C13' 2: Feudalism and the Manorial System

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C13. 2 Feudalism and the Manorial System
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• The Story Continues
• Society in the Middle Ages was strongly
• shaped by relationships of loyalty and
• service between higher and lower nobles.
• I urge you . . . to maintain towards your
• overlord . . . a devoted and certain fealty
• loyalty both of body and soul, one
• mother advised her son. For centuries the
• nature of this binding relationship
• organized medieval society on the basis of
• military service and land ownership.

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I. Feudalism

• 900s - most Europeans were governed
• by small, independent leaders in a system
• called feudalism

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I. Feudalism

• Lords granted land to lesser nobles (vassals)
• in return for loyalty, military assistance, and
• other services

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I. Feudalism

• The grant of land was called a fief vassals
• did not own the land but used it to maintain
• themselves and their household

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I. Feudalism

• A vassal could divide the land and grant it to
• others, thus also becoming a lord

A vassal giving homage to his lord
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I. Feudalism

• Fiefs became hereditary, passed from
• father to eldest son under a system called
• primogeniture

Charlemagnes family tree
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I. Feudalism

• Women only had limited property rights but
• retained control of her dowry if her husband
• died

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I. Feudalism

• Local wars between feudal lords were
• common large-scale wars were extremely
• destructive

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I. Feudalism

• Knights wore chain mail or metal plate armor
• and were armed with a sword, shield, and
• lance

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I. Feudalism

• Wars offered opportunities for glory and wealth
• for nobles, but caused great suffering and
• hardship

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I. Feudalism

• The church tried to limit suffering by issuing
• decrees that prohibited certain acts of
• violence

Medieval Monk, Bishop and Priest
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I. Feudalism

• Feudal justice was decided by trial by battle,
• oath-taking, or trial by ordeal

Trial by the ordeal of fire, where the suspect
had to carry a bar of red-hot iron in his hands
while he walked nine marked paces. In the
unlikely event of no burns appearing on his hand,
he was judged innocent.
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II. The Manorial System

• Manors were self-sufficient farming estates
• shared by lords and peasants (serfs)
• manorialism shaped the economic structure

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II. The Manorial System

• Serfs farmed the land and gave crops,
• services, loyalty, and taxes to the lord

Serfs paying annual taxes to their lord in cash
and with livestock
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II. The Manorial System

• The life span of a serf was short due to
• disease, starvation, and war upper class lives
• were not luxurious

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II. The Manorial System

• Marriage was viewed as a means to advance
• ones fortune or the way a man might
• acquire land

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II. The Manorial System

• By the late 1100s chivalry had begun to bring
• major changes to feudal society

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II. The Manorial System

• Chivalry was a code of conduct that dictated
• the knights behavior toward others

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II. The Manorial System

• Knights were expected to be courageous, fair,
• loyal, honest, gallant, and courteous to women