1. Feudalism SOCIAL STRUCTURING AT IT’S BEST

2. Remember  Do not copy anything in Italics  Do not copy anything in (…..)  Do not copy any page with Review at the top.  Do not forget that you love history!

4. 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.  Believed to have started as early as Charles Martel and his need for soldiers to fight against the Muslims in Spain.

5. lords and ladies

8. Feudalism Cont.  When Charlemagne’s empire collapsed landowning nobles became more and more powerful.  They had the right to collect taxes and enforce laws on their land.  They also had to protect that land whenever it came under attack.  This all led to the social order called feudalism.

9. (Many of the ideas about society that we have today come from military campaigns of one sort or another. Charles Martel inadvertently began a social system that still has roots in Europe today.) BATTLE OF TOURS

10. Feudalism cont.  By A.D. 1000, Europe had broken into thousands of feudal estates.  At the center of each estate was the stronghold for that area…the castle.

11. Castles  Castles had many important functions. During times of war they served as strongholds for the ruler of the land and his people.  During times of peace they served as the living place of the lord of the land as well as the prime social gathering place for the estate.

30. Parts of a Castle  Keep: The highest part of a castle ad the last place to be defended, also the strongest part of the defense  Great Hall:Where everybody ate and the servants slept  Stables: Where the livestock was kept  Chapel: Where the priest lived and religious services were held.

33. Players in Feudalism  There were several different people who were involved in feudalism.  Lords: These were the people who owned the land and ruled it. They collected taxes and imposed laws and rules. They could be either kind or very harsh.  Vassal: A vassal was a noble who served under a lord. They swore loyalty to that particular lord. In return, a lord granted a vassal a fief. A fief was a stretch of land and all the people who lived or worked on it. The vassal was able to rule all those who lived on his fief

34. Feudalism players cont.  The vassals who controlled fiefs were called knights.  Knights lived by a code called chivalry.  When knights went to war, there wives or daughters ran the castle.  Knights and nobles in general lived very cushy lives.

36. Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches, and shalt observe all its directions. Thou shalt defend the Church. Thou shalt respect all weaknesses, and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them. Thou shalt love the country in which thou wast born. Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy. Thou shalt make war against the Infidel without cessation, and without mercy. Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God. Thou shalt never lie, and shall remain faithful to thy pledged word. Thou shalt be generous, and give largess to everyone.largess Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

41. Manorialism  The land of the fiefs were called manors.  The Lord ruled the manor and the peasants worked the land.  Most of the peasants were serfs.  Serfs could not leave the manor or get married without the lords permission.  They were not slaves, they did have some rights, but those rights were limited.

43. Serfs were responsible for producing the food for their lords and most of the land. However, they were at the bottom of the social pyramid. Why is this backwards?

46. Serfs Continued  Most Serfs had a trade.  This trade was passed from father to son for many generations.  Trade groups eventually bean and became guilds.  Guilds set the standard for products and also set some prices.  Some of those guilds have lived on till today and continue.