FEUDAL SOCIETY AND ITS ORIGIN
Medieval times (also called the Middle Ages) refers to a block of time in
history from 500 to about 1500, a period of 1000 years.
In medieval times, there were three major groups of people - the nobility,
the church, and the commoners. Relationships between groups and people
were based on a balance system, a sort of 'you do this for me, and I'll do
this for you' approach.
It's easy to understand the job of the common people. Their job was to do
all the work. But what about the nobility? His job was to defend the
common people, and if they wanted more land or more workers, they would
start a war with someone. At last, the job of the church was praying for all
the people and teach the catholic religion.
THE NOBILITY: Nobles or lords were privileged members of society. At
the top was the local king, in the middle were the lords, other nobles,
counts and officials. They controlled the lands. The basic unit of land was
the manor. The land of the manor was divided into the demesne, the part
that belongs to the noble for his own use, and the tenures, the part where
the peasant live and work.
In the feudal system, all the nobles were vassals. Vassals could promise
their loyalty to more than one person. Problems arose when lords went to
war. For example, let's imagine you have pledged your support to the lord
on either side of your land. These two lords are both counting on you. Both
have given you gifts of land, weapons, and goods. What happens if these
two lords go to war? You have promised your support to both. You could
1
find yourself quite literally in the middle, and you would lose no matter who
won.
It was critical for everyone's survival that the lord had strong vassals. The
peasants were not armed. They had no defense. They had to count on the
lord of the manor to protect them. The lord had to count on his vassals.
Everything circled around violence - preparing, defending, recovering from
battle. The people were terrified and exhausted.
THE CHURCH OR THE CLERGY: The group that lived the most comfortable
life during the Middle Ages was the clergy. At the top of the power were
the Pope, but in a local monastery the abbots, bishops and cardinals were
the power. There were only a few cardinals, and only one pope. The
cardinals served the pope, and the pope served God.
Most abbots, bishops and cardinals came from noble families. They received
land from kings in exchange for military service. But they could not fight.
They were religious leaders. They gave some of their land to knights to
fight in their place. In exchange for the land, the knights pledged
themselves as vassals of the bishops and abbots. That meant abbots and
bishops could easily have men to fight.
The church received donations of land, jewelry, and money from nobles as
acts of penance. Nobles paid the church to educate their
children. Everyone paid the church for various sacraments.
People believed that the only way to get to Heaven was to follow the
teachings in the Bible. The common people could not read or write. The
village priest read to them from the Bible and told them how to behave.
2
The priest told them who they must marry and when. You had to do
everything the priest said if you wanted to get to heaven.
THE COMMONERS: The common people were peasants, and serfs. There
was a difference between them:
Serfs belong to the fief. They were not slaves. These people could not be
bought and sold. Serfs could not leave the manor without permission. If
they did not work, they were punished. If the manor land was sold or
reassigned to a new owner, the serfs stayed with the land. Serfs had many
jobs on the manor including craftsmen, bakers, farmers, and tax collectors.
Their job was assigned. They had to do the job they were assigned to do.
Peasants were free to leave if they wished, but where would they go? War
was everywhere. Peasants worked the land and made the goods in exchange
for protection, but most of them had got the same life just like a serf's
life. A few peasants escaped the hard work on the farm by joining the
church. But most lived and died on the manor where they were born.
The commoners had to pay taxes to the lord, to the king and to the church.
They had to pay for everything: To pay the crop tax, to the lord, to pay the
bread tax to the lord, to pay the bridge tax to the lord, to pay the water
tax to the lord... All peasants had to set aside a certain number of days
3
each year to work on the roads or on the lord's home or on whatever else
needed doing.
REMEMBER YOUR KNOWLEDGE:
4
ACTIVITIES
1. Match each word with its definition:
1.
a. Feudalism.
b. Vassal.
c. The manor.
d. Demesne.
e. Tenures.
f. Serf.
Manor lands reserved for the
nobles and lords.
2. Manor lands granted to the
peasant by the lord.
3. Person who below to a manor
and works for the lord.
4. Social
system
based
on
relationships between lords
and vassal.
5. Group of lands of a noble or
lord.
6. Person who swears fidelity to
a lord.
2. Complete the feudal society pyramid with the following
words: peasant, nobles, clergy, king.
3. Read the following information and complete the review.
5
Feudal Contract
LORDS
GIVE
SERVICE
TO
GIVE
PROTECTION
TO
VASSALS
10
CONSTRUCTING THE
PYRAMID OF POWER
KING
LOYALTY AND
SERVICE
LAND
POWERFUL
NOBLES
LAND AND
PROTECTION
LOYALTY AND
MILITARY SERVICE
LESSER NOBLES
(KNIGHTS)
LABOR
PROTECTION
SERFS AND FREEMEN
15
6
REVIEW
Let’s see how much you remember!
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Everyone owed loyalty to the ________
_______ were really the most powerful.
They got _______ from the king.
Lesser nobles (knights) gave _________
_________ in return for land
_______ were bound to the land. They
worked in return for ____________.
__________ were skilled workers. They
paid rent to the ______ and were free to
move if they wanted to.
16
Check Your Answers
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Everyone owed loyalty to the king.
Nobles were really the most powerful.
They got land from the king.
Lesser nobles (knights) gave military
service in return for land.
Serfs were bound to the land. They
worked in return for protection.
Freemen were skilled workers. They
paid rent to the nobles and were free
to move if they wanted to.
17
4. Match each character with a concept and make a sentence.
7
Monastery
Serf
Fief
THE FIEF
As you know, land in medieval times was broken up into fiefs. A fief was a
trust, rather than an ownership. Your oldest son could inherit the fief, but
you could not sell a fief in early medieval times.
A fief meant more than land. Each fief was a complete unit. That unit
included at least one village, houses for the serfs, the manor house or
castle, and areas set aside to grow, feed, or catch food - the fields,
pasture land, and woods. The only outsiders allowed to live on a fief were
peasants. Peasants were freemen. They could come and go as they wished,
but where would they go? War was everywhere. Peasants received
protection and the use of a small piece of land on which to build a home in
exchange for work. The serfs stayed with the land. They were part of the
fief. Their job was to do all the work. In exchange, the serfs would receive
food and protection.
Although fiefs were given to military men as rewards, fiefs came with
certain obligations, obligations beyond feeding and protecting the fief
workers, the serfs. In exchange for ownership of a fief, you had to promise
certain things.
8





You had to promise loyalty to the king or to the lord who gave you
the fief.
You had to provide military service. You did not have to fight
yourself, but you had to send men when needed.
You had to act as a host when your king or lord came visiting.
You had to contribute funds for a ransom if your king or lord was
captured in battle.
You had to provide gifts of cash to help offset the costs of any of
your lord's special occasions, such as a wedding.
5. See the presentation power point about the fief and describe it.
THE CASTLES OF THE MIDLE EDGE
In medieval society, noblemen and Knights lived in castle. They lived
with servants, soldiers and craftsmen. Animals also lived inside the
castle. Big castles had gardens and a church.
The knights protected the peasant that lived in the villages near the
castle. The peasants worked and produced food for the people in the
castle and were very poor.
Originally, castles were made of wood, but by the 11th century most
castle were made of stone. There were big walls around the castle
and usually there was a moat filled with water to protect the castle
from attack.
A drawbridge over the moat was the entrance to the castle. All the
rooms were located around a big patio. Soldiers lived in towels
located in the castle wall, and the lord and his family lived in the
biggest and more protected towel, named donjon. There were other
buildings like a building for animal, a little church, a smithy and a
little market.
9
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/english/lion/castles.shtml
Life in the castle was boring because many of the people rarely went
outside the castle wall. However, the lord frequently celebrated
parties with music and tournaments are also held.
10
ACTIVITIES
1. See the diagram of about the medieval castle and links each concept
with the correct definition:
-The main towel where the lord
Buildings for animals.
lived with his family. It was the
most protected part of the
castle.
Barbican.
-The wall that surrounding the
castle .
Outer Bailey.
-The place where the animals
live.
-Part of the gatehouse where
Donjon.
the
soldiers
defended
the
castle and live there.
2. Look for the meaning of these word and write a sentence with each
one:
Tournaments:
Troubadour:
11
Jugglers:
BIBLIOGRAFY
This unit has been elaborate with the following resources
http://www.medievaleurope.mrdonn.org/
http://www.medievalresources.com/Feudal.html
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/middleages/feudalpyramid.gif
http://www.learner.org/interactives/middleages/
Cross-Curricular material for ESO. Burlington Books, Social sciences.
Colección de recursos multimedia de Ciencias Sociales 2º ESO de Oxford educación.
12