Feudal System Source Analysis
"In the kingdoms which sprang from the ruins of the Roman empire, every king, baron, and
person of estate was a knight; and therefore, the whole face of Europe was overspread with
cavalry (soldiers who fought on horseback). Considered in this aspect, the knighthood and
the feudalism of Europe were synonymous and coexistent. But there was a chivalry (a code
of knightly behaviour) within this chivalry; a moral and personal knighthood; not the wellordered assemblage of the instruments of ambition, but a military barrier against oppression
and tyranny (cruel and unjust rule), a corrective of feudal despotism (the harsh rule of lords
over their people) and injustice."
Mills, C. (1825). The history of chivalry; or knighthood and its times (Vol. I, pp. 3, 19, 22). Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown
and Green.
"This, then, was a fundamental principle which underlay the whole scheme of rural
management, that the persons of the labourers should be retained on the estate, and
that their progeny (children and descendants) should not be permitted to avoid
becoming liable (legally obligated) to the same obligations in turn. The whole of the
social restrictions on villains (serfs) putting their children to school or allowing them
to be ordained (to become a priest), or to be apprenticed (trained to work) in a town,
had this as their economic justification—that there must be available labour for the
home farm."
Cunningham, W. (1890). Introduction. In E. Lamond (Trans.), Walter of Henley's husbandry, together with an anonymous
husbandry, Seneschaucie, and Robert Grosseteste's rules (pp. x, xii). Longmans, Green, and Co.
1. According to the sources, what were the main roles of knights and serfs within
the feudal system?
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2. Explain why landowners wanted serfs and their children to remain on the
estate. What does this suggest about how Feudalism functioned?
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3. Compare how each source presents a different aspect of feudal society. What
does Source A reveal about the role of knights, and what does Source B
reveal about the lives of serfs?
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