Feudalism 15.2

I. What is Feudalism? Where landowning nobles governed and protected people in return for services, such as serving as soldiers or farmers. Nobles were both lords and vassals.  What is a vassal?  What is a fief? Knights were vassals who fought on horseback.

Fiefs were called manors.  Lords ruled manors, and peasants farmed the land.  Some peasants were free, had rights and could move.  Most peasants were serfs, which meant they could not leave the manor, own property, or marry without the lord’s approval. Lord’s in turn had to protect the serfs  To gain freedom, a serf could run away and remain in a town for a year. Then he or she would be considered free. By the end of the Middle Ages, many serfs could buy their freedom

New technology increased crop production in the Middle Ages. The wheeled plow, the horse collar, water and wind-powered mills, and crop rotation helped farmers produce more food.

II. Life in Feudal Europe Knights followed rules called the code of chivalry.  Brave; obey lords, show respect to women of noble birth, and honor the church. Wives and daughters ran the manors when the noblemen went to war. A castle was the center of the manor.  The central building of the castle, called the keep was built on the motte. Motte and Bailey

The castle keep contained a basement, kitchens, stables, a great hall, chapels, toilets, and bedrooms. Peasants lived in simple houses. Many of them were only one room. Peasants worked in the fields year-round.  Did not work on Catholic feast days. Peasant women worked in the fields and raised children. Bread was a basic staple of the peasant diet.

III. Trade and Cities After Rome fell trade all but ended. People for the most part did not leave their villages. Feudalism and technology helped promote trade.  Trade caused large cities like Venice to become wealthy. In the early Middle Ages, people bartered, but later, people began using money again. Often towns were controlled by lords.  In exchange for taxes the lords granted townspeople basic rights. Like what?

Eventually towns set up their own gov’ts, with elected members of city councils. Guilds set standards for quality in products, determined how many products would be sold, set prices, and decided who could enter the trade. A child of 10 could become an apprentice.  Learned from a master craftsman.  Eventually the apprentice would become a master

Medieval cities contained crowded, wooden houses on narrow winding streets.  Cities were dirty and smelled, and pollution filled the sky and contaminated the water.