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Feudalism / Manorialism
Feudalism was the system of loyalties and protections during
the Middle Ages. As the Roman Empire crumbled, emperors
granted land to nobles in exchange for their loyalty. These
lands eventually developed into manors. A manor is the land
owned by a noble and everything on it. A typical manor
consisted of a castle, small village, and farmland.
During the Middle Ages, peasants could no longer count on the
Roman army to protect them. German, Viking and Magyar
tribes overran homes and farms throughout Europe. The
peasants turned to the landowners, often called lords, to
protect them. Many peasants remained free, but most became
serfs. A serf was bound to the land. He could not leave without
buying his freedom, an unlikely occurrence in the Middle Ages.
Life for a serf was not much better than the life of a slave. The
only difference was that a serf could not be sold to another
manor. Serfs would often have to work three or four days a
week for the lord as rent. They would spend the rest of their
week growing crops to feed their families.
Under the system of medieval European feudalism, a fiefdom ( fief, feud ), often consisted of
inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord, generally to a vassal, in return
for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. A
vassal is one who enters into mutual obligations with a king or liege lord, usually of military support and
mutual protection, in exchange for certain guarantees, as a fief.
Feudalism was not a word used in the middle ages. It has had two quite distinct meanings in recent
usage. The first meaning - promoted by radicals during the French Revolution and developped by
Marxist historians - refers to a social system based on a society in which peasant agriculture is the
fundamental productive activity; in which slavery is non-existent or marginal but peasants are tied to the
land in some way; and in which a small elite defined by military activity dominates. This is probably the
most important meaning in modern popular usuage. For most of the 20th-century, professional
medievalists have given the term a quite different meaning. For medieval historians the term has come
to mean a system of reciprocal personal relations among members of the military elite, which lead
ultimately to parliament and then Western democracy. For modern historians, the older "Lord and
peasant" model was subsumed in the concept of manorialism.
Feudalism was the political and economical system of Europe from the ninth to fifteenth century, based
on the holding of all land in fief and the resulting relationship of lord to vassal characterized by homage,
legal and military service of tenants. Manorialism was the organizing principle of rural economy and
society widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe. Manorialism was
characterised by the vesting of legal and economic power in a lord, supported economically from his
own direct landholding and from the obligatory contributions of a legally subject part of the peasant
population under his jurisdiction. These obligations could be payable in several ways, in labor, in kind,
or, on rare occasions, in coin.
The historian Susan Reynolds, in her Fiefs and Vassals, systematically attacked the basis of the
professional medievalists' version of feudalism. Reynolds argued that recent historians had been too
ready to read back 11th- and 12th-century legal texts (which do use feudal) terminology onto a much
more variated 9th- and 10th century society and had ended up creating a "feudal world" which simply
did note exist, or which, at most, described small parts of France for short periods
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1.) Feudalism in Europe, 5 minutes ( watch for the first time ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3aNlvQxvbs&feature=youtu.be
2.) Fill in the gaps using the the video, text and model about medieval life:
Fief, Lord, Vassal, Serf, Shelter, Loyalty, Homage, Feudalism, Manorialism, Knight.
A.)The more agricultural and less military part of the feudal / manorial system:................
B.) Land given away in return for services:................
C.) Faithfulness or a devotion to a person or cause:.................
D.) A worker usually under a lord. Not a slave:...................
E.) The more military and less agricultural part of the feudal / manorial system:....................
F.) A promise to follow a lord loyally; the contract between a lord and vassal.:......................
G.) One who serves a lord in a military capacity:.....................
H.) A military leader and land owner who reigns over vassals:........................
I.) A mounted warrior, heavily armored, sometimes with a lance:.......................
J.) A place where one can be safe:.....................
3.) Answer the questions using the video, text and model about medieval life:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
What is feudalism?
What is a manor?
What are lords and peasants?
What is the difference between serfs and slaves?
Can you describe a fiefdom ( fief, feud )?
What could be given by a king or liege lord to his vassal, in exchange for military
duties?
What are mutual obligations and what do they have to do with kings, liege lords and
vassals?
What is manorialism?
Can you explain the difference between feudalism and manorialism in your own
words?
What does Susan Reynolds have to say about the ‘feudal world’?
4.) Feudalism in Europe, 5 minutes ( watch for the second time ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3aNlvQxvbs&feature=youtu.be
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5.) Linking Exercise.
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