DEFINITION
ORIGIN
VIKINGS
THE VIKINGS WERE
FROM
ESCANDINAVIA.
VIKING
EXPEDITIONS
CONQUERED
TERRITORIES IN
BRITAIN, FRANCE
AND SOUTHERN
ITALY
THERE WERE ALSO
VIKING EXPEDITIONS
TO RUSSIA, SICILY
AND MANY OTHER
PARTS OF EUROPE
NORMANS
THE NORMANS IN
NORTH-WEST
FRANCE WERE
DESCENDANTS OF
THE
SCANDINAVIAN
VIKINGS
HUNGARIANS
THE HUNGARIANS
CAME FROM
WESTERN ASIA.
THEY ATTACKED
MANY PARTS OF
EUROPE BEFORE
THEY FINALLY
SETTLED IN
EASTERN EUROPE.
MUSLIMS
MUSLIM RAIDERS,
BASED IN NORTH
AFRICA, WERE A
THREAT ALONG
THE
MEDITERRANEAN
COAST
THEY WERE ALSO
KNOWN AS
MAGYARS
VIKING SHIPS
Viking ships, because of their shallow draft, were able to
successfully navigate rivers and streams that many other
vessels could not. This allowed the Vikings to raid
settlements far upriver from the sea, settlements that
frequently were not prepared for an attack from the water.
Viking Raiding Party
These feudal lords were
granted great estates in
exchange for their help
Regional power became
concentrated in their hands.
They had their own castles and
personal armies and offered
military protection
As a result of this the kings
did not have that much
The peasants who accepted
power because the nobles
this protection had to work
governed their own
for the nobles becaming
territories
serfs
(tied to the land)
A LORD GRANTED A FIEF, OR
LAND, TO HIS VASSALS IN
RETURN FOR SERVICES AND
LOYALTY. THE PEOPLE WHO
ACCEPTED THESE OBLIGATIONS
WERE CALLED VASSALS
BUT THESE NOBLES ALSO GRANTED
SMALLER FIEFS TO THE KNIGHTS WHO
BECAME THEIR VASSALS. SO
VASSALAGE BECAME A NETWORK OF
STRONG PERSONAL TIES ACROSS
SOCIETY
IN PRACTICE, MANY FEUDAL LORDS
WERE ENTIRELY INDEPENDENT OF
ROYAL AUTHORITY, AND RULED THEIR
FIEFS AS IF THEY WERE MONARCHS
A KNIGHT MIGHT
RECEIVE FIEFS
FROM VARIOUS
LORDS
FEUDAL KINGS HAD LITTLE
EFFECTIVE AUTHORITY BECAUSE
MOST OF THEIR TERRITORIES WERE
GRANTED TO FEUDAL LORDS.
THE SYSTEM THAT REGULATED THE
RELATIONS BETWEEN LORDS AND
PEASANTS WAS CALLED THE
MANORIAL SYSTEM, OR
MANORIALISM. A MANOR WAS A
FEUDAL LORD´S FIEF
THERE WAS
LITTLE TRADE
SO THE
ECONOMY
WAS SELFSUFFICIENT
A FIEF OR MANOR WAS A LARGE AREA BELONGING
TO THE KING, NOBLES OR THE CLERGY. THEY WERE
DIVIDED INTO TWO PARTS:
1) THE DEMESNE
2) THE DEPENDENT HOLDINGS
DEMESNE
HOLDINGS
FEUDAL LORDS EXERCISED FULL
AUTHORITY ON THEIR MANORS
 THEY ADMINISTERED JUSTICE
 THEY ALSO TOOK DECISIONS
ABOUT THE PRIVATE LIVES
 FREE PEASANTS HAD TO PAY
SPECIAL CHARGES TO USE THE
MILL, OVEN AND PRESSES
 THERE WERE TALLS,OR TAXES,
ON MERCHANTS S WHO CROSSED
THROUGH OVER THEIR BRIDGES
THE FIEFS WERE SELFSUFFICENT, THEY
PRODUCED EVERYTHING
NECESSARY TO LIVE
THEY OBTAINED FOOD BY
CULTIVATING THE LAND
WITH RUDIMENTARY
TECHNIQUES AND BASIC
TOOLS SUCH AS THE
ROMAN PLOUGH, THE
SICKLE, THE HOE, AND
THE SCYTHE
ROMAN
PLOUGH
AS A RESULT
THE HOE
AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTION WAS VERY
LAW
THE SCYTHE
1ST
YEAR
THEY DID NOT HAVE FERTILISERS
SO THEY PRACTISED TWO YEAR
ROTATION
CROPS
FALLOW
EACH YEAR THEY ONLY GREW
CROPS ON HALF OF THEIR LAND
AND LEFT THE OTHER HALF
FALLOW
THIS GAVE THE LAND TIME TO
RECOVER ITS FERTILITY, BUT AS A
RESULT AGRICULTURAL
PRODUCTION WAS VERY LOW
2ND
YEAR
AS WELL AS
AGRICULTURE, THEY
HAD LIVESTOCK.
FALLOW
CROPS
THE MAIN CROPS
WERE CEREALS FOR
MAKING BREAD