Feudalism shaped European economy during lots of years. After
Charlemagne death, Europe didn’t have a unified empire. Then Charlemagne
son died, Louis the Pious. Then their sons started fighting for the empire, it
was a disaster. This lead to the decline of the Franks. This reasons lead to a
new social system, named feudalism. When Europe was having problems,
Lords and kings created a social systemnamed feudalism, this helped to
organize society.
The Manorialism System shaped economy for much time in the feudal
society. “manors were large farming states that included manor houses,
cultivated lands, woodlands, pasture, fields, and villages”(Holt,297). By 900s
people were ruled by local rulers.
Land was fundamental in manors, it was the economical part and from
there peasants worked, and from this they could survive. The land was
divided in three parts, one third was of the king and the other two thirds
were peasants property. Peasants worked on all the 3 parts of the land, some
crops were given to the king in change of working on the lands, the other
parts of the crops were for the peasants. The fief and the vassal were very
important for the land, “ the person who granted land was a lord and the
grant of land was called a fief. The person who received the fief was a
vassal”. Holt, 294.
There was 4 social classes in feudalism. At the top were the lords, they
were the rulers. The 2nd class were the fiefs, vassals and the people from the
church. The 3rd class were the knights, they gave protection for the manor.
, also some lords fighted. At the very bottom were the peasants, they had to
do very hard work. They were treated badly, they had hard time living.
Peasents could not leave the land without the ruler permission. Their
alimentation was really bad, they were given “black bread, lentils, some
vegetables, and ale”( Holt, 298.)
Military Services were really important for feudalism, they provided
protection. In Middle Ages wars were really common, some wars were
private between lords and vassal, thiefs. Other wars were really big they
could involve a whole region and can be devastating. “Knights in Middle ages
were really well armed, they had metal chains, they had also a iron helmet,
they carried a shield, a lance and a sword”(Holt,295). In war knights and
nobles fighted in a horse. When they were of the horse the chances of
surviving were less.
In the social classes wars had different effects, for knights and nobles was a
good time and had the opportunity of fame and riches. For the other people
wars were dangerous and they suffered a lot.
The church had consequences over the feudal society, the church owned
land. The hierarchy of the church was similar to the hierarchy of the
feudal society. Most of the land that the church had was given by nobles as a
gift. The monasteries also had land. The land given to the church had feudal
obligations.
A manor had lots of work , each work was fundamental for the manor to be
successful. Some types of workers were shoemakers, millers, blacksmith and
more. The manor was located a long a stream or a river, this helped the
village millers for water.
In Conclusion, Feudalism made major changes after the decline of the
Frankish empire. Manors helped much to shape European economy.
According to lifeexaminations.com,Feudalism relates to modern life because
capitalism relates to feudalism because rulers, and rich people get all the
benefits of society. In the feudalism this was the same the lords got most of
the benefits. Today we see celebrities, sport players control of what the
people think in our society. Feudalism relates much to modern day life.
References:
Holt, World History (294-299)
Holt. "Feudalism and the Manorial System." World History. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 294-99. Print
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 6th Edition
http://lifeexaminations.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/modern-day-feudalism/