1. In Europe during the Middle Ages, the feudal and manorial systems governed life and required people to perform certain duties and obligations.

2. Origins of Feudalism Knights and Lords
Nobles needed trained soldiers to defend castles
Knights most important, highly skilled soldiers
Mounted knights in heavy armor best defenders
Being a knight expensive; had to maintain weapons, armor, horses
Knights demanded payment for services
Feudalism originated partly as result of Viking and Muslim invasions
Kings unable to defend their lands, lands of their nobles
Nobles had to find way to defend own lands
Built castles, often on hills
Not elaborate structures; built of wood, used as place of shelter in case of attack

3. Knights were usually paid for their services with land
Land given to knight for service was called a fief
Anyone accepting a fief was called a vassal
Person from whom he accepted fief was his lord
Historians call system of exchanging land for service the feudal system, or feudalism

4. Oath of Fealty
Lords, vassals in feudal system had duties to fulfill to one another
Knight’s chief duty as vassal to provide military service to his lord
Had to promise to remain loyal; promise called oath of fealty
Financial Obligations
Knight had certain financial obligations to lord
Knight obligated to pay ransom for lord’s release if captured in battle
Gave money to lord on special occasions, such as knighting of son
Lord’s Obligations
Lord had to treat knights fairly, not demanding too much time, money
Had to protect knight if attacked by enemies
Had to act as judge in disputes between knights

5. A Knight’s Duties to His Lord included:
Therefore, feudalism was built upon relationships of obligation and service.
A Knight’s Duties to His Lord included:
Provide military service
Remain loyal and faithful
Give money on special occasions
A Lord’s Duties to His Knights included:
Give land
Protect from attack
Resolve disputes between knights

7. Lord and Vassal Fealty to King
Europe’s feudal system incredibly complex
Person could be both lord, vassal
Some knights with large fiefs gave small pieces of land to other knights, created many levels of obligations
One knight could serve many lords; no prohibition against knight accepting fiefs from more than one noble
Almost everyone in system served more than one lord
Theoretically, everyone supposed to be loyal to the king
In practice, not everyone loyal
Some powerful nobles as strong as kings they were supposed to serve, ignored duties as vassals
Feudal rules specific to time, place; could change over time; England’s rules not same as France’s rules

8. A lord gave land to a knight in return for protection and loyalty
Quick Review:
A lord gave land to a knight in return for protection and loyalty

10. Lords, Peasants, and Serfs
The feudal system was a political and social system. A related system governed medieval economics. This system was called the manorial system because it was built around large estates called manors.
Lords, Peasants, and Serfs
Serfdom
Free People
Manors owned by wealthy lords, knights
Peasants farmed manor fields
Were given protection, plots of land to cultivate for selves
Most peasants on farm were serfs, tied to manor
Not slaves, could not be sold away from manor
But could not leave, marry without lord’s permission
Manors had some free people who rented land from lord
Others included landowning peasants, skilled workers like blacksmiths, millers
Also had a priest for spiritual needs

11. Rotation Small Village
Most of manor’s land occupied by fields for crops, pastures for animals
Middle Ages farmers learned that leaving field empty for year improved soil
In time, practice developed into three-field crop rotation system
Rotation
Small Village
One field planted in spring for fall harvest
Another field planted in winter for spring harvest
Third field remained unplanted for year
Each manor included fortified house for noble family, village for peasants, serfs
Goal to make manor self-sufficient
Typical manor also included church, mill, blacksmith

13. Consider:
Lords' farmlands were taken care of, produced food; peasants were provided protection from invaders

14. Since the power and security of a lord depended upon his ability to defend himself, fief owners began to build sturdy castles. Castles were designed to withstand sieges and to mount a defense. 
At first castles were made of wood. But they were too easy to burn down. By 1100 CE, castles were built of stone. Thick walls surrounded a castle. Inside these thick walls, there were many buildings. 
At the first sign of trouble, the commoners rushed to get inside the castle walls before the gates closed and shut them out.

15. After their successful invasion and conquest of England, the Normans began a period of castle building that was to last right through the medieval period.
Although castles had been built in England since the time of the Romans, they had never been built with such speed or across such a wide area.

16. The earliest castles built by the Normans were either constructed within an existing Roman Fort or were Motte and Bailey castles.
These were soon replaced by Stone Keep castles as they offered better protection from attack.
Concentric castles developed during the 12th and 13th Centuries and were virtually impossible to conquer.

17. Earliest form
Built from scratch by the Normans
two parts: the Motte and the Bailey
Motte -a large hill made of earth on which was built a wooden keep or lookout. The outer edge was then surrounded with a large wooden fence called a palisade.
Bailey -separated from the Motte by a wooden bridge that could be removed if the Bailey was occupied by enemies.  part of the castle where people lived and animals were kept. A large castle might have more than one Bailey.
both the Motte and Bailey would be surrounded by a ditch, sometimes filled with water. A drawbridge was used for access to the castle.

19. replaced the Motte and Bailey castles as it offered a better form of defense. A stone keep was the central feature, with thick walls and few windows. Entrance to the keep was by stone steps leading to the first floor. The kitchens were situated on the ground floor while living quarters were on the upper floors.
The first keeps were rectangular in shape but later ones were often circular.
surrounded by a thick stone wall containing turrets for lookouts. 
The Bailey was now the area outside the keep but within the outer walls and shelter for animals or craft workshops might be built against the walls. The entire castle might be surrounded by a ditch or moat and entrance to the castle was by drawbridge. 

20. The central feature of the stone keep castle, this space was reserved for the lord who owned the castle, or his guests or representatives.
last place of refuge if the outer defenses fell.

21. developed in the 12th and 13th Centuries and offered the best protection against attack.
The main feature of the concentric castle is its walls. An inner wall built of thick stone with turrets positioned at intervals is then surrounded by an equally thick but lower stone wall. The walls are built at different levels so that archers on the inner walls can fire over the archers on the outer walls. 
The space between the two walls was known as the 'death hole' for being trapped within the walls would almost certainly result in death for the attacker. The entire castle was then often surrounded with a moat and entry would be across a drawbridge.

23. Typical military confrontation in medieval times was for one side to mount an attack on opponent's castle.
This is called siege warfare.
When properly defended, they had the choice whether to assault the castle directly or to starve the people out by blocking food deliveries, or to employ war machines specifically designed to destroy or circumvent castle defenses.
If besieging armies decided on a direct assault, there was a wide variety of siege tools that could be used to try to penetrate castle fortresses.

24. Siege engines are devices that are designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications.
Two examples of common siege engines during the Middle Ages are the catapult and the trebuchet.
Catapults and trebuchets used mechanical energy to fling large projectiles to batter down stone walls.

25. Also used were the battering ram and the siege tower, a wooden tower on wheels that allowed attackers to climb up and over castle walls, while protected somewhat from enemy arrows.
Another weapon was the petard, an explosive device designed specifically for breaching gates and walls. The petard had to be placed directly against the surface of the fortress.

26.  setting fires against castle walls in an effort to decompose the cement that held together the individual stones so they could be readily knocked over.
indirect means was the practice of mining, whereby tunnels were dug under the walls to weaken the foundations and destroy them.
catapulting of diseased animals or human corpses over the walls in order to promote disease which would force the defenders to surrender, a primitive form of biological warfare.

28. England's Edward I is said to have used a fearsome machine, called "Warwolf," to batter his enemies' castle walls into rubble. Historians think Warwolf was a wooden trebuchet, a missile-throwing siege weapon that dominated siege warfare until cannons were invented. In the Scottish countryside, teams build two trebuchet designs side by side, using medieval building techniques. Will either, or both, be capable of destroying a model castle wall at a distance of 200 yards (182 meters)?