH nuhs) in Italy built a fleet of trading ships. Itbecame a major trading center by A.D. 1000.Venice and other Italian cities began tradingwith the Byzantine Empire and soon becamethe center of trade in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, towns in Flanders (FLAN duhrz)which today is part of Belgiumbecame the center of trade for northernEurope. This area was known for its woolencloth. Merchants from England, Scandinavia,France, and the Holy Roman Empire metthere to trade their goods for wool. Flemishtowns such as Bruges and Ghent became cen-ters for making and trading cloth.

By 1100, Flanders and Italy wereexchanging goods regularly. To encourage

this trade, the counts of Champagne innorthern France began holding trade fairs.Northern European merchants exchangedfurs, tin, honey, and wool for cloth andswords from northern Italy and silks, sugar,and spices from Asia.

During the early Middle Ages, peoplebartered, or traded goods for other goods.As trade increased, demand for gold andsilver coins rose. Slowly, people beganusing money again to pay for goods.Merchants set up trading companies andbanks to manage the sale of goods and theuse of money.

Web Activity Visit jat.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 15Student Web Activity tolearn more about the Middle Ages.

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How Were Cities Governed? Towns wereoften located on land owned by lords. Thismeant the towns were under their control.However, townspeople needed freedom totrade. They wanted to make their own lawsand were willing to pay for the right tomake them. In exchange for paying taxes,people in towns were granted certain basicrights by their lords. These included theright to buy and sell property and the free-dom from having to serve in the army.

Over time, medieval towns set up theirown governments. Only males who hadbeen born in the city or who had livedthere for a certain length of time were citi-zens. In many cities, these citizens electedthe members of a city council. The councilserved as judges, city officials, and law-makers. Candidates from the wealthiestand most powerful families were usuallyable to control the elections so that onlythey were elected.

Crafts and Guilds Trade encouraged man-ufacturing. People produced cloth, metal-work, shoes, and other goods right in theirhouses. Over time, these craftspeople organ-

ized guilds (GIHLDZ), or business groups. By1200, tanners, carpenters, bakers, andalmost every other type of craftspeople hadguilds. The rise of towns and guilds createda new middle class in medieval Europe.People in the middle class were not lords,vassals, or serfs. They did not own land, butthey did have some wealth and freedom.

Craft guilds set standards for quality inproducts. They decided how goods were tobe made and set the prices at which the fin-ished goods were sold. Guilds also decidedwho could join a trade and the steps theyhad to follow to do so.

A person could become an apprenticearound the age of 10. An apprentice learneda trade from a master craftsperson who pro-vided room and board but no wages. Afterfive to seven years of service, the apprenticebecame a journeyman and worked forwages. To become a master, a journeymanhad to produce a masterpiecean outstand-ing example of the craft.

What Was City Life Like? Medievalcities had narrow, winding streets. Houseswere crowded against one another, and the

530 CHAPTER 15 Medieval Europe

Medieval streets were narrow and oftencontained wastewater and garbage. Whywas fire a major threat in medieval cities?

A street in France datingback to medieval times

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Reading SummaryReview the Under feudalism, Europe was

divided into thousands of territo-ries owned by nobles with thelands worked by serfs.

During the Middle Ages, nobleslived in large castles, while serfslived in small wood cottages.

As medieval trade increased,towns grew and craftspeopleorganized guilds.

1. What was a vassal?

2. Describe the system of croprotation used in the laterMiddle Ages, and explain how itincreased the amount of foodbeing grown.

Critical Thinking3. Compare and Contrast

Draw a chart to compare theduties and obligations of lords,knights, and serfs.

4. Summarize Explain the shiftof power from kings to noblesduring the Middle Ages.

5. Cause and Effect How didan increase in trade lead to thegrowth of towns and cities?

6. Conclude What were guilds,and why were they important?

7. Creative Writing Write a ForSale advertisement for amedieval castle. Describe thecastles rooms and surround-ings, including the manor andits residents.

What Did You Learn?

Study CentralTM Need help with the material in this section? Visit jat.glencoe.com

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second and third storieswere built out over thestreets. Candles and fire-places were used for lightand heat, and the houseswere built mostly of wood.As a result, medieval citiescould be destroyed rapidlyonce a fire started.

The cities were often dirty and smelly.Wood fires in peoples homes and shopsfilled the air with ashes and smoke.Brewers, dyers, and poor people who couldnot afford wood burned cheap coal, pollut-ing the air even more. Butchers and tannersdumped blood and other animal wastesinto the rivers. Because of the pollution,cities did not use the rivers for drinkingwater but used wells instead.

City women ran their households, pre-pared meals, raised their children, andmanaged the familys money. Often they

helped their husbands in their trades. Somewomen developed their own trades to earnextra money. Sometimes when a mastercraftsperson died, his widow carried on histrade. As a result, women in medievaltowns could lead independent lives. In fact,many women became brewers, weavers,and hatmakers.

Analyze In what ways doyou think the shift from a barter system to amoney system changed medieval Europe?

Lords Knights Serfs

This painting shows a medieval woman spinningwool as her husband warms himself by the fire.What were some responsibilities of women inmedieval cities?

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