Feudalism and Manorialism
Global History and Geography I
E. Napp
Name: ___________________
Date: ___________________
Under feudalism, the king owned all the land. But he needed loyal nobles
to serve him. He needed nobles to provide armies. The king gained loyalty
by giving nobles land. The nobles could then give land to other people and
ask for their loyalty. Since warfare increased, armies were essential.
The kings and nobles who gave land were called lords. The nobles who
received land were called vassals. Vassals promised loyalty to their lords.
They promised to serve their lords and help them in battle. This system of
exchanging land for military service was called feudalism. It existed in
Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages began with the
fall of Rome and lasted for approximately 1,000 years. It is important to
remember that a central government did not exist in Western Europe after
the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It is also important to remember that
warfare between the many kingdoms of Western Europe was frequent and
that in a time of war, armies are important.
Questions:
1- Who owned all the land?
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2- What did the owner of all the land need?
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3- How did he gain loyalty?
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4- Who were lords?
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5- Who were vassals?
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6- Define feudalism.
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7- When did feudalism exist in Western Europe?
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8- What no longer existed after the fall of Rome?
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9- Why was warfare frequent during the Middle Ages?
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10What is important during a time of war?
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The lord gave his vassal a fief. A fief was a piece of land, and the
peasants farmed on it. To protect his fief, each vassal needed his own
soldiers. The vassal had much land, but little money. The vassal offered
land to men who agreed to be his vassals. The lords and vassals kept
dividing the land into smaller and smaller pieces.
Questions:
11What was a fief?
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12What did a vassal need to protect his fief?
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13What did the vassal have in great quantities and what did the
vassal have in lesser quantities?
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14How did the vassal get what he needed?
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The Middle Ages was a time of thousands of small wars. Knights
did most of the fighting. Only the son of a noble could become a
knight. A young noble started training to be a knight by first
becoming a page. He learned religion, manners, obedience, and
loyalty. When he was about 15 years old, the page became a squire.
Then he learned to ride a horse and use weapons. At age 21, most
squires became knights.
Questions:
15Who did most of the fighting during the Middle Ages?
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16Define knight.
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17Who could become a knight?
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18Who was a page and what did a page learn?
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19Who was a squire and what did a squire learn?
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20When did most young men become knights?
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About ninety percent of the people who lived during the Middle Ages
were peasants. Peasants were small farmers or farm laborers. A few
peasants were free, but most peasants were serfs. Serfs were not free, but
they were not slaves either. No one could buy or sell them. But they had
to stay on the manor on which they had been born.
Serfs worked on the manor farms from early in the morning until late at
night. They did the farm work, cut wood, and built fences. Female serfs
worked in the fields, cooked, made clothing, and cared for the house.
About 60 percent of what each serf raised went to the lord of the manor
and to the church. Life was difficult for serfs. After meeting their
responsibilities, little remained for themselves and their families.
However, lords protected serfs during a time of warfare.
Questions:
21Who were the majority of people during the Middle Ages?
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22Define serf.
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23What did serfs do?
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24What percentage of their produce went to the lord of the manor
and to the church?
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25What did serfs receive in exchange for their labor?
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During the Middle Ages, most people lived on manors. A manor
consisted of the lord’s house and the peasants living around it. Each
manor produced its own food, clothing, and shelter. Serfs gave their lord
part of their harvest in return for the use of land and other services they
needed. In exchange, the lord protected the serfs from attacks by
outsiders. Each lord had complete power over the serfs who lived on his
manor. Serfs were bound to the land (could not leave their lords’ land)
and had no voice in most matters. A manor was self-sufficient because
the people who lived on it grew, raised, or made nearly everything that
they needed. They rarely traded. They made their own clothing, cut their
own wood, and raised all the food that they ate. The lord of the manor
bought only a few things – like salt and iron – from the outside world.
Given the dangers of travel and trade during this time of increased
fighting, the self-sufficiency of the manor was critical. The economic
system of the Middle Ages was called Manorialism because life in the
Middle Ages centered on the manor.
Questions:
26What was a manor?
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27Provide examples of the manor’s self-sufficiency.
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28Who did the lord have complete power over?
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29Why was a serf “bound to the land”?
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30Why did trade decrease during the early Middle Ages?
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31Define Manorialism.
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Word Bank:
Feudalism, Knight, Lord, Vassal, Serf, Manorialism, Trade, Warfare