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Feudalism

How does the interdependence of the feudal system define life in Medieval Europe?

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Feudalism

  • A system where land-owning nobles governed and protected people in return for service.

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Clergy

  • Church officials
  • Owned a lot of land
  • Worked with the king to set laws

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King

  • Rights
    • Monarch – One ruler with complete authority
    • OWNS the land
    • Collects taxes from Nobles
    • Lives in the castle
  • Obligations:
    • Gives fiefs to nobles
    • Settles disputes among nobles
    • Passes laws

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Nobles

  • Rights
    • Rules the Manor (fief)
    • Lives in the Manor house
    • Collects taxes from Knights
  • Obligations:
    • Enforces laws
    • Settles disputes
    • Entertains the king
    • Owes loyalty to the king
    • Raises an army for king
    • Protects Peasants
    • Gives land to knights

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Lord & Vassal

  • Lord – A noble of high ranking

  • Vassal – someone who serves a noble of higher rank and gives them loyalty

  • Fief – A piece of land that the lord allows the vassal to work.
  • Nobles can be LORDS and VASSALS

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Knights – lower nobles

  • Rights
    • Rules a small fief
    • Collect taxes from serfs

  • Obligations:
    • Protect the peasants
    • Serves in the army
    • Pays taxes to noble
    • Owed loyalty to noble
    • Gives land to serfs

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Peasants

  • Serfs
    • Work the land (15 hr days)
      • Gave lord a portion of crops
    • Provided services
      • Miller, Blacksmith, Weaver
    • Paid lord to use services
    • Cannot
      • leave manor
      • Own property
      • Get married
      • Without the lord’s permission

  • Freemen
    • Paid nobles for the right to farm
    • Could travel as they pleased

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Primary Document

  • Lord Percival
  • I, Percival, Lord and viscount of Northumbria, acknowledge to my Lord Gilbert abbot of St. Mary of Scarborough that I hold as a fief in Northumbria the following castles and manors…For all of these fiefs, I swear that I will always be a faithful vassal to thee and I will defend thee, my lord, against all invaders. Moreover, I acknowledge that, as recognition of the above fiefs, I and my successors ought to come to the monastery of St. Stephen as often as a new abbot shall have been made. And when the abbot shall mount his horse, I and my heirs ought to hold up his stirrup. The first thime the new abbot enters Northumbria, I will supply him with the best fish and meat and with eggs and cheese and pay for the expense of shoeing his horse. And if I or my sons or their successors do not observe to thee or thy successors each and all the things declared above, we wish that all the aforesaid fiefs should be handed over to thee and thy successors.

In this feudal contract, who is the vassal - Percival or Gilbert?

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What do the two pictures show about the relationship between lord and vassal? How do you think the peasants and vassals felt towards their lord?